The Cricket.com Weekly - August 28th

HELLO HELLO HELLO, our coolest, dearest subscribers! It’s Monday, and you know what that means: It’s Newsletter time!  

We’ll be honest, these past seven days were not the most happening; little to no breaking news and not many controversies. 

But that being said, we’ve still got PLENTY to cover.

So let’s dive right into it! 

The ICC / BCCI opened tickets for non-India games and well, it was a mess!  

On Friday, August 25th, tickets were opened to the general public for all non-India matches and, surprise surprise, it proved to be a mess.

Tickets were supposed to go live on BookMyShow at 8:00 PM IST but BMS’ servers were initially unable to handle the load. That took time to get sorted but even after it did, the platform kept throwing up error after error when users tried to book tickets.

In certain stadiums, such as the Chinnaswamy in Bangalore, only THREE stands were opened to the public for booking, one of them being an INR 5,000 corporate box. There were also a gazillion glitches, most notably the BMS platform showing tickets were ‘sold out’ by 8.01 PM IST for even low-key games such as Sri Lanka vs Netherlands.

The India game tickets are set to go on sale in a couple of days' time and well, we can say, folks, brace yourself. Brace yourself, for the experience is gonna make you go insane!

Pakistan are the number-one-ranked ODI team

Step aside, for there’s a new number one in town. Indeed, on the back of the 3-0 whitewash of Afghanistan, Pakistan have been crowned the new #1 side in ODI cricket.

A well-deserved crown, considering they’ve won 16 of the 20 ODIs they’ve played since the start of 2022. That’s a win percentage of 80%.

As far as the series itself is concerned, it was far from a breeze for Babar Azam’s side, who could easily have lost the second ODI. Chasing 301, Pakistan were on the ropes at 272/8 but were dragged over the line by Shadab Khan and Naseem Shah. They were also underwhelming in both the instances they batted first, posting 201 all-out and 268/8.

But the best teams find a way to win even when they’re not at their best, and that’s precisely what Pakistan did. 

Meanwhile, Pakistan have made a change to their Asia Cup squad: Saud Shakeel in, and Tayyab Tahir out (standby).

Kohli’s Instagram story has reportedly left the BCCI fuming

Virat Kohli vs BCCI was a feud that was hot a couple of years ago but has died down since.

However, one of Kohli’s recent stories seems to have irked the BCCI, who were allegedly not happy with Kohli for sharing ‘confidential’ information.

So, what did Kohli share? Not a military secret or anything, he shared his yo-yo test results. His score read 17.2.

But according to a BCCI official, sharing yo-yo test results is a ‘breach of contract clause’. 

“Players have been informed verbally to avoid posting any confidential matter on social media platforms. They can post pictures while training but posting a score leads to breach of contract clause,” a BCCI official was quoted as saying by Indian Express.

RIP posts about Yo-Yo test results (Aug 2023 - Aug 2023).

The World Cup warm-up fixtures have been announced 

The ICC have announced official warm-up fixtures for all 10 teams at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 and the games will be played across three venues: Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram; Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad and Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati.

The fixtures are as follows

All games will start at 2.00 PM IST

CSA announce equal prize money for Men and Women
In a groundbreaking move, Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced equal international match fees for their men and women's players; the new structure will be in place from next month.

"What we are celebrating today is not about monetary value but about leadership and political will," the country's sports minister Zizi Kodwa said of the move.

On the back of the decision, South Africa have become the third country to announce equal prize money for Men and Women in cricket, joining New Zealand and India.

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Glenn Maxwell adds to Australia’s injury woes

Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Steve Smith and now Glenn Maxwell: Australia’s injury list keeps getting longer and longer.

Originally set to feature in the T20Is against South Africa, Maxwell has been sent back home after sustaining an ankle injury during training.

But like the trio of Cummins, Starc and Smith, Cricket Australia (CA) are hopeful of Maxwell regaining fitness in time for the three-match ODI series for Australia.

