India has every chance of winning the series: Cheteshwar Pujara | Cheteshwar Pujara believes India can win another Test series in Australia
Cheteshwar Pujara gave a phenomenal performance in the 2018-19 Australia Test series, as he struck three centuries in seven innings. Even now the right-hand batsman feels that history can repeat itself. In an exclusive interaction with PTI, Pujara said that India has every chance of winning the Test series again in Australia if they can repeat their great performance from 2018-19.
The India-Australia series is going to be an interesting one, as Virat Kohli the captain of the Indian team is taking time off as the couple welcomes their first child, and David Warner and Steven Smith are back after the ball-tampering ban. While things look tricky for the Indian team on paper, Pujara’s moral seems pretty strong.
“The Australian batting line-up will be a little stronger than what it was in 2018-19, but then victories don’t come easy. If you want to win away from home, you need to work hard. No doubt Smith, Warner, and Marnus Labuschagne are great players. But the good part about our current crop of bowlers is that most of them play in the same series, and our bowling unit will also not be very different from what it was in 2018-19”, he said.
Apart from Pujara’s 123 and 71 in Adelaide that made him earn Man of the Match and Rishabh Pant’s 350 runs, Bumrah’s 21 and Shami’s 16 wickets were also the highlights of the Down Under series. “They know how to be successful in Australia as they have enjoyed success there in the past. They have their game-plans in place and if we can execute them well, they are capable of getting Smith, Warner, and Labuschagne out quickly. If we can do what we have done in the past, I am sure we have every chance of winning the series again”, he said.
India is set to play its first Day/Night Test game in a foreign country, which will be held in Adelaide. Pujara believes Adelaide will be a little challenging as the surface will be different. “It will be a different challenge altogether playing with the pink ball as the pace and bounce also change,” he said. “We will be playing with the pink Kookaburra in Australia (against Bangladesh, India played with the pink SG ball). It will be slightly different. As a team and as individuals, one has to understand and accept and get used to it (pink ball and lights) as early [as] possible. There will be a bit of difference with the pink ball. The twilight period is more challenging than other periods, but as you play more and practice more, you get used to it. It does take a little while”, he said.
Pujara has not played any match in the past 10 months after he last featured for Saurashtra in the Ranji Trophy final against Bengal in March. The Rajkot player along with Hanuman Vihari landed in Dubai a week earlier to train for some time, after which they left for Australia along with the rest of the squad. “Even during the last tour, my preparation was good. I am confident that I will be able to repeat the same preparation before this series also,” Pujara said. “I always try and add a few more things in my game, which will help me get better.”
Written by Anjali Jha. Follow Anjali on Twitter today.
Analysing the Top 3 Opening Pairs in IPL 2020: Who was Best? | A close look at the top 3 opening pairs in IPL 2020: Who was the best?
The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League has been one of the tournament’s most competitive editions yet. It was a great spectacle to watch the top batsmen from all eight different franchises, as this season also saw several close games, keeping audiences on the edge of their seats throughout with the quality of cricket on offer.
The role of the openers has evolved into a significant one; earlier it was more about giving the team a good start and set a platform for the batsmen to follow. Now, there’s an additional responsibility on the openers to stay out in the middle for the maximum number of overs. At least one of the openers should go on and make a big score – whether it’s a run chase or setting a total. If a team has a settled opening pair then more often than not that team is expected to do well in any series or tournament.
The importance of having two good openers in a team can never be undermined, especially when it comes to big tournaments like IPL. So, let’s have a look at the three most impactful opening pairs of IPL 2020:
Analysing the Top 3 Opening Pairs in IPL 2020: Devdutt Padikkal played well.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore has a history of having good openers with the likes of Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and Parthiv Patel contributing at the top of the order. This year was no different as the newly-formed opening pair of Aaron Finch and Devdutt Padikkal gave their team good starts right from the opening game vs the Sunrisers Hyderabad thanks to an opening stand of 90 runs.
The senior partner Aaron Finch played second-fiddle to the debutant Padikkal, who took the attacking role with aplomb. And the story remained the same till the backend of the season with young Padikkal being the aggressor with Finch playing the supporting role from the other end. Despite Finch’s struggle with the bat, RCB management kept backing him as the opening pair seemed to have a good understanding between each other. With Finch struggling to fire from one end, Padikkal made sure that the pressure is on the bowling side and not on his partner.
Padikkal displayed a sanguine demeanor right from ball one he faced in his IPL career and thwarted the bowlers throughout the tournament. He ended up outscoring the likes of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers to be the highest run-scorer of his team. A major role was played by RCB’s openers in the team’s success this year.
