Friday, February 27, 2015

World Cup 2015: Short Notes - 27th Feb

Its the World Cup. And there ought to be some madness. But even the madness has its own patterns.
  • There seems to be a grand conspiracy by all parties to put egg on the ICC's face. The Associates are putting on a tough fight on the field. The Full time nations are hammering each other in one one-sided game after the other. Meanwhile ICC is still looking at taking the World out of the World Cup by restricting the entries to ten.
  • Ireland nearly choked and then managed to sneak through against UAE in a close encounter. Afghanistan were down for the count but showed some amazing resilience to win an even closer encounter.
  • After the India defeat, AB de Villiers wanted to go to his room and feel sad. Then he decided to take out his sadness on the West Indies. And what followed was countless records getting broken one after the other.
  • Jason Holder - 1st 5 overs - 9 runs, next 5 overs - 95 runs. So he comes back and scores a 50 in a losing affair.
  • The luck of the Irish - Ed Joyce and the dancing bail. (Video)
  • In other news - Pakistan are behaving exactly like Pakistan - losing heavily, rumours of rift against the fielding coach and the chief selector has been sent back for being found in a casino.
  • Australia haven't had a game in two weeks now. Almost forgotten that they are still playing.
  • The Indian fans are already walking about like World Champions. Well the real World Cup begins only after the group stages.
  • Prediction time - Pakistan-Ireland and England-Bangladesh to be the deciding games for this World Cup.
  • Side Note - As if a World Cup game is not enough incentive, Australia and New Zealand will also be playing for the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy.
P.S. In case you want to feel like doing something about the World Cup size for the next tournament and haven't done it yet, feel free to sign this petition here. [Current Count - 13960]


Tuesday, February 24, 2015

World Cup 2015: Short Notes - 24th Feb

In today's episode, Chris Gayle, Chris Gayle's stat attack, and more Chris Gayle.
  • But first things first, England duly won the Battle of Britain or the Cricketing equivalent of the Calcutta Cup in a pretty un-English manner. Batted first, put on a big opening stand, failed to capitalize on it, yet reached a big score, then easily chipped away at the Scottish batting and won handsomely. Should have a calming effect on the jitters going on in the English camp. Bangladesh-England is going to be the game to watch out for.
  • India have created a template for winning matches - bat first, preserve wickets, create a big platform and then launch/implode at death ending in a score of 300 odd. Then keep chipping away, the rising required run rate creating its own pressures and you have registered a huge win in the process.
  • Now to the Chris Gayle show. He could have been given out first ball and even a review won't have saved him. But he wasn't and even the review couldn't get him out. One of the key issues with DRS - this umpire's call business.
  • And then Chris Gayle consolidated to reach his fifty, then consolidated some more to reach his hundred, then went berserk to reach 150 and finally exploded to his double century.
  • Stat Attack - 
    • Highest individual score in World Cups
    • Highest individual by a non-Indian batsman in ODIs
    • Biggest ODI partnership going past Dravid's two second wicket efforts with Ganguly & Sachin in the year 1999.
    • Samuels & Gayle partnership was worth 100% of the West Indies runs
    • Equal most sixes in an innings record
  • February 24 - a day for ODI double centuries. Off the 5 till date, 2 have been scored on this very day of the year.
  • Zimbabwe showed heart in their chase but it was way beyond them. Quite similar to the happenings against South Africa.
  • West Indies lost to Kenya in 1996 and then went on to beat Australia and South Africa. This time around the loss against Ireland seems to have spurred them on.
  • Shocking Stat - Devon Smith has played 100+ games as a batsman with an average of 18+. 
  • The DRS issues again jumped into the limelight. Did not really affect today's outcome but might become critical in the end.
  • We also had our first appearance of Duckworth-Lewis. An algorithm which absolutely no one understands but still used.
  • Prediction Time - Ireland to beat UAE.

