tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29317727223798616142024-03-19T14:17:32.247+05:30Slipstream CricketThoughts on the Cricketing World
by an avid watcherNishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.comBlogger530125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-36735930546856887822023-06-02T16:08:00.000+05:302023-06-02T16:08:02.479+05:30IPL 2023: The Afterthoughts<div style="text-align: justify;">After a gap of few seasons returning to this blog with a post on the IPL After-thoughts (A name inspired by the times when IPL After-party was as important a feature of the tournament as the games itself!)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So what will we remember this season for? Lets see</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li><b>The battle of the eyeballs</b>: the biggest matchup was not between the teams on the field but between Star Sports and JioCinema. One product on two different media with different broadcasters for the first time. Not sure about whose numbers to believe, but in the end the viewer was the winner!</li><li><b>The circle of Life</b>: Gujarat Titans played against Chennai Super Kings in Ahmedabad to kick start the tournament. Almost a couple of months down the line, the same two teams were at the same venue fighting for the title!</li><li><b>Performance of the tournament</b>: <b>Rinku Singh</b> clobbering 5 sixes off the final 5 balls to win KKR a seemingly lost game. And this wasn’t the only heist he pulled off.</li><li><b>The Yellove</b>: Or rather it was just the love for <b>MS Dhoni</b> which turned almost every single away stadium into a sea of yellow! End result, this was one of the more popular CSK tournament wins ever.</li><li><b>Six</b>: That’s the number of IPL titles <b>Ambati Rayudu </b>has, as he walks away into the sunset. A career which could be qualified as a success and as well as leaving you wondering, “what could have been”.</li><li><b>Tales of Redemption</b>: Like phoenix they rose from the ashes – <b>Mohit Sharma, Piyush Chawla, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra</b>. A series of feel-good stories.</li><li>The Rise of <b>the Young Uncapped Indian Batters</b>: <b>Rinku Singh, Sai Sudarshan, Tilak Varma, Prabhsimran Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Nehal Wadhera, Dhruv Jurel, Jitesh Sharma</b> – what a wonderful crop of talent. Unlike the previous lot, they are not all top order run-accumulators.</li><li>On the flip side, <b>where are the new Indian bowlers</b>?</li><li><b>Impact Player Rule</b>: Gave something more for the team strategists to mull over, but has it diluted the role of some players. Shivam Dube and Rahul Tewatia hardly bowled. Gill, Jaiswal, Rayudu. SKY mostly did not even have to field. From the need for multi-dimensional players, we may swing the other way to single skilled specialists.</li><li><b>Game of Small Margins</b>: If <b>Sandeep Sharma’</b>s last delivery against SRH had been legal, Rajasthan Royals would have been in the play-offs. Instead, it was a no-ball and the subsequent delivery was deposited in the stands.</li><li>And finally on the raging debate: <b>running out the non-striker</b>. At least, now it can be safely said, it does require skill. Just ask <b>Harshal Patel</b>. And is probably the only mechanism to keep batters within the line. </li></ol>And so it was, an action packed tournament concludes and more “serious” cricket returns.</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-14428500982806176402023-02-15T15:55:00.006+05:302023-02-15T15:55:53.921+05:30Women's Premier LeagueA few numbers from the inaugural Women's Premier League<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>₹ 4,669 Cr - Bidding amount for 5 franchisees </li><li>₹ 951 Cr - Broadcast rights for 5 years</li><li>₹ 59.65 Cr - Players’ Auction. </li></ul><div>However, the way it panned out the teams seemed willing to go beyond the ₹ 12 Cr cap placed on each of them. </div><div><br /></div><div>Seeing the numbers here, especially in light with global sports (and not just women’s league), seems BCCI have underestimated their own product! Given the level of interest, they could easily have gone for extra teams, more players & larger purses for the franchisees. </div><div><br /></div><div>The expansion of the league is not too far away!</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-53116388444310846452023-02-08T17:11:00.000+05:302023-02-08T17:11:01.962+05:30Ranji Trophy 2022-23: Jharkhand Review<div style="text-align: justify;">Jharkhand were placed in the Elite Group C. After a roller-coaster ride in the league stages, the Virat Singh led squad finished second and reached the Quarter-finals. In a repeat of last season’s match-up they again lost to Bengal and ended their campaign.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Once again it was the veterans Saurabh Tiwary and Shahbaz Nadeem who stole the show with Nadeem reaching the milestone of 500 first-class wickets. Anukul Roy had a good outing with both bat and ball, while Kumar Kushagra kept a firm grip on the wicket-keeping gloves in absence of Ishan Kishan who missed most of the season being on national duty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here is the game by game summary of the season.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 1: Kerala 475 & 187/7d beat Jharkhand 340 & 237 by 85 runs</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Points: Jharkhand 0, Kerala 6</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li>First Class Debut: Manishi</li><li>Ishan Kishan - 132 in 1st innings, 6th First class century</li><li>Shahbaz Nadeem - 5/167 & 5/79, 23rd & 24th 5-wicket and 7th 10-wicket haul</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 2: Jharkhand 386 & 212/3d drew with Goa 362 & 61/3</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Points: Jharkhand 3, Goa 1</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li>Virat Singh – 100* in 2nd innings, 8th First class century, completes 2000 First-class runs in 38th match</li><li>Utkarsh Singh - 1000 career first-class runs in 25th match</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 3: Services 367 & 214 lost to Jharkhand 551/8d & 31/1 by 9 wickets</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Points: Jharkhand 6, Services 0</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li>Anukul Roy - 6/67 & 4/63 and 57, 1st 5-wicket haul & 1st 10-wicket match haul</li><li>Saurabh Tiwary - 165, 20th First Class Century</li><li>Shahbaz Nadeem - 60 & 5/78, 25th 5-wicket haul</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 4: Jharkhand 92 & 470/9d drew with Rajasthan 287 & 194/4</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Points: Jharkhand 1, Rajasthan 3</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li>First Class Debut: Aryaman Sen, Supriyo Chakraborty</li><li>Aryaman Sen - 38 & 119, Century on debut & top scorer in both innings</li><li>Anukul Roy - 125 in 2nd Innings, 3rd First Class Century</li><li>Ashish Kumar - 5/76 in 1st innings, 5th 5-wicket haul</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 5: Jharkhand 103 & 366 beat Chhattisgarh 113 & 312 by 44 runs</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Points: Jharkhand 6, Chhattisgarh 0</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li>Shahbaz Nadeem - <b>500 First-class wickets </b>in 129 games</li><li>Ashish Kumar - 5/44 in 1st innings, 6th 5-wicket haul</li><li>Anukul Roy - 5/45 in 2nd innings, 2nd 5-wicket haul</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 6: Pondicherry 231 & 250 lost to Jharkhand 412 & 73/0 by 10 wickets</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Points: Jharkhand 7, Pondicherry 0</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li>First Class Debut: Monu Kumar</li><li>Virat Singh - 124 in 1st innings, 9th First Class Century</li><li>Saurabh Tiwary - 116 in 1st innings, 21st First Class Century</li><li>Kumar Deobrat - 50th First Class match</li><li>Anukul Roy - 1,000 career runs in 23rd match</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 7: Jharkhand 164 & 201 lost to Karnataka 300 & 66/1 by 9 wickets</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Points: Jharkhand 0, Karnataka 6</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li>Kumar Suraj - 1,000 career runs in 15th first-class match</li><li>Shahbaz Nadeen - 5/141 in 1st innings, 26th 5-wicket haul</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Group Stage: Jharkhand finished with 23 points, and somehow with all their opponents also messing up ended in 2nd spot to qualify for the knockouts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Quarter-Finals: Jharkhand 173 & 221 lost to Bengal 328 & 69/1 by 9 wickets</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Season Stats</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Scorers</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Saurabh Tiwary: 653 @59.36 2x100, 4x50</li><li>Virat Singh: 498 @38.31, 2x100, 2x50</li><li>Kumar Kushagra: 429 @33.00, 2x50</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Wicket-takers</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Shahbaz Nadeem: 42 @26.81, 4x5</li><li>Anukul Roy: 26 @22.77, 2x5</li><li>Ashish Kumar: 19 @26.89, 2x5</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Top Score</b>: Saurabh Tiwary 165 vs Services</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Best Bowling</b>: Anukul Roy 6/67 vs Services</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Players Used</b>: 21 </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>First Class Debuts</b>: 4</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-55677965141961393002023-02-01T15:57:00.006+05:302023-02-01T15:59:23.399+05:30Ranji Trophy 2022-23: Bihar Review<div style="text-align: center;"><b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEihYiTej9AD0MAiK5iDmhdfkmefbKmsEIYRRDdED-bfBTQLHsntvJCI_PbiBK34fPMGWHPQ485zNYXfPPXkDE_KvKEIjJzjHgKcG-dL_XARXvT3B-51nXgmNnZpNcdlIeJAiYNwNczUc_0O_x3YIAnRwh6mPyqQhb9aYm7_H-qZ2Ggk7LfN22M0cVQ61A" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEihYiTej9AD0MAiK5iDmhdfkmefbKmsEIYRRDdED-bfBTQLHsntvJCI_PbiBK34fPMGWHPQ485zNYXfPPXkDE_KvKEIjJzjHgKcG-dL_XARXvT3B-51nXgmNnZpNcdlIeJAiYNwNczUc_0O_x3YIAnRwh6mPyqQhb9aYm7_H-qZ2Ggk7LfN22M0cVQ61A" width="320" /></a></div><br /></b><b>Bihar - Ranji Plate League Champions</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That has a nice ring to it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bihar were placed in the 6 team Plate Group. After finishing 4th in the group stage, the Ashutosh Aman lead side upped the ante and registered comprehensive victories in the semi-finals and finals to be crowned the inaugural Plate League winners of the Ranji Trophy. And they also got the much-awaited promotion to the Elite League next year!