Cricket Plays brings you the Weekly Cricket Buzz from December 23 to 28. Top cricket Buzz –MAKERS this week: MS Dhoni | Virat Kohli | The 2010s Decade | Sourav Ganguly
Weekly Cricket Buzz, December 23
Sourav Ganguly Proposes a 4 Top-Nation tournament
The BCCI’s President Sourav Ganguly has proposed- A four Top-Nation limited-overs tournament comprising India, England, Australia and one other invited nation. This proposal as a way is defying the ICC’s prohibition of bilateral tournaments comprising any more than three teams in current and future Members Participation Agreements (MPA).
The Super Series – as announced by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly over the weekend – is proposed to be rotated annually between the boards of cricket’s three major financial powers, starting 2021, and will span two weeks.
Ganguly stated, way before he was formally installed as BCCI president that one of his agenda items would be to increase India’s share of global cricket revenue, an uncannily similar ticket on which N Srinivasan vaulted to the top of world cricket’s hierarchy.
As players and officials around the world reacted to the Super Series proposal, Ganguly toned down his words by telling the Times of India that “nothing is confirmed yet” and “nothing is concrete”.
CA officials have been tight-lipped about the proposal. However, Coach Justin Langer said “We all understand the schedule in world cricket is really tight. So I am sure there will be lots of negotiations and there are people, that’s their role to negotiate and get that right. But we all know it is a tight schedule.”
The ECB confirmed its leaders recently met Ganguly and other BCCI office-bearers, during which time the concept of the four-nation event was discussed. “We meet regularly with other leaders from the major cricketing nations to share learnings and discuss topics that impact our sport,” the ECB said in a statement. “A four-nation tournament was raised at a meeting with the BCCI in December and we are open to discussions with other ICC members to see if this concept can develop.”
Asked recently whether there was any danger of India, England or Australia not signing the MPA as a result of their reservations about an extra ICC event, CA chairman Earl Eddings had said he hoped such a scenario could be avoided.
Earl Eddings and Kevin Roberts are due to travel to India to meet Ganguly and the new BCCI administration in Mumbai in January around Australia’s first of three ODIs against India.
15 Years of MS Dhoni
MS Dhoni made his ODI debut in December 2004 against Bangladesh and played his first Test a year later against Sri Lanka. MS Dhoni has been the recipient of many awards, including the ICC ODI Player of the Year award in 2008 and 2009 (the first player to win the award twice), the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 2007, the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honour, in 2009 and the Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian honour, in 2018.
MS Dhoni was named as the captain of ICC World Test XI in 2009, 2010 and 2013. MS Dhoni has also been selected a record 8 times in ICC World ODI XI teams, 5 times as captain. The Indian Territorial Army conferred the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel[8] to Dhoni on 1 November 2011. MS Dhoni is the second Indian cricketer after Kapil Dev to receive this honour.
MS Dhoni also holds numerous captaincy records such as the most wins by an Indian captain in Tests, ODIs and T20Is, and most back-to-back wins by an Indian captain in ODIs.
MS Dhoni has played the most international matches as captain (332)
MS Dhoni is the first, and so far only, wicket-keeper to effect 150 stumping dismissals across the three forms of the game. His current total of stumpings in internationals stands at 161
MS Dhoni has the most stumpings(38) by any wicket-keeper in a Test career.
MS Dhoni is the third captain (and the first non-Australian) overall to win 100 games.
MS Dhoni is the Fourth Indian to reach 10,000 ODI runs after Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly & Rahul Dravid and also the second wicket-keeper to reach the milestone.
MS Dhoni is the first player to pass 10,000 runs in ODI cricket with having a career average of over 50.
MS Dhoni is the only player to score more than one hundred in ODI cricket when batting at number 7 position or lower (Dhoni has 2 centuries at number 7).
Most, not outs (82) in ODIs- MS Dhoni
MS Dhoni holds the record for playing the most matches in ODI history as the captain who has also served as a wicket-keeper(200)
MS Dhoni creates world record, becomes the first wicketkeeper with 100 ODI stumpings in 38 inns to become no 1, fastest ever.
MS Dhoni apart from all those glorious achievements has only 1 spot in his career (for the critics)– the most overseas Test defeats by an Indian captain, with 15 loses.
