In the Tennis
ball Cricket tournament conducted by SYMA recently – not many players were
inclined to run, too many attempts at reverse hits/switch hits .. .. and when
the ball was hit high with fielder getting under, there was no attempt to cross
over !! .. .. that is a new changed
rule, irrespective of whether the batters have crossed or not at the point of a
catch being taken, the incoming batter will be on strike, except if the
dismissal is on the last ball of an over.
The biggest
extravaganza IPL 2022 is set to begin .. .. and this season, each team will
have two unsuccessful reviews per innings, as opposed to one earlier,
and the rule for the new batter taking strike after a caught dismissal has also
changed. This is getting bigger – ten
teams : Chennai Superkings (CSK); Mumbai
Indians (MI); Kolkatta Knight Riders (KKR); Delhi Capitals (DC); Royal
Challengers Bangalore (RCB); Rajasthan Royals (RR); Punjan Kings (PBKS);
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) + two new franchisees, Lucknow Super Giants and Gujarat
Titans .. . there would be 70 league games played for 58 days from March 26 to May 22, before
the playoffs, for which the venues and the schedule have not been announced
yet. The final will be played on May 29, 2022.
At - 7.30pm IST on Saturday, 26th March 2022, defending champions Chennai Super Kings will
take on Kolkata Knight Riders at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai to kick-off the
15th season of the IPL. There are to be a total of 12 double-headers this
season - the first game will start at 3.30pm IST, and 2nd game at 7.30pm.
Cricket is always
entertaining – it evolves with changes.
When Test Cricket was at its peak, came limited Overs Internationals and
this century saw the advent of T20s .. . and professional leagues.
Remember reading with interest
of the first World Cup – Prudential World Cup 1975. India fared very badly – and Captain S
Venkatraghavan would feel let down by the attitude of some players. In June 1975, the inaugural tournament was
sponsored by Prudential Assurance Company, had eight participating countries:
the six Test-playing teams of the time – Australia, England, India, New
Zealand, Pakistan, the West Indies and the two leading Associate nations at the
time Sri Lanka and East Africa. The teams were divided into two groups of four,
with each team playing each other in their group once; the top two from each
group qualified for the semi-finals, with the winners of these matches meeting
in the final. Each match consisted of 60 overs per team and was played in
traditional white clothing and with red balls; all were played and ended in
daylight. England, New Zealand,
Australia and West Indies qualified for semis.
After tournaments in 1979,
1983 & 1987 – the 1992 World Cup was the first to feature coloured player
clothing, white cricket balls and black sightscreens with a number of matches
being played under floodlights. The 1992
World Cup was also the first to be held in the Southern Hemisphere. It was also
the first World Cup to include South Africa, and was held after 5 years. There was major change in the format too –
there were nine Nations playing each other in round robin format. Pakistan, New Zealand, South Africa and
England qualified for the semis.
The 2022 IPL will see the 10
teams split into two groups of five each for the league stage. In the new
format, each team will play 14 league
games. Each team will play the other
teams in the same group and one more from the other group twice and the
remaining teams in the other group once.
To minimise the exposure to the risks of Covid-19 while traveling across
India, this time the IPL will be played across four venues in and around Mumbai
and Pune. The four grounds to be used are the Wankhede Stadium and Brabourne
Stadium in Mumbai, the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai and the MCA Stadium in
Pune. So – there is no concept of home
or away .. .. though MI would enjoy playing matches at their own ground !!
IPL guarantees entertainment
– though me too is a great CSK fan, would see matches enjoying the fun, and not unduly bothering
on the result of each individual game.
24.3.2022
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