t20

The four days Test Match

admin — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 12:06:17 +0000

Is it to popularize or making space for more matches?

The huge popularity of the T20 format in cricket and the steady decline of the viewership of Test and ODI format when compared to T20 has started the talks of shortening the test format into four days. The supporters of a four-day test match consider this to be a pragmatic approach.

As the people these days no longer have the time and patience to wait and watch the end of a match, everyone is looking for an immediate result. Our faster life and automation in technology has already made the T20 format a huge success all over the world. There is a surge of the matches played in this format with a huge crowd at the stadiums. All of these have influenced the thought of modifying the oldest and purest format of cricket - Test cricket from five days to four days.

From past some time, the cricket boards are working on popularizing the Test cricket and they came up with World Test Championship series to raise the interest of cricket fans. Not only this, but we are also witnessing some very close and interesting test matches that are inevitably helping the format. The majority of the test matches are giving results and not ending into draws as it was the case 10 to 15 years earlier.

Truncating the test matches into four days might have an adverse impact as most of the matches would result in a draw. We already have experience of Ranji matches, the domestic tournament of India in which the matches are held for four days and they mostly end up in draws. It is difficult to get a result in such format and there is also a point given to the team leading in the first inning to keep the points table moving in this series.

Instead of looking at the option of reducing a day from the test match, the Cricket board can think of some innovative ideas to promote test cricket; it can be a five-day carnival or a fest so that people can enjoy the test match with their families where they have an option to not just watch cricket but to participate in other activities at the stadium. The trimming of this format would not only distort the oldest format but would also affect the temperament building development of a batsman i.e. to stay longer at the crease or of the bowler to bowl long hours with the same line and length.

While the Cricket Australia and England Cricket board are supporting the idea of the four-day test, the big players like Virat Kohli, Glenn McGrath, Nathan Lyon, Faf Du Plessis and Vernon Philander are completely against and want the test match to stay in its purest form.

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Ish Sodhi- Performance in debut IPL match against Kings XI Punjab

admin — Tue, 08 May 2018 17:38:03 +0000

After losing three consecutive matches in IPL, Rajasthan Royals made three changes to bring back their team to winning track. Since the game against Kings XI Punjab was Rajasthan Royals last chance to stay in IPL tournament, they brought Ish Sodhi, leg-spinner from New Zealand by replacing Australian batsman D'Arcy Short.

Ish Sodhi who failed to attract any bids in IPL 2018 auction, was signed by Rajasthan Royals as an injury replacement to Afghanistan international Zahir Khan. Sodhi was picked up at his base price of INR 50 lakh. He reached the number one ranking for T20I bowlers in January 2018 and currently at number four position just after Rashid Khan, Shadab Khan and Yuzvendra Chahal.

On his IPL debut for Rajasthan Royals, against Kings XI Punjab in Jaipur, Ish Sodhi impressed everyone with his phenomenal bowling. The Punjab bowlers failed to understand his bowling, and that was visible from the first ball that he delivered. In his four overs, he gave just 14 runs and took one wicket that brought Rajasthan Royals back on track after scoring a not-so-impressive 158 runs in their 20 overs.

Overall, Sodhi has picked up 102 wickets in 92 T20s at an average of 23.09 and economy of 7.66.

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Rashid Khan- The bowling sensation in IPL 2018

admin — Sat, 28 Apr 2018 09:00:06 +0000

Rashid Khan, the Afghanistan cricketer made his IPL debut in 2017 Indian Premier League for Sunrisers Hyderabad. He finished the tournament by becoming the sixth-highest wicket-taker and took 17 wickets from 14 matches. In January 2018, the International Cricket Council (ICC) named him as the Associate Cricketer of the Year. This year in February, he became the youngest player to top the ICC Player Rankings for bowlers in ODIs. Along with this, he also topped the ICC Player Rankings for bowlers in T20Is.

During the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier, he captained Afghanistan for the first time in an ODI match. And he became the youngest player to captain an international side. Rashid Khan became the youngest bowler to take fastest 100 wickets in ODIs during the final of Cricket World Cup Qualifier against the West Indies. He accomplished this record by playing in just 44 matches to take his 100th dismissal and broke the previous record of 52 games, set by Mitchell Starc.

In IPL auction 2018, Sunrisers Hyderabad used right to match to retain Rashid Khan when he was sold to Kings XI Punjab at a price of nine crores. He has so far taken nine wickets in just seven IPL matches and ranked behind Trent Boult and Mayank Markande who have 11 and ten wickets respectively. In a Twenty20 format that is mainly dominated by hard-hitting batsmen, Rashid Khan has bowled 72 dot balls in 28 overs with an economy of 7.17.

