T20 Innovations - Should a bowler be allowed to bowl consecutive overs?

Consider this situation - 3 overs are left in the chase and the batting side requires 40 runs to win. The fielding captain is left with 2 overs of a good death bowler like Bumrah and 1 over from some other bowler who has leaked runs that day.

In such a situation, currently all that the fielding captain can do is give the 3rd last over to Bumrah, 2nd last to other to the other bowler and the last over to Bumrah and pray that the penultimate over doesn't go for too many runs.

What if Bumrah can bowl 2 overs in a row. It will open up a whole of new set of possibilities. Now the captain has 2 more options.

1. Let Bumrah bowl 3rd last and the 2nd last over and leave the last over to the other bowler.
2. Let the other bowler bowl the 3rd last over and then bank on Bumrah to defend the remaining runs in the last 2 overs.

This tweak will not only make the game even more interesting but also give the captains in the field more options in such situations.

DieHard Cricket Fans

Tete-a-Tete with Thomas Odoyo : Star Allrounder of Kenya's Golden Generation

How was it to be an all rounder?

Being an all rounder was fun. It kept me involved through out. I could not relax at any given moment because I had to contribute in both departments. Having said that it requires a lot of sacrifice and time to work on all aspects of your game.

What was special about the 2003 World Cup campaign? Did the team prepare differently? Did the team expect to make it to the Semi Finals? 

The team did get a lot of practice matches before we went to South Africa. Plus I believe the conditions and the wickets suited us perfectly. Most of us had played together for over ten years so we understood each others strengths and weaknesses.

What is your favourite moment in the 2003 WC?

Favourite moment is being in the semifinals. It in itself is an achievement that can never be wished away and will remain in the history books forever.

What is your favourite moment in your career?

Being named the Associate player of the year in 2007.

Who do you rate as the best Kenyan Cricketer ever?

We were a team. Each and every player had his strength. So I don't rate any player as special

Do you have any regrets with respect to your cricketing career? 

Regret is that I did not fully utilise my batting abilities.

What does the future hold for you? 

I am taking a break from the game right now. But I hope to join and help with administration in the future.

What do you think led to Kenyan cricket's fortunes declining from the high of 2003 WC? What measures are being taken to revive it? Any particular upcoming talent to watch out for? 

Our cricket structures are poor and continue to be so. Unless we sort that out we will struggle. Age group cricket is key and clear pathways up to the national level.

Kohli's Blunderbus

Virat Kohli blamed his bowlers for failing to defend 75 in last 4 overs. It was 66 of 24 in reality. He is well within his rights to be upset and criticise his bowlers. But it was Virat Kohli who was the worst culprit in last night's debacle against KKR. Why ? Let's see.

KKR bowling:

Fast bowlers: 6 overs - 89 runs - 0 wickets - 14.83 Runs per over
Spin bowlers: 14 overs - 115 runs - 3 wickets - 8.21 Runs per over

RCB bowling

Pacer Saini bowled pretty well for 4-0-34-2. He picked up 2 wickets including that of DK of his last ball of 17th over. But what did others do ?

Fast bowlers: 8 overs - 125 runs - 0 wickets - 15.83 runs per over.
Spin bowlers: 7.1 overs - 45 runs - 3 wickets - 6.38 runs per over.

RCB spinners had put in a magnificent show and picked up 3 wickets too. Yet, they bowled only 7.1 overs of spin. Negi bowling last over was because Siraj and Southee had screwed up big time. Else, the last over would have been bowled by a pacer too. Kohli simply forgot Moeen Ali was alive and kicking. Kohli just doesn't fit as a captain when Dhoni isn't there on field in the shorter formats of Cricket.

Youth and Fame – A Deadly Concoction!

