Cricket

Super Over, Last Ball, Maximum Excitement!!

India & New Zealand Team Logos

Today’s exciting T20 match between India and New Zealand literally went down to the wire (or over the wire), when India beat New Zealand in a last-ball sixer to take an unassailable lead of 3-0 and win the series. The highlight of the game was Rohit Sharma’s successive 6s in the last two deliveries of the Super Over. This accomplishment also refreshed memories of yet another T20I, the 2018 Nidahas Trophy Finals held in Colombo wherein Dinesh Karthik hit the maximum on the last delivery to lift the cup against Bangladesh. Mind you India on that day was on the backfoot needing 34 off the last 12 deliveries when Karthik came on to the crease. But on the last ball of the match, India needed 5 runs and it was a nerve-wracking moment whereby Karthik held on to his nerves with the boisterous Lankan crowd backing the Indian team to lift the cup. More on that later.

Cutting to the chase, losing the toss at Hamilton and batting first India made 179 for 5 on the back of Rohit Sharma’s 65 off just 40 balls (the first Indian to hit a half-century inside the Powerplay in a T20I) and the target didn’t seem steep and at one stage of the game, it almost seemed as if New Zealand had pocketed this match easily to keep their hopes alive in the 5-match series. But then Mohammed Shami bowled a splendid last over to get the in-form Kane Williamson (95 off just 48 deliveries) and uprooted Ross Taylor’s wickets. The match tied on the levelled scores moving the game into an exciting 6-ball Super Over. Batting first the Kiwis made 17 in their quota and India needed 10 runs in the last two deliveries. However with Southee bowling so accurately it seemed like New Zealand had their foot in the door until Rohit Sharma changed the script to hit 2 sixes in successive balls (2, 1, 4, 1, 6, 6).

Judging both these stupendous innings from an audience perspective, I’d pick Karthik’s as the better of the two purely on the factors of the flat batting pitch of Colombo plus the finals of a tri-series. Also, India was playing their T20I arch-rivals Bangladesh with the Sri Lankan team already out of the tournament, and the home crowd itching for revenge. A last ball 5-run target was required and then you flat-bat a Soumya Sarkar delivery over the extra-cover ropes in which Karthik also blasted 22 runs of a penultimate Ruben Hossain over (6, 4, 6, 0, 2, 4) to get the target down from 34 in 12 balls to 12 of the last 6 (1w, 0, 1, 1, 4, W, 6). But regardless, both these innings were the most exciting and significant in their own ways — while Dinesh Karthik’s blitzkrieg grabbed the Nidahas Trophy, six-hitter Rohit Sharma handed India its first T20I series in New Zealand. Such exciting times for both these hard-hitting players and with the T20 World Cup next year being held in India, I can’t wait to see them back in action.

Why The Boundary Rule Needs To Be Amended

Firstly, kudos to England on winning their first ICC Cricket World Cup. Both teams played like world champions and it seemed that none was willing to relent despite the pressure situation, obviously since both squads were aiming for their very first world cup success. Nevertheless, let’s say if I had to pick the quality of ground fielding I’d pick New Zealand over England. They were so solid at ball possession that at one time chasing a target of 241 seemed very daunting, no matter how good the running between the wickets was the Kiwis were making it harder to take twos. Then England needed 9 runs off the last 3 balls, and the overthrow gave them extra runs. That fateful overthrow from deep midwicket by Guptill, which hit Stoke’s bat on his second run and went for the boundary, will be long remembered. That opened the floodgates and clinched England that infamous tied score.

Going back in time, I feel for England when they were thrice runner-ups, in a sense of nostalgia, this world cup triumph of theirs was 40 years in the making! In 1979 England faced the mighty West Indies who won their second successive Prudential World Cup. Then in 1987, they were again outdone by Australia in the finals of the Reliance World Cup in Kolkata. Finally, in 1992, it would be Pakistan’s moment to lift the Benson & Hedges World Cup beating England. Their lowest point would probably be the 2015 world cup when England was eliminated in the group stage losing 4 of their 6 matches. All in all, the English were knocking the doors of world cup glory for ages, and it seemed odd for the birthplace of cricket to have never achieved this feat. Well, not anymore! Though I would have loved for them to win without all the hoopla and undue attention on the controversial boundary rule clearly meant for T20 cricket.

