Sports
Wanidu Hasaranga among nominees for ICC Men’s T20I Player of the Year
Wanidu Hasaranga, Mohamed Rizwan, Mitchelle Marsh, and Jos Buttler are the nominees for the 2021 ICC Men’s T20I Player of the Year awards.
Here, we take a look at the memorable performances of the two brilliant wicket keepers and two all-rounders.
Mohammad Rizwan – Pakistan
1326 runs in 29 matches at an average of 73.66 with one century; 24 dismissals.
The Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter ruled the roost in 2021 when it came to the shortest format of the game. Aggregating a staggering 1326 runs in only 29 matches, Rizwan struck at an average of 73.66 and a strike-rate of 134.89. Apart from his exploits with the bat, he was as solid as ever behind the stumps, playing a key role in Pakistan’s run to the semis during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021, where he ended up as the third-highest run-scorer.
He also scored the maiden T20I century of his career against South Africa in Lahore early in the year and ended it continuing his form with a brilliant knock of 87 against West Indies in Karachi. With another T20 World Cup coming up next year, Pakistan will hope that Rizwan continues in the same vein.
Though a chase of 152 looked easy on paper, Pakistan had the weight of history against them in the T20 World Cup encounter against India. With the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami in opposition attack, the task was made all the more complicated. But as was almost always the case in 2021, Rizwan along with his skipper Babar Azam ensured that a famous victory would be sealed that would be celebrated in the history of Pakistan cricket for years to come.
Rizwan smacked 79* in only 55 deliveries, hitting six fours and three sixes. The ease with which he countered the Indian bowling attack was a thing of sheer beauty. He ensured that there were no hiccups in the run-chase as Pakistan galloped towards the target without losing a single wicket to seal a 10-wicket victory.
Wanindu Hasaranga – Sri Lanka
36 wickets in 20 matches at 11.63; 196 runs with one half-century
It was a breakthrough year for Wanindu Hasaranga, who established himself as one of the best spinners in the shortest format while also being a player who could contribute with the bat. A consistent performer throughout the year, Hasaranga’s star shone the brightest during the T20 World Cup in UAE and Oman.
He ended the tournament as the leading wicket-taker with 16 scalps and also played some handy knocks with the bat, like his 71 against Ireland. He was a constant menace for the opposition as Sri Lanka impressed one and all during the tournament with their young and energetic side.
Still only 24, Hasaranga is expected to become a cornerstone of Sri Lankan cricket, especially in the shortest formats of the game.
In a pressure encounter in Sharjah against South Africa, Hasaranga almost single-handedly helped his side claw back into the contest with his brilliance with the ball. Claiming a memorable hat-trick, he took the big scalps of Aiden Markram (19) and Temba Bavuma (46) before dismissing Dwaine Pretorius to complete his hat-trick.
Hasaranga would end up with figures of 3/20 in his four-over spell, and it was only the power-hitting of David Miller at the death that got the Proteas over the line.
Mitchell Marsh – Australia
627 runs in 27 matches at 36.88; 8 wickets at 18.37.
The year that was
Australia’s success at the T20 World Cup can be traced back to the decision to move Mitchell Marsh up the batting order to No.3, instead of designating him the role of being a finisher lower down. Throughout the calendar year, he was their best batter in the shortest format, improving his game by leaps and bounds, especially against spin and when it came to rotating the strike.
He was the silver lining in Australia’s poor showings in West Indies and Bangladesh batting higher up the order. Heading into the tournament in UAE and Oman, he was in supreme confidence after his good displays and improved fitness. This led to a fruitful tournament as he aggregated 185 runs in 6 matches at an average of 61.66 and a healthy strike-rate of 146.82. He would reserve the best for the last, playing a match-winning knock in the final against New Zealand.
Chasing down a target of 173 and after the early departure of skipper Aaron Finch, the pressure was on Marsh to build a substantial partnership with David Warner. He did exactly that, playing his best knock of the tournament. His unbeaten 77 off 50 deliveries consisted of six fours and four sixes.
Starting off aggressively, he rotated the strike brilliantly in the middle overs as he teed off again towards the end. His knock ensured that Australia chased down the challenging target in only 18.5 overs, and were crowned the winners of the T20 World Cup for the first time. For his performance, he was adjudged the Player of the Match.
Jos Buttler – England
589 runs in 14 matches at 65.44 with one century; 13 dismissals
The year gone by
Buttler started the year off brilliantly with two blistering knocks against India away from home. He would continue this run in the subsequent series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, despite not playing all the matches. This boded well for England as their key batter was in sublime touch heading into the T20 World Cup.
He did not disappoint in the tournament, always getting his side off to brilliant starts. His two best knocks came in consecutive matches – first against age-old rivals Australia and then against Sri Lanka who faced his full wrath.
He ended the tournament as England’s leading run-scorer with 269 runs, as their run would be ended by New Zealand in the semi-finals in a nail-biting thriller.
Blasting the first century of the tournament, Buttler was at his belligerent best in the encounter against Sri Lanka in Sharjah. It was ball-striking of the highest order as the wicketkeeper-batter penetrated all areas of the ground.
His unbeaten 101 came in only 67 deliveries and consisted of six fours and six sixes. Buttler’s knock allowed England to post a competitive score of 163/4, which they ended up defending and winning the contest by 26 runs.
The value of his knock was accentuated as it came on a slow and low pitch in Sharjah, which wasn’t conducive to a stroke-maker like Buttler, with the batters finding it generally tough to time the ball.
