Team Selection – A bigger challenge waiting for selectors

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In a country of approximately 1.4 billion people obsessed with cricket where the sport is considered as a religion, team selection is always a challenging job. BCCI being the richest sports governing body in the world have some tough tasks under its belt to deal with the expectations of masses. With teams around the world adopting new approaches every time, cricket administrators are always expected to be edge to edge with their counterparts. In last two decades the way cricket has changed and the pace at game is changing, players are expected to be on their best 365 days of the year.

Competition to get into the side is tough but the even bigger challenge lies in keeping the place safe in the team because one or two failures can result in loosing the place from the side and the way youngsters are coming up one can not be sure of getting bac to the team. Even if there is injury to a player and he misses a series or two and his replacement is able to perform, the place of the injured place is under risk. Keeping fitness levels to match the needs of todays era becomes ever so important than before. Just take the example of one of the most exciting player of current generation Hardik Pandya. Before his back injury he was permanent member of the Indian cricket team in all three formats but once he was out because of the injury, other players came in to fill his shoes and now even he is finding it difficult to get into the test side. Same is with Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav. During the tour of Australia both got injured and were out of the team, Mohammed Siraj came in as replacement and now it is difficult for Shami to find a place in the side.

K. L. Rahul one of the top performers for team India in all formats of the game is finding it difficult to get into the side. Bhuvneshwar Kumar the premier fast bowler and one of the important player in white ball games is also facing the same challenge. One bad performance or injury and you are out and when you are trying to make a come back, someone else has already cemented his place in the side has been the story in last few years. This wasn’t the case a decade ago. Can someone imagine injury to Dravid or Ganguly can risk their place in the side. Injury to Jawagal Srinath or Anil Kumble could never result in them loosing a place in the side. Sachin Tendulkar never would have felt the pressure of loosing his place in the side because of injury or one bad series. But the competition is so intense these days that one of the best batsman of current era Rohit Sharma was not a permanent member of test squad till now. one or two bad series and someone else is knocking the doors for the entry into the team.

A decade ago, performance in the domestic cricket was the only parameter to judge the new talent but after the inception of IPL, young players are coming to the limelight of cricketing world. With number of players knocking the doors of the team with some brilliant performances in IPL and domestic cricket, the task for selectors become very challenging. One solution to the problem is different teams for different format, solution first introduced by the Australians. Different captains for ODIs and Tests have been practiced during the reign of Dhoni when Virat was captaining the side for the tests and Dhoni for the limited overs but after dhoni stepped down as captain, Virat was handed over the responsibility to lead the team in all three formats.

For the country of India’s size it is always advisable to go for different teams for all three formats of the game to give enough chances to the players and nurturing the right talent for bigger occasion. Current bench strength of the team is so powerful that two separate teams can be prepared with the pool. So for the longer run to keep the players away from injury because of tiring schedules and providing opportunities to the deserving young talent, selectors can go for separate teams for all three formats. Senior players can continue to play the test cricket, some established young players can play the 50 overs edition and the emerging players can be a part of the 20 overs format. This could lay down the foundation of preparing the players for absorbing the pressure at the highest level by giving them exposure to the one edition of the game at a time. This strategy could be highly debatable if the team underperform but again coming back to the point that to select 11 players from 139 crore is an inhuman task.

If you sum up the population of all major cricket playing nations the resultant figure is not half of the population of India. So you can imagine the level of competition there is to get a place into the side. For example New Zealand’s population is approx. 50 lakhs whereas the Mumbai a city itself is a home to 2 crore people. It is no competition at all.

CountryPopulation in Crores
Australia2.54
New Zealand0.49
Sri Lanka2.18
Bangladesh16.3
Pakistan21.66
South Africa5.86
England6.66
West Indies4.44
Total60.13
India139
Data Source – Google

In coming years we may see Hardik Pandya captaining the test squad, Shreyas Iyer leading the ODI team and Washington sunder is made incharge of the twenty overs format. With Virat, Rohit, Pujara, Dhawan, Ashwin and Rahane growing older, we may not be far away from seeing the different teams and different captains for all three formats. Do send us your views on the same. We will be happy to receive your comments and feedback on this article.

