The Twenty22 LineUp

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.

Here is presenting the Slipstream XI for 2022!

1. Cricketing Term of the Year – BazBall

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!

2. The Question of the Laws

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?

3. Coach of the Year

Given the headline dominating BazBall, Brendon McCullum should have been a cert for this award. But it goes to the other England coach, Matthew Mott, 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!

4. The Perseverance Award

12 Years after his Test debut, Jaydev Unadkat 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

5. The cricketing moment of the Year

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 Deepti Sharma running out Charlie Dean 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!

6. Rivalry of the Year

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 Mr. Bean’s 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!

7. Friendship of the Year

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.

8. Karma bites back

In the Ranji Trophy pre-quarter finals, 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 Quarter-finals, 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!

9. Ypu Gate

A journalist threatening an international cricketer and getting caught by his typos. Well done Wriddhiman Saha 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!

10. The Debutantes of the Year

ODI (W): Thailand

T20I (M): Cook Islands, Croatia, Fiji, Gambia, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Mali, Slovenia, South Korea, St. Helena

T20I (W): Bahrain, Barbados, Denmark, Gambia, Ghana, Greece, Isle of Man, Malta, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Spain

11. The New Format of the Year

West Indies compressed the game to 60 balls and made random changes along they way and came with The 6ty. It had its own set of bizarre innovations. Lets see which format comes along in 2023! 

That was the Slipstream selection from 2022. Hoping for an action-packed 2023 with its two World Cups and Test Championship Finals. 

Wishing all readers a Very Happy and statistically fun-filled cricketing Year.

The Women In Blue

The World Cup is done and dusted and we are back in the familiar environs of an India-Sri Lanka bilateral series. For one whole month, for a pleasant change it was the Indian women cricketers who were in the spotlight while the Men took a back-seat. 

One victory followed another, as the Women in Blue became the new darlings of the Indian Social Media. Good on-field performances ensured lots of positive coverage as the team went onto reach the Finals. England, West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka were easily tackled before hiccups came in form of losses to South Africa and Australia. But with a semi-final place at stake they got their most emphatic victory over New Zealand to qualify for the knock-outs. A sensational Harmanpreet Kaur century got them into the Finals. However, they faltered at the very last step. Mithali Raj said they panicked. To regular cricket followers, this was simply the classic South African choke which their men's team regularly brings on display at the big tournaments.

Leaving aside the stumble at the last step, it was a remarkable tournament for the Indian team. And not just from a cricketing perspective. After all, they have been runners-up before. But this was the first time that the Women's team was in (well deserved) limelight.  Live coverage of the games, England being in a very Indian viewer-friendly timezone, well promoted, backed up by solid social media coverage and good on-field performances all combined to ensure that for the first time ever, many Indians actually watched a Women's cricket match.

And then there were the players themselves. Mithali Raj lead from the front, batted well and spoke even better. Dismissing a reporter's query on favorite male cricketer, also nonchalantly reading a book while waiting for her turn to bat, dancing alongwith Veda Krishnamurthy to the DJ music, becoming the all time leading run-getter - all combined to make her a fan favorite. Then there was Harmanpreet Kaur's innings - many immediately compared it to Kapil Dev's 175, such was its impact. And that "celebration" on getting a century! Poor Dipti Sharma was at the receiving end. Jhulan Goswami's ball to dismiss Meg Lanning. After a smashing start to the tournament, Smriti Mandhana was declared as India's national crush??? And then there was the wicket-keeper Sushma Verma, who also had the extra responsibility of taking the team selfie!

Now for the big question. Where does Women's cricket head next? Awards and promotions have been announced, felicitations have been organised, they also have the average follower's attention. But how does BCCI build on all the goodwill generated for the team. More centrally contracted players, more coverage for the national matches, a women's tournament on the likes of the IPL. I, for one, don't know when the next international series is. However, one thing they do need to avoid is to keep comparing with the men's game. The gulf is too stark for any meaningful comparison at this stage.

And all these measures if done correctly,this World Cup would be remembered as the one in which women's cricket became just cricket! After all, if in a matter of just three years if Kabaddi can raise it's profile to become one of the most viewed sports in the country, there is no reason why women's cricket can't.

P.S. Random Articles
Jarrod Kimber's article on how to watch women's cricket [Link]
The Importance of Harmanpreet Kaur [Link]
Sharda Ugra talking about the next steps [Link] (Basically an article doing a much better job of what I intended to do in this blog]