Rishabh Pant's Accident

Rishabh Pant has met with a horrific accident. Sad to hear it. His car was almost finished. He has band-aids all over his head & head. Wish him to have speedy recovery.

ICC Awards List 2022 Released

ICC Awards List 2022 Released:

Test Player  >  Stokes, Bairstow, Khwaja & Rabada

Best Player  >  Babar, Stokes, Sikandar Raza & Tim Southee

ODI Player  >  Babar, Zampa, Raza & Hope

& T20 Player  >  SKY, Curran, Raza & Rizwan

News Of 29/12

News Of 29/12/2022:

A  >  Kane completes his 5th 200 of Test in the inning against Pak.

B  >  Lyon reaches 458 wickets. Just 9 ahead of Ashwin now.

C  >  ICC's nominations of the Player Awards 2022 are out. SKY gets a place in T20 & Babar in ODI.

D  >  Sanju Samson has been skipped from the SL series.

E  >  SA have slipped below Sri Lanka in the WTC points table after the loss in the 2nd Test against Oz.

F  >  K.L. Rahul's marriage has been fixed with Athiya Shetty to be ceremonised in January.

G  >  Babar has scored 2500 international runs this year & 24 50+ scores.

H  >  King Kohli has revealed a 'Most Engaged Account' award received from Instagram in 2017, a very beautiful shield.

&    I  >  Hardik Pandya appointed as the full-time ODI Vice-Captain & Captain of T20 team.

WTC Position As On 29 December

South Africa slip to no. 4 position in WTC points table after loss in 2nd Test against Oz.

Sad For Sanju Samson

Sanju Samson's non-selection in the SL series is sad.

New Year Wish

My New Year Wish  >

Winfull new year to Indian team & fans & all cricket lovers also.

2022 ICC Awards

My Votes In The 2022 ICC Awards  >

Test Player Of The Year: Babar
One-Day Player Of The Year: Harry Brook

T20 Player Of The Year: Suryakumar Yadav

Overall Player Of The Year: Babar

Team Of The Year: Australia

Babar 2500

I hadn't noticed that Babar is already among the top few most international runs in a calendar year. With 1 more inning to go this year, he may well finish among the highest 3-4.

My Wishes For 2023

My wishes for the 2023:

Ind wins BGT 4-0
RCB wins IPL
Ind wins WTC
Ind wins WC
WC remains hosted in Ind
Oz remains the other finalist in WC & WTC
Virat reaches 9000 Test runs & 14000 ODI runs
Virat reaches 50 ODI tons & 30 Test tons
Virat reclaims 50 ave. in Tests & 60 ave. in ODIs
Surya & Ishan wreak havoc in T20I cricket
& Shubhman cements as a solid Test opener
Some more: 
Hardik hits 6 6s in an over
Pant turns around another Test series
Umesh Yadav & Ishant Sharma reach 500 Test wickets
Ashwin hits a One-Day century
Rohit hits 2 more T20 doubles
&  Cheteshwar breaks his preceding WALL's total tally

100

This is my 100th post. So, I am dedicating it to the number 100. The achievements in cricket which are related with 100:

Don Bradman's average

Sachin's hundreds

Desired strike rates in ODI cricket

Stokes' 100 6s in Test cricket

No. of players to play 100 Test matches

No. of Tests played between Ind & England

& No. of follow-ons enforced by Australia

Sum of all these: My 100th blog post

Warner's Centuries

Warner hit century in his 100th ODI. He hit century in his 100th Test. & His next T20 match is his 100th T20.

Warner's 200

Warner slaps his critics in style. Scores 3rd 200 of his Test career, & at SR of 78. Takes Oz to cakewalk position. Also, celebrates his century in his signature style.

Ashwin's Batting

Ashwin has scored more Test runs than Kohli & KL Rahul this year.

Warner Achieves His Feat

Warner has fulfilled my wish of completing both 8000 Test runs & 25 Test centuries in his 100th Test.

Player Of The Year

I think the Player Of The Year this year is now just between Babar & SKY.

Warner's Achievement

Warner is playing his 100th Test. He needs 46 more runs to complete 8000 Test runs & 68 runs to complete 25 Test centuries in this match. He is in my opinion at par with the Fab 4.

RIP

 

The Core Unit For The WC & WTC Final Getting Clear

The core unit for the WC 2023 & WTC final is getting clear. Ashwin, Jadeja & Axar are developing as potent bowling all-rounders. Shubhman Gill is in terrific form as Test opener. Pujara has returned to form. Kohli has shown encouraging signs in both T20 & ODI. Pant has played responsibly on & off. Shreyas Iyer is a bonus. SKY is from a different planet. Ishan Kishan adds to the Indian aura. The pace unit of Shami, Bumrah & Umesh Yadav with the addition of Siraj & Umran is delivering powerfully. There is a large brigade of powerhouses on the bench. All in all, the pool available to choose from for the WC & WTC final is a very well developed & got built one. My heart only doesn't believe what havoc these may create.