India’s test series win in Australia is a moment in time, a piece of history, one of the most awaited and cherished wins in memory. This team has shown ruthlessness, consistency and superior performance – let it be the aggression of the pace battery, the run making prowess of Pujara, or the now-used-to consistency with which Kohli scores. But there are talks about how this was probably the weakest Australian side to take field; a team undergoing rebuilding phase – both on and off the field. The absence of Steve Smith and David Warner was no doubt a massive gain for India, but still, Australia managed to win the Perth test. However, what made this series spicy (don’t forget that this series started with no pre-series aggressive comments from the Aussies, and both teams showing mutual respect, which was unseen till now) was the banter behind the stumps. Tim Paine and Rishabh Pant hogged the limelight for their innovative, catchy and sometimes childish comments (can’t call it sledging, as Channel 9 was broadcasting it by asking the commentators on air to be quiet and let the wicket keepers do the talking, as perhaps, for some weird reason, it made good viewing). I wonder what the likes of Richie Benaud would have had to say for such antics!

The Final Frontier

7th January, 2019: Sydney –a rained out day and not a ball bowled. Yet, it would go down as a red letter day in the annals of Indian cricket. India had finally conquered Australia, the first ever Asian team to do so. It has taken 71 years of toil but we finally did it. 

Yes, this was the weakest Australian team that I can recall. But it still had a world-class bowling attack which needed a special blunting down by Pujara. And for their batting lineup, missing Warner & Smith, while not a single one of them would walk in to any of the other Test teams, they were a collective pest, scoring 20s & 30s, stitching together little partnerships down to the No. 11. Yet, we did beat them in their own backyard. Something none of the Indian (or Pakstani or Sri Lankan or Bangladeshi) teams had ever done. 

Our fast bowlers outgunned their counterparts, our batsmen were better at survival and blunting attacks and our wicket-keeper gave it back as good as he got on the sledging front. A 2-1 victory doesn’t really reflect the gulf between the two teams, thanks to the washed out last day in Sydney. 

While I do not believe in Ravi Shastri’s hyperbole about this being bigger than 1983 or 2011, it certainly is special. After all every India fan carries mental scars of multiple maulings received in Australia over the years. Personally, I recall horror details from the many tours of Australia. 

• 1991-92 – when we were thrashed 4-Nil with a Ravi Shastri double century, which included walloping of the debutante Shane Warne, in Sydney nearly winning us the game. Then there was Sachin Tendulkar’s coming of the age kind 100 at Perth. But we were smashed in every other game. 
• 1999-2000 – A 3-nil thrashing, which was the actual prediction of the Mr. Niranjan Shah, the then BCCI secretary. The highlight of the series was a VVS Laxman 163. It didn’t affect the result in one bit but it was the first sign of the torment that VVS would unleash on the Aussies. This became part of the 16-game winning streak for Australia, which ended in Eden Gardens at the bats of Laxman and Dravid. The tide had started to turn. 

Missing Warner, Smith and Indian Lineup !

Some Australian Commentators are lamenting the absence of Warner and Smith and claiming the series defeat is because Australia were weakened, thus trying to take the sheen off a brilliant series win achieved by India. Let us take a look at Indian team too.

India played the entire series without their first choice opener Prithvi Shaw. Their best all rounder Hardik Pandya too was missing, significantly upsetting the balance of the team. India's first choice spinner Ashwin missed all but first test. India's second choice spinner (Jadeja) was forgotten till the second test ended.

India played first two tests with an opener under probationary training before retirement (Murali Vijay) and a specialist slip fielder (Rahul). Third test had one and a half openers and fourth test had one opener in Mayank Agarwal, who was imported as an afterthought.

India's problems didn't end there. While Coach Shastri was expected to deliver overseas, it was Rohit Sharma's wife who delivered at home and even he took off during final test, bringing the specialist slip fielder back.

India's middle order had Rahane making guest appearances as if he weren't paid his remuneration and then Rishab Pant was enjoying his Australian holiday with baby sitting tips, till the final test.

India's tail forgot what it means to wag in the first half of the series while the second half didn't necessitate the tail at all.

Australia just missed two of their best batters. With one Pujara, two thirds of Kohli, less than half Rahane, full Pant, imported opener and 3 deadly fast bowlers, India have won their first series down under. Imagine what a full strength Indian team would have done !

Govind Raj Shenoy for DieHard Cricket Fans

On Top of the World, Down Under

There was Sunil Gavaskar and he scored runs in tonnes. He was the first Non-Australian batsman to record centuries in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane, all the test playing grounds in Australia, though on different tours. He toiled hard and India managed to pull back a test from Lillie and Co in 1978, thanks to Kapil Dev bowling with a 102F fever.

