Former Australian opener David Warner in action during the ICC Twenty20 World Cup. Warner, in his instagram post, said “I am also open to playing for Australia in the Champions trophy if selected.”
| Photo Credit: Reuters

David Warner has declared his international career a “closed chapter” but at the same time, the Australian batting great won’t mind padding up in the Champions Trophy next year should he be selected, something that has been described as an “emergency option” by his ODI captain Pat Cummins.

Warner retired from ODIs after Australia’s World Cup-winning run in November last year, while his last Test was against Pakistan in January. His final T20I came against India on June 24 at the shortest format’s recently-concluded global showpiece .

“Chapter closed!! It’s been an unbelievable experience to play at the highest level for such a long period. Australia was my team. The majority of my career was at the international level. It’s been an honour to be able to do this. 100+ games in all formats is my highlight,” Warner wrote in an Instagram post on Monday.

“I will continue to play franchise cricket for a while, and I am also open to playing for Australia in the Champions trophy if selected,” he added.

This is not the first time that Warner has shown interest in playing the 50-over tournament. Even while announcing his ODI and Test retirement in January, he had said he’d be open to playing the Champions Trophy, which is set to return after an eight-year hiatus in Pakistan next year.

Back in January when Pat Cummins was asked about Warner’s return for the Champions Trophy, Cummins had said “I think it’s probably time to give some others a crack [in ODIs], but knowing that he’s going to still be playing cricket.” “So it might be more of a kind of break glass in an emergency option. But, you know, David is going to be scoring runs somewhere in the world. So you never quite know that this is (the end).” Reflecting on his illustrious career, Warner, who retired as Australia’s highest scorer and seventh-most prolific batter in the world in T20 format with 3,277 runs from 110 matches at an average of 33.43 and strike rate of 142.47, thanked his family, fans and teammates.

“For all the cricket fans out there, I truly hope I have entertained you and changed cricket, especially tests, in a way where we scored a bit faster than others. We cannot do what we love without the fans, so thanks.

“I want to say thanks to everyone out there who has made this possible. My wife and my girls, who sacrificed so much, thank you for all your support. No person will ever know what we’ve been through.

From 112 Tests, he has scored 8,786 runs at an average of 44.59 with 26 hundreds and 37 fifties between 2011 and 2024.

He also scored 6,932 runs from 161 ODI matches at an average of 45.30 with the help of 22 centuries and 33 half centuries.

“To the players and staff, thanks for putting up with me. No more what’s app junk, your ears are now going to be free of my voice. This team has had unbelievable success the Last few years and long may this continue. Pat cummins, Andrew old Mac and staff have got this,” he added.

A still from ‘The Test’

Around halfway of the second episode of the latest season of The Test, drama erupts.

English batter Jonny Bairstow ducks a bouncer, the ball goes to the keeper and the batter walks out of the crease. Pretty much a normal thing that happens during a Test match, you’d think. But there’s tense music in the background, almost like you know something is going to happen.

And then it does. Bairstow walks out of the crease thinking the over was done, and wicketkeeper Carey has thrown at the stumps and is claiming a dismissal.

“Sort of within one ball yeah, it happened,” Alex Carey recalls in the docuseries.

The crowd at Lord’s Cricket Ground would go on to chant, “Same old Aussies, always cheating,” even as a disappointed Bairstow exits.

It’s the equivalent of an action-packed interval block in the movies, the kind that leaves you on a high as you make your way through to the bathroom, probably grinning all the way at how good it is.

The current season of The Test, a sports docuseries that follows the Australian men’s cricket team, throws up such excellent moments. Following the Bairstow runout, Alex Carey is made villain in the eyes of the English public, something that affects him mentally, which his teammate Steve Smith reveals in the documentary.

The Test almost resembles a movie made on war, because of the format’s nature to be over five days. Every day, every session has some sort of an event that makes it special, and that, at times, seeps into the next day as well, as a new battle ensues. Like the one revolving around the Aussie bowling and the English openers in Old Trafford that highlights what essentially Bazball is. For the uninitiated, Bazball refers to aggressive, ultra-positive way of playing Test cricket. It makes this format far more exciting that you’d think.

A still from ‘The Test’
| Photo Credit:
Prime Video

Flashbacks are seldom interesting in films, but in such sports documentaries, it provides context and adds to the drama. Like that of Travis Head, who doesn’t touch a bat for weeks due to his wedding and shows up big time at the World Test Championship against India. Or Nathan Lyon, off tour due to a calf injury – the events of him walking out to bat under such circumstances were dramatic – and watching the rest of the series with his wife in his drawing room back in Australia, while his teammates slog it out in England.

