A team perfectly built for the Sawai Mansingh Stadium of English conditions suddenly finds itself in a spot of bother – their premier all-rounder is in NewZealand and will miss at least the first part of the tournament. There is little certainty over whether their captain is available for the first game.
It’s that time of the year but it is not really ‘that’ time of the year. Preparations for the T20 World Cup would have been in full swing right now. Instead we have players converging in UAE almost a month before the start of another IPL season. These are crazy times.
With 9 months of hindsight, it’s not only the trio who have had time to introspect. We, as the stakeholders of the game should have had introspected as well. Were we right in behaving the way we did or could we have handled our reactions in a better manner?
Post the ball-tampering saga, Australia has brought on the field what many would call a ‘good-boy’ image. While it would seem like a step in the right direction, one could also ask “Why do something to lower an intensity which brought many accolades?”
One cannot put a price on these new batting maestros. A decade ago, it was Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly who had become the talk of the town. Now, it is Smith, Kohli, Williamson and Root. Here is a deep statistical insight and what these players have already achieved so far in their relatively short career.