Hello Friends,
What an exciting month it has been with action packed sports across the globe throughout the month. Exciting soccer action has been the flavor of the month. Month started with Real Madrid's record breaking 15th European title win when they won UEFA champions league. Soccer action continued through Euro 2024 & Copa America where best teams from the European circuit & Latin America respectively fight for the ultimate glory. In another world breathtaking T20 cricketing action was entertaining the world when 20 teams were fighting for the World T20 title back in the Caribbean & the USA. In the mean time Indian women's cricket team too grabbed some of the headlines earlier this month when they trounced the South African women 3-0 in an ODI series on home soil. But our monthly edition of Sports Talk Of The Month definitely features some of the mouth watering stories from the T20 World cup.
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| Image credit: wikipedia Image design: Bala Kumar |
In a sense this year's T20 World cup was different in lot of aspects. For the first time 20 teams were competing for the global title for the shortest version of the game. More importantly most of the associate nations gave a tough fight to the big boys of world cricket. For a change most of the matches were low scoring due to the slow & turning pitches. If it was a sigh of relief for the bowlers, not so usual for the spectators who are used to witness hard hitting batting when it comes to T20 cricket. Struggle for top notch test playing nations on slow pitches was yet another prime feature of this edition of global T20 tournament. If watching New Zealand, Pakistan & Sri Lanka failing to cross the group stage was less of a shocker, Australia failing to qualify for the semis from a group consisting of India, Afghanistan & Bangladesh was the biggest turnaround of the tournament. Australia, one of the pre-tournament favourites knocked out of the tournament after inconsistent performances against Afghanistan & India.
Biggest story of the tournament though has been the performance of the USA, the co-host & Afghanistan, the newest giant killers of world cricket. Stories of both the teams had been really inspiring. They have achieved extraordinary success fighting against all odds. Talking about other host West Indies it was a tournament of mixed results for them. Their recent performances have been able to pull crowd to cricket field once again after their failure of not qualifying for last year's 50 overs world cup which is really an encouraging sign for the island nation. On the other hand they are yet so far from their past dominance in the shortest version of the game. Men in blue as usual continued their juggernaut but this time towards the ultimate glory. For a change the perennial under achievers of world cups South Africa could break their knockout matches jinx to enter their first ever world cup final but just to witness yet another heartbreak.
Tale Of The Unknowns
One of the most inspiring stories of this edition of T20 world cup has definitely been the performance of the co-hosts the USA. A team consisting of some seriously talented players & well mentored by a veteran coach like Stuart Law grabbed this opportunity of showcasing their talent at a global stage for the first time. Despite they being the co-hosts with a substantial knowledge of their home conditions nobody really thought that they would be able to go beyond the group stages. But they did that in an emphatic manner. Their super over victory over Pakistan would be remembered as one of the fondest memories in their cricket history. They also gave tough fight to a high flying Indian team. But their lack of experience at the big stage didn't help their cause as they could not compete well enough with teams like England, South Africa & West Indies eventually knocking them out of the tournament.
Despite lack of exposure to international cricket against big teams as well as for the fact that cricket not being the most preferred game in the country this team showed that they are capable of turning this around. Responsibility of ICC in this case is also going to be crucial on how they nurture such teams in long run with respect to opportunities and other logistical support. There have been quite a few associate nation teams that have shown promise in recent past but haven't really got the kind of support they should have from the highest governing body of international cricket. But kudos to the entire team along with the support staff to make it happen despite several odds against them. Time will tell whether we will be able to see more of the USA in international cricket or not, but for now they can absolutely be proud of the way they have performed in this tournament.
