USA First-Time Co-Host of T20 World Cup-2024: New York to Buzz with Cricket!

Announcing the confirmed complete schedule of the forthcoming ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup-2024, the International Cricket Council has expressed its happiness at the expansion of the tournament with never-before 20 cricket nations participating and the United States of America coming in as a co-host, the first time ever for a manor ICC event. Referring to America as the biggest sports market the ICC said that this would provide a huge stimulus to world cricket in the coming years. The 9^th version of T20 World Cup is set to kick off on June 1^st in New York and conclude with the Final to be played in Barbados on 29^th of the same month, the West Indies being the other co-host. The tournament, divided into four groups of five teams each, will have 55 matches in all out of which 16 league matches are to be played in the USA, and 8 out of 16 to be staged at the 34,000-capacity new modular cricket stadium coming up at the Nassau County, Long Island, New York, including the blockbuster India-Pakistan encounter on 9^th June. Team India is placed in Group-A along with Pakistan, Canada, Ireland and the hosts. Top two teams from each group will make it to the Super-8 which is further divided into two groups and the top two teams from each group will make it to the knockout stage. All Super-8 and knockout matches are to be played in the West Indies.

The other two USA venues are Dallas and Lauderhill, Florida. The tournament opener will be played between USA and Canada in Dallas on 1^st June 2024. While the USA, Canada, India, Pakistan and Ireland are to play all their league matches in the USA, a few matches featuring South Africa, Sri Lanka, the Netherlands, Bangladesh and Nepal are also to be played there. The rest of the teams will be based in the West Indies for all their league plus Super Eight matches that are to be played in the six venues there: Guyana, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Barbados. The group-stage league matches are scheduled during 1-18 June, the Super Eight encounters from June 19 to June 24, the two semi-finals are on 26^th and the 27^th in Guyana and Trinidad respectively and the Final on 29^th June in Barbados.

The League Stage—20 Teams:

Group A: India, Pakistan, Ireland, Canada, USA

Group B: England, Australia, Namibia, Scotland, Oman

Group C: New Zealand, West Indies, Afghanistan, Uganda, Papua New Guinea

Group D: South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Netherlands, Nepal

The Americas are always known to us as the centerstage for soccer and tennis, apart from their excellence in Olympics sports. However, cricket used to be immensely popular there in the past till baseball took over in terms of popularity. And now, the reverse seems to be happening—baseball losing it and cricket gaining back popularity at a fast rate. The huge chunk of the South Asian immigrants there, the cricket leagues and the live cricket streaming platforms are largely among the factors to establish cricket as a major sport in the Americas, which is all very promising for the future of this money-spinning game as we mentioned earlier. This assumes more significance as Cricket returns to the Olympics after 128 years and for the fact that Olympics-2028 is going to take place in Los Angeles, USA. With the USA being one of the hosts for the T20 World Cup-2024, LA28 is set to further expand cricket not only in the Americas, but across the globe.

Having said all that, the format of the T20 World Cup-2024 remains disappointing: it’s too many groups all the way, except for just three knockout matches which basically means that nearly half of the twenty teams are never going to face each other. The round-robin format adopted in the one-day World Cup should have been there at least in the Super Eight stage of the tournament. In a genuine international event involving twenty cricket nations there are only 55 matches in all to be played in a period less than a month while the famed IPL features 74 matches for just 10 franchises, consuming around two months. The ICC should realistically rearrange its calendar to heighten the spirit of competition among cricket loving nations.

Cricket: SKY, Pandya and the Formatted Hassles!

The World Cup-2023 Final still remains a nightmare, a bad dream that refuses to go, in the minds of most of Indian cricket lovers: their home team on home grounds crashing to a humiliating and a listless defeat in the grand finale after winning all the ten games leading to it. Well, for most of the sober cricket lovers win or defeat is always a part of any game and it’s never an issue to be distressingly sour or angry about; but the problem was that their home team couldn’t offer a creditable fight against Australia that they defeated in the very first game of the event and also in the previous matches in a bilateral series and had gone down like a pack of schoolboys as if trying to understand or find what’s the game of cricket all about. And that rankled, and still does. Expectedly, the fans or the organizers started crying hoarse about the pitch being doctored unnecessarily or mistakenly even though it belonged to their own country and to the supposedly biggest stadium of the country never blaming their favorite stars. For me it was the Kohli-Rahul partnership, perhaps the slowest in recent years concerning any country in the one-day format, that put the match beyond India’s reach, beyond any intended fightback and most unfortunately, beyond their bowling attack which was undoubtedly the best in the World Cup. And that brings the Surya Kumar Yadav (SKY) factor into focus.

Of course, he was not selected for the playing eleven and there was no indication of that happening. Till the pivot of the new Indian team, Hardik Pandya, got injured and was ruled out of the tournament. Since Pandya is considered to be one of the great emerging all-rounders in world cricket, his replacement was not easy—the team management had to think about both the batting and the bowling possibilities. They finally made the decision to bring in Mohammed Shami to replace him in bowling and as Shardul Thakur, as a supposed all-rounder, had been doing precious nothing in those four matches SKY was also brought into the playing eleven. That Shami, the victim of arguably the most horribly wrong decision in team selection, made history afterward is not our point here. We want to discuss the SKY factor, and then Pandya.

Bringing someone into the playing eleven during the biggest event of cricket means that the team management really trusts his abilities. No doubt, SKY has been going through a lean patch in recent months, but still he was a tremendous force to reckon with on his day. In the matches that followed SKY was not fully in his elements as an electrifying batsman, and the management should’ve replaced him again if they lost trust and confidence in him. If they hadn’t indeed lost the trust in him, they would’ve definitely allowed him to play the Final in his usual place; but they didn’t.

For the first time in ten games the batting order was changed and Ravindra Jadeja was sent in ahead, when, after laboring continuously in his excruciatingly slow partnership with Rahul, Kohli managed to complete his half-century and then fell. Jadeja only succeeded in putting the final nails in the Indian coffin. When finally SKY stepped in it was already too late. But then, as the Final-nightmare lingered on SKY was made captain of the T20 Team India which somewhat meant they still trusted him for the shortest format. However, trusted cricketers normally play all the three formats and normally as well succeed in all formats too. But not with Surya Kumar even as there was no news of Pandya getting fit. So, we still don’t have an answer to the trust-riddle concerning SKY.

While conceding to the fact that Pandya was sorely missed in the Final, it was also clear that India under the captaincy of Rohit was all set to win the World Cup-2023 without Pandya. But the selectors cum the management, following sincerely the somewhat clichéd objective of making way for the new-generation Team India, continued to believe in Pandya as the future captain of India which made it clear that the SKY factor was only a stop-gap arrangement for them, with the T20 World Cup coming up next year. Nonetheless, Rohit who was unanimously hailed as the most strategist Indian captain during the World Cup is more or less set to lead India in the T20 World Cup too, unless he happens to retire from that format which is probable after what Mumbai Indians did to him. And that again brings in the Pandya factor.

