Category: T-20

End of an era- Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn retire from cricket

It’s officially the end of an era. With the retirements of Dale Steyn and Hashim Amla, all members of the South African side who scripted that famous series victory Down Under against Australia in 2008 have called it a day.

That Proteas team was also the first one since readmission to beat Australia in Australia, and they didn’t lose a single away test series between 2007 and 2015- quite an amazing statistic given the variety of conditions that prevail in test cricket today. Amla and Steyn were both key members of that squad as was AB de Villiers, who also hung up his international boots last year. Interestingly, the trio were the 295th, 296th and 297th players for South Africa and made their debuts in the same year- will the Proteas ever have a more impactful troika of players in the future? Continue reading “End of an era- Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn retire from cricket”

India vs West Indies 6 August Third T-20 Match Report-2019

Skipper Virat Kohli and wicket keeper Rishabh Pant both scored fluent half centuries as India completed a 3-0 sweep against the West Indies in Guyana on Tuesday.

A change in venue to the Providence stadium- the first two games had been played in Florida, didn’t bring about any change in the Windies’ fortunes as the visitors coasted home by seven wickets.

With the series having been sealed, India chose to give an opportunity to some of their fringe players. In came KL Rahul, Deepak Chahar and his cousin Rahul (the latter on debut) and out went Rohit Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed and Ravindra Jadeja. The West Indies made one solitary injury-enforced change, with Fabian Allen replacing Khairy Pierre in their XI.

West Indies vs India line up in the Third T-20 Continue reading “India vs West Indies 6 August Third T-20 Match Report-2019”

India vs West Indies Second T-20 Match Report 4 August 2019

Rohit Sharma’s free flowing 67, followed by an impressive spell from left arm spinner Krunal Pandya, helped India defeat reigning T20 world champions West Indies by 22 runs on the DLS method in the second T20 in Florida on Sunday.

The Men in Blue went in with an unchanged XI, while the Windies included spinner Khary Pierre in place of batsman John Campbell. We had observed that the WI bowling needed some strengthening, and their selectors appeared be thinking on similar lines- dropping opener Campbell for an extra bowler and promoting Sunil Narine up the order.

Virat Kohli won the toss for the second game running but this time choose to take first guard. The visitors’ opening duo of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma laid a solid foundation at the top by adding 67 runs for the first wicket before the former was bowled by Keemo Paul for 23 while attempting to hoick the ball over mid wicket.

Skipper Kohli along with vice captain Rohit put on 48 runs for the second wicket stand before the latter mistimed a pull and was caught brilliantly by Shimron Hetmyer. His knock comprised of 6 fours and 3 sixes and in the process, he also broke Chris Gayle’s record for most sixes in T20 internationals (105).

India vs WI Second T20 Lineup

At the time of Sharma’s dismissal, India seemed set for a 180+ plus score, but lost their way a bit, with the next five overs only producing 30 odd runs. Continue reading “India vs West Indies Second T-20 Match Report 4 August 2019”

Talking Points- West Indies vs India 1st T20 Lauderhill Florida

India’s first international game since their World Cup semi-final exit at the hands of New Zealand saw them beat reigning T20 World champions West Indies in Florida. Here are our talking points from the game.

West Indies (95/9) lost to India (98/6 in 17.2 overs)

Navdeep Saini impresses on international debut

RCB pacer Navdeep Saini was given his maiden international cap today and produced a fine performance with the ball to justify his inclusion. Saini was carted for six by Nicholas Pooran on his second delivery, but recovered to dismiss the southpaw and Shimron Hetmyer in the same over.

He also returned to take the wicket of the well-set Kieron Pollard in the last over of the game (also a maiden), and finished with impressive figures of 3/17. Rightly named the Man of the Match.

Disappointing batting performance from the West Indies

This was a wretched batting performance from the West Indies. They finished with less than a hundred in their allotted 20 overs, and only two batsmen- Pooran and Kieron Pollard, crossed double digits. Not what you’d expect from a team who are the reigning champions in this format of the game.

Windies T20 lineup vs India 2019 Continue reading “Talking Points- West Indies vs India 1st T20 Lauderhill Florida”

India Squad for Tour of West Indies 2019 Announced- No Shubman Gill

India have officially announced their squad for their upcoming tour of the West Indies. There was talk that the World Cup semi-finalists would adopt split captaincy for this tour, but skipper Virat Kohli continues to hold the reigns across all three formats. A couple of key players have been rested given their workload, but it still remains a very strong squad- certainly not a second string one by any stretch of imagination.

Because this tour comes on the heels of the just concluded World Cup, let’s take a look at their ODI squad first.

What changes have been made from the World Cup roster for this squad to tour the Carribean?

There are a few changes- Vijay Shankar is injured, MS Dhoni has made himself “unavailable”, Dinesh Karthik has seemingly been axed and the pair of Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah have been rested. In come Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey- the former widely expected to be India’s next No.4 and the latter rewarded for a string of strong domestic performances. Navdeep Saini and Khaleel Ahmed are the new bowlers in the squad.

Shikhar Dhawan returns to the squad after missing the latter half of India’s World Cup campaign with a thumb injury.

Somewhat surprisingly, there is no Shubman Gill, but chairman of selectors MSK Prasad said that the Punjab youngster, who toured New Zealand earlier this year, is very much in their plans. Rishabh Pant is also the only wicket keeper in the squad, with KL Rahul expected to provide temporary cover if required.

Kedar Jadhav retains his spot in the fifteen despite not featuring in the XI that took on New Zealand in the semis.

India ODI Squad to tour West Indies 2019

India Test Squad for West Indies Tour 2019

The test squad will be seen in action for the first time since that historic win in Australia. Several “test-only” regulars of the squad- Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma all feature as expected. There is a welcome return after a long injury layoff for Wriddhiman Saha. Bhuvneshwar Kumar misses out with the selectors preferring the quartet of Mohammad Shami, Sharma, Bumrah and Umesh Yadav in the pace department. Rohit Sharma, so prolific in the 50 over format, has been given another chance to add to his 27 test caps.

India Test Squad for WI Tour 2019

India T20 Squad

The T20 squad retains a strong batting core, with Kohli, Sharma, Dhawan and Rahul all present but features an experimental bowling outfit. Both Chahars- Rahul and Deepak, have made the cut, as has Washington Sundar.

India T20 Squad for WI Tour 2019

India vs Australia Bangalore Second T-20 Match Preview-2019

India after a listless performance with the bat in the opening Twenty20 International at Vizag, would be hoping to turn things around, when they take on Australia in the second and final T-20 international at Bangalore on Wednesday. Continue reading “India vs Australia Bangalore Second T-20 Match Preview-2019”