The senior national scripted workload management for the 2019 world cup with Indian captain Virat Kohli rests for the Asia Cup. Had the Asia cup been a low-key tournament like Nidahas Trophy in Sri Lanka, towards the end of the 2017-18 season, the choice wouldn’t have evoked discussion. The Sept 15-28 Asia Cup, however, features Pakistan and, whether or not one likes it, India vs Pakistan games still mean almost about everything on each side of border. Being so, unless Virat encompasses a major drawback, he ought to be heading to UAE post England. No one disagrees with principle of managing work-load, however to begin with the Asia Cup is very hard to digest.
Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav is not within the Sri Lanka tour team. A detailed look can indicate that selectors maintained consistency by choosing all those players, who were a part of the home team in T20s against Sri Lanka in December. In June, Kohli skipped Afghanistan’s inaugural test game to get used to English conditions ahead of the test tour. However all those plans came to halt after his neck got injured during an IPL match, Kohli further cancelled his contract with Surrey and went for rehabilitation.
Kohli was forced off the ground on throughout the second test against England. He was forced to miss some on-field action during day three and was seen spending time off the field, excercising.
Key players have, in the past not been rested in the series that is a major area of consequence. “Virat had been playing continuously except for the second half of May. He’s completely drained and it’s not fair to expect him to stay consistent”, said MSK Prasad, in an interview. Bhuvneshwar was adjudged man of the series in T20Is for taking seven wickets in 3 matches at an average of 9.57 with five for twenty-four being his best performance. He picked up ten wickets in two Tests, two wickets in five ODIs and ended with seven in the T20I series. Bumrah made his test debut in the first match against South Africa, got 14, 8 and 1 wickets in Tests, ODIs and T20Is respectively on the tour. Pandya too was a part of the squad in all the twelve matches against South Africa and as a result was given a much-needed break before the Indian Premier League.
At the age of 18, Sharma was called to join the Indian squad for the tour of South Africa in 2006—07. However, after receiving the call and organising travel arrangements, it was decided not to send him on the tour. In reference to his height and lean physique in his Under-19 days, the bowler was nicknamed Lambu.
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In 2011, he became the fifth youngest player to take 100 Test wickets. Against South Africa in 2013, Ishant Sharma became the fifth quickest Indian to grab 100 ODI wickets. While being a “rhythm” bowler, he still is considered one of the fastest Indian bowlers having bowled in excess of 150 km/h on several occasions in international cricket as well as the IPL, his fastest being 152.2 km/h bowled to Ricky Ponting on Boxing Day Test in 2011.
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Ishant Sharma knows that his career would have been easier if he was English. For in India, bowling fast can seem as futile as playing chess against Garry Kasparov. You got the slow wickets — doesnt bounce, spinners are into the game most of the time, says Sharma, with a slightly long-suffering air. He has been trying to overcome these limitations for 11 years in Test cricket, one of the longest careers of any Indian fast bowler.
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On Indias last Test tour of England in 2014, Sharma took seven for 74 to seal a famous Indian victory at Lords. He embraces bowling in England like a farmer greets rain after months of drought.
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The weather is so nice, you can bowl long spells, the conditions are helpful. The ball is nice, the wicket is favourable. Theres a lot of difference between bowling in England and India. In England, where Sharma has been preparing with a stint at Sussex, the order he knows in India is reversed. Spinners need to contain the runs, and fast bowlers are the ones who are going to take the wickets.
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And yet Sharma has built a career upon his durability in Indian conditions. For all his qualities — consistency, variety, bounce from his 6ft 4in frame — perhaps most important is the sheer bloody-mindedness that has sustained Sharma during 11 years in Test cricket. He is celebrating for bowling the dirty overs: those times when the ball has gone soft, the batsmen are set and the heat is unforgiving.
