What's Up Cricket

The Big Picture You are bowling in the scorching heat of England since morning. The players are well-set overnight. You get wickets but the sun overhead boils you from the inside. Suddenly, you fight back to win the game by more than an innings. Then, the heat, the sun and the sweat does not matter.  From a win at the prestigious ground of Lord's, India slumped straight to a shocking 78 all out. The English side fought back and it proved why they were one of the big 3. Meanwhile, with Haseeb Hameed's comeback, it was quite disappointing as a Dom Sibley fan as he turned out to be the difference between England collapsing as a team and 435 all out. After England made a number of changes to their team, they probably hit the bullseye to level the series. However, even this result seemed to be in danger. But, the pace battery turned all heads around and it is even more sure that history (2014) might have a say in the outcome this time. India never had grip for even a single session ...

New Zealand's T20 World Cup 2021 Squad        New Zealand a fast-emerging team in the cricket world. After the big three, it is New Zealand who has been dominating internationally. It is the best test and ODI team of the world and is placed third in the T20 format. The captain Kane Williamson has led by example. To say the least, New Zealand has pulled off many miracles and will be strong contenders for the title this year, if not favorites. Let us analyse what part every player performs in the squad. Kane Williamson The captain of the team, Kane Williamson, is not one of the greatest in this format but has proved his mettle by playing according to situations. He is a very versatile player and can play in any of the top 4 slots for his team. The right-handed batter is currently 36th in the batting rankings but the world cup will be his chance to prove that he is undermined. His excellent leadership skills and ability to make wise decisions has also come of good use (...

The Big Picture Imagine you are asked to take 10 wickets in 60 overs against against a side which is blocking and blocking and blocking. This is impractical but not impossible and, in cricket, the impractical is what happens most of the times. That is what the Indian side would have thought before thumping one of the greatest test teams to secure a historic win at the mecca of cricket. England lost in all the three departments owing to dropped catches, incorrect selection of shots and lack of concentration. India, on the other hand, have got almost all bases covered and have little to worry about. However, they cannot sit content. They will be looking to clear the minor problems to avoid in being in the same nail biting situations (which they have passed enough) and get a grip a bit early in the match. Both, India and England had fair lot of luck on their sides. It must not come as a surprise to us that Virat Kohli lost the toss and the side from the continent were given the bats in th...

Since the inauguration of the Indian Premier League in 2008, there has been a steep rise in the quality bench strength, the credit of which, also goes to Rahul Dravid, who has been training junior players to achieve more than what the current Indian team has already achieved.  There have been lots of debates regarding the bowling attack, India should continue with and no one, even the greatest spinner of the world, Ravichandran Ashwin, can be assured that his spot is a fixed one. An example of this has already been seen in the first test  of India tour of England 2021.  There have been discussions whether India should back the same attack always or go on with a rotation policy but the latest experiment was trying to play bowlers on the basis of conditions, something the best teams of the world (England and Australia) have been doing since a long time. However, the good thing in that India got quite good amount of success while doing so. They went in with 4 seamers and all...

The Big Picture  A century from Joe Root, fifer from Bumrah, low scores from Zak Crawley and the ageless Anderson's dismissal of Virat Kohli have already marked the beginning  of the mindboggling and exciting India vs England test series and the World Test Championship 2021-23. So, there has been a lot to observe in the first test, a lot to improve for the second test and a lot to come with the second test. As a team, England faulted in many areas like slip catching, batting at the top of the order. However, the biggest positives for them have been James Anderson's consistent and threatening bowling and Joe Root's consistency at the fourth place, a spot from where he has kept the team together with the help of small partnerships. However, their performance as a whole batting unit has been poor as well as the runs from the tail-enders like Ollie Robinson and Stuart Broad have dried up although Sam Curran has been playing his part quite well. In the bowling, they have all but...