In a move that was somewhat anticipated the IPL franchise Mumbai Indians bought Hardik Pandya and afterward announced that he’d replace Rohit Sharma as the captain. In a cash-rich tournament we cannot expect the loyalty ingredient at all, and therefore, Pandya had no apparent qualms leaving Gujarat Titans that he led to a debut Championship-2022 victory and again led it to the 2023 IPL Final. It was also probable that the captaincy promise was a part of the transaction, and if so, that was highly unjust. Normally a successful India captain gets rewarded with more responsibilities like MS Dhoni who still leads the Chennai Super Kings and who is much older than Rohit. Besides, Indian cricket icons, much older than Rohit had been made franchise captain in the initial IPL years. Fans as well as playing and veteran cricketers are divided on this decision. Personally speaking I feel that it is a humiliation for Rohit who, under his leadership, made Mumbai Indians Champions five times since 2013, and that he should no longer play under Pandya, nor for the franchise. In this context his announcement of retiring from the T2O format seems imminent.

Since long years I’ve been advocating the idea of having three specialized captains for the three formats. In spite of making so many captains in recent years the picture is still the same: maybe Rohit still for the Test format, KL Rahul or Pandya or whoever for the ODI and Pandya for the shortest format who, after all, is set to consume the captaincy in all three formats in near future. Hassles, contradictions and what not! That’s Indian cricket! 

IPL 2023: And the Three Playoff Slots Go To…?

With just four league matches to go the three Playoff slots in the IPL-2023 are still open for grabs, only Gujarat (GT) having already secured the top slot. Thanks to their abandoned match due to rain Chennai (CSK) and Lucknow (LSG) are in some advantage, with 15 points each after sharing a point each. We think this gives bit of an edge to the two teams, because even if they lose their last matches they could still go through depending on what Bengaluru (RCB) and Mumbai (MI) do. But the dangers are also equally palpable. With 14 points each, if RCB and MI win their last matches they will straightaway enter into the Playoffs leaving only one slot to others and in that scenario either LSG or CSK will get thrown out, based on the net run-rate (NRR). And if CSK gets eliminated that’d be shattering for the MS Dhoni fans who’ve been celebrating the former India captain with the speculation rife that this could be his last IPL—the scenes were really evocative in Chennai when CSK marched around the stadium with Dhoni in the lead and cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar lining up for captain cool’s autograph and that was after CSK lost the match against Kolkata (KKR). However, more positively for the Dhoni fans, if CSK beat Delhi (DC) in the afternoon match today they’ll secure their Playoff slot. If LSG happens to beat KKR in the evening match today they’ll too enter the last stage. Therefore, in that scenario only one slot will remain for the other top contenders, namely RCB and MI.

 

Mumbai takes on Hyderabad (SRH) in the penultimate league match tomorrow, and as we said a victory for them will take them straight into the Playoffs depending on the results today. Bengaluru takes on the top team Gujarat in the last league match tomorrow, and like Mumbai a victory would take them into the Playoffs, depending on the results today. So, as regards the Playoffs, these four matches are virtual eliminators and qualifiers combined. What more could be expected from a competitive tournament with majority of the teams still caught in the throes of going through or not till the last moments?

 

If Mumbai and Bengaluru lose and Kolkata wins, a four-way deadlock at 14 points each could emerge with only one team hoping to fill the last slot based on the best NRR. Therefore, the contenders, RCB, MI and KKR, must not only look to win but also to try increase the NRR as much to an extent as possible, and Bengaluru, playing the last league match should be in an advantageous situation as they’d know exactly the scenario. It’d be really unfortunate if Rajasthan (RR) gets kicked out which is more likely than not, because the franchise had been playing quite consistently with the stars like Jaiswal, captain Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler, not to forget spinner duo of Ashwin and Chahal; their hopes crashed due to a few inexplicable aberrations, like getting all out for 59 in the all-important match against RCB. And it’s been really the resurgence of Mumbai, led by Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan and Tim David, and Bengaluru, led by captain de Plessis, Kohli to some extent and Maxwell, that has helped the teams remain top contenders.

IPL 2023: You Never Know With KKR!

First, of course, let’s talk about the cricket star born last night in the match between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata, the 56^th match of IPL-2023. His name is Yashasvi Jaiswal who raced to the quickest ever fifty in IPL history taking just 13 balls and then going on to remain unbeaten at 98 off 47 balls to help his team RR win in style. Aged only 22, the southpaw opening batsman Jaiswal has humble origins—from a poor family in Uttar Pradesh—coming to Mumbai to train in cricket at the age of just ten and then struggling there for years, with no place of stay and doing gigs in dairies and paani puri shops. To make this cricketing dream come true he then started living in a tent with the cricket grounds men till he was noticed by a Mumbai training academy for his talent. He has several feats in first class cricket as the youngest player ever, playing for Mumbai in domestic cricket and he started his IPL stint from the year 2019. Yashasvi has mostly been consistent as an attacking opener in IPL and in the current version of IPL-2023 he’s scored more than 500 runs so far with a century to his credit. Now, who bowled to this marauding opener in the opening over?

 

There seemed to be no earthly reasons at all as to why KRR captain Nitish Rana should open the bowling: because he’s not been even regular part-time bowler; he had in his command three specialized spinners including the stalwarts of Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine, of course, the latter being totally ineffective in this IPL, but definitely more resourceful than Rana; and KKR was defending a very modest total of 149 which again thanks mainly to his consistent failures as a batsman and also as a captain. But he still bowled. And there flowed from the bat of Yashasvi Jaiswal two sixes, three fours and a couple to make it 26 runs in all in that opening over only. The captain lost his team the match right then and there. And also the prospect of making it to the Playoffs, because with only two more matches to go KKR can get to a maximum of 14 points only if they win both and it’s not going to be enough with the huge negative net run-rate, achieved largely through that match that RR won with nearly 7 overs to spare . So, they could very well be joining Delhi Capitals in being virtually out of the tournament at this moment. If there happens to be deadlock at 14 points each any of the franchises like RR, MI, RCB, LSG and even SRH can make it through to the Playoffs on the basis of net run-rates. For all practical purposes GT and CSK are through with 16 and 15 points respectively.

 

Apparently Nitish Rana had no regrets or that he never cared to show any. He was reported to say later that if a gamble worked nobody would say anything. However, the question remains as to what kind of a gamble that was! To make things infuriating and unbearable he became the most hyperactive skipper ever seen on the field: he was talking insistently continuously to his bowlers and instructing them of what that could never be ascertained, even in the last two overs when RR needed less than ten runs to win with more than eight overs to spare plus nine wickets standing. However, Rana has not been a bad player at all over the years and was performing very well in the IPL when, of course, he was not the captain. Who had made the decision to appoint him to that post and why, also could never be ascertained!

