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Preview: Ind V Aus – Closer Than It Appears

by | Nov 25, 2020 | Previews and Reviews

India (Ind) vs Australia (Aus) — a rivalry of sorts in recent times, especially in ODIs. It is 2020. Times have changed. Looked at ODI rankings recently?

Australia – #3, Zimbabwe – #4, Ireland – #5

Not kidding. This is the points table for the ODI Super league leading up to the 2023 ODI World Cup. The league was just getting underway before COVID hit.

Now, the proceedings finally restart. India vs Australia at Sydney on November 27th for a good-ole classic ODI match, India’s first in the ODI league.

My prediction for the series: India 2, Australia 1. Read till the end to see why. Let us know who you think will win in the comments section below!

Also Read: Eng vs SA T20I Series Preview, Series Predictions – Twitter Edition

The Batting

Ind: Batting Has Depth But No Flexibility

  • Dhawan, KL Rahul, Kohli, Iyer, Pandey, Agarwal, Samson, and even Hardik Pandya (with back injury) – none of the top 6 bowl
  • Rohit Sharma is one of the ODI players of the decade, but is out with an injury from the IPL. How much will this batting line-up miss him?
  • With the #4 dilemma India suffered prior to the 2019 World Cup semi-final, it may be wise to move KL Rahul to #4 and open with the in-form Mayank Agarwal or Shubman Gill

Aus: Batting Has Too Much Flexibility

  • With Finch-Warner-Labuschagne-Smith, the top four is pretty solid and settled
  • The concern is the flexibility in the middle order – Stoinis, Carey, Maxwell and maybe even Moises Henriques/Cameron Green. Carey & Maxwell coming from disaster IPLs and Stoinis in the middle order is a hit and miss (fluid line-ups do not work much – look at KKR from the IPL)
  • Out-of-the-box: Move Stoinis up to open, drop Labuschagne, and play with 3 all-rounders/power-hitters?
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The Bowling

Ind: Kul-cha Holds the Key to India’s Success

  • Kuldeep Yadav has had a horrid year or so with the ball, but in the large Australian grounds, the Kuldeep-Chahal partnership needs to be revived
  • If Pandya does not bowl, should India drop a batsman and play Shardul Thakur as another bowling option/slogger down the order?
  • Shami’s opening spells and Bumrah’s death bowling will be key

Aus: 5th Bowling Option the Only Issue

  • Watch out for Hazlewood. I have a feeling his miserly line-and-length bowling will set the tone for the series
  • With Starc-Hazlewood-Cummins the fast bowling is set and with Zampa getting into rhythm, this looks like a stable core
  • 1 out of Stoinis + Henriques/Green + Maxwell/Labuschagne will complete the bowling, which is the only concern in this line-up

The Broken Dream

Ind: Manish Pandey and Sanju Samson

  • India vs Australia ODI at Sydney 2016 – Manish Pandey’s 104* takes his team home in the chase of 331. 4 years down the line, still has not nailed a spot (feat inconsistency and selection mismanagement). Can he find a spot in the XI?
  • Sanju Samson has always lit up the IPL and is finally getting some chances in the international fold. With KL Rahul almost certainly taking the gloves, can India find a space for him as an X-factor or will he end up as another Indian unlucky cricketer?

Aus: The New Kids on the Block

  • Sean Abbott, Cameron Green, and Labuschagne in ODIs are great prospects for the future, and it remains to be seen if their long-term future will be secure
  • Matthew Wade made a marvelous comeback after toiling in domestic cricket for a while. With Carey’s struggle of late, Wade may get a chance. Who knows, at 32, this might be his final try in ODI cricket

Prediction

Verdict: 2-1 India

This series will be closer than it appears. Australia at home with this bowling attack and an envious top 4, Australia are the clear favorites.

If India can find that final lower-order firepower and exploit Australia’s 5th bowling option, we might be in for a close one.

I think Australia will win the first one, but India will bounce back with two on the trot to win the series.

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My Starting XI:

These are my starting XI for the first ODI (assuming everyone is available in terms of COVID and injuries).

Ind:

Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli*, KL Rahul (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav

Aus:

Aaron Finch*, David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Moises Henriques/ Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey (WK), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Adam Zampa

*captain

The Squads

These are the other options in the squads.

Ind: Manish Pandey, Navdeep Saini, Sanju Samson (WK), Shubman Gill, Shardul Thakur

Aus: Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Cameron Green, Daniel Sams, Glenn Maxwell, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade (WK)

Image Courtesy: Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) – Marc Dalmulder from Hamlyn Terrace, Australia, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

IPL 2020: The Dream Teams

by | Nov 13, 2020 | IPL, Miscellaneous

With the end of IPL 2020, fans and experts chipped in with their choices of the Dream Teams. Recently, social media went ablaze with Virender Sehwag’s highly debated IPL XI. Virat Kohli and David Warner at 4 and 5—it is easy to see why that was the case.