& If not enough, there is a beast Hardik Pandya waiting to take over the white ball captaincy.

Ind's WTC points

If Australia win the remaining 2 Tests against SA & Ind win the BGT 4-0, Ind & Australia will finish 1st & 2nd respectively in the WTC points table with 68% & 63% PCT respectively.

Highest 8th wicket stand for India in 4th innings

Highest 8th wicket stand for India in 4th innings:

74 L. Amar Singh - Lall Singh v Eng at Lord's 1932 (1st ever Test)

71* S. Iyer - R. Ashwin v Ban at Mirpur 2022

70 Kapil Dev - L. Sivaramakrishnan v SL Colombo 1985

Genuine Allrounder Ashwin

Ashwin has developed into a massive allrounder. The way he batted today & his heroics in the last BGT, he surely is in the class of Kapil Dev & Richard Hadlee. & Deserves the MoS today.

Change Of Title

I've changed the title of this blog from 'The Pinnacle Thrill Called Cricket' to 'The Colossal Institution Called Cricket', because cricket has grown in stature in my life, hence I elevated its status in the blog's title.

2022 Summary

(1)  >>  India have lost the least matches (2) in Tests at home since 2013.

(2)  >>  Rahane hit his 2nd 1st class double ton of the season in Ranji.

(3)  >>  Pakistan slipped to no. 7 position in the WTC rank after the loss in the 3rd Test (Even below WI).

(4)  >>  Yograj Singh helped Arjun Tendulkar in coaching in Chandigarh.

(5)  >>  Rehan Ahmed becomes the youngest player to take 5-ver on Test debut.

(6)  >>  Harry Brook scored centuries in each of his 1st 3 Tests (Which happened in the Pakistan series).

Bazball Can't Pujara

Latest national anthem:

Yara o yara,

Lara ne mara,

Pujjy can bazball,

But bazball can't Pujara.

Ind-Oz Battle

With Ind having won the last 2 BGTs, & both those had happened in Oz, I am just wondering what mayhem Ind might create when the BGT is going to happen in Ind's backyard this time.

WTC Final Race Reduced To 5 Teams

With the elimination of Pakistan from the WTC final race, post the series loss to England, the WTC final race has got reduced to just 5 teams. WI, Ban, NZ & Pak are officially out of the race. India just has to ensure that it wins more matches than SA & SL.

My Contenders For the Player Of The Year This Year

My contenders for the 2022 ICC Player of the Year award are Babar Azam, Rizwan, SKY, Shreyas Iyer, Root & Pant. SKY is the front runner with the most runs in T20Is, Babar Azam has scored the most 50+ scores this year, Rizwan the most runs & Shreyas Iyer the most in ODIs. All these players have scored massive runs, Harry Brook can be the Emerging player of the Year.

17 December 2022 Highlights

17 December 2022 Highlights:

1  >>  Ind reached 2nd spot in WTC points table with win on Ban & SA's loss to Oz.

2  >>  Oz swept Test against SA in 866 balls.

3  >>  Harry Brook scored century in each of his 1st 3 Tests.

4  >>  Nathan Lyon reaches 454 Test wickets in comparision to Ashwin's 443.

Ind Showing Signs Of Glorious WTC

The way the Indian lower-middle order fought in the batting today & the kind of bowling hostility that the Indian attack put up on display after that, India are showing signs of glorious WTC this way. If they play this way, they will win this series easily & the BGT as well.

Ind On Path To Targeted Success

Ind on the path to targeted success:

With 400 runs in the 1st inning helped by some glorious fight down the order & then 300-runs lead limiting Ban to 133/8, Ind are well set on the path of the targeted success in the 2022-23 Test season.

Highlights Of The Day - 14 December 2022

Highlights Of The Day - 14 December 2022:

(1) R. Ashwin remains just 12 wickets (474) behind Anil Kumble (486) in claimining most Test wickets in winning cause for India.

(2) Ishan Kishan is called Mr. 361 degree for his double ton by Ajay Jadeja.

(3) Rishabh Pant completes 4000 runs in international cricket.

Right Decision

K.L. Rahul has remarked that he has decided to go aggressive in this season of the Test cricket, considering it is the best way to go for it, it seems the Indian team has decided to follow this strategy, this strategy seems rightful for it & I think Indian team will do good with this approach.

Prediction

My prediction for the Indian Test season 2022-23: India will win the Test series in Ban 2-0 & the BGT 4-0, finishing at the top in the WTC points table, & win the final this time.