BY SHUBHAM DALMIA ON 20th AUGUST 2020

Its been many years now we talk about recent Fab 4 which consists great players like Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Kane Williamson and Joe Root. These players has performed in all 3 formats of the games and won many trophies for their national side, and still they are doing for their side, and except Smith other 3 are also great leaders for their respective sides. But what about the future of cricket, who are the other batsmen who can create their impact just like these recent fab 4 and greats are doing for their side.

MARNUS LABUSCHAGNE

A unique way to start his career, came in 2nd innings vs ENGLAND in the place of injured Steve Smith and batted beautifully with so much elegance. People and cricket experts also compares his batting style, his attitude of playing with Steve Smith. But, for me he is more settle in the crease than Smith, he doesn’t walk so much while playing or leaving the ball he looks very relax than Smith. Like other experts I will not say he is in form of his life, I will say he started his career very well, I don’t think many batsmen in the world has got start like this in their career. Started well in Test Cricket and because of that he also earn his ODI cap and also got decent start to his limited over format scoring his 1st odi century against South Africa playing outside Australia. Still has not got chance in T20I but I don’t choose my Fab 4 according to T20I performance, but it will be good to see if he also performs in all the formats of the game, because he has got so much of class in his game and scores most of his runs while playing a good cricketing shots rather than playing ramp shots. According to great batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar Marnus ” looks very special batsmen to him and his footwork is very precise and he is mentally very strong”. So he is one of my Fab 4 in future of the cricket.

BABAR AZAM

I don’t think there is much to tell about this guy, he has already impressed the cricket world with his batting the way he plays his shots with perfect timing, almost playing every ball with the middle of the bat, he has already shown so much class in his batting. When he bats every youngster should watch him and learn from his batting. Many people and experts already compare him with Virat which is quite unfair, firstly I don’t think he has played so much of cricket compare to Virat and secondly, no one should be compared with any individual cricketer around the world. Every cricketer has his own way of playing, everyone has their own journey, so I don’t think any comparison should take place and also most of the experts think he should be included in recent 4 or there should be Fab 5, I don’t think he should be there in the list where batsmen like Virat, Smith, Williamson, Root is there because he had not played that amount of cricket till now and also not captained his side in many matches just like these four have done. But the way he started his career he looks very promising to me in all the formats and it shows in ICC batsmen ranking of all the formats he is just there with many experienced batsmen. So he is the batsmen who can impress more in the future of cricket.

OLLIE POPE

Many readers must be thinking who is he because he is not so recognizable compared to the players mentioned above. But I must tell everyone he is a fine prospect for the future of England, he is very much young only 22 years old and has got a very decent start to his career. Till now he has played only 10 test match, but the approach he has shown in these test matches with his batting is quite commendable, he always looks to score runs every ball he faces. He bats in the middle order which England was looking for proper middle-order batsmen because after Ian Bell not many batsmen got success in his batting position, but Pope looks very strong and impressed everyone with his batting. Many experts think his technique is very familiar to Ian Bell and he can succeed like Ian Bell in the day’s cricket. But, I think he will also get success in limited over format and in future, he is going to be the best batsmen for England and can make a place in upcoming Fab 4 of the cricket.

SHUBMAN GILL

After reading his name everyone must be thinking why Shubman, why not KL Rahul or someone else, but the main point of choosing Gill ahead of Rahul is age. KL has already played 6-7 years of cricket for India and he has got immense talent, but till now he has not played according to his capability, but he is in good form in recent times. Still, I choose Gill because he is the most talented young batsmen in India right now no doubt about that and his key point is he can open the bat for India and can also play in the middle order. He showed his class in u-19 WC, in first class and also got a good start to his IPL career and this year IPL going to be very important for him and I can see him winning orange cap in coming years. Last year before the World cup he got the opportunity vs New Zealand in their home where it is very difficult for the batsmen to score in that airy condition and he failed to impress, but he is with Indian side in the last couple of series and no doubt he is going to make his name in playing XI very soon for India. He is the future of India not only as a batsman, but I’m also looking him as a leader, still, there is time and everyone may think I’m telling too much its very early to say but I have total faith in him and he is going to be a very successful cricketer for India and going to win matches for India and he will play in coming 2023 World cup for sure. He is my last batsmen who will be the future of cricket in the coming years.