So I decided to join the party!

Here is my IPL XIs, with a couple of twists, of course.

Today’s Twist:

I will build two IPL Dreams today—the Obvious XI and the Non-Obvious XI. The goal is to see if my team could beat the Obvious Team of the Tournament. Here are the rules:

  • Have at least one uncapped player in each team
  • The IPL rules apply – 4 foreign players maximum
  • A wicketkeeper and 5 bowling options are necessary
  • The Obvious XI will contain the winners of the Orange Cap, Purple Cap, and MVP awards
  • The two teams should not have any overlap.

The Catch:

In IPL 2020, the foreign fast bowlers were on fire—Jofra Archer, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, but how many can you fit in? Additionally, the Indian squad have prolific wicketkeeper batsmen, but will all of them make it?

Tough choices to make…

IPL XI – The Dream Teams

The Non-Obvious XI

Here is my choice — the not-so-obvious Dream Team.

*Note: Bolded players represent the foreign players

  1. Mayank Agarwal
  2. Wriddhiman Saha (WK)
  3. David Warner (C)
  4. Suryakumar Yadav (U)
  5. Kane Williamson
  6. Sam Curran
  7. Rahul Tewatia (U)
  8. Anrich Nortje
  9. Thangarasu Natarajan (U)
  10. Varun Chakravarthy (U)
  11. Mohammad Shami

*WK – Wicketkeeper, C – Captain, U – Uncapped

In the batting front, this team has sparkling openers, the experience of Warner and Williamson, Suryakumar Yadav’s flamboyance, and Sam Curran/Tewatia as floaters.

With Sam Curran and Shami as the opening swing bowlers, Nortje as the pace spearhead, Natarajan as the designated death bowler, the mystery of Varun, and the leg-spin of Tewatia, the bowling line-up is balanced. If necessary, even cool Kane Williamson can role over his arm.

The Obvious XI

  1. Shikhar Dhawan
  2. KL Rahul (WK)
  3. Devdutt Padikkal (U)
  4. AB De Villiers (C)
  5. Ishan Kishan
  6. Hardik Pandya
  7. Rashid Khan
  8. Jofra Archer
  9. Kagiso Rabada
  10. Jasprit Bumrah
  11. Yuzvendra Chahal

*Orange Cap (Most Runs), Purple Caps (Most Wickets), Most Valuable Player (MVP)

With left-right hand combination (overrated but still) till No. 6 and bowling line-up of the decade, this is a pretty strong team. So, you decide, can my team defeat the Obvious XI?

Jofra Archer vs. David Warner, anybody? COMMENT BELOW AND LET US KNOW! Let us know of your IPL XI as well!

Honorable Mentions:
  • Quinton De Kock, Trent Boult, Jason Holder, Ben Stokes, Marcus Stoinis, Faf du Plessis, Kieron Pollard, Chris Gayle, Abdul Samad, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi

I had a tough time leaving QDK and Boult out. Both were magnificent, but the 4-foreign player quota came into the equation.

Notice something? None of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, or Shreyas Iyer (captains of 3 of the top 4 teams) make it into either of my XIs or the honorable mentions.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this…COMMENT BELOW AND LET US KNOW! Also share ahead and subscribe to our email list below:

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Conclusion

This was a peculiar tournament in terms of player performance. While the foreign players and the Indian uncapped players impressed, the current and former Indian players disappointed.

Although Dhawan, Kohli, and Iyer were among the runs, none of them looked consistently convincing. Similarly, former IPL stars like Robin Uthappa and 2019 World Cup squad members — Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni, Vijay Shankar, Kedar Jadhav, and Kuldeep Yadav — all had a sub-par season.

On the other hand, a 15-member squad could be created out of the impressive uncapped youngsters themselves:

  • Padikkal, Gaikwad, Kishan, Suryakumar, Garg, Samad, Sharma, Nagarkoti, Mavi, Bishnoi, Varun, Natarajan, Arshdeep, Tyagi, Prasidh Krishna

IPL 2020 was the beginning of the end of the 2007 T20 World Cup and IPL 2008 era. The early stars are slowly fading away in the background, while the newer generation are storming to the forefront.

Embed from Getty Images

Image Courtesy: Getty, Suryakumar Yadav – Sirshak9927, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

IPL Week 3 Recap: Diary

by | Oct 14, 2020 | IPL, Miscellaneous

In IPL Week 3, there was Mankading drama, catching brilliance, finally some direct hits, and the brilliance of….none other than AB De Villiers. Oh yeah, and King Kohli is also back.

We recap IPL Week 3 via our Twitter dairy with #BCDoftheDay: Broken Cricket Dream of the Day.

