VIRAT 2016

Don’t know for how many people the 2016 went lucky or not, but for one man it was definitely the most productive year in international cricket and that is Virat Kohli. A total of 2595 runs at an average of 86.50 spread over 37 matches and 41 innings, he aggravated more runs than any batsman in 2016 and is the 2^nd Indian with most runs in a calendar year behind Rahul Dravid’s tally of 2626 in 1999.

They say at the age of 27-28 sports players hit their prime form and that has been the same with Virat Kohli. He started the year with scoring 381 @ 76.20 in the Australian ODI series and ended the year with 655 @ 109.16 in the England Test series. Let us have a go by looking at those numbers he amazed and scaled in this year.

Australian ODI series:

5 matches, 5 innings, 0 Not-Outs, 381 runs, 2x100s, 2x50s, HS 117, Avg 76.20 (91,59,117,106,8)

The start of the year where Virat continued his form which he had like in the previous Australian Tour. In the first match when he was out on 91, Wasim Akram asked him on missing the century to which he replied that he would score 2 of them by the end of the series and he did it in the 3^rd and 4^th matches but all the efforts went in vain as India lost both the matches. Though he finished second in the run-charts behind Rohit Sharma, it was the beginning of what we were to witness for the rest of the year.

Australian T20 series:

3 matches, 3 innings, 2 Not-Outs, 199 runs, 3x50s, HS 90*, Avg 199.00 

(90*,59*,50)

The T20 series that continued probably brought the best out of Kohli in Australia as he was dismissed only once throughout the series, and being the chief architect for the 3-0 clean sweep in Australia. His love affair with Adelaide continued as he brought up his highest T20 score in the ground and continued it 59* and 50 in the series and was also the MoS.

Asia Cup 2016:

5 matches, 4 innings, 2 Not-Outs, 153 runs, 1x50, HS 56*, Avg 76.50

(7,49,56*,41*)

A small-break was that Kohli needed to recharge for the Asia Cup and played a crucial knock against Arch-rivals Pakistan in a green top against an in-form Md. Amir. After that he played 2 more important knocks against the SL and BAN in the final and India won the Asia Cup 2016 and took forward the form and momentum into the T20 World Cup.

T20 World Cup 2016:

5 matches, 5 innings, 3 Not-Outs, 273 runs, 3x50s, HS 89*, Avg 136.50 

(23,55*24,82*,89*)

If the 2003 World Cup belonged to Sachin, this World Cup belonged to Kohli. He could probably do nothing wrong and showcased two one-man shows against Pakistan and Australia. He started with an average show against the Kiwis, back to his best against Pakistan, average again vs Bangladesh and against Australia when we needed a win, he was just flowing and was that one-wicket which Australia would have been happy to get on the path of victory. He stood between Australia and victory pulled it off and placed India in the Semi-finals. In the semi-finals against West-Indies he almost did everything to pull off a win, even coming to bowl and taking a wicket. He was the MoS for the second consecutive time in the T20 World Cup.

West-Indies Test series:

4 matches, 4 innings, 0 Not-Outs, 251 runs, 1x100, HS 200, Avg 62.75

(200,44,3,4)

His first overseas tour as a full-time captain and he brought it up in style by notching up his maiden 200 against the West Indies (maiden in FC also). Apart from that he had a below-par outing with the bat and the change in batting order with him playing at 1 drop did not help much as he accumulated only 51 runs from the rest 3 innings.

West-Indies T20 series:

2 matches, 1 inning, 0 Not-Outs, 16 runs, HS 16, Avg 16 

(16)

A not-so forgettable match for the Indian fans but a normal outing for him as he perished to the asking rate.

New Zealand Test series:

3 matches, 6 innings, 0 Not-Outs, 309 runs, 1x100, HS 211, Avg 51.50

(9,18,9,45,211,17)

A series full of historical landmarks. India’s 500^th Test and 250^th Home Test and all. Having started poorly and New Zealand bowlers aiming to take his wicket using the short-ball strategy, he fell for it early in the series but came back strongly in the 3^rd test scoring a double hundred and a 365-run stand with the deputy Rahane.