Sunday, February 22, 2015

World Cup 2015: Short Notes - 22nd Feb

The second mauka. have to say its been a pretty good promotional campaign by Star Sports.
  • After today's performance one wonders, is this the same Indian team which had gone winless for nearly three months in Australia?
  • South Africa have been handed their biggest ever thrashing in World Cup games and suddenly not looking so invincible after all.
  • India out-batted, out-bowled and even out-fielded South Africa. Something has suddenly changed and for the good.
  • There was a deja vu feeling about today's game. Like last Sunday, India played a team in green, won the toss, batted first, lost Rohit Sharma early, Dhawan-Kohli got a big partnership, the No. 4 batsman scored a faster than run a ball 70 odd, India failed to capitalize at death and crawled to a 300 odd total and then eased on to a big victory. Only today's victory margin was mch bigger than last Sunday's.
  • India's area of concern - the collapse at death and failure to caitalize on the first 40 overs.
  • India's population has its benefits. We manage to reach out to every corner of the world and fill their stadiums.
  • Afghanistan and Sri Lanka played the first really close game of the tournament. Sri Lanka did get a mighty scare while Afghanistan just ran out of steam in the end with both bat and ball. 
  • Play of the day - Jayawardene's bat breaking in two.
  • Tomorrow - The battle of Britain. England should win but...

Saturday, February 21, 2015

World Cup 2015: Short Notes - Feb 21st

Another round of one-sided hammerings. These matches are still watchable for their sheer sadistic quality.
  • Today's notes begin with an after-thought from yesterday's Kiwi-English game. The shambolic English performance could be summed up by New Zealan'd winning "shot" - an over the head wide running down to the boundary.
  • And now for today's game of the upredictables. I had predicted a Pakistani win but given that these are the two most unpredictable teams around the result couldn't have been any more opposite. West Indies recorded their biggest ever victory against Pakistan.
  • 1 for 4. Thats the score most of India woke up to. And we were celebrating out big victory against this team.
  • Arbit Stat#41: 1 run - the lowest combined score made by the top four batsmen in an ODI innings
  • West Indies have come back from losing against Ireland to hammering Pakistan throwing Group B wide open. The inconsistency of the teams in the mix just adds to the unpredictability although the long drawn format was designed to maintain status quo.
  • Bangladesh must be really happy to get away with a point from a washed out game against the Aussies. This one point might well crucial in the end.
  • Its still early days but funny to see England and Pakistan bang at the bottom of their respective groups after 2 games each.
  • Tomorrow the big boys come to play. Will India finally manage to open their account against South Africa in the World Cups. Or will this mauka mauka game continue.

Friday, February 20, 2015

World Cup 2015: Short Notes - 20th Feb

The World Cup is rolling along at its own slow pace. Two games have happened since the last shorties were posted.
  • Is the entire country of New Zealand one gigantic Lord of the Rings set? Certainly that is the impression one gets from watching the cricket.
  • Zimbabwe and UAE produced the first competitive game of the tournament with Zimbabwe winning with 2 overs to spare. The chase was tighter than expected but UAE basically ran out of steam.
  • Meanwhile the Kiwis have taken full flight (cliche). 3 wins in 3 games including Sri Lanka and England. The Kiwis have bowled well and batted with the sole aim of improving their net run rate as much as possible which may come into picture for deciding the group placings.
  • Also a time to compare the relative performances of Scotland and England against New Zealand. Who are the minnows now?

  • Breaking off for lunch with 12 runs required, ICC where is your common sense. Obviously commercial interests (increasing TV time as much as possible) have taken over practical action. What if it had rained during and after the break. New Zealand would have been robbed given that 20 overs had not been completed?
  • England have lost 2 out of 2. They still should qualify but the game against Bangladesh assumes crucial status. If the weather forecast stays true, Bangladesh may get away with a point against Australia which will be more trouble for the English.
  • Stats - UAE get their highest ODI Total, Tim Southee - best ever ODI bowling figures for New Zealand, Brendon McCullum scores the fastest World Cup 50.
  • Prediction Time - Pakistan to prevail in the game of unpredictables against the West Indies, while Australia should win weather permitting.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

World Cup 2015: Short Notes - 18th Feb

7 Down, 42 to Go.
One game a day, that too involving an Associate country. The World Cup seems to have been scheduled along the lines of television - daily soaps for the weekdays and blockbusters for the prime time weekends (which must have been the intent all along).

  • Afghanistan made their World Cup debut. Lots have been said about their fairy-tale journey over the last couple of years. Yet, Afghanistan competing in the top level of any sport still seems straight out of a Disney movie.
  • The only bit of the game I actually saw was the national anthems. And it was a fairly remarkable sight. Also probably the first time ever that I have heard the Afghan national anthem.
  • This was a big banana skin of a match for Bangladesh who had everything to lose. Yet they managed to avoid it with a few hiccups.
  • Shakib-al-Hassan and Mushfiqur Rahim bailed Bangladesh out of a potentially tricky situation. Although it was a welcome relief from the string of 300+ scores being recorded.
  • Afghanistan lost the plot at the start of the chase and were never in contention then.
  • Arbit Stat - Shakib is now the first Bangldeshi batsman to score 4000 runs in ODI cricket.
  • Still awaiting the first close game of the tournament.
  • Prediction Time - Zimbabwe to comfortably beat UAE tomorrow.