Though it was a complete team effort for the results they have achieved in this world cup, one player has definitely drawn the attention of the entire world & that is Saurabh Netravalkar. A Mumbaikar who is a techie by profession has shown the world that if you have the passion & the zeal to put in efforts no goal is difficult for you. His match winning spell against Pakistan including the super over made him an overnight hero. Even his performance against India when he scalped the prized wickets of Virat & Rohit was applauded by one & all. Despite limited opportunities & facilities and more importantly cricket not being his full time profession he showed his calibre at the biggest stage. He has shown lot of maturity in leading a rather inexperienced(At the international level) bowling attack. Talks have already started whether he would be able to draw attention of some of the IPL team owners in the upcoming mega auction. It would be great to see him playing in India. Below mentioned are some of his impressive stats from a brief T20 career so far.
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| Stats credit: espncricinfo.com |
A Month Long Bowlers' Dayout
For a pleasing change this world cup has been one for the bowlers. This has certainly be a tournament won by the bowlers. It was expected that conditions will be favorable to bowlers considering the slow nature of the pitches in both the host nations. But it was again upto the bowlers on how they capitalize on that advantage & use their skills for the maximum output. Teams with a strong bowling attack especially loaded with quality spinners eventually made progress. India & Afghanistan being the prime examples. Bumrah(India), Fazalhaq(Afghanistan), Cummins(Australia), Arshdeep(India), Nortje(South Africa), Alzarri Joseph(West Indies), Tanzim(Bangladesh), Netravalkar(USA) among the pacers and Rishad Hossain(Bangladesh), Kuldeep Yadav(India), Zampa(Australia), Adil Rashid(England), Shamsi & Maharaj(South Africa), Rashid Khan(Afghanistan) among the spinners have been the ones who dominated the bowling charts. Below mentioned are some of the tournament stats of top performing bowlers.
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| Stats credit: espncricinfo.com |
There is one very important aspect of the game to be shown here. T20 cricket can be entertaining even on bowler friendly pitches too. Around the globe we witness T20 cricket being played on the flat batting friendly wickets allowing the batters calling the shots. But not to forget that cricket is a game between bat & ball. Most of the players came to this tournament after a stint at the IPL where bowlers find it difficult to survive. For both batters & bowlers it was a tough proposition to face such drastically different conditions and get used to it. Doubly difficult for the batters and that reflected in their performance too. Even someone like Virat Kohli couldn't get his rhythm throughout the tournament after an excellent IPL season. Probably that's the way of justice for the bowlers by cricketing god.
If the bowlers are continuously pushed to evolve under the influence of extreme batting friendly conditions, is it not fair to get the batters honing their skills in tough conditions for a change? There have been question marks raised on certain pitches for the way they behaved during crunch matches. But it seems unfair as we don't raise questions when conditions are batting friendly.
Is it really a big deal that we didn't get to see plenty of 200+ scores or record breaking centuries or half centuries by individuals? We got to see back to back hattricks by one bowler( Pat Cummins of Australia), super over being won by excellent bowing, economical spells by bowlers forcing the batters to reinvent themselves in tough conditions. Weren't they entertaining too? If not then we must admit that we like one sided contests between bat & ball which is not healthy for the game of cricket to sustain.
The Afghan Story Continues
Yet another world cup and yet another turnaround story for Afghanistan. It seemed like they started from where they left in the last year's ODI world cup back in India. This time they started with beating NewZealand, one of the regular semifinalists in ICC tournaments over the years. Their entry into the super eight phase seemed surprising to few as they were competing in a group which was termed as the group of death with co-hosts West Indies & New Zealand being the pre-tournament favorites to progress further from the group. But they delivered the biggest punch of them all when they defeated Mighty Australia in a super eight clash & virtually knocked them out. Nobody ever expected them to do so despite their recent heroics in ODI world cup.
Afghanistan's entry to the semis seemed to be the biggest shock of this world cup to the cricketing circuit as nobody really gave them a chance before the tournament despite they possessing a formidable side for the conditions offered in West Indies. But on the other hand this success of theirs is an inspiration to all those who are fighting with courage. Time has come when they should not only be provided with an equal platform to perform in international cricket but also be considered as one of the contenders in global tournaments like this.
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| Rashid Khan Image credit: Afghanistan Cricket Board, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons |
In a span of less than two years since the last T20 world cup in Australia where they failed to win a single game they became the semifinalists this year. From here on their progress should be upwards. No doubt with a bit more opportunities at the international level they can soon be turned out to be a real force. They had a formidable side consisting of good batters, top class allrounders and more importantly completely conditions suitable bowling attack. Above all leadership of Rashid Khan has been excellent specially during crunch matches. He was very confident that this time around they will not remain a bowling dependent side any more and his batters specially the opening duo proved him right throughout the tournament. They had the best performing opening pair in the tournament. Not to forget the role of Jonathan Trott, Dwayne Bravo (Bowling consultant for the world cup) and other support staff in this success who have been real pillars of support off the field.
Back to back success in two ICC tournaments reemphasizes the fact that they are no more the minnows in world cricket and definitely deserve more opportunities. Though their performance in the semis was a real heartbreak for their fans, but the kind of joy they have brought to their nation will be remembered for ages.
A Journey To Be Cherished For Ages
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| Rohit Sharma Image credit: Bollywood Hungama, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons |
This post must be concluded with a mention of the unbeaten journey of men in blue. Finally we could break the jinx of ICC titles by winning the T20 crown after 17 long years. It seems surprising that a team with such a huge talent pool, all the top level facilities, being the inventor of the top T20 franchise league in the globe struggles so much to win a global title. But that's the pressure of international cricket and the competitiveness of it. Like any other ICC tournament in the recent past this time too Indian team was the pre-tournament favourites. Having a strong team, favorable conditions and a good enough preparation for all the players courtesy IPL were the indicators that this time we can go all the way.
India's victory reinstated the age old saying that batters win you matches, bowlers win you tournaments. As mentioned earlier in this post this tournament was definitely defined by the bowlers. For that matter even if South Africa would have won the final it would have been the same reason for them too as their bowling group did exceptionally well throughout the tournament. Every world cup final is a joyous moment for one & a day of shattered dreams for another. For India it turned out to be the moment of glory after a long wait whereas for their counterparts the wait continues. South Africa's success in this world cup is definitely the best in their cricketing history as they finally could break the cycle of not crossing the line beyond semis in ICC tournaments and hopefully a trendsetter one too.
Aiden Markram has been one of the most composed captains of the tournament. His calmness helped him taking tactical decisions resulting in some close wins for his team. They would remain disappointed for a while though as their age old nemesis of messing up during crunch moments came back to haunt them in the big final this time. Coming back to India's performance it was a complete team performance. Even the final was won by some crafty bowling, superb fielding & above all excellent leadership by Rohit Sharma. Bumrah's performance during crunch moments has been a game changer for years now. This time around he proved his mettle at the big stage and when it mattered the most. No words are enough to compliment his skills. A well deserved player of the tournament award for him. Arshdeep, Axar, Hardik, Surya, Virat everybody contributed to a famous win in the final.
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| Rahul Dravid Image credit: Joseph JoyC, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons |
Lastly special mention has to be there for two gentlemen who played crucial roles in this victorious campaign. First one being the outgoing coach Rahul Dravid. His combination with Rohit Sharma has worked wonders for Indian team over the last few years and India's success across formats is a testament to that. A thorough professional just like his playing days left no stones unturned for the ultimate goal. There couldn't have been a better reward for one of the test legends to end his stint as the coach of the T20 world champion team.
Another important cog in this victory has been Hardik Pandya who throughout the tournament played the role of a genuine allrounder. Not to forget that he had a terrible IPL prior to this tournament both as a player & leader. Staging a comeback from that sort of a situation shows his mental toughness. He has bowled crucial overs along with some handy contributions with the bat down the order. This was the allrounder India has always aimed for at the big stage and Hardik did that exceptionally well. Not to forget that he bowled the all important last over in the big final. Hardik is being tipped as the future T20I captain post Rohit's retirement. Whether he gets that coveted cap or not we will get to know shortly but this Hardik 2.0 is definitely an encouraging sign for team India. Below is his batting & bowling stats for the tournament.
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| Stats credit: espncricinfo.com |
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