: Harry Brook of England hits a six as he bats during the ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup West Indies & USA 2024 match between Namibia and England at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on June 15, 2024 in Antigua, Antigua and Barbuda.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

England’s defense of the Twenty20 World Cup title lived on for a few more hours after a must-win over Namibia in a rain-affected match on June 15.

To reach the Super Eight, England first had to beat Namibia in their maiden T20 matchup. Persistent showers almost ruined the chance, but the match started three hours late and was reduced to 11 overs, then 10 overs after another heavy shower.

England was made to bat first and rallied to 122-5.

Namibia, given a rain-adjusted target of 126, managed only 84-3 and lost by 41 runs.

England did what it had to, then had to wait a few more hours and hope Scotland lost to Australia in Saint Lucia to be sure of advancing from Group B.

England was anxious for most of the day, thanks to the weather. It had already suffered one washout — its opener against Scotland — and a second washout in four group games would have sent it home.

Because of what was at stake, the umpires waited as long as possible at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium to get play underway.

England lost the plot early. Only one run was taken from the opening over bowled by 39-year-old David Wiese, captain Jos Buttler was bowled for a duck by fast bowler Ruben Trumpelmann, and Wiese returned to nick out the other opener, Phil Salt.

England was 13-2 after 13 balls.

Jonny Bairstow and Harry Brook counterattacked. Bairstow made 31 off 18 balls just before the last rain delay. Brook finished with an unbeaten 47 off 20, and had late support from Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone, who both contributed to taking 21 runs off the last over.

Namibia’s chase was relatively fast but not fast enough. Opener Michael van Lingen, after 33 off 29, was pulled out under the pretense of retiring hurt, and Wiese inserted to up the run rate. He duly delivered 27 off 12 but it was too late.

India washout

The India-Canada game in Florida was abandoned without a ball bowled.

The outfield in Broward County Stadium was too wet for play, and the match was called off only an hour after its scheduled morning start.

While there was light rain on Saturday morning, the outfield was damp from Friday showers which led to a second straight abandoned game at the venue. The United States-Ireland game on Friday never started. Pakistan and Ireland are scheduled to play at the ground on Sunday.

While the teams waited for a decision, India’s Rishabh Pant and coach Rahul Dravid went to the boundary to sign autographs, and Virat Kohli posed with some of the Canada players.

Unbeaten India had already qualified for the Super Eight as the Group A winner. Canada finished group play with only a precious win over Ireland.

India starts the Super Eight against Afghanistan on Thursday in Barbados.

It is possible that even as you read this, the first score of 300-plus in an IPL innings might have been made already. Nepal’s 314 for three against Mongolia is the record in a T20International, but franchise cricket is of a higher standard.

Already the 100-mark in the first PowerPlay has been crossed. Six-hitting, the basis of all tall scores, might still be exciting but only just. Repetition is beginning to suck the thrill out of it. As the poet W.H. Auden said, the eye is bored by repetition. In fact, repetition doesn’t create memories.

The IPL is being played for the 17th time, which means there are enough batters who first took to the game when they were in the first grade or so, and have grown with it.

Inevitable

We no longer gasp at 20-plus runs in an over, 24 sixes in an innings or 42 in a match. When Will Jacks takes just 10 deliveries to move from 50 to 100, it is merely interesting, not astounding. Someone, we tell ourselves, was bound to do it sooner or later. The more often such records are broken, the more inevitable it looks; unexpectedness, the essence of competition, is being replaced by inevitability. You can have too much of a good thing.

There aren’t too many angles left unexplored by either batter or bowler. Fielders on the boundary don’t worry the hitter who aims to strike into the crowd. Even the great Jasprit Bumrah has been taken for 18 in a single over. What might cause a sharp intake of breath might actually be a forward defence or a batter letting a ball go through to the wicket keeper unharmed. That might suggest a cosmic disturbance.

Hundreds by Will Jacks (41 balls) and Travis Head (in 39) merely seem to be preparation for a 25-ball century. Traditional statistics have become meaningless. When Delhi Capitals’ Jake Fraser-McGurk made a 27-ball 84 against Mumbai Indians, the significant statistic was not the strike rate of 311, but the fact that of the 104 deliveries he faced, he attempted boundaries off 77. So here’s a new metric: aggressive shot percentage.