Analysing the Top 3 Opening Pairs in IPL 2020: Warner & Bairstow was a dangerous partnership in 2019 and 2020.
This opening pair undoubtedly is one of the most destructive ones in the history of the cash-rich league. David Warner, captain of SRH, has been a prolific run-scorer making him one of the best batsmen to take part in this tournament.
His partner, Jonny Bairstow, has been a quintessential opening batsman for his franchise since his IPL debut last year. The duo was the most successful opening pair of the last season and was expected to do the same thing this season.
In the first half, it seemed like Warner was struggling with his form at the top, while Bairstow was looking to make the most of the powerplay restrictions early in the innings. However, in comparison with last year, they weren’t at their dominating best this season. The numbers will show that they scored at a decent rate (8.34) and the boundary percentage (53.81) too was up there with the other duos. Jonny’s injury in the second half meant that they’ve to go with Wriddhiman Saha/Shreevats Goswami to partner Warner at the top for the last few games.
Still, their impactful performances together make them the second-best opening pair of the IPL 2020.
Analysing the Top 3 Opening Pairs in IPL 2020: Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul had a strong partnership.
KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal are long-time best friends who play for the same domestic side.
With KL being the regular KXIP opener since 2018, it was all down to who’ll open with him. Many experts predicted that Chris Gayle will open with KL Rahul, considering their record in the past. But to everyone’s surprise, it was Mayank who opened with KL in the first game of the season. The fashion in which they batted together in their first game set the tone for the remaining games of the season. With a renowned name like Chris Gayle in the hut, waiting for his opportunity, there was always pressure on Agarwal to keep ticking the boxes. And he did everything right to cement his place with his captain at the top.
The two complemented each other well and compiled big runs for their team. With KL playing the role of sheet anchor this year, it was on Mayank’s shoulders to up the ante in the powerplay overs. The most impressive part about their partnerships was the dot ball percentage (32.02), second-best after Warner and Saha, and the best if you consider opening pairs who batted at least 10 innings together. They were equally good at finding the boundaries and pacing the team’s innings at a healthy rate.
Kings XI Punjab had a highly fluctuating season, encapsulated by massive upsurge and downfall before being eliminated in their last league match. The Karnataka duo of Agarwal and Rahul form arguably the best opening pair of the recently concluded IPL. Together they also claimed the record of the highest ever opening partnership for KXIP: 183 vs RR, Sharjah. This also is the third-highest opening stand in history of the league.
New Zealand rest Kane Williamson & Trent Boult for T20Is vs WI | NZ decide to rest Williamson & Boult for T20Is – to prepare for Tests
Kane Williamson and Trent Boult have been asked to rest for the upcoming T20I series against West Indies and prepare for the Test matches. During the short format games, Tim Southee will be taking the role of captaincy as Kane will join the team in the long-form games. Doubts about Colin de Grandhomme and Ajaz Patel’s return will be cleared in the course of time as both the players are still recovering from their injuries.
Devon Conway has been selected by the NZ board for the first series against West Indies whereas Gary Stead, NZ head coach confirmed that Colin Munro is missing the squad due to Big Bash League commitments. “We’re looking forward to welcoming Devon into our environment for the first time and I’m sure he’ll soak up the experience. With Colin Munro heading to the Big Bash and therefore unavailable for the Pakistan T20 series pre-Christmas, the selectors are keen to look at other batting options at the top of the order. We’ve had to make a decision on Kane and Trent to prioritize the Test matches, given how important they are to our red-ball team and the fact they both played such big roles in the recent IPL while also managing injuries”, he said.
The T20 squad also sees return of Glenn Phillips who was last seen smashing 316 runs at a strike rate of 127.41 in 10 CPL outings. “There’s no secret we’re right in the hunt for the World Test Championship Final following our two-nil win over India and having Trent and Kane fully fit and focussed for the upcoming series will be crucial. Colin and Ajaz have quite different injuries which are requiring a different return to play protocols. It’s too early at this stage to definitively say what their chances are but we’re hopeful the next two weeks will make that clearer”, Stead added.
Written by Anjali Jha. Follow Anjali on Twitter today.
Top 5 Most Evolved Surprise Packages of IPL 2020 | The 5 players who evolved the most from previous IPL seasons
The Indian Premier League recently completed its thirteenth year as the best T20 league in the world with Mumbai Indians retaining their Title. We witnessed so many nail biting finishes, some terrific individual performances, a glimpse of the local talents etc.
Apart from these, there were some players who performed exceedingly well in this season unlike their performances in the previous seasons. As a result, they turned out to be the surprise packages for us in IPL 2020. In this article, I am going to name five such players, who have had a major turnaround in this year’s IPL. Here we go.
