All the world's cricketers walked into a bar. The LOLs, the chatter, and the occasional mini-brawls, they were endless. And the news cycle was never the same again! Welcome to ESPNcricinfo's Social Buzz, your go-to destination for all the bantz, the jousts, and little bit of eavesdropping from the social media playground and beyond.
Bismah Maroof retains Pakistan captaincy in new contracts
The PCB has increased salaries across the board for the country's top women cricketers, as well as more lucrative financial incentives for domestic cricket. BISMAH MAROOFretains the captaincy, while ANAM AMIN and UMAIMA SOHAIL get full contracts. Maroof finds herself promoted to the highest category A, as does JAVERIA while NIDA DAR, who became the first Pakistan women's player to participate in the Women's Big Bash League in Australia last year, drops down from Category A to C due to a "below par season", according to women's chief selector UROOJ MUMTAZ. A sustained run of poor form with the bat appears to have cost 28-year old Sidra Ameen a central contract, while 22-year old left arm spinner Nashra Sandhu also drops out of the 9-woman list.
Sana Mir's retirement means nine central contracts this year, as opposed to 10 last year but it also means that in two years, the number of centrally contracted women's cricketers has nearly halved. Two years ago, 17 women were awarded central contracts, a number the current PCB administrating last year. Mir's exit ostensibly leaves a hole no player has been able to fill, and the trade-off is an increase in the quality of the contracts. Category A players see their earnings rise by a third, while Category B and C players will have their remuneration increased by 30% and 25% respectively. Domestic cricketers experience a significant boost as well, with match fees and event prize money doubling at that level, while daily allowances increase by 50%.
In addition, an emerging contract list of nine promising women's players has been created. ESPNcricinfo understands they will be paid retainers, with the category in effect serving as a vote of confidence to the players believed to be knocking on the door of centrally contracted players most earnestly.
Mumtaz said: "On behalf of the selection committee, I would like to congratulate all the players who have received the central contracts. The selection committee had detailed deliberations prior to announcing the central contracts. International performances over the past 12 months, fitness standards and the players' ability to contribute in both white ball formats were key measures that formed the criteria for the selection.
"Bismah and Javeria have been promoted to Category A, following leading performances with the bat in the last year. Diana Baig has been promoted to Category B and she joins Aliya Riaz and Sidra Nawaz - both of whom have been retained in this category - as she topped the T20I bowling charts for Pakistan in the last 12 months.
"We had to take some tough decisions and would like to emphasise and encourage those who have missed out to take this as an opportunity to improve their game and make a strong comeback. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Bismah Maroof on retaining her leadership role in both ODI and T20 formats for the upcoming season. She has been a phenomenal performer and has risen to the occasion whenever the situation demanded.
"I am extremely delighted to announce the emerging contract category. The addition of this category will incentivise players to remain dedicated to the game, importantly increasing the pool of players and creating a competitive environment at the junior level."
The Pakistan national women's team is scheduled to feature in the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier and the ACC Women's T20 Cup in the next 12 months, while an U19 team will feature in the inaugural ICC U19 Women's T20 World Cup.
Pakistan's plans to bring its cricketers out of lockdown and back to training next week has hit a snag with more time needed to prepare a bio-secure environment to ensure player safety.
Players and team management had already been briefed by the PCB's medical panel about training under a controlled environment. The plan was to bring 25 to 30 athletes to the NCA in Lahore, where they would stay and train in pairs from early June onwards. Next, they would move across the road to Gaddafi stadium for a three-week camp that would include training in larger groups. Finally, those picked for the England tour would fly over in early July.
The problem, however, is that the NCA's lodging facilities currently have only 21 rooms available, where as many as 40 are needed to implement proper social distancing. Additionally, no one will be allowed to enter or leave the premises.
The PCB remain hopeful of making it work and could look into splitting the camp between two venues. Another issue will be that some of the coaching staff are outside the country, such as bowling coach Waqar Younis is based in Australia and physiotherapist Cliffe Deacon, in South Africa.
The selection committee has finalised a list of probables for the camp but will only admit those who test negative for Covid-19.
The PCB is yet to reach out to the provincial and federal governments for support. But the board did come up with the return-to-training ground rules with help from various medical experts and guidelines put forward by the World Health Organisation.
