Scooty Cricket

Have you ever played Scooty Cricket ? :D

World Cup 2019 - Contest #1

Introducing World Cup 2019 - Contest 1

The winner gets - Jersey of his/her favourite cricket team in WC

Rules are simple - 

• Submit a cricket related article to us at diehardcricketfans@gmail.com 
• We will publish the same on the website
• Share it around in your network
• The article which has the most traffic and likes/shares on the site will win the contest
• The cutoff date is 19th May 2019. On 20th we will announce the results
  
  The sooner you submit, more time you have to increase your chances of winning.
  
  Cheers
  DHCF

My World Cup Predictions

According to recent form, we can predict that the Final of 2019 World Cup will be played between Venomous England and Voracious India. ICC World Cup 2019 is the 12th edition of Cricket World Cup, hosted by England, from 30th May to 14th July 2019. The format of the tournament will be a single group of ten teams, with each team playing the other nine teams, and the top four teams reach the knockout stage.

Lets talk about the teams which are capable of making into the Semi Finals.

1. INDIA

ODI Team Ranking : 2

Best Batsmen with ODI rankings : Virat Kohli (#1), Rohit Sharma (#4), Shikhar Dhawan (#10).
Best Bowlers with ODI rankings : Bumrah (#1), Kuldeep Yadav (#7), Chahal (#8).

There is no doubt that India will enter the World Cup 2019 as one of the favourites. In the past, the strength of India used to be batting, but these days Indian bowlers are also efficacious, meticulous and incorrigible. In recent times, India has been in miraculous form. Recently India vanquished over South Africa in their backyard. As a Cricket fan you might be aware of what it takes to achieve this.  If you have stupendous and enigmatic players like MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Bumrah, Bhuvi, then how couldn't you have the strongest team? Indian players are capable of ravaging any team on their day.

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.