There was Sachin Tendulkar, the best batsman of his era with Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Saurav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag forming the greatest Indian batting line up of all times. They toiled to achieve a drawn series before they went down under in 2012, a cruel 4-0 drubbing. An era ended there.

Half Captain Virat Kohli scored 4 centuries and more runs than any overseas batsman in Australia on that 2014 tour. Yet, victory was elusive. 72 years, countless series, magnificent batting shows, then those "We just missed out an opportunity" moments galore and depressing heart burn moments for fans, Indian Cricket fans like me.

He was down but not 'out' with 201 runs from 6 innings during the 2014 series. He was getting those starts, grinding the bowlers down and then getting out, to an extremely good ball or a bad decision or just a freak unlucky mishap. And then he was out of the series in the final test. Cheteshwar Pujara has lived the last 4 years, branded as a flat track bully with serious technical shortcomings against moving ball outside India.

Nice guys don't finish last, always. They too can finish first. Dravid did that many a times but a series win Down under eluded him, even after his best ever efforts. If India had their best chances to win a test series in England and Australia, it was this time, everyone believed. But Pujara wasn't part of that belief. Kohli it had to be.

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.

Taylor + Cook = De Kock

11 Solutions for India's Overseas Batting Woes

I believe we Indians are overtly emotional and a tad too harsh on our Cricket team that lost the Lords test. Cynics say, India would have been bowled out a third time if England had enforced a follow on again, allowing them to start the third test with a sizeable first innings lead before the toss. Keeping aside such malicious thoughts, we must find solutions to our overseas batting woes. Here are 11 Solutions that can help India to win overseas tests.

1. "Grass is for cows" believed Ivan Lendle and Mats Wilander. Cow is holy mother for Indians. How can we allow people to run over grassy pitches ? Isn't that an insult to our Mother's food ? Henceforth no grass should be allowed on any pitches.

2. BCCI must force ICC to amend test rules and bring field restrictions in tests. The slips should be placed outside the 30 yard circle during the first 35 overs with new ball.

3. Any bowler who bowls above 130kmph consistently with significant swing must be reported for intimidating the batsmen. If they don't bowl at least 2 bad balls every over like Indians do, they should be disqualified for intimidation.

4. 140kmph and faster bowling can be injurious to batsmen. Hence such bowlers should be denied Visas.

5. The Kohli - Pujara running between wickets offers radiation hazard. BCCI should evict the fielders from the ground when Pujara and Kohli are batting together. Only a wicket keeper outside the 30 yard circle and the bowler can be allowed. The fielding captain can sit outside the boundary rope.

Cricket Opens Up

Cricket has always called itself a gentleman's game. And in order to ensure the gentility remains, there have strict regulations on who can play and which matches get "official" status and which don't. All of this reeking of colonial hangover and class segregation. Where every other sport is opening up to new markets, cricket had constrained itself to remain within its own little club. The club was expanded but very gradually. and new members could trickle in, say once is a decade or two! But once inside, no power could nudge them out, whatever their atrocities (looking at you Zimbabwe!) [except South Africa who got banned for over 20 years that too a decade after  they had been thrown out of the Olympic movement].

Once a member gets full status, they stayed in and tried to make life more difficult for the next ones in the queue (Bangladesh and Kenya). Ireland might have bloodied many a Full member nose over the last decade, and Afghanistan were creating an almost unimaginable fairy-tale across all sport. But the two of them couldn't play Test cricket. For a game which talks all about fair-play, the officialdom was making a mockery of fairness where South Africa beating Zimbabwe inside 2 days a 4-day match got the exalted Test status, while a keenly contested 5-day Intercontinental Cup Final between Afghanistan and Ireland is only a First-Class fixture! And to further elaborate the point, recently there was a 10-team qualifier for two spots in the 2019 World Cup. Matches involving Netherlands and Nepal had List A status while all others had ODI status. Different statistical rules for the game in the same tournament! Ironically both these teams "achieved" ODI status by the end of the tournament!

Its in the context of this class-ism and reduction in the World Cup teams came two recent announcements by ICC. One, taken last year to provide Afghanistan and Ireland, full member and Test playing status. And two, just last week to provide T20 International status to matches played between all its 104 members. What a drastic, unexpected and welcome change!