Dr Sohail Saleem, head of PCB medical panel, has been in touch with the ECB to confirm Standard Operating Procedures on how to run camps in these unprecedented circumstances. The ICC's guidelines have also been incorporated into these plans, a final draft of which will be submitted to the ICC for review.
All sport in the country has been on hold since March, and most of the cricketers were last active in the PSL. There have been reports of a few centrally contracted players going for nets but the PCB is believed to be unaware of those developments.
There are currently 76,106 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Pakistan and cases are on the rise. Restrictions in the country are starting to ease with Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday announcing the reopening of many businesses and industries, including tourism. However, all contact sports, indoor sports clubs, indoor gyms, indoor sports facilities; sporting tournaments/matches (indoors and outdoors) remain shut. In case the government refuses to allow any sporting activity in the country, then the PCB is likely to request a special permission to ensure the England tour goes ahead.
IPL 2017: Virat Kohli's preparations before a match Virat says that he always try to keep things simple.
On Saturday, on the eve of the dead-rubber against Delhi Daredevils, the Royals Challengers Bangalore skipper, Virat Kohli was the first to step out of the team bus when it arrived at the Ferozeshah Kotla. Within 15 minutes, the whole team was out along with Kohli to play a round of football to warm up.
When asked about his yoga routine by TOI, Kohli replied, "I do yoga when I am at home. Otherwise, stretching and strengthening exercises are a must for me."
RCB didn’t leave any stone unturned during the practice sessions, with Kohli taking most of the initiative. During the net sessions, it seems that they are the champion team of the tournament.
Earlier this year, Kohli was named as the captain of the Indian team in all the three formats of the game. In the ongoing season of IPL, it was the first time that he has faced a crisis for the first time as a captain in the IPL. Talking about the same, Virat said, "I am not trying anything extra. Just want to keep things simple.”
It has always been seen that Virat has shown some intensity in net sessions. He took just one break I in between his hour long batting session, just to gulp some water. Also, during the IPL, he didn’t talk about India’s preparations Champions Trophy. However, Kohli was confident enough that 10-match losing streak with the Bangalore team didn't affect his morale as the leader.
As a batsman, Virat managed to score just 250 runs in the 9 matches, with 64 being his highest score. However, some other Indian batsmen have fared no better -Ajinkya Rahane, Yuvraj Singh, and MS Dhoni also have struggled. India openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are the only two Indian batsmen ahead of Kohli in the run-scorers.
The duo guided Hyderabad to seventh win off 13 matches, which put them fourth in the points table
Shikhar Dhawan and Moises Henriques added 91 runs for the second wicke
Chasing just 139, Hyderabad needed just 6.90 an over from the onset to
overturn league leaders, Mumbai. Moises Henriques and Shikhar Dhawan,
with a 91-run stand for the second wicket, provided just the platform
they required to register a comfortable seven wicket win against Mumbai
at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Monday.
Rohit Sharma, Mumbai's captain, won the toss and opted to bat first. But
his ploy backfired as his batsmen struggled to find their feet on a
sluggish surface. Sharma was the only Mumbai batsman that found form and
thumped a 45-ball 67. Cameos from Parthiv Patel and Hardik Pandya
helped in pushing the tourists to 138. Mumbai needed wickets to stay
alive and David Warner's departure in the second over of the chase gave
them hope, but that was short lived as Henriques and Dhawan took charge.
Dhawan thumped the first four in the third over, before Henriques took
charge and clubbed Jasprit Bumrah for two more in the fifth. Mumbai
conceded the early advantage through poor bowling and the
Henriques-Dhawan combine capitalized. Dhawan was particularly
unforgiving off legspinner Karn Sharma, and lofted him for two sixes.
Henriques finally fell in the 13th over for a 35-ball 44 that included
six fours. Hyderabad was still 41-runs adrift at that stage. Dhawan
refused to budge and guided the defending champions home with 10 balls
remaining. Dhawan remained unbeaten on 62 off 46. The counter-attacking
display kept Hyderabad's playoff chances alive.
More matches will be hosted in Pakistan in PSL 2018.