Is team India relying too much on lower middle order?

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India the land of producing world class batsmen. Be it the great Sunil Gavaskar, god of cricket Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, the wall Rahul Dravid, our own Very Very Special Laxman, Mr. Destructive Virendra Sehwag and in present era the likes of Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. It does include a lot of other names which could not get a mention here. History of Indian cricket has always been enriched with some of finest players to grace the game. Even if we look at the current batting line-up of team India majority of them would make a place in any world team.

India may have tried a lot of options at the top of the order but everyone have shown promise in whatever limited chances they got. Be it Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal or Shubhman Gill, all have showcased their talent in last two years. The powerful middle order is one of the best in the world featuring The new wall of Indian cricket Pujara, the run machine of modern era King Kohli and cool minded Mumbaikar Ajinkya Rahane. This batting line is more then enough to give bowlers a shiver down their spine. But what the world have witnessed in last few matches is completely different story.

Indian tail enders have never been known for their fighting spirit with bat in hand and that was the reason of team being on the loosing side most of the time once the top order departs. But from last 5-6 years this scenario has somewhat changed. With the evolution of T20 cricket and importance of every man contributing in all aspects of the game, bowlers are now putting price on their wickets and not throwing away like their predecessors used to do. Eighties and Nineties have witnessed a lot of matches being lost because of the complete surrender of lower order. The world have witnessed the real talent of lower middle order and lower order for the first time in the 1999 world cup played at England. Journey of the teams like Pakistan, South Africa and New Zealand in that tournament was satisfactory because of hard hitting capabilities of their lower middle order batsmen like Moin Khan, Wasim Akram, Azhar Mehmood and Abdul Razzaq for Pakistan, Lance Klusener, Shaun Pollock for South Africa and Chris Cairns, Chris Harris and Adam Denial Vettori for New Zealand.

Coming back to the title of this article, what the world have seen in Australia this year and in recent series against England was completely unexpected. Failure of the top order have not at all impacted the spirit of the lower middle order and lower order, instead they came out with more positive intent and achieved the feat which even the batsmen were not able to. If the fans have forgotten the instances, just a little recap – Washington Sunder and Shardul Thakur partnership, Ashwin and Injured Vihari spending the entire day on field to save the match, Rishabh Pant with the tail winning the match for India. and even in this series Ashwin’s century and Pant’s fightback every time, Sunder and Axar’s crucial partnership in the last match.

All these performance on one side promises for bright future of Indian cricket but on the other end it also raise some serious concerns about the constant failures of our famous middle order. If they will keep failing the same way, WTC could remain a dream for the fans. We can not always rely on lower order to perform and expect to win matches.

<p class="has-drop-cap" value="<amp-fit-text layout="fixed-height" min-font-size="6" max-font-size="72" height="80">Fans are waiting for Kohli, Pujara and Rahane to fire like old days. The world test championship final will be played on Lords where you expect the pitch to be fast bowlers friendly. Techniques of our great middle order will be tested again and this time fans would hope for longer stays from Pujara, hundred from Kohli and flow of boundaries from Ajinkya. If the middle order performs, no team can stop India to bring home WTC and becoming the first team to win all major ICC trophies.Fans are waiting for Kohli, Pujara and Rahane to fire like old days. The world test championship final will be played on Lords where you expect the pitch to be fast bowlers friendly. Techniques of our great middle order will be tested again and this time fans would hope for longer stays from Pujara, hundred from Kohli and flow of boundaries from Ajinkya. If the middle order performs, no team can stop India to bring home WTC and becoming the first team to win all major ICC trophies.

Images source – Google images

Should Test Matches be Played at Neutral Venues?

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In recently concluded test match between India and England at newly inaugurated Narendra Modi Stadium worlds largest cricket stadium the way bowlers have dominated and the match was ended within 5 sessions, have raised the voices that home teams can prepare the pitches for their advantage and thus violate the rules of fair play. The pitch in controversy lasted for 2 days only and the such was the impact that no team was able to cross 200 run mark and even a part timer like Joe Root was able to take a fiver.

