Cricket, India: A history (2021)
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
England home series
India’s success stories in T20Is
March 22, 2021: The Times of India
INDIA’S SUCCESS STORIES IN T20Is
SURYAKUMAR YADAV AS NO. 3
The Mumbai player looked natural in that slot and his ability to take on bowlers from the moment he walked in showed he is cut out for the big stage. He never allowed the tempo to drop, despite knowing full well that a failure might dent his hopes of being a long-term international player.
ISHAN KISHAN’S DAZZLING DEBUT
Another Mumbai Indians player who looked ready to play in any slot. Looked completely at ease during his explosive and match-winning 57 as an opener in the second game. He can also be an additional wicketkeeping option.
RETURN OF BHUVNESHWAR
The canny pacer has been bothered by injuries of late, but all that seemed a thing of the past. He was equally brilliant both in Powerplay and the slog overs and a Man of the Match effort in the deciding run-fest was an apt reward for his performances.
SHARDUL’S STRIKES
The CSK player has the ability to deliver what the captain wants. He has the happy knack of taking wickets at crucial stages — the dismissals of Ben Stokes and Eoin Morgan in the fourth match and Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow in the fifth in one over was an indication.
RETURN OF HARDIK THE BOWLER
The team management’s persistence to get Hardik back into bowling shape has paid dividends and he was able to complete his quota in most games. His intelligent change of pace kept the England batsmen on their toes and the three wickets were a bonus.
India’s rank in the world
March 6: India no.1 in tests
March 6, 2021: The Times of India
From: March 6, 2021: The Times of India
From: March 6, 2021: The Times of India
India finish on top of ICC World Test Championship standings, courtesy 3-1 series win over England
DUBAI: India finished on top of the league phase of the ICC World Test Championship standings after crushing England by an innings and 25 runs in the fourth and final Test to pocket the series 3-1.
"That victory against England means India finish the league phase of the inaugural ICC World Test Championship with a fine view from the top of the table," the ICC tweeted.
A confused England batting line-up struggled against Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin as India made it to the inaugural World Test Championship final.
India finished the league phase with 520 points, which includes 12 wins, four losses and one draw.
In the ICC World Test Championship final scheduled to be held at the iconic Lord's in June this year, India will face New Zealand.
New Zealand finished in the second spot with 420 points, including seven wins and four losses.
Australia finished third with 332 points ahead of England and Pakistan.
World Test Championship
Ahmedabad: India wins series 3-1, enters WTC final
K ShriniwasRao, March 7, 2021: The Times of India
From: March 7, 2021: The Times of India
From: K ShriniwasRao, March 7, 2021: The Times of India
'See graphics:
India vs New Zealand, Ahmedabad- test match, India wins series 3-1, enters WTC final
Scoreboard, India vs New Zealand, Ahmedabad- test match, 2021
Temperatures have been soaring here to such an extent that even the Sabarmati flowing from right next to Motera can’t keep things cool anymore. After grinding it out for close to 262 minutes between Friday and Saturday in these conditions, and facing 174 balls, the very impressive Washington Sundar was left stranded at 96, four runs short of what would’ve been an excellent century.
As badly as that would have hurt, Sundar can instead take respite from the fact that his innings eventually helped India win the fourth Test by an innings and 25 runs and pocket the series 3-1 to book their much-deserving place in the World Test Championship (WTC) final later this year. India now lead the WTC table with 520 points after playing six series and winning four of them, while New Zealand, having played five series and won three, have 420 points.
Coming back to the Test, it was painful to watch Washington take the long walk back to the dressing room after he ran out of partners. His 106-run partnership with fellow-spinner Axar Patel – India’s second-highest in this Test after the 113-run stand between Pant and Washington – had all but taken the game away from England.
On a track where he batted with effortlessness against pace and spin, England crumbled to bits in 54.5 overs. The pitch cannot be blamed this time. It was just poor batting. The batsman in Patel too joined the part alongside Washington. His 97-ball 43 was a patient knock that allowed both batting partners to settle down well in the early half of the day and take the toll on England. By the time England walked out to bat, even the gatekeepers at this newly constructed stadium knew they wouldn’t be working early morning on Sunday. Barring Joe Root’s rickety 30 and Dan Lawrence’s 50, none of the English batsmen went past 15. Crawley 5, Sibley 3, Bairstow duck (golden), Stokes 2, Pope 15, Foakes 13 – fell like nine-pins. Each dismissal, the result of an error caused by a relentless and skilful spin attack. Coach Ravi Shastri heaped generous praise on his team and said the eventual score-line did justice to how India have played Test cricket over the last couple of years, also adding how the entire Indian camp would now look forward to the Test Championship final.It’s been an arduous journey for this team and the coaching and support staff, staying inside bio-bubbles without any contact with the outside world for close to three-and-half-months and facing serious challenges on and off the field.