Weekly Cricket Buzz, December 24
Virat Kohli is the same in the Whites as MS Dhoni was in the Blues- INVINCIBLE
Cricket.com.au has studied the numbers and considered the finest performances to nail down the best Test AND One-day side of the 2010s Decade, with some honourable mentions as well.
Guns, runs, wickets & tons: Cricket Australia’s Test XI of the decade
1 Alastair Cook (England)
M: 111 | Runs: 8,818 | 100s: 23 | 50s: 37 | Ave: 46.41 | HS: 294
Honourable mention: Graeme Smith (South Africa)
2 David Warner (Australia)
M: 82 | Runs: 7,009 | 100s: 23 | 50s: 30 | Ave: 48.33 | HS: 335no
Honourable mention: Dean Elgar (South Africa)
3 Kane Williamson (New Zealand)
M: 77 | Runs: 6,370 | 100s: 21 | 50s: 31 | Ave: 52.21 | HS: 242no
Honourable mention: Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka).
4 Steve Smith (Australia)
M: 71 | Runs: 7,072 | 100s: 26 | 50s: 27 | Ave: 63.14 | HS: 239
Honourable mentions: Hashim Amla (South Africa).
5 Virat Kohli (India) (c)
M: 84 | Runs: 7,202 | 100s: 27 | 50s: 22 | Ave: 54.97 | HS: 254no
Honourable mention: Younis Khan (Pakistan).
6 AB de Villiers (South Africa) (wk)
M: 60 | Runs: 5,059 | 100s: 13 | 50s: 27 | Ave: 57.48 | HS: 278no | Dis: 84
Honourable mentions: Michael Clarke (Australia).
7 Ben Stokes (England)
M: 59 | Runs: 3,738 | 100s: 8 | 50s: 20 | Ave: 35.94 | HS: 258 | Wkts: 137 | 5wi: 4 | 10wm: 0 | Ave: 33.45 | SR: 59.9 | BBI: 6-22 | BBM: 8-161
Honourable mention: Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh).
8 Dale Steyn (South Africa)
M: 59 | Wkts: 267 | 5wi: 15 | 10wm: 2 | Ave: 22.29 | SR: 43.9 | BBI: 7-51 | BBM: 11-60
Honourable mention: Kagiso Rabada (South Africa).
9 Stuart Broad (England)
M: 110 | Wkts: 398 | 5wi: 14 | 10wm: 2 | Ave: 27.75 | SR: 56.9 | BBI: 8-15 | BBM: 11-121
Honourable mention: Mitchell Johnson (Australia).
10 Nathan Lyon (Australia)
M: 94 | Wkts: 376 | 5wi: 16 | 10wm: 2 | Ave: 32.14 | SR: 64 | BBI: 8-50 | BBM: 13-154
Honourable mention: Ravichandran Ashwin (India).
11 Jimmy Anderson (England)
M: 105 | Wkts: 427 | 5wi: 20 | 10wm: 3 | Ave: 24.19 | SR: 54.7 | BBI: 7-42 | BBM: 11-71
Honourable mention: Vernon Philander (South Africa).
*Statistics from Jan 1, 2010, through to Dec 23, 2019
White-ball wizards: Cricket Australia’s ODI team of the decade
1 Rohit Sharma (India)
M: 180 | Runs: 8249 | Ave: 53.56 | SR: 90.63 | HS: 264 | 100s: 28 | 50s: 39
Honourable mention: David Warner (Aus)
2 Hashim Amla (South Africa)
M: 159 | Runs: 7265 | Ave: 49.76 | SR: 89.11 | HS: 159 | 100s: 26 | 50s: 33
Honourable mention: Shikhar Dhawan (India)
3 Virat Kohli (India)
M: 227 | Runs: 11125 | Ave: 60.79 | SR: 94.11 | HS: 183 | 100s: 42 | 50s: 52
The Indian star posted three figures on 42 occasions in the past 10 years and only two players – Rohit and Amla – have scored more than half that amount since 2010
Honourable mention: Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara
4 AB de Villiers (South Africa)
M: 135 | Runs: 6485 | Ave: 64.20 | SR: 109.76 | HS: 176 | 100s: 21 | 50s: 33
Honourable mention: Ross Taylor (New Zealand)
5 Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh)
M: 131 | Runs: 4276 | Ave: 38.87 | SR: 86.07 | HS: 124* | 100s: 5 | 50s: 35 | Wkts: 177 | Ave: 30.15 | Econ: 4.72 | SR: 38.2 | 5wi: 2 | BB: 5-29
Honourable mention: Eoin Morgan (Eng)
6 Jos Buttler (England)
M: 142 | Runs: 3843 | Ave: 40.88 | SR: 119.83 | HS: 150 | 100s: 9 | 50s: 20
Honourable mention: Glenn Maxwell (Aus)
7 MS Dhoni (India) (c & wk)
M: 196 | Runs: 5640 | Ave: 50.35 | SR: 85.79 | HS: 139no | 100s: 4 | 50s: 39 | Ct: 170 | St: 72
Honourable mention: Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim
8 Rashid Khan (Afghanistan)