Joe Root (captain) of England during day two of the third PayTM test match between India and England held at the Narendra Modi Stadium , Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India on the 25th February 2021 Photo by Pankaj Nangia / Sportzpics for BCCI

What makes this series and its outcome more important to the world is, the winner will face Newzealand in the final of World Test Championship, to be played at Lords the same venue that hosted the 50 overs World Cup final last year. Current standings of the points table suggests that India, England and Australia are in race for the final. England fans and supporters are hoping for one more final against the newzealand at the home soil but to reach there they have humongous task ahead. Winning in subcontinent is always been a dream for any visiting team. In home conditions team India is almost unbeatable and when they have the crowd support behind them along the pitches favoring they become deadlier.

Coming bac to the pitch that was prepared for the third test between India and England garnered a lot of attentions from former cricketers and experts. A pool of current and former English players have raised their concerns about the pitches offered for the ongoing series. If the pitch straightaway starts helping the spinners (in this case it was misbehaving) from the ball one, it requires some serious attention from ICC.

Though this is not for the first time that any home team is preparing the pitches as per their strengths. Any home team would try to prepare the pitches which suits their style of play or is difficult for the opponents. When team India visits any country they also face situations which are not familiar to them. World knows that fast, bouncy and swinging condition are a weakness for Indian batting lineup and oppositions always try to exploit it by offering supporting pitches. If SENA countries can prepare wickets which suits their style of play, why can’t team India prepare pitches which favors them.

With this pitch controversy once again the same old debate has started that should test matches be played at neutral venues to counter the home conditions. That will not only eliminate the home conditions advantage but will also give rise to the popularity of cricket at non-cricket playing places. Teams may not find the same level of audience support at neutral venues initially but with time it will become popular too if the quality of cricket is there. We should not forget that initially 50 overs cricket was also not very popular but with time it has gathered a lot of attention even when the matches are played at neutral venues.

Hope you enjoy reading our articles. If you like the content being written here or you have any suggestions for us, please write back to us comment your views below.

What time holds we don’t know but one thing is very clear that Newzealand will be waiting once again to play the finals at Lords and this time they will not let the chance go from their hands to lift the most prestigious title of the cricket.

All image source : Google Images

Villains of Chennai

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With its first defeat at home after four years and that too on the ground which is believed to be one of the luckiest one for team India, some questions awaits for Virat and company as the next match standing just 72 hours away. With star players still not in their best shape, it would a grueling situation for team after being on the field for almost 3 days in the heat of Chennai.

We the fans in India chastise every failure and forget them very early too. We forgot the 36 all-out in Adelaide and filled with the joy of drawing the match in Melbourne. When the team Won at Sydney and Brisbane we were on cloud nine. But as soon as the we failed in the first innings against the lesser known bowing lineup, fans found a new reason to blame the team.

Do Indian Players Still Play Spinners Well

This defeat reminds us of the loss against the Australia at Pune four years back when our mighty batting lineup fell miserably against relatively less experienced spin bowling attack. Same happened in this match as well. Jack Leach and Dominic Bess might be big names for England cricket today for Indian fans and for the world they are lesser known players who are trying to make a name in international cricket.



What surprised more was even their fast bowlers were testing our batters on spinning friendly pitch and their batting lineup looked at no discomfort against our bowling. Apart from James Anderson all the bowlers are relatively new to the international cricket but their performance in this match have confirmed one thing that it will not be a easy going for team India in upcoming 3 matches.



Fans who were hoping for team to play in the ICC Test Championship’s final at Lords, will be rethinking after this performance. Momentum is now with England and even if they could draw the series, we might see the finalists of World Cup one more time playing for the pride at the same place.



This I am writing not on the basis of this one match but look at the form their captain is in. With this “Avatar” Root will pose challenges in next 3 games as well. Age is just a number for Anderson and he is looking younger day by day and showing this with his bowling. Archer is still a mystery for most of the batters. Bowlers are helpless against the power hitting of Stokes and Buttler.



