Cricket New Normal: IPL Extravaganza To Hit The Screens From 19th September!

The 13^th version of the Twenty20 cricket extravaganza, the Indian Premier League (IPL 2020), is set to unfold from 19^thSeptember 2020 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The 53-day long tournament would see around 70 matches including practice matches during the period; the afternoon matches would start at 3.30 pm IST and evening matches at 7.30 pm IST. The matches are to be played in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. Eight teams or franchises will take part in the tournament: Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals, Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore.  The IPL Governing Council under the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has recently announced Dream11, an Indian company based in Mumbai, as the title sponsor of the IPL 2020 thanks to the exit of the erstwhile title sponsor Vivo, a Chinese concern. As per news reports available it has almost been decided not to have real spectators for the mega event, because officials of both the countries have found it too risky to have crowds inside the stadiums in view of the raging COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, as is known from reports, there would instead be huge LED screens in the stadiums that can connect the fans from various places where they can watch the live action and take part in the proceedings. Apart from those screens the matches would hit the small television screens across the globe as per arrangements of live telecast by the BCCI with Star Sports.

The IPL 2020 teams had started arriving at different venues in UAE from the 20^th of August 2020 thanks to the strict COVID-19 norms and new normal cricket rules. Members of the teams arriving in Dubai were isolated at their hotel rooms for 7 days during which they were required to undergo three COVID tests, and only after being proven negative in the final test would they be allowed to go for the practice sessions. On the other hand, teams arriving in Abu Dhabi were being quarantined in hotels for 14 days as per the COVID protocol applicable there which reportedly upset a few members of the teams. This brings us to the issue of different protocols followed in different venues.

Protocols followed in Abu Dhabi are stricter due to the Coronavirus situation, and there are travel restrictions too between Abu Dhabi and Dubai or Sharjah. For example, players traveling form Dubai or Sharjah to Abu Dhabi would be required to undergo quick COVID tests at the internal border and only after being proved negative would they be allowed to enter the city. Cricket administrators have found this particular restriction not at all compatible with the demanding situation on match days. And, because of this vexing issue the BCCI has not been able so far to fix and announce the match schedule. As per reports the Board or the IPL Governing Council has been mulling dividing the tournament into two legs: most of the matches in the first leg being played in Dubai and Sharjah where restrictions are relaxed a bit, and the remaining matches in Abu Dhabi in the second leg.

Although the match schedule has not yet been announced in the official IPL website, an inadvertent tweet by Rohit Sharma, captain of the defending Champions Mumbai Indians, where he paid rich tributes to MS Dhoni, captain of Chennai Super Kings and who retired from international cricket recently, before facing him in the first match revealed that the first match of the tournament could be played between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, but no clue as yet to the venue.

Cricket fans and revelers in India are waiting eagerly for the new normal IPL 2020 unfold in their homes in all grandeur and glitz from the 19^thof September 2020 to November 10 when the ultimate final is to be played. Since the tournament had been taken out of India, for the second time in IPL history, this would mean no traveling to the UAE for Indian fans. Meanwhile, Kings XI Punjab skipper Ravichandran Ashwin had left his team and joined Delhi Capitals, and Chris Gayle, after undergoing two COVID-19 tests and proven negative, had arrived in Dubai to join his team Kings XI Punjab. 

Cricket New Normal: England Triumph In Closed-Door Tests!

Cricket in COVID-19 times started in England from the 8^th of July 2020 in empty stadiums and with the strictest of norms and measures. The first 3-Test Series since the outbreak of the pandemic was played against the visiting West Indies. The visitors won the first test by 4 wickets on the fifth and last day of the closely fought encounter. However, the hosts came back stronger in the second and the third test matches, winning the second match by 113 runs and then routing the unpredictable, as ever, West Indies by 269 runs in the concluding match, thus winning the Test Series 2-1. In Test cricket, English seamer Stuart Broad became the 2^nd seam bowler from England, the fourth fast bowler of the world and the seventh bowler overall of the world, to capture 500 wickets in the last encounter that concluded on the 28^thof July 2020. Pity, no home supporters or any other supporters were there to cheer him and the team win! The most promising aspect of the New Normal Cricket was that no health-related issues daunted the efforts. And, cricket in empty stadiums continued.