Is the end of T20 near?

But does all this lead up to one conclusion: that the end of T20 is approaching faster than predicted? Theoretically, a team could hit each of the 120 deliveries it receives for six, and that would be that.

At the start of the previous century, physicists spoke about the end of physics, as if there was nothing remaining to be discovered. That was just before the quantum revolution and the opening of new pathways. The political philosophers who emphasised the end of history are discovering that they spoke too soon.

Perhaps the approaching death of the T20 is an exaggeration. The future of the format is in the hands of the bowlers. It is likely that batting will peak, reaching a stage beyond which it cannot progress (at least for a while) as the bowlers reassert themselves.

There is too the question of human limit, a question that pops up every Olympic year. If the rule-makers are enlightened, there will be an attempt to create a level playing field even if it means giving the bowler the greater advantage.

Perhaps a batter might be declared leg before even if the ball pitches outside the line of the leg stump. Perhaps the benefit of the doubt will always go in favour of the bowler. Perhaps the two best bowlers might be allowed to bowl six overs each in an innings. All this just for the shortest format of the game, of course. Once it is accepted in theory that bowlers need help, there are always possibilities.

A recent cartoon doing the rounds on social media summed up the bowlers’ plight well. It shows a bunch of bowlers led by Mitchell Starc carrying banners saying things like ‘Stop the Batriarchy’, ‘Bowlers Matter’ and ‘Abolish the Impact Substitute’. Like the best jokes, these reveal important truths.

Bowlers are not supporting acts. As the great Erapalli Prasanna said recently, “You can say all you want about batting, but a match does not begin till someone bowls.”

IPL cricket may be ‘progressing’ too quickly for its own good.

Mumbai Indians’ captain Hardik Pandya and Punjab Kings’ stand-in captain Sam Curran during the toss ceremony before an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 cricket match between Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Mumbai Indians (MI) at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, in Mohali, on April 18, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Punjab Kings’ cricketer Ashutosh Sharma’s exploits with the willow drew enormous praise from Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya as well as his team’s stand-in captain Sam Curran, with the former terming it an “unbelievable” display.

Ashutosh and Shashank Singh have emerged as the unlikely heroes for Punjab Kings this IPL season but the failure of the top-order has seen the team slump to ninth spot in the IPL table despite the some breathtaking performances from the duo.

On Thursday, Ashutosh virtually took the game away from Mumbai Indians with his 28-ball 61 before PBKS lost by nine runs chasing 193.

Ashutosh also executed a stunning sweep shot against pacer Jasprit Bumrah, something which has not been done quite often against India’s pace spearhead.

“Unbelievable, playing the way he (Ashutosh) did and hitting the ball off the middle. (It is) great for his future. We did speak in the timeout about it, not about how we look, we will keep fighting and make sure (that) we don’t bowl the soft balls. Batsmen played good shots but we were soft in certain overs,” Mr.Pandya said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

The MI skipper heaved a huge sigh of relief with a close win, stating that every player’s nerves got tested in the game.

“(It was a) very good game. Everyone’s nerves got tested. We spoke that the characters will be checked in this game. But (it is) natural (that) you (would) think you are ahead but IPL has a tendency to show that oppositions can come back and how,” Pandya added.

Punjab Kings’ stand-in captain Sam Curran said it was heartening to see youngsters like Ashutosh and Shashank rising to the occasion, despite losing some close matches in the recent past.

“Another close one, I think this team likes a close one, but unfortunately another loss. Another incredible knock from the young guy (Ashutosh), but another close loss,” he said.

“It’s very tough. We have lost a lot of wickets at the start, the way the younger guys have taken the team so close is heartening.” “They have incredible confidence, you see a guy like Ashutosh having the confidence to play the sweeps and the big hits against pacers, it’s so great to watch them in action,” Curran said.

The Englishman said there were a lot of positives to take from such close defeats.

“It’s disheartening to lose close games, but there are a lot of positives in this team. We still have the belief in us, we believe we can turn this around, the sun will come up tomorrow and we will hopefully get on a winning run,” Curran said.

The player of the match Jasprit Bumrah, who bowled a brilliant spell of 3/21 said it was a much closer game than he anticipated.