Directed by Sheldon Wynne and Adrian Brown, The Test also cleverly brings in the highs and lows of the game; case in point being how the Aussies, after being in the game in the last Ashes Test at the Oval, veered off course. Such sports documentaries can be made or broken by editing, and the fantastic editing team ensures that The Test is a good watch. It also has some neat quotes (Marnus Labuchange says, “Cricket is a game of small margins. You can feel like you’re on top and it can flip in a second”).

While Season 3 might not have the appeal of the first season of The Test, which focused on the image rebuilding exercise of the team after the ball-tampering scandal, it does have quite a few highs. One wishes that a video crew was sent to the Australian ODI World Cup campaign too, so that cricket fans got a peek into the journey of Pat Cummins’ winning team, which silenced Indian crowds in the final.

Nevertheless, this season of The Test makes for an engaging, thrilling watch, with a few lessons that could appeal to even non-cricket lovers.

The Test Season 3 is currently streaming on Prime Video

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s skipper Pat Cummins with the IPL 2024 trophy during a press conference on the eve of the Indian Premier League (IPL) final match, in Chennai, on May 25, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

While the Indian Premier League is all about the big Indian names and international stars earning the big bucks, the route to a team’s success runs through its Indian domestic core.

These players, some still finding their feet in big-league cricket and some on the fringes of National team selection, can make a campaign. Opponents often try to target these so-called weak links, but many youngsters ace the challenge to play a crucial role in their teams’ run to the business end of the tournament.

So, it is not surprising that the two finalists, Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad, have been blessed with some fine performances from their domestic cricketers.

While pacers Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora have been revelations for KKR, Abhishek Sharma and Nitish Kumar Reddy’s heroics with the bat have been crucial in SRH’s progress.

“It’s been huge. Some youngsters have come through and won us games on their own. Nitish and Abhishek are probably the two biggest examples of guys who are kind of away from the Indian setup but have been fantastic,” said SRH captain Pat Cummins. “I feel like that’s been the story of our team. A lot of guys are taking the game on, putting themselves out there, and having breakout seasons,” added the Australian.

KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer, too, spoke about how the domestic players have been proactive and have played with freedom.

“When these guys come in, the youngsters, especially, are fearless in their approach, and their attitude is headstrong. A lot of them are versatile and enterprising in their approach and proactive,” said Shreyas.

“They want to go out there and perform. So, it’s just that when you give them that sort of freedom and back them during tough times, they deliver the best. And when these guys step up at the right time, they see that they win matches for you,” he explained.

Last December, when Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins went for over ₹45 crore collectively at the auction, it looked like the Indian Premier League market had gone berserk.

Recency bias was the oft-cited explanation, for the two speedsters had played an instrumental role in Australia’s 50-over World Cup win just a month earlier. It didn’t matter that Starc had last played in the IPL in 2015 and Cummins a grand total of 12 IPL matches since 2020.

Kolkata Knight Riders paid a whopping ₹24.75 crores for Starc and Sunrisers Hyderabad splurged ₹20.50 crores on Cummins. Two bonafide Test greats, with enviable ODI records, had laughed their way to the bank in the bespoke world of T20 cricket.

More than five months after that frenzied afternoon in Dubai, Starc and Cummins will line up for the IPL final at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on May 26, having proved their penny’s worth and every critic wrong. Starc has scalped 15 wickets in KKR’s commanding run to the summit clash while Cummins, with his midas captaincy touch, has had his best-ever IPL with 17 wickets.

It helps that both are part of robust T20 outfits. KKR, astutely led by Shreyas Iyer, last lost a match exactly a month ago and reserved its best for Qualifier 1 where it walloped SRH by eight wickets. Sunrisers, despite being not so clinical, has redefined T20 batting this season, with Travis Head — another World Cup winner from Australia — and Abhishek Sharma pummelling many attacks into submission.

So wholesome an outfit has KKR been that even the loss of the in-form opener Phil Salt hasn’t seemingly affected the balance as Afghan Rahmanullah Gurbaz shone in Qualifier 1 in his first visit to the crease. Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer and Andre Russell have come to the party when required; only Rinku Singh has remained largely subdued.

For SRH, Rahul Tripathi has thrived in three straight games and, along with Heinrich Klaasen, has bolstered the middle-order. Particularly impressive was the way R. Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal were handled in Qualifier 2. This should bode well for the team ahead of another spin test against Varun Chakravarthy and Narine.

