Indian Cricket Roundup
Reviews of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and IPL Auction; Previews for IPL and Vijay Hazare Trophy
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021
The first domestic event of India’s 2021 cricketing calendar was the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy. On 10th January 2021, the first match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy 2021 was played – with two-time defending champions Karnataka defeating Jammu & Kashmir with a 43-run victory. This was the first step to them reaching the next round alongside Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Baroda and Bihar. Throughout the competition, the intensity would not stop increasing. Punjab were to be the ones to knock out Karnataka, having bowled the holders all out for 87. Tamil Nadu, who were in search of their second win of the competition, defeated Himachal Pradesh – while Rajasthan defeated Bihar and Haryana lost to Baroda. Tamil Nadu went on to defeat Rajasthan in the semi-final, while Punjab were shocked by Baroda in a 25-run victory for Baroda. Having been the underdogs against Punjab and still beating them, did the players of Baroda have it in them to overcome strong favourites Tamil Nadu and secure their own second win of the competition? To their despair, Tamil Nadu were able to comfortably chase down 120 in 18 overs. The Tamil side were then to lift the trophy for the second time. Tamil Nadu’s Narayan Jagadeesan top scorer in the competition with 364 runs. The Chennai Super Kings batsman also scored the most 50s. Seven centuries were scored, with Meghalaya’s captain and wicketkeeper Punit Bisht top-scoring with 146 not out. Bihar’s Ashutosh Aman claimed the most wickets with 16. Gujarat’s Arzan Nagwaswalla had the best bowling figures in an innings, taking 6/19 against Maharashtra early on in the competition. Four days later, Lukman Meriwala of Baroda also took 5/8 against Chhattisgarh.
IPL Auction
On 18th February 2021, the Indian Premier League’s annual auction was held in Chennai. With 292 players available for purchase, the auction was always going to be once again huge in India. There were some big names up for grabs in the auction including those of Australian batting pair Steve Smith and Marcus Labuschagne. England players available at the auction included: Moeen Ali, Tom Curran, Sam Billings, Liam Livingstone, Alex Hales, Jason Roy, Adil Rashid, David Willey, Ben Duckett, Nayan Doshi, Lewis Gregory, Reece Topley, George Garton, Ravi Bopara, Liam Livingstone and World No.1 T20I Batsman Dawid Malan. South Africa’s Chris Morris was the most expensive signing (ever actually), re-joining Rajasthan Royals for 16.25 Crores (£1.6m). The most expensive Englishman was Moeen Ali, selling to Chennai Super Kings for 7 crores (£700,000). Chennai Super Kings also claimed the most expensive Indian player, snapping up Krishnappa Gowtham for 9.25 crore. The IPL is due to start in April, aimed a couple of weeks after the Pakistan Super League finishes.
IPL 2021
As the annual player auction has been completed, the wait is nearly over for the 2021 Indian Premier League to commence. As mentioned previously, the competition is due to start in April. Mumbai Indians are the current holders of the competition. They were victorious in the final against Delhi Capitals. Kings XI Punjab were a team that just missed out on reaching the playoffs in Autumn 2020. They are the one team to be renamed this year, now having the name of Punjab Kings. Of course, the COVID-19 Pandemic affected the tournament, meaning that it was delayed to the summer rather than spring. But following Positive tests coming in for some players in the competition, including 10 cases for Chennai Super Kings, the competition was further delayed to the Autumn of 2020. This was also due to newer travel restrictions to the IPL 2020’s host country of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). With games played in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai – the IPL of 2020 was very different. This year, the IPL should be hosted in India again. One host stadium is set to be the very recently renamed Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The formerly named Motera’s Sardar Patel Cricket Ground has been named after the prime minister of India just before the first of the two tests played there in the India vs England series. This was the host ground to the playoffs of the 2021 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and as mentioned earlier, the final two tests of the India vs England test series 2021. The stadium is the largest cricket ground in the world by capacity. To put the size of it into perspective, it can fit in over double the amount of people the than Liverpool FC’s Anfield can in football. The renaming of this stadium can be very politically controversial. Some may refer this to behaviours which Ashok Swain, a professor of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University has mentioned on Twitter.
These tweets are not interactive.
Despite these comments, there have not yet been any large campaigns against the new name of the world’s largest cricket stadium.
The other reported venue the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) are looking into is in Mumbai. This would most likely be the Wankhede Stadium, which is used more frequently than Brabourne Stadium.
All IPL squads for 2021, Image Source: AK4TSAY1
Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021
India’s domestic one-day tournament, the Vijay Hazare Trophy, has started. At the time of writing this article, five days of the tournament have been played. While the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is 20-over cricket and the Ranji Trophy is first-class, Vijay Hazare Trophy is the 50 overs (one-day) tournament. While this year’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy winners Tamil Nadu and the current holders of the competition Karnataka are involved, there are 36 others all contending. There are also groups of Elite Groups A-E and the Plate Group. Once the group stages are finished, the Knockout stages will be played. Those rounds are the quarter-finals, semi-finals and Final. Only the teams at the top of each group’s table will advance to the Knockouts. The team top of the Plate group, however, will play the eliminator match. The winner of this will advance to the knockouts. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have also cancelled the popular Ranji Trophy for 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite there not being a Ranji Trophy, a tournament popular to Indian cricket fans for many years, there is a lot of cricket for Indian fans, and fans around the world to enjoy this year. COVID-19 has been a major issue, and every cricket fan should be glad that there is cricket on to enjoy. The remainder of the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the entire Indian Premier League is still to be played, and it is something to look forward to.