In the first two weeks of IPL 2020, the tournament threw at us Tewatia’s brilliance, Pooran’s save of the century, and the young Indian talent. There were heartbreaks, Super Overs, and even a hit-wicket!

ALSO READ: Unity in Diversity XI and Fantasy Commentators XI

What Was Your Favorite Magic Moment?

We continue our IPL Diary with #BCDoftheDay – Part II – The Halfway Mark. We have several videos linked in the tweet, so you can watch the replay if you missed out.

STAY TILL THE LAST TWEET AND WAIT TILL YOU GET TO DAY 24. WHAT IS YOUR ANSWER TO THE QUESTION?

Comment below your answer as well as your favorite moments of last week. Let us know what you think!

Enjoy the headlines!

Highlights – Week 3

Day 15 – IPL is where you get entertainment, drama, dancing,…,and even comedy!
Day 15 Game 2 – Sharjah is a joke – 227 vs 200 – why be a fast bowler?
Day 16 – Dropped Catches and Redemptions feat Manish Pandey

Day 16 Game 2 – Chris Jordan < Watson + Faf

Day 17 – To Mankad or Not to Mankad, that is the question

(Oh and also subscribe for more such articles!)

Day 18 – Pollard’s new look trumps Buttler’s brilliance
Day 19 – The worst game of the IPL? Courtesy Choking Chennai Super Kings.

Day 20 – Finally, Finally a DIRECT HIT! It has taken 20 days.

Day 21 – Ashwin vs. Buttler and direct hits galore

Day 22 – King Kohli is back. CSK definitely are not.

Day 23 Game 1 – Tewatia Can Do No Wrong & Riyan Parag Can Dance!

Day 23 Game 2 – Stoinis Out, Delhi Capitals Out

Day 24 – Why AB? Why? WHY DID YOU RETIRE????

Sources: IPLT20.com, Twitter

RCB All-Time XI – Consistently Inconsistent

by | Sep 17, 2020 | IPL, Miscellaneous

RCB All-Time XI….this is a tough one.

The Royal Challengers from Bangalore. They have so far remained just that- challengers, not champions. Can they win it this time in 2020?

Only time will tell, but let us reflect back and look at the All-Time XI of RCB.

Photo of Rahul Dravid
Photo of Chris Gayle
Photo of Virat Kohli
Photo of AB de Villiers

The Catch

  • Gayle, Kohli, and ABD – the three stars RCB has revolved around, but then who else?
  • Kohli has played 177 games for RCB, ABD-126, Gayle-85, Chahal-83, and Vinay Kumar-64. The next in line is Zaheer Khan with mere 44 games.
  • Bangalore gave the Indian team Dravid & Kumble, but do they even find a place in the XI?

The Highlights

  • 2009, 2011, 2016 – (Runners Up), 2010, 2015 – (3rd)

MY RCB All Time XI

  1. Chris Gayle (2011-2017)
  2. Virat Kohli (2008-2019)
  3. Parthiv Patel (2014-2019) – WK
  4. Jacques Kallis (2008-2010)
  5. AB De Villiers (2011-2019)
  6. Ross Taylor (2008-2010)
  7. Robin Uthappa (2009-2010)
  8. Yuzvendra Chahal (2014-2019)
  9. Anil Kumble (2008-2010) – Captain
  10. Zaheer Khan (2008-2013)
  11. Umesh Yadav (2018-2019)

Honorable Mentions: Manish Pandey (2009-2010), Rahul Dravid (2008-2010), Dale Steyn (2008-2010, 2019)

Does it look like my bowling is not that strong? You are probably right and have just answered why RCB have yet to win an IPL.

Audience Poll – RCB All Time XI

  • Pick 11 players from the list – with 4 foreign players maximum.
  • You need to have a wicketkeeper and at least 5 bowling options.

[yop_poll id=”2″]

Thanks for voting! Please COMMENT Below on Your Teams and do not forget to SUBSCRIBE!

Do check out our All-Time XI for (1) RR/KKR and (2) KXIP/DC.

Sources: Cricinfo Stats, Cricinfo IPL All-Time XI

Image Courtesy: Virat Kohli – NAPARAZZI / CC BY-SA 2.0; AB De Villiers – paddynapper / CC BY-SA 2.0; Chris Gayle – NAPARAZZI / CC BY-SA 2.0; Rahul Dravid – Chubby Chandru / via CC 2.0

Most Stylish Batsman Of The Modern Era: Which Player Plays Each Shot Best – Tendulkar’s Drive, Ponting’s Pull, Lara…?

by | Aug 11, 2020 | World XIs - With Twists

Who do you think is the most stylish batsman of the century? Tendulkar, Lara, Ponting, or the Fab 5?

Let’s have some fun today. Instead of just picking 11 today, we will pick an entire squad of 15 members with 7 reserves, similar to the guidelines for the COVID-19 bio-security bubble age.

