The 2nd Test match was a well anticipated one considering that India was already down 1-0 owing to a string of failures with the bat and inability to put together a team performance. This match seemed like a ripe opportunity for redemption. On a relatively flattish surface as Kane Williamson said that it eventually flattens out, the match was open for India to fight back.

New Zealand won the toss and decided to bowl first. The Indian batsmen already reeling in with pressures from the 1st test, knocks from Prithvi Shaw and Cheteshwar Pujara with scores of 54 respectively propelled India to a meagre 242 with Kyle Jamieson being the pick of the bowlers with a 5 wicket haul.

New Zealand came in to bat and Tom Latham provided them with a good start eventually perishing for a well made 52 while the rest of the wickets fell like a pack of cards. Slogging in the end was Kyle Jamieson who proved his prowess with the bat as he scored a quickfire 49 and New Zealand ended up with a decent 235, 7 runs short off what might have guaranteed a lead. Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah proved once again that they could come up with disciplined line and length to restrict the Kiwi batsmen.

The match was still open for India to come in, start afresh and set an imposing lead. The batting was again sub par and India was dismissed for a paltry 124 with Trent Boult being the star picking 4 crucial wickets ably supported by Tim Southee, Neil Wagner and Colin DeGrandhomme. With a target of 132 and a lot of playing days still left, it did not seem tough for the Kiwis.

New Zealand came in with confidence and rode on the knocks of Tom Latham and Tom Blundell who were instrumental in guiding the Kiwis across the shore but there were a few hiccups with Jasprit Bumrah claiming a couple of victims but the total on the board was never going to be enough as evident by the captain Kohli’s body language in the field.

New Zealand triumphed and secured an astonishing 2-0 series win over India humbling the visitors in 3 days and this was certainly disappointing but gives a lot of time for refection for the Indian think tank and strategies to apply while playing overseas.

Kyle Jamieson for his all round play was awarded with the Man of the Match Award and Tim Southee for his consistent bowling was aptly awarded with the Man of the Series Award.

Ps. This article was supposed to come out way before but owing to the pandemic we all are dealing with, this was the last recognized match played by India not forgetting the series vs South Africa that we didn’t get to witness.

Hope this served as a refresh and keeps you hooked on to cricket.

I have a lot of exciting articles coming up on different matches, cricketers, a special focus on women’s cricket and a lot more, so stay tuned and be safe:)

A New Zealand versus India series is always exciting and something that a cricket fan would watch out for. Before the test series, the two teams squared off in a T20I series where India thumped New Zealand with an unimaginable margin 5-0 and New Zealand paid back the favour by handing India a 3-0 drubbing in the ODI Series.

The 1st match being played in Basin Reserve was a perfect series starter as on a green top, New Zealand won the toss and ecstatically chose to bowl first putting the hosts to bat first. Ajinkya Rahane, the Vice Captain of the Test side had gone far across proclaiming that batting first a total of 320 will be competitive.

But seemingly clear were not the efforts put in by the Indian batsmen as except Rahane and Mayank Agarwal, the team folded for a paltry 165 which is not at all an accepted 1st Innings total. Kyle Jamieson had a field day as on his debut he not only picked the prized wicket of King Kohli but also 3 other wickets. Tim Southee was one away from a fifer but a disciplined bowling performance ensured New Zealand were sitting atop India on a dominating day of cricket in all sessions. Rain was the only saving grace for India.

New Zealand came into bat confidently with Tom Latham and Tom Blundell showing some resistance eventually to be dismissed by Ishant Sharma but Williamson and Taylor provided stability to the innings with fighting scores of 89 and 44, but got dismissed by the Shami and Sharma. With BJ Watling and Colin de Grandhomme still in crease, it does not seem all is lost for the Kiwis. New Zealand ended Day 2 with 216 at the loss of 5 wickets. It will be interesting to see how they proceed and if the Indian attack can restrict them to a score less than 300 so they can come back stronger in their second innings.

Day 3 was a very productive day for New Zealand as they had Grandhomme, Jamieson and Trent Boult add precious runs to the scoreboard and them finishing off at 348 all out with Ishant Sharma picking a fifer. India came in to bat and the story of 1st innings almost repeated where they were skittled for a paltry 191 with only Mayank Agarwal making a noteworthy contribution at the top of the order with a challenging 58 but it was absolutely not enough as New Zealand was set a very ‘chaseable’ 9 to register their first victory against a depleted India and did so with ease.

All in all, it was a good learning curve for the Indians who will come all guns blazing for the 2nd test scheduled to begin on 29th.

Take a bow. This man is simply unstoppable and is unbelievable. Steve Smith’s return to competitive cricket and his form during the Ashes has been nothing short of phenomenal. With scores of 239, 76, 102, 83, 144, 142, 92, 211, 82 and 80 being his outings in his last 10 Ashes innings with one more innings still to go, this man is poised to overtake the tally of runs scored by the great Don Bradman.

He has had a very tough time with the ban during South Africa series and a nagging injury foiling his plans of an early return. In spite of being cleared of all charges and not directly being involved in the ball tampering scandal, he has had to face the wrath of the spectators every time he stepped out to bat be it during the world cup or the Ashes or any tour for that matter.

But he somehow takes all the naysayers and their boos in his stride and goes on to always score well and doesn’t let the detractors attention on his unconventional batting style get in his way. He is a perfect example of how to keep working hard in your respective fields and most importantly be consistent in efforts.

He has broken several records like equaling a 71-year-old record after 6th successive 80-plus scores. While the bowlers are still figuring out on how to get him out, the plethora of runs flowing from his bat is making cricket pundits wonder how is he scoring runs. His batting style would soon ensure rewriting of batting manuals change on rather conventional styles and focus on his style which is so unique and a delight to watch as he wrestles his wrists to hit beautiful boundaries on the leg side.

With his knock of 80 runs on Friday against a hapless English bowling attack, Smith maintained his average of over 100 in the series and is likely to finish with the same even if he is dismissed for a duck in the final innings of Ashes 2019. This makes Smith the first batsman ever to average 100 or more in back-to-back series against England. Bradman had averaged over 100 twice in the Ashes previously, in 1930 and 1938.

He now stands only 47 runs away from surpassing Bradman’s career Test tally of 6996 runs. Smith has presently amassed 6950 runs from 68 Tests at an average of 64.95, which stands only second to Bradman’s famous 99.94.

He is an absolute delight for every cricket fan and everyone vouches for his ability to make batting look incredibly easy on the eyes and reignite our interest in test cricket.

India stepping in as favourites for the series, didn’t surprise much as they picked a very strong squad with local Karnataka lads, KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal opening the innings. Mayank Agarwal very well deserved his place in the squad owing to some excellent and dominant performances for his state side in red ball cricket and limited overs cricket. Prithvi Shaw would have been an excellent addition to the squad as an opener, however with him being ruled out for 8 months owing to his inadvertent consumption of a banned substance, he will have to wait for his chance.

West Indies won the toss and put India to bat first. Agarwal was dismissed early, following which Pujara was also dismissed by a beautiful delivery from Kemar Roach. This again put the onus of building the innings on Captain Kohli and he too looked quite unsettled, though he did strike masterful boundaries, he got outdone again by a Shannon Gabriel delivery. Windies looked in total control by snapping early wickets. With Rahul and Rahane notching up half centuries and a last minute superlative effort from Jadeja helped India post a competitive 297.

India’s pace attack comprising of Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami certainly made things difficult for the Windies batsmen as none of them were able to sustain the pace and swing. Other than Roston Chase and Jason Holder, none of the batsmen were able to apply themsleves. Ishant Sharma picked a fifer and with that Windies ended up making 222, almost 75 runs short of closing in on India’s 1st innings total.

Coming in to bat for the second innings, the Indian batsmen seemed more in control as Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli and Hanuma Vihari notched up well crafted centuries and half centuries and India was in a commanding position as they scored 343 and imposed themselves in the match.

Windies on the other hand came to the 2nd innings looking overwhelmed at the target set and folded up for a paltry 100 and India’s lehal pace weapon Jasprit Bumrah took a fifer and set things up really well as he was complemented really well by the bowling attack. India emerged triumphant with a win margin of 318 runs.

The ICC came up with the whole concept of ICC test championship and India secured 60 points owing to the thumping victory. The hosts will have to evaluate a lot of options but India on the other hand should not get complacent and make the most of their authority.

Ps. With the Ashes going on side by side, it is a very interesting time to be witnessing test cricket and the ICC test championship has certainly piqued the interest of the cricket fan making test cricket more viable and gives us a lot more to look forward to.

Watching Team India lose in the World Cup Semi finals to New Zealand was a very difficult thing to witness. It was such a catastrophic loss for a team that had been playing so well in the run up to the Semi Final and was even a favourite to lift the coveted title, it came in as a rude shock.

I was almost not able to write after the loss as I was mostly short of words and it was a very difficult pill to swallow. I then decided to sit off for a bit and watch the game as it is and enjoy the game because, after all, sports is not always about winning and putting up a good fight is of paramount importance.

India is currently touring the West Indies and with the T20 and ODI series in our pockets, the test series is upcoming and it will be interesting to see how the newly appointed Ravi Shastri shapes the team well enough and we continue our dominance in whites to prove our supremacy as the Number 1 test team.

On a beautiful batting strip, India won the toss and chose to bat at Edgbaston. India was again bolstered by the good opening stand of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul who were dispatching the bowlers to the boundary at their will. Rohit Sharma once again shone with the bat scoring his 4th century of the World Cup and was complimented by a crucial 77 by KL Rahul. Kohli was sent back early to the pavilion of a deceiving ball by Mustafizur Rahman. Rishabh Pant’s quick fire knock of 48 and Dhoni contributing 35 runs, India made a convincing 314 at the loss of 9 wickets. Mustafizur Rahman’s spell became the talking point as he was astute with his yorkers and general bowling length. Experts had pegged India to score 350 and more, however with the falling of wickets being regular, it was difficult for the score of that much to be scored.

Bangladesh came into the chase with the openers looking clearly disillusioned and unsettled and were dismissed early. Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim began resurrecting the innings, however after Rahim, Mossadek Hussain and Liton Das were dismissed consecutively, a last minute reprieve from Mohammed Saifuddin was not sufficient as Bangladesh were bowled out for 286 and lost by a narrow margin of 28 runs. Hardik Pandya’s consistent line and length was laudable and Jasprit Bumrah with his toe crushing yorkers once again proved why he is the most sought after bowler in the death overs.

With this win, India secured their place in the semi finals along with Australia. And with a dead rubber against Sri Lanka to be played on Saturday, the team will be brimming with confidence and won’t allow complacency to creep in and keep the winning momentum going.

The highly anticipated match between India and England surely lived up to its billing as it was the ‘favorites’ (as predicted by all experts) taking on each other. This match was keenly observed by all fans, specifically the Pakistani fans as Nasser Hussain’s tweet had created quite a storm in the media with Pakistani fans supporting the Indian team vehemently as they wanted to knock out England from the reckoning for semi finals.

On winning the toss, quite obviously England elected to bat first. The openers gave them a very strong opening stand with Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow scoring 66 and 111 respectively. With Joe Root pitching in with 44 and a last minute flourish from Ben Stokes, a knock of 79 helped England post a formidable and challenging total of 337. The Indian bowlers clearly were put to task by the English batsmen and they seemed in no mood to spare the loose balls. Shami seemed extraordinary with the ball picking 5 wickets but at an agonizing economy rate. Chahal ended up conceding a lot more runs than expected and earned himself the dubious distinction of having conceded the most runs by an Indian bowler in World cup history.

The Indian chase started on a not so auspicious note as KL Rahul was dismissed for a duck. Again the onus of carrying the chase forward fell on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli who scored 102 and 66 runs respectively. Soon after Kohli was dismissed, India seemed to lose plot as the upcoming batsmen were simply not able to keep the scoring rates ticking. Knocks from Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav was not enough as India succumbed to a 31 runs loss. Jofra Archer, Liam Plunkett and Chris Woakes’ disciplined bowling helped restrict India and contained the batsmen.

Well, the Indian fans were certainly disappointed and so were the fans from across our borders as India’s win would have certainly hampered England’s progress to the Semi finals.

Most of the “pseudo intellectual” cricket fans claimed that the match was fixed and that it was deliberate on the part of the Indians to lose the match to make it difficult for Pakistan. As rational fans we must understand that these claims are rubbish and we must not take it seriously as we have our players who have integrity and are giving it their all for the sport and most importantly the country and would do nothing to bring the game to disrepute.

Squaring off against arch rivals, Pakistan was always going to be an exciting match. The lead up to the match was quite exuberant with fans of both sides making a lot of snide remarks, jokes directed at each other and basically the environment was that of a typical Indo-Pak match.

Pakistan won the toss and decided to send India to bat first. Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul gave India an exceptional start at the top. Kohli walked in after Rahul’s dismissal and was almost toying with the Pakistani attack when he scored a well composed innings, a 77 off 65 balls. However, Kohli started walking off the pitch when he felt that he had edged a Mohammed Amir ball to Sarfaraz Ahmed. Even though the ultra edge clearly showed that he hadn’t edged the ball, he somehow seemed convinced it was and without even waiting for the umpire’s take on the decision, he walked away and that was a turning point because if he had stayed on, India would have definitely posted at least 350. He was batting beautifully till then, the batsmen who followed him were Pandya, Dhoni and Shankar who chipped in and helped India post a very convincing 336. Rohit Sharma was the one who shone with the bat with a blistering knock of 140 which really set the tone for the game.

Pakistan had their own fair share of troubles with the batting order. Imam ul- Haq got dismissed early, but Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam stuck on and laid a base. After their dismissals, Pakistan was unable to resurrect their innings and eventually valuable knocks from Imad Wasim and Shadab khan went in vain as Pakistan ended up losing the match much to the delight of Indian fans by 89 runs. Even the rains didn’t spoil the party as the DLS method was implied.

Vijay Shankar, Kuldeep Yadav and Hardik Pandya claimed 2 wickets apiece and Bumrah’s excellent bowling was noteworthy. All in all, it was a very convincing win for India and helped gain momentum for the next match against Afghanistan.

On winning the toss, India chose to bat first against the power weights, Australia. After handing India a major defeat on their home soil in the recently concluded ODI Series after being two games down and eventually defeating India by a good margin 3-2, they were certainly high on confidence.

Business as usual, the openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan gave India a good opening stand. With captain Kohli, Dhoni, Pandya and Rahul pitching in with their valuable contributions, India made a respectable 352 at the loss of 5 wickets. All throughout India’s innings, Mitchell Starc and most other Aussie bowlers looked listless against the Indian batting order conceding a lot of runs at crucial junctures.

Australia came into the chase looking confident of chasing it down with ease. However, it would be difficult as facing Bumrah and co. on English soil than facing them in Indian conditions. However, Warner and Finch started of very well which made bowling the initial overs very difficult for the lethal Indian attack. Even after the dismissals of the openers, Smith and Khawaja provided some life in the innings. With the run rate soaring, it would always prove to be a very difficult task keeping up with the run rate as both the players are not the conventional T20 players. However Smith and Khawaja got dismissed soon after and so did Stoinis. Then to provide some respite to the innings came a blistering knock of 55 off 35 deliveries from Alex Carey. However, wickets kept tumbling at the other end and Australia lost track and eventually lost the match by a close margin of 36 runs.

It indeed was an exciting match, but with Australia being an excellent team, we can expect to meet them in the Semi Finals for another enthralling encounter.