The Twenty19 Lineup

As the year 2019 AD comes to a close, time to take a look back and present the Slipstream Cricket XI of 2019 – things to remember the cricketing year going by. 

1. Men’s ODI World Cup cricket 

England are champions or are they? When Super Over seems an unfair way to decide any game, forget a World Cup Final, Boundary count is just downright crueler. If only Martin Guptill’s throw was off-target. 

2. Performance of the Year 

Kusal Perera’s 153* to win Sri Lanka a Test in South Africa. Close competition from Ben Stokes’s twin feats, at the biggest stages – the World Cup Final at Lords and the Ashes Test at Edgbaston. And of course there was Anjali Chand’s 6/0 for Nepal against Maldives. Which brings us to 

3. Debutantes 

There were international debuts galore with ICC giving T20I status to all. So the new entrant list is huge. 

• Men’s ODI - Oman 
• Men’s T20I – Argentina, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Belize, Bhutan, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cayman Islands, Chile, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Guernsey, Italy, Jersey, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mexico, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, USA, Vanuatu 
• Women’s T20I – Argentina, Austria, Belize, Bhutan, Canada, Costa Rica, Fiji, France, Germany, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Jersey, Kenya, Kuwait, Maldives, Mali, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Samoa, Tanzania, USA, Vanuatu, Zimbabwe. Meanwhile Botswana, Brazil, Chile, China, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Mexico, Mozambique, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Uganda, UAE had made their maiden appearance last year itself. 

This created a nightmare for statisticians (And cricket is a game which loves statistics). There were lopsided results galore with many unwanted international records being set. However, there were some stunning results as well e.g. Singapore beating Zimbabwe in T20I, Thailand qualifying for Women’s ODI World Cup and Japan entering the U-19 World Cup. Certainly good for the global game! 

4. The globe-trotter 

Lasith Malinga – picks 3 wickets in Mumbai in an IPL game, heads to Kandy next morning and picks up 7 wickets there 

5. Jargon of the Year 

3D players – apparently this is the need of the hour. I believe earlier they were called bits-and-pieces players. 

6. Mystery solved (or maybe not) 

Shahid Afridi’s real age – It was revealed in his autobiography which he himself has not read apparently. Although there are multiple versions in that as well. He certainly was older than 16 when he debuted which means that he is still an active player in his mid-40s! 

7. The rebirth/sequel 

Pakistan had the social media buzzing with the bizarre similarities in their 2019 World Campaign with their successful 1992 campaign. But it ended prematurely and they were knocked out in the Group stages but not before giving enough meme-worthy moments, e.g Sarfaraz yawning, The fan’s reaction in the stands as he sees another catch dropped and of course, the pizza-burger moment! 

8. World Test Championships commences 

Finally, the World Test Championships starts. It brings about its own innovations e.g. Players have numbers & names on the shirt. Then there is the complicated points system where different matches yield different points. And of course the fact that not everyone plays each other. As if cricket is not confusing enough 

9. How to explain cricket 

Andrew Flintoff attempted to explain what cricket is to Jennifer Lopez with hilarious results.

10. Concussion substitutes 

Marnus Labuschagne became the 1st ever substitute player in Test history replacing Steve Smith. Since then it has become (unfortunately) a not-so-uncommon occurrence. And we also have had 12 batsmen appearing in an innings. 

11. The underdog hero of the cricketing world 

Pavel Florin, a Romanian player appearing in the European Cricket League became a cricket twitter celebrity after his bowling footage made an appearance on the social media platform 

The 12th Man -The Celebrations 

We have the Cottrell salute, but Tabraiz Shamsi literally pulled off a magic trick celebration in Mzansi Cricket League! 

And finally, the one that got away - Ashleigh Barty. From Tennis to WBBL to back to tennis and becoming World #1 Tennis player and Grand Slam champion! Another who attempted to explain cricket and stopped. 

Wishing all fellow cricket tragics a Happy Twenty20!