Tuesday, February 17, 2015

World Cup 2015: Short Notes - 17th Feb

6 down.43 to go. This World Cup is going on its own leisurely pace, which gives the followers time to (a) over-analyse the events, (b) get on with their lives or (c) simply forget that the tournament is still going on. So before I forget, here is me recording my thoughts.
  • The scheduling is weird. 1 day game each day, that too held in New Zealand. So most likely by the time you get up the games are already over. Why couldn't we have had two games each day. Would have easily dropped one week off the schedule. Also the Kiwis have played their second game while most others are yet to play their first.
  • In cricketing news, Ireland beat West Indies. Ireland have been focused on breaking into the big league and want to play Test Cricket. Also they have been beaten 3 Test nations in the last two World Cups. While West Indies is focused on infighting between the players and the Board. So given the context, Ireland's win was certainly no upset.
  • Mixed emotions for Simmons family. Lendl scored a heroic back to the wall century, but Uncle Phil who is coaching the Irish had the last laugh.
  • There was a certain calmness about the Irish chase which was in total contrast to the Kiwi's chase against the Scots. It was an odd sort of game. New Zealand chased down the small Scottish total with 25 overs to spare, yet somehow losing 7 wickets also and giving their net run rate a healthy boost. They never looked in any danger of losing, though the final victory margin may suggest otherwise.
  • Early thoughts on the World Cup so far. 300+ scores are becoming monotonous. And the bowlers are being slaughtered. This 4-fielder rule is killing the bowling sides, specially with boundaries pushed back.
  • 6 games gone and not a single real close one so far. There have been intriguing ones and some nervous moments here and there, but no down-to-the-wire, all-three-results-are-possible kind of finish.
  • Prediction Time - Afghanistan to upset Bangladesh with the help of their pace attack, while Zimbabwe to easily beat UAE.
And closing today's episode with this video featuring Sri Lanka and The Lion King :)

Sunday, February 15, 2015

World Cup 2015: Short Notes - 15th Feb

Today was the big one. The clash of the neighboring continental giants and fierce rivals. After a spirited show, Zimbabwe came up short against their more fancied rivals. 
  • Zimbabwe have already surpassed expectations. And are now looking a strong contender for a knock-out berth.
  • South Africa stuttered initially but their depth in batting rescued them from a precarious situation into an unbeatable one.
  • David Miller & Jean Paul Duminy are now the proud owners of the record for the highest 5th wicket partnership in ODI history. A record which went by almost unnoticed because all eyes were on the other game going on in Adelaide.
Which brings me to the real game of the day.
  • It was supposed to be the biggest game of the World Cup, yet inspite of the few nervous moments, India walked away with their biggest ever World Cup victory against Pakistan. 
  • 6-Nil. इस बार भी नहीं आया मौका।
  • India still not managing to make full utilization of the end overs. This was something of a bugbear for India last time around as well.
  • DRS controversy made another appearance. Again its not the system, its the people handling it and their awareness/ignorance of the rules regarding its usage which is creating all the trouble.
  • Sohail Khan appealed for LBW on his very first delivery to Shikhar Dhawan. The umpire signalled not out and Sohail immediately called for DRS while Misbah rushed to recall the DRS review. Fortunately the umpire listened to Misbah as the replay showed the ball hitting Dhawan bang in the middle of his bat. 
  • Yasir Shah can easily pass off as Lionel Messi.
  • This Indian habit off slowing down when approaching a century (e.g. Kohli today) could land us in major trouble in the future. 
  • Sir Jadeja's legend got enhanced further when he strolled for run and Pakistan had ample time to run him out, not once but twice and both times they missed.
  • Misbah left last man standing. A scene oft-repeated in the past few years, specially against India.
  • A for Akmal, B for Ball, C for Catch, D for Drop, An Akmal putting down a catch, another recurring theme for Pakistan
  • And finally a joke to sum up Pakistan's misery

What does Feb 16 have in store for us?
  • The crucial West Indies - Ireland encounter
  • IPL Player Auctions

