ChinmayC Blog

The 13 th version of the Twenty20 cricket extravaganza, the Indian Premier League (IPL 2020), is set to unfold from 19 th September 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 fo...

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 th of 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 n...

The 74 th Independence Day of India was celebrated on 15 th August 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...