The Twenty18 Lineup

The calendar changes to 2019 and we have Jimmy Neesham & Cheteshwar Pujara starting the cricketing year in contrasting yet effective styles. Before the year runs away any further, time to look back and present the 2018’s Slipstream XI – a collection of interesting & not-so-interesting events to remember the cricketing year 2018 by. 

0. Let’s begin at the beginning. 

All these years we were sending a coin up in the air for the all-important task of finding who bats first. But the smart fellows at the Big bash League decided that sending a coin up in the air doesn’t seem exciting, so let’s throw a specially designed bat! Which lead to an amusing incident where the bat landed on its side!!! 

1. Debutante(s) of the Year 

Ireland & Afghanistan became the 11th & 12th Test playing nations respectively. While Ireland ran Pakistan close, Afghanistan were overwhelmed by India. Meanwhile Nepal made their ODI debut with a narrow win against Netherlands. It was reported in Nepalese newspaper as “Nepal hammer Netherlands by one run”. 2019 is going to be a bumper debut season as all Associates get international status for T20s.

The Last Ball Six

Everyone who has played any form of cricket has had this dream. Playing for your country. Hitting a six off the very last ball to win the match. Heck, we have even made a movie of it. Bhuvan hitting the last ball over the boundary to save 3 years’ worth of tax for his village in the climactic scene of Lagaan. Cricket could never have had greater context, an increasingly elusive commodity in modern times. But I digress. 

18th March, 2018. India vs Bangladesh. Dinesh Karthik lofts the last ball over covers to win tournament for India. Bringing a sensational end for what had been a pretty insipid tournament. 

It was one of the moments to cherish. And a reminder to myself why I love this game so much. Don’t remember when I was last jumping up and down during or after a game. And I had only watched the last 3 overs of this game.

In an age of cricketing overdose and no “context” to keep the fans engaged, there came a T20 tri-series (!), in Sri Lanka (!!), with Bangladesh (!!!), where India rested their stars (!!!!) and still sailed through comfortably. At the start, the most interesting bit of the tournament was finding the channel telecasting the tournament– Discovery Sport & Rishtey Cineplex!!! 

But things got a bit spicy as the tournament progressed, mainly due to the antics of the Bangladeshi players during and after their last game with Sri Lanka. Their “naagin dance” celebrations managed to piss off the Sri Lankan fans to such an extent that they came out in vociferous support of India (!) in the Final. Indian teams over the years have had vocal support in all parts of the world, mainly from our expat population. (Benefits of having over 1.3 Billion of us!!!). But never ever have we had the local crowds supporting us in such a manner!

This could be the defining innings for Karthik in an era of abundant wicket-keeping talent. Having made his debut in 2004, has been in and around the Indian team for all this time. Many a times playing as a pure batsman and only on occasion getting to keep wickets in Dhoni’s absence. No one has ever doubted Karthik’s keeping talents. Good to see this unsung performer finally getting his share of the limelight. 

Farewell Gambhir, Sehwag, Yuvraj & Friends

And so while India are being thumped by Australia (4-0 coming your way folks), they also announced their 30 man squad of World Cup 'probables'

Hang on a minute, thirty probables!? There are eleven members in a cricket team plus a water carrier, add four or five reserves and we have a touring party. What is the point in naming a probables list double the size of the group that will actually show up?

Here's why, its confirmation of who will not show up.

India's list of omissions is a strange one.  Sure I can understand the concept of 'out with the old and in with the new', but in Indian cricket? Not exactly spoiled with young riches are they?

Lets examine the miss list:

Zaheer Khan - Is very unlucky. This is the best fast bowler India has had since Kapil Dev, with the exception of maybe Srinath. He was a huge reason as to why they won the last world cup (more than Dhoni) and the other options are average other than maybe Bhuvaneshwar Kumar.  What was Zaheer's mistake? Not playing for the Chennai Super Kings?
Selection Credibility - 9/10

No love guys?

Yuvraj Singh - Another unlucky original from the famous 2003 campaign (and the famous2003 world cup final flop). He is still a class batsman and experience counts especially in alien conditions. They could have easily brought him back for one last hurrah a la Craig McMillan, but alas this is probably the end.
Selection Credibility - 8/10