5. Mayank Agarwal (KXIP)
Top 5 Most Evolved Surprise Packages of IPL 2020: Mayank Agarwal was superb
Mayank Agarwal has been playing in the IPL since 2011. Despite being a top order batsman, he had crossed the 50-run mark just five times in 72 innings before 2020. Can you believe it?
His overall average and SR were just 18.34 and 128.13 respectively prior to this season. He would hit 3-4 gorgeous shots and then get out cheaply, so the consistency was not there at all. Preliminarily being counted as a Test specialist these days, Agarwal showcased his adaptability as an all-format batsman by playing some really impactful knocks in IPL 2020. He rescued KXIP in their very first game against DC and took it to the Super Over by playing a tremendous innings of 89 runs off 60 balls. Also, he scored a magnificent 45-ball hundred against RR, made a resolved fifty versus KKR and was instrumental in providing KXIP a quick start in almost every game he played.
His efforts are well reflected in his stats as he finished with 424 runs at a really good average of 38.55 and a brilliant SR of 156.46. Therefore, he deserves to be in my list of one of the most evolved surprise packages of this season.
4. Eoin Morgan (KKR)
Top 5 Most Evolved Surprise Packages of IPL 2020: Eoin Morgan brought his international form to IPL
Eoin Morgan is a big name in international cricket. But as far as IPL is concerned, he was nothing short of an underperformer considering all seasons prior to 2020. If I go by numbers, he had 854 runs to his name overall with a poor average of 21.35 and a SR of mere 121.13 prior to IPL 2020.
But, in this season, he amassed 418 runs with a terrific average of 41.80 and a healthy SR of 138.41. He consistently scored quick 40s and played a big part in the finishing job for KKR. His splendid knock of 68* off just 35 balls was instrumental to defeat RR in their last league match and thus kept the playoff hopes of KKR truly alive. So, definitely I find Morgan to be much more effective as well as successful in this season unlike the previous seasons he was a part of. Therefore, he is in my list of one of the most evolved surprise packages of IPL 2020.
3. Jason Holder (SRH)
Top 5 Most Evolved Surprise Packages of IPL 2020: Jason Holder was superb
Another prominent name to have sparkled in this season for the very first time is Jason Holder. What I could term ‘’funny’’ is he wasn’t even a part of the IPL as he went unsold in the auction. But when Mitchell Marsh was ruled out because of injury, SRH signed him as a like-for-like replacement.
This move surprisingly did wonders for their team as Holder played a crucial role with the ball by taking 14 wickets from 7 games with a brilliant avg of 16.64 and SR of 12. Also, he scored 66 runs including 2 vital knocks of 26* and 24* ; both against RCB, which ensured a SRH-victory. In the previous seasons, he had taken just five wickets from 11 matches, with a disastrous bowling avg of 61.2 and SR of 43.2. It clearly shows the evolution of the Windies captain as a player in this IPL; for which he is a part of this list.
2. T. Natarajan (SRH)
Top 5 Most Evolved Surprise Packages of IPL 2020: T Natarajan was superb.
If I have to say the finest discovery in this IPL, my answer would be T Natarajan. His evolution as a bowler is nothing short of spectacular. Natarajan made his debut in the IPL back in 2017, in which he had an unimpressive outing. He took just two wickets from six games at an average of 57.50 and a SR of 38.00. The economy was also over 9. So, he was barely noticed.
But the comeback was tremendous in this season. He led the bowling attack especially in death overs and his ability to nail yorkers consistently and accurately has been one of the major talking points this season. If I consider stats, he has picked 16 wickets from 16 games at an average of 31.50 and a SR of 23.56. Despite bowling numerous overs at the death, he has a good economy of 8.02. The way he troubled guys like Pant, Pollard, AB etc, was remarkable.
1. Rahul Tewatia (RR)
Top 5 Most Evolved Surprise Packages of IPL 2020: Rahul Tewatia was the biggest surprise packet of IPL 2020.
We all are well aware of the exploits of Rahul Tewatia in IPL 2020. His sensational six hitting against Sheldon Cottrell, domination against Rashid Khan are still fresh in my mind.
But it took quite a while for Tewatia to make his mark in IPL. He has been playing in the league since 2014, but didn’t have a noteworthy season prior to 2020. In the 20 games before this year, he had got a chance to bat in 12 games, in which he scored 111 runs at an average of 18.5 and had a modest SR of 124.71. But, in this season, he has smashed 255 runs at a brilliant average of 42.50 and SR of 139.34. More importantly, he finished really well for RR when their much anticipated finisher Riyan Parag was struggling. Apart from his efforts, the credit must be given to the RR management for trusting his abilities and using him properly.