New Zealand ODI series:

5 matches, 5 innings, 2 Not-Outs, 358 runs, 1x100, 2x50s, HS 154*, Avg 119.33 (85*,9,154*,45,65)

Cometh the limited overs, cometh the form. Again, was at his free-flowing best in the coloured jersey and the two poor outings only resulted in Indian losses while in the other 3 where he scored twice he made sure he was there till the end to finish the match and ensured an Indian win.

England Test series:

5 matches, 8 innings, 2 Not-Outs, 655 runs, 2x100s, 2x50s, HS 235, Avg 109.16 (40,49*,167,81,62,6*,235,15)

Perfectly answered series to those who were waiting to criticize him for his past failure in England series. Carried the form he had in the one-day into the tests and scored runs consistently and notched up centuries and half-centuries. Scored 81 runs when team around him were failing (81/204). Scored a 235 the highest ever by a Indian skipper in the Wankhede test and proved that the the year 2016 belonged to him by topping the run charts and finishing the year as the Top 2 player in all formats of the game and the only player to average 50+ in all forms of international cricket.

IPL 2016:

16 matches, 16 innings, 4 Not-Outs, 973 runs, 4x100s, 7x50s, HS 113, Avg 81.08 (75,79,33,80,100*,14,52,108*,20,7,109,75*,113,54*,0,54)

Apart from amassing 2595 international runs, he also had a dream-run in the IPL 2016, aggregating 973 runs in 16 matches, the most by any player across seasons, the second best being 200+ runs apart (733 by Gayle and M Hussey). He scored 4 100s, the most by any player in a single tournament, single-handedly took RCB to the play-offs where the digital board aptly said “RCB KOHLI-FIED TO THE PLAYOFFS” and the only thing he missed again in the kitty was the tournament cup as RCB lost in the finals by 8 runs to SRH.

As Captain (INDIA): Played 12 Won 9 Draw 3 Lost 0

As an Indian Captain, also he had one of the best years not losing a single match in the calendar year though only was a close encounter in which he stayed till the end and pulled off a draw (vs ENG, Rajkot). Also in the process, he took India to the No.1 Rank in the Test Matches and India stayed there till the year end. Twice he took some brave decisions of declaring on the last day against WI and bundling them for 108 and just more than a day against ENG in Chennai and dismissing them for 207. Wonder if he repeats his stats when he becomes the visiting captain after the long-home series.

And to those who wonder seeing these stats, there is another thing for you guys… He missed 9 of India’s International fixtures. 3 T20s vs SL, 3 ODIs vs ZIM and 3 T20s vs ZIM… Wondering where these numbers would have ended up if he were a part of those fixtures also…

With this rich vein of form, let us wait and watch what happens in 2017… whether he continues to amaze us or have a dip just like all the players have once in their career…

Guha Karthikeyan S T

THE CHEPAUK TEST: #MyDebut

                           

Every Cricket Fan’s big desire is to watch a cricket match at the stadium supporting his home team. Well, I had to wait 22 years 11 months and 12 days to that. Yes, on the 16^th of December I made my official debut as a spectator in the match between India and England, the 5^th test of the Anthony de’Mello trophy. So what if the series was done and dusted in Wankhede, with India taking an unassailable 3-0 lead? The crowd came out, after the city being hit by a cyclone few days prior to the match.

                                

Credit has to be given to Mr.N. Srinivasan & Co. for making the match come to Chennai after 3+ years and taking all steps to make sure the match happens be it against political problems or cyclone problems. The match turned out be like yet another Chennai test providing the crowd and also the record books some amazing entries. So, how about seeing what happened day by day?

Day 1: English skipper Alastair Cook won the toss, inviting India to field. The duo of Cook and Jennings start the proceedings and on the very first ball a Mishra mis-field resulted in Cook crossing 11,000 test runs. The start was very quiet thanks to some hostile spell from Ishant Sharma whose first spell read 5-4-1-1. Ishant sent Jennings and Jaddu sent Cook and by Lunch it was 68/2. What followed that was an English counter-attack where Root kept sweeping the ball and rotating the strike with Ali and a good partnership was building up and then Jadeja removed Root through a DRS decision.

 Root scored an amazing 88 and the Chennai crowd known for its historical nature applauded his effort as he returned to the pavilion. Then it was all Ali. He was like the baton had been passed from Root to him as notched up his century and Bairstow was unlucky to be out on 49. Taking the new ball did not work in favour of India as it ended up leaking more runs towards the end of the day as England closed Day 1 on 284/4.