Next came the team of Pakistan for a 3-match Test Series and a 3-match T20I Series against the hosts England. The first test match between England and Pakistan was played from the 5^th of August, and England, keeping up the winning streak, won the match by 3 wickets. The match, played at the Emirates Old Trafford ground in Manchester, was a cliffhanger, and England managed eventually to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat on the final day, the hosts going 1-0 up in the series. Rains and bad light continuously interrupted proceedings of the second test at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, allowing only 150 overs to be bowled overall, and the match ended in a frustrating draw for both teams, particularly for Pakistan smarting under the shock defeat in the first match. The third and the final match of the series, a much-awaited showdown, started from 21^st August 2020 at the same venue. England sealed the deal by putting up a mammoth score of 583 for 8 declared, and then going on to rout Pakistan for 273 in the first innings forcing them to follow on. Thanks to rain interruptions England could not go on to win, and Pakistan saved the match at 187 for 4 wickets. However, history was created in that Test match.

38-year-old English fast bowling stalwart, James Anderson, took his 29^thfive-wicket haul in Pakistan’s first innings and then captured two more scalps in the second innings to complete a record-breaking 600 wickets. The right-arm fast bowler became the first pace-bowler in international Test cricket to achieve the feat of 600 wickets leaving Glen McGrath of Australia in the second place with 563 scalps , and the fourth bowler overall, Sri Lanka’s Muralitharan sitting at the top with incredible 800 wickets, followed by Australia’s SK Warne with 708 in the second position and India’s  Anil Kumble with 619 wickets in the third position. James Anderson made his ODI debut in 2002 and earned a place in the 2003 ICC World Cup squad, and he stamped his mark in international cricket. His Test debut came in 2003, and from then onward he played in 156 test matches for England till history was made on the 25^th of August 2020. The tall pacer has often been criticized as ‘English-conditions-only’ seamer, and his career was interrupted often as he was either ‘rested’ or dropped due to external factors. However, he proved all his critics wrong, finally, and emerged as one of the finest bowlers of world cricket. Pity again, English fans or any other spectators could not be present at the Rose Bowl to cherish the historical moment. Anyway, the hosts won the series 1-0.

Pakistan is also scheduled to figure in a 3-match T20 international series against the hosts England. The first match on 28^th of August, the second on 30^th of August and the final match on 1^stof September 2020.

Now to come in England’s arch-rivals Australia, for a 3-Match T20I Series and a 3-match ODI Series. The T20 matches will be played on the 4^th, 6^th and 8^th of September while the one-day international matches are scheduled on the 11^th, 13^th and 16^thof September 2020.

In a most likely extension of the New Normal Cricket India is set to begin their Tour of Australia 2020-21 from the month of October 2020. Cricket Australia has recently announced the full schedule of the matches between the two teams: the first of the 3-match T20I would take place on the 11^th of October, followed by a 4-match Test Series from 3^rd December and the 3-match ODI Series would begin from the 12^th of January 2021. As per the discussion between the two Boards the second test starting from the 11^thof December at the Adelaide Oval would be a day and night affair with the pink ball. Continue enjoying cricket from home!  

News Digest: Mixed & Overlapped!

The 74^th Independence Day of India was celebrated on 15^thAugust at the ramparts of the Red Fort in Delhi with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving his customary address to the nation. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was sans the usual grandiosity with limited invitees and restricted public attendance, use of masks, social distancing and other norms being maintained very strictly. Celebrations were also simple and muted in all the state capitals, district headquarters, offices and other public places. ***

Independence Day seemed to have inspired Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the most successful captain of Indian cricket, to finally call it quits and thereby attain full freedom from the remaining departments of international cricket, that is say, from ODIs and T20Is, as Captain Cool announced his retirement by evening of 15^th August on social media; he retired suddenly and abruptly from Test cricket in the midst of an on-going series against Australia in Australia during 2013-14. Dhoni’s decision had been expected since his subdued performance and his run-out in the semi-final against New Zealand in the ICC World Cup Cricket-2019. That semi-final was the last international match played by him, which was in July, 2019 in England and since then he was not considered for selection in the Indian cricket team. Obviously, he must have planned to test himself in the IPL, originally scheduled in April-May this year, and perhaps take his chances for a comeback in the ICC World Cup T20, originally scheduled in October this year in Australia. But the pandemic ultimately seems to have sealed his fate, marking the end of a glorious chapter of Indian cricket. Suresh Raina, a cricketer groomed mostly by Dhoni, also took the decision to retire with his guru the same day. However, both of them are set to play in the IPL, rescheduled in September 2020 in UAE, in their franchise, the Chennai Super Kings. ***

