The beginning of my career was shaky. In the first 17 innings of T20 career, Mohammad Rizwan’s highest innings was 33 not out. However, he played an innings of 89 runs in the series opener against New Zealand in December 2020.
Since then, Rizwan has been one of the most consistent batsmen in the world since then in T20. So consistent that this Pakistani wicketkeeper-batsman has surpassed Virat Kohli and Babar Azam to become the fastest to 3000 runs in T20Is. He achieved this milestone against New Zealand in Rawalpindi.
Rizwan went into the match 19 runs short of 3000. After that, Rizwan remained unbeaten with 45 runs in 34 balls. He touched this milestone in 79 innings for Pakistan.
The record for so long was shared by Babar and Virat Kohli. It took these two 81 innings to score 3000 runs. After Babar, Rizwan became the second batsman of Pakistan to enter the club of 3000 runs in T20.
Apart from Rizwan, Kohli and Babar, five other players have 3000 runs in T20 cricket. Australia’s Aaron Finch, David Warner, New Zealand’s Martin Guptill, India’s Rohit Sharma and Ireland’s Paul Sterling.
Pakistan beat New Zealand by 7 wickets yesterday on Rizwan’s record day. Losing the toss, New Zealand batted and was bowled out for 90 runs in 18.1 overs by the Pakistani bowlers, which chased Pakistan down to win the match with 47 balls and 7 wickets in hand.
89 off 32 balls after 102 runs off 41 balls—The secret of Head’s rampage is ‘cool head’
Australian batsman who started this year’s IPL! Just hearing the name Travis Head can send chills down the spine of many a bowler. So far played 6 innings, and scored 324 runs. That is at a strike rate of 216.
After scoring a century against Royal Challengers Bangalore, he played an innings of 89 runs off 32 balls against Delhi Capitals yesterday. This opener said at the end of the match yesterday, how can the head cause such regular destruction? This opener of Australia claims that he only tried to kill calmly.
Head has been on a rampage since his first match in this year’s IPL. In Sunrisers Hyderabad’s second and own first match against Mumbai, he scored an 18-ball fifty and played an innings of 62 runs off 24 balls. Then he scored a 39-ball century against Bengaluru and scored a 16-ball fifty that day. Kal also scored a 16-ball fifty against Delhi.
Taking the Man of the Match award, Head said yesterday that the secret to such a fearsome batting was keeping his cool, ‘It’s great, we’re having a good time. Tried to hit the ball calmly. To see things simply, it is important to play according to the talent of the ball. Satisfied to keep the rhythm.’
It is not only Head who is playing well for Hyderabad. There is also Abhishek Sharma. They scored 257 runs in 7 innings, his strike rate is also 215.96. He made his debut yesterday with 46 runs off 12 balls. Head said about this young opener, ‘In the last match we saw spin for the first time in the power play. How aggressive Abhishek is against spinners was seen in that match. We want to let him do his job against spin. He did his work today (tomorrow).’
Head has been in great form for Australia for a long time. Australia won the title by scoring a century in the World Cup final. Earlier he also scored a century in the final of the ICC Test Championship. Now he is playing great innings one after another in IPL. All in all, he said about his great time, ‘After two years of hard work, success is coming. It feels good to be batting upwards in T20s.’
With his 216th four-six off 257 runs, Abhishek Sharma is the new star in the Indian cricket sky
Total runs 257. How much of the total run can be done in four and six? Who will do how much, who knows? India’s rising star Abhishek Sharma has scored 216 of his total of 257 runs in this year’s IPL with four sixes. Abhishek Sharma hit 24 sixes, 18 4s on his way to 257 runs in 7 innings.
He averaged 6 sixes, and 2 fours in the 12 balls he played against Delhi Capitals yesterday. He scored 46 runs off 12 balls. By playing such an innings, Abhishek got the praise of Virender Sehwag, the brand ambassador of India’s aggressive cricket. The left-hander Sehwag sees India’s future in this opener.
It is not just that Abhishek played such a destructive innings yesterday. He has played a few such innings earlier this season. He played an innings of 63 runs off 23 balls against Mumbai on March 27. Then he played an innings of 37 runs off 12 balls against Chennai. Batting like this, the strike rate is 216.
Sehwag therefore sees both courage and a future in Abhishek. X Sehwag wrote, ‘Abhishek Sharma. The boy has courage. It is only a matter of time for him to score big. But consistently playing big shots is a special ability, he has a great future ahead of him.’