So, this is my list of five most evolved players who came as a surprise package for all of us in IPL 2020. Do you agree? Have your say!
Written by Debashish Sarangi. Follow Debashish on Twitter today.
BBL introduces new rules to spark competition | Big Bash League introduces three new rules to create excitement
The 10th season of Big Bash League is going to be quite different as three new rules have been introduced to spark the competition. The news comes a few months after administrators began considering some radical new rules to give more an edge to the competition.
Recently, Cricket Australia introduced league’s consultant Trent Woodhill innovations that will blow up the regular patterns of a T20 contest. Woodhill, Melbourne Stars WBBL coach has joined CA as a ‘player acquisition and cricket consultant’ for the BBL.
“I come from things from a high-performance perspective, rather than just a gimmick, so I like that these changes pass the high-performance test around strategy and elite performance. It’s going to put pressure on leaders and coaches. Having been involved in over 300 T20 matches in the women’s and men’s games, T20s have a pattern, and this will blow that pattern up. It’ll make players have to think on their feet a little bit, and … it’s forcing you on gameday to have a narrative that both fans and broadcasters alike will have to delve into and ask questions of the decisions being made, or not made”, he said to the board.
Entertainment levels ?
“The Power Surge, X-Factor and Bash Boost prioritise high scoring, exciting cricket, introduce new strategic angles and ensure there’s always something to play for throughout the entire match," – Head of BBL, Alistair Dobson #BBL10pic.twitter.com/Nacna2XHw9
Here are the three additional rules introduced by the Cricket Australia board:
The ‘Power Surge‘ is a two-over period during which the fielding team is allowed only two players outside the inner fielding circle. The batting side can call for this at any point from the 11th over of their innings. The fielding restrictions replicate those of the usual Powerplay at the beginning of an innings, which has been shortened to four overs.
An ‘X-factor Player’, named as either the 12th or 13th player on the team sheet, can come into the game beyond the 10th over of the first innings and replace any player who is yet to bat or has bowled no more than one over.
The ‘Bash Boost’ will be a bonus point awarded halfway through the second innings. The team chasing will receive the bonus point if they’re above the equivalent 10-over score of their opposition. If they’re trailing, the fielding side will receive the point. Teams will also now be awarded three points for winning the match, as opposed to the traditional two. While giving an example for the bash boost bonus point, Woodhill mentioned a match between Stars and Sixers from BBL’s ninth season.
“Last year the Stars got 220-odd against the Sixers, and the chances of the Sixers chasing that down were slim. They made a good fist of it and got 180-odd, but even though they only lost by 30 runs they were out of the game a long way before the 20th over. So with this rule change, (Sixers captain) Moises Henriques and (coach) Greg Shipperd might’ve decided to only chase the 10-over total – they might’ve been 9-101 after 10 and earned that one point, which at the back-end of a season can become pivotal”, he said.
These three rules are designed to push the players for better results and magnify the competition throughout the 40 overs of a match and rewards are also bestowed for those who perform against the odds.
Written by Anjali Jha. Follow Anjali on Twitter today.
High alert as Adelaide experiences early COVID-19 outbreak | Adelaide, the city to host the AUS vs IND D/N Test, has seen a sharp increase in COVID cases
Adelaide, the city to host the first ever Day/Night Test between Australia and India, is on high alert after early signs of a COVID-19 outbreak.
After weeks without any community transmission, a new cluster of 17 COVID-19 cases in Adelaide’s northern suburbs has seen hundreds of people arrive at pop-up testing clinics. This cluster is reportedly linked to a hotel quarantine issue, where a staff member at one of the hotels infected family members. As a result, authorities are scrambling to get contact-tracing underway, as supermarkets, restaurants and schools have been host to infected community members.
Victoria and Queensland are two of the first states to announce Adelaide as a COVID-19 hotspot, with their borders to be closed to South Australia.
Cricket Australia (CA) will need to keep a close eye on developments. New South Wales, where matches in the limited-overs series between Australia and India will take place, currently has its borders open to South Australia. But, this can change in an instant if cases continue to rise in Adelaide, which can present a serious challenge as the first match of the Test series to begin in the city of churches on December 17.
State players, who participated in the Sheffield Shield in Adelaide recently, are required to self-isolate back home (except the New South Wales team). The Indian team arrived in Australia a few days ago and have begun training whilst in quarantine in Sydney. If New South Wales does end up considering Adelaide as a COVID-19 hotspot, then CA will need to quickly determine the actions forward for the Day/Night Test.
Depending on Adelaide’s COVID-19 situation in the coming days, CA may have to work with government authorities on whether the Indian and Australian teams can travel to Adelaide, whether they will need to quarantine for a certain amount of time as well as whether the match needs to be played behind closed doors.
IPL 2020: Rating the 5 Most Expensive Players from the Auction | Rating the 5 most expensive players from the IPL 2020 Auction
The price that a player attracts in the auctions acts as an additional weightage to his outings in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Naturally, the franchises must harbor high expectations from those individuals too, given the amount of capital that is invested in them. However, the players fail to live up to those projections on multiple occasions.
Whether they are bogged down by the inseparable price-tag is unknown, but on several instances it seems like the team-managements tend to overestimate a player’s potential and performances. The cricketer can’t be termed guilty in such a scenario, but he has to take all the criticism lying down; firstly, because he is the one raking all the money and secondly, such is the nature of the system. In this article, we analyze and rate the performances of the five most expensive players from the IPL 2020 auctions.
1. Pat Cummins – INR 15.5 crore: 5/10
IPL 2020: Rating the 5 Most Expensive Players from the Auction: Pat Cummins went wicketless in most games
It was rather surprising to watch Kolkata Knight Riders break the bank to secure Pat Cummins, considering that his credentials in the T20 format are modest at best. That was visible in the season as the world’s top-ranked Test bowler struggled to carve an impact that his price-tag suggested that he would. Cummins ranked at the 19th spot in the list of the highest wicket-takers, despite playing all 14 games for his team. He managed to scalp only 12 wickets, but did so at an impressive economy rate of 7.86.
He finished wicket-less in eight out of the 14 encounters that he played, which included a run of five successive matches October 3 to October 16 when the pacer failed to secure even a single dismissal. Perhaps the true demonstration of his potential came in the last match of KKR’s campaign, which was a must-win one for the team. Cummins took four key wickets of the Rajasthan Royals but in retrospect it seems to be too little, too late. The Aussie turned out to be quite handy with the bat though, scoring 146 runs at a strike rate of 128.07 that included a solitary half-century too.
2. Glenn Maxwell – INR 10.75 crore: 1/10
IPL 2020: Rating the 5 Most Expensive Players from the Auction: Maxwell struggled.
Glenn Maxwell’s underwhelming returns in the IPL continued as Kings XI Punjab bore the brunt for spending INR 10.75 crore on the Aussie maverick. The dynamic middle-order batsman scored a total of 108 runs in 13 matches this season, at a strike rate of 101.88. Maxwell didn’t score a single six during the entire duration of the tournament! Jofra Archer, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar…these are the players who ended up with more runs to their name than Maxwell in IPL 2020.
It can be argued that the former Mumbai Indians player wasn’t utilized properly, or rather given enough deliveries to settle in the crease. The batsman played over 20 balls in only one of his 11 innings this season. However, Maxwell didn’t manage to create any influence in any of his other outings either. He simply struggled to get going at any point of time, which made the Kings drop their most expensive purchase of the auctions in their final must-win encounter against the Chennai Super Kings.
3: Chris Morris – INR 10 crore: 6/10
IPL 2020: Rating the 5 Most Expensive Players from the Auction: Chris Morris had some fine moments
Royal Challengers Bangalore will rue Christopher Morris’ fitness issues that made him participate in only nine of the team’s 15 encounters this season. Morris did seem to have added an extra bit of incisiveness and edge to the team’s bowling attack. He bowled the back of length deliveries extremely well and the additional bounce that he obtained due to his height toughened things up for the batsmen initially.
However, even his performances for RCB can be divided into two halves, as it seemed that the opposition had found a way to tackle him as the tournament progressed. In Morris’ first four games, he bowled 16 overs at an economy rate of 5.25 and scalped nine wickets in the process. In his next five games, the Protea pacer delivered 15.4 overs at an economy rate of 8.83.
Moreover, he took only two wickets in these five matches and had to sit out of RCB’s crucial Eliminator game against the Sunrisers Hyderbad due to fitness concerns. Some might argue that the Virat Kohli-led side would have fared well had Morris played all the encounters. That’s a fairly viable proposition but given the way his performances faltered as the season progressed, it is rather tricky to accept that conjecture.
IPL 2020: Rating the 5 Most Expensive Players from the Auction: Frustrating for Cottrell
Sheldon Cottrell was deemed to spearhead Kings XI Punjab’s bowling unit, and hence the franchise spent a sizable INR 8.5 crore on him. However, the left-arm pacer underwent an inconsistent journey of six games as he was dropped thereafter and didn’t participate in eight of the 14 matches that the team played.
In Cottrell’s three of the first four games (against DC, RCB, MI respectively), the Caribbean pacer delivered 11 overs at an economy rate of 5.54 and scalped five wickets in total. In his other three matches (against RR, CSK, SRH respectively), the fast-bowler bowled nine overs at an economy rate of 12.77 and could dismiss only a solitary batsman.
The team’s poor form as a whole made them drop the bowler from the lineup for the second-half of the tournament. Though they attained considerable success thereafter, it seemed like the management could have persisted with the West Indian pacer considering that his counterpart and teammate Chris Jordon didn’t set the stage on fire when in the XI either.
It can also be argued that the Kings XI relied on Cottrell to solve their death-bowling woes, a skill that he necessarily does not excel in as such. Nevertheless, the fast-bowler would have left the UAE slightly disappointed; both with himself and the team’s think-tank too.
IPL 2020: Rating the 5 Most Expensive Players from the Auction: Nathan Coulter-Nile was excellent in the IPL Final
Given the fearsomeness of Mumbai Indians’ bowling unit, Nathan Coulter-Nile might seem like a viable alternative for the opposition to milk runs from during the innings. Hence, Mumbai Indians bidding INR 8 crore for the Australian quick was intriguing in all honesty. Maybe, they valued his prowess with the willow towards the fag ends of the innings?
That could be a possibility, but is fair to say that Coulter-Nile reinvented himself to not become a punching bag for the other team in the later stages of the tournament. In his first game of IPL 2020, the fast-bowler conceded 51 runs in four overs and took only a solitary wicket. However, he bowled 18 overs in his last five games and gave away runs at only 6.77 rpo, taking four wickets in the process.
It is true that the duo of Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah did most of the damage upfront and made the job easier for Coulter-Nile in the middle-overs. But, the 33-year-old did live up to the franchise’s expectations from him despite not starting the season ahead of James Pattinson earlier on.
Written by Tarkesh Jha. Follow Tarkesh on Twitter today.
5 Unexpected Indian Underperformers in IPL 2020 | Which Indian players didn’t play to their potential in IPL 2020?
The thirteenth edition of the Indian Premier League has provided us with so many points to talk about. One of those major points is the dismal returns from certain highly-rated Indian players. Their performances were much better in the previous seasons, but they have failed to live up to the expectations in IPL 2020. In this article, I am going to mention five of those names and show how their performances in this season differ contrastingly from those in previous seasons. Here we go.
5. Riyan Parag (RR)
Riyan Parag came to the limelight by playing some really delightful knocks in IPL 2019. So, we all had expected a breakout season from him in 2020, hadn’t we?
But, to be very honest, Parag was unimpressive throughout the tournament apart from one good knock of 42* against SRH at Dubai. His numbers also vary significantly from those he had in the last season. He scored 160 runs from five innings with a decent average of 32 and SR of almost 127 in 2019. His respective runs, average and SR are 86, 12.29 and 111.69 in 2020 despite being given the chance to bat before the 15th over four times (apart from the game vs SRH in Dubai) out of the eight times he batted. He was supposed to carry the finishing job for RR this year, but unfortunately it didn’t happen.
4. Deepak Chahar (CSK)
5 Unexpected Indian Underperformers in IPL 2020: Chahar didn’t quite have the same impact as previous seasons.
Deepak Chahar has been the major weapon for MSD in the powerplay phase for quite a while now. Being a genuine wicket taker in the PP, he has played a vital role in the success of CSK in past, especially in 2019.
But was he that impactful in the PP phase in 2020? The answer is ‘No’. I have drawn a table below showing how his bowling avg and SR in the PP have differed in 2020 from those in 2019.
5 Unexpected Indian Underperformers in IPL 2020: The numbers vary for Chahar.
The difference in his wicket taking ability is clearly visible as he has conceded almost 40 runs and bowled almost 32 balls to pick a wicket in the PP in 2020. Also, his overall avg, SR and economy rate all are on a higher side this season as compared to 2018 and 2019. So, I feel Deepak performed much less than his best in this season for sure.
3. Navdeep Saini (RCB)
Navdeep Saini had a decent IPL in 2019. He has the pace, hits the deck hard and gets some contrast swing too. So, it was quite obvious to expect a good season from him and establish himself as the premier fast bowler of RCB.
But, I must say it was a poor season from Saini considering the potential he has. He was impressive in patches, but overall his wickets column looks deserted. He took just six wickets from 13 games this season contrary to 11 wickets from the same number of games in 2019. His bowling avg and SR are thus 63.17 and 45.67 respectively, which is very unimpressive. So, he definitely didn’t live up to the expectations in IPL 2020.
4. Rishabh Pant (DC)
Rishabh Pant was speculated to carry the finishing job on his shoulders for the Delhi Capitals. Due to the image he had created before this season by his swashbuckling batting, it was hugely expected from him to score tons of runs in IPL 2020 with a terrific SR. But, he was not able to replicate his success this time. Although he managed to have a decent avg of over 31 (thanks to the knock in the final), his SR of just around 114 was nothing but poor as per his standards. I have compared his ‘balls per boundary’ ratio (BPB) in the year 2020 to that in 2019 in the table below.
From the table, it is clear that he has played almost the same number of deliveries in both the seasons; in fact one delivery more in 2020, scoring 145 runs less than 2019 having a significantly higher BPB. Therefore, he is in my list of unexpected Indian underperformers of this season.
1. Shreyas Gopal (RR)
Touted as the second-best leg-spinner in T20 cricket in India for a long time now, Shreyas Gopal was certainly expected to wreck havoc on the UAE tracks, as they have something for the spinners. But his performances were nothing short of abysmal this year. I have compared his average, SR and economy rate in 2020 to those in 2018 and 2019.
The differences in the mentioned parameters are clearly indicated in the table. Thus, Gopal was really ordinary in IPL 2020 unlike the other Indian leg spinners viz. Yuzi Chahal, Rahul Chahar, Ravi Bishnoi and Murugan Ashwin.
This is my list of five Indian cricketers who didn’t stand up to the expectations this season. Do you agree? Share your thoughts!
Written by Debashish Sarangi. Follow Debashish on Twitter today.
IPL 2020: 5 Players Who Knocked the Door for a India Call-Up/Comeback | Indian Premier League 2020: Players who can get selected for India
Every season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) concludes with a bunch of cricketers knocking on the door for a selection to the Indian national team. Some of these individuals are uncapped players, striving to debut for the Blues and fulfill their lifelong aspirations. Others are seasoned internationals, unfortunately out of the current scheme of things due to multiple factors.
Anyways, this edition of the tournament saw some individuals make a strong case for themselves and prove their mettle in arguably the most competitive T20 tournament in the world. In this article, we have avoided the names of obvious contenders like Varun Chakravarthy, T Natarajan and Suryakumar Yadav, as a lot of calls have already been made for their induction in the national team setup.
Including them would have made this a rather mundane piece, where the reader would know the names comprised in the list even before reading it. So, without further ado, let us have a look at the five individuals who have knocked the door for a call-up or comeback to the Indian team.
Ishan Kishan
IPL 2020: 5 Players Who Knocked the Door for a India Call-Up/Comeback: Ishan Kishan
Ishan Kishan was pivotal to Mumbai Indians’ success this year as the southpaw seemed to have delivered performances at the optimum potential that he holds in the T20 format. Kishan was dynamic, attacking and displayed a fearless attitude even against the most remarkable pacers. His most startling quality was to clear the ropes even in the hard-length deliveries, which is sort of a mandatory skill to succeed in the current limited-overs game.
More importantly, Kishan played brilliantly both at the top and in the middle overs too, even taking the game until the concluding stages on occasions. Kishan scored 516 runs at an average of 57.33 and a strike rate of 145.76. With Rishabh Pant looking out of touch and Sanju Samon falling behind in bringing consistency in his performances, it might be time to test Ishan Kishan in the white-ball formats at least.
IPL 2020: 5 Players Who Knocked the Door for a India Call-Up/Comeback: Sandeep Sharma
Sandeep Sharma might not come across as the most fearsome of pacers, but he has shown an innate knack of getting the job done at a laudable consistency too. He can swing the ball either way, which provides him with an edge in the initial couple of overs.
However, Sharma turns out to be even more efficient as the ball turns old. He utilizes his knuckle deliveries and variations quite well, cramping the batsmen for room and bowling according to the field setting that plugs the flow of runs. Sharma can bowl the occasional yorker too and he does so on appropriate occasions, thus adding further fuel to his armory.
The pacer took 14 wickets in 13 matches at an economy rate of 7.19, which is no mean feat considering that he is the sort of bowler that the opposition players might try and take on for plenty for runs. However, the 27-year-old has prevented that from happening and made a pretty good case for him to be tried out at higher levels at some point in the future.
Axar Patel has slowly slipped into the sidelines in terms of a spot in the national team. However, the left-arm spinner seems to have reinvigorated his abilities and puts forward a solid package that should be exploited effectively in the T20 format.
Axar Patel has developed an incredible consistency in his bowling. He carries an additional height advantage over his peers and that allows Patel to hit the back of the length spot or a slightly fuller one where it is difficult for any batsman to get under the ball. Patel took only nine wickets in 15 matches, but he did so at an economy rate of 6.41 despite bowling in the powerplay on majority of occasions. Furthermore, Patel looks like a much better batsman now; someone who is further confident in his abilities and can smack a few deliveries out of the park when needed.