“(It was a) much closer game than what we thought. (I) want to make an impact early on. In this format, ball swings for two overs, and you want to make use of that,” he said.

Bumrah said the T20 format is cruel for bowlers and is tilted in favour of batters. “This format is a little difficult for the bowlers because the batsmanship is going over, plus the time restrictions and the Impact Player rule. What you can do is prepare your best and back yourself,” he said.

“Go out there and give your best. I try to relay messages from wherever I am on the field. You don’t want to give too many messages,” Bumrah added.

D. Hemalatha is among the few to have been retained by Gujarat Giants. Here she is seen in action during WPL Match between UP Warriors and Gujarat Giants held at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai on 20/03/23.
| Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI

Gujarat Giants looks keen to make some significant changes for the second edition of the Women’s Premier League, with the franchise heading the list for releasing the highest number of players.

Giants, which finished at the bottom of the five-team league last year, has released 11 players, while the runner-up Delhi Capitals has let go just three. The champion Mumbai Indians has released four.

Also read | Women’s cricket has finally arrived in India in its full glory!

In all, 29 players have been released by the franchises, while 60, including 21 from abroad, have been retained. The biggest names released are Megan Schutt (Royals Challengers Bangalore) and Shabnim Ismail (UP Warriorz).

In the mini auction, likely to be held in December, Giants will have the largest purse of Rs. 5.95 crore, followed by Warriorz (Rs. 4 crore), RCB (Rs. 3.35 crore), Capitals (Rs. 2.25 crore) and MI (Rs. 2.1 crore).

Also read | Data | Women’s Premier League is no stroke of luck but a hard-fought win

The teams have been talent-scouting at the various domestic tournaments, including ones for juniors. The WPL is likely to start in mid-February.

The list: Delhi Capitals: Retained: Alice Capsey*, Arundhati Reddy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Jess Jonassen*, Laura Harris*, Marizanne Kapp*, Meg Lanning*, Minnu Mani, Poonam Yadav, Radha Yadav, Shafali Verma, Shikha Pandey, Sneha Deepthi, Taniya Bhatia and Titas Sadhu.

Released: Aparna Mondal, Jasia Akhter and Tara Norris*.

Gujarat Giants: Retained: Ashleigh Gardner*, Beth Mooney*, D. Hemalatha, Harleen Deol, Laura Wolvaardt*, Shabnam Shakil, Sneh Rana and Tanuja Kanwar.

Released: Annabel Sutherland*, Ashwani Kumari, Georgia Wareham*, Hurley Gala, Kim Garth*, Mansi Joshi, Monica Patel, Parunika Sisodia, Sabbineni Meghana, Sophia Dunkley* and Sushma Verma.

Mumbai Indians: Retained: Amanjot Kaur, Amelia Kerr*, Chloe Tryon*, Harmanpreet Kaur, Hayley Matthews*, Humairaa Kaazi, Isabelle Wong*, Jintimani Kalita, Natalie Sciver*, Pooja Vastrakar, Priyanka Bala, Saika Ishaque and Yastika Bhatia

Released: Dhara Gujjar, Heather Graham*, Neelam Bisht and Sonam Yadav.

Also read | Winning crucial moments key to Mumbai Indians’ success in WPL, says captain Harmanpreet Kaur

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Retained: Asha Shobana, Disha Kasat, Ellyse Perry*, Heather Knight*, Indrani Roy, Kanika Ahuja, Renuka Singh, Richa Ghosh, Shreyanka Patil, Smriti Mandhana and Sophie Devine*.

Released: Dane Van Niekerk*, Erin Burns*, Komal Zanzad, Megan Schutt*, Poonam Khemnar, Preeti Bose, Sahana Pawar.

UP Warriorz: Retained: Alyssa Healy*, Anjali Sarvani, Deepti Sharma, Grace Harris*, Kiran Navgire, Lauren Bell*, Laxmi Yadav, Parshavi Chopra, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, S. Yashasri, Shweta Sehrawat, Sophie Ecclestone* and Tahlia Mcgrath*.

Released: Devika Vaidya, Shabnim Ismail*, Shivali Shinde and Simran Shaikh.

(* overseas players)