The Pakistan Super League (PSL)
has seen prosperity in the first two editions. Despite the fact that it
has been played on the lines of IPL and BBL, PSL still has some
uniqueness to claim. In the first season, it lasted only 24 games across
three weeks, unlike other T20 leagues that span across a month or so.
In
the first two season of PSL, there were only 5 teams, but recent
reports suggested that the 2018 edition will have an additional team on
the roster. There will be 6 teams competing for the coveted trophy.
However, the PSL working committee wanted to have the additional
franchise in the 2017 edition itself, but due to some prior MoUs, they
played with only five existing franchises.
An extra team would have come in
conflict with the interests of the existing teams as they had a two-year
agreement of non-addition of the new teams. According to the previous
set of rules, the profit was meant to be shared among five teams in the
first two seasons of the tournament.
Now
as the clause is no more valid, PCB has decided to add another team for
the tournament next year. As per the reports in Cricbuzz, the
interested parties for the new franchise are expected to send their
proposals by May 30. The addition of new team will also increase the
number of matches of the season to 34.
Moreover, the PSL chief Najam Sethi has expressed that they are looking to host 8 PSL matches in Pakistan. Earlier this year, the finals of PSL 2017 were held in Lahore that too under very high security.
The current participating teams are Lahore Qalandars, Islamabad United, Karachi Kings, Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi.
Gujarat Lions 153 for 9 (Kishan 48, Tye 25, K Pandya 3-14, Bumrah 2-32) tied with Mumbai Indians 153 (Parthiv 70, K Pandya 29, Thampi 3-29, Faulkner 2-34) Super Over: Mumbai Indians 11 (Pollard 10, Faulkner 2-11) beat Gujarat Lions 6 for 0 (Bumrah 0-4) by 5 runs
Agarkar: Exceptional skill under pressure from Bumrah
In what became a street fight on a dry surface, Gujarat Lions produced
some gun run-outs to force a tie, but in the tiebreaker, the top gun, Jasprit Bumrah
bowled a sensational Super Over to defend 11 runs and give Mumbai
Indians the joint lead at the top of the table, with Kolkata Knight
Riders. For most parts, perhaps because of a slow pitch, this match was
more about who wanted to lose it more badly, but in the final moments
both sides raises their games to deliver a Twenty20 spectacle.
In the absence of the injured Andrew Tye, James Faulkner
deflated Mumbai's rollicking chase of 154 with his cutters to bring the
target to 15 off two overs. Basil Thampi then produced two wickets in
the 19th over to make it 12 required off six balls with three wickets in
hand. The only man keeping his head for Mumbai until now was Krunal Pandya, who was on 19 off 16, after having registered his best T20 bowling figures earlier in the match.
To the last ball of the 19th over, Mitchell McClenaghan played a ramp
with fine leg back. He was always going to sacrifice his wicket to bring
Krunal on strike for the first ball of the last over, but this stroke
fell precariously short of the charging Irfan Pathan. Playing for his
sixth IPL team, once again as a second thought as has been the case in
the last three seasons, Irfan's first over had been butchered for 16 by
Parthiv Patel, who scored 70 off 44.
Irfan kept charging at the ball, which fell well short and spun away
from him. Not only did he stick out his hand in the other direction to
prevent the boundary, he also ran McClenaghan out with a direct hit from
fine leg. Riding on that momentum, Irfan came in to bowl his second
over, and started off with a half-volley first ball. Krunal, who had
done all the hard work, smoked it for a straight six.
With the game now looking done, with four required off four balls,
Bumrah tapped one towards point and set off for what is a regulation
single nowadays in the final overs. Ravindra Jadeja, though, had other
ideas. He charged in, swooped on the ball, and knocked down the stumps
at the bowler's end. Krunal had regained strike, and punched the next
slower ball through the vacant third man region for a couple. He did the
pragmatic thing by taking the single available on the fifth ball to tie
the scores.
Now Irfan bowled to Lasith Malinga. Aware the batsmen were going to run
no matter what, a fielder stood by the stumps at the bowler's end as
Irfan ran in. He bowled full, hit Malinga's pad, Krunal hared through,
and Jadeja at point got the ball on the full. Instead of going at
Malinga's end, he went to the striker's, and beat the dive of Krunal by a
frame, hitting the only stump visible to him. Lions' fielding had
forced a tie after they had dropped two catches.
