IPL 2021 | Harshal Patel equals Dwayne Bravo's record of most wickets in one IPL season

Hardik Pandya conundrum forces India to live with tough choices for World T20

India made a couple of brave and some interesting and contentious selection calls in their squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup. The exclusions of Shikhar Dhawan, although it was all but expected, and Yuzvendra Chahal, whose underperformance was brushed under the carpet for a long time, were brave calls. At the same time, selecting as few as three pacers for the tournament was an interesting one, and when one considers the uncertainties surrounding the all-around abilities of Hardik Pandya, the move can safely be called a contentious one. Hardik has hardly been an all-rounder in the recent past and although he bowled some overs in the Indian jersey, those were moments of desperation rather than tactics. Were selectors lost for the batting abilities of Hardik while selecting him in the World T20 squad? After all, he has been there in India’s white-ball sides as a pure batsman since his return from a career-unsettling back injury. The selectors could also have gone in with the hope after positive feedback from coaching staff and physios who have been saying that Hardik is not too far away from bowling while selecting him in the side. What’s the Conundrum? Having made the decision to select Hardik in the side based more on the hope than his fitness realities, the selectors now face a tough task of managing the risk of missing out on a possible fourth seamer in the squad and seeing the opportunity of having him as a dasher lower down the order. For every honest observer of the game, Hardik’s selection in the side as a specialist batsman would be a no-brainer, but the big conundrum for the selectors have arisen after his harrowing show with the bat in the Indian Premier League preceding the big global tournament. He has looked like a pale shadow of his dominating best and while there is no doubt about his muscle and ability to hit the long sixes, the form factor is a big concern. Had he been in the kind of form he was during the last edition of the IPL, he would have walked into the playing XI but things are becoming difficult for both him and the selection committee. Now, selectors have to take a call on whether they want to stick with Hardik the batsman and accommodate another pacer for his lack of bowling by replacing one spinner in the squad, or to have him completely excluded from the squad. Also, they can also choose to opt for neither of those calls, and anyone call among the above three will have a big effect on the Indian squad and their chances in the T20 World Cup. They can opt for Shardul Thakur, who is already in the reserves in place of one spinner among Ravichandran Ashwin, Varun Chakravarthy, Rahul Chahar and Axar Patel to bolster the pace/medium pace quotient of the bowling attack. Shardul can’t match the batting credentials of Hardik, but he can certainly be a better bowler than him and Virat Kohli can readily rely on him to produce two to three overs on the worst possible days. Spinners aplenty but horses for courses Removing any of those spinners will be a monumental call as all of them are there with specific plans purposes. While Axar brings similar qualities to the table as Ravindra Jadeja, he is a lot different from him and has a proud IPL record to deserve a place without hyphenation with Jadeja. Ashwin has been brought into the side to counter the left-handed batsmen in the opposition lineups and was selected only after the injury to Washington Sundar. Axing him after a celebrated recall would be a tough call for the selectors and also the team management will be wary of not having any specialist off-spinner in the squad. Varun Chakravarty has been brought in to strengthen the mystery spin quotient of the bowling attack and he will be used sparingly against the teams packed with power players. His fitness has been doggy in the recent past but the team management will find it tough to leave him out if fit to accommodate another pacer in the squad. The surprise and one of the two brave calls discussed above was the selection of Rahul Chahar over Yuzvendra Chahal. Chahar’s place can come under scrutiny as he lost his form and was dropped from the Mumbai Indians playing XI while Chahal picked up a bundle of wickets for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, but the debate of one over the other deserves a separate discussion. Whosoever gets the nod in the main squad, that both Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri value the role of wrist spinners immensely, it is tough to presume they will go without both of them in the world cup. Then, where do the debate over Hardik’s place in the team and India’s choice of bowling attack end? The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) reportedly got an extra five days to decided what they want to do with the issue of Hardik Pandya or to show a willingness to bite the bullet by making it look like a nonissue. Will they be able to trust Hardik Pandya’s quality more than his recent struggle, and have him in the squad irrespective of his bowling fitness? Or, will they compromise with the variety in the spin bowling department to bring one more pacer in the squad, or else, will they back their selection calls to the hilt and trust the team management to extract the best out of the players selected with the vision and ambition of lifting the trophy for the first time since the inaugural edition so far back in the year 2007.

