The Cricket.com Weekly – Issue 22
Wait, are we already on the 22nd edition of the weekly Cricket.com?
That’s great.
Just as great as last week’s cricket action. Seven days that saw the Mumbai Indians dominate the Women’s Premier League (ya, sure, boring) to India that dashed Australia’s hopes with a pitch as dead as anyone’s will to work on a rainy day.
What or who makes the headlines?
Kane Mama to save New Zealand
Kane Williamson is back.
New Zealand is back.
All tweets about “Test Grille, du Schöne” are back. But just barely. The BlackCaps won the first Test by a narrow margin, from the last ball of a five-day event. Who could have written such a solid screenplay?
I’m sure even the IPL and BCCI couldn’t have been so flawless with their writing. To think that the right-hander only got one run in the first innings is really a JOKE! In the second innings, he turned into a monster. He even battled a monster in the form of Daryl Mitchell, who hit an 86-ball 81 with three fours and four sixes.
8 runs were required from the last 6 balls. Six out of four balls. Five out of three balls. At that moment, Williamson’s racquet swung like a sword and, under pressure, smashed Asita Fernando through the point for a massive boundary. But then came the point ball. 1 from 1 and Williamson misses but then runs through for a tight single, NEW ZEALAND HAVE WON!!!
BANGLADESH MAKES HISTORY
Oh, while you were busy with New Zealand-Sri Lanka or India-Australia, Bangladesh was busy making history. The Tigers have now defeated all three giants – Australia, New Zealand and England – at home in the shortest format. That’s quite an achievement, to be honest. But that was perhaps the most impressive of the three wins because England are the defending champions, they know how to win (well not in Bangladesh but certainly in other places).
If there’s one thing England have realized over the course of that week it’s that “batters are paramount” and that’s something that has cost them dearly in Asian conditions. For Bangladesh it was the resurgence of Mehidy Hasan Miraz who took five wickets including four in the second T20I giving them a series win.
Delhi Capitals, welcome your new Oz skipper?
Rishabh Pant is out of the IPL, at least that’s what this message from the Delhi Capitals camp confirms. But the lead has moved from one southpaw to another, two southpaws to be honest. On March 16th (Thursday) DC confirmed that 2016 IPL winner David Warner will take the helm for Delhi on the field.
Davey is at the wheel
Tell me how does it feel
We have Shaw, Marsh and Ahmed,
Yash Dhull, a Delhi born and raised
If that isn’t the singing at Arun Jaitley Stadium, think me disappointed.
Kohli, Kohli, Kohli
Who doesn’t love breaking through a drought? Well, Virat Kohli was one for the longest time, he hated breaking the drought. Jokes aside, the former Indian skipper has finally gotten the monkey off his back (Test Century) against a dominant Aussie bowling unit. Sure, the pitch was calm and runs were easy to come by, but given his form, there was a huge chance he could have missed.
But no, Kohli stood tall, literally and figuratively, to beat a heavyweight with a 186, showing he was BACK. BACK WITH A 186 BANG. Maybe it’s the calm wicket, but you can feel that confidence has returned. At least it should be after the knock.
What happens in international cricket (on the field)?
– No shockers, India and Australia finally play a boring draw. If you were expecting a result after the throw I’m not sure how much cricket you would have watched. I can’t even call it a road in Bangalore, at least it has bumps. 480 & 175/2d vs. 571, that’s how you could sum up the whole test and India finishes the series 2-1.
– If you think India-Australia was done, then the ODI series started with a humdinger won by India in Mumbai, all thanks to KL Rahul’s great 75 and of course a precious 45 and 2/46 from Ravindra Jadeja.
– Bangladesh recorded a stunning three-to-zero win over current champions England in the three-game T20I series. Her three wins – winning six wickets, winning four wickets and finally a 16-run win.
– South Africa beat the West Indies a stunning 2-0 and the visitors stood no chance against such a strong bowling unit. They were torn to pieces in the second test.
– After a 1-0 lead in the series, New Zealand started the second Test strong, with two centurions in the form of Henry Nicholls (200) and Kane Williamson (215) to take them to 580/4 before Sri Lanka plummeted to 26.2., so they have a lot to do on the remaining three days.
Dominating Mumbai makes WPL extremely one-sided
In the first season of the competition, you can expect fun and close competition between teams, right? There, the Mumbai Indians made it a boring sport. Winning five out of five is fine, but then destroying four teams along the way is just not ACCEPTABLE. Which demonic team has a net run rate of +3.325 after five games? However, WPL has just become too one-sided.
Read: WPL Mid Season – What Worked and What Didn’t?
Who else participated? Delhi Capitals, they’ve done quite well. Four wins from six, two losses, one against MI so Delhi are at the top thanks to some good decisions from their skipper Meg Lanning. And of course the team. But the others – UP Warriorz, Gujarat Giants and RCB – are struggling and will need more than a dominant performance to tie up for third place. Everyone’s race to be honest, for third.
PSL hums ggggggggggggggg
They thought WPL was bizarre, then PSL was like “high performance drugs”. Not the cough syrup. We’ve left behind the crazy runs-scoring festivities, some amazing individual performances from the people you least expect, and some pitches that were literally a bowler’s graveyard.
Read: Mammoth Results and Hundreds Galore in PSL 2023
The playoff duel between Multan Sultans and Lahore Qalandars was far from rich in goals. 160/5 vs. 76 is extremely one sided and that really showed Multan’s bowling unit. Then Lahore Qalandars prevailed over Peshawar Zalmi to set up a rematch, but this time in the final.
Will it be the dominant Multan or the Qalandars who will lift the PSL Cup? Set your alarm for 7:30 p.m. tonight to find out. ICYMI, this is how the PSL has really behaved so far!!!
Come on, give me these articles
Well bowled, Gazza. I’m sure you’ve heard that over and over again over the past four to five weeks of riveting action between India and Australia. Is Gazza the GOAT? Well at least he is definitely the visiting GOAT in India. Read what makes Lyon so special in this article by Aakash.
This year’s BGT was definitely a mood board, sorry Jarrod Kimber. But this mood board had it all, including a slumber party in Ahmedabad, two prime ministers with a lighted carriage, and all these crazy turning actions like it was a racetrack with curves. If you need help to remember everything, Gaurav is there for you.
India will do without Shreyas Iyer. How long? Not sure, but long enough to miss his presence. So what can you do? Anirudh Suresh has answered this question.
Let me throw another piece of Anirudh here at one Travis Head. How he defied the odds and made the Australian selectors look like fools for dropping him from the first test in Nagpur!
What can 18 seconds do with life? A lot. It was enough for a certain Proteas skipper, Dane van Niekerk, to finish the game. Her last words as a Proteas player: “Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough”. Read how an 18-second delay rocked South African cricket, all thanks to Shweta Haranhalli’s lyrics.