World Cup 2019: The “Not Boring" Middle Overs

Once upon a time, not too long ago, ODI cricket was stagnating. At least the ICC thought so. Especially the so called “boring” middle overs. So, ICC kept tinkering with the format for years. Extra powerplay, mandatory ball changes, powerplay at the time of choosing, two balls, field restrictions changes etc. They also came up with T20 which did away with these “boring” middle overs altogether!

So here we are in the middle of the league stage. And this one has certainly not been boring. The rain has stayed away (mostly), there have been close games (a bunch of them) and even an upset! Another game could have gone in a different direction altogether if the last shot had been hit a fraction of a second later or before or with just a little more power. And in the most shocking turn of events, the bails have started falling off, when earlier they had stubbornly stayed put!

Afghanistan & South Africa are the first two teams to be knocked out of the competition. It’s been a disappointing run for both. Being out of contention they can turn up and play spoilsport for the others in the race for the Top 4.

India nearly got a shock against Afghanistan. New Zealand were almost stunned by West Indies. Bangladesh made a hearty chase of Australia’s 383. And England find themselves with the task having to win against the Top 3 after being tripped up by Malinga and company. 

Meanwhile Pakistan are playing in a different World Cup altogether. It seems that there are two different Pakistani teams which turn up for the game. Depending on which side has turned up the results can be (a) hammering England/ South Africa, or (b) getting thumped by India/West Indies. They do not even need a personnel change. But we never know which version has turned up till the game ends.

Race for Top 4: Getting slightly heated up with England losing to Sri Lanka. Australia, New Zealand and India should make it through. While England have to face all three in their remaining games. Sri Lanka & Pakistan are still with a good chance while Bangladesh & West Indies must wait for permutations and combinations to come up in their favour. If only, Carlos Brathwaite had managed to hit that six, the table would have been even more interesting!

The “middle overs” have certainly not been a boring one!

India-Sri Lanka - July-Aug 2012 edition

So while the whole world, including yours truly was busy watching the Olympics, the Indian cricket team came out of  hibernation by playing against their familiar opponents, Sri Lanka. Here are a few thoughts on the series went by.

• The India-Sri Lanka series reminds you of your boyhood days. Every evening you went out into the ground with the same bunch of kids and played cricket. And returned the next day to play some more. Thanks to the mandarins at BCCI & Cricket Sri Lanka for making us relive those old days.
• This was "supposed" to be a Test series. Then why was it converted into an ODI series with one meaningless T20 thrown in? Just maybe, Tony Grieg was right (:P)
• If the idea is to prepare for the T20 world cup coming up in Sri Lanka, then why play just 1 T20 and not more instead of the ODIs.
• Did we learn anything new from this series? From an India perspective - nothing. Except that Rohit Sharma has some very very powerful backing in the squad. Performances & recent form certainly don't justify his continued place in the squad.
• The others were usual - Virat Kohli continues his astounding run, Gautam Gambhir continues to give the occasional good century, Suresh Raina is a very good batsman on subcontinental pitches, Manoj Tiwary still does not get a chance and performs on occasion. And the bowling lineup continues to be dodgy.
• Irfan Pathan - the mystery continues. He has become a bits and pieces player rather than a specialist bowler. The bowling towards the end of the series was good. But the questions still remain. He is a more than capable 5th bowler, but a place amongst the 4 lead bowlers remains a question mark.
• India for some odd reason doesn't know how to handle left-arm spinners. Pragyan Ojha's entries and exits continue to confound.
• Lasith Malinga over 10 overs is much easier to handle than over 4 overs.
• And the last query - Is Sehwag interested in playing any more? Maybe he was bored of another Sri Lanka series, but how long do we go with his maverick nature.
• Just hate it when product placements are done during commentary. Where is the "spirit of cricket" business here?

So thats it. One more meaningless series over and we learn nothing new.

P.S. Looking forward to the Test series against the Kiwis. After all someone has to come up to replace Rahul Dravid. Who will raise his hand to do that?

World Cup Thoughts - March 2nd

Here are the thoughts after one of the best games in the World Cup history. 