Saturday, February 14, 2015

World Cup 2015: Short Notes - 14th Feb

After seemingly endless rounds of warm-up games (results of which were taken seriously by everyone except the teams concerned), during the course of which they even held the Opening Ceremony, the actual World Cup tournament has finally begun. And like the previous edition Slispstream Cricket is going to present the "Short Notes" featuring random notes on the games gone by and the occasional prediction. 
  • The hosts have started their respective campaigns on similar emphatic notes. Bat first, score big and then knock-out the opponent.
  • If England-Australia and Sri Lanka-New Zealand games are this one-sided, wonder what kind of massacre the games involving the minnows Associates will be.
  • New Zealand have emphatically shown why they should be considered the tournament favourites - a solid top order combined with an explosive middle, and a made for conditions pace bowling attack with Vettori providing the spin variety. They are looking good to go all the way.
  • Australia had small scares but their win was as emphatic as could be in an opener. Now only question remaining is how do they fit in Michael Clarke into the line-up? The potential names for the chop - Finch, Bailey & March all came in good, making them pretty much undroppable for the next game.
  • Its a good idea to play the national anthems before the game, But it might not be such a good idea for the camera to pan in on the England's Irish captain Eoin Morgan during the rendition of "God Save the Queen".
  • DRS issues came into the play sooner than expected. James Anderson being given run-out after referral on an LBW during which the ball had technically been dead. Again issue here was not DRS per se but the men using it. Cricket always teaches you new things. 
  • Steve Finn gets tournament's first hat-trick and the first Michelle while Aaron Finch is the first centurion.
And now for tomorrow's games. Two sets of neighboring countries taking on each other. South Africa to win against Zimbabwe while as for the other one, watch this pre-game and lets say no more

Thursday, February 12, 2015

World Cup Preview - Group B

Today's post presents short preview of the Group B Teams. A group with the more likelihood of upsets and 6 teams in contention for the 4 knock-out berths.

India
India are the defending champions and have a marketing campaign running on the line "Won't Give It Back". They have also been in Australia for nearly 3 months now in the course of which they have won a grand total of 1 game, a warm-up against Afghanistan. Recent form shows an explosive but misfiring batting lineup combined with a pop-gun bowling attack and some not so good fielding. The schedule has the tougher games first and the easier (on paper) games later. Difficult to see them go far in the tournament.
World Cup Aim - Wont Give It Back. 

South Africa
A fantastic batting lineup backed up a deadly bowling attack. On paper and form, they should be the favorites to win the World Cup. But then this is South Africa we are talking about. They should have won the World Cup at least twice and made it to the finals at least 4 times. But in reality they have been finding new ways of losing out in the first opportunity. Form suggests a first World Cup victory. History suggests they will be knocked out in the quarters. 
World Cup Aim - Get rid off the Chokers tag

Pakistan
They are the very definition of unpredictability. Also they have been hit hard by the recent ICC crackdown on chucking. Yet they have managed to unearth replacements in no time. One thing which can be predicted about Pakistan with certainty is that the bowling talent pipeline never dries. How much they progress will depend more on which Pakistan turns up to play.
World Cup Aim - Beat India for once and get that monkey off the back.

West Indies
Just a shadow of the once great team. Also riddled by too many player-board disputes and team selection issues. Yet they can still pack a punch on their day. But they cannot take the quarter-final spot for granted. Both Ireland & Zimbabwe will be gunning for their head in the race to the knock-outs.
World Cup Aim - Don't abandon the campaign midway like that India tour.

Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe would have been a good cricketing nation if not for all the political troubles over the last decade and a half. They have been slowly rebuilding but are lacking the necessary resources. The warm-up performances have been heartening and given the West Indies's troubles they would certainly be in the running for a knock-out spot.
World Cup Target - Carry on rebuilding

Ireland
The Irish have been the success story of the last two World Cups. Yet they have been the victims of all the wrong-doings of the big boys of the cricketing world. They hardly get to play the big nations. And the Irish national team is becoming a sort of a recruitment center for England. However this time around they have a good chance of making it to the knock-outs. But will they be able to remains the questions.
World Cup Target - At least one if not more big boy scalp to their name (Pakistan/South Africa/India better watch out)

UAE
The UAE are back playing in the World Cup after a gap of 19 years. But not expecting much from them.
World Cup Target - Avoid getting hammered in every game and try to beat the Irish.