 

That decision is probably only a part of all the mischief that’s been going with KKR franchise management in this version of the IPL: the selection of the playing eleven uneven and haphazard in most of the matches; not utilizing the services of the immensely talented Litton Das and Jason Roy from the initial stages; overdependence on the deadweight veterans like Russell, Gurbaz, Narine and Jagadeesan  irrespective of their performances; playing Rinku Singh much lower down the order even after his feat of the five sixes; the enigma of Shardul Thakur and many more. In fact, there’s an uncanny resemblance between KKR’s tactics and that of the Indian selectors for Team India, like not giving enough opportunities to the youngsters or not selecting them at the right time, persisting with the ageing veterans in all three formats of the game and so on. These are lessons that should never be inculcated by any team or franchise at any level of cricket under any circumstances.  

 

Is King Khan listening?

IPL 2023: The ‘Home’ Celebrations Get Hammered!

The ‘home’ perception and the celebrations thereof owe their origins to the naming of the competing franchises since 2008. Most of the franchises are named after major cities of the country like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru etc. and one or two after the source state like Rajasthan Royals. Obviously, it’s always been expected that the cricket lovers of those cities or states would ideally be the supporters of the ‘home’ team and show full loyalties as respective fans (However, it’s not clear as to whether locals of the concerned city only or the full state should become ravenous supporters or not, because in case of Maharashtra there was another franchise named Pune Warriors once, and so it was ambiguous as to who the state of Maharashtra fans should support). And that’s what’s been happening ever since, although the whole ‘celebration’ syndrome defies all logic: because, first, the players for each franchise are selected through the path-breaking auctions with players joining the teams as per the bids; second, so, there’s absolutely no guarantee that any local cricketers, if available, shall be included in the concerned franchises; third, even if one or two local cricketers happen to get included there’s no guarantee that they’d go on playing for their teams which is actually subject to the glorious rules of the game; then, four, the auctions are not limited to India alone, but open to all cricket playing nations with the exception of Pakistan for reasons known too well; and lastly, there’ve been numerous instances of ‘local boys’ not being bought back by the concerned franchises in subsequent auctions, again depending on the glorious rules of the game that include not just forms but current market values too and very often being even left ‘unsold’.

 

Rest assured, we’re not at all trying to question or raise objections to the ‘home’ patriotism, we only happen to get a little concerned about it, thanks to various what we think sustainable reasons. For one, out of the 43 IPL-2023 matches played till May 1, 2023, in as many as 24 matches the home teams have lost, that is more than 50%--definitely a whopping statistic. This figure includes the match lost by RR in Guwahati also, because in order to bring that north eastern city into the IPL ambit for the first time, the city was suddenly marked as ‘home’ for RR. We’re at a total loss to know for what earthy reasons as RR has always been basking in their proper home shine of Rajasthan and besides, the ruling parties in both states are not even the same. Anyway, as regards our statistical point we must admit that we’re blissfully unaware of what could’ve been the scenario in the previous IPL versions and also accept that we’re not empowered to do that kind of research.

 

As we mentioned we’re also piqued by what happened in that Delhi Capitals match in Delhi against Sunrisers Hyderabad when, fans angered by the ‘home’ team’s abysmally consistent failure to win matches and stay in active contention, erupted into a freestyle fisticuff with rival or general fans inside the stadium. Besides, before that what happened in Kolkata (the iconic Eden Gardens), the fans there too agonized by the ‘home’ franchise’s consistent failure to win matches and stay in active contention despite the incredible Rinku Singh boost they achieved. In that match between CSK and KKR on 23^rd April, 2023, one specially frustrated KKR fan erupted into the public arena declaring that this practice of ignoring the ‘Bangla’ cause at the ‘home’ turf is not at all desirable, but actually very deplorable. Now, it is not clear as to what ‘Bangla’ ingredients he found in that franchise where even the lone player having the surname of Chakravarthy, is neither a Bong nor from Bangla. No doubt, rational and wiser souls have condemned the ‘patriot’ robustly.

 

This brings us to our last point. For MS Dhoni, the inimitable former India captain, he’d be welcome in any place in India and cricket lovers would really love to see him in full flow. And for that matter, former most successful India captain Virat Kohli (although fans have been getting used to watching him fight for a lost cause, always over the years), the present India captain Rohit Sharma (who refused to take Sunil Gavaskar’s advice to take a break and prepare well for the Test Championship match early next month) and quite a few other national and international achievers would also be welcome anywhere in India and general fans would love to see them dishing out inspiring and exemplary cricket.

 

The IPL-2023 has really been an exciting spectacle so far in terms of giving the fans veritable treats of both low-scoring cum high-scoring thrillers, invariably going down to the last over. So, why bother about home or no-home? India is our home and we should make ourselves free to partake in the cricketing bonanza. One positive aspect of the ‘home’ syndrome though comes out loud and clear: the apparently ‘home-infected’ dejected about-to-cry fans suddenly burst into life whenever one of the roving stadium cameras focuses on them! Many more thrillers are yet to come and the climax thereafter! So, enjoy!

T20 WC-2022: Virat Plays His Most Incredible Innings Ever As India Win the Most Incredible Match Ever Against Pakistan!

More than ninety thousand spectators at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) watched spellbound as Virat Kohli scripted his most incredible innings ever to propel India to an incredible victory over archrivals Pakistan in their opening Group-2 match of the Super-12 stage of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup today. India-Pakistan matches are always exciting, nail-biting and full of ups and downs. However, in my lifetime experience of watching Indo-Pak cricket today’s match is perhaps the most incredible one, considering the unbelievable climax. When most of Indian fans, including this writer prominently, were almost giving up on Virat Kohli, he has chosen today’s match to prove what champion matter he’s made of. He has made the impossible possible, snatching the most improbable victory from the jaws of sure defeat. No doubt, he has thus bettered the memories of Sachin Tendulkar against Australia in Sharjah. Well, Virat’s innings of 82 in 53 balls with 6 fours and 4 sixes is not without precedents, but in the context of the depressing circumstances of the Indian chase it is momentous and unforgettable. Giving him the most enthralling company is of course Hardik Pandya—their match-winning partnership worth 113 runs.

 

India started the match in tremendous spirit capturing two early Pak wickets to Arshdeep after Rohit won the toss and put Pakistan into bat. As is usual in an encounter of the archrivals Pakistan recovered thanks to Iftikhar Ahmed and recovered again after being reduced to 98/5 in 14 overs and 120/7 in the 17^th over to post a very competitive target of 160 thanks to Shan Masood. In reply India lost both the openers at the pitiful score of 10 in the fourth over, and when India were reduced to 31/4 in the 7^th over even the most optimistic fans gave up hope despite the fact that the very capable Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya were at the crease still, basically because the scoring rate was extremely poor and the asking rate climbing all the time. As India labored to reach just 45/4 runs in full 10 overs it became too much to expect them to score 115 in just 60 balls more. To confound matters both Kohli and Pandya looked nonchalant and were going about in ways that suggested they themselves had given up any kind of a chasing dream.

