CSK stroll past KKR at Chepauk
The magic of the first ball, local players in the IPL, the rise of the data analyst, & how to judge T20 bowlers.
CSK stroll past KKR at Chepauk
Jadeja reigns supreme, Gill takes over GT seamlessly, & the romance of a batter’s first ball.
The Chennai Super Kings beat the Kolkata Knight Riders by 7 wickets. Cricket.com’s Shubh Aggarwal writes about the unbeatable Ravindra Jadeja who turned the game on it’s head with his 3/18 spell.
ESPNcricinfo’s Karthik Krishnaswamy writes about Lucknow’s proficiency at defending leads, having done so 15 of 18 times over the two-and-a-bit seasons they’ve been in the league.
Revsportz’s Boria Majumdar writes about Shubman Gill’s seamless ascendency to the Gujarat captaincy, while Hindustan Times’ Rasesh Mandani writes about why former captain Hardik Pandya needs to bring some clarity to his batting role to thrive in Mumbai
Cricket et al’s Gideon Haigh waxes poetic about the unpredictability of facing your first ball, from Buttler’s century against RCB on Saturday to Bradman’s triple century against England on 11 July, 1930.
The Delhi Capitals have signed Proteas pacer Lizaad Williams as a replacement for Harry Brook.
Signing local players is usually a sure fire way to boost interest in a team, so I was wondering if IPL teams cared about that…
…unsurprisingly, the power house regions of Mumbai, Delhi & UP have a lot of home state players. But, I was really surprised to see that RCB, CSK & KKR have only 2 local players among them.
By the way, I’ve set up a Twitter and Instagram account under @BestCricStories where I post all these graphs & images, and would appreciate the support if you like them!
How the nerds convinced the jocks of their value
The rise of data analytics in cricket, a county cricket roundup, and JSW-GMR pay JSW & GMR INR 400cr to buy franchises they already own.
Cricbuzz’s Tristan Holme has a fascinating chat with data analyst Prasanna Agoram - currently with South Africa - about the rise in importance of data analytics in cricket.
For some reason, the best county cricket wrap up is a brief from Cricket Australia’s Jack Paynter on how the Aussie players did during the first round. Spoiler alert: not too well.
For the first time in 40 years, the entire first match at Derbyshire was washed out.
JSW-GMR, a joint venture that owns the Delhi Capitals, have bought two more franchises - the Dubai Capitals & the Pretoria Capitals - for INR 400 crore (~$48M). Who’d they buy it from? The individual entities, JSW & GMR. I don’t know about you, but this sounds like the definition of “moving money around” a week into the new financial year. Hopefully someone actually clarifies what’s happening here.
Michael Bevan remembers dominating everyone
Bevan looks back, how do T20 bowlers make an impact, & a snake-style draft to choose the best T20 XI ever.
The Final Word’s Geoff Lemon & Adam Collins have a live chat with Michael Bevan about his playing days, which they’ve politely uploaded for the rest of us to listen to as well. [Apple Podcasts]
The 81 All Out crew discuss what impact bowlers can have in the T20 format, and how to judge their performances in a game where there job is to be hit for entertainment. [Apple Podcasts]
Red Inker’s Jarrod Kimber, Estelle Vasudevan & Behram Qazi compete in a snake-style draft to put together the best T20 XI (plus 12th man). [Apple Podcasts]
News18 CricketNext have a fun trip down memory lane about the time Kapil Dev pulled the rug from under the BCCI’s carpet by jumping in to support the pioneering Indian Cricket League in the mid-2000s.
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