Today’s Twist – Most Stylish Batsman:

Pick a squad of 22 members, where each player plays the best of a certain shot. The constraint is that you can only pick 1 player per shot. Who would you pick for the best cover drive, the best square cut, etc.? Note, we only pick players from the past 25 years for the current iteration.*

The Catch:

Babar Azam vs Virat Kohli was all over twitter this past week, but who do you think plays the best cover drive? For someone like Sachin Tendulkar who has all the shots in the game, if you were to only pick one, which shot would it be?

Almost all shots are linked next to a video, so have fun watching some of our favorite shots!

Straight Drives

  1. Straight Drive (Ground): Sachin Tendulkar
  2. Straight Drive (Aerial) : Martin Guptill
  3. Dancing Down Straight Six: Sourav Ganguly

Cover Drives

4. Steady Cover Drive: Babar Azam

5. Lefty Cover Drive: Kumar Sangakkara

6. Expansive Cover Drive: Jacques Kallis

Pulls/Flicks

7. Pull Shot: Ricky Ponting

8. Flick: Virat Kohli

9. Square Cut: Rahul Dravid

Unorthodox Shots

10. Dilscoop: Tillakaratne Dilshan

11. McDilscoop: Brendon McCullum

12. Reverse Sweep: Kevin Pietersen

13. Reverse Scoop (Aerial): AB De Villiers

14. Helicopter Shot: MS Dhoni (for more on MS Dhoni, check this out)

15. Just Pick Any Shot: Brian Lara (The Winner)

I mean which shot would you have given Brian Lara, probably the most stylish batsman of this era?

Reserves

16. Lefty Cover Drive (Aerial): Soumya Sarkar

17. Dab to Third Man: Kane Williamson

18. Single Off the Hip: Alastair Cook

19. Lefty Leg Aerial Hoick: Adam Gilchrist

20. Wristy Flick/Pull: VVS Laxman

21. Reverse Reverse Sweep: Eoin Morgan

22. The Leave/Weird Stuff: Steven Smith

Which players would you pick? Which is your favorite video?

Who is the most stylish batsman in your opinion? Comment below with some of your favorite videos, share, and don’t forget to subscribe!

Well, that is it for right now. Stay tuned for more coming up later this week!

Sources: Youtube (Videos), cricket.com.au

*The article has been edited to only include the players of the recent past for the current iteration. We will do a sequel to this article considering players from earlier eras in our future iterations.

Image courtesy of Pete Souza / Public domain

Cricket’s All-Time World XI – With a Twist

by | Jul 28, 2020 | World XIs - With Twists

Creating fantasy World XI? We have all been here before. There is just one issue—there are just too many good players across eras. So, here is our new series on creating our World XIs, with a twist of specific constraints. In all of our posts, we will limit the category of players after ODI cricket began.

Today’s twist:

Build a Test and ODI World XI so that (1) there is a maximum of two players per country in the XI and (2) a player is not repeated in both lists.

The catch:

There are some greats that could easily fit in both teams. For example, Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and AB De Villiers are fan favorites and a versatile players, but which list are you going to put them in?

Test World XI:

  1. Sir Alastair Cook (Eng)
  2. Graeme Smith (SA) – Captain
  3. Kumar Sangakkara (SL) – WK
  4. Sachin Tendulkar (Ind)
  5. Brian Lara (WI)
  6. Steven Smith (Aus)
  7. Jacques Kallis (SA)
  8. Kapil Dev (Ind)
  9. Shane Warne (Aus)
  10. James Anderson (Eng)
  11. Muttiah Muralitharan (SL)

Honorable Mentions: Rahul Dravid (Ind) , Dale Steyn (SA), Courtney Walsh (WI), Richard Hadlee (NZ)

ODI World XI:

  1. Sanath Jayasuriya (SL)
  2. Chris Gayle (WI)
  3. Ricky Ponting (Aus) – Captain
  4. Virat Kohli (Ind)
  5. Vivian Richards (WI)
  6. AB De Villiers (SA)
  7. MS Dhoni (Ind) – WK
  8. Shakib Al Hasan (Bang)
  9. Wasim Akram (Pak)
  10. Waqar Younis (Pak)
  11. Glenn McGrath (Aus)

Honorable Mentions: Brett Lee (Aus), Daniel Vettori (NZ), Virender Sehwag (Ind), Adam Gilchrist (Aus)

Well, only choosing two out of Sehwag, Kohli, Tendulkar, and Dhoni or Gilchrist, Ponting, Warne and Mcgrath was always going to be a tough task…

Anyway, send us your World XIs and let us know what you think in the comments section below! Stay tuned for the next fantasy team, where we will build an ODI World XI with exactly one player from each World Cup.

Image Courtesy: Kroome111 via CC BY-SA 4.0