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here is a game-by-game review of the season</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 1: Arunachal Pradesh 212 & 84 lost to Bihar 517 by an innings & 221 runs</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Points: Bihar 7, Arunachal Pradesh 0</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li>First Class Debut: Baljeet Singh Bihari, Adhiraj Johri</li><li>Adhiraj Johri – 118, Century on Debut</li><li>Sachin Kumar – 156, 1st First Class Century & Player of the Match</li><li>Malay Raj – 2/48 & 5/35, 1st 5-wicket haul</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 2: Bihar 311 & 287/9d drew with Manipur 296 & 248/8</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Points: Bihar 3, Manipur 1</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li>Babul Kumar – 156, 4th First Class Century</li><li>Malay Raj – 5/35, 2nd 5-wicket haul</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 3: Bihar 264 & 99 lost to Meghalaya 167 & 200/6 by 4 wickets</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Points: Bihar 0, Meghalaya 6</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li>First Class Debut – Anuj Raj, Raghuvendra Pratap Singh</li><li>Bipin Saurabh – 107 in 1st innings; 1st First Class century</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 4: Sikkim 157 & 122/4 drew with Bihar 157</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Points: Bihar 1, Sikkim 1</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li>Veer Pratap Singh – 5/30, 4th 5-wicket haul</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 5: Bihar 474 drew with Mizoram 176 & 379/6 (f/o)</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Points: Bihar 3, Mizoram 1</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li>First Class Debut: Varun Raj</li><li>Babul Kumar – 209, 5th First class century</li><li>Shivam Singh – 110, 1st First class century</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bihar finished 4th in the Group Stage and met group toppers Meghalaya in the Semi-Finals</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Plate League Semi-Final: Bihar 428 & 164 beat Meghalaya 134 & 156 by 302 runs and qualified for the Elite League next season</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li>First Class Debut: Nawaz Khan</li><li>Bipin Saurabh – 177 in the 1st innings, 2nd First-class century</li><li>Ashutosh Aman – 150 first-class wickets</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Plate League Final: Bihar 546 & 335 beat Manipur 337 & 224 by 220 runs</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li>Sakibul Gani – 205 in 1st innings, 3rd First-class century, 1,000 career runs in 10th game</li><li>Sachin Kumar – 132 in 2nd innings, 2nd First-class century</li><li>Bipin Saurabh – 155 in 1st innings, 3rd First-class century</li><li>Nazwaz Khan – 5/82 & 5/95, 1st & 2nd 5-wicket haul and 1st 10-wicket haul</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Season Stats</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Scorers</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Sakibul Gani: 585 @53.18, 1x100, 3x50</li><li>Sachin Kumar: 562 @51.09, 2x100, 2x50</li><li>Bipin Saurabh: 521 @47.36, 3x100, 1x50</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Wicket-takers</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Ashutosh Aman: 28 @21.25,</li><li>Sachin Kumar: 20 @24.35</li><li>Veer Pratap Singh: 16 @24.94, 1x5</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Top Score</b>: Babul Kumar 209 vs Mizoram</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Best Bowling</b>: Veer Pratap Singh 5/30 vs Sikkim</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Players Used</b>: 24</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>First Class Debuts</b>: 6</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;">Overall, a good season for Bihar with Sachin Kumar being their best player closely followed by Bipin Saurabh. Looking forward to the next season in the Elite Leagues now!</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-38250733950807886782023-01-09T20:39:00.002+05:302023-01-09T20:39:56.806+05:30The Twenty22 LineUp<div style="text-align: justify;">We are already a few days into 2023 and the laws of cricket have been called into question in the Big Bash League. Before the year gets too far ahead, here is looking back at the year gone by. 2022 was a packed year for cricket with many countries clearing their covid backlogs. It was also the year in which we moved away from Covid with players participating actively in games even after testing positive. A far cry from the days when even those who had potentially come in close contact with them had to be put in isolation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here is presenting the Slipstream XI for 2022!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>1. Cricketing Term of the Year – BazBall</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">BazBall is the real deal. Winning multiple improbable 4th innings chases, taking out a dead Rawalpindi pitch and bad light out of the equation, England are showing that Test cricket can be played differently! This after a horror start to the year after another pounding in Australia in the Ashes!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>2. The Question of the Laws</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ben Stokes took a DRS Review after being given caught behind. Replays showed ball missed bat, hit the stumps but the bails did not fall off. Given not out on review, everyone had a hearty laugh, but it once again brings into question of LBW is a valid form of dismissal at all?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><b>3. Coach of the Year</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Given the headline dominating BazBall, Brendon McCullum should have been a cert for this award. But it goes to the other England coach, <b>Matthew Mott</b>, who in 2022, first lead the Australian women to an ODI World Championship and followed it up by leading the England Men to a T20 World Championship!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><b>4. The Perseverance Award</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">12 Years after his Test debut, <b>Jaydev Unadkat </b>got to play his second Test for India. He may never play again, but what a story it has been, toiling year after year on the domestic circuit, and finally getting his second Test cap, and first wicket</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><b>5. The cricketing moment of the Year</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There were a few contenders - Virat Kohli hitting that six off Haris Rauf (18.5), Stuart Broad conceding 35 runs in an over to Jasprit Bumrah, surreal scenes in BPL where the fielder’s throw hit both sets of stumps and the second one was runout. But the most talked about incident turned out to be <b>Deepti Sharma running out Charlie Dean </b>at the non-strikers end. The so called guardians of “Spirit of Cricket” were all up in arms on social media, where the debate raged on and on. The players themselves moved on fast with Deam attempting a run-out the very next day. Only issue was the non-striker had her feet firmly plonked behind the line!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><b>6. Rivalry of the Year</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Move over the Ashes, India-Pakistan, England-West Indies or even the Naagin rivalry (Sri Lanka – Bangladesh for the uninitiated). There is a new rivalry in town which has in origins in a <b>Mr. Bean’s </b>Pakistani duplicate being sent to an agriculture event in Zimbabwe a few years back! It came to light only in the T20 World Cup clash between Zimbabwe and Pakistan (won by Zimbabwe). Such was the storm on social media that even the Heads of States of both countries got involved!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><b>7. Friendship of the Year</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On the other hand, there were the Argentine fans of Bangladesh cricket, who were reciprocating their support after learning that there were more Albiceleste fans in Bangladesh than in Argentina itself. Result – Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s series winning exploits against India were also written in Spanish across the interwebs! That is one interesting way to grow the game.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><b>8. Karma bites back</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the Ranji Trophy <a href="http://batball2cricket.blogspot.com/2022/03/ranji-trophy-2021-22-pre-quarter-final.html" target="_blank">pre-quarter finals</a>, Jharkhand batted on and on, scored 880 runs, shot out Nagaland for 289, then batted again and declared at 417 taking a lead of 1008 runs (first 4-digit lead in first class history). However in their very next game, they were at the receiving end. In the <a href="http://batball2cricket.blogspot.com/2022/06/ranji-trophy-2021-22-quarter-finals.html" target="_blank">Quarter-finals</a>, Bengal batted first scored 773, shot out Jharkhand for 298 and then batted again to pile up 318 runs. Just a small lead of 796 runs!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>9. Ypu Gate</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A journalist threatening an international cricketer and getting caught by his typos. Well done <b>Wriddhiman Saha </b>for exposing one rotten apple. But one wonders what else goes on behind the scenes. This ypu can’t be the only one who has indulged in such activities!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>10. The Debutantes of the Year</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>ODI (W)</b>: Thailand</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>T20I (M)</b>: Cook Islands, Croatia, Fiji, Gambia, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Mali, Slovenia, South Korea, St. Helena</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>T20I (W)</b>: Bahrain, Barbados, Denmark, Gambia, Ghana, Greece, Isle of Man, Malta, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Spain</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><b>11. The New Format of the Year</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">West Indies compressed the game to 60 balls and made random changes along they way and came with <b>The 6ty</b>. It had its own set of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_season_of_The_6ixty#Rules" target="_blank">bizarre innovations</a>. Lets see which format comes along in 2023! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That was the Slipstream selection from 2022. Hoping for an action-packed 2023 with its two World Cups and Test Championship Finals. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Wishing all readers a Very Happy and statistically fun-filled cricketing Year.</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-28700008916224793342022-11-29T20:31:00.001+05:302022-11-29T20:31:18.840+05:30Vijay Hazare Trophy 2022-23: Jharkhand Review<div style="text-align: justify;">Jharkhand placed in Group B with all matches played in Kolkata. The Virat Singh lead squad finished 3rd in the Group. However, they qualified as best 3rd place team to join the 5 Group runners-up in the Pre-Quarter Finals, where they once again met Karnataka and met a similar fate. Overall, it was a decent campaign. Some of the batters were amongst the runs. And in Kumar Kushagra, they have found another wicket-keeper batter who can keep a calm head in a crisis both in chases as well as while rebuilding an innings. Won’t be surprised if some of the franchisees looking for a back-up wicket-keeper show a keen interest in him during the upcoming IPL Auction!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here is a game by game summary of the tournament.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 1: Jharkhand 309/3 (50) beat Sikkim 116/10 (40.1/50) by 193 runs</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Rahul Shukla 5/19, Utkarsh Singh 52 & 1/4, Virat Singh 75, Saurabh Tiwary 63*, Kumar Deobrat 51*</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 2: Assam 163/10 (39.4) lost to Jharkhand 166/2 (35) by 8 wickets</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Vivekanand Tiwari 4/42, Utkarsh Singh 83* & 1/12, Virat Singh 50</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 3: Jharkhand 107/10 (40.4) lost to Karnataka 108/4 (26.3) by 6 wickets</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Kumar Kushagra 56</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 4: Rajasthan 270/10 (49) lost Jharkhand 271/5 (49) by 5 wickets</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Rahul Shukla 5/53, Utkarsh Singh 91 & 1/31, Saurabh Tiwary 76</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 5: Jharkhand 321/2 (50) beat Meghalaya 129/10 (40.3) by 192 runs</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Utkarsh Singh 128*, Virat Singh 112, Vikash Singh 3/17, Sushant Mishra 3/33</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 6: Delhi 259/5 (50) lost to Jharkhand 260/5 (48.5) by 5 wickets</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Virat Singh 116*</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 7: Vidarbha 297/3 (50) beat Jharkhand 288/6 (50) by 9 runs</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Saurabh Tiwary 138*, Kumar Kushagra 55</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Pre-Quarter-Final: Jharkhand 187/10 (47.1) lost to Karnataka 188/5 (40.5) by 5 wickets</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">List A Debut: Arnav Sinha</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Kumar Kushagra 74, Anukul Roy 57</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Tournament Stats</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Scorers</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Virat Singh: 390 @ 65.00, 2x100, 2x50</li><li>Utkarsh Singh: 370 @ 61.67, 1x100, 3x50</li><li>Saurabh Tiwary: 367 @ 91.75, 1x100, 2x50</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Wicket-takers</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Rahul Shukla: 16 @ 16.25, 2x5</li><li>Shahbaz Nadeem: 8 @ 37.50</li><li>Sushant Mishra: 7 @ 19.86</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Top Score</b>: Saurabh Tiwary: 138* vs Vidarbha</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Best Bowling</b>: Rahul Shukla: 5/19 vs Sikkim</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Players Used</b>: 17 </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>List A Debuts</b>: 1</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-58346813073552324122022-11-23T18:41:00.001+05:302022-11-23T18:41:07.164+05:30Vijay Hazare Trophy 22-23: Bihar review<div style="text-align: justify;">Bihar were placed in Group C with all matches played in Bengaluru. Another poor outing for Bihar as they finished with 4 points from 2 abandoned games and 5 losses to finish 7th in the 8 strong group. The learning curve has still a long way to go for the Ashutosh Aman lead side.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There was no consistency in selection with 21 players used off whom 6 played only one game each!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here is the game by game summary</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 1: Tamil Nadu 106/2 (17.1/38) vs Bihar: Match Abandoned due to rain</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">List A Debut: Harsh Singh, Surya Vansh</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 2: Goa 329/6 beat Bihar 241/10 (46.5) by 88 runs</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Ashutosh Aman 3/42, Sachin Kumar 76, Surya Vansh 63</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 3: Bihar 158/10 (47.5) lost to Haryana 159/1 (22.2) by 9 wickets</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">List A Debut: Raghuvendra Pratap Singh</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 4: Andhra 302/7 (50) beat Bihar 170/10 (44.3) by 132 runs</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Veer Pratap Singh 60</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Vijay Vats played his first senior game in India, having earlier played in Sri Lanka earlier this year!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 5: Chhattisgarh 304/7 (50) beat Bihar 241/9 (50) by 63 runs</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">List A Debut: Adhiraj Johri, Shishir Saket</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Bipin Saurabh 110* (86)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 6: Bihar 201/10 (49.3) lost to Kerala 205/1 (24.4) by 9 wickets</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">List A Debut: Gaurav, Himansu Singh</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Sakibul Gani 68</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 7: Arunachal Pradesh 170/10 (48.4) vs Bihar 56/2 (13.5): Match abandoned due to rain</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">List A Debut: Ravi Shankar</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Ashutosh Aman 3/19, Sachin Kumar 3/26, Veer Pratap Singh 3/39</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Tournament Stats</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Scorers</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Sachin Kumar: 183 @36.60, 1x50</li><li>Bipin Saurabh: 159 @53.00, 1x100</li><li>Sakibul Gani: 113 @18.83, 1x50</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Wicket-takers</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Harsh Singh: 8 @34.75</li><li>Ashutosh Aman: 7 @ 33.57</li><li>Sachin Kumar: 6 @22.00</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Top Score</b>: Bipin Saurabh 110* vs Chhattisgarh</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Best Bowling</b>: Ashutosh Aman 3/19 vs Arunachal</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Players Used</b>: 21</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>List A Debuts</b>: 8</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Overall, a very disappointing show from Bihar. Lets see how they perform in the Ranji Trophy</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-42808942855350671782022-10-27T19:05:00.001+05:302022-10-27T19:05:01.625+05:30Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy 2022-23: Bihar Review<div style="text-align: justify;">Bihar were placed in Group D. All matches held in Indore and mostly televised live presenting a great opportunity for the players to present their cases for the next IPL auctions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Things did not go too well for the Ashutosh Aman lead side. They beat Nagaland and almost trumped Andhra but were outplayed in the other matches to finish 6th in the group.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here is the game-by-game summary of the tournament for Bihar.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 1: Nagaland 145/8 (20) lost to Bihar 148/4 (19.1) by 6 wickets</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">T20 Debut: Raghuvendra Pratap Singh, Rishav Raj</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Anuj Raj 4/32, Abhijeet Saket 2/19, Bipin Saurabh 29 (19), Sachin Kumar 34* (18)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 2: Himachal Pradesh (179/7) (20) beat Bihar 150/6 (20) by 29 runs</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">T20 Debut: Anshuman Raj, Apurva Anand</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Sakibula Gani 48 (29), Bipin Saurabh 40 (32)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 3: Baroda 156/5 (20) beat Bihar 120/8 (20) by 36 runs</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Anuj Raj 2/19, Sachin Kumar 0/15 & 38 (35)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 4: Bihar 181/2 (20) lost to Andhra 186/8 (19.4) by 2 wickets</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">T20 Debut: Pietar Mardi, Sakib Hussain</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Babul Kumar 72 (50), Bipin Saurabh 52 (39), Abhijeet Saket 3/31</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 5: Bihar 119/10 (19.4) lost to Saurashtra 124/2 (14.1) by 8 wickets</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">T20 Debut: Roshan Madhav</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 6: Bihar 161/7 (20) lost to Gujarat 165/6 (14) by 4 wickets</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Mangal Mahrour 51* (37), Sakib Hussain 4/20</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Tournament Stats</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Scorers</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Bipin Saurabh: 141 @ 23.50, 1x50</li><li>Sakibul Gani 140 @ 28.00</li><li>Sachin Kumar 127 @ 31.75</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Wicket-takers</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Anuj Raj: 9 @ 14.56</li><li>Abhijeet Saket: 7 @ 25.14</li><li>Sakib Hussain: 4 @ 11.75</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Top Score</b>: Babul Kumar 72 vs Andhra </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Best Bowling</b>: Sakib Hussain 4/20 vs Gujarat</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Players Used</b>: 20</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>T20 Debuts</b>: 7</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Overall, not much to write about for the Bihar team, although the things are improving slightly.