Rising Pune Supergiant 157 for 3 (Smith 45, Tiwary 44*) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 96 for 9 (Kohli 55, Ferguson 2-7) by 61 runs
Hogg: RCB batting too reliant on big names
Utterly wasteful batting left Royal Challengers Bangalore closer to the
brink than ever before in IPL 2017. They needed 158 to win the first of
five games Virat Kohli said they had to win to make the play-offs. They
did not need a scoreline that read 53 for 5 in the 10th over. But that
is what they got. That, and a chastening, morale-killing 61-run defeat.
Rising Pune Supergiant were not complaining. They finally got to defend a
total at home and safeguard their position at fourth place on the
points table.
So what now for RCB? They can, mathematically,
still make the final four, but can a team that fell to 49 all out, a
team that will lose AB de Villiers in the coming weeks, a team that tops
the charts in run-outs (7), single-digit scores (40) and scoring slowly
in the Powerplay (6.64) stop the rot in time?
The hitter
Rahul Tripathi has shouldered considerable responsibility in his first
IPL season. He is expected to take advantage of fielding restrictions in
the Powerplay, which by itself is not an unreasonable demand. But the
26-year old has also had to make up for his partner's struggles. Ajinkya
Rahane's strike-rate of 123 is the lowest among openers with 100 or
more runs in this IPL and today he fell early as well, sweeping a full
toss to short fine leg.
RCB might have thought that gave them the advantage. After all, Tripathi
did not even play the 2017 domestic T20 tournament. But on a grander
stage, against tougher bowlers, he has now smashed six straight 30-plus
scores - an unmatched tally - and specifically in the first six overs,
he has 198 runs - another unmatched tally - hitting a boundary every
3.71 balls.
A see-saw innings
Pune collected 43 runs in the Powerplay, but only 26 in the next five
overs, hitting only one four. This was because they had to deal with a
dry pitch and a set of RCB players swearing by their slower balls.
Another thing that worked for Kohli was his use of Pawan Negi. The
left-arm spinner has bowled 120 balls this season - 103 of them have
been to right-handers. They have also contributed to seven of his eight
wickets, Tripathi the latest to succumb for 37 off 28 balls. Negi
finished with 1 for 18, equalling his most economical spell of four
overs in IPL history.
Royal Challengers Bangalore v Sunrisers Hyderabad: Match abandoned without toss
Virat Kohli and RCB might have to win all their remaining six games to make the playoffs
On the heels of collapsing for the lowest total in IPL history, Royal
Challengers Bangalore had to endure a washout at home, putting their
hopes of making the playoffs in jeopardy.
They have only two wins from eight matches so far and might have to win
each of their next six games to be among the top four on the points
table. Should they pull off such a streak, they will have 17 points.
Only four times in the IPL's past nine years have teams got through to
the final four with less than 16 points.
Sunrisers Hyderabad, on the other hand, are already at third place,
might well have enjoyed having an extra night off during a tournament so
hectic. The weather soured approximately an hour and a half before the
toss and though it was only a drizzle for the most part, it was
persistent. The umpires finally called the game off at 11 pm, which
meant David Warner's men continue searching for their first win away
from home in 2017.
Virat Kohli's wicket in the first over was the first domino to fall in a record low innings by Royal Challengers Bangalore
Virat Kohli
has been part of many historic feats, but all those have given him a
lot of joy. The latest one, registered on Sunday evening, was one he
said he wants to forget quickly. Four years to the day after registering
the highest total in IPL history, Royal Challengers Bangalore
embarrassed themselves by hitting the opposite end of the spectrum as
they posted an IPL record low total, 49 all out against Kolkata Knight Riders.
"Our worst batting performance," Kohli said summing up the defeat. "It
really hurts. After the kind of half that we had, we thought we could
capitalise and chase it down. Reckless batting, I can't say anything at
the moment. It was that bad. This is just not acceptable."
Nobody reached double-figures and there were three ducks recorded in the
Royal Challengers' batting. One of them was Kohli, the first wicket to
fall when he edged to second slip just three balls into the chase. Kohli
was visibly disgruntled walking back as he gestured to show he had been
distracted by some movement above the sight screen. "The sightscreen is
very small here. One guy got up as the bowler was loading up, that
distracted me. Still it wasn't a big deal. That was just one down. Nine
guys could have done the job."