 

If their total laidback approach was a clever ploy it really had its impact on the Pak players who apparently thought the victory was theirs and they went on perhaps a bit complacently, just trying to contain the batsmen with the spinners to make the target go beyond their reach. Pak captain Babar also made the cardinal mistake of not keeping one of his strike pacers for the last over by bowling out Afridi, Naseem and Rauf. Of the Indian pair Pandya first showed signs of aggression after 10 overs were bowled and then, of course, Virat started attacking in the most spectacular manner. Yet, the run-ball equations continued to be uphill for India. And, the Indian fans who were starting to live up nearly gave up hope when India needed 48 runs in the last three overs; lived up again as Virat plundered Shaheen Afridi’s last over, the 18^th of the match; and finally got resigned to fate when India needed 28 runs in 8 balls. In that penultimate over by Rauf Kohli hit two mouth-watering sixes to bring the last-over target to an immensely possible 16 runs.

 

However, Babar did not have a strike pacer for the last over and he had to hand over the ball to Nawaz Mohammad who was hit robustly in his third over. But even then, the last over was the most eventful of the match. Pandya gets out first ball, India needing 16 in 5 now. Karthik comes in and takes a single—15 in 4. And Virat takes a couple—13 in 3. Next ball was hit by Virat for a six just missing the onside boundary fielder’s hands and the umpire declares a no-ball, leading to Pak protests and debates on the field—so then now it’s a very easy 6 in 3 balls. Next ball was a wide again--5 in 3 even as the free-hit ball remained to be bowled. In the free-hit ball Virat loses his stumps, but smartly runs three byes as the ball ricochets from the stump to third man, the umpire not heeding Pak protests—now it’s up to Karthik to seal the match by taking 2 runs in 2 balls.

 

Dinesh Karthik, however, gets out stumped in the fifth ball and Ashwin comes in needing 2 runs in the last ball. The most agitated bowler under extreme pressure Nawaz then bowls another wide and finally, India need 1 in 1 ball to win as by that time the match is already tied, open to a deciding super over, and Pak players coming in closer to prevent the single. Ashwin lifts the ball over the mid-off fielder and India win by 4 wickets. What a match! What an incredible victory! And what a start for an ‘experimenting’ Team India in their World Cup campaign! The scenes unfolding on the field indicated as if India had won the T20 World Cup-2022!

 

Questions still remain though about the selection of India’s playing eleven, particularly in regard to the pacers and the spinners. However, amid such incredible moments we leave the questions and instead join in the celebrations—Diwali, the Festival of Lights, happening tomorrow all over the country. Happy Diwali! Meanwhile on the first day of the Super-12 stage yesterday New Zealand scored the most emphatic win over the reigning Champions Australia and England beat Afghanistan in Group-1 matches. After a tough fight in the qualifying stage Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Ireland and Zimbabwe proceeded to the Super-12 while terribly inconsistent West Indies and an unlucky Namibia were eliminated. 

Is Team India Ready for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2022?

It’s always opined by knowledgeable folks that when a car is kept sitting in the garage for months its maintenance suffers—ranging from battery disorders to even rusting in the body—not to speak of the atrocities heaped upon the inactive object by the rats. This means that all humans of various professions and even lifeless objects need to do what they’re meant to do, on a regular basis. Else, maintenance issues emerge leading to breakdowns of various types and escalation in the expenses. Cricketers are much more prone to such inactivity disorders, because it follows naturally that the more they play the fitter they get. Thanks to the experiments-cum-rest syndrome adopted religiously by the cricket management of India these basic principles have not been followed. As one of the results, the crux of the Indian bowling attack, Jasprit Bumrah who had been on indefinite rest, is out of the ICC Cricket T20 World Cup-2022. Now, the entire Team India management is in a daze, unable to take the final decision on Bumrah’s replacement. Unfortunately, things are getting confounded as quite a few of the main Indian pacers like Mohammad Shami, Deepak Chahar, and Mohammad Siraj etc. did not figure even in the experiments galore of late, but inexplicably figured in the list of reserves.

 

Confirming our worst fears the Team India experiments did not subside even during the three-match India vs. South Africa T20I Series, the last opportunity offered by the ICC to prepare. Of course, someone had to be tried for Bumrah’s back maintenance issues (despite the fact that he was rested again for the last match against Australia.) and particularly for assessing the replacement possibilities. But why on earth should Bhuvneshwar Kumar get rested again? Why on earth should they rest the coming-into-form batsmen, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli, for the last encounter against South Africa as if they’d been hopelessly tired playing the well spaced-out five 20-over matches? Why on earth should they even think of Shreyas Iyer who had been abandoned in the most obsessive manner of late despite his selection as a reserve? Why on earth did they not push for a morale-boosting 3-0 victory over a clueless South Africa, instead of restoring the latter’s confidence by fielding a mindlessly self-defeating team? Again in hindsight, the 2-0 Series seal for India cannot be considered fully convincing as in the second encounter South Africa nearly chased out India’s fourth-highest total of 237 runs which underlined India’s consistent bowling woes.

 

We also fail to understand why on earth either the ICC or the BCCI should insist on having a one-day international series against South Africa at this juncture when all teams are on the way to Australia for the World tournament in the shortest format! Well, it seems to be helping the partially retained SA team to have a little more of batting and bowling practice to get a little more confident for the world event; but Team India, primarily the WC-selected Rohit franchise, had overwhelmingly ruled out the ODI Series and the obliging cricket board has fielded the not-forgotten Shikhar Dhawan franchise. Just look at the disarray of choices in the team—all the openers who’ve been abandoned from the experiments find themselves augmenting the batting order while even the ‘partly-experimented-then-abandoned’ bowlers like Ravi Bishnoi and Avesh Khan are back in the team without having any relevance for the World Cup.

So, apart from Bumrah, Jadeja and the lot, how well prepared Team India is for the World Cup? The batting order seems to be in good stead if the batsmen, particularly Rahul, Kohli and Pandya after the layoff, resume immediately from where they left. Selection of both Karthik and Pant in the playing eleven also seems to be a possibility and that is quite healthy. The bowling, however, is in extremely dubious territory. The often dropped-n-rested Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravichandran Ashwin would be expected to deliver immediately, if selected, as well as Pandya and Shami or Deepak or Siraj depending on the selection. The IPL rookies of Arshdeep and Harshal Patel would also be expected to reproduce some of their excellent spells seen in the recent matches. In the spinning arena Yuzvendra Chahal is always a candidate of glorious unpredictability whereas Axar Patel is indeed a tantalizing prospect as far as India’s bowling attack is concerned. 

 

It’d all depend on how the eleven players finally perform on the field on the crucial days. Chance or sheer luck seems to have a better role to play than the recognized or otherwise capabilities of the players. The good thing is that Team India would still have a few practice matches to get ready when the qualifiers are on from 16^th October. As is usual in most of the world cricket tournaments India is going to start the campaign with the opening encounter against the archrivals Pakistan in the former’s favorite ground in Melbourne on October 23, 2022. Millions of Indian fans would expect their team to leave behind the Asia Cup-2022 legacy and fight it out diehard. Anyhow, you do get ready for the world cricket bonanza! 