The expanded cricketing world - Hoping to see the coverage go and all in a single colour!

A Little Bit on Ball Tampering

Ball Tampering – "unlawful alteration of the surface or seam of a ball on the field, to affect its motion when bowled."

Cricket is a batsman’s game. Over the course of last one and a half centuries, laws of the game have been tweaked to make it “swing” increasingly in the batsmen’s favour. Covered pitches, restrictions on bowling, restrictions on field placements, shortened boundaries, better safety equipment, bigger bats, and changes in the front-foot no-ball rule. Almost every single rule change tilting the balance further in the batsmen’s favour. 

Meanwhile, the bowlers have also lived up to the ask, with constant innovations, Bodyline, Swing, spin, chinaman, doosra, reverse swing, knuckle ball, carom ball et al. In due course some have even resorted to the dark arts as well. 

The cricket ball, like everything else on this planet, follows the laws of physics. Bernoulli’s principles regarding motion through a fluid holds especially true. Although, no one has worked out the exact calculations or made big differential equations on the subject, it can be safely said, the more the difference in the nature of the two halves of the ball, the more its tendency to swing. So ensure that one side stays as smooth as possible while other side stays as shiny as possible. Although keep in mind, that is one of the many variables affecting the swing. Others being speed of release, angle of the seam, ambient temperature, wind etc. However, while other variables are not exactly in control, the shape of the ball can be “managed” in multiple ways. Some legal, some illegal, and many falling in the grey area. It is certainly an art, although there are some who move into the darker arts. 

Below is a pictorial representation of the different techniques to manage the shape of the ball. 

Use of any visible agent to change the shape certainly falls in the definitely illegal category. And that is what Cameron Bancroft was caught doing against South Africa. Caught on the cameras with a piece of sandpaper in his pocket which he then tried to hide in his pants post instructions from dressing room, all of which caught by the South African cameramen who were specifically assigned to the task of catching any Australian transgressions. Post the day’s play, Steve Smith admitted to the leadership group’s involvement in the shenanigans. Next day, Tim Paine was leading the side with both Smith and David Warner having resigned in the middle of the Test! 

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. 

Unselfish Team Man: The Missing Link Team India Needs

24 October 2015, Mumbai: Quinton de Kock and Faf Duplessis had flattened Team India before Abraham DeVilliers demolished them as South Africa buried India under a mountain of runs and won their first ever bilateral ODI series in India. That 214 runs margin of defeat was India's largest on home soil and more or less made sure M S Dhoni was on his way out as Captain of ODI team too.

More than MSD, that match in particular and the series in general also put a huge question mark before the future of another player. Suresh Kumar Raina, just 29 at that time had a miserable series due to his well advertised shortcoming against the short ball. In that match, he bowled 3 overs for 19 runs and took the wicket of de Kock. On a day when South African batters battered regular spinners Harbhajan, Amit Mishra and Axar Patel for 213 runs from 28 overs for just 1 wicket, Raina was the most economical bowler for India. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar was the only century maker for India, conceding 106 from his 10 overs.

But it was the batting that cost him his place in the side. Raina made 12 of 13 balls with a six and a four. Intimidated by the Rabada short ball, Raina moved too far across the stumps and was felled by that deadly leg-stump Yorker by Rabada. That remains the last ODI Suresh Raina has played. In those 28 months since then, Ajinkya Rahane, Kedar Jadhav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya and many younger guys have crammed the middle order spot once Raina owned thanks to his value as a utility player.

Even in the shortest format of Cricket, Raina has been missing in action for long. When he arrived on our screens during IPL 2017, Raina had put on so much of weight, it was difficult to believe our eyes. There were jokes and memes. "Raina got married and now he's become pregnant instead of his wife." These were the jokes and Raina definitely looked like a lost case.

The 2017 - 18 domestic season was pretty ordinary for Raina. Rookie medium fast bowlers were digging it short at him in domestic Cricket and guys like Karun Nair were scoring 52 ball hundreds in domestic T20 championship. All of a sudden, ahead of Rahul, ahead of Karun, ahead of an explosive middle order all rounder like Deepak Hooda, Suresh Raina was given a recall. A lot of eyebrows were raised considering form, fitness and foreign conditions did not justify the selection of Raina for a T20 series in South Africa.

