The Cricket.Com Weekly - September 25th

What connects David Warner, Ravichandran Ashwin and Cricket.com? Well, let’s just say all three of us are not afraid to experiment 😉

After nearly a month of dishing out the same Newsletter format, it’s time to mix things up. 

Say goodbye to the old, loooooooong Newsletter format. It’s time for the Gen Z CDC Weekly because, let’s be honest, the attention span of every single one of us has gone down the drain. 

The complete recap — everything that’s happened in the last 7 days

> GLORY FOR INDIA! GOLD MEDAL! Hours after the Men’s 10M Air Rifle team bagged India their first gold of Asian Games 2023, the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side made it two after triumphing over Sri Lanka in the final. 

After posting 116/7 on the back of fine knocks from Smriti Mandhana (46) and Jemimah Rodrigues (42), India restricted Sri Lanka to 97/8 to bag gold. Titus Sadhu (4-1-6-3) bowled a SPELL FOR THE AGES!

You can check out the scorecard of the final here.

> Bangladesh, meanwhile, bagged bronze after beating Pakistan in the third-place playoff.

You can check out the scorecard of the Bronze Medal match here 

> India are officially the number one ranked side in all three formats and will head into the World Cup as the top-ranked side after thrashing Australia in Indore to seal the three-match series.

If it was the Mohammed Shami show in Mohali, in Indore it was the Shubman Gill & Shreyas Iyer show. Both scored chanceless tons, with Iyer marking his comeback with an ultra-confident display. At the Holkar, Suryakumar Yadav also played his best ODI knock to date.

You can check out the full scorecard here

To read more about Shreyas’s knock, head to this piece written by Gaurav.

> The ICC have confirmed the venues for the 2024 T20 World Cup in West Indies & USA. The venues are as follows: Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago (Caribbean Islands) and Dallas, Florida and New York (USA). New York is expected to host the blockbuster India-Pakistan clash. 

> Naseem Shah, Anrich Nortje & Sisanda Magala have all been ruled out of the World Cup due to injury, while Wanindu Hasaranga's participation in the competition is also in serious doubt. You can track all the CWC 2023 injuries here in our injury tracker

> Adding to the previous point, Pakistan have named their World Cup squad and have picked the experienced Hasan Ali as Naseem Shah's replacement. Below is their 15-man squad, which has no Faheem Ashraf and Mohammad Haris. 

> The 2024 U-19 World Cup will take place in Sri Lanka from 13 January to 4 February. The competition will be played across five venues — the P. Sara Oval, Colombo Cricket Club, Nondescripts Cricket Club, Singhalese Sports Club and the R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium — with the Premadasa Stadium hosting both the semis and the final.

> Bangladesh all-rounder Nasir Hossain has been charged by the ICC anti-corruption unit for alleged corrupt activities during the 2020-21 edition of the Abu Dhabi T10 League. Not just Hossain, a total of eight people associated with the ‘Pune Devils’ franchise have been charged.

Among other things, he has been charged for ‘failing to disclose to the DACO receipt of a gift worth over $ 750.’

You can read the full ICC report here 

> Guyana Amazon Warriors are CPL champions for the first time ever as they thrashed Trinbago Knight Riders in the final on Sunday. In a remarkable final, GAW bundled TKR out for 94; Tahir and Gudakesh Motie combinedly registered RIDICULOUS figures of 8-1-15-4. 

You can check out the full scorecard here

> England beat Ireland in the second ODI in an entertaining high-scoring contest to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series (the first ODI was a washout).  Among those who impressed for the Three Lions (captained by Zak Crawley) were Will Jacks (94), debutant Sam Hain (89) and teenager Rehan Ahmed (4/54). 

You can check out the full scorecard here

> On Saturday in Dhaka, New Zealand won their first ODI in Bangladesh in FIFTEEN YEARS on the back of Ish Sodhi’s six-wicket haul (6/39). The Kiwis won the contest by 86 runs after posting 254 on the board batting first. Sodhi was in the news for other reasons, too, but more on that later.

For now, you can check out the match scorecard here

> South Africa women continued their good run in ODIs by beating New Zealand in the first ODI in Potchefstroom. Chasing 236, Chloe Tyron struck a thumping 71 (58), while Nadine de Klerk finished yet another game unbeaten. De Klerk’s last eight scores (all levels): 58*, 60, 24*, 29*, 20*, 21*, 5*, 51*.

You can check out the full scorecard here

> Former India all-rounder Sridharan Sriram will serve as Bangladesh’s technical consultant for the upcoming World Cup.