India Vs Australia T20I Cricket: India Now Looking More Like the Team It Had Been!

Although the ‘experiment’ scare is far from over Team India is now looking more like the one it had been in the national sense as regards the international tournaments. Doing justice to the expectations of a decider the third and last T20I match in Hyderabad last night went down the wire keeping the thrill on till the penultimate ball of the match. It was a high-scoring match in a pitch that helped both the batsmen and the bowlers. Australia put up an imposing target of 187 runs for India after Rohit Sharma won the toss for the second time. And India skillfully handled the early losses of both their openers with Virat Kohli (63) and Suryakumar Yadav (69) having a rollicking partnership of 104 runs thus nearing the target with enough wickets left. However, the ride was still not without thorns as the Aussie fast bowlers started delivering beauties and scoring boundaries was difficult. With the demolition-man Suryakumar gone Kohli and Pandya got into some kind of a spot—India needing 32 in 3, then 21 in 2 and finally 11 in the last over. Before getting out in the second ball Kohli did an immense service by hitting the first ball of the last over by Sams for a six and the target got tantalizingly reduced to just 5 in 4 balls. Dinesh Karthik came in and scored a single off the third ball. Pandya failed to connect a outside-off wide fourth ball and with the wide not given the equation got a little tough with 4 runs in 2 balls. Luckily, Pandya managed to nick another wide ball and the lone slip fielder missed it. It went to a four in the third man area and India won the match by 6 wickets and the Mastercard T20I Series against Australia 2-1, thus providing the much-needed impetus for the team to go to Australia next month for the World Cup.

 

The defending World T20 Champions Australia would’ve much liked it to go home with a series victory to prepare well for the tournament in their own turfs. Apart from the match being a very close one that could’ve gone in either direction there were huge positives for Australia though: it fought all-out to win the first match and could’ve won the next two also; their pace and spin bowlers coming good most of the times to put the hosts under pressure; their batting depth remaining perfect as ever to help the team come out of any adversity; and the revelation that Cameron Green as an opener proved for the team and the management. This exciting new-age power-cricketer has become a tremendous prospect for Australia in the coming World Cup and his sparkling performance has put up question marks for the retention of quite a few stalwarts including even the legendary Steve Smith in the playing T20 eleven in the World Cup. Refreshingly enough, Green has debuted successfully in all the three formats during the last two years only. In this match he notched up his second half century (52 in just 21) and also bowled beautifully and economically.

 

The last five-over woes continue to rattle India though with their bowlers conceding too many runs in those death overs consistently in the last few internationals. Of course, the main strike bowler Jasprit Bumrah has come back to the team, but it’d be unrealistic to expect him to strike immediately after almost rusting for weeks. More hopefully, now in the company of Bumrah the other class pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar is set to pick up soon. For the second time, spinner Axar Patel stole the show by capturing three vital wickets apart being part of the crucial runout of Glen Maxwell. This time he was joined effectively by Yuzvendra Chahal who removed Steve Smith early. Their efforts reduced Australia to a precarious 117/6 in 14^th over when Tim David came to the rescue with a brilliant innings of 54 in 27 balls. Daniel Sams did a cameo of 28 in 20 balls to aid David and the team. Next, India meets South Africa at home too in the last three-match T20I Series before the start of the World Cup. Pandya is supposed to be rested for that Series; we pray against more experiments and the only exception should be Rishabh Pant who was dropped for the third match.

(Photos from bcci.tv)

Amidst the Rohit Blitz Karthik Had His Moments as India Level T20I Series Against Australia!

Chasing a tall target of 91 runs to win in 8 overs (the second T20I between India and Australia was reduced to 8-overs a side due to rain affected pitch and outfield) captain Rohit played out of his skin remaining not out at 46 off just 20 balls to steer India to a win by 6 wickets against Australia before a packed house in Nagpur. He kept his cool and hit some terrific shots all around the park as he has been known for despite the failures of KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya. For a change, we’ve used ‘India’ instead of ‘Rohit Franchise’ because the team finally looked like a national team with main strike bowler Jasprit Bumrah coming back and batsman-keeper Dinesh Karthik retained notwithstanding what happened in the first match. This is not at all due to India’s win. Of course, one of the main weapons for a national side Bhuvneshwar Kumar was dropped or rested as he’s been giving away crucial runs in his second spell in the last few matches. However, the fact that the IPL rookie fast bowlers have been consistently given the privilege of bowling the last over could’ve affected his confidence and form. Even with Bumrah around the last over in this match was also handed over to Harshal Patel and that over cost a lot of runs.

 

Earlier, during the extended pre-match panel discussion Sunil Gavaskar had welcomed the inclusion of Bumrah for the do or die match and made a far more important observation that with Bumrah or Shami bowling from the other end Bhuvneshwar just gets transformed bowling to a tight length and getting the rewards too. Gavaskar also welcomed the move to retain Dinesh Karthik saying that Karthik has always been a finisher and a team would love to have him coming in at a crucial juncture. His comment simply means that a ‘finisher’ must be utilized before the match gets actually finished.

 

In the match played last night, 23^rd September 2022, we justifiably had a nightmarish thought about having to watch Axar Patel coming in when a struggling Pandya fell in the fifth ball of the penultimate over and India still needed 14 runs in 7 balls. But to our heartfelt relief we beheld Karthik coming in occupying the non-striker’s end as Rohit did cross over during the Pandya catch. As a cruel blow to the Aussies who again saw themselves back in the match the sixth ball was a wide coming from an experienced Pat Cummins and the next ball was hit for a four by Rohit; the final equation being reduced now to 9 runs in the last over. Karthik was facing the last over.

 

He hit the first ball of the last over by Daniel Sams for a huge six and then the next ball for a resounding four. And the match was over as Rohit rushed to embrace Karthik. The ‘finisher’ sent ahead of Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel at long last seized the opportunity to prove his mettle and helped his team romp home to 92/4 with 4 balls to spare. Well, giving your key players the trust and confidence almost always works. Now what happens next is eagerly awaited as both the teams clash for the decider in Hyderabad tomorrow; the ‘experiment scare’ just refuses to leave us alone.

 

Put in to bat Australia had captain Finch blasting away in a determined frame of mind to seal the Series. But Rohit just then produced a masterstroke handing over the ball to Axar Patel in the very second over with, mind you, Bumrah around. Axar first affected a Kohli-fueled brilliant runout of the first-match destroyer Cameron Green and then clean bowled the dangerous Glen Maxwell for a first-ball duck in the last ball of the same over. Probably as there were only 8 overs to be bowled in all he was not taken off and was given the fourth over too, and in that over Axar clean bowled Tim David. He effectively prevented Australia from running away with a 100+ total in spite of the late charge by Matthew Wade (43 not out in 20 balls). Adam Zampa did more than an Axar capturing the top three Indian wickets, but could not force a win thanks to Rohit and that each bowler could bowl only two overs each. Josh Hazelwood was the most expensive Aussie bowler giving away 20 runs in 2 overs.