18 February 2018: 28 months after he last played an ODI against South Africa, Suresh Raina was back in the famous blue, the Indian color. Honestly, this writer was one of those who had written Raina off as an IPL Poney. His strike rate and averages were still good for a No. 6 batsman in international Cricket, in spite of many career slumps. But why go back to a thirty plus, overweight (or pregnant) Raina when we have a lot of younger players to take that slot ? That was the question many like me were asking.

The match last night gave us the answer to that question. Why the selectors, Shastri and even Kohli were going back to Raina ? Manish Pandey has been in and out of the team since 2014. He's played a few brilliant knocks and has flattered to deceive many a times. The way Pandey batted last night and the way Raina batted last night offers a stark contrast and explains why the team management loves Raina.

With an obviously struggling batsman like MSD on the other side, Pandey hit just one sixer on his way to 29 off 27 balls. He looked more concerned about his place in the side than accelerating the score in the slog overs. Compare this to the way Suresh Raina played. With the field restrictions on, South African bowlers taking the short ball experiment to ridiculous levels and an in form Dhawan at the other side, Raina had the freedom to play for his place in the side. He could have knocked the ball around to score a 35 or so off 30 balls to make his contribution look substantial.

Most people would have taken the safe route back into the team but then that isn't how Suresh Raina has played his Cricket all these years. There isn't a more unselfish player in this team today. He went bang bang because India still had Kohli, Pandey, Pandya and MSD behind him. Raina's unselfish act clubbed with Rohit's early blitzkrieg presented India with their highest 6 over score of 78/2 with Dhawan and Kohli still at the crease. 15 runs of 7 balls is all he made but what mattered was how he made those runs and that is what gives Suresh Raina the edge over others.

Cricket in this era is driven by fitness. Virat Kohli puts extreme importance of fitness. Raina would have flunked the Yoyo test in 2017. But this time around, he is leaner, meaner and fitter and he aced the Yoyo and booked his ticket to South Africa right in time. World T20 is around this year and the 2019 CWC is going to be the most important tournament for Kohli and Co. The No. 5 and 6 slots have remained unstable and unsettled. With his fielding still top notch, his immense experience, more than useful off spin bowling and totally selfless batting, Suresh Raina can still be a great asset for Team India if his zeal to play for India remains intact. Last night, we witnessed what Raina is capable of on the field when he made two relatively tough catches look ridiculously easy.

Raina has been frequently criticised as the blue eyed boy of selectors and team managements. Often the criticism has appeared justified too, especially when MSD was the captain. Only after Virat Kohli became full time captain, Raina's fortunes dwindled. But even Kohli - Shastri team recognise the value Raina brings to the team; that utterly unselfish team man nature.

Virat Kohli: An Armour of Amor

Rohit and Virat are almost of same age. They have played together and against each other in most age groups Cricket. They are a mutual admiration society in spite of their incompatibilities when it comes to running between the wickets. If we look at the talent aspect, Rohit was always rated higher than Virat in the early days.

When a young Rohit made a name for himself in 2007 T20 World Cup, Virat was nowhere on the scene. But a decade later, Virat is the best batsman in the world across 3 formats while 30 plus Rohit is still considered young and talented underachiever. In spite of his great average and towering sixers, Rohit still remains an enigma for the Cricket crazy Indians. He has this "All or None" phenomenon where he either flops or buries the entire opposition team under humongous scores. He scores a 200 not out in a match and precious little in next 5 and manages to keep his average above 40. It has almost become a ritual.


While Rohit is consistently inconsistent, Virat is monotonous and monstrously consistent. I have always wondered why is it like that ! I finally found my answer in the post-match interview last night. Virat told Shaun Pollock, "I am especially thankful to my wife, who has always been supportive but has faced a lot of criticism in the past." He was searching for words there because for once, he was emotional. He was definitely talking about the 2014 tour of England when he had a string of low scores and Anushka Sharma, his girlfriend at that time was blamed by many on the social media.

