[MotorDev]

"Ee Saala Cup Namdu", .

Yeah, yeah... Let's go, RCB finally has a cup!

Boys' reaction right now:

[ex-innova-guy]

Originally Posted by MotorDev

"Ee Saala Cup Namdu", .

Yeah, yeah... Let's go, RCB finally has a cup!

Boys' reaction right now:

Extremely - It reminds me of FC Barcelona Femení, where FC Barcelona also celebrates in a similar style. Thankfully, things are getting better at Barca.

[VWAllstar]

Originally Posted by MotorDev

"Ee Saala Cup Namdu", .

Yeah, yeah... Let's go, RCB finally has a cup!

Boys' reaction right now:

Attachment 2583949

And then there is another take at this..

[raptor_diwan]

Has anyone been lucky enough to get their hands on tickets for the CSK vs RCB match?

I didn't see a booking option on the CSK official page after selecting seats, and Insider seems to be of no help. I haven't even found a seating page itself there. Is it the same for others?

[NomadSK]

'Stop-clock' to be permanent rule in limited-overs cricket from 2024 Men's T20 World Cup.

I don't think this rule has been thought through properly - Surely if a fielding side completes its allotted overs within a pre-determined time, then does it really matter that they take more than 60 seconds between overs particularly with bowling changes and fielding changes. This penalty should only be introduced where the fielding side fails to achieve the required rate over the course of an innings and just not between overs.

What ridiculous rule in my opinion !

Stop Clock Rule

[Rahkehs]

Another “ODI innings” in a T20 match by KL Rahul! He must not be selected for T20 WC team, wastes a lot of deliveries and although his individual stats look good but often results in loss for the team.

[whencut86]

Originally Posted by Rahkehs

Another “ODI innings” in a T20 match by KL Rahul! He must not be selected for T20 WC team, wastes a lot of deliveries and although his individual stats look good but often results in loss for the team.

He played a Test match innings in WC Finals against Aus. He didn't even dare hit boundaries of Aus spinners. Reminded of Vinod Kambli's innings against SL in 1996 Semis. He was good with keeping but one innings outdid everything else.

[Bhargav7]

Originally Posted by Rahkehs

Another “ODI innings” in a T20 match by KL Rahul! He must not be selected for T20 WC team, wastes a lot of deliveries and although his individual stats look good but often results in loss for the team.

He figured out he cant be in the team on batting credentials. Hence was keeping the wickets even with QdK around.

With Jurel, Pant, Samson and Ishan available for selection, it looks unlikely that KL will be in the squad. But BCCI thinks differently, quite often. So we never know.

[ValarMorghulis]

Any thoughts about GT vs MI match yesterday?
From requiring 48 off 36 balls to losing by 6 runs, MI were a tad strange. Tilak refusing singles, Pandya not coming up the order, Bumrah not opening the bowling, weird all round.

[Asish_VK]

Originally Posted by ValarMorghulis

Any thoughts about GT vs MI match yesterday?
From requiring 48 off 36 balls to losing by 6 runs, MI were a tad strange. Tilak refusing singles, Pandya not coming up the order, Bumrah not opening the bowling, weird all round.

With all the Rohit-Hardik saga and how management handled it, the inner child in me would like this result all through the tournament for MI.

Pandia getting hammered and wicketless in bowling,
Bumrah getting wickets in every match,
Rohit scoring quick substantial innings in all matches,
Pandia unable to finish the game with bat.

Perfect template for rest of the tournament

[Rahkehs]

GT’s middle order looks poor with Sai Sudharsan and Vijay Shankar batting like ODI. The technique of certain players can clearly give the impression whether or not they can play explosively and these two, Rahane’s are some of those kind of batsmen who never seem to get going!

[rx100]

Originally Posted by Rahkehs

Rahane’s are some of those kind of batsmen who never seem to get going!

Yea, GTs batting lineup is average except for Gill and Miller. They really need Kane Williamson to be back. And regarding Rahane, he had an explosive IPL last year.

BTW, there’s a dedicated IPL thread available.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift...ml#post5743579

[hothatchaway]

"Maybe it is too cold for me"

To laugh at the injustice meted out by the world is to make light of adversity, and there was no dearth of that in Salim Durani's career, perhaps the first superstar of Indian cricket. A genuine all rounder with a ton against his name scored in the West Indies against the likes of Hall and Griffith, it is hard to fathom why he played only 8 overseas tests (all in the West Indies) in a career spanning 13 years. So when quizzed why was he then not picked for the tour to Australia if it was too cold in England, pat came the reply - "Perhaps it was too hot for me!"

