Manav Suthar's day out ! an impressive debut !

 

India’s latest Cricketer – debutant – Cap no. 319 – moments of glory at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium at Chandigarh. 

Test match no. 2621 – India has thrashed  Afghanisthan by  an Innings & 300 runs defeat.   

In recent decade,  Spin was all Ravichandran Ashwin & Ravindra Jadeja – spinning out opponents, especially on home wickets.  When Ashwin suddenly retired,  Tanush Karunakar  Kotian, the Mumbai offspin-bowling allrounder, was  picked as R Ashwin's replacement in India's squad for the fourth and fifth Border-Gavaskar Trophy Tests.  

 

The man of this post is MJ Suthar.  Even without Ashwin, there was no place for a fourth spinner   behind Jadeja, Kuldeep and Washington, if India continue to leave out Axar Patel.   With Ashwin now retired, Jadeja rested, and Axar Patel dropped for the one-off Test against Afghanistan in New Chandigarh, there was a rare opportunity for an India spinner to earn a Test cap. Remarkably, the last spinner to make his red-ball debut for India was Axar himself, back in 2021. 

At the time when I started watching Test  matches it was magic of Bishan Singh Bedi – read that there were Vinoo Mankad, Babu Nadkarni earlier.  Bedi was magical - Padmakar Shivalkar, Rajender Goel, Rajinder Singh Hans, B Vijayakrishna, S Vasudevan were unable to break into the National Team.   After him, so many left arm spinners have played for India - Dhiraj Parsanna,  Dilip Doshi, Raghuram Bhat, Maninder Singh, Ravi Shastri, WV Raman, Venkatapathi Raju, Sunil Joshi, Nilesh Kulkarni, Rahul Sanghvi, Murali Karthik, Pragyan Ojha, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadhav, Shabhaz Nadeem, Axar Patel   .. … 

So it was a toss between Vidarbha's Harsh Dubey &  Rajasthan's Manav Suthar  !  At this stage of their careers, they are as alike as two cricketers can probably be. Both  are 23-year-old left-arm spin-bowling allrounders, born within 11 days of each other. Dubey has played 27 first-class matches; Suthar 29. Dubey has 133 wickets, Suthar 129. Dubey has scored 1026 runs at 25.65; Suthar 945 at 25.54.   and both bat left-handed. 

Manav Suthar got his chance this time and grabbed it with both bands.  For Afghan, there was a debutant too - left-arm orthodox spinner, Nangeyalia Kharote.    

Manav Jagdusakumar Suthar bowling looked all different  in New Chandigarh. Showing lot of promise last afternoon, he plucked up three wickets, turned into a dream extended spell on day three. He finished with 6 for 33 as India bundled out Afghanistan for 152 and enforced the follow-on.   

Manav Suthar has etched his name in the history books by becoming the 10th Indian to take a five-wicket haul on his Test debut. After performing consistently in domestic cricket and adding wickets to his tally, the spin all-rounder had  outstanding figures of 6/33 from his 22 overs, which included 10 maidens.  In the second innings, he took one wicket only

 
Well done Manav Suthar
 
Regards – S Sampathkumar
8.6.2026

what a catch ! what a match !! - Zimbabwe fell Australia

Just as INDIA would ever remember 25^th June 1983 when Kapil Devils conquered the World and won the Prudential World Cup, there is another Nation which would look back with satisfaction  !! 

On  9th  June 1983,  in their very first one-day international, Zimbabwe announced their arrival with one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history, beating Australia by 13 runs at Trent Bridge. Brief scorecard read :   Zimbabwe 239 for 6 (Fletcher 69*, Butchart 34*) beat Australia 226 for 7 (Wessels 76, Marsh 50*; Fletcher 4-42) by 13 runs.. Zimbabweans had played with ease the renowned Australian pace attack of Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson,  Geoff Lawson and Rod Hogg. 

In the early hours of a Tuesday morning in 1983, Australia's prime minister Bob Hawke famously told the country that "any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum". Australia  had just won the America's Cup. It was one of the nation's most defining moments of the 1980s, the end of New York Yacht Club's 132-year hold on the trophy ~ and then the mighty Australians lost to minnows in 1983 World Cup.

 

Have not heard or seen him much !  but the catch Munyonga took today, would make him remembered by thousands who saw the match and the highlights !!   Tony Tanaka Munyonga, born in 1999 bats right handed and bowls off-breaks with right arm. Today he did not bat, did not bowl ! but still would be talked about !!    

It's all happening here today at Srilanka.  Kuhnemann missed his flick and the ball ballooned up to Brad Evans, who collected the ball and then under-armed a throw at the striker's end with the batter out of his crease.   ZImbabwe have beaten Australia! They didn't make the World Cup in 2024, and now, back in the big leagues, they have not just made it two wins in two, but they have registered a win over Australia! What a day for this Zimbabwe team! What a day for Sikandar Raza and Brian Bennett and Blessing Muzarabani and Brad Evans! For Graeme Cremer, making a comeback after ages. 

17.4   Length ball outside off by Brad Evans,  Dwarshuis tried to pull, hitting it  straight to  deep midwicket.  Munyonga running and covering many yards jumped, dived and plucked the ball from the air.     