Is The Dinesh Karthik Riddle Over Now?

Continuing with the Asia Cup-2022 legacy and the experiment-legacy since time IPL the swashbuckling Team India management, the dead- ‘wall’ coach and the devastatingly discerning selectors had once again preferred batsman-keeper Dinesh Karthik ahead of Rishabh Pant in the playing eleven pitted against the T20 World Champions Australia in the first of the three T20Is in Mohali on 20^th September, 2022. Keeping up with the ‘traditions’ Karthik came in to bat after the supposed all-rounder Axar Patel and was still lucky enough to have four overs to play out. Unfortunately, he could not capitalize on this golden opportunity and perished cheaply. Not only that, he failed miserably to read a suspected LBW ball to convince his captain Rohit Sharma to go for a DRS. As the replays showed the ball hitting the leg stump clearly Rohit vented out all his pent-up anger on the poor but experienced Karthik. Rohit’s magnanimously displayed public anger could perhaps also be the result of the ceaseless accumulation of the same thanks to the ‘stakeholders’ described at the outset.

 

During Asia Cup-2022 that the hosts Sri Lanka won magnificently roaring back into tremendous form the stakeholders included both Karthik and Pant in the second league match and then decided to forget about the former in the crunch matches. This time, however, things could be much firmer and more decisive. As we already said Dinesh Karthik had scored an all-round failure-laden outing in the match, he seemingly gave sound enough reasons to the constantly-experimenting-scheming stakeholders to rule Karthik out on a permanent basis thus justifying the esteemed management’s outstandingly long-lasting ‘kindness and understanding’ to ‘experience’ while basking in the spirit of experimentation; this ‘experience’ also has an unmistakable Dhoni ring that surfaced during the times of the devastating (for India) ICC Men’ World Cup-2019. We need not worry at all as far as the riddle called Dinesh Karthik is concerned because it is set to be crystal clear in the second T20I against Australia tomorrow.

 

The dead- ‘wall’ coach has vindicated his age-old preferences very ominously now: Yuzvendra Chahal is to be played in every possible eleven irrespective of how he bowls and to be denied rest at any cost; Hardik Pandya (he displayed tremendous batting in the first T20I against Australia) is now a confirmed batting all-rounder along with Ravindra Jadeja whose injury could well be the ultimate cause of Rohit Franchise’s possible downfall (God forbid!) in the coming T20 World Cup; Jasprit Bumrah is to be kept on indefinite rest till he is ‘exclusively fit’ for the World Cup; the batting order has to be an ever-alterable variable, never a constant; encouraging the captain to insist on bowling the same bowlers (mostly five in number) irrespective of how they bowl till their quotas are fulfilled and to immediately take a bowler who captures a wicket in his first over off the attack; and contradictory contempt for youngsters cum veterans like Ravi Bishnoi or Deepak Chahar or Ravichandran Ashwin while welcoming the other, mostly youngsters, players as the future of Indian-Cricket (read IPL).

 

The unpredictability of the dead-‘wall’ coach is also as glorious as of the game itself. One of the consistently striking bowlers in all formats, Mohammad Shami, was benevolently considered meritorious enough to be included as one of the reserves for the T20 World Cup; but unfortunately, he caught the COVID virus perhaps due to the wantonly liberal ‘rest’ he was conferred with by the omniscient stakeholders. But horror of horrors of unpredictability! Umesh Yadav who was nowhere to be seen in the playing arena for quite some time was not only included in the revised reserves but was also played in the first T20I against Australia.     

 

That the Rohit Franchise lost against Australia despite putting up a formidable total in excess of 200 runs had been a forgone conclusion. Call it the result of the ‘price’ to be paid for the ‘essential’ process of experimentation so mind-blowingly required to finalize the playing eleven in the World Cup or the reign of the glorious uncertainly or the dead-walled team management or whatever. The call is yours as you must bear with the future of Indian Cricket (read IPL). As a vital reminder you have to take notice of the only experiment that Australia made while chasing—asking their rank-new bowling all-rounder Cameron Green to open with captain Finch and the former breathtakingly took the match away from the dazed Indians. Having said all these rather dubious things the final outcome of the T20 World Cup starting in Australia from 16^th October 2022 could still change everything for Indian Cricket (don’t read IPL) for the better, hopefully.

Asia Cup-2022: Teams Playing for National Pride, India Played for IPL Pride!

That India had been kicked out of the Asia Cup-2022 should hardly come as a surprise or some kind of a setback for the Indian cricket board, the Selectors, the India captain and the India coach, because this tournament too has been another clog in the machinery of experimentation for determining a ‘national’ squad for the ICC T20 World Cup-2022 that starts in October in Australia this year. While the ICC had been trying laudably hard to provide valuable practice in the shortest format for all the contesting national sides Team India or the franchises thereof or the team management had been basically trying to justify the IPL and to vindicate the selections therefrom. During this time most of the cricketing superstars of India had been rested or allowed to recuperate from supposed injuries, and as a crucial part of the experiments the superstars, all IPL-captain stuff, were brought in for this international tournament which totally neutralizes the earlier experiments with the IPL stars and rookies. No doubt, as we indicated in an earlier post, after the epochal revenue deal struck for the IPL, cricket in India has virtually become IPL-oriented, and so the endless experiments that are set to continue even during the upcoming big international event. Since the IPL is the future of Indian cricket there’d hardly be any national side for any international event in the coming years, and therefore, in this particular tournament Team India has right royally played for IPL pride, thus disappointing and frustrating the genuine cricket lovers and fans of the country.

 

We see no other alternative but to stick to this opinion after considering the ‘decisions’ regarding the playing eleven in Asia Cup-2022. First of all, knowing fully well that most of the crucial Super-4 matches are to be played in the pacer-friendly Dubai pitches the selectors included only three pacers in the squad, that too consisting of two IPL rookies, and fielded four spinners. Apart of course, from the ‘definitive’ all-rounders like Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja and it has not been clear at all if they were bowling or batting all-rounders. Perhaps, the absolute drive to make Jadeja a superstar batsman, also an IPL-must, contributed toward his becoming unfit in quick time and repeatedly over the last two years, and he being ruled out of the tournament seemed to have made the entire team utterly useless, even making Pandya so frustrated that he could not bat nor bowl effectively. And all the while the team management talked of a cohesive and fighting playing eleven.

 

Dinesh Karthik, the experienced keeper-batsman, was included in the squad and was allowed to face just one ball in the group matches, and was dropped inexplicably from the Super-4 matches. As the India batting saga in the Pakistan and Sri Lanka matches unfolded it was Karthik who was missed sorely and almost fatally; in both matches India fell short by 15-20 runs and lost both. A genuinely promising batting all-rounder Deepak Hooda was included in those crunch matches; but Pandya superseded him in the batting order every time, and in the bowling department despite Pandya being hit mercilessly and ceaselessly Hooda was not at all tried by the ‘experienced’ India captain as the sixth bowling option. Why? Because the promising IPL-captain stuff had to be promoted at all costs.

