Realized I haven't written in more than a month - guess I got carried away with the excitement of watching the Women's World Cup (and of the Indian cricket team coming really really close to lifting the World Cup!).
In many ways, the Women's World Cup was an eye opener. It showed how closely contested matches can make the game interesting - yet it faced the familiar problem of lopsided contests. It also made me wonder why women do not play test cricket often!
But lets forget about women's cricket now and come back to the men's game. SA were playing England in England. After losing the first test badly, SA thrashed Eng in the second test and rekindled some hopes of a contest! But the 3rd and 4th tests proved that 1) SA no longer bat as well as they used to! 2) SA also are unable to bowl as well as they used to! 3) The all-rounders in the England team are really all rounders - they bat and bowl well. Unlike in India when they batted AND bowled badly!
It also proved that a good leader can only do so much - Faf coming back to captain SA in the 2nd test, did lift their spirits and won them the game. But hey, same team failed comprehensively in the next 2 games! The same Joe Root who was praised after the first test, then castigated after the second is now being hailed as a great captain!
Another great captain , of course is Virat Kohli. India versus SL - India won the first 2 tests by huuuuuge margins! SL has (still) not been able to recover from the loss of Malinga, Vaas, Sangakkara and Jayawardene! And so, India has a chance of white-washing SL 3-0 in this series! It will be interesting to see how Kohli and team fare on away Test tours - versus SA, England or Australia. That's where the true test of India as a test team, will be. Until then, more one-sided test series in store!
In many ways, the Women's World Cup was an eye opener. It showed how closely contested matches can make the game interesting - yet it faced the familiar problem of lopsided contests. It also made me wonder why women do not play test cricket often!
But lets forget about women's cricket now and come back to the men's game. SA were playing England in England. After losing the first test badly, SA thrashed Eng in the second test and rekindled some hopes of a contest! But the 3rd and 4th tests proved that 1) SA no longer bat as well as they used to! 2) SA also are unable to bowl as well as they used to! 3) The all-rounders in the England team are really all rounders - they bat and bowl well. Unlike in India when they batted AND bowled badly!
It also proved that a good leader can only do so much - Faf coming back to captain SA in the 2nd test, did lift their spirits and won them the game. But hey, same team failed comprehensively in the next 2 games! The same Joe Root who was praised after the first test, then castigated after the second is now being hailed as a great captain!
Another great captain , of course is Virat Kohli. India versus SL - India won the first 2 tests by huuuuuge margins! SL has (still) not been able to recover from the loss of Malinga, Vaas, Sangakkara and Jayawardene! And so, India has a chance of white-washing SL 3-0 in this series! It will be interesting to see how Kohli and team fare on away Test tours - versus SA, England or Australia. That's where the true test of India as a test team, will be. Until then, more one-sided test series in store!
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