For India the positives of this match were 6-fer of Ashwin, 85 from Sunder in first innings and Pant’s 97 in first innings. If we talk about the villains of this match there will be several contenders. Here we have listed three players who fans believe are responsible for this loss.



1. Rohit Sharma – With failures in both the innings and missed chances in slips he is first one to be blamed for India’s failure in first test.

2. Virat Kohli – Its been more then a year now that the world has witnessed a century from Indian Run Machine’s bat and his failure in first innings saw the collapse of the middle order. Team selection is another issue which raised the eyebrows of several experts.

3. Shahbaz Nadeem – He is playing just his second game and it would be hard to blame him for the defeat but his ineffectiveness on a spin friendly pitch hurt the team a lot.

As a true Indian fan we will hope for a fight and comeback from team India in next match but the way things have gone in this match, road to the next matches looks difficult for team India. Whatever be the result we will keep cheering and hoping for a win in the series.

We left readers with a survey. Predict the player from the options and get a chance to feature on our next article with your views.

“Do Indian Players Still Play Spinners Well?”

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“Batsmen from sub-continent play spinners well” a trademark phrase by every commentator during team India’s any game, is rarely heard these days and this has a huge reason behind it. We are a generation grown up watching Indian batsmen coming down the track and hitting spinners over their heads for gigantic sixes. The sight which no 90’s kid can forget. But recent display of Indian batsmen against spinners show a completely different picture.

In past whenever team India used to visit foreign countries, what troubled them the most was the seam and swing bowling and the only moment of relief for them was when spinners were to bowl. But the things have reversed now. More than quickies its the spinners troubling the Indian batsmen. There is a reason to worry because there is hardly any big name like Murli and Warne. Its the tiny new comers with hardly any name in international cricket and they are posing threats for the batting lineup that once considered to be the best against the spin bowling.

For instance consider the ongoing series, a rather unknown name like Swepson is creating problems for the Indian batting lineup. Zampa is still a big puzzle to be solved. Even the left armer Agar who hardly plays for Australia at international level becomes unplayable for the Indian batters. The bigger challenge is waiting in form of Nathan Lyon for test matches whose bounce and line will be difficult to get away. And its not only Australia, spinners across the global have found the way to trouble Indian batsmen. Remember Rashid Khan, Moin Ali, Mitchel Santner, Imran Tahir and Ish Sodhi are some names across the globe which are testing Indian batting every time they are up against.

Contrary to the failure of Indian batsmen against spin, opposition players face no trouble in facing Indian spinners. They dominate Indian spinners whereas Indians find it difficult to score even at run-a-ball against the opposition spinners. Failure of Indian spinners and Indian batters against spinners go hand in hand.

Over the years teams have learnt the art of playing the spin bowling and the biggest weapon against it was/is “the sweep” which is hardly observed when Indian batters are on the crease. The Indian spinners also never look comfortable when sweep shots are played against them because they are not used to hit like this even in domestic cricket. Indian style of cricket never prepares them to tackle the sweep shot and eventually this shortcoming hurts at the biggest level.

And because we are unable to produce the world class spinners our batting is also not able to show enough fight against the best spin bowlers. Its hurting both ways.

Its sad to see the golden era of Indian spin bowling fading like this. You can see this difference in team selection as well. In late 90’s and early years of new century we have seen only one fast bowler making to test team accompanied by 3-4 spinners but these days even on Indian soil you see three fast bowlers playing in the side accompanied by one spinner most of the time and one part timer.

One day cricket and T20 may excite people with fast bowlers in the side but test cricket specially in India still attracts crowd because of Indian spinners taking wickets. The sights of Wicket-keeper going up for appeal on every delivery, short-leg and silly point fielder chit-chatting continuously, an alert slip fielder actively advising and shining the bowl for the frontline spinner of the side still gives goosebumps to every cricket fan like me. I still remember the lines from Harsha Bhogle “Nayan Mongia’s keeping to Anil Kumble’s bowling and shouting behind the wicket is one of the highlight of cricket in India.