Background of The Boundary Rule

The entertainment value of the 2019 World Cup finals notwithstanding, as I mentioned, it came with its fair share of controversies and went down to the wire….or should I say the boundary. YES, I’m referring to the maniacal rule of the ICC in awarding the victory to the team that hit more boundaries in the match. So for the uninitiated, a boundary is not just the perimeter of the playing field but it is also referred to the scoring shot that a batsman hits to for four runs or over and beyond the perimeter for a maximum six runs. That disputable rule from Appendix F – Paragraph 13 says, and I quote:

In the event of the teams having the same score after the Super Over has been completed, if the original match was a tie under the Duckworth/Lewis/Stern method, paragraph 15 below shall apply. Otherwise, the team whose batsmen hit the most number of boundaries combined from its two innings in both the match and the Super Over shall be the winner.

ICC Men’s Twenty20 International Playing Conditions Effective 30 September 2018

Just in case if you’re wondering, that reference to Paragraph 15 further complicates matters in the event everything including the boundaries are tied despite the super-over. It’s so complicated that I just decided to post the screenshot from the rule book.

ICC Rule - Para 15
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Don’t Dream, It’s Over!

ICC World Cup 2019

As the Indian team was reduced to 5 for 3 wickets in the semi-finals against New Zealand today and as I pretty much shut myself off of every medium that broadcast the match scores, these words from the famous Crowded House song began to linger in my mind. I harboured a dream that India would have a walkover victory of this World Cup the way the team had performed superbly in the big games. i.e. Australia, South Africa, Pakistan. In comparison, a score of 240 didn’t seem daunting with 9 batsmen, huh. But it’s a loss whichever way you look at it and we have to wait for 4 years for the coveted cricket trophy to come home. So don’t stop dreaming until then.

Fans will have funny ways to show their contempt to the losing team, somehow their shades of emotions are always in black and white and they would perhaps judge this Indian team on the wrong side of the game. In all the hoopla they’d be forgetting that the guys held out to the best of the best in the world and put up a fight against all odds to win all except 1 match in the league stage. That’s a great record.

So here’s some pouring of my utter exasperation arising out of India’s loss today. To begin with, no doubt this semi-final match would be best remembered in history for being a ‘two-day international’ due to the inclement weather of England. Whatever advantage that India could have got in the second half was lost completely during the second day’s play I feel. Would I have said that had India won the match? Not at all. Quite honestly, I can assure you, not just the fans but even the players would have felt the fatigue of continuing a match on a reserve day, that’s all. I thought ICC could have allowed a new game from the beginning on a new day, with the idea being, an ODI should be played within a single day’s time frame. But the less said the better about ICC rules now.

I would like to say this without any bias or malice against any other cricketing nation, that India were truly the champions of this world cup edition considering the challenges they were faced with and how they were dealt with by men with sheer teamwork. Kudos to the coaching staff on this too who rarely get the spotlight. Despite the loss by 18 runs I still think Kohli’s men played with all their heart and soul and continued to keep a billion dreams of winning the cup afloat. Nevertheless this is how I will remember this world cup and India’s achievements in the days to come. Or at least until the next big Indian victory in a mega cricketing event!

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India’s Lack Of A Batting Specialist

The BCCI just announced a provisional team for India that would take on the best teams in the hope of lifting the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup, and I feel, they have picked a decent team. Unlike the last time when we won, the matches this time are in a round-robin format so I’m expecting some fierce contest. There were no surprises as far as the composition of the team was concerned but the batting lacks depth. I feel they’re short of a specialist batsman in the English conditions which would mean there’s too much reliance on the middle order, half-bat-half-bowler batsmen like Jadhav, Shankar and Jadeja. Sparing a thought for Vijay Shankar who has been pushed into the spotlight for no reason, but his lack of ODI experience just pales in comparison to Ambati Rayudu for the big stage matches such as the world cup. I think Rayudu’s selection would have made a huge difference when you consider the vulnerability of opening pairs to the seaming balls in the English conditions. And it’s still a possibility because this is just a provisional team.