> Owing to visa delay, the Pakistan cricket team have been forced to cancel a team-bonding trip to Dubai they’d planned just before the warm-up matches. Pakistan are the only team who are yet to have their visa confirmed but the visas are expected to be issued in time for the warm-ups. 

In the spotlight 

Titas Sadhu

The 18-year-old, who made the world take notice of her in the U19 World Cup earlier this year, bowled India to gold medal glory in just her second international match. In one of the spells of the year, across levels and genders, Sadhu ripped through the Sri Lankan top-order to finish with figures of 4-1-6-3. In her scarcely-believable spell of fast bowling, the teenage sensation accounted for the wicket of Chamari Athapaththu, the sixth-ranked batter in the world. 

Karun Nair

The 31-year-old, who top scored in the Maharaja T20 League, continued his sizzling form in the County Championship Division One as he backed up the 78 on his Northants debut with a stunning 150 against Surrey. In an otherworldly display, Nair scored 42% of the team’s runs, dragging Northamptonshire from 193/7 to 357. 

Saim Ayub

The 21-year-old struck a match-winning fifty in the CPL final to finish as the competition’s second-highest run-getter. A flamboyant left-handed opener, Ayub smashed 478 runs in CPL 2023 at an average of 43.45 and SR of 142.26.  Ayub has already been capped 8 times by Pakistan but the youngster is well and truly on his way to becoming a starter in T20Is.

Sam Hain

The man with the second-highest List A average in history had to wait YEARS to get his first ODI cap, but he made it count. Batting at No.5, Hain, on debut, put together a delightful 89 in which he unfurled his full range of strokes. Speaks volumes about England’s depth that this bloke can’t get a sniff in the side’s starting XI. 

Ravichandran Ashwin

Ashwin’s selection for the Australia ODIs upset many since he’d played only 2 ODIs in the preceding 6 years, but in just 17 overs (across two games), the o̶f̶f̶-̶s̶p̶i̶n̶n̶e̶r̶  scientist staked his claim for World Cup selection. 1/47 in Mohali, followed by 3/41 in Indore, a spell in which he ripped through Australia’s batting, dismissing Warner, Labuschagne and Inglis.

Hey World Cup, vaathi coming, okay?

Tim Murtagh

A legendary career is coming to an end as Tim Murtagh has announced that he’ll be retiring at the end of this County Season. 42-year-old Murtagh, who took a six-fer in his most recent appearance for Middlesex, will bid goodbye having taken a staggering 950+ first-class wickets. His 5/13 at Lord’s against England will unquestionably go down as one of the finest bowling spells of the century. 

Controversies of the week

Litton Das under fire for withdrawing run-out appeal at non-striker’s end

In a moment that had the world talking, Bangladesh’s stand-in skipper Litton Das recalled Ish Sodhi after the New Zealander was run out at the non-striker’s end by fast bowler Hasan Mahmud. Sodhi was ruled ‘OUT’ by the third umpire and he was walking off the field (without any complaints) but then Litton decided to recall the leg-spinner. Mahmud was all cool with it as he hugged it out with Sodhi.

Still, Litton’s actions were considered disrespectful by many, who thought he undermined the bowler’s actions and failed to stand up for his own player. Even Tamim Iqbal was unhappy with Litton’s action and publicly criticized the stand-in captain in the aftermath of the contest.

Tanzim Hasan in hot water for historical social media comments

Bangladesh seamer Tanzim Hasan, who enjoyed a whirlwind debut against India last week, was in the headlines for the wrong reasons after historical misogynistic comments he posted on his social media emerged. 

In a Facebook post last year, he wrote: "A working woman will not allow her husband or children to have their way with her; she loses her charm, destroys her family, her purdah, and the society."

In another post, the now 20-year-old wrote: "If you marry a girl who mingles freely in the university, you can't get your child a demure mother."

Post the backlash, the speedster issued an apology to the BCB. 

Picture of the WeekLeft-handed David Warner bats *right-handed* in order to counter Ravichandran Ashwin’s threat

CDC’s World Cup build-up articles

Has the razor-sharp pace attack of South Africa gone blunt? - Anirudh Kasargod 

Hardik, Babar, Rashid, and other irreplaceable players - Hardik Worah 

Axar, Curran, Stoinis and others who are picked on their secondary skill - Aakash S

Injury nightmare casts long shadow over Australia's WC aspirations - Anirudh S 

Making sense of Roy's omission: fitness, Brook's versatility & more - Shubh Aggarwal

Video in focus