Poor Virat Kohli. It must be so tough to taste defeat on home soil. After all, yesterday’s five-run reverse in Kolkata was the first time it had happened to him as captain in nineteen matches. So India are not quite invincible, and England gave them a real contest over the three ODI fixtures.
At Pune, it took a blistering innings of 120 in 76 balls from Kedar Jadhav to overhaul England’s excellent 350. A few days later, the Cuttack encounter produced 747 runs, with a Morgan-inspired chase falling a mere 15 runs short. The five-run victory at Eden Gardens was no more than the tourists deserved, especially having failed to chalk up a single major triumph so far.
For the first time in a three-match ODI series all six innings delivered at least 300 runs. Never before has such a series produced an aggregate exceeding 2,000. It’s not often you get two centurions in one innings in consecutive matches either.
Jadhav and Kohli may have dominated the opener but it was a fairytale in Cuttack when the two 35 year-olds MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh shared a stand of 256. With all the hullabaloo around Kohli’s successful leadership and Dhoni’s stepping down before the series began, it seemed like a re-run of times past when the latter delivered a vintage century. Even more impressive was the fact that his partnership with Yuvi turned a score of 25-3 into a match-winning 381-6.
It wasn’t all about the Indian batsmen. England’s line-up had more than a few moments, too. Jason Roy passed 50 on all three occasions. Root and Stokes did so twice, while captain Morgan’s rum run of low scores ended with a measured century that came close to reaching that huge target in the second game.
Of course, for all the entertainment generated by such a run-fest, it was no fun to be a bowler. Chris Woakes topped the wickets table with a mere six. Ravi Jadeja was the only man to concede fewer than six runs an over. Ball, Stokes and Bumrah all conceded at least 200 across the series. Moeen Ali failed to take a single scalp in 20 overs. No, no fun at all!
All in all, a splendid advert for 50-over cricket, and I doubt the forthcoming Twenty20 encounters will serve up three such brilliant contests.
Showing posts with label Yuvraj Singh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yuvraj Singh. Show all posts
Monday, 23 January 2017
Friday, 16 May 2014
Team of the Week 16th May 2014 - the Colly and Yuvy show
Three major tournaments to pore over this week, as the County Championship and IPL were joined by the inaugural round of Nat West T20 Blast matches. Despite that, there were few opening batsmen to really stand out. Finch and Sehwag enjoyed one good score each in the IPL but Lendl Simmons picked up 118 runs across the week for for Mumbai. Top of the lot was Graeme Smith, whose 103 laid the foundations for a final day rally by Surrey to clinch ther first Championship in for yonks.
David Warner was in the runs for Hyderabad, plundering an aggregate 111 runs in 63 balls, the best performance being his 31-ball 55 against the Indians. Sangakkara's 159 was compiled when the match was alreay drawn so I've gone for the hard-hitting Nottinghamshire batsman Riki Wessels at number four. Today he struck a cameo 25 in 18 in the T20 but his 156 in the Championship fixture against Northants was completed in a T20-esque 152 balls.
North and Styris excelled in today's Blast but in India Yuvraj Singh proved there's life in the old dog yet. After a miserable run, he produced a couple of stupendous innings for Bangalore, including sixteen sixes, plus a 4-35 to demonstrate his all-rounder credentials. For Sussex, Luke Wright (189) and wicket-keeper Ben Brown (163) shared a record sixth wicket county partnership, then a few days later, Wright added another rapid 56 in the T20 against Surrey. Both he and Brown stake their places in my Team of the Week with ease.
Neil Dexter and Darren Stevens came close but the best all-rounder candidate is Paul Collingwood. He followed a 74 in the first-class match versus Sussex with a rapid 62 and 3-29 in the 20-over stuff this evening. Not far behind is Colly's former Durham colleague, Liam Plunkett. Now at Yorkshire, the ex-England seamer produced not one but two excellent all-round performances this week, but his 75-ball 86 batting at number nine in the four-day victory against Notts was the most eye-catching.
Jack Brooks almost features in my XI again, while Ajmal Shahzad out-bowled even Peter Siddle for Notts earlier in the weeks. Nevertheless, the final two bowling spots go to Tim Murtagh and Chris Tremlett. They each took six cheap wickets for their counties to bring about last day victories.
So, no out-and-out spinners this time. Even Tambe failed to make the grade. So my Team of The Week reads: Smith (Sur), Simmons (Mum), Warner (Hyd), Wessels (Not), Yuvraj Singh (Bang), Wright (Sus), Collingwood (Dur), Brown (Sus +), Plunkett (Yor), Tremlett (Sur), Murtagh (Mid)
David Warner was in the runs for Hyderabad, plundering an aggregate 111 runs in 63 balls, the best performance being his 31-ball 55 against the Indians. Sangakkara's 159 was compiled when the match was alreay drawn so I've gone for the hard-hitting Nottinghamshire batsman Riki Wessels at number four. Today he struck a cameo 25 in 18 in the T20 but his 156 in the Championship fixture against Northants was completed in a T20-esque 152 balls.
North and Styris excelled in today's Blast but in India Yuvraj Singh proved there's life in the old dog yet. After a miserable run, he produced a couple of stupendous innings for Bangalore, including sixteen sixes, plus a 4-35 to demonstrate his all-rounder credentials. For Sussex, Luke Wright (189) and wicket-keeper Ben Brown (163) shared a record sixth wicket county partnership, then a few days later, Wright added another rapid 56 in the T20 against Surrey. Both he and Brown stake their places in my Team of the Week with ease.