Let us look into the details. Not only have England changed as a world-class team but if you look at how the pitches in England have behaved since the last world cup and analyze them broadly from the perspective of the home series you’ll realize the gravity of what I’m talking. It’s noteworthy, that there have been no less than 20 occasions in the English conditions where teams have posted 300+ totals, most significantly, 3 of those high-scoring ODIs have been 400+ totals. Under the context, I am baffled with the logic of going to an important tournament with a batsman short. Rayudu could have provided that extra leeway in the middle-order whilst chasing 300+ scores or when the batsmen at the top are struggling. His average of 47.05 in 55 ODIs with three 100s and a strike rate of 79.04 makes him an indispensable no.4 of the Indian cricket team. Conversely, India’s dependency on all-rounders is a worthy gamble given the fact that the England middle-order has promoted the likes of Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, and Moeen Ali. It remains to be seen how our all-rounders manage the world cup expectations playing on their merits. I will be tuned in!

India Batting Depth Analysis
India’s Batting Depth Analysis for the 2019 World Cup

World Cup Win That’s Worth Revisiting!

8 years since today, one glorious evening on April 2, 2011, India won their second world cup in front of a rapturous crowd at the Wankhede beating Sri Lanka in the finals of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. Prior to that eventful day, India had lifted the WC only once in 1983 (officially called the Prudential Cup ’83) as minnows who beat the mighty West Indies in a thrilling encounter; so magnificent and awe-inspiring was that victory for a generation of cricket fans that they started referring to the conquering side as ‘Kapil’s Devils’. I believe, triumphs in ODI tournaments such as the 1983 World Cup and the 1985 Benson and Hedges World Championship of Cricket that was broadcast live to a worldwide audience enthralled the Indian masses in search for stimulus and stirred them to embrace the sport wholeheartedly, the likes of which we still experience today. In fact, if you ask me, the Benson & Hedges series was the first time that I saw all the games being played under the lights, with a white ball, and all teams wearing coloured clothing. We had to wake up quite early to catch the broadcast in India and it left an indelible impression growing up.

India’s World Cup Hunt

India was in the hunt for the world cup title since 1983 edition and there were some good and not-so-good cricket campaigns starting from 1987 and until 2011, in the process, we also won the inaugural 2007 ICC World Twenty 20 event. However, the one tournament that comes to my memory was the 2003 campaign in South Africa, in that, India had won all their matches but were woefully underprepared to take the Aussies who were a formidable side and the reigning world champs. We had come tantalisingly close to winning the coveted cricket trophy in the finals in which Australia scored a mammoth 359 at the expense of one of the finest bowling attacks in the cricketing world of Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath – they went for 154 runs in their combined 17 overs (102 balls); India used 8 bowlers (gulp!). Once the Aussies went past 300 I knew we would end up on the losing side considering they had McGrath, Lee and Bichel who bowl fast and accurate on any pitch in the world.

To my mind, India’s most forgettable world cup campaign has to be the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup played in the West Indies. India, under the captaincy of Rahul “the Wall” Dravid and an uninspiring coach Greg Chappell, was abruptly booted out in the preliminary round itself for the first time in the history of this global event. It was so disastrous for the Indians that they even lost against lower ranked teams such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Interestingly enough, the 2007 WC edition had 16 participating national teams divided into 4 groups — the most for any world cups, which have been reduced to just 10 teams for the 2019 competition in England and Wales.

Triumphant, At Last!

Soon after its unceremonious performance and hurried exit from the 2007 tournament, there was a glimmer of hope for redemption. India had won the inaugural World Twenty20 that year beating Pakistan in the finals, while the next World Cup was being jointly hosted by India-Bangladesh-Sri Lanka with most matches being played in India, although until that edition, no other host country had won the world cup.

India had a glorious start to their campaign scoring a winning total of 370 runs against Bangladesh which remained the highest total in the entire tournament, Sehwag contributed with a well made 175 (140) which was the highest individual score of the competition. Under the captaincy of MS Dhoni who had famously scripted the 2007 World Twenty20 win, they reached the Finals of the tournament for the third time. The Lankan score of 274 was the highest total in WC history finals to be chased ever, which India eventually did with 10 balls and 6 wickets to spare! Yuvraj Singh was adjudged Player of the Series.

ICC 2011 World Cup Campaign
India’s 2011 ICC World Cup Winning Campaign

Moving forward, India is all set to fight it out in England and Wales and capture the imagination of a billion fans once again, although looking back at some of the individual performances against Australia at the recently concluded home series I’m keeping my fingers crossed about their form going into the world cup. But hey, this is India, and as we all are aware, the team is quite (in)famous in springing up surprises when we least expect it, much like their triumphant campaigns in 1983 Prudential Cup or the 2007 World Twenty20 when nobody predicted their win. So let’s wait and watch!