(ICC)
The break in the IPL witnessed the departure of two huge pillars of Indian Test cricket. It resumed with a 23-year-old and a 14-year-old taking T20 batting to new heights.Yashaswi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Suryavanshi put on a 76-run opening partnership where 74 runs had come in boundaries. But even with that head start, it was heartbreak for Rajasthan Royals (RR) as they lost by 10 runs. Punjab Kings (PBKS) are now up to 17 points. They aren’t assured of a playoffs spot just yet but it looks like a matter of time.
PBKS equalled an IPL record for most 200-plus totals in a season (6). They made 219 for 5. That it happened after they lost three wickets in the first 19 balls just added even more sheen to their achievement. The top-scorer Nehal Wadhera (70 off 37) attended a mid-innings interview where he said his captain Shreyas Iyer had told him to keep hitting despite wickets falling and that mentality was the reason why they made the most of beautiful batting conditions in Jaipur.
Most of PBKS’ firepower has come from their openers. But on Sunday, both Prabhsimran Singh and Priyansh Arya couldn’t get going. That though allowed Wadhera all the time he needed to come into his own. He is a lovely spin-hitter (strike-rate 156, average 84 this IPL). Two of his best shots came off Wanindu Hasaranga on either side of Iyer’s wicket – one where he picked the googly and hit down the ground for six and the next where he picked the leg break and slog swept it for six.
Wadhera could’ve been out on 48 had Hasaranga been able to hold onto a tough caught and bowled chance.
Tushar Deshpande went into death overs mode in the 15th itself, using yorkers and bouncers of varying pace to save himself. Akash Madhwal, who was having a rough evening, might have thought he’d bought his team some relief when he dismissed Wadhera with four overs still left. Shahshnak Singh, at the time, was looking scratchy. He could’ve been dismissed for 11 off 10 if Dhruv Jurel had not misjudged where the boundary line was at long-off while trying to take a catch.
Shashank made the most of the life he got and became a menace for an RR attack that had plans to deal with him. The wide yorker was a big part of that, but the finisher one-upped them by moving around in his crease, twice scooping off the wide line to find the fine leg boundary and once taking guard almost two feet outside his crease in order to meet the yorkers on the full. Shashank made 59 off 30 balls.
Nobody was ready for how the RR innings began. Jaiswal went 4, dot, 4, 4, 6, 4 in the very first over bowled by Arshdeep Singh. Suryavanshi wasn’t lagging behind. From his place deep in his crease, and with the kind of power that doesn’t really tally with his age, he found leverage to hit bowlers looking for his nose and his toes out of the park. RR were 51 for 0 in three overs. Fifty of those runs in fours and sixes. One run off a wide. The first scoring shot that wasn’t a boundary took 26 balls to arrive. On the back of this unreal partnership, RR put up their highest powerplay total (89 for 1) in IPL history.
With the ball flying to all parts – and regular captain Shreyas Iyer subbed out to manage a finger injury – PBKS turned to Harpreet Brar (4-0-22-3) to see if pace off the ball would work. It did. Brar bowled one in the powerplay, got the benefit of a spread-out field after that, he still had to deal with a left-handed batter for most of his spell, nothing fazed him. Because he was clear with what he wanted to do. If he went full, he was not going to give RR the chance to get under the ball. He offered no room either. If he went short, he bowled it quick and kept the stumps in play to deny the batter time to swing. Riyan Parag found that out when the speed of his hands was no match for the skid of Brar’s arm ball. RR hit 19 boundaries in the powerplay. Brar came on to control the middle overs and they hit only four boundaries between overs 7 and 14.
RR’s finishers have been under the scanner all season. Shimron Hetmyer has the fifth-lowest strike rate of all batters who have at least 50 runs in the death overs. Jurel has been found out by spin. Here too, he made only 15 off 13 against Brar and Yuzvendra Chahal, but he was able to get on top of the PBKS quicks. He had a season strike rate of 179 against pace coming into this game. He upped it to 211 on Sunday.
A tense finish was on the cards, but Arshdeep came back for the 19th over, and nailed his lengths, whether he went yorker, or knuckle-ball into the pitch, and gave away only nine runs. That left RR with 22 runs to get off the last six balls. They managed to do that once in this game. Twice was asking for too much.
Brief scores:
Punjab Kings 219 for 5 in 20 overs (Nehal Wadhera 70, Prabhsimran Singh 21, Shreyas Iyer 30, Shashank Singh 59*, Azmatullah Omarzai 21*; Tushar Deshpande 2-37, Kwena Maphaka 1-32, Riyan Parag 1-26, Akash Madhwal 1-48) beat Rajasthan Royals 209 for 7 in 20 overs (Dhruv Jurel 53, Yashaswi Jaiswal 50, Vaibhav Suryawanshi 40, Sanju Samson 20, Riyan Parag 13, Shimron Hetmyer 11; Marco Jansen 2-41, Harpreet Brar 3-22, Azmatullah Omarzai 2-44) by 10 runs
[Cricinfo]
Italy’s Massimo Stano broke the short-lived world 35km race walk record at the European Race Walking Team Championships – a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold meeting – in Podebrady on Sunday (18) by a massive 57 seconds.
The 2:20:43 recorded by the 2021 Olympic champion comfortably eclipsed the 2:21:40 set by Canadian Evan Dunfee in March, which in itself was seven seconds quicker than the 2:21:47 recorded by Japan’s Masatora Kawano last October.
Stano took over the lead at 23km, and went through the gears to record laps under 4:00m in the closing stages.
[World Athletics]
Relay team dropped from Asian Athletics Championship
IPL2025 : Nehal Wadhera and Harpreet Brar take Punjab Kings closer to playoffs
Massimo Stano smashes world 35km race walk record in Podebrady
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