Former Australian batsman Dean Jones has also praised Afghanistan's Rashid Khan by saying that he is currently the best leg-spinner in the world and can spin the balls both ways.

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Worst records in Twenty20 cricket

admin — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 16:10:47 +0000

Some records inspire us, and there are those that we wish to break; the same is with cricket. However, there are some cricket records, which embarrass the players and no one would be interested in breaking them. Let us look at those records that cricketers want to forget soon.

The chief intention of a batsman is to hit every bowl bowled to them in the fastest format of cricket, Twenty20. And also to score decent runs for their team. What would you call a cricketer who has most ducks in his T20I career? T Dilshan from Sri Lanka has played 80 matches in his career with ten ducks. This is the most by any player, followed by former England cricketer Luke Wright. In his Twenty20 career, he has played 51 matches with nine ducks.

Who is the bowler that has the worst bowling economy rate in Twenty20 International? Andre Russell from West Indies has a bowling economy rate of 9.24 in 43 matches. He has so far bowled around 85 overs. Thisara Perera from Sri Lanka is not much far behind Russell who has a bowling economy rate of 9.03. He has bowled 155 overs in 68 matches.
When we talk about the worst economy rate in a particular inning, three bowlers collectedly ranked one, who have given 41 runs each in their two overs that they bowled. R Ashwin from India, Mark Watt from Scotland and Jeffrey Vanderay from Sri Lanka bowled with an economy of 20.50 against Australia, Afghanistan and New Zealand respectively.

As a wicketkeeper, Mark Boucher conceded 15 runs in byes against West Indies in 2008. This is the most by any wicketkeeper in a T20 match. An extra in a Twenty20 game is considered as a curse. The bowler only intention is to complete their overs early, without giving runs to the batsman. The match played between South Africa and West Indies in 2007 had the most number of extras in a T20 game. There were 413 runs scored by both the teams in the whole match. 45 extras were bowled including 35 wide balls, two no balls and eight leg byes.

The interesting fact here is that the bowler who has the worst bowling economy rate in T20I is Andre Russell. He also has the highest batting strike rate in the Indian Premier League. In 34 matches that he has played for Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders, he has scored 574 runs with a strike rate of 173.41.

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IPL Captaincy Records

admin — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 16:08:32 +0000

Most of the IPL teams have played safe by choosing the same skipper for their teams, who have previously led them to IPL trophies. The IPL franchises have appointed their captains for this season. And the management has opted for their best player for the position. The common trait between Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, David Warner, Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir, R Ashwin, Steve Smith and Rohit Sharma is that they all have performed exceptionally well and stood out from rest of the players in IPL and at international level.

Let us have a look at some captaincy records in IPL that few of the current captains have already achieved and few other must be aiming for this season. MS Dhoni has played 143 matches, most matches as a captain in IPL for Chennai Super Kings and Rising Pune Supergiants. Out of which, his team won 83 games with win percent of 58.45.

Steve Smith has led Pune Warriors, Rajasthan Royals and Rising Pune Supergiants in 24 matches. Smith side has won 16 games with a win percent of 66.66. Rohit Sharma has a winning percent of 60.66. He has led Mumbai Indians in 75 matches, and MI has won 49 matches and lost 29 in his leadership.

As a contributor in IPL, captain of RCB, Virat Kohli has scored 4418 runs in 141 innings with an average of 37.44. He has second most runs in the IPL followed by the captain of Mumbai Indians. Rohit Sharma has scored 4207 runs in 154 innings with an average of 32.61. David Warner, captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad, is at fifth position. Warner has scored 4014 runs in 114 innings. He has a phenomenal average of 40.54 and batting strike rate of 142.13. MS Dhoni is also under top 10 lists of players having most runs in IPL career. He has scored 3561 runs in 143 innings with an average of 37.88.

Dinesh Karthik, captain of Kolkata Knight Riders has most 106 dismissals as a wicketkeeper in 136 IPL innings. Karthik is followed by MS Dhoni who has 102 dismissals in 152 matches. These captains are nonetheless in their fielding skills. Rohit Sharma has taken 71 catches so far and ranked third among the players with most catches in IPL. Virat Kohli has taken 60 catches, and he stands at number six followed by David Warner with 52 catches. In bowling, R Ashwin has taken 100 wickets in 108 innings with an economy of 6.54, and he has best bowling figure of 4/34.

MS Dhoni has led Chennai Super Kings to win two IPL trophies in 2010 and 2011. Rohit Sharma has led his team to three IPL titles - 2013, 2015, 2017. Warner has led Sunrisers Hyderabad to win their first IPL trophy in 2016. Gautam Gambhir, the current captain of Delhi Daredevils, has led Kolkata Knight Riders to win the 2012 and 2014 season of IPL.

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