New heroes

The biggest gain for SRH from Friday’s shootout was the unearthing of new heroes, with the unheralded spin bowlers in Shahbaz Ahmed and Abhishek coming up with match-winning performances on a dry, deteriorating pitch. Will lightning strike twice at Chepauk?

Heavens did open on match-eve, forcing KKR to call off its practice session after a few minutes. Sun didn’t beat down on Saturday as it usually does in May in these parts, but the weather remained warm and humid. As to what effect this has on the late-evening dew on matchday remains to be seen, for the absence of it in Qualifier 2 perplexed many.

However, amidst this mystery, what is certain is the fact that one of Starc and Cummins will leave the Indian shores with another colourful feather in an already ornate cap. A World Test champion, an ODI World Cup winner, a T20 World titlist will also be an IPL top dog.

Teams

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Aiden Markram, Abdul Samad, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik, Anmolpreet Singh, Glenn Phillips (wk), Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Upendra Yadav (wk), Jhathavedh Subramanyan, Sanvir Singh, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Marco Jansen, Akash Maharaj Singh, Mayank Agarwal.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (c), KS Bharat, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain and Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

Match starts at 7.30 PM.

A splendid bowling effort, masterminded by left-arm spinners Shahbaz Ahmed and Abhishek Sharma, helped Sunrisers Hyderabad defeat Rajasthan Royals by 36 runs at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Friday and march into its third Indian Premier League final.

Needing 176 to win, RR seemed on course at 65 for one, only for Shahbaz (4-0-23-3) and Abhishek (4-0-24-2), who had collectively taken just three wickets all season, to bamboozle the batters. Late-evening dew, which has hampered many a bowling side, made no appearance as SRH restricted RR to 139 for seven to set up a date with Kolkata Knight Riders for the ultimate prize on Sunday.

RR began slowly, reaching 32 for one after five overs. But in the sixth, Yashasvi Jaiswal (42, 21b, 4×4, 3×6) made the play, flat-batting Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a majestic six down the ground before following it up with three boundaries.

Spinners take over

However, the introduction of Shahbaz and Abhishek pegged RR back. Jaiswal welcomed Shahbaz with a reverse-swept six, but soon miscued one to long-off. Skipper Sanju Samson’s slap off Abhishek went straight to Aiden Markram at long-on.

Shahbaz went on to struck twice in the 12th over as Riyan Parag mistimed to deep mid-wicket and R. Ashwin was caught behind.

When Abhishek rattled Shimron Hetmyer’s stumps in the 14th over (92 for six), the 2008 champion’s challenge was all but over. Dhruv Jurel (56 n.o., 35b, 7×4, 2×6) and Rovman Powell kept the flame flickering with a 32-run association. But Abhishek shut down the contest with a fine running catch from deep midwicket to send Powell back.

Earlier, after being asked to bat, SRH scored 68 in the PowerPlay, courtesy some belligerent hitting by Rahul Tripathi (37, 15b, 5×4, 2×6). If not for the wicket-taking nous of Trent Boult (three for 45), SRH could have had more.

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Abhishek Sharma plays a shot in the match against Rajasthan Royals.
| Photo Credit:
JOTHI RAMALINGAM B

Abhishek hit Boult for a six in front of square three balls into the innings and creamed the next ball down the ground for four. But Boult had his man, with the ball hitting high on the bat and lobbing to cover.

For the next three overs, it was all Tripathi. The 33-year-old was brutal on Ashwin, sweeping, lofting and late-cutting the offie for fours. Boult was dispatched beautifully through cover and point, and then clipped over fine-leg for a tremendous six. But the left-arm quick outwitted Tripathi too, having him caught at short-third with a slow bouncer.

After the PowerPlay, the runs dried up. The biggest barren patch — a 29-ball boundary drought from overs 7.5 to 12.3 — sent the crowd into a deep slumber despite the best efforts of the stadium jockey.

Sunrisers Hyderabad Heinrich Klaasen bats during the Qualifier 2 match against Rajasthan Royals in Chennai on May 24, 2024.
| Photo Credit:
M. Vedhan

But Heinrich Klaasen’s was an assured presence. The burly 32-year-old muscled the ball four times into the stands (50, 34b, 4×6), thrice off Chahal and once off Boult.

Sandeep Sharma and Avesh Khan were excellent for RR, conceding just 52 runs from eight overs and claiming five wickets. Sandeep even accounted for the uncharacteristically sedate Travis Head (34, 28b, 3×4, 1×6) with a slow bouncer and rearranged the dangerous Klaasen’s stumps with a slow yorker. For a while the bowling effort appeared match-winning, but it was not to be.

Scoreboard

Sunrisers Hyderabad