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The Cricket.com Weekly - Edition 15

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Last updated on 28 Jan 2023 | 06:56 AM
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The Cricket.com Weekly - Edition 15

In this newsletter, we take you through all important cricket updates, providing a one-stop destination to satiate the cricket nerd in you

We’ve got no time to waste. Let’s get to business RIGHT AWAY!

What’s made the headlines?

IT’S HAPPENED — WPL IS A REALITY!

I know me, you and everyone else love to rip into the BCCI the first opportunity we get (frankly, why not?) but this week, it is only fair that we set our agenda aside.

Thanks to the BCCI, the WOMEN’S PREMIER LEAGUE IS NOW A REALITY!

The bidding process for the five WPL teams took place in Mumbai on Wednesday and, in total, the board managed to sell the franchises off for a record sum of INR 4669.99 crore 🤑🤑🤑

RCB, MI and DC fans, rejoice — you can cheer for YOUR FAVORITE IPL team in the WPL too (if you want, that is).

CSK and KKR fans, my condolences as the other two franchises have been bought by the Adani Group (Ahmedabad, 1289 crore) and Capri Global (Lucknow, 757 crore). 

Yeah, this WPL franchise sale has broken the internet because what’s just happened is truly unprecedented and ABSOLUTELY BONKERS! 

A watershed moment in women’s sport in the country, and perhaps the world.

U19 cricket, YOU BEAUTY!

Mark your calendars, folks: Sunday, January 29 is the day. India and England will lock horns with each other as both sides eye becoming the inaugural ICC Women’s U19 WC champion.

The Indian side, led by Shafali Verma, have breezed their way through to the final but England? We need to talk about England and what they did in the semi-final against arch-rivals Australia.

To quote good ol’ Pommie Mbangwa, they were dead and half-buried. They were bundled out for 99 and, in response, Australia were at one point 48/3. 

Eventually, though, they triumphed by 3 runs! 

Revenge successfully taken for what Australia did to them in the Men’s U19 WC 5 years ago (heck, I feel old) when Lloyd Pope (oh yeah, remember him?) took 8/35 and helped his side defend 127.

JADDU IS BACK — WITH A BANG! 💥💥💥

Ravindra Jadeja returned to professional cricket for the first time since August and it did not take long for Jaddu to start doing Jaddu things. On a surface tailor-made for him in Chepauk, the 34-year-old marked his comeback with a seven-fer (7/53) against TN in the second innings. Saurashtra still went on to lose the game, but OUTSTANDING NEWS for India ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

SKY scripts history; Renuka caps off dream year with deserved accolade

 

On the field, Suryakumar Yadav has been shattering records left, right and center but he’s now started to do it off the field too. Earlier this week, he became the FIRST EVER INDIAN TO WIN THE ICC T20I CRICKETER OF THE YEAR AWARD!  

The awards didn’t stop there for India as Renuka Singh was named the ICC Emerging Women's Cricketer of the Year. On the Men’s side, the award went to Marco Jansen.

ICC’s decision to name Ben Stokes the Test cricketer of the year did not go down well with everyone, but no one had any complaints with Babar Azam winning both the ODI Cricketer of the year and Men’s Cricketer of the Year award.

What (else) has been happening on the field?

International cricket (Men)

> After getting battered in the ODIs, the Kiwis have responded well in the T20Is, beating India by 21 runs to go 1-0 up in the series. Ranchi dished out a rank turner and Mitch Santer said thank you very much.

> South Africa came back from the dead in Bloemfontein to stun England and keep their hopes of automatic WC qualification alive. Thanks to a Rassie ton, the Proteas had posted 298 but England were cruising at one point at 146/0. 

Jason Roy finally found some form as he smashed a 91-ball 113. However, the visitors collapsed spectacularly; they lost their last 10 wickets for 125 runs to end up losing the contest by 27 runs. Make that 7 defeats in 9 ODIs for England.

> And oh, Jofra Archer’s international comeback was a forgettable one. A 80% fit Archer was taken apart by the Proteas: 10-0-81-1.

> Zimbabwe and Ireland shared the spoils in the ODI series after the decider in Harare got abandoned. A tame end to the series as Ireland did really well to level the series after a stinging loss in the first game.

Domestic cricket

So, the Ranji quarter-finalists have been decided and Hanuma Vihari’s Andhra are among the final eight. But how they got there is just……..  Not able to put that into words, really. 

Heading into the final round of group games, the following had to happen for Andhra to make it through to the QFs: 

- They had to beat Assam with a bonus point

- Both Mumbai and Maharashtra needed to NOT take a first innings lead in their respective matches

Both things happened; Andhra went through. 

You know why it’s crazy? Because Mumbai and Maharashtra PLAYED EACH OTHER! 

Somehow, both teams EXACTLY SCORED 384 in the first innings, meaning no first-innings lead point for either side. 

Cricket is truly the gift that keeps giving! 

Either way, the QF line-up is as follows 

> Karnataka vs Uttarakhand

> Saurashtra vs Punjab

> Bengal vs Jharkhand 

> Madhya Pradesh vs Andhra 

International Cricket (Women)

> It’s 5/5 for Australia as after wrapping up the ODIs 3-0, they’ve taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20I series against Pakistan. It’s been an absurdly lop-sided tour thus far; Pakistan haven’t even come close to competing.

> India and South Africa have both sealed their spots in the final of the ongoing tri-series. The Women in Blue began with a 27-run victory over the hosts and backed it up with a 56-run thrashing of the Windies. South Africa slipped up against India but they, too, rinsed West Indies, hammering the Hayley Matthews-led side by 10 wickets. 

India and South Africa, as a result, will clash in the final on February 2nd. They’ll have a dress-rehearsal before that, later today at Buffalo Park.

Franchise cricket

It’s been a surprisingly quiet week in Franchise Cricket. While SA20 is on a eight-day break due to the England-South Africa ODIs, ILT20 has been disrupted by rain. As many as three matches have been washed out due to heavy rains in both Dubai and Sharjah ( yep, BELIEVE IT!), meaning we’ve not had any action since Tuesday, January 24th. 

The BBL, though, is ongoing and the KNOCKOUTS HAVE BEGUN!  

On Friday, Brisbane Heat knocked the Sydney Thunder out in the Eliminator in controversial fashion (read: through DLS).

The showdown between Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers will happen later today in Perth while on Sunday, the Renegades will take on Brisbane Heat in the ‘Knockout’ to decide who progresses to the ‘Challenger’.

Nevertheless, you can read our SA20 recap here, BBL recap here, and ILT20 recap here.

Articles in focus

It’s been a hell of a week in Cricket, and it’s been a hell of a week at CDC too. Endless quality content that you simply don’t wanna miss out on! 

Women’s Premier League - A win for the past, the present, and the future (Gaurav Nandan Tripathi)

Rashid Khan’s dash towards 500 T20 wickets (Anirudh Kasargod and Shubh Aggarwal)

Rohit ditches old ODI template to add new dimension to India's batting (Anirudh Suresh)

Basant Mohanty - Odisha's unassuming superstar (Bastab K Parida)

And finally, a couple of exclusive interviews to sate your appetite 

Mark Watt’s journey from football to ‘don’t bowl slot’ (Pramod Ananth)

No better time than now for UAE cricketers: Karthik Meiyappan on country’s rapid rise (Aakash Sivasubramaniam)

Watch this


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