"We will monitor Glenn's recovery with a view to him being available for the three-match ODI series in India in advance of the World Cup," said selector Tony Dodemaide.

Maxwell has been replaced in the squad by Matthew Wade, who recently represented London Spirit in The Hundred.

Josh Tongue ruled out of New Zealand T20Is

Australia are not the only side plagued by injury as after losing tearaway John Turner, they’ve now lost the services of Josh Tongue, who will be taking no part in the T20Is against New Zealand starting August 30th.

Tongue was supposed to make his T20I debut, but he’s been ruled out of the series after picking up a pectoral injury. The youngster has been replaced in the squad by veteran Chris Jordan.

Speaking of the tour, New Zealand have begun the same on a positive note, winning each of their two warm-up games, against Worcestershire and Gloucestershire respectively.

Red-card in cricket, YUP YOU READ IT RIGHT!!!

History was made on Monday morning (Sunday night in the Caribbean) as the first-ever red card was dished out. 

Confused? Don’t worry, just stay with us.

So ahead of the new season, the CPL introduced a bunch of new rules to combat over-rate offenses. One such rule was the introduction of a ‘red card’, wherein one player from the fielding side will be sent off in the case of the fielding side being behind the overrate for more than two consecutive overs, starting from the 18th over.

Kieron Pollard’s Trinbago Knight Riders were guilty of this and hence were shown a red card. But here the captain can choose who gets to leave the field, so Pollard obviously chose Narine.

But in the aftermath of the game (which TKR won convincingly), Pollard expressed his displeasure over the rule.

"To be honest, it will take away the hard work everyone has done," Pollard said. 

"We are like the pawns and we are going to do what we are told.

"We are going to play as fast as we can. If you are penalised for 30-45 seconds in a tournament like this, it is absolutely ridiculous."

Umesh Yadav will be turning out for Essex

A week after Jaydev Unadkat signed for Sussex, Umesh Yadav has managed to land a County deal as he’ll be turning up for Essex for the remainder of the County season.

Umesh played for Middlesex last year but had a forgettable campaign, taking four wickets in 6 innings at an average of 71.50.

With 166 points, Essex are currently second on the Division One points table (behind Surrey 183). They’ll be hoping that Umesh can produce a couple of special performances to propel them to the title.

Karun Nair & Shreyas Gopal have moved out of Karnataka!

It’s the end of an era as Karun Nair and Shreyas Gopal have decided to part ways with Karnataka after spending a decade representing the state.

While Nair has shifted base to Vidarbha, Gopal has moved to Kerala.

“I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude for the incredible journey I’ve had with the Karnataka State Cricket Association over the last two decades. From the very start of my cricketing career, KSCA has been a guiding light, offering unwavering support that helped shape me into the player I am today," Nair wrote in an emotional farewell post.

“As I embark on a new chapter with the Vidarbha Cricket Association, I carry with me the cherished memories, friendships, and skills I’ve gained during my time with KSCA. Thank you for being an integral part of my cricketing journey. Now, onto the next exciting adventure!"

There are a couple of other switches as well as both KV Siddharth and Rohan Kadam have moved to Goa.

Rashid Khan ends BBL boycott; nominates his name for draft

After Australia had decided to withdraw its men's team from a scheduled three-match series against Afghanistan in March, citing the Taliban's ban on women and girls' education and employment in Afghanistan, an emotional Rashid Khan had claimed that he would contemplate participating in the Big Bash League (BBL) in the future. 

"If playing vs Afghanistan is so uncomfortable for Australia, then I wouldn't want to make anyone uncomfortable with my presence in the BBL. Therefore, I will be strongly considering my future in that competition,” Rashid had put out a statement earlier this year.

But seven months on, all is well, as the premier spinner has nominated himself for the draft for the forthcoming BBL edition.

Rashid is one among several big names: Harry Brook, Nicholas Pooran, Jason Holder, Mohammed Rizwan, Haris Rauf, Shadab Khan, Naseem Shah, Rassie van der Dussen and Quinton de Kock have all nominated themselves for the draft.