</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-78445264007984784672022-10-26T19:18:00.007+05:302022-10-26T19:18:56.683+05:30Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy 2022-23: Jharkhand Review<div style="text-align: justify;">Jharkhand were placed in Group E with all matches held in Lucknow. It was a disappointing tourney for the Virat Singh led side, as they started off with a couple of games abandoned and stumbled to two defeats. Two wins at the end redeemed the tournament a bit but overall nothing much to write home about for Jharkhand as they finished 4th in the group.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here is the game wise summary</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 1: Jharkhand vs Bengal – Abandoned without a ball bowled</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 2: Jharkhand vs Chhattisgarh – Abandoned without a ball bowled</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 3: Jharkhand 106/9 (20) lost to Chandigarh 107/1 (17.3) by 9 wickets</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">T20 Debut: Aayush Bhardwaj, Rajandeep Singh</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 4: Tamil Nadu 138/10 (20) beat Jharkhand 126/8 (20) by 12 runs</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Nadeem 4/12, Vikash Singh 3/22, Virat Singh 52* (38)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 5: Jharkhand 188/5 (20) beat Odisha 117/10 (19.2) by 71 runs</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">T20 Debut: Manishi</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Ishan Kishan 102* (64), Nadeem 3/21, Anukul Roy 2/19</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 6: Sikkim 58/10 (17) lost to Jharkhand 61/0 (6) by 10 wickets</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Tournament Stats</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Scorers</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Ishan Kishan: 138 @ 69, 1x100</li><li>Virat Singh: 91 @ 45.50, 1x50</li><li>Aayush Bhardwaj: 41 @13.67</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Wicket-takers</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Shahbaz Nadeem: 8 @ 7.00</li><li>Vikash Singh: 5 @ 18.00</li><li>Vivekanand Tiwari: 3 @ 8.67</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Top Score</b>: Ishan Kishan 102* vs Odisha</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Best Bowling</b>: Shahbaz Nadeem 4/12 vs Tamil Nadu</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Players Used</b>: 17</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>T20 Debuts</b>: 3 </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Overall, nothing noteworthy from the Jharkhand team, It was the proven performers like Ishan and Nadeem who gave decent performances. Hoping for better outcomes in the coming tournaments</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-85533747329083167202022-09-14T15:26:00.005+05:302022-09-14T15:26:56.964+05:30Jharkhand 2022-23: Duleep Trophy<div style="text-align: justify;">The new domestic season kicked off with the Duleep Trophy which is returning after a gap of 2 years. Another sign that the world is returning back to normalcy after the Covid-19 pandemic!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Duleep Trophy reverted back to the inter-zonal format. Much better than being part of Elite/Plate A/B/C or India Red/Blue/Green!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">From Jharkhand, Virat Singh, Nazim Siddique, Kumar Kushagra & Shahbaz Nadeem made the East Zone squad, with Virat being named the vice-captain. In the Quarter-final against North Zone, only Virat and Nadeem made the playing XI. Virat top-scoring with 117 (his 7th century in first-class cricket) in the first innings and 7 in the 2nd. Nadeem had figures of 2/124 in the only North Zone innings. North Zone making it to the semis on the basis of 1st innings lead.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Meanwhile, our star fast bowler Varun Aaron has decided to shift to Baroda after having been part of Jharkhand squads for 18 seasons! Wishing him the best for his new stint. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So, overall, a sedate start to the season. Let's see what the rest of the season holds for the team.</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-91488205532180940362022-06-17T17:34:00.001+05:302022-06-17T17:34:08.711+05:30Arbit Stats #73: Trent Boult – Topping the Bottom <div style="text-align: justify;">In the highly entertaining Trent Bridge Test, it was Trent Boult who got the statistic to remember. During the course of his two innings, he surpassed the great Muttiah Muralitharan as the batter with the most runs scored <a href="https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?batting_positionmax1=11;batting_positionmin1=11;batting_positionval1=batting_position;class=1;filter=advanced;template=results;type=batting" target="_blank">batting at No. 11</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This is certainly a unique record as it requires the perfect amalgamation of a lot of contrasting skills into achieving it. Some of these include:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li><b>Longevity:</b> the first test for any greatness. One certainly needs a long career to produce so many runs</li><li><b>Competence with the ball:</b> otherwise you will not be put in the XI, especially these days in the era of multi-dimensional cricketers.</li><li><b>Being the worst batter of the group:</b> If you start regularly scoring more than the fair share of runs expected from a No. 11, you may get promoted to No. 10 (or higher) and that ends your bid for this record (ask Zaheer Khan, once scored 75 at No. 11 and was then bumped up the order). And the group will be regularly changing. There is far greater churn amongst bowlers due to pitch, form, rotation and injuries.</li><li><b>Luck: </b>there is a fair chance the days you are in good form having hit a couple of 4s off the middle of the bat, successfully blocking others, the next over the other guy gets out and that’s it for the innings.</li><li><b>A not so great batting order: </b>which doesn’t score so big that the captain regularly declares the innings and the last fellows don’t even get a strike in the middle. </li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Overall, a bowler with a long career, who is able to wield the bat as an instrument to collect random runs without showing any real batting skill and lots of luck. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Just look at the names in the Top 10 – Boult, Murali, Anderson, McGrath, Walsh, Willis, Statham, Ntini, Lyon, Hazlewood.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">All a perfect amalgamation of the above factors.</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-68162099275004738682022-06-10T16:10:00.005+05:302022-06-10T16:10:31.180+05:30Ranji Trophy 2021-22 Quarter-Finals: Jharkhand vs Bengal<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Bengal 773/7d 318/7d drew with Jharkhand 298/10. Bengal qualify for semi-finals</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Karma is real. That must have been the feeling of Jharkhand team as Bengal did to them what they themselves had done to Nagaland <a href="https://batball2cricket.blogspot.com/2022/03/ranji-trophy-2021-22-pre-quarter-final.html" target="_blank">in the previous game</a>. i.e., bat till the 3rd day, then skittle out the opposition, take a big lead, bat again into the 5th day, declare and then shake hands.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;">This was another game more for the statistically obsessed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highlights:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li><b>9 </b>– First ever instance of 9 batters scoring a 50 in the same first-class innings. Well done Bengal!</li><li><b>Virat Singh </b>– 6th first-class century & 3rd of the season. Maybe Sunrisers made a mistake by letting him go</li><li><b>Shahbaz Nadeem </b>– 22nd career 5-wicket haul. Unfortunately, it came in the second innings when it was all over.</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Season Stats</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Scorers</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Kumar Kushagra 439 @ 62.71, 1x200, 2x50</li><li>Virat Singh 391 @ 55.86, 3x100</li><li>Nazim Siddiqui 322 @ 35.78, 1x100, 2x50</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Wicket-takers</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Shahbaz Nadeem 25 @ 24.96, 3x5, 1x10</li><li>Sushant Mishra 16 @ 30.94, 1x5</li><li>Anukul Roy 12 @ 33.67</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Best Batting</b>: Kumar Kushagra 254 vs Nagaland</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Best Bowling</b>: Sushant Mishra 5/27 vs Chhattisgarh</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Player Count</b>: 15</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Captain Count</b>: 2</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>First-Class Debut</b>: 3</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Coming Up Next</b>: Wait for the next season to start, which should be a full one</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-15071701093372534532022-05-30T18:05:00.000+05:302022-05-30T18:05:59.832+05:30IPL 2022: Jharkhand & Bihar Performances<div style="text-align: justify;">IPL 2022 is done and dusted with Gujarat Titans winning the title in their first appearance in the tournament. Here is a short summary of the representatives of Jharkhand & Bihar teams at this edition of the IPL.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li><b>MS Dhoni </b>(CSK) – 14 Matches, 232 runs @33.14 with 1 fifty, 9 catches. After having stepped down had to take over the captaincy midway through the tournament. And he has announced that he will be back next season</li><li><b>Ishan Kishan </b>(MI) – 14 matches, 418 runs @32.15 with 3 50s, 13 catches. This was an ordinary season for Ishan, yet he scored over 400 runs and was the top run-getter for MI.</li><li><b>Varun Aaron </b>(GT) – 2 matches, 2 wickets @26 & ER of 10.40. Did not really make much use of his two outings for the eventual champions, but he has an IPL trophy now.