#KulCha are back, Rinku is out
Is the modern IPL exciting, Panesar the politician, Rinku gets dropped for a 4th spinner, & Pope talks evolution.
LSG beat Mumbai, but lose Mayank Yadav
Yadav returns and gets injured again, ENG players are out of the playoffs, & is the modern IPL exciting?
The Lucknow Super Giants beat the Mumbai Indians by 4 wickets. LSG’s pace sensation Mayank Yadav made his much awaited comeback, but only managed to bowl 3.1 overs before seemingly exacerbating his injury.
Cricket.com’s Aakash Sivasubramaniam asks what’s next for MI’s Ishan Kishan after he’s failed to make an impact in the IPL and has been dropped from India’s T20 side.
Hindustan Times’ Somshuvra Laha dissects how Phil Salt & Sunil Narine have galvanised the Kolkata Knight Riders this season, while ESPNcricinfo’s Deivarayan Muthu argues that Tushar Deshpande has effectively replaced Dwayne Bravo for the Chennai Super Kings.
England’s players will not be available for the IPL playoffs due to their World Cup prep, most likely affecting KKR’s Salt, RR’s Jos Buttler & CSK’s Moeen Ali.
The Guardian’s Jonathan Liew has a fascinating take on the mind-numbing quality of the IPL - it’s something to watch in the background, and it’s okay if you miss a couple of weeks because it’s so long that you didn’t actually miss anything. Does a two-month, six-hitting, Impact Player-loving IPL improve the experience for anyone but the BCCI’s bean counters?
Cricket Australia released an ambitious 10-year plan for the Women’s game this week…
…I thought I’d see how it compared to men’s cricket at the moment, and where they have to focus. They’ve done a good job of encouraging girls to play and hiring women in the administration (with an admirable gender pay gap of under 5%), but they haven’t been able to regularly drive audiences and extract revenue in a meaningful way yet.
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!
It’s Hayley-ing losses for Pakistan Women
WI & PAK play out a thriller, Monty Panesar wants to be a politician, & the first all-Women team in a 132-year old league.
West Indies Women beat Pakistan by 2 runs to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in their T20 series.
India Women comfortably beat Bangladesh by 19 runs in the second T20 of their series, after rain reduced the game to just 25.2 overs.
Former England spinner Monty Panesar will stand as a parliamentary candidate in UK’s election.
BBC’s Sam Drury about the journey of the Ramsbottom Women’s team, who became the first all-Women team to compete in the 132-year old Lancashire Cricket League.
The Guardian’s Gary Naylor has his regular short and sweet roundup of the County Championship week that was, including Surrey demolition of Hampshire and Essex hanging on to the leader’s coattails (for now).
#KulCha are back, Rinku is out
IND, AUS, SA, ENG & AFG announce their teams, why Rinku missed out, & PAK are stuck in a time warp.
India have announced their squad, with Yuzvendra Chahal the surprise inclusion and Rinku Singh the debated exclusion. Cricbuzz’s Kaushik Rangarajan & Deepu Naryanan breakdown the various lineups and questions that this squad raises.
Cricket.com’s Aakash Sivasubramaniam argues that this squad was chosen on reputation rather than form, while Hindustan Times’ Rasesh Mandani goes a step further by saying the selectors placed almost no weight on IPL performances.
Indian Express’ Sandip G writes about how Sanju Samson finally broke through to Team India for a major ICC event, while an uncredited PTI report quotes a BCCI source who says that Rinku missed out due to the IPL impact player rule.
South Africa have announced their squad featuring the likes of the underperforming Anrich Nortje as well as a couple of standout debutants in Ryan Rickleton & Ottniel Bartman. There’s no space for Rassie Van Der Russen or the injured Lungi Ngidi though.
Cricbuzz’s Telford Vice dissects the reasoning behind Proteas coach Rob Walter’s selections, while SA Cricket Mag’s Ryan Vrede says that it’s an end of an (underwhelming) era as Temba Bavuma gets dropped.
Chris Woakes & Jofra Archer have been recalled to the England squad. The Guardian’s Ali Martin reports that they built a squad for a “slogfest” in West Indies & America, while iNews’ Chris Stocks argues that it is semifinals or bust for England white ball coach Matthew Mott.
Jake Fraser-McGurk & Steve Smith have missed out on the Australia squad, while Afghanistan have picked six all-rounders for the tournament.
ESPNcricinfo’s Osman Samiuddin asks if Pakistan are stuck in a time warp as their team can’t seem to get past scores of 175-185 - and seem to be pretty happy only scoring that much.
The Pope talks evolution
Ollie Pope talks about Ollie Pope’s evolving batting style.
Wisden Cricket Weekly host England international Ollie Pope to get into the details of how his batting has evolved over the years. Then, the Wisden crew react to the England squad selections. [Apple Podcasts]
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