Key Games 
  • India vs Pakistan
  • Zimbabwe vs West Indies
  • Zimbabwe vs Ireland
  • Ireland vs West Indes
South Africa, India and Pakistan should make it to the Quarters. The 4th place will be tough fight between West Indies, Zimbabwe and Ireland. This is certainly the more intriguing group.

Now let the games begin.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

World Cup Preview - Group A

The World Cup is almost there on us. And like the teams, the fans are also slowly but surely warming up to the event. Now, while we wait for the real event to start, Slipstream Cricket presents short previews of each of the participating teams. 

Covered in today's post are the teams in Group A.

Australia
Australia are the hosts, have the best knowledge of the local conditions, a good attack, an in-form batting line-up. But they also have to resolve their captaincy conundrum. Their is a good chance the captaincy might be passing between an unfit Clarke, the less in-form Bailey and the heir apparent Steve Smith. The Aussie selectors may have over-gambled on this matter. Also there will be shadow of the tragic events earlier in the season.
Prediction - Should make the quarters easily and their going all the way won't be too much of a surprise.

New Zealand
They are the co-hosts, have the best local knowledge, a super pace attack for the conditions with good spin support and a batting line-up in the form of their life, and they are the masters in sledging (refer last World Cup Quarter-finals against South Africa).
Prediction - Should make the Quarters easily. My pick for lifting the Cup.

England
The entertainers of the last World Cup. Good bowling attack but the batting seems to lack the extra explosive fire-power which all the other teams seem to be have.
Prediction - Quarter-finals, but not beyond.

Sri Lanka
They have been consistency personified in the last few ICC events though they have had a rough time in the recent series in New Zealand. They have an added incentive of winning it for their retiring legends Sangakkara & Jayawardene. A fully fit Malinga holds the key for Sri Lanka to go far.
Prediction - Quarter-finals

Bangladesh
Not played well at all in the big tournaments. The team is mercurial and may cause an odd upset but they are equally prone to being beaten by the Associates. The Bangladesh-England match is likely to decide the last knock-out spot from this group.
Prediction - Group Stage

Afghanistan
The World Cup debutantes Afghanistan have been the feel-good story of the sporting world. Their rise in the global game is the stuff fairy-tales are made of. Their decent pace attack is countered by their inconsistent batting. They are the banana skin match for the big teams in the group.
Prediction - Group Stage

Scotland
Scotland shouldn't provide much trouble to any of the other teams. Their aim would be to put it past fellow Associate Afghanistan and not embarrass themselves against the big boys.
Prediction - Group Stage

Key Games

  • Bangladesh vs England
  • Australia vs New Zealand
  • Afghanistan vs Scotland
Next time - Preview of Group B teams.

Monday, February 9, 2015

The World Cup Memories - 2011

Remembering the World Cups gone by is a nice way to fill in the waiting time for the World Cup action to commence. Prior to the previous edition of the World Cup, I had jotted down the memories I had of the earlier World Cups (Click for 1992, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007). And now for the memories of the 2011 edition.

The 2011 World Cup was the first one closely followed via social media as well as conventional media. So it was quite common to have the game live on televsion as well as following ball-by-ball commentary on cricinfo while tracking twitter constantly. It was also the first world cup which was followed comprehensively by this blog. Regular match notes and thoughts were posted. Hence I have quite a big bank of memories from this edition.

First up is obviously the winning moment. Dhoni blasting a six as the whole of India erupted. The Cup had been won back after 28 years. Also lots of memories of the celebrations which followed. The whole team jumping up and down, many in tears, the players doing a victory lap with the support staff walking behind them arm in arm. 

It was also a World Cup of quotes, especially from the Indians. Sehwag started it with wanting to bat for 50 overs, a mission he wasn't able to fulfill, he also declared that everyone except Sreesanth had a good game, Zaheer Khan asserting that as a bowling unit , he was doing well and finally Virat Kohli after the final stating that Tendulkar had carried them for years and now it was the team's turn.

Then there was Entertaining England. Every single game of theirs was a close one. In the group stages they lost to Ireland and Bangladesh while tying with India and beating South Africa and West Indies. There scripts were written elsewhere as they lit up an otherwise drab group stage.

The biggest game wasn't the final, it was the semi-final when India took on Pakistan. Our then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh invited his Pakistani counterpart and they watched the game together. The Sri Lankan President also jumped into cricket diplomacy mode and invited his Kiwi counterpart for the other semi-final. But the long distances curtailed this cricketing diplomacy.