Abhishek himself said that in the press conference after the match yesterday. He credited Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Daniel Vettori and captain Pat Cummins, saying, ‘The message from the coach and captain was clear—go, express yourself. This is a very simple and powerful message from the coach and captain. Because, as a young and top-order batsman, you will need the confidence of the coach and captain. I think we got that from day one.’
He then added, ‘I believe, my plans, and thoughts were clear before this IPL. I was very clear about the style of batting, how to perform.’
Wicket debutant Travis Head storms at the other end. Who has so far scored 324 runs in 6 matches in IPL, that is at a strike rate of 216. 23-year-old Abhishek Head fan, ‘It’s a joy to watch Travis bat. We talk a lot off the field, which is helping us. I am his fan, I have been telling him that since day one. I have been following him for the past 1 year, luckily we got him in the team.’
Gavaskar’s advice to BCCI to stop the run in IPL
This year’s IPL is going on like a flood. The 200-person score has been seen 15 times in the 35 matches till Saturday. Of these, more than 250 runs have been scored five times. This rampage of batsmen in IPL is a joy for the spectators but threatens the equality of battle between batting and bowling.
Sunil Gavaskar has advised the BCCI to ensure that the IPL does not become just a batsman’s game. The legendary batsman of India said that there should be as much competition as possible between batsmen and bowlers.
In this year’s IPL, the five times the team has crossed 250 runs, three of them are from Sunrisers Hyderabad. The latest is against Hyderabad at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday. Hyderabad’s two openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma scored a record 125 runs in the first 6 overs on the way to 266 runs for 7 wickets in 20 overs.
Many have suggested changing the shape of the bat to rein in the run-fest of the batsmen. But Gavaskar feels that the bowlers need to think more. In a discussion with Anjum Chopra, the Indian legend said, ‘I will not ask to change the shape of the bat. It is within the rules. As I have been saying for a long time, increase the boundaries in every field. Look at this field today. Here the boundary rope can be stretched a few meters further. If the boundary is a little higher, the difference between a catch and a six can be understood. A 2-3 meter boundary can be extended behind the LED or advertisement board. That will make the difference. Otherwise, the bowlers will be in agony.’
Gavaskar thinks that T20 batsmen now bat like practice, “I have seen for the last few years, T20 batting is like the words of the coach in net practice, ‘go and play the last round'”. Then everyone started swinging the bat equally. It doesn’t matter whether it is out or not. It feels good up to a point. But when it gets too much, then the excitement doesn’t work anymore.’
ICC observer team in Dhaka to see World Cup venue
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) will organize the Women’s T20 World Cup at home in October this year. Possible venues for the World Cup are Mirpur Sherebangla Stadium and Sylhet International Stadium. League stage games can be played in two fields of Sylhet. Semi-final and final at Mirpur Sherebangla Stadium.
A monitoring team of ICC has come to Bangladesh to visit possible venues ahead of the Women’s Twenty20 World Cup. The five-member team includes Women’s World Cup Event Operations Manager Gurjit Singh, Pitch Consultant Andy Atkinson, Commercial & Sponsorship Laila Stein, Hospitality Alana White and Security Specialist David Musker.
After visiting Mirpur Sherebangla Stadium tomorrow, the observation team is scheduled to go to Sylhet the day after tomorrow. Objective To see the facilities of Sylhet International Stadium. Shafiul Alam Chowdhury, head of BCB women’s department, told Prothom Alo today, ‘ICC sends such a delegation before any major tournament. Tomorrow they will visit Mirpur. Will go to Sylhet on Tuesday. We are hopeful that the ICC will be satisfied with our preparations.
Host Bangladesh, Australia, England, India, South Africa, New Zealand, West Indies, and Pakistan women’s teams will participate directly in the 10-team T20 World Cup. The remaining two teams will come by playing the qualifiers. The World Cup qualifiers will begin on April 25 in the United Arab Emirates. A total of 10 teams will participate in this tournament in two groups. Group ‘A’ has Sri Lanka, Thailand, Scotland, Uganda, USA, and Group ‘B’ has Ireland, Zimbabwe, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, and Vanuatu.
Shaheen-Amirs did not care about New Zealand, Pakistan’s big win
There’s Shaheen Afridi, there’s Mohammad Amir—the kind of bowling attack many fans have been waiting to see from Pakistan. Today, they met together in the second T20 of the Pakistan-New Zealand series. The result – the relatively weak Kiwis batting line-up gasped in front of the two left-arm pacers.