PCB, PSL franchises reach agreements on issues related to revenue sharing

All the six franchises of the Pakistan Super League have accepted the new proposals from the Pakistan Cricket Board that included the creation of a central revenue pool for the tournament, locking dollar rate, and Covid-19 relief for the editions for the tournament ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic. These proposals were made to them in the latest round of governing council after the election of Ramiz Raja as the chairman of the PCB. The issue of central revenue pool and a fixed dollar rate has been contentious for the franchise in the past and the PCB would be elated to resolve the issues before the next edition. Ramiz Raja expressed his delight in reaching a consensus on the issues that he said were causing “distraction and harm” to the brand of the PSL. He called the agreement a stepping stone towards building a “stronger relationship” with franchises on the path of “unprecedented heights” for the PSL. “The longstanding matters between the PCB and the franchises were causing distraction and affecting the reputation of the brand. I am delighted that all matters have finally been resolved, which is a big step forward in building a stronger relationship with the franchise owners as we look forward to working with them to take the HBL PSL to greater and unprecedented heights,” Raja said in the PCB statement. Franchises owners also shared satisfaction over PCB accepting their long-standing demands, which they said is an indication of their commitment and resolve to make PSL better than it has been in the past. “HBL PSL is very close to our hearts. Since 2016, we all have worked very hard to bring it to where it is today. The acceptance of the PCB offer is an indication of our commitment and resolve to making the HBL PSL a bigger and better league that is participated by the best players, commercially supported by the elite companies and watched live by the passionate cricket fans in Pakistan as well as globally,” The franchise owners said in a joint statement. Ramiz Raja has been in action since rising to the top of the PCB brass and although he has a lot of issues at his table to find resolution of, he is not ducking any of them as of now.

Ireland's Amy Hunter becomes youngest player to score international century, takes over Mithali Raj

Amy Hunter is an exciting enough name to get your brain cells working, but here it’s not the actor, rather a 16-year-old schoolgirl from Ireland, who hit the international cricket running by becoming the youngest centurion ever (male or female) in the game’s 144-year-old professional history. The Belfast born all-rounder, who hit unbeaten 121 against Zimbabwe on October 11, which was also her 16th birthday, replaced India Women’s skipper Mithali Raj at the top of the list of youngest centurions. Raj had scored her debut century at the age of 16 years and 205 days and incidentally against Ireland Women in 1999. Hunter, who plays for Typhoons in the domestic set up was one of the keys to Ireland Women reaching their highest ever ODI total as they scored 312-3 in their 50 overs against Zimbabwe in the fourth and final ODI of their bilateral series in Harare. Being asked to bat after losing the toss, the women in green lost their opener, Leah Paul, early on. But then Hunter joined Gaby Lewis and the two put up 104 for the second wicket before Lewis was removed as well. Laura Delany then accompanied Hunter for a 143 run partnership. It was during this partnership only that Hunter became only the fourth Irish woman to score an ODI century and the first to do it outside Ireland. The 16-year-old hit eight fours in her 127 ball knock of 121. After Delany’s wicket, Hunter and Orla Prendergast managed to get Ireland past 300 for only the second time in their entire ODI history. Zimbabwe Women, who are playing only their first-ever ODI series and who did well to win their first-ever ODI itself early on in this series, could only get to 227-8 with Josephine Nkomo top-scoring with 66 of 106 balls. With this 85 run win, Irish women also sealed the series 3-1.

KL Rahul to part ways with Punjab Kings before next IPL: Reports

It has come as a shocking revelation that Punjab Kings and its skipper Lokesh Rahul might part ways with each other ahead of the start of the new season in 2022. Since a mega auction would be held before the 2022 IPL, it is also being assumed that a lot of franchises have shown interest in signing up with the current Orange Cap holder. According to a Cricbuzz report, the franchisee refused to speak on the issue while Rahul, currently part of Team India’s World Cup squad and in the bio-bubble in UAE, was also not available for comments. Rahul was signed up by the Kings in the 2018 edition of the IPL for a four-season deal and in the mega auction, the franchise has the option to either retain him or buy him back using the Right to Match card. But it is being speculated that both the franchise as well as the player want an amicable exit. During his stay at Punjab Kings, of which he went on to become the skipper in 2020, the 29-year-old scored 2548 runs in four seasons across 55 games at an average of 56 and a striker rate of more than 130.