And on the cricketing front, there was Yuvraj Singh's all-round show, Ross Taylor's slog overs blast against Pakistan, Kevin O'Brien's stunning six after six against England (which was later transformed into a a book), Zaheer Khan's knuckle balls which swung many a match India's way, Bangladesh self-imploding while West Indies team bus got stoned being mistaken for the Bangladeshi bus. Australia's winning streak coming to an end and finally South Africa choking again.

And finally the Bleed Blue campaign. We were the World Champions. And it was a sense of collective and pure joy which hasn't been felt since.

Now over to the 2015 edition and lets see what memories it will have in store for us.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Ranji trophy 14-15: Jharkhand vs Services

Match Summary: Services (230 & 235) lost to Jharkhand (387 & 84/1) by 9 wickets
Points: Jharkhand 6, Services 0

You wait the whole season for one victory and when the team is out of the race of the knock-outs, two of them them come in arow right at the fag end of the season.

Services could muster 230 in their first innings with the Jharkhand bowlers sharing the wickets around. A maiden century by Shiv Gautam anchored Jharkhand's innings taking them to a big first innings lead. In the second innings Services could only score 235 with Samar Quadri emerging the wrecker-in-chief. Jharkhand knocked off the meagre target of 84 for the loss of a single wicket. And they earned an extra day-off at the end of the season.

Highlights:
  • Shiv Gautam's maiden first class century.
  • Samar Quadri's 8 wicket match haul including 6 in the second innings.
Season Stats:
Top Scorers:
  1. Ishank Jaggi 670 @74.44
  2. Saurabh Tiwary 566 @51.45
  3. Ishan Kishan 451 @41.00
Most Wickets: 
  1. Samar Quadri 29 @24.45
  2. Shahbaz Nadeem 28 @25.54
  3. Rituraj Singh 20  @31.60
Points Tally - 21 points from 8 games. Final rank can be anywhere between 4 and 6 depending on the results of Kerala and Andhra games.

Season Notes
  • Lots of inconsistency in the team selection with 20 players representing the team this season. 
  • Jharkhand is the home team for MS Dhoni, hence the high turn-out of wicket-keeper batsmen in this season. In all 4 keepers were used. In the last game against Services, there were 3 of them in the line-up occupying the top 3 slots as well.
  • The captaincy changed mid-season with Kumar Deobrat taking over from Saurabh Tiwary who resigned to concentrate on his batting. Tiwary scored 3 centuries justifying his decision, while Deobrat's form took a nose-dive.
  • Lots of youngsters were tried. The likes of Ishan Kishan, Virat Singh, Prakash Munda, Sumit Kumar got their first taste of first class cricket. Some of them certainly showed enough signs of a potentially good future. Lets see what they have in store for us in the coming season.
  • Batting was mostly inconsistent though Ishank Jaggi returned to form with 2 double centuries. However all of them did not perform together as as a team except in one game.
  • Bowling was managed by Nadeem, Quadri and new import Rituraj Singh. The return of Varun Aaron from international duty certainly bolstered the attack. 
  • In all 2 wins, 1 loss, 5 draws with only one innings lead. Certainly more was needed. So we stay in Group C for next year as well.
Coming Up Next - Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Ranji Trophy 14-15: Jharkhand vs Goa

Match Summary: Jharkhand (385 & 55/2  beat Goa (215 & 233 f/o) 
Points: Jharkhand 6, Goa 0

Finally Jharkhand managed to secure a win, albeit it was against bottom placed Goa. Yet it is still a win.

Jharkhand batted first. Saurabh Tiwary's 162 and Shiv Gautam's 76 built a solid platform which they weren't able to fully capitalize on. A typical lower order collapse saw the team manage only 385. But even this was enough to make Goa follow-on. Quadri and Nadeem again ran through the Goan lineup and Jharkhand had a meager target of 55 in the 4th innings. They were certainly in with a chance to secure the bonus point but a couple of early blows put that possibility out of equation. And Jharkhand moved on to an 8 wicket victory.

Highlights:
  • Saurbah Tiwary's 3rd century of the season.
  • Samar Quadri's 9 wicket match haul
  • Shabaz Nadeem's 6 wicket match haul
Season Stats:
Top Scorer: Ishank Jaggi 607 @75.88
Most Wickets: Shahbaz Nadeem 24 @24.04

Standings - 15 points from 7 games. Stay in the 6th place. They can move up a couple of spots depending on the next set of results.

Coming Up Next - 8th ranked Services.