The Cricket.com Weekly - Edition 31

The last week provided a definitive direction to how the playoffs race for the Indian Premier League 2023 was shaping up. There have been many hot shots, but the happiness that RCB fans, heck, Indian fans, had after Virat Kohli mustered his 2016 avatar to glide himself to a century against Sunrisers Hyderabad effortlessly definitely stole the thunder away.

Hence, we decided to package it all for you - something unforgettable and something that might have been missed to notice - in one place for you to devour. 

Let’s dive in.

What’s happening in IPL?

While Gujarat Titans are the only team to have confirmed their spot in the top four, Punjab Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Delhi Capitals have already been eliminated, leaving the remaining six teams competing for the remaining six spots. 

Chennai Super Kings are in the pole position to finish in the top two, thanks to their superior run rate, if they beat Delhi Capitals by a decent margin. But with the next four games changing the situation rapidly, I would advise you to follow our blog, which tells you everything related to the qualification scenario. 

Elsewhere, the week provided cricket fans with the ultimate reason to involve in fan revelry, with Virat Kohli scoring his first IPL century since IPL 2019. Shubman Gill made sure that he would remember 2023 with great fondness by scoring a century against Sunrisers Hyderabad, which made him only the third cricketer to score a century in Tests, ODIs, T20Is, and IPL matches in one calendar year. And guess what, we are not even five months into the new year. 

What else made the headlines?

ICC scraps soft signal, starting from WTC final

The International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s Cricket Committee, led by Sourav Ganguly, decided to make some changes to its playing conditions, starting from World Test Championship final next month. The most significant of them is the decision to scrap soft signals. The on-field umpires would no longer be required to give a soft signal when referring decisions to the TV umpire. 

It had been a cause of many debates, with people fencing on both sides of the debate. The Indian Premier League had already taken the decision to scrap the soft signal last year, and now with ICC doing the same, it remains to be seen whether this would help in a way.

The ICC has also made helmets mandatory for high-risk positions - when batters are facing fast bowlers, when wicketkeepers are standing up to the stumps, and when fielders are close to the batter in front of the wicket.

Bairstow set to be England’s first-choice keeper 

England have announced a strong 15-member squad for the one-off Test against Ireland at the Home of Cricket, with Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes coming back after a lengthy layoff. But with Ben Foakes being dropped, it is clear that Bairstow will be keeping the wickets throughout the summer.

It is a great moment for the Yorkshire batter, who feared he would “never walk again” after the horrific injury he sustained while playing golf last year. That ruled him out for eight months as he missed England’s six Tests and England's T20 World Cup win but now that he is back, he would hope to celebrate the return by helping England to Ashes victory.

Harry Tector goes past Kohli, Rohit, Buttler in latest ODI rankings

There is no limit to Harry Tector’s rise in international cricket as he has entered the top-10 rankings for batters after scoring 206 runs in Ireland's recent ODI series against Bangladesh in Chelmsford. The 23-year-old scored a scintillating 140-run knock against Bangladesh in the second game, and that has now put him ahead of the likes of Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock, Steve Smith, Jos Buttler, and Virat Kohli on the latest rankings update with 722 rating points.

Afghanistan set to make full tour to Bangladesh

Afghanistan are set to clash against Bangladesh in a one-off Test starting June 14, at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka. Following the assignment against Bangladesh, Afghanistan are set to then make a trip to India on June 19. However, the remainder of the series against Bangladesh will be completed after July 1, where they will play three ODIs and two T20Is, with the series running till July 17. 

Heath Streak’s fight for life

In what has come as a really sad news for cricket fans around the world, legendary Zimbabwe skipper Heath Streak is undergoing treatment for cancer in South Africa. His family revealed in a statement that Streak is in good spirits and requested fans and media persons around the world to keep it a family affair.

Vaughan set for BBC return

Former England captain Michael Vaughan will return to the BBC's cricket coverage after being cleared of making a racist remark earlier this year. Vaughan had been accused of using racist or discriminatory language towards a group of players of Asian ethnicity before a match for Yorkshire in 2009.

But a Cricket Discipline Commission panel held in March found that charge was not proven. The BBC confirmed on Friday that Vaughan would be a guest on the broadcaster's 'Today at the Test' highlights programme, initially for England's match against Ireland at Lord's from June 1.

Articles in Focus

>> Is it even the IPL season if you don’t inevitably end up discussing Sanju Samson, and subsequently his chances of breaking into the Indian T20I side? New year, new season, but the same old discourse about Samson — #SanjuIn or #SanjuOut?

Anirudh Suresh decides to get to the bottom of the barrel to understand Samson’s season. In a really well-researched copy, our resident expert breaks down the Rajasthan Royals skipper’s season.

>> Statistically speaking, Sunrisers Hyderabad are the second-worst performing batting side in the tournament, occupying the second last spot on most metrics. Ideally, they should be thankful for Delhi’s appalling season that they are not the last. But beyond numbers, it might be Delhi thanking them for competing for ‘the worst side of the tournament’ title.

Shubh Agaarwal uses his expertise and rich data to paint a picture of Sunrisers’ season and what went wrong for them. Go ahead and read this masterpiece.

>> If Harpreet Brar had access to a time machine, he would probably turn back the clock and erase the term ‘matchup’ altogether from the cricketing dictionary. For what the concept of a matchup has effectively done is restrict bowlers like Brar from bowling more, playing a bigger part with the ball in matches — notwithstanding conditions — because, in theory, they are likely to fail against a particular type of batter (a left-handed batter in Brar’s case).

Anirudh Suresh decodes why Brar’s DC dismantling a reminder that matchups aren’t the ‘be-all and end-all’ in T20s. Might sound surprising that it came from a cricket analytics website but then we are all about sensibilities

>> A triple-role with Delhi Capitals? Or a coaching stint at 'Ranchi Sunrisers'?

What will MS Dhoni do after his retirement. Gaurav Sethi writes a piece of fiction, explaining the possible scenarios for Dhoni after CSK. You got to read this.

>> Be it Which batter has hit the most sixes off the first ball? Or How many times have Mumbai Indians won matches when Rohit Sharma has posted a single-digit score? - the answers to all these questions can only be found on #AskCDC in which our in-house statesman Anirudh Kasargod takes all your questions in his weekly column.

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