• The English have taken upon themselves the task of making the World Cup worth watching. A struggling win against the Dutch, a crazy tie against India and now a high scoring defeat against the Irish. The winter Ashes thrashing of the Australians already seems like a lifetime away.
• You always tend to support the underdog (except when the underdog is thrashing up your team). But the Irish really dug a big hole (it was more like a crater after a meteorite impact) for themselves, letting the English score 327, then got 5 down for 113 before going for victory.
• Kevin O'Brien was AWESOME. Pure and near chanceless slogging. And he had great support from Alex Cusack and John Mooney.
• The Irish today showed how to use the Batting Powerplay, unlike most teams. They used it as a shock value, did not wait till the end or even the change of ball. And it changed the momentum of game.
• Unfortunately, the best Irish player in the world was not playing for either side today. Wonder how Eoin Morgan must be feeling today.
• Funniest Comment - From the BBC text commentary "Could this match also be seen as a recruitment opportunity for England? Is it considered bad form to steal the other team's best players during a tournament? Or a match?". The ICC qualification rules are weird but it seems England can actually pick an Irish player as a replacement in case of injuries but the Irish will have to wait 4 years to take him back. 
• ICC still planning to allow only 10 teams in the 2015 Cup?
• Ireland/ICC should immediately take steps for Test status. Nobody really wants anymore cases like Ed Joyce. (A really nice of Ed Joyce is here)
• Group B has been thrown wide open by this result. Some team is going to miss out big time. England face off against South Africa, West Indies & Bangladesh. Certainly not going to be easy.
• India need to be very worried about Ireland now.

Now for some other thoughts.

• Post the spot fixing scandal, anything even remotely out of ordinary is being treated as a suspect. ICC investigating into slow Australian start against Zimbabwe, while some Sri Lankan TV channel has accused Jayawardene & Samaraweera of deliberately losing against Pakistan. Some are also questioning Shane Warne's tweet about India-England match getting tied. Cloud of suspicion is never good. And the ICC/Boards must act if anything untoward is found.
• And finally to Lasith Malinga. Does not play when I make him my trump player, but on getting dropped from my team, makes a comeback and taakes a hat-trick.

The World Cup Memories - 2007

The 9th edition of the World Cup was held in the West Indies. It was promised to be a fun-filled tournament, pictures of the sand and the sea were used for the promotions. One of the stadiums even had a party stand with a swimming pool (!!!). But these turned out to fe false promises and the Caribbean World Cup turned out to be the most forgettable one of all.It was too long, boring, marred with a death and ended in darkness with a total chaos in the final.

I had returned to college doing my MBA. India's early exit ensured that the hostel atmosphere could not reach anywhere near the levels of the engineering days. The auditiorium had been booked for telecasting the matches. But after the first few people hardly turned up for them. Soon all the matches were being followed only via cricinfo. During the later half of the cup the summer internship had started and the live viewing reduced even further. 

India's campaign was disastrous. Losing to Bangladesh and then to Sri Lanka knocked India out off the cup. In between we did win very big against Bermuda. Ireland beat Pakistan to provide the upset of the tournament. Bob Woolmer's death following this defeat put the tournament under total gloom. And the botched up investigations made things worse.
Memories of the on-field actions, very few. Dwayne Leverock's earth-shaking catch to dismiss Robin Uthappa, Herschelle Gibbs' 6 sixes in an over, Malinga's 4 in 4 when South Africa nearly choked (couldn't resist using this word). Lara's farewell words (Did I entertain you ?). And then there was the Easter Sunday special match slated to be India vs Pakistan. Only it was Bangladesh and Ireland instead who turned out to play.
The final match between Australia and Sri Lanka summed up the utter chaos of the tournament. Rain reduced the match to 38 overs a side (a completely wrong decision in my opinion, the finals should have lasted the full duration). And further rain led to the last few overs being played in complete darkness as the match officials forgot the playing conditions (minimum 20 overs had been bowled already). And the most tragic part was that these were the best umpires available. Australia won in the end after another undefeated run through the tournament.
The Irish team provided the story of the Cup tieing with Zimbabwe, beating Pakistan and reaching the Super 8s. There was this great story of the players having to extend their leaves from their respective workplaces so that they could continue playing.
Overall a totally forgettable and chaotic tournament.

With this ends my world cup memories series of posts. Hoping to have a very pleasurable 2011 World Cup.