So these are my FAB 4 for the upcoming years if you have doubt about my picks you can comment below in the comment option.

LOVE CRICKET LIVE CRICKET

By Shubham Dalmia on 9th August 2020

The much-awaited period is over and the IPL is going to start from 19th September to 10th November and it’s going to be played in UAE. This is the news every Indian and cricket fans were waiting for and now the wait is over and every fans are eagerly waiting for the day when the first ball is a gonna bowl. But there are some changes this year that teams will not stay in hotels and every team should stay in separate place whether it’s the resorts or the apartment and every team are allowed to have 24 players in there squad and there will be 10 doubleheaders this year. On the day of doubleheaders, the first match is going to be played from 3:30 pm IST and 2nd match from 7:30 pm IST and the remaining days all the match is going to be played from 7:30 pm. There are some protocols which every team have to follow.

While players and team support staff need to undergo at least 5 mandatory Covid-19 PCR tests before even entering the bio-secure environment in the UAE and undergo a test every 5th day during the tournament, they also have to undergo daily temperature checks and answer health questionnaires. Every team has been directed to have a medical team that will take care of the daily routines.

According to the matchday SOPs, players will be allowed to train and compete only if they have a ‘normal temperature and health status questionnaire’. If they do not, he or she will be subjected to Covid-19 test.

The BCCI will follow ICC guidelines for handling cricket balls during IPL in the wake of the pandemic. As per ICC protocols, players can’t apply saliva on the ball. Post-match routines are going to look different as well. There is no customary handshake allowed between teams after the match.

Toss and drinks break guidelines

The BCCI advises players and support staff to maintain social distancing even on the field of play. At the toss, electronic team sheets will be handed instead of captains exchanging printed sheets.12th man and plates will wash their hands before and after the drinks break while players use ‘named drink bottles and towels’ to avoid sharing.

As we know IPL is known for producing young talents whether they are Indian players or overseas players, but the one disadvantage I think is that youngsters who are coming in this year IPL who have performed in U-19 level or in the domestic circuit will not get adequate chance to prove themselves because they are an inexperienced player for this level of cricket and second they are not used to play outside India.

Disadvantage for Young Talents this year.

There is not much difference in the UAE and India pitch, but still, Indian pitch is more suitable for the batsmen. Let’s start with spinners, In India, boundary lines are shorter than UAE so the batting looks very easy here in India and even 200+ runs can be chased easily here, but in UAE the pitch is suitable for the spinner and they have got a long boundary, so the young spinners like Ravi Bishnoi who has done excellent in the U-19 world cup and also played well for Haryana in the domestic circuit and also spinners like Riyan Parag, Varun Chakravarthy, Sai Kishore who can easily flight the ball, which is missing in India because the boundary line is short and bowlers is not comfortable to flight the ball. But the question is the franchise or team management will take the chance of playing them because they are not that experience who can play in this condition and every team has got a bunch of experienced spinners in their side.

After spinners, it’s time for fast bowlers. As we all know it’s always a treat to watch when every time a fast bowler comes and run fast and bowl fast, and they also have got one of the most difficult jobs to do in the T20 format especially bowling in the death over where bowlers get slaughtered by the batsmen in a very bad manner. And IPL has produced fast bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep saini and many, and this year many good young fast bowlers have come in the likes of Karthik Tyagi, Akash Singh, Tushar Deshpande and one big name Kamlesh Nagarkoti who have create a big impact in 2018 u-19 world cup and there he showed how quick he can bowl but for two consecutive years he has been sidelined for injuries, but this year he is ready to go, but the main question is still the same whether they will get the chance of playing because they have got no experience of playing in UAE, and every fast bowler will be grateful to bowl there because of the size of ground where the top edge will not go for the sixes whereas in India miss time shot easily goes out of the ground.