Hardik Pandya will probably play only as a batsman for the near future. The team keeps oscillating between either Krunal Pandya or Ravindra Jadeja for T20Is and Axar Patel can very well make a backdoor entry to stake a claim for that spot in the team.
IPL 2020: 5 Players Who Knocked the Door for a India Call-Up/Comeback: R Ashwin
Ravichandran Ashwin hasn’t even been considered to play white-ball cricket for India since the Champions Trophy defeat in 2017. However, the off-spinner looks to have spent a considerable period of time in reinventing himself and become more effective in the shorter formats of the game. Ashwin is prone to experimenting with variations often, but on some occasions he seemed to have gone overboard with it too. The off-spinner tried many leg-spinning deliveries in the previous IPL, something that arguably took the sheen away from his bowling.
However, Ashwin was much cleverer this time around. He used his conventional off-spinning deliveries regularly and mixed them up with other variations that always kept the batsmen on their toes. The veteran cricketer astutely managed his lengths too and used his carom balls to good effect as well. He took 13 wickets in 15 matches at an economy rate of 7.66 and dot-ball efficiency of 33%. Given his understanding of Indian wickets/pitches and Kuldeep Yadav’s lack of form, Ashwin can be a valuable addition to the team for next year’s World T20.
Murugan Ashwin
IPL 2020: 5 Players Who Knocked the Door for a India Call-Up/Comeback: Murugan Ashwin
Even if the Indian team management is apprehensive of trying out the senior Ashwin, they can provide an opportunity to his state-mate Murugan Ashwin too. Playing for Kings XI Punjab, Murugan Ashwin took 10 wickets in nine matches at an economy rate of 7.46.
The leg-spinner bowls the stock delivery exceptionally well, and he is more than capable of using the googly well. He tends to bowl almost all the variations that a leg-spinner possesses and is extremely wily in terms of altering his pace too. Discipline is perhaps one of his remarkable traits, as Murugan Ashwin hardly gives away any loose deliveries to the batsman. He maintains a line that is hard to get away with, compelling the batsmen to improvise and thus put their wicket at risk. He has become increasingly impressive over the past few seasons, and can arguably be in the queue of spinners aspiring to make it to the Indian T20I side.
Written by Tarkesh Jha. Follow Tarkesh on Twitter today.
India’s ODI Squad Talking Points: Key Questions for India | Key questions India need to answer ahead of their ODI series against Australia
India’s new selection committee, led by Sunil Joshi and Harvinder Singh, recently picked the squads for all the three formats of India’s tour to Australia. The tour will begin with a 3-match ODI series on 27th November with the first two ODIs in Sydney and the third to be held in Canberra.
Here are the major talking points from India’s ODI squad.
Who will open the innings?
India’s ODI Squad Talking Points: Will Mayank Agarwal open?
Rohit Sharma hasn’t been included in the white-ball squads for the Australia tour, after concerns over his hamstring. If there is one format where India will miss the opening batsman the most it is ODIs and understandably so. Though Rohit made a mark for himself in Tests last year and has 4 T20I centuries to his name, it is ODIs where he has been in invincible form over the past 2-3 years. Since the 2017 Champions Trophy, Rohit has scored 3984 runs in 70 innings at an average of 65.31. He has hit 19 centuries and 14 half-centuries, including 5 centuries at the Cricket World Cup 2019.
So who will fill the void that Rohit leaves at the top of the order? Shikhar Dhawan is a certainty considering that he has been consistent in the past half a decade for India, the experienced southpaw will be back at the top of the order. KL Rahul was the no. 5 in the series against Australia and New Zealand earlier this year and it’s unlikely that the KXIP skipper will be asked to open again. His teammate and longtime friend, Mayank Agarwal will be Dhawan’s partner but it will be interesting to see what approach and strategy the unpredictable team management adopts down under.
In the absence of the flamboyant Rishabh Pant in India’s middle order, Hardik Pandya, another big-hitter, will be entrusted with the responsibility of finishing the innings. But with Pandya selected as a specialist batsman, India will have to include an all-rounder or a bowler at No. 7. Ravindra Jadeja may well get the nod as the only genuine all-rounder in the side, as sans Hardik, there is no pace-bowling all rounder.
Another alternative might be to promote Hardik at 5, and let KL Rahul open the batting and include Jadeja and Thakur at number 6 and 7 respectively. It can be said that the decision of the selectors to not include another all-rounder may well backfire.
The balance of the side can be a point of discussion when the ODI XI is selected with the lack of genuine all-rounders in the side. Plus, the inability of any of the Top 5 batsmen to bowl and chip with a few overs means that the bowlers will have to be on their game.
