Irani Cup: Shaping future of Indian Cricket Team
Irani Cup is one the most important matches in domestic circuit of India. The team which wins Ranji trophy in a season plays as one of the teams in Irani Cup. Other team is picked by national selectors.
It is a red ball cricket match and hence the game lasts for five days,
the most successful team has been Rest of India.
In 2024 edition of Irani Cup, the match was played between Mumbai and Rest of India, Mumbai clinched the title. Key performances were by Sarfaraz Khan, Ajinkya Rahane and Tanush Kotian, they all played for Mumbai.
However from ROI team, Mukesh Kumar did well as he took a five wicket haul in first innings. Later, Saransh Jain took six wickets in second innings.
Asian rivalry: India vs Bangladesh in test cricket
India played a two match test series against Bangladesh with recently concluded. We saw some quality cricket as both the teams looked solid.
It was a memorable outing for men in blue as they conveniently won both the matches. The best takeaway from both the matches was that every player in Indian contingent was contributing, either with bat or with ball, and sometimes even in all the three departments.
Now, the next assignment for Indian team is home test series against New Zealand. They will be playing three match at different venues and these points will be very crucial for Indian team as they are looking to lock their spot in the Final of World Test Champions.
T20 specialists in Team Indian
Team India is making a fresh solid team in T20I. Now that, the three big names- Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja have retired, it’s time for the next generation players to step up and lead the team to greater heights.
Recently the selectors have announced the team for upcoming series against Bangladesh and the team is as follows:
India: Suryakumar Yadav(c), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(wk), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Riyan Parag, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jitesh Sharma(wk), Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Mayank Yadav
It will be very interesting to see who steps up on the occasion and who sinks to the pressure.
Border Gavaskar Trophy: Test at it’s best
Border Gavaskar trophy is test match series between India and Australia. It is a highly competitive series as both the teams fight hard to win the matches.
The first edition was held in 1996-97 and since then it is held regularly. The next edition is from 22 November, 2025 as team India will tour to Australia.
India are the current champions and they are the more successful as they have managed to win on 10 occasions.
Dominator and destructor: Shane Watson
He was in squad that won the 2007 and 2015 World Cup and 2006 and 2009 champions trophy.
Other than international cricket, he played franchise cricket in different parts of the world. He was a regular participant in leagues like IPL, CPL, BBL etc.
Cricket’s evolution: The Hundred
The hundred is a cricket tournament which was introduced by English and Wales Cricket Board in 2021. The game consist of 20 overs but each over consists of 5 legal deliveries. The tournament is even shorter than a T20 game and hence it is prompting power hitting in cricket.
this league gained a lot of popularity initially as some people supported it and some were against it.
The tournament is played between eight teams each team playing eight matches. Oval Invincibles has been the most successful team in both men’s and women’s edition.
Franchise League in South Africa- SA20
Franchise cricket has helped a lot in development of cricket across the globe. In South Africa the tournament is called SA20 League and is conducted with 6 teams participating. The first edition was held in 2023 and the second one in 2024. Both these editions were own by the same team, Sunrisers Eastern Cape.
next edition will start in January 2025 and it will be exciting to see the fresh crop of talent.
The six participating teams are:
MI Cape Town |
Durban’s Super Giants |
Joburg Super Kings |
Paarl Royals |
Pretoria Capitals |
Sunrisers Eastern Cape |
Daniel Vettori was a left arm orthodox bowler and a lower order batsman who played cricket for New Zealand. He is one the most prominent cricketers in the country.
He holds the record of being the first left arm spinner in the world to take more than 300 wickets in both test and one day. Not only that, he is the youngest player from his country to make Test debut. He achieved this feat at the age of 18.
Vettori took part in IPL, BBL and CPL but his stint as a franchise cricketer was short.
in 2015, he took retirement from all formats of the game and is presently associated as coach with various teams at domestic and international level.
Anjum Chopra: A Trailblazer in women’s cricket
Anjum Chopra used to play cricket for India from 1995 till 2012. She has represented the country in all the three formats. In total she has played 157 matches scoring 3,645 runs.
She had a very positive language as a player. Even now, as she takes up the role of commentator or selector, she carries that same attitude, that same aura.
Chopra started playing cricket at a very young age. She came from a family that had inculcated a sports culture and hence taking up cricket wasn’t a big deal for her. She did her schooling from DPS RK Puram and graduated from St. Stephen’s College.
With her personality and her contribution to women’s cricket, she is a true inspiration to many young cricketers.