M: 71 | Wkts: 133 | Ave: 18.54 | Econ: 4.16 | SR: 26.70 | 5wi: 4 | BB: 7-18
Honourable mention: Saeed Ajmal (Pakistan)
9 Mitchell Starc (Australia)
M: 85 | Wkts: 172 | Ave: 20.99 | Econ: 5.02 | SR: 25.00 | 5wi: 7 | BB: 6-28
Honourable mention: Mitchell Johnson (Aus)
10 Trent Boult (New Zealand)
M: 89 | Wkts: 164 | Ave: 25.06 | Econ: 5.05 | SR: 29.70 | 5wi: 5 | BB: 7-34
Honourable mention: Dale Steyn (SA)
11 Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka)
M: 162 | Wkts: 248 | Ave: 28.74 | Econ: 5.46 | SR: 31.5 | 5wi: 8 | BB: 6-38
Honourable mention: Jasprit Bumrah (Ind)
Weekly Cricket Buzz, December 26
Virat Kohli named in Wisden cricketers of the decade list
Virat Kohli named in Wisden cricketers of the 2010S decade list alongside four others by the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanac. Apart from Kohli, South African duo of Dale Steyn and AB de Villiers, Australia’s Steve Smith and women’s all-rounder Ellyse Perry also found a place in the list of five cricketers of the decade.
Weekly Cricket Buzz, December 27
The BCCI’s President Sourav Ganguly has proposed- A four Top-Nation limited-overs tournament comprising India, England, Australia and one other invited nation. The Super Series – as announced by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly over the weekend – is proposed to be rotated annually between the boards of cricket’s three major financial powers, starting 2021, and will span two weeks.
After the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said they are open to discussion for the tournament, Cricket Australia’s (CA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kevin Roberts praised Sourav Ganguly’s “innovative thinking” for the tournament.
Roberts said-
“I think it’s an example of the innovative thinking coming out of the BCCI with Sourav Ganguly as president. In his very short time, only a couple of months, we have already seen India commit to and host a day-night Test in Kolkata, so a brilliant result there. And now a suggestion around the Super Series, another potential innovation.”
Roberts was quoted as saying by espncricinfo.com.
Weekly Cricket Buzz, December 28
Sourav Ganguly fancies more Pink-ball Tests in India
The President of BCCI, Sourav Ganguly said the board has planned to fancy something same in the form of a Day-night Test and has picked Mumbai, Bengaluru and Gujarat as the next set of venues for the pink-ball Test.
“We will have to work towards that. It just gets people interested to come, If New Zealand was playing Australia somewhere else, on some other day, it would not have got the same attention. But Boxing Day gets people together. That’s why it is about trying to create events. The Pink Ball Test was an event. It will happen all around the country. It happened in Kolkata; it will happen in Mumbai, Bangalore, Gujarat and it will bring people back to Test cricket.”
Sourav Ganguly on his plans on more pink-ball tests in India
Weekly Cricket Buzz, December 29
Aussies Clinch Boxing Day Test- thrashes Blackcaps again
Just like the First Test, the 2nd test was too an easy affair for the Aussies. Even a fine century by Tom Blundell in the 2nd innings couldn’t prevent Australia from securing victory by 247 runs in the Boxing Day Test.
Travis Head (Player of the Match for his 114 & 28)
Amazing to contribute in the victory. It was a fantastic win, the summer has been great.
The Skipper’s message to the fans:
This happens to be the last Weekly Cricket Buzz of the 2010s Decade. See you with the first update of the 2020s decade, this new year, till then C Ya, take care. Cricket Plays wishes you all a Happy New Year 2020.
