The Cricket.com Weekly - Edition 19

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Wake up, night owls! Get ready, early risers! You know what time it is — IT’S NEWSLETTER TIME! 

It’s been a looooooong week, plenty has happened (good and bad, from an Indian perspective at least) so without further ado, let’s get to it right away! 

What’s made the headlines?

Heartbreak for India, again :(

Oh dear almighty, is there no end to this nightmare?

Third consecutive major event in the shortest format, third consecutive heartbreak courtesy Australia! 

The CWG Final loss stung, like anything, but this one is a proper dagger in the heart. 

India had it. THEY HAD IT! At 133/4, they could see the final. But then the most unfortunate of run-outs and BOOM, capitulation!  Why always India? :| (cue MS Dhoni flashbacks).

But hey, on the flipside, this lot have only lost to possibly the greatest sports side to ever exist. I mean, come on. 9 finals out of 10 in the most volatile, fickle and unpredictable format to exist. RI-DI-CU-LOUS!

Maybe that’s why it hurts more. India were this close to conquering the toughest challenge in sport but alas, it wasn’t to be! 

HARRY BROOK, YOU CANNOT DO THAT!

Remember a week ago when many were trying to discredit Harry Brook’s start to Test cricket by claiming that he merely feasted on roads? Pfffffft.

The boy’s just struck a 176-ball 186 whilst walking in at 21/3. On a green top.

A (deserved) double-ton unfortunately evaded him but Brook now averages 89.88 after 9 innings, having amassed 809 runs. The kid’s in Bradman territory, except he is doing it whilst batting at a rate faaar quicker than the likes of Sehwag and Afridi did.

Oh yes, he’s generational. Don’t even think about arguing.

Can he do it on a green top at 20/3? 🗸

Can he do it on a bouncy, cracky Perth wicket Down Under?

Can he do it on a minefield at the Motera?

If he ends his career with three checks, he’s retiring as an all-time-great.

SAURASHTRA ARE THE RANJI TROPHY CHAMPS!

It’s nearly been a week but hey, this is one of the few cons of publishing the Newsletter on Saturday. 

But that aside, SAURASHTRA ARE RANJI CHAMPS FOR THE SECOND TIME IN THREE YEARS!

They outrightly thrashed Bengal, who unfortunately looked like they were fazed by the occasion. 

Give strength to any Bengal fan you know. The Ranji drought is now 33 years and counting!

Sunrisers Hyderabad have a new captain!Twice in as many seasons SRH suffered due to having an overseas player as the skipper but it’s good to see that they’ve finally learned their lessons. Or have they?

The Orange Army have a brand new skipper and it is, you guessed it, AN OVERSEAS PLAYER!

Aiden Markram led Sunrisers Eastern Cape to the title in SA20 and that’s clearly gone a long way in convincing the franchise to appoint the 28-year-old skipper of Hyderabad!

Let’s hope SRH will be third time lucky. 

End of David Warner’s Test career?

He missed the final two days of the Delhi Test due to concussion and now Warner has officially been ruled out of the rest of the series due to a hairline fracture he suffered on his elbow. 

End of Warner’s career? Could very well be. And he cannot complain if it is indeed the end, for across the last 15 away Tests he’s averaged 21.14. 

And yeah, Australia will be justified if they drop him for the Ashes, because the last time they took him to England, Warner averaged 9.50.

No Cummins for the Indore Test

Australia will be without their skipper Pat Cummins, too, for the Indore Test. Cummins, who left the Aussie camp a few days ago to attend a family emergency, will be staying back to spend time with his mother, who is currently in palliative care.

Our thoughts are with Pat Cummins and his family at this time!

What’s going on in international cricket?

> Test cricket, it seems, is far too easy for Ben Stokes’ England (and how wouldn’t it be, when you have cheat codes like Brook?). After scoring 435/8 on a green top, they’re well on their way to sealing the series 2-0. At the time of writing this, the Kiwis are 138/7.

> Jimmy Anderson has 3 of 7 Kiwi wickets in the first innings and he’s now 15 wickets away from 700. Oh yes. And earlier this week he created history by becoming the oldest #1 bowler in Tests in nearly 100 years, as he dethroned Pat Cummins. At the age of 40. This guy, jeeeez.

> Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh are both back as the pair have been named in Australia’s squad for the three-match ODI series against India. Maxwell, in fact, returned to on-field action after three posts earlier this week in a Shield encounter against South Australia.

> Sri Lanka have named their squad for the all-important two-Test series against New Zealand and it sees Chamika Karunaratne, who played a solitary Test back in Feb 2019, get a recall. You can check out the full squad here.

> More bad news for Kyle Jamieson, who has been ruled out of action for another 3-4 months at least after being diagnosed with a back stress fracture. Jamieson, mind you, hadn’t played since June last year due to a back injury he sustained in the England series. He will now miss the IPL. 

What’s happening in the World Cup?India didn’t quite manage to upset Australia but we had a hugeeeeeee result in the second semi-final as hosts South Africa turned into giant killers to beat England and book their place in the final.

After posting 164/4 on the board, monumental efforts from Shabnim Ismail (3/27), Ayabonga Khaka (4/29) and Nadine de Klerk (1/17) saw South Africa register a memorable six-run victory.

On Sunday at Newlands, Cape Town, Sune Luus’ side will be eyeing to not just win their first World Cup title, but put an end to the Aussie monopoly. 

Franchise cricket

Believe it or not, the Pakistan Super League (PSL) is the only active league at the moment, and we’re 13 games into the 2023 edition.

And it’s Multan Sultans, the 2022 finalists who finished last edition with a 9-1 record in the group stages, who are top of the table with 4 wins from 5 matches.

Quetta Gladiators, who finished second-to-bottom last time around, are sixth and bottom currently with one win in five.

When it comes to the run-getters, Rizwan has broken away from the rest of the pack (no surprises) with 329 runs, a hundred and three fifties in five innings. Babar Azam is third in the list but he’s only scored half the amount of runs as Rizwan.

We already mentioned the tall and fast Ihsanullah last week and, as things stand, the 20-year-old tearaway is the highest wicket-taker with 12 scalps in 5 matches. And he’s taken those wickets at an ER of 5.54. Too good.

For a more detailed recap of the PSL, check out this round-up written by Shubh.

Articles

We’ve got an overload of interviews this week, here at Cricket.com.

First up, we have Pramod’s catch-up with Sikandar Raza. In a moving interview, Raza opens up   his close encounter with cancer and his country's performance at the T20 World Cup among other things.

Sai Sudharsan is currently the talk of the town thanks to shattering records at the TNPL player auction and our man Aakash caught up with him last month. In an extremely detailed sit-down, Sudharsan has talked about pretty much everything.

And then lastly we have former Wellington head coach Glenn Pocknall decoding the rapid rise of Tom Blundell, who is currently the Kiwis’ most reliable and consistent batter. I, Anirudh Suresh, spoke with the current Central Districts coach in detail in an attempt to unravel plenty of interesting facts about the wicket-keeper’s development.

Too many interviews, not enough statistical breakdowns? Nah nah nah. 

We’ve also got a couple of outstanding stat pieces.

Gaurav pretty much proves why Jadeja should be regarded as an all time great all-rounder, while Anirudh breaks down the ridiculousness of Jimmy ‘ageing like a fine wine’ Anderson.

Watch this