A swashbuckling figure at the crease who hit sixes for fun and a slow left armer who could turn the ball square - dismissing Clive Lloyd and Sir Garfied Sobers in the 1971 Port of Spain test to fashion a memorable Indian win, Salim Durani would have broken all auction records had he been playing today in the era of franchise leagues. But then, the only Afghan to have played for India cared less for money and more for the sport in an era when test cricketers were paid a pittance of Rs 300 per game. Lady luck didn't do too many favours either to the first Indian cricketer to receive the Arjuna Award; after scoring a 50 at his favourite Eden Gardens, Salimbhai was promptly dropped for the very next match at Kanpur, leading to a popular crowd boycott. He was even denied a farewell game, being left out of the touring party to England after having smashed a 73 studded with 10 fours and two sixes against the same opposition at Bombay. But just like his batting, out to entertain with utter disdain for stats and the opposition, the handsome pathan (he even starred in a Hindi film opposite Parveen Babi) made light of the injustice with typical wit and irony. He was a figure of support for legends like Sunny Gavaskar who took his first steps in international cricket under the wings of this towering legend.

Remembering the great all rounder on the day he passed away last year.

[NomadSK]

Originally Posted by hothatchaway

Remembering the great all rounder on the day he passed away last year.

He was a flamboyant gutsy all-rounder from Afghanistan/Pathan who played Test cricket for India in previous era. Born in Khyber on the Afghan-Pak border, Durani’s father was also a cricketer who impressed the legendary Ranjitsinjhi with his performances in the 1930s. As a result, the Sr. Durani settled in Jamnagar India. Salim grew up in Jamnagar and made his debut for Saurashtra in 1953, going on to play domestic cricket for Gujarat and Rajasthan. In 1960, he made his debut for India and went on to play 29 Tests till 1973. Trivia, in those 29 games, India either won or saved the game.

Despite his obvious talent, he was overshadowed by the spin quartet of Bishan Singh Bedi, Chandrasekhar, Prasanna, and Venkatraghavan, with whom unfortunately his career coincided. Why he couldn't make it to any tour of Australia, England and NZ is beyond anyone's comprehension. Mumbai and Delhi lobbying was at its peak during those times and merit was genreally taken the back stage.

Read a lot of his stories on cricket ground and dressing room when I was at Jamnagar. He was also named as Debonair Durrani for his looks. Last days of his life were quite miserable as I have heard tons of stories about him being bankrupt and having medical issues. Those days BCCI never cared for old horses. Anyway, that ground at Jamnagar has given some serious cricket to India.

Gavaskar had narrated an incident in his book, Sunny Days, when they were travelling by train to play a domestic game. It was cold inside the compartment and a cricketer was shivering as he didn't have a blanket.

Durani didn't say a word, but when the boy got up in the morning he saw that he had a blanket even as the senior man cuddled himself in one corner, trying to beat the cold.

[hothatchaway]

Why Bangladesh is the worst team ever in Test Cricket

The dust is yet to settle on the paddy field of a Mirpur pitch. The memes of an entire slip cordon juggling around a catch, only to drop it is still doing the rounds of facebook feeds. For a side which never really took to test cricket even after playing the format for 25 years, the familiarity with the playing conditions at home was the only advantage they could count on. Even that is ebbing away for Bangladesh, after being thrashed in the two tests by the visiting Lankans. The home side could not even last a hundred overs, both innings combined, in their own backyard where two visiting batsmen helped themselves to consecutive tons in each innings. The writing has been on the wall for a while and hurtful as it may be for Bangladesh cricket fans, the team can safely be branded as the worst side ever to have played test cricket.

Sample some of the stats - after being given the right to play test cricket, Bangladesh (BD) has featured in 144 test matches, winning only 19, eight of which have come against fellow minnows Zimbabwe, which itself hardly plays test matches now. BD is yet to win its first test match against leading sides such as India, Pakistan and South Africa. While they have solitary wins against England and Australia, both have come at Mirpur, the graveyard of cricket pitches where the ball rarely rises above the knee. What is perhaps the most galling is the fact that in the 28 tests the nation has played against Sri Lanka, the most against any opposition, BD have won only one test match so far, only one!!! Contrast that with Sri Lanka, who have played 318 tests so far against all opposition, winning an impressive 105 of them. While the Lankans started playing tests almost two decades before Bangladesh did, test fixtures for the tiny island nation were few in the early days and more importantly, the islanders have a 2-0 series sweep in South Africa in 2019, which even their big brothers India and Pakistan have not achieved. That is remarkable by any standards, more so considering that both nations have an equally long cricketing heritage and a huge population disparity: 22 million for the Lankans to the 170 million of Bangladesh. Sri Lanka have produced some real titans of tests such as Muralitharan, the highest wicket taker of all time or Kumara Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena, both with 10,000+ runs at an average of 50 plus. In comparison, the only two Bangladeshi batsmen who I would call world class are Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal, both still light years away from ten thousand test runs with an average not even in the 40s. Shakib is the only cricketer from BD who could have walked into any test XI during his prime. But the fact that he has played only 67 test matches during a career spanning 17 years and counting is an eye opener on the importance BD attaches to test cricket. Other test nations will play against you only if the quality of your eleven is up to scratch. But it is hard to make a case for BD who were beaten at home by Afghanistan in 2019, a side which had won test status only a year before! So what has gone wrong with the side which promised so much, but has only flattered to deceive?