I end this article with a question for the readers. What are your thoughts on the same, please let us know.

Happy Birthday Swinging Pathan

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If there could be one name who could match the capabilities of the Great Kapil Dev on field in all 3 dimensions of the game (Batting, Bowling and Fielding) its undoubtedly has to be Irfan Pathan. The Baroda born cricketer started his career during India’s tour of Australia the famous Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2003-04.

The only bowler in the history of the game to have taken highest number of wickets wicket playing a single world cup game, a record not to feel proud of, is turning 36 today and we, the team CricketUstaad reminisce some of the moments from his international career.

Only bowler of our time to showcase the real swing bowling and made all the countrymen feel proud on having at-least one in the armory who could be compared with the greats like Wasim Akram. Before his debut the fast bowling unit of India never had a genuine swing bowler, we relied heavily on spinners even in SENA countries where they can hardly get turn.

After kapil dev, Srinath was the lone warrior for India in longer format of the game. Such was the absence that in late nineties sometimes Ganguly had to open the bowling with Srinath in test cricket. This somehow was sorted out when Zaheer Khan made his debut but after 2003 world cup Srinath retired from the game and the fast bowling was again left with a vacuum.

Came the Australia tour of 2003-04 and India introduced young left hand swing bowler Irfan Pathan, who could hardly impress in his first game and conceded 160 runs to grab a wicket in entire match. The real performance was due for the One Dayers and he proved his selection right. world was witnessing for the first time an Indian bowler swinging the bowl both ways and batsman around the world were struggling.

The real moment of joy came for him during India’s tour of Pakistan in 2005-06 when in Karachi he took a hat-trick in first over of the test match dismissing Salman Butt, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf. The world was witnessing the roar of Pathan. He didn’t get to play the 2007 50-overs world cup and returned to the team for inaugural season of 20 Overs world cup in 2007. He was adjudged man of the match for his performance of 16/3 in final against Pakistan, helping India win the title.

His fine performance with bat also gained him fame and people started considering him the next Kapil Dev. With some stellar performances with both bat and ball saw him reach to the second spot of the ICC’s All-rounder ranking. In one of the test matches during India’s tour of australia in 2008, he played crucial roles with both bat and ball and saved pride of the country and was adjudged man of the match which also proved to be his penultimate test outing.

Some believe it was the advises from Wasim Akram and other greats of the game which have affected his bowling action and ultimately he lost his penetration and wasn’t able to make it to the side.

Fastest Indian to reach to 100 ODI wickets in 59 matches a record long standing, later broken by Mohammed Shami completing the benchmark in 56 matches. With exactly 100 test wickets in 29 test matches and 1105 run at an average of 31.57 in linger format of the game and 1544 runs and 173 wickets with best of 5/27 in ODIs does not reflect the caliber of the man Pathan used to be on field. People who have seen him play and swing the ball are the ones who will realize the real value of the rare diamond of Indian cricket.

Today he is turning 36 and he is already into the new innings of his life. He has been into commentary box, participated in the dance reality show and also running his own cricket academy in Vadodara. We @CricketUstaad wish him success in every domain of life.

All images Source : Google Image

The unusual failure of CSK and big Indian players in IPL2020

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Probably this question is in the mind of every cricket fan and specially those who admire Dhoni. Ever since team India’s exit from the world cup 2019 in the semifinal against New-Zealand, speculations were high about his retirement from the game. Eventually it did come as a surprise, almost after a year when he announced on the evening of independence day. He has a huge fan following all over the world and specially in India. People wanted to see him one last time on the cricket field but this could not be happened reason his own decision to remain unavailable for the selection early on and then this pandemic which has affected careers of many.

Fans after the disappointing news of retirement from international cricket were hoping to see their favorite cricketer in action in this edition of IPL. But fate had something different for him. Because of the COVID-19, initially the much awaited tournament was postponed for September and then the managing body was forced to organize it outside India. Finally it came to UAE but the new normal has forced the governing body to organize it in almost empty stadiums.

