The Unofficial Cricket Show: Recent Episodes
Vivek Nanda
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India beat Pakistan. India won by 4 Wickets
Pakistan 159/8
India 160/6
Virat Kohli scored 82 Not Out Off 53 Balls
Hello and welcome back to the unofficial cricket show. Let's talk about the New Zealand, Pakistan, Bangladesh Tri-Series first.
Game 4: Pak Vs NZ
Pakistan batted first, and were restricted by New Zealand at 130/7.No one really got going.
Iftikhar Ahmed was the top scorer for Pakistan, he scored 27 runs.
Takeaways:
Same story. Every 3rd match when both Babar and Rizwan are gone early, Pakistan is not able to steady the ship. They kept losing wickets at the regular intervals, and just couldn't get going.
New Zealand bowlers all looked good especially Michael Bracewell. He took 2 for 11 runs from his 4 overs.
New Zealand batting looked confident chasing the mediocre total and went after the pakistan bowling.
Finn Allen smashed 6 sixes and scored 62 off 42 balls.
Devon Conway continued to show his top form and scored 49 not out.
New Zealand chased the Pakistan total with 23 balls to spare.
One last word on Shahnawaz Dahani. Dahani seems to be underperforming for the last couple of series now. He continues to go over 10 runs per over. Nevertheless, bowling is not Pakistan's worry for the T20 World Cup. They have a great bowling attack with Shaheen Shah Afridi soon coming back.
Now to the other game. India vs South Africa. ODI Series.
The B-String Indian side has defeated South Africa the series 2-1.
The third game in Delhi was cut down short when Indian bowlers dismissed South Africa at 99 runs total in 27 overs. Indian batsmen came all gun blazing and chased the total in under 20 overs. Game Over!!
Takeaways:
Mohammed Siraj looked good in this series. He was declared the player of the series. This is probably a good sign for the Indian team considering they have been struggling with their pace attack.
Kuldeep Yadav was man of the match; he took 4 wickets for 18 runs and made a mockery of South African batting. South African batters were not able to pick him well. Once again Kuldeep showcased kinks in the South African batting against the spin.
Washington Sundar also picked 2 for 15 runs and came in early overs to bowl. And picked De Kock's wicket in the 3 over of the match. Washi continues to show what he brings to this Indian side.
England beats Pakistan 4-3 and India barely manages to win again South Africa to take 2-0 lead
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India barely manages to beat South Africa to win the series 2-0
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KL Rahul scored 57 off 28, he looked in good touch and played some fantastic shots.
- Rohit Sharma scored 43 and Virat Kohli Scored 49 not out.
- Suryakumar Yadav aka SKY came with yet another blistering knock - he hit 61 off 22 balls before getting run out.
- India posted a huge total - 237 for 3.
South Africa was slow to start and lost wickets early on.
- South Africa were 47/3 in 7th over Bavuma, Rilee Rossuw, and Markram back in the pavilion.
- After that South Africa didn't lose any wicket, Quinton de Kock came back to form scoring 69 off 48 balls, but the real hero of the show was: David Miller.
- Miller tonked the Indian bowlers out of the park and scored a massive century. Miller was 106 off 47 balls, and remained not out.
- In the end, South Africa could not cross the line and ended up at 221 for 3. And lost the second game in the series with one game left.
Takeaways:
- Batting order is clicking which is great for India but bowling remains a big concern.
- Meanwhile for South Africa, top order remains the concern, but De Kock and Miller coming to party is a great sign for their batting. However, bowling still took a pounding.
England comprehensively beats Pakistan to win the series 4-3
After leveling the series at 3-3, England and Pakistan played one last time to decide the winner, and oh boy, England came all guns blazing!!
England posted 209 for 3. David Malan led the charge with 78 not out of 47 balls.
Ben Duckett scored 30 off 19 balls and Harry Brook remained not out on 46 off 29 balls.
England batting looked dominating. And pretty much all Pakistani bowlers struggled except Harris Rouf.
Harris Rouf went for 24 in his 4 overs, and probably deserved 2-3 wickets if the catches wouldn't have been dropped.
Babar dropped 2 catches, and Wasim Junior dropped 1 catch.
Pakistan lost both Babar and Rizwan within the first 2 overs. After that the batting just couldn't pick up.
Shan Masood held one end for the majority of the innings, and on the other end wickets kept falling. Shan Masood scored 56 off 43 balls. At the end Pakistan ended the innings at 142 for 8.
All England bowlers picked up at least a wicket except Moeen Ali, and Chris Woakes led the charts with 3 for 26 in his 4 overs.
In the end, England won the game very easily by 67 runs.
Takeaways:
- Once again Pakistan batting exposed after losing Babar and Rizwan early on.
- Pakistani fielding was all over the place. No fighting spirits in the chase.
- On the other end, England is looking great. And have a great mix of batters and bowlers. England seems to be the favorite for the T20WorldCup in Australia.
- Harry Brook was declared the Player of the Series.