After the seamers, it’s time for the batsmen. Every year IPL produces incredible batting talents, whether it is Rishabh Pant, Ambati Rayudu, power hitters like Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya or top-order batsmen like Surya Kumar Yadav, Manish Pandey and many more, the batsmen list will never finish. This year I think the chance of young batting talent like Yashaswi Jaiswal, Priyam Garg, Virat Singh and many, who are going to be part of IPL for the first time will not get many opportunities because they are not at all used to the conditions of UAE and second in compare to bowlers the chance of playing is less compare to them. Because a team can give the chance to bowlers whether it is a spinner or a seam bowler because as I mentioned earlier, the size of the ground and pitch is suitable for the bowlers to bowl with freedom compare to India. And for the batsmen, it will be little difficult to score there because the advantage for the bowler is always a disadvantage to the batsmen.

And the last thing I want to mention to the viewers that the experienced player like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Shikhar Dhawan etc, and also overseas players like David Warner, Steve Smith, De kock, Du Plessis and many whether they are bowler or batsmen they haven’t played any competitive cricket for about 5-6 months, so the Franchise and team management will be looking to play there experienced player more because they want to bring the best players in their rhythm because their first priority is to win their games. So the chance of young fresh talents playing is very less and this year we may not see many young players build a big name this time. But since it’s the IPL it is going to be a festival like every year. Countdown Begins.

By Shubham Dalmia on 6th July 2020

In India cricket is not just a game it’s an emotion for every fans, and everybody has there own story of loving cricket, watching cricket or playing cricket and today I’m going to share about how MS Dhoni is the reason why I loved Cricket so much.

In his 39th birthday I’m going to share what MS Dhoni mean to me. I am not going to write what he had done or acheived in his life because every Cricket fan or Dhoni fan already know about his acheivement and everyone sure had watched his movie MS DHONI:THE UNTOLD STORY.

I was 7 year old when I first saw him playing and before him I was a fan of Sourav Ganguly because I’m from Kolkata and he is our prince. So when I understood cricket very well and just then MS DHONI came into the side and when he scored 148 against Pakistan and that was something which attracts me the way he batted whole innings and after that innings I thought of having long hair just like DHONI. And because of him I started playing cricket and wanted to be a Cricketer like him and one of the main reason I became a fan of him was that from East there is not many cricketers who had came and conquered the world Cricket like him and Sourav Ganguly.

And one thing I must tell that we haven’t seen what MS Dhoni actually is because he was a pure number 3 batsman and his record as number 3 player is absolutely amazing but when he became the captain he gave the chance to other talented cricketers like Virat Kohli and he sacrifices his batting position and batted at lower middle order and played in that position throughout his career and still manages to score obove 10000 runs and became the best finisher of world cricket of all time. If he had batted at number 3 throughout his career I’m sure many records could have been broken.This shows how much he loves the game and how much passionate he is about the game, this shows his brilliance.

The reason why he is my God of cricket because I don’t think any cricketer from that lower background who came from small town and got respect from not only in world of Cricket but also in the eyes of famous personalities. There is no other player espcially in limited over format who first made great impression with his batting skills, then with his captaincy and then with wicketkeeping. No other wicketkeeper batsman able to perform like him neither in India nor in world. This is the reason why I think he is biggest contributor of INDIAN CRICKET who change the whole perception of people seeing Indian cricket.

What he has achieved for playing in Ipl and the respect he got from the people of Chennai and CSK team can never be matched. He is the only reason of me supporting CSK, but the reason is not csk it bothers least to me what he has done while playing in csk. He is my idol because the way he impressed me with his game, with his attitude, with his smartness as a captain, with his loyalty towards the game. What he has acheived for team India matters me the most what he has achieved is never been done by any captain in world cricket. If he won’t have won any ipl trophies he will still be my God of cricket and csk will always be me favourite ipl team.

