ShoonyaSifar

Pant gets hit on the forearm now. Not looking comfortable at all as the physio uses the magic spray

Top class fast bowling from SA today morning. Pitch has quickened up. Rahul cleaned by a massive indipper. Pant tries a reverse sweep, got hit flush on helmet grill. Absolutely silly batting, could have easily been injured. A SA A player quips ' A good quality helmet"

Naah mid to end Feb is a fabulous time to be in Dharmshala. Day temp of 12-15 degrees, night time 3-5 degrees, a bit similar to end-Niv, early December weather. Will be cold but no snow. Might snow in Mcleodganj which is at higher altitude (2100 meters) and in the Dhauladhar mountain range but not in Dharmshala, particularly where the stadium is. It is at an altitude of ~1400 meters and much more temperate. Last year it held a test match vs England from March 7. In 2022, held two T20s vs SL on 26 and 27 Feb. Friends went for those matches and had a great time. Could have scheduled a couple of England and NZ matches there. But likely the poor outfield during 2023 WC (fully relaid now) played a bigger part than weather conditions in the decision.

Having said this, am a bit disappointed not to see Dharmshala on the list. It should always hold at least 3-4 non-India games in multi team tournaments, will always be a near sellout with 20000+ fans. It's quite an experience watching ganes live from that stadium. Two recent matches I attended 1. NZ-Aus match in WC, was a run fest but ultimate fun. During IPL as well, went for Punjab Kings vs LSG match..only thing I don't like is the 1 km uphill walk to the car park after the match and a bit of traffic chaos but the lovely weather and clean air makes up for all deficiencies.

Keep political points aside, it is a no brainer. Only Eden compares in capacity at 68,000. Ahmedabad has had 101000 for IPL 2023 Final, 100000 for Ind-Pak match, 92000 for 2023 WC final, 90000 people for 2025 IPL Final (not involving the home team). Yes the support of cried during the chase in the WC Final should have been better but in the same WC, the same/ similar crowd made life hell for Pakistani. It was almost a cauldron, 100000+ singing our anthem and then cheering the team through the thrashing. It's an excellent stadium for watching matches live. Easy access (now through metro), great facilities. Getting to be in a clubhouse seat is an experience with having Stadiums like Wankhede with much smaller capacity (33,000), Chepauk (38,000), Bangalore (40,000), Hyderabad (39,000) etc. have massive history and legacy, but each of these are old stadiums and should have seen mega upgrades by now post the 2011 WC. What looked world class on 2011 will look a bit outdated 15 years later.

Unfortunately he isn't Mumbai's first choice opener yet. Ayush Mhatre and Musheer have been the first choice. Mhatre was even made the captain of Mumbai squad for the pre-season Buchi Babu Tournament. Raghuvanshi has his opportunities while Mhatre is busy with U-19 duties. Needs to cash in as you said.

Golden pair for Easwaran. Will be unfortunate, but this is likely the end of his India ambitions. Simply hasn't stepped up during these A ganes in last 12 months. Dinesh Malewar, Ayush Pandey, if they have another good FC season will be strong candidates. Angriksh Raghuvanshi and Musheer Khan, both opening for Mumbai could be the dark horses. As Musheer can bowl SLA quite decently, will be good to see how he does this season after his injury setback. Sai and Paddikal have failed in this series as well but they both did well in Aus A series both in Australia last year and in India prior to this. But with Jurel breathing down their neck, Sai is on notice. Had done well vs WI in the last test, so will get likely play the first test but 4 back tj back failures in grassy pitches has exposed him a bit.

Nothing wrong with today's knock on a super sluggish pitch with variable bounce. Hitting was almost impossible. In the end, proved to be a very useful knock to hold one end up.

One this that I don't like about this track is the low bounce. Some more bounce along with the amount of grass would have made this a perfect simulation of SENA tracks

Disastrous from his perspective because of two reasons 1. No standout knocks in a level above Ranji 2. In each of those matches his peers did better than him - Sai, Paddikal and Jurel in Aus, Karun and Jurel in England, Sai, Paddikal and Jurel vs Aus A in India, Jurel again here. Not going to be easy for Easwaran if he fails again in 2nd innings.

Excellent fighting knock from Jurel, showing his class again. Kuldeep also shows he can stick around in FC/test cricket, may not have the ability to play shots but can hold one end for long.

An excellent 50 from Jurel on a tough pitch, plenty of grass on the pitch with seam movement. Showing his technical prowess once again.

Looked at the live feed. Have never seen so much of grass on a pitch in India. Good thinking on the A side TM to go for such pitches.

This could be his last chance. Last 10 innings for the A side + Irani Trophy vs Aus A in Aus: 7 & 12, 0&17 vs Eng Lions in Eng: 8&68, 11 & 80 vs Aus A in India: 44 vs SA A in India : 0 In between played Irani Trophy as well. Scored 52&17. 10 innings, 316 runs, 3 50s, avg of 31.6.

Ashwin used to play for TN till he was 34-35. Stopped post COVID. Now he is not eligible to play for any BCCI organized tournaments. Had to announce retirement from Indian cricket to explore playing in BBL and other leagues. At 39, he's given it his all. Could easily have retired 4-4 years back and still be an Indian legend. No point comparing with Jadeja, he is still active and is following BCCI guidance on playing domestic cricket.

Good A squad. Ruturaj is out of form? 500+ runs in 4 FC matches in the current season isn't exactly being out of form. Not sure what are the plans of Rohit and Kohli before SA ODIs. Likely will sit at home for one month and then score in dead rubbers. Could have played at least one match vs SA A or a Ranji trophy match. Other plan could be to produce total pattas where 375-400 runs could be scored easily. Maximizes chances of Ro-Ko 100s

Talk to anyone in event management and you will know why advance schedules are not released. Each event is announced after extensive venue wise 'coordination and alignment' (read service fees both official and under the table + free tickets and passes that are sold in black market) with local police, municipal bodies, electricity board, fire control and every big local netas/ labour union leaders and their sidekick gets paid off (directly or through contracts for food stalls, local logistics etc and promises of access to players for photos) as well. This can take months. The whole reason why politicians and IAS/IPS officers are in top leadership of sports bodies also is partly due to this reason, helps to manage each of these 'stakeholders'. Why is Rajiv Shukla, a permanent face in BCCI and at matches. Has connections everywhere, and helps coordinate and fix deals with all concerned, particularly in states where non-NDA governments are there. IPL teams have a higher fixed rate they pay to these entities at their home stadiums and loosen the purse more than BCCI, so the organization and experience is a little better than international matches.

Suqndar's bowling went off the boil in last 2-3 years. From 2017-2022, he was used upfront in powerplay. Since then his T20 stocks went down. In IPL he doesn't get many games now since impact player rule was introduced (15 matches out of possible 45 in last 3 years), doesn't pick enough wickets. In last 2 years, he has played mostly vs low rung T20 sides - Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and SL. Despite all this, good to see Agarkar and GG backing him. Needs a few more performances likd he did with the bat in last T20 or with the ball in last 2 ODIs to lock a spot across formats

Yeah, most are good fit for T20s. On pacers, they are clearly trying to groom two groups 1. Any one with both batting and bowling skills - like Suyansh and Ramandeep and 2. Really tall pacers, irrespective of current pace. Gurjanpreet was getting steep bounce on not so good domestic tracks, Yudhvir being backed for decent pace, Yash Thakur deserves a proper run, perhaps more with A squads

Great to see Yashasvi use the time to play Ranji and score big runs - a bit like how Sachin, Dravid or VVS used to do whenever they turned up for domestic cricket. Should smash the run charts vs SA to end the year on a stellar note. Has had a bit of an underwhelming year from his standards and for his immense potential.

Ii nd vs SA tests Ind A vs SA A List A series Ranji Trophy Ind A, B and Afg U-19 series Now emerging cup All going parallely. Will obviously lower the quality of emerging side. Good approach to go for mostly IPL regulars. Could have picked a left arm pacer like Naman Tiwari from the last u-19 batch. Nehal, Naman Dhir, Ramandeep, Suyansh - 4 multi skull players. Should play all games Priyansh, Vaibhav, Nehal, Naman, Ashutosh, Jitesh, Suyansh, Ramandeep, Suyash, Yudhvir, Yash Thakur

I just hope the President/PM hosts a grand reception for them and their parents and childhood coaches are invited as well. Those invisible heroes deserve their own limelight. And BCCI does a proper roadshow on Marine Drive.

The LCD behaviour due to anonymity social media offers. Plus the political divide seeping into all aspects of life. One group targets Jemima for her belief and religion, Shami and Arshdeep for a dropped catch due to their religion Other group targets Jadeja for his sword celebration bringing in his caste, Gambhir and even Sachin Dravid, Kumble for their political beliefs

Imagine being called you are not a T20 cricketer after effortlessly winning a difficult T20I chase for your team. Didn't bowl yesterday but he can open the bowling and bowl at the death. Is a defensive bowler but difficult to hit. With the bat, has hardly batted above 7/8. I hope the TM trusts him more. Could be a great replacement for Jadeja in the T20 WC squads. Only one downside of him playing LOIs is he doesn't get to play enough domestic cricket, which is critical for his development as a test cricketer.

Shafali - Rohtak Smriti, Jemima- Mumbai Harman - Moga Deepti - Agra Richa - Siliguri Amanjot - Mohali Radha - Mumbai/ Baroda Shree Charani - Kadapa Kranti - Ghuwara (MP) Renuka - Shimla Harleen - Chandigarh Pratika - Delhi Arundhati - Hyderabad Sneh Rana - Dehradun Uma Chetry- Bokakhat (Assam) Look at that list and where they come from. Each of these girls are Superwoman. Kudos to their parents and their early coaches and supporters. To come from such parts of India fighting against so many odds. May they give hope to millions other young girls and boys across India to keep chasing their dream