Excitement of IPL was surely not there. packed stadiums, loud music, cheer leaders and a hell lot of noise for every single run scored and every wicket fallen are missing. Even the players are not feeling the spirit of IPL, once they used to.

For CSK this year has been very bad right from the beginning. First the Raina controversy and then the exit of harbhajan citing personal reasons followed by below par performance of the team was enough to raise the eyebrows of the fans. Fans are shocked, they can’t believe this is the same CSK, they use to cheer for all these years. The charisma, the charm and the impact are missing on the field. Batsman are finding it difficult to hit the ball, bowlers are not striking and even the fielding is disappointing.

There could be multiple reasons for this rare failure of CSK. One point could be the fact that most of the players do not play at international level, either because they have retired or they haven’t been introduced at that level so far. Second the team has yet not been habitual with the wickets of UAE which are bit two paced and have posed problems for batsmen.

One more important reason could be the empty stadiums. Most of the teams when play in India, have a huge support from the crowd and with time players become use to it. And suddenly when they are asked to play in the empty stadiums, they might be finding it difficult as the atmosphere they used to play is missing. This situation may apply more on senior players like Dhoni, who whenever comes to the ground there is a big cheer from the crowd, no matter on which ground or city the match is being played.

For players, who hardly get a chance to play in front of the huge crowd, the situation might actually favor. Simply because they do not feel the nervousness of being watched and can play their natural game. We could see this absence of nervousness from some of the performances as well, like Rahul Tewatia’s five sixes in an over, Ishan Kishan’s powerful hitting and some brilliant catching by other young players. While players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Dhoni are just looking like a shadow of themselves. They might be missing that feel and atmosphere of the audience roaring in the background, cheering for every single run scored, every boundary hit and for every single stop in the field.

Yes there are some exceptions to this as well, like the power hitting of Chris Gayle is unaffected, ABD is hitting as if he never retired from the game, Pollard is striking every second ball miles away.

Good thing for India is young Indian talent is firing despite the conditions and the the challenges posed by the pandemic. The likes of Devdutt Paddikkal, Shubhman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, K.L. Rahul, Washington Sundar, Prithvi Shaw, and Jasprit Bumrah are some of the names which have done well in this edition.

The race is still not over for the CSK as your never know in cricket until the last ball is bowled. But going with the performance so far, chances of CSK making to the play-offs are dying and with that the career of Thala also seems to be setting like the sun.

We end this article with a question for the readers. Your reviews are always welcome.
All images source : Google Images

Najafgarh ka Nawaab turning 42

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If there is one man who changed the way test matches are played in India, that will be non other then the master blaster II, Virender Sehwag.

Former Indian opener and regarded as one of the most destructive batsman during his time started his ODI career in 1999 against Pakistan. His test debut came 2 years later when team India visited South Africa in 2001 where he got the chance to bat with his ideal and original master blaster sachin tendulakar, with him he also scored the century in his first test innings against a quality bowling attack.

He started as a middle order batsman but during the tour of England in 2001-02 when team India was battling with their decade old problem of finding a genuine opening pair, Saurav Ganguly then captain of the team experimented with sending Sehwag at the top of the order and the move worked for him. In the first innings as an opener he score eighty odd and provided the much needed momentum to the team. That was just the start and no one had an idea that it is going to change the direction of the Indian cricket.

The decade of 2001-2010 was an important milestone for Indian cricket. A complete new generation of cricket was in the making with the likes of Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif and Mahendra Singh Dhoni but one name which superseded everybody was that of none other than Mr. Destructive “Virender Sehwag“. His enigma was such that on the field that he could change the course of the game within an hour.

He is only second after Legendary Sir Don Bradman to score 2 triple centuries in international cricket. You can imagine his fearless style of playing that when he was on 295 during a test match with Pakistan in Multan he stepped out to Saqlain Mushtaq and hit him for six to complete his first triple hundred and that how the name “Sultan of Multan” is given to him.