Earlier wicketkeeper were not seen as the biggest contributor of the game but Dhoni changed everything and I think he is the first wicketkeeper who got so many fans and now for the first time I think wicketkeepers can also be the idol of young cricketers. No other wicketkeeper batsman acheived more than him and that shows his greatness.

I hope he play for India again because as a childhood fan seeing your idol playing is the best feeling one can ever have. Legends never gets Old.

Happy Birthday MS DHONI: MY GOD OF CRICKET.

By Shubham Dalmia on 22nd June 2020

• 

So good news for all the cricket fans after almost 4 months, the game of cricket is going to be back with West Indies tour of England test series which starts from 8th of July. This was the first time me and every cricket lover was separated from cricket for such a long period of time. But now there is no need to be disappointed any more because cricket is nearly back.

But some decision and safety measures been taken by the ICC (INTERNATIONAL CRICKET COUNCIL) that use of the saliva will be prohibited to shine the bowl. According to them it is very unhygienic. So there is not much left for the bowlers now, specially in test cricket and we all know that there has been many rules in the past which haven’t favoured the bowlers and now they have come up with another idea of not using saliva on the bowl.

When making the decision ICC should have comes up with some advantage for the bowlers allowing something sort of a new substance because this is not fair for the bowlers. Because when cricket will be played in cold conditions like New Zealand, England, Ireland the chance of having sweat in your body body is very minimal and there is no other option of shinning the ball.

So personally as a fan ,I think that it’s unfair for the bowlers. We all know that in this tough period of coronavirus there can be a risky in using the saliva or the sweat, but my point is why should it always will be bowlers who has to sacrifice, cricket should not only be remembered as a batsman game it’s should be neutral and both the sides should be treated in the same manner.

So many fans must be thinking what are the options that remains for the bowlers. Some of the options I feel can be reliable for the bowlers is use of a new ball every 45-50 overs in test cricket instead of using it after 80 overs. In odi cricket, there are two new balls used from both the sides of pitch which means with one ball, a team bowls only 25 overs. Keeping that in mind, is it really possible to bowl 80 overs with one ball without using the sweat and saliva on it because with the help of these, as the ball gets older in the 45th-50th over, the bowler would apply these natural substances in one side of the ball which helps them to reverse swing the ball. So if you are now banned to use these natural substances then ICC should allow the bowling side to get a new ball after every 45th-50th overs, or, instead of giving them a new ball, they can change the ball and give them a semi new ball with good condition and better shine so it allows them to swing the ball.

Other options I think would benefit the bowlers is that in the early years of cricket, bowlers used to apply wax or cream on the ball to keep the shine on it but as the game evolved, it also got banned from cricket. Now if you are not allowed to use any natural substances, I think it’s time to bring these wax or cream substances to play, atleast till using saliva or sweat is prohibited. It’s also fair to say that this same process shouldn’t be applied like in the earlier days when the players used this wax on the ball how much they wanted but now I think, the umpires should be carrying the bottle of wax or cream and be the one to judge how much of it can be fair to both the bowlers and the batsmen because a wax or a cream can create much greater impact on the ball than the saliva or sweat.

I also think the decision of not using the salvia or sweat makes no sense. In a test match after the completion of day 1 or day 2, when the players are on the field for another day and if one player is positive he/she can spread the infection automatically on the remaining players if the corona test doesn’t happen prior to every day’s play, so saying that use of saliva or sweat is unhygienic makes no sense, and other thing is that when the spectators are allowed to come and watch the match in a stadium and when a batsman hits the ball for a six, if one of the spectators is positive and they touch the ball then it can create so much trouble for both the players and the spectators because it is not possible to check every spectators whether they are corona positive or negative.

So, ICC should allow the use of saliva and sweat or bring different substances to give some fairness to the bowlers. If they are all corona negative, applying the saliva and sweat on it won’t harm anybody.

That’s my opinion on the Future Of Cricket in the period of covid 19 and share my ideas how it can help the bowlers with different ideas. So hope for the best and be ready to enjoy some action of cricket again.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton