India has defeated South Africa in the 3 rd test match of the series, winning the whole test series against the visitors by 3-0. The victory was achieved on day 4 of the match when South Africa when Shahbaz Nadim was able to dismiss the last two players of the South African batting line up in within the second over of the morning.
This is the first time ever that India has been successful in whitewashing the Africans in a test series. It was a 202 run victory and an inning. After his smashing performance in the series, Rohit Sharma was awarded both Man of the Match and Player of the Series award.
This is India’s sixth-biggest victory. With this series, this is India’s fifth consecutive win in the ICC test championship with a total of 240 points on the scoreboard. At this stage, it’s at the top of the table. It was also India’s eleventh successive series triumph at home.
In the post-match presentation, the star of the series Rohit Sharma said-“the support of the coach and captain helps. I am thankful for the opportunity to the management for that opening slot.”
Cricketer Rashid Khan has added many feathers in his hat. The latest one is being the fastest to achieve 2 5-wicket haul, in what was only his 3 test. He achieved this status on the third day of the ongoing test match against Bangladesh in Chittagong. Rashid is the 17th captain to pick five wickets and also score a half century in the same test match. He had scored 51 in the match which helped Afghanistan attain an advantage against the visitors.
He also beat Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan to become the youngest cricketer in the history of world cricket to accomplish this achievement. Rashid took 20 years and 352 days to attain the position.
Earlier, the youngest captain to do so was Zimbabwe’s Tatenda Taibu who was 20 years and 358 days old in the match against Sri Lanka in 2004. On his dethronement, the former cricketer said-“ My congratulations to Rashid for becoming this record holder. Records are meant to be broken.”
At the end of day 3 of the Afghanistan vs Bangladesh match, Ibrahim Zadran’s 87 and Ashgar Afghan’s 50 has put Afghanistan in the commanding position as the visitors headed to close of play with a 374 run lead.
Cricketers usually retire from cricket in their early to late thirties. But West Indies Cecil Wright took everyone by surprise when he announced his retirement at the ripe old age of 85!
Wright has taken more than 7000 wickets during his 60-year-old career. At one point, he even took 538 wickets in five seasons, with an average of 1 wicket on every 27th ball.
He had made his debut for Jamaica against Barbados. In 1959, he had moved to London and had played for Crompton in the Central Lancashire League. In 1962, he decided to stay in England for good. Wright was 49 years old when he made his test debut against Australia in the Ashes series-the coveted cricket series between Australia and England.
Wright has estimated that he has played in almost 2 million games. When asked about the secret to his health, he told the daily mirror-“I wish I knew the reason for my longevity, but I couldn’t tell you what it is.” About his eating habits, he said –“To be honest, I eat everything that is going but I don’t drink much, just the odd bear.” He further added that he keeps fit by exercising, walking and pottery.
He will play the last match of his career on 7 September. He will play for Uppermill near Oldham against Pennine league side Springhead.
Sunday, 14/07/2019, witnessed two all time greatest finals of two sports which find their origin from England. Ironically, the matches took place in England only, just few miles from each other. Mistakes in sports are unforgivable. Roger Federer and New Zealand learnt it the hard way.
For Roger Federer, it ended in a heartbreak. The 20-time Grand Slam champion finished second best in the Wimbledon 2019 men’s singles final that went to the fifth-set tie break on Sunday. Novak Djokovic held his nerves, became the first player to win the final after saving a match points since 1948. The Serb won the final 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 13-12 (3) to clinch his 15th Grand Slam title.
On the other hand, New Zeland leant cricket is a game of fine margins the hard way by finising as runners-up in the Cricket World Cup final after a tied Super Over at Lord’s on Sunday.
The World Cup 2019 final became the first-ever ODI match in history to go into the Super Over and England became the world champions in men’s cricket for the 1st time after a dramatic Super Over finish. Both teams finished with 15 runs each in the Super Over but England were declared winners due to more number of boundaries scored in the match and the Super Over.
The tensions were evident at both Lord’s Cricket Ground and Wimbledon as the two epic finals went down to the wire. Wimbledon tweeted ICC and asked how the things are at their end.
England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler ran out Martin Guptill off the last ball of the Super Over as the New Zealand opener scrambled back for a second run that would have earned the Black Caps also their first world title.
Both teams scored 241 after the regulation 50 overs per side, with England hitting 14 off the last over – including a six made up of two runs followed by an accidental four deflected off the bat of the diving Ben Stokes – to tie New Zealand’s 241-8.
The finals of Wimbledon and Cricket World Cup redefined the finals. They had the most important ingredients which a viewer wants from a final – nail-biting finish. Awesome Sunday for the viewers but a sad one for the losers. Let’s hope we witness more such finals in the coming future.
Indian fans had bought tickets in huge numbers for the much awaited ICC World Cup 2019 final match in anticipation of the Indian cricket team reaching the finals. But now as the situation is not so, Indian fans are in a dilemma whether to attend the final or simply sell their tickets.
This situation can surely lead to a huge market for purchase of tickets in black.
Amidst this the New Zealand all-rounder Neesham urged Indian fans to be “kind.”
In a tweet from his official Twitter account, Neesham said, “Dear Indian cricket fans. If you don’t want to come to the final anymore then please be kind and resell your tickets via the official platform. I know it’s tempting to try to make a large profit but please give all genuine cricket fans a chance to go, not just the wealthy.”
The final will be played at Lord’s on 14 July 2019, contested by England and New Zealand. World Cup to get first time winners as both the finalists haven’t won the World Cup so far.