Neil Dexter and Darren Stevens came close but the best all-rounder candidate is Paul Collingwood. He followed a 74 in the first-class match versus Sussex with a rapid 62 and 3-29 in the 20-over stuff this evening. Not far behind is Colly's former Durham colleague, Liam Plunkett. Now at Yorkshire, the ex-England seamer produced not one but two excellent all-round performances this week, but his 75-ball 86 batting at number nine in the four-day victory against Notts was the most eye-catching.
Jack Brooks almost features in my XI again, while Ajmal Shahzad out-bowled even Peter Siddle for Notts earlier in the weeks. Nevertheless, the final two bowling spots go to Tim Murtagh and Chris Tremlett. They each took six cheap wickets for their counties to bring about last day victories.
So, no out-and-out spinners this time. Even Tambe failed to make the grade. So my Team of The Week reads: Smith (Sur), Simmons (Mum), Warner (Hyd), Wessels (Not), Yuvraj Singh (Bang), Wright (Sus), Collingwood (Dur), Brown (Sus +), Plunkett (Yor), Tremlett (Sur), Murtagh (Mid)
Sunday, 6 April 2014
Sri Lanka Champions at last
Sri Lanka's recent record as one-day competition bridesmaids has finally been broken, but the T20 World Cup final was a low-scoring cagey affair. The India v Sri Lanka ODI history spans 35 years and 144 games, but this was only their sixth meeting in a 20-over thrash. Nevertheless, this was billed as a chance for revenge in the last 50-over world final and last summer's Champions Trophy semi. It was also the last opportunity to hold this trophy for all-time greats Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara.
Malinga won the toss and opted to field, and the decision looked correct as Rahane fell early, and both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were shackled during the opening overs. Nobody had scored more runs in this year's tournament than Kohli and he suddenly remembed how to launch an attack. Long on and extra cover were cleared brilliantly but when the strike switched to Yuvraj Singh, all momentum was lost. Malinga and Kulasekera delivered unplayable wide yorkers and when the ball came on straight, the former Indian master blaster could muster no more than the odd single worked to leg. Sad to watch, and MS Dhoni must have been relieved when Yuvi holed out for 11 in 21 balls. However, the Indian skipper also struggled and the 130 total looked flimsy. Kohli looked merely furious and frustrated!
Sri Lanka's response was measured. Why take risks when you need little more than a run a ball to win? India's four-man spin machine looked to have the upper hand until Sangakkara began to chance his arm. Boundaries started to flow, some superb, others streaky, but even the excellent Ashwin and Mishra were becoming rattled. Their variation produced some welcome dot balls but they had such a small score to defend that a few fours an over were too expensive. In the eighteenth over, two edged boundaries took the SL keeper past 50 for the 8th time in 56 T20Is, greeted by warm applause and a handshake from Kohli who by this time knew the game was over. A third big six from Perera merely confirmed it three balls later, and Sri Lanka had clinched their first global crown since the days of Aravinda De Silva, Muralitharan and Vaas.
T20 cricket is an unpredictable sport at any time, anywhere and between any teams. Much of the talk even in the semis was about India and the West Indies but in the end, superb 'death' bowling served up the foundation for a win for Sri Lanka. Poor Yuvraj Singh's desperate search for form when Kohli should have been pushing the total towards 150 may be blamed for India's defeat. However, Dhoni's similar travails in the final over proved that, for once, two seamers did the most to win the day. Sanga's 52 not out won him the Man of the Match award but the fact that none of the five SL bowlers each conceded more than 30 runs attested to the team effort.
Virat Kohli's 319 runs in six games made him the Player of the Tournament. His contribution to the competition in Bangladesh was immense but credit to the Sri Lankans for keeping things interesting. I look forward to seeing them in England this summer.
Malinga won the toss and opted to field, and the decision looked correct as Rahane fell early, and both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were shackled during the opening overs. Nobody had scored more runs in this year's tournament than Kohli and he suddenly remembed how to launch an attack. Long on and extra cover were cleared brilliantly but when the strike switched to Yuvraj Singh, all momentum was lost. Malinga and Kulasekera delivered unplayable wide yorkers and when the ball came on straight, the former Indian master blaster could muster no more than the odd single worked to leg. Sad to watch, and MS Dhoni must have been relieved when Yuvi holed out for 11 in 21 balls. However, the Indian skipper also struggled and the 130 total looked flimsy. Kohli looked merely furious and frustrated!
Sri Lanka's response was measured. Why take risks when you need little more than a run a ball to win? India's four-man spin machine looked to have the upper hand until Sangakkara began to chance his arm. Boundaries started to flow, some superb, others streaky, but even the excellent Ashwin and Mishra were becoming rattled. Their variation produced some welcome dot balls but they had such a small score to defend that a few fours an over were too expensive. In the eighteenth over, two edged boundaries took the SL keeper past 50 for the 8th time in 56 T20Is, greeted by warm applause and a handshake from Kohli who by this time knew the game was over. A third big six from Perera merely confirmed it three balls later, and Sri Lanka had clinched their first global crown since the days of Aravinda De Silva, Muralitharan and Vaas.
T20 cricket is an unpredictable sport at any time, anywhere and between any teams. Much of the talk even in the semis was about India and the West Indies but in the end, superb 'death' bowling served up the foundation for a win for Sri Lanka. Poor Yuvraj Singh's desperate search for form when Kohli should have been pushing the total towards 150 may be blamed for India's defeat. However, Dhoni's similar travails in the final over proved that, for once, two seamers did the most to win the day. Sanga's 52 not out won him the Man of the Match award but the fact that none of the five SL bowlers each conceded more than 30 runs attested to the team effort.
Virat Kohli's 319 runs in six games made him the Player of the Tournament. His contribution to the competition in Bangladesh was immense but credit to the Sri Lankans for keeping things interesting. I look forward to seeing them in England this summer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)