When asked if he would dwell on the nature of the defeat, Kohli said
that the best thing for Royal Challengers is to focus on the next match
rather than spend any significant time analysing how his side lost.
"There's nothing to review anything about the second half, it was that
bad," Kohli said. "We need to forget it and move forward. We're a much
better team. We got 200 plus in the last game. I'm sure everyone
realizes what they've done wrong. You have to come out, show intent and
back yourselves. I'm sure we won't bat like that again in the
tournament."
This was Royal Challengers' fifth defeat as last year's runner-up
slipped to the bottom of the points table with half their games
complete. After losing to Rising Pune Supergiant at home on April 16,
their third straight defeat, Kohli had said the franchise could not be
expected to repeat last season's feat of winning their last four league
matches to make the playoffs. However, they may require another hot run
to end the season to have any chance of reaching the knockout stage
based on the history of previous standings at the end of the league
stage.
No team has reached the IPL playoffs with fewer than seven wins, though
the fourth playoff spot in each of the past two seasons went to teams
finishing on 16 points. With just four points from two victories,
Kohli's team realistically needs to win at least five if not six of
their remaining seven matches to make the playoffs this season but they
haven't given up hope yet.
"We're going back home for a couple of games," Kohli said. "We've got
back-to-back games, need to try and win those to get some momentum."
Kings XI Punjab broke their four-game losing streak by defending 188
against Gujarat Lions, a total they built on a quickfire 70-run
partnership between Shaun Marsh and Hashim Amla
Hashim Amla continued his run of good form with 65 runs off 40 balls
Kings XI Punjab had lost four successive games after opening the season
with two wins, and were yearning for a victory that took them out of the
bottom half. After being put in by Gujarat Lions, Kings XI lost Manan
Vohra, who recovered from an illness, in the second over. It was left to
Hashim Amla and Shaun Marsh to consolidate and build a total they had a
chance to defend.
Both batsmen found their timing and fluency from the outset. Amla laid
anchor, but his strike-rate was still lofty. Marsh used his power and
timing to accrue boundaries. Together, they added 70 runs in just 48
balls.
While Amla relied on his timing and his wrists to find gaps, Marsh was
willing to go over fielders. Both batsmen struck 11 boundaries between
them in the Powerplay, making use of the width offered by Gujarat Lions'
bowlers. They set a strong base for Kings XI's 188, a total they
defended by 26 runs. Amla continued his impressive form with an elegant
65.
Have a sense of confidence, not arrogance - McClenaghan
After Mumbai Indians laboured to a sub-par 142 against a quality effort
from Delhi Daredevils' bowlers, a lot had to go their way in their
defense. Small dimensions of the field and the onset of dew late in the
evening makes Wankhede Stadium a favourable ground for chasing - the
last time a score of under 150 was defended in the IPL at this ground
was in 2013.
Mumbai's defence began a lot better than they would have expected.
Lateral movement and some shoddy decisions from Daredevils' batsmen gave
a confident team a glimpse of an unlikely victory, and they caught Daredevils by the throat. Mumbai's bowlers, powered by Mitchell McClenaghan's three early wickets, reversed the momentum and confidence from the first innings by ripping Delhi's top six within 24 runs.
"When you think you have a sub-par score on a pretty good wicket, the
tendency is to go out and be too aggressive with the ball and think you
have to make things happen from the outset," McClenaghan said at the
post-match press conference. "We worked hard with the analysts and got
the right plans in place. We bowled with control, but with a nice
presence. As you saw from Rohit's reaction on losing the toss, if the
dew sets in, it can be incredibly hard to restrict guys who are chasing.
It wasn't as dewy as the first games that were here.
"We've played a lot of games where we didn't think we were going to win.
We have a nice sense of confidence, but not arrogance, which is nice in
a group like this because you know you can back the skills of the bloke
next to you and he's going to give his 100 percent for you."