Domestic Structure

On paper, Bangladesh's structure isn't very different from that of its neighbors. The National Cricket League has 8 districts competing in matches lasting 4 days and that, along with the Bangladesh Cricket League with its Duleep Trophy styled format, forms the core of its red ball league. In reality however, the gulf between first class cricket in BD and test cricket is wide with little spectator interest and a poor level of competition. Mominul Haque, the Bangladesh red ball specialist with over 4000 test runs, describes the difference between BD domestic and international cricket as 'night and day'. The test stars no longer even participate in domestic tournaments and teams play in front of empty stands in this competition now disparagingly dubbed as 'picnic cricket'. Poor quality tracks which make flat track bullies out of mediocre batsmen don't help either. According to an observer, there are few innings with 300+ totals in the BD domestic competition, which points to an inability of local batsmen to bat for long hours. Similar was also the picture in India's domestic competition before a revamp to make it more competitive, by preparing better pitches and streamlining the structure. That looks unlikely to happen in BD soon as players and spectators would rather have more of white ball cricket for reasons I am about to discuss.

Schizophrenic Support

Indian cricket followers are no strangers to the see-saw emotional turmoil that fans in the subcontinent experience. Having gone to the extent of attacking our TV set after an Indian defeat, I know what this is like. After many decades of cricket however and moving on from being no hopers to beating top sides in international cricket, the knee jerk fan reaction, at least in India, has stabilized in my opinion. This is far from the case in Bangladesh however where the fans, every bit as passionate and whimsical, go berserk after every win, even if it's against fellow minnows Zimbabwe. When the inevitable heavy defeat follows, they have no patience and just as easily abandon their allegiance. The opportunistic media preys on this and does all it can to fuel this mania. Instead of delving into valid cricketing reasons, the spotlight often turns to the off field activities of the players. The cycle continues until the next win. With Bangladesh becoming somewhat competitive in white ball cricket, especially at home, the average BD fan believes that limited overs cricket offers a better return on all the energy and emotion they invest in supporting the national squad. Red ball cricket however is a different proposition altogether for BD; the side will continue to remain hopeless in the foreseeable future.

Corruption

The BCB or the Bangladesh Cricket Board has come a long way from a dimly lit backroom office to the 5th richest cricket board in the world, ahead of even South Africa and NZ. As it happens, the money, instead of trickling down, has only encouraged corrupt politicians to grab their pound of flesh. Currently, Nazmul Hassan, a politician better known by his nickname Papon, calls the shots, much in the manner of a certain Kim Jong Un. Papon has no background or knowledge of cricket, yet he is now in charge of the most popular sport in a country of 170 million. His standard reaction after every defeat is to throw his team under the bus in front of the media, which he has done yet again after the latest series loss to Sri Lanka. Games in the domestic league are often mired in bad officiating and match fixing; a strike by top players in 2019 over poor pay threatened to blow the lid off this institutionalized match fixing in domestic cricket in BD. "We often know the result of a game even before the first ball is bowled", was Shakib's candid reply when asked for his reaction.

Lack Of Vision

As it happens, poor performance at the international level, a sustained one, can usually be traced to how talent is spotted and nurtured at the grassroots. With an underwhelming domestic structure, it is no surprise that there is no sub junior structure in place either in BD. Drawing a contrast again with Sri Lanka, which has a time tested school cricket circuit, where a Ranatunga or a Sangakkara was already making waves as a schoolboy, BD has no such system. That may not be a dealbreaker if you are a Pakistan, where a Wasim Akram went straight from playing tape ball street cricket to test matches, but that nation is an exception when it comes to raw talent. Moreover, with little vision for red ball cricket, there is hardly any exposure for the Bangladeshi second string or the A side. India for example, has a regular program for its A side which also includes red ball specialists, who tour Australia and England to gain invaluable experience of playing in alien conditions. In BD however, little has come of the promises made to players like Mominul, Taijul and others for overseas tours to develop their game. With the limited tests that BD play, these red ball specialists have no match practice between each test series when their teammates are off playing ODIs and T20s

As is the case with BD cricket, promises fly thick and fast when the nation is embarrassed on the cricket pitch. They are promptly forgotten when they whip Zimbabwe or Ireland again, to be trotted out when the next debacle comes around