Day 2: The day started on a positive note for India as Ashwin removed Stokes which was interestingly his only scalp of the match in his home-town. And Ishant removed Buttler and Yadav bounced out Ali, England were at 321/7. When the crowd expected India to bundle out England out below 400, Debutant Dawson and Rashid had other ideas. They made runs and added 108 runs in 40 overs and in the process completed their respective half-centuries and the partnership ended with Rashid edging to Parthiv. Broad contributed with 19 and Ball scored 12 and Dawson remained unbeaten on 66 and England finished their innings at 477.

India were given 20 overs to play and Parthiv and Rahul partnering for the first time played safe and ended the Day on 60/0. The Chennai crowd got some entertainment in the form of Buttler as he was targeted by the crowd for reasons and started to mimic him and if Cook sent him to the other side of the field, chants of “WE WANT BUTTLER” filled the stadium and he was brought back to same side.

Day 3: Day 3 started on a positive note as Rahul and Parthiv continued what they left on Day 2 with Parthiv unleashing cover-drives and Rahul driving and sweeping the ball. Both brought up their respective 50s and Parthiv was undone by a leading edge of Moeen Ali. He scored 71, his highest score in test cricket. Pujara joined with Rahul and India at Lunch were 173/1. Pujara steered a Stokes delivery to slip and what? One would have expected the crowd to go silent, but we had other ideas as everyone knew the next to bat was the Indian skipper Virat Kohli. It was a cheer Pujara was accustomed to in the early phases of his career when he would come out to bat before Sachin Tendulkar. Virat Kohli, started carefully and K L Rahul completed his 4^th test hundred. Cook’s plan for Kohli seemed to work this time as he chipped out.

The Super Sunday crowd who were expecting a Kohli special yet again, were not disappointed as K L Rahul took the English bowlers for 4s and 6s. He and his Karnataka captain Karun Nair were busy sweeping and reverse sweeping the spinners and when everyone expected Rahul could do nothing wrong, he chased a wide-off delivery only for it to take an edge and find Buttler to be out on 199. Local boy Vijay kept a check on the wickets and India closed Day 3 on 391/4. Buttler was not spared by the Super Sunday crowd as he also joined the entertainment making some moves and playing shadow-football with Root and also not to forget the loud roar when Root threw the ball at Rahul. He had to apologise twice.

Day 4: Probably the day everyone thought of giving a miss considering it was a Monday, Chennai was not like that, the main reason being India were batting. Those who gave a miss were left cursing their stars why on the earth they did so… Why? You’ll know at the end of the paragraph… Vijay did not last long as he was trapped LBW off Dawson. The departure of Vijay brought in another Local-boy probably the Local-superstar R Ashwin. Ashwin made up for his poor outing with the ball as he and Nair made another big partnership frustrating the England attack. Nair completed his 200 and Ashwin brought up his fifty and yet again the ball had to find Buttler who broke all 150+ run partnerships… Jadeja joined Nair and they started to accelerate… The crowd were desperate for an Indian declaration, but there were no hints of that from Kohli as he nodded saying a NO when the crowd along with the English fans were asking “DECLARE!!!” Probably at the time what myself and the other friends felt was Kohli was going to give Cook yet another fine for slow-over rate as Cook &Co. were seen wasting time between balls and overs so that if at all they bat, they would face only less overs.

Nair and Jadeja were just busy hitting the ball and Cook was left scratching his head for ideas. A perfect field and a short ball? A forehand tennis smash for 4 as Nasser commented “That’s a 15-0 in tennis” and an upper cut for 4 and again the same for 6 even when a Long Stop was moved in. Jadeja brought up his 50 and Karun brought up his 300 while the Chepauk crowd forgot about the declaration and were enjoying their batting, the declaration happened giving India only 5 overs to bowl which the English openers survived and ended Day 4 on 12/0. Wait what’s India’s score?? It was 759/7d, their highest in the format and a lead of 282 runs. I think you probably would have found the answer for the question at the beginning of the paragraph.

