This Week in Cricket

While millions of fans await the arrival of the T20 bonanza, the world of cricket saw some monumental shifts. While it was difficult for me to write individually dedicated articles on all of those topics, I decided to write a separate article, clubbing all those major newsworthy events from the last week or so under one umbrella. Here’s all you need to know to stay in touch with the cricketing world.

India’s 5^th Test Match against England gets canceled due to covid worries: While the fate of the enthralling red-ball series hung in the balance, fans and experts alike were greatly disappointed when news came out that India had ‘forfeited’ the last test match as the team’s senior physiotherapist Yogesh Parmar had contracted the covid-19. The players, who were traveling with their families were greatly worried about their safety and thus the team management had to take the bold step of forfeiting the game and ending the series in a draw of 2-2. But in an interesting turn of events which saw the word ‘forfeit’ not being a part of the English Cricket Laws made both the cricketing boards mutually agree to cancel the game and possibly hold it on a future date (most likely along with the white ball series in July 2022).

 

Rashid Khan steps down from Afghanistan’s captaincy: About half an hour after the Afghanistan squad for the T20i world cup was announced, Rashid Khan sent out a tweet in which said he was stepping down as captain effective immediately. Rashid voiced his displeasure on Twitter about how he, being the captain of the side, was left out of the selection committee of Afghanistan for the T20 world cup. Khan’s disappointment is understandable as the squad named by ACB saw the comeback of senior players like Dawlat Zadran and Hamid Hassan, who haven’t played a game for Afghanistan since the 2019 World Cup and 2016 T20 World Cup respectively. Khan’s resignation is a fatal blow to Afghanistan Cricket as the 22-year-old was announced “T20i Cricketer of the Decade” by ICC. Mohammad Nabi has been announced as the new skipper of Afghanistan.

 

DRS is not to be used in bilateral series between hosts Pakistan and New Zealand: The Decision Review System will not be put to use in New Zealand’s upcoming tour of Pakistan as the host PCB could not procure the services of an approved provider for the technology. The three ODI and five T20i match series begins from September 17^th and the results will not affect the rankings of the ICC Super League as the ICC mandates the use of this technology. As per sources, one of the primary reasons PCB being unable to find a DRS Provider was because they sold the media rights for the New Zealand series very late. It was also reported that due to so much cricket being played around the world, it becomes imperative for the host nation to procure the equipment technology well in advance.

 

India’s squad for the T20 World Cup announced, MS Dhoni to be Team Mentor: BCCI finally announced India’s 15-man contingent for the world t20 on September the 9^th via Twitter. The team, despite comprising the expected names, had a few surprises as well. With the inclusion of finger spinners Ravi Ashwin and Axar Patel and mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, India made it clear that they were going to back their spinners while the omission of T20 specialists Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Shreyas Iyer raised a few eyebrows as well. Former Indian skipper MS Dhoni is given the responsibility to travel with the side as the team’s mentor and assist Virat Kohli with the decision-making. He has the same role as that of Ravi Shastri as this gives millions of Dhoni fans to tune into their TV sets to watch their favorite in the dressing room once again.

 

India to pursue split captaincy post-T20 world cup? According to reports by the TOI, Virat Kohli is expected to step down as India’s white-ball captain post the t20 world cup in October this year. While it hasn’t been confirmed by the BCCI or other officials yet, so take it with a pinch of salt when I tell you that Rohit Sharma is likely to be India’s new captain in ODIs and iT20s. Kohli has had discussions regarding this with Rohit Sharma and the team management over the last few months and it finally appears to be put to action. TOI reported, “Virat himself will make the announcement. He is of the view… he needs to concentrate on his batting.” While his performances have dipped in recent times, Virat Kohli has been arguably one of India’s best skippers of all-time across all formats. Virat will most likely continue to lead the side in test matches with an eye on the 2023 World Test Championship, while Rohit will aim to replicate his IPL success at the international stage.

 

Teams announce squads for the T20 world cup as major names miss out: South Africa announced their 15-member squad for the T20 World cup on September 10^th as fans around the world publicly stated their displeasure regarding the exclusion of t20 veterans Chris Morris, Imran Tahir and former captain Faf du Plessis. In an interview, Imran Tahir stated that he deserved a little more respect from the team management who thought of him as “worthless.” He also stated how there was no communication between him and South African coach Mark Boucher regarding plans for the T20 World Cup.

On the contrary, the inclusion of names like the aforementioned duo of Dawlat Zadran and Hasid Hameed in Afghanistan, pacers Tymal Mills in England and Ravi Rampaul in West Indies left everyone astonished.

Have any other stories I missed? Comment below and let me know if you’d like to see more such articles.