Rohit Sharma is married to a demure and innocent looking middle-class girl. Virat Kohli on the other hand was in love with a Superstar in her own right. In the early days of their romance, Anushka was more famous and must have been richer than Virat. The media and social media is always obsessed with celebrities and the atrocious acronym Virushka or Virushka was trending weeks after they finally became man and wife.

Indian middle-class isn't kind to lady celebrities and they are superstitious to their bone marrows. They still consider a girl walking into the life of a boy can bring good or bad luck. Thus every time Virat failed, Anushka was blamed. India's failure to win 2015 CWC too was placed at the doors of the Sharma home. People thought the Sharma who wasn't playing was a greater reason for the debacle than the Sharma who was playing. Virat is a man with elephantine memory. He is an honourable man and has remembered all the abuse heaped on his girlfriend then and wife now. His commitment and passion to his girl is no less than his commitment to cricket and his team.

Rohit has a relatively easier life. He needs to score a century on his wife's birthday and a double century on their second wedding anniversary. His wife was never blamed for his failures and will never be blamed in future too. The teary eyed beauty became the Darling of the nation on their wedding anniversary. Even if Rohit had failed on that day, nobody would have even thought of her, leave alone blaming her.

Freedom Series 2018: Battle of the Broadcasters

One of the most awaited series for India is now just minutes away. After a comprehensive victory over all-comers in the home campaign, the Indian Team heads on a long overseas campaign with the first stop being South Africa.

The cricketing relations between the two nations have been interesting. India boycotted South Africa on apartheid grounds for a long time. A justified call, as South Africa was banned from all sports for quite a long time. And then at the end of the regime, India was the first nation to host as well as tour South Africa. And in the entire course of 25 years, India have never managed to beat the Proteas in a series in their home.

So while we wait for the series to commence, here is a look at the promotional campaigns run by the broadcasters.

First by Sony in India who have focused their campaign on ending the 25-year wait and seeking revenge! Jingoism at its best!

And now from South Africa, who have focused on the shared history of the two nations, linked by two of the greatest personalities of modern times – Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, and the cricketing history of the two nations!

What a beautiful promo!

Wish the Indian broadcasters also grew up and used sports as more than just a war and propaganda tool in their campaigns!

Nishant Kumar for DieHard Cricket Fans

Follow Nishant on Twitter @NishantSKumar

Cricket in "The Big Bang Theory"

I am a big fan of the Sitcom "The Big Bang Theory". However, found a very weird line in one of the recent episodes. 

Our favorite desi astrophysicist, Dr. Rajesh Koothrapalli, takes his friend Howard Wolowitz to a sports bar, where a cricket match is being telecast live. And while explaining the game to a bored Howard, comes up with this line."That's Ravichandran Ashwin, he is amazing. He makes Bhuvaneswar Kumar seem like Hardik Pandya!" A confused Howard replies with "thats too many syllables", while a confused me pauses the episode, rewinds and is clearly bamboozled by what the meaning of that line could be. A couple of attempts makes it clear that the statement has no meaning in the cricketing sense. 

However, the show goes on. And on the scene arrives Ruchi, who is equally cricket-crazy. And they get into a discussion on India's chances in World Cup (which one?) which solely rests on Kohli's form. (Now that is completely true). 

Ruchi meanwhile wants the bowler to break the batsmen's (who isn't mentioned) leg. I assume the over must have changed in the interim otherwise hollering Ashwin to bowl yorkers? And the duo discuss being present at the ground to witness Shoaib Akhtar's two consecutive yorkers in Eden Gardens to Dravid & Tendulkar (last few details assumed by me).

So three random names, Kohli's form being key to India's World Cup chances, yorkers, and their deadly use by Shoaib Akhtar in Eden Gardens (Video). Thats a whole lot of cricket in the Big Bang!

Nishant Kumar for DieHard Cricket Fans

Follow Nishant on Twitter @NishantSKumar

The Twenty17 LineUp

2018 has dawned upon us and the cricketing action continues in full swing with New Zealand completing a demolition of the West Indies and Vidarbha winning the Ranji Trophy for the first time ever. Before the action hots up further, time to take a look back at the Cricketing XI of 2017 (compiled by yours truly).

