Cricket Review

The World Cup hosted by the sub-continent in 2011 was a grand success. India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh co-hosted the tournament with India getting the lion’s share that included a quarter-final, a semi-final and the Grand Final.India went on to win the tournament after beating Sri Lanka in Bombay. It was an epic game and a grand send off to India’s icon Sachin Tendulkar.India were deserved winn...

This year was where the game of cricket was rocked by the spot fixing scandal. Now defunct News of the World carried out a sting operation and caught on camera players willing to deliberately send down no-balls during the Lord’s Test between Pakistan and England. An ICC inquiry and a criminal investigation followed and in the aftermath – Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asif and captain Salman Butt were...

In a hotel in Lahore, walking distance from the Gaddafi Stadium, yours truly was having breakfast when some firecrackers went off. It was going to be the third day’s play of the second Test match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. After about ten minutes there was a distressing call. A Sri Lankan cameraman, who was already at the ground, said in the phone that the Sri Lankan team bus had been shot...

A tour of Australia can be spicy especially if the opposition starts to give it back to the hosts. India found that out in 2008 in what was an acrimonious tour. There were many controversies with players being suspended, umpires being withdrawn and High Court Judges being called up to give verdicts and relationships between boards and countries were stained.  The Boxing Day Test went without an...

Australia completed three World Cup wins in a row when they won the 2007 title. Like in the 2003 campaign, what was special about 2007 run was that they remained unbeaten. Ricky Ponting’s side won 11 games in  a row. More importantly, the defending champions were rarely challenged throughout the competition.Explosive batting by the openers, solid middle order, experienced lower order, all-round...

The year 2023 was a productive one for the game of cricket as expected to be in a year where there were three major events, World Cup, The Ashes and World Test Championship. The year was so action packed that it provided loads of entertainment. There were some unusual events as well like the first ever timed out in the history of the sport and another dismissal for obstructing the field.  The W...

As COVID had created havoc all around the world brining life to a standstill cricket wasn’t spared and 2022 was the first year since the pandemic the sport returned to normalcy. Spectators were allowed to come back to grounds in full capacity and bio security bubbles were on their way out. There were still restrictions as you had to carry a vaccine certificate and a negative Covid test, but the...

The year marked the sport bouncing back from the pandemic with several series that were postponed being played in 2021. Several cricketers were generous as well donating funds to COVID based charities while others helped in smaller ways distributing dry rations at a moment the world had come to a standstill due to the deadly pandemic.   There was one misfortune as the Women’s World Cup Qualifie...

Since the end of World War, cricket found itself in troubled waters with some series cancelled and some postponed for the following year due to the COVID pandemic. The biggest of them all was the T-20 World Cup, which was pushed back by a year due to logistical nightmares.  County Cricket in England and Ranji Trophy in India were also postponed while the IPL was pushed back by several months an...

The year 2019 was heavy on cricket and quite a bit of focus was on England as during the summer they were hosting not only the Ashes but the ICC Cricket World Cup too. England and Wales Cricket Board put on a show and both events were well attended and audiences grew by many folds.  The year started with India winning the Border – Gavaskar Trophy beating Australia 2-1 in their own backyard, the...

Test cricket that was reduced to ten members until 2018, saw the game being further expanded that year with Ireland and Afghanistan joining the elite teams. The sport was no longer restricted to handful of teams. It was the first time in almost two decades a new member had been granted Test status. For a change this time there were two members coming into the fold.  Ireland, of course, had been...