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Indian pacer Ishant Sharma wreaked havoc on the Bangladesh team as he picked up five wickets in the first innings and four in the second. Some of the greatest fast bowler shared their opinions on Ishant sharma. Former Australian great, Glenn McGrath, feels Ishant is more of a workhorse than a strike bowler and needs to figure out his role in the Indian team, but he is happy that Ishant is slowly adapting to conditions, commenting When Ishant started off, he took the world by storm bowling good pace. He is probably not bowling at the same pace. But he is much more experienced now with good control. The Edgbaston Test showed that Ishant has started adopting a bit more.
After almost 3 months, Cricket is all set to resume with a test series between England and West Indies tomorrow. Last time, a cricket match was played between Australia and New Zealand on 13th March 2020 at SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground). The match was played behind the closed doors i.e. without spectators. It was the first time a cricket match was played without spectators due to Coronavirus. Many leagues, tournaments and series were postponed due to this pandemic.
This year, T20 Cricket World Cup was also scheduled in Australia, but due to the pandemic authorities are willing to postpone it till 2021 as public safety comes first. BCCI is trying to organize IPL (Indian Premier League) this year as according to them if IPL doesn’t happen, then it may cost them a huge loss. Many cricket board are suffering from financial problem during this pandemic because of postponement of tournaments and series.
The West Indies Cricket Team are currently touring England to play three matches. The team were originally scheduled to tour the country in May and June 2020. However, the series was initially postponed due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Earlier, The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced that no professional matches would take place before 28 May 2020 due to the pandemic. On 24 April 2020, the ECB confirmed that no professional cricket would be played in England before 1 July 2020, with the tour being postponed. After the tour was postponed, both cricket boards had been involved in “positive” talks about rescheduling the series. After discussions and meetings, both the cricket boards got agreed upon having three test match series on 8th July 2020.
The first match will be played at Rose Bowl, Southampton. Both the teams will play the match without spectators and all the players are in isolated hotels. Then, both the teams will head towards Manchester to play last two test matches. The West Indies team arrived in England on 9th June and they were kept in isolation for few days also ensuring proper safety measures are being taken care off.
It is also being said that “this is the new birth of cricket in the world”. The whole world is now excited to watch the new birth of cricket. But, cricket won’t be the same as earlier. Use of saliva in cricket is banned and due to this, many experts think that this is not good for cricket. We hope that tomorrow we will see a new journey of cricket and we also hope it will give us some memories to remember in future also.
The first match of the series was played in Auckland, New Zealand. Virat Kohli lost the toss from the Blackcaps captain Kane Williamson. New Zealand opted to bat first in the First T20I and they got a nice start from their openers. After the first innings, Blackcaps ended up scoring 203 runs with a loss of 5 wickets of Martin Guptill (30 of 19), Colin Munro (59 of 42), Kane Williamson (51 of 26), Colin de Grandhomme (0 of 2) and Tim Seifert (1 of 2).
With the half centuries of Colin Munro, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor, Blackcaps were pretty confident of winning this game. India didn’t get a great start as the hitman Rohit Sharma departs after making 7 runs off 6 balls. But KL Rahul was in a different form of his career. With the skipper Virat Kohli, Rahul tried to put pressure on the Blackcaps by hitting consecutive boundaries. As the innings started building up, India lost a crucial wicket of KL Rahul who played a cracking knock of 56 runs off 27 balls smashing 4 fours and 3 gigantic sixes. After that India again lost a very important wicket of Virat Kohli as the skipper departs making 45 off 32 balls.
With losing two consecutive wickets, team was under-pressure but the young and talented Middle order explosive batsman Shreyas Iyer played a supersonic knock of 58 runs off 29 balls, supported by the two batsman Shivam Dube and Manish Pandey as India chased the target with 1 over left. Shreyas Iyer was selected Man of the Match as he helped his team to get over the victory line.
By taking 1-0 lead in the series of 5 matches, India again lost the toss and again Blackcaps decided to Bat first. This time, the Indian bowlers showed their skills as India restricted Blackcaps till 132 with losing 5 wickets of Martin Guptill (33 of 20), Colin Munro (26 of 25), Colin de Grandhomme (3 of 5), Kane Williamson (14 of 30), Ross Taylor (18 of 24) and Tim Seifert* (33 of 26).