Shaheen took 3 wickets for 13 runs in 3.1 overs, Amir took 2 wickets for 13 runs in 3 overs. Batting first, New Zealand were bowled out for 90 in 18.1 overs on a day of fire from Pakistan’s two left-handers, chasing down Pakistan to win the match with 47 balls and 7 wickets in hand.
Pakistan hero Mohammad Rizwan chasing runs in the match at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. The right-handed wicketkeeper-batsman dropped to number three and remained unbeaten on 45 runs off 34 balls. Irfan Khan, who came to bat for the first time in international cricket, remained unbeaten with 18 runs from 18 balls.
It was the bowlers who paved the way for Pakistan’s victory. After losing the toss and batting first, New Zealand defeated Tim Saiffert in the third over, and Shaheen Afridi returned. Amir took the ball in the next over. The pacer, who returned to the national team after more than three and a half years with this series, made a catch of Iftikhar at cover with his second ball and dismissed Tim Robinson. Amir, however, did not stop there.
Dean returned Foxcroft in his next over. New Zealand could not take control of the match after losing 3 wickets for 35 runs. Two spinners Abrar Ahmed and Shadab Khan also joined the wicket-taking festivities as the Kiwis lost the eighth wicket for 79 runs. In the end, Nasim Shah and Shaheen picked up two wickets to end New Zealand’s innings a century early.
Summary Score:
New Zealand: 90 in 18.1 overs (Syffert 12, Robinson 4, Foxcroft 13, Chapman 19, Neesham 1, McConkie 15, Bracewell 4, Sodhi 8, Duffy 8, Sears 3, Lister 1; Shaheen 3.1-0-13 3, Nasim 4-0-27-1, Amir 3-0-13-2, Abrar 4-0-15-2, Iftikhar 1-0-7-0, Shadab 3-0-15-2).
Pakistan: 92/4 in 12.1 overs (Ayub 4, Babar 14, Rizwan 45*, Usman 7, Irfan 18*; Lister 2-0-10-1, Duffy 2-0-7-0, Sears 3-0- 30-0, Bracewell 2-0-19-1, Sodhi 30-0-18-1, McConkey 0.1-0-4-0).
Result: Pakistan won by 7 wickets.
Hooda is the best fielder by missing the catch and ‘allowing Dhoni to play 5 balls less’
Lucknow Super Giants fielding coach Jonty Rhodes has made it a tradition to award one of the ‘best fielders’ at the end of the match. Famous for his fielding, the former cricketer announced one name in the dressing room even after the Chennai-Lucknow match.
In such cases, the best fielder is awarded to the person who takes the best catch or stops a run in a great fielding. But after the match against Chennai, Rhodes chose Deepak Hooda as Lucknow’s best fielder, who missed the catch of Ravindra Jadeja while fielding! Hooda’s catch misses the ball for a six.
Catch misses and good fielding are opposites, but Hooda has been recognized as the best by actually missing. This is what Rhodes said while handing over the award.
The catch that Hooda missed was in the 17th over of Chennai Super Kings’ innings. On the third ball of the over, Rabindra Jadeja lifted Mohsin Khan towards long on, and Hooda was there. Huda, who was near the boundary rope, could not even pick up the ball, the ball went out of bounds.
According to Rhodes, Hooda knowingly let the ball cross the boundary. After taking the catch, Mahendra Singh Dhoni would enter the field at that time, who would score runs at a brisk pace. But as Hooda missed the catch, Dhoni managed to play at least five balls less. In the video posted on Lucknow Super Giants’ official X page, Rhodes can be seen addressing the Lucknow players gathered around, ‘Fielding is not just about performing well, fielding is about knocking heads. That yellow team (Chennai) has one named MSD, who bats at a strike rate of 400. I think it was a smart decision to let Deepak Hooda go for a six at that time. If Dhoni came at that time, he would have played five more balls.’
Lucknow players burst into laughter when Rhodes made such a comment. Huda, who was leaning to one side at the start, bursts into laughter, accepting a doll from Rhodes as a reward.
Rhodes was not wrong. Dhoni entered the field 7 balls after Huda Jadeja missed the catch. Played an unbeaten innings of 28 runs off 9 balls. However, Chennai did not win the match in the end. Dhoni’s 176 runs for 6 wickets Lucknow topped with 6 balls and 8 wickets in hand.
Facebook Comments