Australia, India, and England have already qualified for the semi-finals and New Zealand are on the verge of qualification. Pakistan is left with an almost impossible task to play further for the trophy. From their match 1 till now, fans used to draw comparisons after finding similarities between their 1992 winning campaign and 2019 World Cup. Some even extrapolated the comparison to the future Prime Minister post. Here are some of the memes doing round on the internet.
A dark day for cricket as Hareesh Gangadharan, a 33-year old Indian ethnic New Zealand cricketer collapsed and died on the field. He was a member of the Green Island Cricket Club’s second-grade team. The sudden death occurred about 4 pm at the Sunnyvale Sports Centre, Main South Road, Green Island.
Hareesh came to New Zealand 5 years ago and since then, played 6 seasons for his club. He was completely fit with no shred of any disease. During the match, after bowling 2 overs, he slumped to the field with difficulty in breathing. Later he became unconscious. He got a heart attack. Some of the members of the team had medical backgrounds and a defibrillator kept in the clubhouse was used but the player could not be revived.
Hareesh leaves behind his with Nisha Hareesh and their three-year-old daughter, Gowri.
A naïve me too believed the in myths, only to find out later that not all of that is true. Though I couldn’t refrain myself from calling him “Master of All Trades” while that message was afloat, after watching him, observing him and loving him play the game of cricket for the past 14 years, I certainly am sure that AB de Villiers is certainly “Master of All Trades” as far as cricket is concerned.
As the modern day great announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket, a train of thoughts went chugging through my mind reminiscing the “Master of All Trades”
One of the earlier memories of AB was way back in 2008 at Perth in a test match against Australia.
Chasing a mammoth total of 414 on what is considered as one of the liveliest 22 yards on earth, AB
comes into bat with the scoreboard reading 179-3 and 1 day and 1 session of time left. Negotiating the pace and swing of the likes of Brett Lee, Mitch Johnson and Peter Siddle, AB maneuvered the red cherry through the gaps at the WACA stitching up 2 century stands, 1 st with Jaques Kallis and later with JP Duminy, and ended up scoring a well deserved 106* of 186 balls with 9 boundaries and saw South Africa home before the end of day’s play. That was the day, in my opinion, that changed the way massive targets are viewed in the 4 th innings of a test match.
Image source: Google
Jump to early 2015, in a pink ODI against the West Indies, AB made the bowlers look helpless and
hapless as he brought the Wanderers crowd to scream out their lungs for the spectacle to be witnessed once in a lifetime. Coming into bat after a record opening stand for South Africa at 247-1, AB wasted little time to get his eyes set and started clobbering the Windies bowlers all around the park. AB started breaking records for fun as he scored 50 of 16 balls and 100 of 31 balls before getting out on 149 of just 59 balls. In doing so he hit 9 boundaries and 16 towering maximums, then the joint highest number of sixes for an individual in ODIs.
Chris Gayle bowing to AB after his Blitzkrieg In this carnage he stitched a partnership of 192 off just 67 balls with Hashim Amla, of which Amla had scored 33 off 30 balls. That was the day, when I felt that AB is definitely a human with super human abilities. Barely a few months after this carnage, AB showed a nerve of steel in 4 th test match against India at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi. 2-0 down and playing for pride, the Proteas were at the receiving end of the Indian spin web. Chasing an impossible 431 on a dry and dusty Kotla pitch, South Africa employed the blockathon to save the test match. AB came into bat just after tea on day 4 with the score board reeling at 49-2 in 42.4 overs. The fourth day ended at 72-2 in 72 overs, AB batting at 11. The final day witnessed some unusual determination and nerves of steel from the Pretoria player as he kept on blocking the balls darted on the stumps and leaving those bowled away from the sticks. With getting equal aid from his partners Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis from the opposite end, AB kept on fighting the lone battle and frustrating the Indian bowlers with absolute no intention to score. AB stood on the pitch for 6 hours, facing 297 balls while scoring just 43 runs, but couldn’t save the match for his team as the in-form Indian spinners proved too good for the South African lower order. India won the match and the series, but AB made sure that the win was a hard obtained one. That was the day; AB showed the world that adaptability is an important virtue.
Everyone is well aware of AB’s antics in the Indian Premier League. Since its inception, AB has been an integral part of the league and has played some magically mind boggling innings. It is in this league that he earned the nick name of Mr. 360, as he hit fast bowlers while moving in a circle.
Image source: Google
A live wire in the field, AB could station himself as a close in fielder during initial overs and take smart catches and patrol the boundaries during the slog overs. The most recent incident was in the recent season of IPL where he leaped on the boundary and plucked the travelling ball out of thin air to dismiss Alex Hales.
Image source: Google
AB had the aura of slipping into any role with utmost ease and bringing out the best from it. When South African veteran keeper Mark Boucher had an unfortunate end to his career due to an eye injury on field, AB stepped up and donned the mitts for South Africa and affected 17 stumpings across formats. A couple of test wickets and 7 scalps in ODIs stand a testimony to the fact that AB was genuinely an all-rounder in its true sense.
Image source: Google
An illustrious career spanning over 14 years and more than 8500 runs in tests and 9500 in ODIs at an average of above 50 in both shows the quality of the player. A player who is equally loved in all parts of the world, a man who shows great humility on and off the field, a team player, a leader, a front runner and as Virat Kohli described him once, “He would play with one hand and one leg if his team is in need.”
AB initiated the modern day cricket, AB showed the world how slogging is done with unorthodox shots, AB defied laws of physics while fielding, AB lead his team with pride, AB made people fall in love with the game, AB is definitely “Master of All Trades.”