Day 5: Only 2/4 innings completed and only 5 overs in the 3^rd innings bowled. Ask any fan, he would say if India doesn’t pick up early wickets the match was heading for a draw. As they said it was happening in the first session. Sharp catches were dropped, Cook and Jennings slowly moved towards their respective 50s and also in the process of not losing the wicket to give India an early advantage and England moved steadily to 97/0 at Lunch. Now if any fan who left were left ruing their chances of missing the rest of the play and some who came in were in for a glimpse of a thriller. Jadeja came in and he took out Cook, Jennings, Root and caught Bairstow and England were 167/4 at Tea. The scorecard was inviting the crowds and they soon became the 12^th man of Team India and Virat was giving the signals just like in the Kolkata Test.

After Tea it was like a landslide after a small resistance. Moeen Ali scored 44 and Stokes scored 23 and then again the wrecker-in-charge of the day Jadeja stuck twice in 2 overs and Mishra struck the only wicket of the day that did not have Jadeja to be involved which was disturbing the woodwork of Dawson. New Ball this time worked in favour of India as it brought Rashid’s wicket off the very first ball as he found Jadeja at point. Jadeja then came and cleaned the tail of Broad and Ball in 4 deliveries to hand India a thrilling victory with 30 minutes and only 8 overs of play left. Buttler was left standing at the other end with 6 off 50 balls. India won the match and series 4-0 the most they did against England.

Karun Nair converts his maiden 100 to a 300, the first Indian and second in the world, Jaddu gets his best figures and his maiden 10 wicket haul, KL Rahul gets 199, India pulling off a victory within 2 sessions, India rack up their highest total 759-7, and lifting the series trophy, all these happening in front of your eyes which happens to be your first match… Truly nothing can get special for a spectator like this…

Looking forward for another experience like this… but just wondering as I type when will be the next international match in Chennai???

Oh wait.... The ticket to my experience.. without which I would have not seen anything....

- Guha Karthikeyan S T

A Look @ MCC’s recommendations

Every normal cricket fan knows about the ICC. But who frames the rules by which the games should be played? It is the MCC, Marylebone Cricket Club when puts its recommendations and sooner or later it becomes a law. So, the outcome of the latest MCC meeting is doing some rounds and what are they?

Sending off (red card system like in football) in cricket:

Remember this occasion… Well now, what if I told you are going to see many like that in the coming future??? Yes you guessed it right… Red Cards are going to be introduced in cricket…This is done in order for cricket to maintain its tag line “GENTLEMAN’S GAME”. There have been so many unwanted spats in the history like Warne-Samuels, Lillee-Miandad, McGrath-Sarwan… The fact that it is to be implemented from the lower-grades makes the young players to respect and play within the laws of the game. In international level, it is to reduce the physical violence as several umpires reported that they consider leaving the arena as they were threatened by some players… But the red-card system can be extended to verbal-spats… “Now, respect the game Aussies…”

Regulating bat-thickness and edge-thickness:

                                 

Edge: <= 40mm
Spine: <= 67mm

All worried faces when you saw your opponent batsman’s mishit going for a 6 please note… happier days have come… with the new recommendation on the regulation of bat thickness, those players who used excessive sized bats are going to face the problem of timing… and mishits shall remain as mishits and are bound to land in a fielder’s hand… Finally, some good measure to ensure the balance of game between bat and ball…

Ball-tampering law:

                              

The Faf du Plessis saga which was doing some rounds… and players including his rival captain SPD Smith came in his support…  As far as that there is no modification to the existing law but the ICC will act upon such players when they have proofs of ball-tampering…

Four-day or five-day Tests?

As always, a main topic of discussion… the 5-day match should exist as a part of the tradition and changing it will affect the game which has a lot of history and would bring down the quality of test cricket…and also, we have seen some great matches which produced results on the 5^th day in the past 18 months…

Cricket in Olympics:

                                  

Nearest possibility is in 2024, and the ICC have asked all members to come on board quickly and make a move… and also cricket will become more global with countries like China taking part… Just tell them cricket is in Olympics and then look… they train hard and bring-in their best team in the Olympics and may be pull an upset against the regular nations…

Legalisation of catches of Helmets:

The other topic which was doing some discussion is deeming a catch legal when caught off the fielder’s helmets when they wear it. It should be considered as same as taken off a wicket keeper’s pads, and balls caught in grilles be considered like ball trapped in keeper’s pad, sweaters and pockets of fielders…

All of these are the proposals by the committee which would come in effect from Oct-1-2017 if subjected to approval from ICC….



- Guha Karthikeyan S T