</li><li><b>Anukul Roy </b>(KKR) – 2 matches, 1 wicket @55 & ER 7.85. Finally got some game time but no special performance.</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;">No games for Shahbaz Nadeem (LSG) and Bihar's sole representative Anunay Singh (RR).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nothing out of ordinary from the Jharkhand players in the limited outings they got. Slightly disappointing to see that given the league had expanded and teams were playing locals more often. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Next up – Ranji Trophy Quarter-finals for Jharkhand.</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-42596190566977596662022-03-22T17:51:00.002+05:302022-03-22T17:51:32.211+05:30IPL 2022: Jharkhand & Bihar Representation<div style="text-align: justify;">IPL 2022 is around the corner. It is expanded, still impacted by the pandemic but most importantly back in India. All matches in its own bubble though instead of going all over the country.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here are the representatives from Jharkhand and Bihar who will be appearing in this edition</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Jharkhand</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>MS Dhoni (Chennai Super Kings) – he may have retired from all other formats and tournaments, but Dhoni continues to a vital cog in the CSK juggernaut.</li><li>Ishan Kishan (Mumbai Indians) – MI broke the bank for Ishan. As expected, he was the highest valued player in this year’s auctions. And now has to live up to this price tag as well.</li><li>Varun Aaron (Gujarat Titans) – Should get a few games during the tournament</li><li>Anukul Roy (Kolkata Knight Riders) – moved from Mumbai Indians where he was playing more as a specialist substitute fielder. Lets see what opportunities he gets with KKR</li><li>Shahbaz Nadeem (Lucknow Super Giants) – A new franchisee for Nadeem. Should get a few games here.</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Bihar - </b>Anunay Singh (Rajasthan Royals) – first ever representative of Bihar team to be picked by an IPL team. Hope he gets some game time.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There were no takers for the likes of Saurabh Tiwary (quite surprising), Virat Singh & Utkarsh Singh who were part of last year’s squads. There could be some injury/withdrawal replacements opening up during the tournament. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Good luck to all the players! Hope they use these opportunities to further their careers.</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-73947444379162123412022-03-16T15:58:00.005+05:302022-03-16T15:58:48.710+05:30Ranji Trophy 2021-22: Pre-Quarter Final - Jharkhand vs Nagaland<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Jharkhand 880/10 & 417/6d drew with Nagaland 289/10</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">What a weird match. Played on a non-responsive pitch showing the gulf between the Elite and Plate groups. Jharkhand could be accused of not showing “intent” to win, but what would they even gain had they tried winning. Better to just bat on rather than field in these hot conditions! And they did take 100 overs to get Nagaland out in the first innings.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This was also a game for the record keepers and statisticians. And it also got the social media attention helped by the fact that it was the only Ranji game on.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Small mercy for Nagaland – everyone agreed to a Draw much before the scheduled close, otherwise they had a small matter of 1,009 runs to chase in the final innings.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And spare a thought for the Jharkhand top order who did not really join this run-feast like their middle and lower order did! And credit to Saurabh Tiwary and Virat Singh for not batting in the second innings! Meanwhile wondering how Sushant Mishra would feel for getting a pair in this match</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highlights:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li><b>880 </b>– 4th highest Ranji Trophy score ever and the highest in this millennium</li><li><b>1297 </b>– Jharkhand’s combined tally – 3rd highest match tally. I guess the team minght not have been aware of this record when they called in the second innings.</li><li>Kumar Kushagra – 254 & 89 – Maiden first-class century. Scoring big runs in the true tradition of a Jharkhand wicket-keeper (Dhoni, Ishan Kishan, Indrani Roy)</li><li>Virat Singh – 5th First-class century</li><li>Anukul Roy – 2nd first-class century & personal best of 153</li><li>Shahbaz Nadeem – 2nd first-class century & personal best of 177</li><li>Rahul Shukla – 85* coming in at No. 11. He certainly missed out on century</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Season Stats</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Scorers</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Kumar Kushagra 437 @ 72.83, 1x200, 1x50</li><li>Anukul Roy 283 @ 35.38, 1x100, 1x50</li><li>Virat Singh 278 @ 39.71, 2x100</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Wicket-takers</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Shahbaz Nadeem 18 @ 21.67, 2x5, 1x10</li><li>Sushant Mishra 13 @ 23.62, 1x5</li><li>Anukul Roy 10 @ 23.50</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Best Batting</b>: Kumar Kushagra 254 vs Nagaland</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Best Bowling</b>: Sushant Mishra 5/27 vs Chhattisgarh</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Player Count</b>: 15</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Captain Count</b>: 2</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>First-Class Debut</b>: 3</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Coming Up Next</b>: Quarter-Finals which will be held post IPL</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-24072705751427054502022-03-08T20:31:00.005+05:302022-03-08T20:31:48.127+05:30Ranji Trophy 2021-22: Bihar Review<div style="text-align: justify;">Bihar finished 5th in the Plate group with a campaign which started promisingly ending in a whimper. However, Sakibul Gani’s breakout performance were certainly the highlight of the campaign. Let’s see how he builds on from here.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ashutosh Aman lead the side. Here is a game-by-game summary of the season.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game1: Bihar 686/5d drew with Mizoram 328 & 199/4 (f/o)</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Points: Bihar 3, Mizoram 1</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highlights:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li>Sakibul Gani 341 – 1st player to score a triple century on first-class debut – world record for highest score on debut</li><li>Babul Kumar 229* - Highest score, 3rd First-class century</li><li>538 – partnership between Sakibul & Babul</li><li>Bipin Saurabh – 50 on first-class debut</li><li>First-class debut – Bipin Saurabh, Malay Raj, Sachin Kumar, Sakibul Gani, Vikash Kumar</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 2: Bihar 431/9d & 263/3 drew with Sikkim 673/8d</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Points: Bihar 1, Sikkim 3</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highlights:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li>Sakibul Gani – 98 & 101*, the fantastic start continued, 2nd First-class century</li><li>Yashasvi Rishav – 112* in 2nd innings, 2nd first-class century</li><li>First-class debut – Abhinav Kumar</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 3: Arunachal Pradesh 196 & 253 beat Bihar 109 & 325 by 15 runs</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Points: Bihar 0, Arunachal Pradesh 6</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highlights:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li>Ashutosh Aman – 4/51 & 5/56 and 75 in 2nd innings; 15th 5-wicket haul in 20 matches!</li><li>Vikrant Singh – 50 on debut</li><li>Rishav Raj – 50 on debut</li><li>Sakibul Gani – 4 wickets & 61 runs in the match</li><li>First-class debut – Amit Sotiya, Banshidhar Kumar, Govind Chaudhary, Rishav Raj, Saurav Kumar, Shivam Singh, Vikrant Singh</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Season Stats</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Scorers</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Sakibul Gani 601 @ 150.25, 1x300, 1x100, 1x50 – Highest scorer in this year’s Ranji Trophy</li><li>Babul Kumar 372 @ 93.00, 1x200, 1x50</li><li>Bipin Saurabh 126 @ 126.00, 2x50</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Wicket-takers</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Ashutosh Aman 14 @ 20.50, 1x5</li><li>Abhijeet Saket 8 @ 29.75</li><li>Sachin Kumar 6 @ 37.50</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Best Batting</b>: Sakibul Gani 341 vs Mizoram</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Best Bowling</b>: Ashutosh Aman 5/56 vs Arunachal Pradesh</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Player Count</b>: 20</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Captain Count</b>: 1 </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>First-Class Debut: </b>13</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-21393709453659967012022-03-07T18:11:00.000+05:302022-03-07T18:11:03.962+05:30Ranji Trophy 2021-22: Jharkhand Group Stage Review<div style="text-align: justify;">Ranji Trophy returned after a season off due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, with the Omicron wave and restrictions still in place it was a short season with all teams getting just 3 games! But at least we had some action.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One team which certainly enjoyed this run was Jharkhand. They lost their first game against Chhattisgarh but then roared back with wins against Delhi and Tamil Nadu to top the group. However, having the worst record amongst all 8 group toppers, they will have to enter the play-off against Nagaland (who finished top of the Plate Group). But I guess the players wouldn’t complain as this gives them one more game!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jharkhand’s season was headlined by the older warhorses – Saurabh Tiwary & Shahbaz Nadeem who each played a stellar role in getting the victories. They also had good support from the likes of Virat Singh, Rahul Shukla, Nazim Siddique and relative newcomer Kumar Suraj and debutante Sushant Mishra. Suraj is currently averaging over 50 although its still early days in his career!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here is a game-by-game summary of the season so far.