His second score of 300 came against South Africa in Chennai. His other memorable innings includes 293 against Srilanka, 195 against Australia in Melbourne and the number goes on. He scored at a strike rate of 82 which is double than most of the Indian players of his time. It was because of his dominating batting only that test matches weren’t boring now and audiences get to see the results which used to be boring draws at one point of time.

He also had a stint in IPL with KXIP (Kings Eleven Punjab) and Delhi Daredevils. In 2015 he last played in IPL and last international presence was in 2013, the same year which saw sachin tendulkar hung his boots.

He is active in commentary box, he keeps rocking the fans with his great sense of humor which he showcase every now and then on twitter. Fans across the globe still love him for what he has given to the cricket and the endless memories.


We at CricketUstaad wish him a very happy birthday and success in whatever he does.

All image source : Google Image
Do let us know your favorite sehwag moment.

The Super Over Sunday Thrill

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It was a super Sunday for the IPL fans. The excitement of the cricket was at its peak on Sunday in both the encounters. IPL has already through half way stage and we have witnessed some fascinating cricket in last 2 weeks or so. But what we encountered on Sunday was thrill at its peak with 2 super overs in a match.

Even after the first super over the result could not be decided and the match went for super over 2.0. At international level these sights are rare but in IPL super overs are common in almost every edition.

Unlike other it was a day with 2 matches played at 2 different venues but the outcome of the games was decided same way : Super Over. In the first encounter between SRH and KKR we witnessed some sheer brilliance of bowling by kiwi quick Lockie Ferguson while the second match was by far the most exciting outings for the fans after last year’s world cup final between England and New-Zealand.

Since the inception of the league one thing that hasn’t changed is entertainment for the crowd. Of-course the grounds are empty this year because of the pandemic but the people watching matches at home on television screens are guaranteed with the some very exciting cricket.

One can not ask for more. After 40 overs the result is not out, teams went for super over and it tied again. what followed after that was another super over and there we got the result. It was a roller coaster ride of excitement for the fans. In previous editions also we had witnessed some exciting finishes, But 2 super overs in a single game is the thing witnessed for the first time, we are told.

No one can forget the last year’s world cup final between England and New-Zealand where the result could not be decided after the super over and winner was decided on the basis of number of boundaries hit during the innings.

The phenomenon of super over 2.0 might be an outcome of the backlash erupted after the decision of world cup final. People were not at all happy with the rules in place in case the super over also ties. We have witnessed some close encounters in this edition of IPL but this will go down as the most exciting finish of the season so far.
We don’t know what future hold for us in upcoming matches but one thing can be guaranteed that is entertainment. (All images source : Google Images)

We leave you with an opinion poll.

The Champion “Jumbo” turns 50

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For years he had remained the warrior that single handedly changed the matches for India in both the tests and one dayers. Former Indian cricket team coach and currently heading the coaching staff of Kings XI Punjab franchise in IPL, Anil Kumble popularly known “Jumbo” among fellow team members is celebrating his 50th birthday today.

Started his career as a fast bowler and later changed to leg break, he was never a conventional spinner who would turn the ball a lot. His strengths were impeccable line and lengths and his determination on the ground. Currently standing third on the list of highest wicket takers in test cricket, former bowling legend has worked in technical advisory committee of ICC for some time.
He made his name in international cricket after the stellar performance in hero up against west indies with the figures of 6/12, a match winning knock that remained his best figures in ODIs.

This image itself is more than sufficient to explain his contribution to the Indian cricket. This incident is from one of the tests with west-indies when he was hit on jaw and got hospitalized. On last day of the match he surprised everyone when he returned to the ground with a broken jaw and started his spell and took the wickets as well.

90’s kids can not forget this sight of Wasim Akram getting caught at the forward short leg and giving every Indian a chance to dance in joy as their star bowler became second only to Jim Laker of England to take all 10 wickets of an innings.
He ended his career with 618 test wickets which is third highest in world currently and no Indian is close enough to break this record in near future.

He is a gentleman of the game always stayed away from the controversies and known for the fighting spirit on the ground. We at @CricketUstaad wish him (@anilkumble1074) a very happy birthday and good life ahead.

All image source : google images