 

Of the pacers, the rookie called Avesh Khan got injured and was ruled out of the tournament; therefore, the other rookie Arshdeep Singh had to be included along with the experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Now who is Arshdeep Singh? That he was trolled for the simple catch he dropped in the penultimate over against a struggling Pakistan just could not be a national news with all the masala ingredients. It was simply a reaction of the hapless fans, caught in the continuously frustrating chain unleashed by the selectors or the captain or the coach or the Board or the IPL mandarins or whoever concerned. There are other more pertinent questions that are integral to the experiments: where is Deepak Chahar? Where is Mohammad Shami? Where is Mohammad Siraj? Where is the fiery Umran Malik? Of course, the superstar captain-stuff Jasprit Bumrah is too delicate to be wasted in the mundane international matches or minor tournaments. Of the spinners if the experienced Ashwin was to be considered he should’ve been considered from the beginning of the Super-4 stage. However, when he was finally considered he replaced Bishnoi who, though another IPL rookie, fought spiritedly in the Pakistan game instead of replacing the listless Yuzvendra Chahal. Well, contradictions are bound to happen in a mindless quest!

 

After the Asia Cup hosts Sri Lanka came roaring back into form eliminating an equally determined Bangladesh at the last group match the Super-4 stage was bound to be tough and fiercely competitive. Pakistan too asserted their determination after routing Hong Kong, and Afghanistan was waiting eagerly for their encounters, being the group topper along with India. With the exception of India all the three teams have fighting-fit national sides not beleaguered by the senseless changes, and are fighting for sheer national pride, determined to enter the World Cup as serious contenders. In cricketing terms the basic differences between India and the three teams are the former’s batting inconsistency cum a haphazard batting order and their bowlers, particularly the spinners, lacking the intensity required in such competitive tournaments.

 

Afghanistan was extremely unlucky to falter in the last over against Pakistan, losing a low-scoring match while Pakistan’s fighting spirit till the last man outstanding must be appreciated. With that win by one wicket Pakistan entered the Final to meet Sri Lanka on 11^th September, making their Super-4 encounter on September 9 inconsequential, but of great value for both in gaining confidence for the Final. Meanwhile as expected, Team India experimented in an exemplary manner in the match against Afghanistan with the captain dropping himself (read resting himself) and giving another go to the franchisee captain KL Rahul. In some kind of a sadistic joke the selectors included Dinesh Karthik again and also decided to try Deepak Chahar. My God! What apathy and total disregard for the national spirit of the country!

 

With the ICC still providing more T20 practice by facilitating two three-match T20 series of India Vs South Africa and India Vs Australia India later this month in India the India experiment-juggernaut can still go on testing their IPL rookies priding itself of having the strongest bench-strength in the world with limitless choices of players and give a much-deserved rest to their superstar cricketers, again. But unfortunately, at almost the same time the glorious Selectors will have to finally announce their ‘dream’ squad for the World Cup even as the dream of an India-Pakistan Asia Cup final, the third much-awaited encounter of a rare variety of cricket, got cruelly dashed by that same bunch of businessmen of cricket.  Amen!

Team India Franchises on a Winning Spree: Is This For Real?

It has to be termed as a good positive sign in view of the ICC World Cup T20 coming up later this year and the ODI ICC World Cup coming next year that Team India, of late, has been winning in the shorter formats consistently. After Team India-Bumrah franchise lost the leftover 5^th Test against England the various franchises have been blooming in the following matches in the shorter formats. Before the 5^th Test Team India-Pandya franchise had triumphed over Ireland quite easily; then Team India-Rohit franchise won both the T20I Series and the ODI Series against England with the same margin of 2-1; next, Team India-Dhawan franchise swept the 3-match ODI Series against the competitive and spirited West Indies on the latter’s turf 3-0; and at the moment Team India-Rohit franchise has taken a lead of 1-0 in the 3-match T20I Series against the West Indies routing the hosts in the first T20I match. Before this winning spree Team India-Pant franchise managed to draw the ODI Series against South Africa back home. The problem here is as to why exactly we’re using the word ‘franchise’ for the true-blue national team. This, of course, can be interpreted as ‘in the glorious spirit of the IPL franchises’, because after that mind-blowing deal the IPL had accomplished in terms of revenues Indian cricket as well as international cricket are bound to undergo a paradigm shift from ‘proud national cricket’ to ‘businessmen’s franchise cricket’.

 

We’re not saying this out of any outraged hurts or feelings, we’re saying this based on hard facts. The surprise announcement of retirement from ODI cricket by England Test captain Ben Stokes immediately after the hosts lost the ODI Series 2-1 to India brought the ‘burnout of players’ syndrome into deep focus. This syndrome has quite a lot of validity behind it. After the Pandemic-induced break for well over a year the International Cricket Council (ICC) decided to rush through as many pending tournaments/bilateral series as possible and the cricketers started complaining of continuous ‘bio bubble’ fatigue which also has a lot of humanitarian validity. Besides, some exceptionally capable cricketers play cricket in all formats for their respective national teams and therefore they are the worst hit in this ‘burnout’ syndrome.

 

As far as Indian cricket is concerned the supposedly prompt counter to the ‘burnout’ issue had been in operation well before the Pandemic; naturally because the IPL was raging here since times immemorial. The exceptional players or the superstars who must figure in all formats of the game plus obviously the IPL were being ‘rested’ or ‘put in the unfit or injury list’ quite regularly. However, there is a glorious exception to rule here: superstar players must not be ‘rested’ at any cost for the two months when the IPL franchises chalk out the encounters. This is now being further accentuated by the fact that the IPL, as the second-highest earning sports tournament of the world, is going to last for around two and half months from next year and the formation-in-line of various other T20 Leagues in many countries across the globe including South Africa, Australia, UAE and others the replacement of ‘national cricket’ by ‘franchise cricket’ has to become immensely imminent.

 

Therefore, the ‘burnout factor’, accentuated by the mushrooming T20 Leagues, has become a vexed international phenomenon. Former India coach Ravi Shastri and famed ex-cricketer of Pakistan Wasim Akram have in fact bluntly asked the ICC to cut down drastically on the bilateral fixtures, and if possible, to eradicate the ODI feature from international cricket schedule altogether. While they are being very righteous about the enveloping ‘burnout crisis’ they miss the basic point that the ODI Cricket World Cup still commands more interest than any other T20 or other tournaments. They also justify that this is absolutely necessary to preserve Tests Cricket, supposedly the original and the traditional format of the game. Unfortunately, cricket mandarins of this kind would be the last to be genuinely concerned about the future of Test Cricket.

 

Coming back to Indian cricket, we’ve already seen that the emergence of the Team India franchises cannot be prevented for practical reasons. Former India captain and the horribly cum consistently out-of-form Virat Kohli has been getting the much needed ‘rest’ very frequently along with the most delicate superstars like Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Shami and others. Rohit Sharma, the newly appointed regular captain in all formats, has been exemplary as far as the ‘rested’ or ‘injured’ factors are concerned, and as a result of that various stand-in captains have been emerging in Indian cricket, very regularly too. And therefore, the inevitable ‘franchise’ phenomenon. Shikhar Dhawan was left in the wilderness for a long time without any suitable justification, but had to be brought in now for the ‘franchise’ issue.

 

Now, the Indian franchises are winning the matches cum series, but not India as such. ‘Bench strength’ and ‘experiments’ are the buzzwords now. No issues, it’s always good to have multiple choices. Some players like Deepak Hooda, Samson and many other youngsters are playing exceptionally well. But the problem is about the final eleven that was going to figure in the forthcoming World Cups. The ICC has been judiciously providing many T20 bilateral series to enable the national teams prepare well. But, when the key players are ‘rested’ from these preparatory matches and they come back to oust the promising and practicing youngsters from the playing eleven in the World Cups what would happen!

 

For example if KL Rahul, the regular stand-in captain in the shorter formats, comes back from a long injury break whom he is going to replace? Further, if Virat Kohli is given a permanent rest it would augur well for the final eleven in World Cups, because if he comes back too without any match practice he would oust another cog of the winning combinations and his performance in the eliminating matches would also be highly unpredictable. Why veteran Dinesh Karthik is being played in the final T20 eleven, coming to bat after Jadeja or Axar Patel, is another pertinent question. Or does it matter anyway how the India final eleven perform in the international tournaments? Other countries are joining in the chorus too for sparing their ‘national’ players to play and earn big money in the franchise leagues!

 

If only the T20 Leagues are given preference over the ICC fixtures we’ll always be the first to protest. National and International cricket cannot be sacrificed for the money-spinning entertainment shows like the T20 Leagues. But it’s going to be a battle where the genuine cricket lovers are going to be the most likely losers. This is definitely unfortunate, but what can we do when confronted with the ‘popularity’ and the ‘money’ associated with the short-cut cricket! Our hopes in the new coach Rahul Dravid, the Wall in Indian glorious Test cricket, have been a huge disappointment thus far, sadly.

IPL Looming over India’s International Cricket?

No doubt, we cannot question the fundamental rights of people, particularly the ebullient young generation, of loving short and sweet but highly entertaining cricket games like movies. Add to it the digital revolution taking place all over the world as well as in India, even penetrating the rural areas thanks to the initiatives of the government. Now everyone, young or older, wants to enjoy whatever they love on their mobiles or tabs or laptops from wherever they happen to be. For what do you think the streaming platforms are becoming so popular? The digital experience is always unique, as it is very personal, independent and not location-dependent as we’ve already mentioned. In such a scenario what the Indian Premiere League (IPL) has achieved in its 3-day e-auction for TV and Digital broadcasting rights is mindboggling indeed, but not entirely unexpected. The four packages of media rights, A, B, C and D, fetched the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) a record-breaking figure of $6.2 Billion or INR 48, 390 Crore for TV rights, Digital rights and Digital rights on zonal basis across the globe for the IPL seasons during 2023-2027 with around 410 matches to be played. It means an incredible $13.4 Million cost for the broadcasters or BCCI revenue per IPL match.

 

These eye-popping figures are not only several times higher than all of the previous IPL media rights auctions, but these figures mean that the IPL is now only second to the US  National Football League (NFL) in terms of revenues per match. NFL is the highest revenue-grossing sports brand with around $17 Million per game, and now the IPL has become the second highest sports brand in the world, beating the MLB (Major League Baseball) and the EPL (English Premiere League) with $11 million each per game respectively.

 

The BCCI President Sourav Ganguly and other office-bearers, though perhaps a little apologetic as the IPL has always been called a money-spinning glamour tournament, have hailed this as the inevitable outcome of the modern age and more importantly that it’s not just for earning money, but to improve the cricket infra in the country, discovering more and more talents and also a women’s IPL tournament on the anvil from 2023 onward. Well, it’s true that such kind of money could be used very productively indeed, but the ‘commerce’ part of cricket has come into the IPL more obtusely now, and it’s already manifested the effects or it’d go on doing now like a dictator in international cricket.   

 

Let’s just take a look at the T20I Series between India and South Africa going on at the moment which is supposed to an official ICC bilateral series, more important in view of the upcoming ICC CricketT20 World Cup later this year. Quite a few of the South African stalwarts have gained immensely from the IPL-2022 and have put in their efforts in the bilateral series, winning the first two matches hands down. Not to take away the due credit we have to look at the Team India: it’s not even a second-string national team with a stand-in on a stand-in skipper and most of the other players being rookies, giving the team an IPL franchise appearance rather than that of a national team; with most of the Indian stalwarts who’ve also gained a lot from the same tournament are either being rested or injured. With the commerce-crazy Indian cricket the difference between ‘rested’ and ‘injured’ is always highly deceptive.

 

Now, the BCCI is set to increase the total matches to be played in an IPL season gradually over the next five years, 10 franchises being there, you know. Therefore, one season could take around two and half months instead of two at present, and combining this with the ‘must-rest’ star cricketers all international cricket matches are going to feature only IPL rookies and winning an international series thus could be reduced to a secondary consideration. With the richest cricket Board of the world getting richer still the BCCI can easily convince the ICC to include the IPL in their annual official cricket calendar.  Coming back to the current series, even by IPL standards Hardik Pandya should’ve been appointed the stand-in captain as he was spectacular in the IPL-2022, becoming a captain for the first time and leading a newbie franchise to a huge title win. But Rishabh Pant is the crux of that inevitable ‘commerce’ and he cannot be ignored at any cost in any format of the game.

 

However, the justification for a second or third string team against South Africa is of ‘resting’ the key players for the leftover test match against England in Edgbaston, staring 1^st July 2022. And of course, Pandya is appointed to lead India against Ireland for T20I games. In the third match played on 14^thJune the Indian bowlers somehow overhauled themselves to the required line and length to beat South Africa by 48 runs to keep India alive in the 5-match series, with South Africa leading 2-1 and the next match to be played tomorrow.

 

Well, I’m only expressing a fear that international cricket for India could just become formal experimental exercises and the great brand of the IPL is set to be looming over everything there’s to be concerned about international cricket. I was amazed to read a news report somewhere that in the India-SA series India is actually not looking to win it, but only trying to test its bench strength in terms of, surely, the IPL rookies. We’d seen many times earlier how this kind of endless ‘experiments’ spelled India’s doom in ICC tournaments. Therefore, IPL would indeed find more and more talented players making many of them richer too; but it’s doubtful if it’s going to make the glorious game of cricket richer in terms of not money, but in terms of glory and pride.