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Captains</b>: Saurabh Tiwary Game 1 & 3, Virat Singh Game 2</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 1: Jharkhand 169 & 133 lost to Chhattisgarh 174 & 129/2 by 8 wickets</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Points: Jharkhand 0, Chhattisgarh 6</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highlights</b>:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li>Sushant Mishra 5/27 in 1st innings on debut</li><li>Saurabh Tiwary completed 7000 runs in first-class cricket in his 101st game</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 2: Jharkhand 251 & 307/7d beat Delhi 224 & 319 by 15 runs</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Points: Jharkhand 6, Delhi 0</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highlights:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li>Virat Singh -103* in 1st innings, First-class Century #4</li><li>Shahbaz Nadeem – 5/58 & 5/83, First-class 5-wicket haul #20 & #21 and 10-wicket haul #6</li><li>Nazim Siddiqui – 52 & 110, First-class century #4</li><li>Kumar Suraj – 131* in 2nd innings, First-class century #3</li><li>First-class debut – Kumar Kushagra & Vikash Vishal</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 3: Tamil Nadu 285 & 152 lost to Jharkhand 226 & 214/8 by 2 wickets</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Points: Jharkhand 6, Tamil Nadu 0</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highlights</b>:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li>Saurabh Tiwary – 58 & 93</li><li>Rahul Shukla – 3/57 & 5/29, 6th 5-wicket haul in first-class cricket</li><li>Kumar Kushagra – 1st First-class 50</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Season Stats:</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Scorers</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Nazim Siddiqui 199 @ 33.17, 1x100, 1x50</li><li>Saurabh Tiwary 182 @ 45.50, 2x50</li><li>Virat Singh 171 @ 28.50, 1x100</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Wicket-takers</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Shahbaz Nadeem 15 @ 21.33, 2x5, 1x10</li><li>Sushant Mishra 11 @ 20.73, 1x5</li><li>Rahul Shukla 8 @ 10.75, 1x5</li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Best Batting</b>: Kumar Suraj 131* vs Delhi</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Best Bowling</b>: Sushant Mishra 5/27 vs Chhattisgarh</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Player Count</b>: 15</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Captain Count</b>: 2</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>First-Class Debut</b>: 3</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Coming Up Next</b>: Pre-Quarter-Final vs Nagaland from March 12th</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-73651468066100097472022-03-05T16:10:00.005+05:302022-03-05T20:05:27.584+05:30RIP Shane Warne<div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjgxsNqRVaZYtQNy9zWspl0Bjh1yvHmjHCR2kP6xuFPrBex46BP2D4F9CdP7Z7ToYnYCuGaopW9HueJB2s1Y0vuVeSjag2Ox2ALtcPkcqpKlK7BrxtRX9dK4JAyv-zRS8zHesMvlgPcs3g9_iR6C9VII9z4aVZfaz621i-Emf5Ts9vRl0X2J-7fPH_mtA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="845" data-original-width="845" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjgxsNqRVaZYtQNy9zWspl0Bjh1yvHmjHCR2kP6xuFPrBex46BP2D4F9CdP7Z7ToYnYCuGaopW9HueJB2s1Y0vuVeSjag2Ox2ALtcPkcqpKlK7BrxtRX9dK4JAyv-zRS8zHesMvlgPcs3g9_iR6C9VII9z4aVZfaz621i-Emf5Ts9vRl0X2J-7fPH_mtA=w400-h400" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">What a shocking piece of news. The phone had pinged with the notification of Shane Warne’s passing away. It was simple unbelievable. While the days are usually filled with terrible news – the Russian invasion of Ukraine, spiraling energy prices, a threat of nuclear war – somehow this one left me quite shaken.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Warne was a legend of the game. His career stats are outstanding – 708 wickets, most wickets in a year, most runs without a Test century, Player of the Match in World Cup semis & final, world cup winner, multiple Ashes winner, winning the IPL as player-captain-coach! The highlights reel of this stellar career is just the stuff of dreams and all this after a 1/150 on debut! And there was the flipside also – bookie information passing, run-ins with establishment, a drugs ban. But his sheer genius with a ball in hand (and sometimes with the bat as well) made him a true star. After all, not many could make things happen the way he did. And let's admit which cricket fan has not tried to imitate Warne’s bowling action. It was a simple action, an easy walk and just bowl it, nothing complicated and the ball then did all the talking!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">His performances against India may have been a blip but here also he took a rag-tag bunch of Rajasthan Royals to inaugural IPL trophy ensuring that even us Indians barely impressed by any spinner finally acknowledged his genius.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Thankfully for the cricket fans, we have YouTube which is treasure trove of Warne’s accomplishments. Here is a compilation of my favorite ones.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ball of the century to Mike Gatting</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/16mudGUYsBw" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div>
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">IMO his best ball in Test cricket – to Andrew Strauss</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X4Au7URILpY" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>
<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The ultimate sign of genius – walking the talk as he dismisses Brendon McCullum in a BBL game</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_UwEU13yNiI" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Rest In Peace Shane Keith Warne – you legend!</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-48977468428330907462022-01-25T19:55:00.002+05:302022-01-25T19:55:22.345+05:30Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021-22: Bihar Review<div style="text-align: justify;">Bihar played in the Plate League. With 3 wins and 2 losses from 5 matches, Bihar finished 3rd in the 8 team Plate League, thus missing out on a knock-out berth. Ashutosh Aman led the side. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here is the game-by-game summary of the tournament. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 1: Bihar 222/8 (50) lost to Mizoram 223/3 (47.4) by 7 wickets </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Sakibul Gani 114 </div><div style="text-align: justify;">List A Debut: Abhijeet Saket, Bipin Saurabh, Malay Raj </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 2: Meghalaya 273/6 (50) beat Bihar 272/10 (50) by 1 run </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Amod Yadav 3/44, Sakibul Gani 94 </div><div style="text-align: justify;">List A Debut: Amod Yadav </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 3: Bihar 280/8 (50) beat Nagaland 142/10 (31.4) by 138 runs </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Bipin Saurabh 79, Mangal Mahrour 94*, Sarfaraz Ashraf 3/18, Ashutosh Aman 2/14, Shashi Shekhar 2/9 </div><div style="text-align: justify;">List A Debut: Nikhil Anand </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 4: Sikkim 193/9 (50) lost to Bihar 194/3 (36.5) by 7 wickets </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Ashutosh Aman 4/37, Bipin Saurabh 92* </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 5: Arunachal Pradesh 83/10 (21.3) lost to Bihar 87/4 (19.1) by 6 wickets </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Malay Raj 5/38, Sachin Kumar 3/6, Sakibul Gani 2/29 </div><div style="text-align: justify;">List A Debut: Aditya Singh, Kumar Rajnish, Washim Ashrar </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Season Stats </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Scorers </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Sakibul Gani 231 @ 77.00, 1x100, 1x50 </li><li>Mangal Mahrour 188 @ 62.67, 1x50 </li><li>Bipin Saurabh 182 @ 60.67, 2x50 </li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Wicket-takers </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Ashutosh Aman 7 @ 19.14 </li><li>Malay Raj 6 @ 13.00 </li><li>Shashi Shekhar 6 @ 15.83 </li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Best Batting</b>: Sakibul Gani 114 vs Mizoram </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Best Bowling</b>: Malay Raj 5/38 vs Arunachal Pradesh </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Players Used</b>: 22 </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>List A Debut</b>: 8 </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;">Overall, not a particularly great run for Bihar. No steady team selections, Debuts being handed out all over the place. Pure batters coming in at the tail! Difficult to see how this team gets better in the near future. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And now we enter a phase of uncertainty for the next fixture. Although there is an IPL auction coming up as well, but with the exception of Sakibul Gani and maybe Bipin Saurabh, the performances just aren't good enough. Let's see how many progress into the final auction list!</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-13159602582932792392022-01-24T19:48:00.004+05:302022-01-24T19:48:23.750+05:30Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021-22: Jharkhand Review<div style="text-align: justify;">Domestic Cricket continues to be in stop-start mode since the covid pandemic first hit. And just when things seemed to be heading back to normal, India is now in grips of the third wave leading to postponement of Ranji Trophy again. In the interim, Vijay Hazare Trophy was successfully held (a tremendous achievement given the logistical challenges) </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jharkhand had another middling tournament. They won 2 & lost 3 matches to finish 3rd in the group missing out a berth in the knock-outs. Virat Singh lead the side in the first two games in Saurabh Tiwary’s s absence, who led the side in the remaining three. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here is the game-by-game summary of the tournament. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 1: Jharkhand 263/8 (50) lost to Delhi 264/4 (47) by 6 wickets </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Virat Singh 79, Kaushal Singh 69, Anukul Roy 47 & 1/49 </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Debut: Sushant Mishra </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 2: Uttar Pradesh 239/7 (50) lost to Jharkhand 242/2 (46.1) by 8 wickets </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Rahul Shukla 3/51, Varun Aaron 2/36, Nazim Siddiqui 116, Utkarsh Singh 57* </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 3: Haryana 281/3 (50) beat Jharkhand 253/10 (49.3) by 28 runs </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Nazim Siddiqui 62, Utkarsh Singh 78 </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 4: Jharkhand 211/10 (49.1) lost to Saurashtra 212/3 (34.4) by 7 wickets </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Ishank Jaggi 56, Utkarsh Singh 55, Varun Aaron 2/34 </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 5: Jharkhand 276/10 (50) beat Hyderabad 240/10 (48.4) by 36 runs </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Virat Singh 65, Varun Aaron 3/50, Shahbaz Nadeem 3/32 </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Season Stats </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Scorers </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Nazim Siddiqui 271 @ 54.20, 1x100, 1x50 </li><li>Virat Singh 196 @ 49.00, 2x50 </li><li>Utkarsh Singh 191 @ 47.75, 3x50 </li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Wicket-takers </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Varun Aaron 8 @ 20.13 </li><li>Shahbaz Nadeem 6 @ 37.17 </li><li>Rahul Shukla 4 @ 48.75 </li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Best Batting</b>: Nazim Siddiqui 116 vs Uttar Pradesh </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Best Bowling</b>: Shahbaz Nadeem 3/32 vs Hyderabad </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Players Used</b>: 15 </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>List A Debut</b>: 1 </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div> <div style="text-align: justify;">Overall, not a particularly great run for Jharkhand. Ishan Kishan was once again missed. And now we enter a phase of uncertainty for the next fixture. Although there is an IPL auction coming up as well.</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-81871604523535301462022-01-19T19:52:00.005+05:302022-01-19T20:01:33.330+05:30Gabba - a year ago<div style="text-align: justify;"><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUQ8l36RdyaXT4arhUKlVIq4MWJBOa5s_929AqIGDz5iBPBIs6n84z7ucUfx-1zNnpidcSpsOJGLRuOHteEYsJJ8KZ8GMMujUqHJYR0EaimscoNV7O7_x4DXDInPFsW3iunussKUiWSes7/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="800" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUQ8l36RdyaXT4arhUKlVIq4MWJBOa5s_929AqIGDz5iBPBIs6n84z7ucUfx-1zNnpidcSpsOJGLRuOHteEYsJJ8KZ8GMMujUqHJYR0EaimscoNV7O7_x4DXDInPFsW3iunussKUiWSes7/w400-h275/image.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /></i><i>"It ain't about hard you hit. It's about hard you can get hit and keep moving forward" - Rocky Balboa </i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Date: </b>19th January, 2021 – one year ago. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Location</b>: Gabba, Brisbane, Australia (a.k.a the Gabbatoir) </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Result</b>: India won by 3 wickets</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Usually, it is the losing team which looks for excuses. Here the winning team had them all and more – alien conditions, long tour, lost 4 tosses, ravaged by injuries, inexperienced players, covid threat, and yet they came out winning! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Just one single stat exposed the gulf between the two teams. Going into that Test – India had a collective experience of having taken 13 Test wickets while the Aussies had 1,033! And there was a small ask of chasing over 300 on the 5th day. Somehow, none of this mattered as the trio of Pujara, Gill and Pant, blocked and bludgeoned past the target taking numerous body blows but never yielding. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The last day was crazy. Still get goosebumps a year later, thinking of how that day went. All superstitions were put in place lest I somehow jinx the team – avoid posting anything on social media, folllow/watch the game from same website etc., stay in position, even avoid breathing at times! Such was the adrenaline rush at the winning moment that felt like running out in the streets to celebrate (not an advisable thing to do in covid times). Social media felt like being part of a collective celebration with its toxicity drastically reduced for a while. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">What all India overcame – bio bubbles (it gets crazy after a while), covid restrictions, injured players, 36 all out, off field controversies, racial abuse! Yet we came out tops, because someone always came in and put in their finger in the dyke and saved the city! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">What the win also did was put into context the previous 2-1 victory in Australia (2018-19). Given how depleted the Indian team of 2020-21 was, Aussies can’t keep harping about missing Smith & Warner in previous tour!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Gabba bastion had been well and truly breached after 32 years! Or in the immortal words of Vivek Razdan, <i>"toot gaya Gabba ka ghamand"</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>We remember not the scores and the results in after years; it is the men who remain in our minds, in our imaginations" - Neville Cardus </i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And that’s how Rahane, Pujara, Vihari, Ashwin, Jadeja, Pujara, Gill, Pant, Siraj, Thakur, Sundar, Bumrah, Natarajan will be remain in our collective imaginations. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">P.S. The win also led to an essay writing competition on the internet. Everyone had a say on the win (and why not). And they did have their say. And it is a year later and yet I felt that I had to post my thoughts!</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-38692918695335146712022-01-06T16:27:00.006+05:302022-01-06T16:27:38.926+05:30The World Cup XV - the Women in Blue<p style="text-align: justify;">There is an ODI World Cup happening soon. The Women's ODI World Cup, in to be held in New Zealand next month. The last one in England, 2017 was special. For quite a big number of fans, that was the tournament in which <a href="https://batball2cricket.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-women-in-blue.html" target="_blank">Women's cricket</a> became just cricket. Who can forget that Harmanpreet Kaur special in the semi-finals!</p><p style="text-align: justify;">However, the road since then hasn't been the smoothest, with Covid, specially creating all sorts of troubles. The Qualifying cycle and the final Qualifiers were disrupted by Covid. Even the tournament itself was pushed back by a year. And, just to add to the uncertainty, there is another Covid ongoing at different parts of the world. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">We still hope that the tournament proceeds as per schedule with no interruptions due to the pandemic.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Meanwhile, India have named their squad for the tournament. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Mithali Raj (C), Harmanpreet Kaur (VC), Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Varma, Yastika Bhatia, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Taniya Bhatia, Sneh Rana, Pooja Vastrakar, Jhulan Goswami, Meghna Singh, Renuka Singh, Poonam Yadav & Rajeshwari Gayakwad. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">S Meghna, Ekta Bisht & Simran Bahadur will be the stand-bys.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Team seems to be good mixture of experience and youth. There are some questions on certain non-selections e.g. Jemimah, Shikha Pandey. But the selectors know best. The World Cup would be the last hurrah for two legends of the game - mithali Raj and Jhulan Goswami, both of whom are at end of two decades plus international careers (Interestingly both have biopics coming up).</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Wishing the very best to the squad. They also play New Zealand prior to the World Cup. That should be a good familiarization with the playing conditions.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Also, hoping for a safe tournament for all players and support staff,</p>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-71024575689826393562022-01-04T20:10:00.003+05:302022-01-04T20:10:14.320+05:30The Twenty21 Lineup<div style="text-align: justify;">Presenting the Slipstream Cricket Line-up from the year 2021 AD.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>1. The Ever-changing Schedule</b> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Games are scheduled. But till the toss is held, you have no idea if the game would actually go ahead. That’s the level of uncertainty created by Covid. Even the most secure of bio-bubbles have been breached by the virus. All the major leagues were disrupted, to varying degrees. International calendar became more lopsided, team sizes have ballooned. England replaced an entire team. India played a T20 with just 4 batters (off whom 3 made their debut). And yet the administrators and players gamely move on. They prioritized the tournaments/series which generate the most moolah. But that has been the harsh reality. Kudos to the organizers, players, support teams who got us as much cricket as possible. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>2. World Champions </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Finally, Test Cricket has a World Champion - <b>New Zealand</b>. They won a proper final in a proper manner. Although the qualification route was convoluted and covid-ravaged! But they certainly were deserving champions. By the way, just how convoluted was the Championship – South Africa and West Indies played a series which was part of the Championship group stage <b>AFTER </b>the Finals! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>3. One More Step</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The guardians of the game have changed the term Batsman to Batter. Just that one more tiny little step towards gender equity. It is still a long way to go. Just look at the disparity in number of games across levels between men and women. And the pandemic has just increased the gap in many ways. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>4. Debutantes </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li><b>Women’s ODI</b>: Zimbabwe (personally I was surprised to learn that Zimbabwe women have never played an ODI) </li><li><b>Men’s T20I</b>: Bahamas, Cameroon, Cyprus, Estonia, France, Hungary, Lesotho, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra leone, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania </li><li><b>Women’s T20I</b>: Belgium, Cameroon, Eswatini, Italy, Sweden </li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>5. They Were Robbed </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Thailand </b>gave a super performance to reach the Super 6 of the Women’s World Cup qualifiers only for the tournament to be scrapped because of Omicron cases rising. Not only the World Cup they also missed out on ODI status for the next qualification cycle! Meanwhile, a team which doesn’t exist (Afghanistan women) has Test status! The mandarins at ICC really need to get rid of some of the classism which still exists in the global cricketing ranks. A major step would be to de-link on-field performance of Men & Women sides. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>6. Performance of the Year</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Ajaz Patel </b>became just the 3rd bowler to take all 10 wickets in an innings, and the first in overseas Test match and promptly got dropped for New Zealand’s next Test. And this after being involved in a match-saving last-wicket stand in the game before! </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Special mentions - <b>Frederique Overdijk</b> – 7/3 for Netherlands vs France which are the best T20I figures ever. And <b>Jaskaran Malhotra</b> 6 sixes in an over USA vs Papua New Guinea in an ODI. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>7. The fortresses breached</b> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li>Pakistan finally after 3 decades of trying beat India in a Men’s World Cup game with a thumping 10-wicket margin in the T20 World Cup. That record had to go some day. Well, we are still unbeaten in the Men’s ODI World Cup. </li><li>Then there was the greatest breach of all. Australia losing at Gabba for the first time in 32 years. As if this wasn’t a big event in itself, India achieved this with a depleted lineup and a bowling unit with a combined experience of 12 Test wickets! </li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>8. Picture of the Year </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Rakheem Cornwall with 2 teammates hanging on to him. He literally is the size of 2 humans!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtswqHachLJTHrZIUfGL45ijVlGhaGTjbOnNmtyf8Ekw5MJ4S08L-2IzS5XCBDQTskQi2n-9LPCGKLvmyvJcW_AEQOQ_49e9vHaaNaSPHgEzl1p-T4j7BTg47q4KgHkCfjfqY80sbtigPs/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="900" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtswqHachLJTHrZIUfGL45ijVlGhaGTjbOnNmtyf8Ekw5MJ4S08L-2IzS5XCBDQTskQi2n-9LPCGKLvmyvJcW_AEQOQ_49e9vHaaNaSPHgEzl1p-T4j7BTg47q4KgHkCfjfqY80sbtigPs/" width="320" /></a></div><br /><b>9. Freak Injury of the Year</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">These are times in which players miss games because they had lunch at the same place where a covid positive case was also present. But <b>Ben Foakes’s </b>case is unique. He slipped on a sock, in the dressing room, in a county game and went on to miss England’s international summer. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>10. Comeback of the Year </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Indian women’s team </b>returned to the Test arena with two matches including one Pink-ball game. But with no actual plans in place for domestic first-class games, these just seem marketing gimmicks. Although good to see that BCCI mandarins see the women’s game as worth marketing. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>11. The New Format </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Every year cricket throws in some new format, to win new fans but just ending up confusing the existing ones further. And spare a thought for the statisticians of the game. So, this year we have <b>The Hundred</b>! Why couldn’t they just have packaged T20 better! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The 12th</b>: The longest innings – <b>Eileen Ash</b>. She represented England on wither side of the Second World War. And in 2021 moved on at 110. RIP! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>And off the field </b>– <b>South Africa’s</b> mixed messages on taking the knee and the revelations of the SJN report. Hopefully they take some real steps while maintaining a competitive team at the same time. And the <b>Tim Paine scandal </b>which just blew off the Elite Honesty façade of <b>Cricket Australia</b>. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That was cricketing year 2021. And we are already in some nice action in 2022. Hopefully (fingers crossed), the cricketing schedule is less Covid disrupted this year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Wishing all readers a Happy, Healthy & Safe 2022 filled with lots of on-field cricketing action.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-69164148379136607582021-11-12T20:57:00.001+05:302021-11-12T20:57:21.098+05:30Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy 2021-22: Jharkhand Review<div style="text-align: justify;">A middling start for the season for Jharkhand. 3 losses on the trot followed by 2 wins to finish 3rd in the Group and getting knocked out early. Some of the games could have gone easily gone the Saurabh Tiwary lead side’s way. Here is the game-by-game summary of the tournament. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 1: Jharkhand 146/5 (20) lost to Rajasthan 147/4 (17.3) by 6 wickets </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Kumar Deobrat 51 (34) </div><div style="text-align: justify;">T20 Debut: Kumar Kushagra </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 2: Himachal Pradesh 144/8 (20) beat Jharkhand 137/9 (20) by 7 runs </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Monu Kumar 3/31, Anukul Roy 2/18 & 39(19) </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 3: Andhra 165/4 (20) beat Jharkhand 157/9 (20) by 8 runs </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Ishank Jaggi 62 (39) </div><div style="text-align: justify;">T20 Debut: Shubham Singh </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 4: Jharkhand 181/5 (20) beat Haryana 165/10 (19.3) by 16 runs </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Jaggi 51 (42), Saurabh Tiwary 58* (35), Bal Krishna 3/34, Anukul Roy 2/27, Shahbaz Nadeem 1/17 </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 5: Jammu & Kashmir 156/6 (20) lost to Jharkhand 157/5 (19.2) by 5 wickets </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Utkarsh Singh 2/22 </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Season Stats </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Scorers </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Saurabh Tiwary 154 @ 51.33, 1x50 </li><li>Ishank Jaggi 143 @ 47.67, 2x50 </li><li>Utkarsh Singh 89 @ 22.50 </li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Wicket-takers </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Anukul Roy 6 @ 20.33 </li><li>Monu Kumar 4 @ 13.00 </li><li>Shubham Singh 4 @ 24.75 </li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Best Batting</b>: Ishank Jaggi 62 vs Andhra </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Best Bowling</b>: Bal Krishna 3/34 vs Haryana </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Players Used</b>: 17 </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>T20 Debut</b>: 2 </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Overall, not a particularly great run for Jharkhand. Ishan Kishan was certainly missed.</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2931772722379861614.post-85760874788706344572021-11-10T17:58:00.002+05:302021-11-10T17:58:23.719+05:30Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy 2021-22: Bihar Review<div style="text-align: justify;">After last season’s run into the knock-outs, Bihar got promoted into the Elite groups. After a good start with a win against Railways, the momentum fizzled out for the Ashutosh Aman led side. Here is a game-by-game summary of the tournament for Bihar </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 1: Bihar 169/4 (20) beat Railways 134/10 (18) by 35 runs </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Bipin Saurabh 72 (54), Abhijeet Saket 3/15, Hrishi Raj 3/31, Ashutosh Aman 2/25 </div><div style="text-align: justify;">T20 Debut: Bipin Saurabh, Hrishi Raj, Yashasvi Rishav </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 2: Bihar 131/5 (20) lost to Kerala 132/3 (14.1) by 7 wickets </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Sakibul Gani 53* (41), Ashutosh Aman 2/31 </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 3: Bihar 135/8 (20) lost to Assam 136/17 (18.5) by 3 wickets </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Babul Kumar 82 (57), Ashutosh Aman 1/9, Abhijeet Saket 2/25 </div><div style="text-align: justify;">T20 Debut: Kumar Rajnish, Malay Raj </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 4: Bihar 59/10 (18) lost to Madhya Pradesh 60/1 (5.4) by 9 wickets </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">T20 Debut: Shashi Anand, Shekhar Singh </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Game 5: Bihar 118/6 (20) lost to Gujarat 121/5 (19.1) by 5 wickets </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Highlights: Mangal Mahrour 64* (51), Ashutosh Aman 2/10 </div><div style="text-align: justify;">T20 Debut: Anunay Singh </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Season Stats </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Scorers </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Babul Kumar 131 @ 32.75, 1x50 </li><li>Bipin Saurabh 125 @ 25.00, 1x50 </li><li>Mangal Mahrour 119 @ 29.75, 1x50 </li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Highest Wicket-takers </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ol><li>Ashutosh Aman 7 @ 10.71 </li><li>Abhijeet Saket 7 @ 18.29 </li><li>Hrishi Raj 4 @ 17.00 </li></ol></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Best Batting</b>: Babul Kumar 82 vs Assam </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Best Bowling</b>: Abhijeet Saket 3/15 vs Railways </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Players Used</b>: 19 </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>T20 Debut</b>: 8 </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Overall, a poor run for Bihar finishing bottom of the group.</div>Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16203681110201632111noreply@blogger.com0