With the great bowling effort from the Indian side, now it was time for the batsmen to show their skills on the pitch. Rohit Sharma similar to the innings he played in the first match, was repeating it in the second match too. Southee departed Rohit with an easy catch from Ross Taylor on 8 runs. Indian fans again expecting something from the skipper Virat Kohli were left disappointed as Southee took another wicket.
But the heroes of the last match KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer again showed their class and helped the team in difficult situation. Rahul and Iyer both are striking to get over the victory line. But in between, both of the batsman were struggling between the wickets as both the batsman were taking wrong calls to take runs in between. Shreyas Iyer departed by playing a silly short against Ish Sodhi. He departed by making 44 runs from 33 balls. KL Rahul ended up his innings with 57 runs off 50 balls. KL Rahul was selected Man of the Match.
India headed towards Hamilton with lead of 2-0. Again India lost the toss but this time Blackcaps invited the Indian team to bat first. The opening pair Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul walk in and this time both the openers got a good start. From the start, Rohit Sharma started playing some aggressive shots and accompanying him KL Rahul started his innings with the same. Both the batsmen were playing good cricket but KL Rahul departs off with a simple catch by Colin Munro. After few balls, Rohit Sharma also departed and following him, Shivam Dube also departed nextforth.
With the consecutive falling of wickets, skipper Kohli and Iyer decided to make a statement and started playing some defensive shots. In between of that, both the batsmen were trying to play some aggressive shots also. But before they could make a huge partnership, Iyers departed by Santner with a simple stumping by Seifert. Kohli and Manish Pandey tried to take the innings to a good end but before he could do that, he departed on 38 off 27 balls by Hamish Bennett. But Manish Pandey and Jadeja took the scoreboard towards a good and a fighting score of 179 in 20 overs.
Its time for the bowlers to take the driving seat from the side. Both the openers from the Blackcaps walk into the middle to give a good start for their respective team. Martin Guptill got a good start against the fast bowlers. Munro also supported him well and they helped their team to head upto a good start. Guptill was looking in a good form but departs with a spectacular catch by Sanju Samson in Deep Point. Next over Munro also departed by Jadeja on 14 off 16 balls. Kane Williamson and Mitchell Santner both tried to take their team ahead but Chahal departed Santner on 9 off 10 balls.
Kane Williamson alone like a warrior, tried to take his team ahead and he was well supported by his partner Colin de Grandhomme who was at non-strikers end. Williamson made the world’s best bowler Bumrah in trouble as he was struggling in his line and length against the Blackcaps. In between, players also dropped some easy catches and misfielded during the innings which helped the Blackcaps to make comeback again in the match.
The match was became exciting when it came to the last over. Mohammad Shami has got ball in his hand as he was approaching towards Ross Taylor. Taylor hits the first ball in the stands as the Blackcaps now needed 3 off 5 balls. Taylor took a single and gave strike to Williamson. Shami was looking in pressure and he departed Williamson and made a hope for comeback for the team in the match. Williamson departs making 95 runs in 48 balls. Shami approaches towards the new batsman on the crease Tim Seifert and balls a dot ball by pulling his length to good off short length. Now, they needed 2 off 2 balls and from here, match may go towards any of the team. Next ball and again Seifert misses the ball but they became successful to rotate the strike and made Taylor on the strike. Now Blackcaps needed 1 off 1 ball. This time, Taylor is on strike but he caught by Shami’s leading edge which helved him to get bowled and here is where the match got tied between the two teams. Taylor departs from 17 off 10 balls.
Both the teams now play a super over which decides the results of the match. Indian team bowl first in the super over and Blackcaps bat. Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson opened the batting for Blackcaps. Jasprit Bumrah bowled the super over for the team. Bumrah conceded 14 runs in the super over.
To chase the target of 15 runs, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul walked into the middle. Start was not well as Rohit Sharma survived from a bizarre run-out from the fielders. KL Rahul gave a good start and helped the team to be in a good position. Rohit Sharma hit 2 huge sixes in the last 2 balls of Tim Southee and made the team win the thriller. He was also selected Man of the Match.
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