1. Afghanistan & Ireland get Test Status

After resisting for years, ICC decided to expand the Test arena. And thus we have two new Full members on-board – Afghanistan and Ireland (although both are yet to play a Test). Well-deserved reward for the yeoman service done to the Associate cause. Ireland by consistently upsetting the big teams at the major events and Afghanistan by providing a sporting fairy-tale even the best of Hollywood writers will not be able to script! Now they just need to play a Test each!

2. Women’s World Cup

2017 was the year in which women’s cricket became just cricket! The massive success of the Women’s World Cup provided the ultimate fillip. It also helped that India performed well and finished runners-up in a closely contested Lord’s final. But surprisingly after all the goodwill generated, BCCI hasn’t really cashed in and the Indian team hasn’t played a single game after the World Cup Final!

3. Pakistan 

If there is a team which can be trusted to do the inexplicable, it has to be Pakistan. It was another roller-coaster year (no surprises there!). They won the Champions Trophy in England and managed to lose a Test series to Sri Lanka in their adopted home! But the highlight would be the return of International cricket to Pakistan with a T20 series against an International XI (which inexplicably was given international status) and a one off game against Sri Lanka. Which brings us to…

4. The Sri Lankan Captaincy Revolving Door

Angelo Matthews, Dinesh Chandimal, Upul Tharanga, Thisara Perera, Rangana Herath, Chamara Kapugedera, Lasith Malinga – Seven different men captained the Sri Lankan team across different formats this year. Also showed in the overall results where they were hammered by all and sundry, including a series loss to Zimbabwe, who themselves were coming off from losses to Scotland and Netherlands!

5. Performance of the Year 

Will pick two this year. Marcus Stoinis’s incredible assault against New Zealand, which nearly won Australia the game. And Harmanpreet Kaur’s blistering 171* against Australia in the World Cup semi-finals, probably the defining innings for the women’s game in India.

Farewell Nehraji!

T20I #630: India vs New Zealand, Feroz Shah Kotla, New Delhi

It wasn’t just another game. This one had context - the increasingly elusive factor in the modern sport!. After all it was the farewell match for Ashish Nehra, more popularly known as Nehraji. 

He hasn’t had the greatest career of them. Over the course of his stop-start 18-year international career he missed more matches than he played (17 Tests in 18 years - thats a telling statistic!). Injuries being the prime reason for keeping him away especially from the longest format. His career was in phases. A sudden start with a one-off Test appearance. Followed by becoming a regular for a few years in both formats. Then a gap, followed by a regular limited overs spot. And then when it seemed all over, a T20 international career at the very fag end! The returns may not have been outstanding but they were rewarding. A World Cup Winners and runners-up medals. Not many players can lay claim to that! And he got a grand farewell at his home ground – something which has eluded many a cricketing great in India!

Cricket – A Great Leveller

There is an age old adage: the game of cricket is a great leveller. For anyone not knowing what this exactly means, here are a few examples:

1. Ricky Ponting scored 242 in the first innings of Adelaide test against India in 2003, only to be out on 0 in the second innings, with Australia losing the match.

2. India reaching English shores in 2011 as best ranked Test side and on a high after winning the ODI world cup just few months ago, only to be whitewashed and lose their spot at the top.

There are innumerable such instances. One such instance was witnessed today in Pune, after Australia’s monumental win against India.

Decimated. Humiliated. Vanquished. Conquered. These are some of the adjectives that many publications would be itching to use to describe the mauling India received in the first test of the series. A series, whose result most experts and ex-cricketers had already predicted to be a foregone conclusion. Presumably, Australia’s only victory seemed to be if they managed to draw a test match and save the embarrassment of yet another whitewash in Asia. But Steve Smith’s side has turned the tables! And how!

A win by 333 runs in India. India suffered their 2nd largest defeat in terms of runs on their own soil, narrowly avoiding their worst ever loss. And that too, on a rank turner. I am sure everyone would be reminiscing the winter of 2015, when South Africans had arrived here, only to be welcomed by not just turning pitches from day one, but literally dust bowls! India had smothered them and since started their undefeated run at home. New Zealand and England suffered the same fate. An undefeated streak of 19 tests; Team India was almost invincible, especially at home.