You can find the complete list here

A plethora of Indians have nominated themselves for the WBBL draft

A host of Indian players, including Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Yastika Bhatia, Richa Ghosh and Jemimah Rodrigues have nominated themselves for the first ever overseas player draft in WBBL history.

The Indian player list as follows:

Yastika Bhatia, Harmanpreet Kaur (Melbourne Renegades), Harleen Deol, Hurley Gala, Richa Ghosh, Mannat Kashyap, Amanjot Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Shikha Pandey, Shreyanka Patil, Sneh Rana, Jemimah Rodrigues (Melbourne Stars), Meghana Sabbineni, Deepti Sharma, Meghna Singh, Renuka Thakur, Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav

*Harmanpreet and Jemimah can be a potential retention picks for the Renegades and Stars respectively.

You can find the full list here

Southern Brave win the Women’s Hundred!

After losing two consecutive finals, it’s third time lucky for the Southern Brave women, who have been crowned champions of The Women’s Hundred for the 2023 edition.

In the final against Northern Superchargers, Brave successfully defended 139 to secure a thumping 34-run victory.

The victory marked a fairytale ending for Anya Shrubsole, who, in her final game as a professional cricketer, captained Brave to their first-ever title.

It was Smriti Mandhana vs Jemimah Rodrigues in the final, and it was Smriti that came out on top! 

Here’s how the Indian players fared in the competition

Oval Invincibles win the Men’s Hundred!

On the Men’s front, it was Oval Invincibles that emerged victorious. After being reduced to 34/5, an unbeaten 127-run stand between Jimmy Neesham and Tom Curran propelled the invincibles to 161. In response, Jos Buttler’s Manchester Originals side fell short by 14 runs. It was the second heartbreak for the Originals in as many years after their defeat at the hands of Trent Rockets in the final last year.

In his round-up, Aakash has got you fully covered with everything that happened in the Men’s Hundred.

What’s been happening in the CPL?

After a rain-affected first week, we finally got to witness a string of uninterrupted games in the CPL this week.

Ambati Rayudu was in action for St Kitts but he was unable to light up the stage, scoring 0, 32 and 15. It was a forgettable week for Rayudu on both the personal and team front as his side have lost each of their last four matches. After six matches, St Kitts are yet to win a single game: P6 W0 L4 NR2.

Saint Lucia Kings top the table currently but they’ve played 5 matches. Guyana Amazon Warriors, captained by Imran Tahir, are actually in pole position, yet to lose a game having played three. They are second on the points table with 5 points, tied with Jamaica Tallawahs. Trinbago Knight Riders and Barbados Royals are both 1-1-1 (W/L/NR).

Saint Lucia Kings, meanwhile, have been dealt a major blow as skipper Faf du Plessis has been ruled out of the rest of the season due to an elbow injury.

When it comes to individual showings, Rovman Powell’s 29-ball 67* against Patriots chasing 198 proved to be the standout performance of the week.

Articles in focus

Ever wondered how the Asia Cup originated? Well, in case you have no idea about the origin of the Asia Cup, Gaurav has got you fully covered!

A humiliation that changed cricket - The Asia Cup Origin Story (Gaurav Nandan Tripathi)

Hardik Pandya the batter was expected to hit a new level in the aftermath of the 2020 Australia series, but it hasn't happened. Here's Anirudh Suresh delving deep into Hardik's struggles.

How troubles against hard-lengths have stymied Hardik Pandya the batter - Anirudh Suresh

Step aside Shaheen, Pakistan have a new poster boy. Here's Aakash writing about how Naseem Shah has helped elevate Pakistan's bowling attack to a whole new level!

Naseem Shah makes Pakistani pace unit ‘sexier’ - Aakash Sivasubramaniam

You can check out plenty of other pieces - opinion and analytical - on Cricket.com's feature page here

Video in focus

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