“These are tough times. We’ve not seen anything like this since the second world war. They’ve overcome all challenges to be here and achieve this. It’s been simply magnificent,” Shastri told match broadcasters after the game. To bring about their series performances to a perfect culmination of sorts, Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel — both bowlers having got to England’s nerves the last two weeks – walked away with five wickets each in the second innings. Ashwin, in the process, recording his 30th five-wicket haul.
Pant for his brilliant, game-changing century and some remarkable wicketkeeping, and Ashwin for his 32 wickets and 189 runs, were named the Man of the Match and the Man of the Series.
India loses World Test Championship final to NZ
Partha Bhaduri, June 24, 2021: The Times of India
From: Partha Bhaduri, June 24, 2021: The Times of India
From: Partha Bhaduri, June 24, 2021: The Times of India
And in the end, under the bright Southampton sky, there was only gloom for India as a deserving New Zealand basked in the glow of being crowned first-ever world Test champions.
It was a tense, nervy affair throughout with the ball dominating, but the safe bats of Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor eventually guided this golden generation of Kiwi cricketers past a paltry yet tricky target of 139 and to an 8-wicket win, the team’s first ICC title since 2000, also against India in Nairobi.
The runs didn’t come easy after R Ashwin cracked the top order open, but the target was too small, the Kiwi resolve too great and the overs available, ironically after two days of washout, simply too many. Bumrah dropping Williamson, and Pujara dropping Taylor at slip, were late reminders of India’s miserable day.
India simply couldn’t bat long enough. The fact that Virat Kohli’s men lost inside four days of actual cricket will give them pause ahead of the long English summer. The Kiwis clearly had the edge in these conditions and started as favourites, but hindsight can be a merciless beast.
The lack of match practice in England hurt them but shouldn’t India have played an extra batsman in Hanuma Vihari? Should Mohammed Siraj have got a game? What could the batsmen have done to upset the rhythm of the relentless Kiwi pacers?
Importantly, how can Virat Kohli silence his inner demons against the sizeable abilities of Kyle Jamieson, who bowled 84 balls to India’s captain in the WTC cycle, gave away 30 runs and dismissed him thrice, including twice here?
When will the Indian middleorder (Nos. 3, 4 and 5 averaged 24 in this Test) rediscover form? Can opener Shubman Gill, who averages 12.66 from his last 7 innings, turn it around soon? And how many times will Nos. 9, 10 and 11, who average 21 since 2018, the worst in the world, be required to make contributions with the bat overseas?
The answers will arrive in due course but it will rankle this proud Indian team, which has towered over the rest of the Test pack for a few years now, that this was their game to save on the sixth morning. They faltered, providing only an erratic exhibition of batsmanship, full of either circumspection or injudicious strokeplay.
Only Rishabh Pant’s out-of-thebox survival tactics, stemming from a bizarre mix of bravado, adrenaline and sheer anxiety, offered hope. Dropped by Southee at second slip on 5, Pant walked brazenly into Wagner’s deliveries and tried countering the bowler’s sustained short-ball barrage with reverse pulls and unique ramp shots. It was an original approach but not the calm touch India needed and it was never meant to last.
Add a couple of dismissals against the run of play, bats hanging out to dry, and it is clear why India folded for 170 in their second innings. Their hesitancy was testimony to the Kiwi attack’s rare ability to plant the seed of doubt in the batsmen.
Kohli, anxious about the nip-backer from Jamieson, was first beaten repeatedly by deliveries which held their line, later inducing the loose shot to a wide one angling away. Kohli’s caution was understandable, since from the start of 2018 he averages only 22.35 against balls deviating into him, and he batted a long way down to negate the LBW. That he fell fishing would have infuriated him.
Pujara, meanwhile, didn’t commit to a defensive shot and there was another strange, soft dismissal for Rahane.
Plans will be redrawn ahead of the England Tests. For the moment, India have slipped when it mattered, leaving them to wonder what could have been if this WTC Final had been staged at home. No one, after all, remembers who came second.