Next day, that is 16^th of August, veteran cricketer Chetan Chauhan succumbed to COVID-19 infection after a fortnight-long fight, at 73 years of age. Chauhan made his Test debut in 1969 and then had been in and out of the team till around 1976 when he staged a strong comeback in the India away Series against Australia, and became a regular opening partner with the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, till his retirement in 1981. Chetan Chauhan played 40 Test matches, scored 2008 runs and did not score a single century, his highest individual score being 97. He also played a few one-day international matches. He joined politics after his cricket career and was a minister in Uttar Pradesh cabinet for the last two years. ***

Next day, that is 17^th of August, two more unfortunate celebrity deaths took place. Legendary Hindustani Classical Vocalist of the Mewati Gharana, Pt. Jasraj passed away in the US, at 90, due to age-related illness. His musical career spanned nearly 80 years earning him national and international fame including numerous prestigious awards and accolades. Pt. Jasraj was conferred Padmashri and Padma Vibhushan in India.

Nishikant Kamat, a noted film actor-director of Bollywood, died in Hyderabad following a liver disease, prematurely at just 50 years of age. He hailed from the state of Maharashtra, and made a name in Marathi cinema with his national-award winning debut film Dombivali Fast in 2005 which became the biggest Marathi movie of the year. Nishikant is known for his movies, Mumbai Meri Jaan (2008), Force (2011) and Drishyam (2015) in particular. ***

And today, the 19^th of August, the Supreme Court of India delivered its verdict directing Mumbai Police to hand over the all evidence in the case and the case of Sushant Singh Rajput, a rising star of Bollywood who committed an allegedly depression-driven suicide on 14^th June 2020 in Mumbai, to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and that henceforth the probe would be fully handled by CBI. Sushant’s family came to Mumbai for the last rites in June and reportedly did not report any suspicion about foul play to the police. A few days after, sections of the Bollywood fraternity started a campaign against alleged workings of a mafia and nepotism in Bollywood. Acting on these complaints Mumbai Police interrogated a few actors and frontline producers from a possible abetment-to-suicide angle. Since there was no criminal complaint no FIR was registered.

After more than a month the family of Sushant Singh Rajput lodged a FIR with Bihar Police alleging criminal conspiracy against an actress girlfriend of Sushant: that the girlfriend cheated Sushant by way of financial transactions and bank transfers, abandoned him a few days before the suicide, changed all members of his house-staff and that of  even murdering him by strangulation. The family further alleged that Mumbai Police had been trying to protect the vested interests by procrastinating on the case. They also rubbished the depression theory. Bihar Police, with apparent approval of the Bihar government, started investigating the case landing up in Mumbai. The Mumbai Police held the view that Bihar Police had no jurisdiction to investigate the case, because the victim and the accused lived in Mumbai. Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (nobody would know at whose call) also came into the picture investigating the financial angle. As conspiracy theories and rampant politicking took over multiple pleas and representations were put up in the Supreme Court: from Bihar Government for CBI take-over; from Mumbai Police and Government of Maharashtra for the jurisdiction matters and that Mumbai Police has been investigating the case in the most proper way; and from the actress-girlfriend for transferring the case from Patna in Bihar to Mumbai. The Court delivered the verdict based mainly on the facts that no FIR was registered in Mumbai and that justice must be done to the bereaved family’s concerns.

This case marks the beginning of a new trend in Indian politics: in matters relating to political convenience. With elections due in Bihar this year, Bihar government being formed with BJP tie-up, the state of Maharashtra becomes an ideal political target because of the fact that after the Assembly Elections in 2019 the ruling Shiv Sena deserted its traditional ally BJP despite a clear BJP-Shiv Sena majority, and formed the government with the support from the NCP and the Congress, leaving the single largest party of BJP seething in anger and frustration, and donning the opposition role in the assembly. Whatever be the political rivalries and attempts of capitalizing, justice must prevail at the end; else, belief in the judiciary will be a thing of the past. A huge concern remains and beckons ominously: a single family (not even a dynastic one) could influence and almost rule the country just because it is politically convenient…***