Before his 3 for 24 against Daredevils, McClenaghan was struggling for
control in this IPL. In six games, he had taken nine wickets at an
economy rate of 9.12. That equates to an average of 36.48 runs conceded
and 1.5 wickets per game. Such returns from one of the four overseas
players is inferior for most franchises. Mumbai, though, persisted with
McClenaghan and reaped the rewards of a confident bowler.
"Good leadership. Rohit [Sharma] has been fantastic on and off the
field, understanding in terms of knowing a lot of bowlers, in this
tournament in particular, have gone for runs," McClenaghan said. "He
knows some days it may not be your day. He instills you with an
incredible amount of confidence. You're never worried, you're never
thinking 'If I don't bowl a good over, I'm going to get dropped."
Mumbai have made their best start in IPL history, winning six straight
games after a loss in their tournament opener. With this record, Mumbai
may not have to make a last-ditch effort to make the playoffs, but
McClenaghan said they aren't taking any chances.
"As soon as you underestimate someone, that's when you're going to get
kicked in the teeth," McClenaghan said. "We've got a very level
management and a level team. Fresh start every time. The key for us is
not to get too high or get too low. Be consistent because there are ups
and downs in T20 cricket."
At Eden Gardens for their match against Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday, captain Suresh Raina
told his team that it was time for Gujarat Lions to 'restart', with his
side floundering at eighth place on the table. He did exactly that,
leading the way with a 46-ball 84 which gave his side a four-wicket
victory and helped him become India's leading T20 run-getter.
In the previous
match between the two teams earlier this season, Chris Lynn's
systematic decimation of Lions' attack meant that Knight Riders had
chased down 184 with ten wickets in hand and more than five overs to
spare. Raina believed his team had played well in that game too, and
wanted them to feed off the positive morale in the camp.
"Right from the moment I won the toss, I was getting a lot of positive
vibes. I knew we had done well against them [KKR] in the previous game
though the match got over in just 14 overs [14.5] when Chris Lynn hit us
to all parts of the ground," Raina told iplt20.com. "That loss
hurt the team and me. I addressed the team and told them this is the
game where we restart and go all guns blazing. The team was high on
morale when we walked out on the field and the result is there to be
seen. I have been getting good support from Brad Hodge and Mohammad Kaif
who have been spreading a lot of positive vibes in the team. It was a
great team effort."
Lions' chase of 188 on Friday was hardly an easy one. Despite an
aggressive start from openers Aaron Finch and Brendon McCullum, the team
was struggling at 122 for 5 in the 13th over, and went into the last
seven overs needing 64. Raina negotiated the opposition's most effective
bowlers - Kuldeep Yadav and Umesh Yadav - over the next few overs,
eking out a boundary in every over. Once Sunil Narine's four overs were
seen off, Raina went after Nathan Coulter-Nile, hammering the Australian
fast bowler for two fours and a six in a 16-run over that brought the
equation down to 17 runs off 18 balls.
Raina said that nearly a decade of watching and batting with MS Dhoni,
in the India dressing room and at Chennai Super Kings, had helped him
pick up lessons on keeping the required rate in check.
"I love batting in pressure situations and it is a challenge I relish,"
he said. "I have batted with him [Dhoni] for almost ten years now and
always admired how he would finish games for the side. I have learnt how
to cut down on asking rates from 9 per over to a 7 per over from him.
The middle overs in a T20 game is very important and you need to take
calculated risks. It is something that I did tonight and have learnt
over the years. I was hitting the ball really well and looked to be
positive throughout my innings though wickets were falling at the other
end.
"When you are a captain, you are there to win a game and set examples
for your side. It is something that I have learnt from Dhoni while
playing with him for India and Chennai Super Kings."
The PCB has increased salaries across the board for the country's top women cricketers, as well as more lucrative financial incentives for domestic cricket. BISMAH MAROOFretains the captaincy, while ANAM AMIN and UMAIMA SOHAIL get full contracts. Maroof finds herself promoted to the highest category A, as does JAVERIA while NIDA DAR, who became the first Pakistan women's player to participate in the Women's Big Bash League in Australia last year, drops down from Category A to C due to a "below par season", according to women's chief selector UROOJ MUMTAZ. A sustained run of poor form with the bat appears to have cost 28-year old Sidra Ameen a central contract, while 22-year old left arm spinner Nashra Sandhu also drops out of the 9-woman list.