9th Match, Group B, Colombo (RPS), February 13, 2026, ICC Men's T20 World Cup.  Match no. T20I no. 3704 – Aussies have been beaten by Zimbabwe.  Put into bat, Zimbabwe batted calmly – the opening partnership was 61; 70 for the 2nd wicket and unbroken 38 then.  Brain Bennett carried bat through with 64; WK Tadiwanashe Marumani made 35; Ryan Buri 35 and Sikandar Raza remained unbeaten on 25.  Blessing Muzarabani continued his stellar form with the ball with 4 for 17 and was rightly handed the player of the match award as Brad Evans (3 for 23) also picked up crucial wickets to ensure that Australia’s top order crumbled. Matt Renshaw (65 from 44) played a lone hand.  When Glenn Maxwell (31) departed with 64 runs still to get the comeback looked unlikely 

When Muzarabani bowled full and knocked the leg stump of Adam Zampa, it was  his fourth, and his 100th T20I wicket!.  Afghanistan's Rashid Khan is the fastest to 100 T20I wickets, achieving the milestone in only 53 matches. Other top, rapid achievers include Sandeep Lamichhane (54 matches), Wanindu Hasaranga (63 matches), and India's Arshdeep Singh (64 matches), who is the fastest pacer to reach the landmark.  

 

After that very famous win over Australia in 1983 it took 11,406 days for Zimbabwe to beat Australia in an ODI again.  In between in Newlands T20WC in 2007 they did beat Australia.  In that ODI in 1983 debuted alongside 10 others was the Off spinner - John Traicos – he was 37 then and had made his Test debut - for South Africa - in 1969-70 in their final series before they were cast into sporting isolation.  When he played his final match in India in March 1993, he was 45.  Egyptian born, he grew up in South Africa, touring England in 1967 with the South African Universities, and thereafter played for Rhodesia/Zimbabwe.  When Zimbabwe were finally admitted to the fold in 1992, Traicos, despite his age, was still far and away the best offspinner in the country – played – took 5 for 86 including Sachin Tendulkar out for a duck.  His international career ended when business commitments meant he was not available to tour Pakistan in 1993-94. Traicos fled Zimbabwe with his family in 1997 for political reasons and is became  company secretary in Australia. 

Interesting ! – now Australia faces the possibility of exiting out of the T20 WC without going to the next stage.

 
Regards – S Sampathkumar
13.2.2026 

Sooryavanshi's prodigious 175 ensures India winning U19 WC 2026

I am an avid fan of the game of Cricket – when we grew up, it was torrid time, India would be beaten by pace merchants and would struggle to win one odd match in Overseas tour – while 1970s were the story of weak batting line-up, in early 1980s scores of 230+ were defendable in ODIs  - a run rate of 6+ in final five or more was considered herculean … .. life has changed a lot 

Today was awe-struck to see the exploits of young Vaibhav Sooryavanshi – what a methodical madness to his hitting – more sixers flowing into unheralded places as he galloped to that magical 175 !!  reminiscing the glory of Kapil Dev back in 1983 against Zimbabwe at Trentbridgewells. 

Mithila, also known as Tirhut, Tirabhukti and Mithilanchal, is a geographical and cultural region of the Indian subcontinent bounded by the Mahananda River in the east, the Ganges in the south, the Gandaki River in the west and by the foothills of the Himalayas in the north.  It comprises of  certain parts of Bihar and Jharkhand states   and adjoining districts of the Koshi Province, Bagmati Pradesh and Madhesh Province of Nepal. The native language in Mithila is Maithili.  Mithila is commonly used to refer to the Videha Kingdom. 

Mithilā is one of the most significant pilgrimage sites in Jainism. Apart from its association with Mahavira, it is associated with some  Tirthankaras.  This is a post on Cricket about a young kid from Mithila region. 

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was born on 27 March 2011 in Tajpur, a town in the Samastipur district of the Mithila region of Bihar.  Recognising his talent at a very young age, his father enrolled him at Manish Ojha's GenNex Cricket Academy in Patna when he was eight years old. Vaibhav and his father used to travel approximately 100 km from Samastipur to Patna on alternate days for his training sessions.   

Today in the finals of ICC U19 WC 2026 – the scorecard weaves a magic tale.  It reads :  India 411 for 9 (Sooryavanshi 175, Mhatre 53, Kundu 40, Minto 3-63) beat England 311 (Falconer 115, Dawkins 65, Ambrish 3-56, Chouhan 2-63) by 100 runs

 

Today the whiz kid Vaibhav Sooryavanshi once again gave a great lasting  demonstration of his prodigious talent with a record-breaking innings in Harare as India completed a dominant run at the Under-19 World Cup, swatting aside England's challenge to lift the trophy for the sixth time.  

Sooryavanshi, showcased his full range of scoring in an audacious knock of 175 off just 80 balls to almost single-handedly extinguish England's hopes after India had opted to bat. When he was third out, India were 251 for 3 in the 26th over and hypothetically on track to score 500. No one could keep up with Sooryavanshi's rate, but cameos down the   did take India past 400 for the first time in a Youth ODI between Full Member nations.  

Having cruised to fifty from 32 balls, he took just 23 more to bring up his first century of the tournament, then another 16 to progress past 150. Sixes rained down around the ground.  Statistically his 175  is the highest individual score in a final or knockout game in Youth ODIs.  His 15 sixers in his knock are  the most by any batter in a Youth ODI innings. He broke his own record of14 sixes against UAE in December. Sooryavanshi has hit ten or more sixes on five occasions in a Youth ODI, while all other batters combined have done it on three instances. 

A couple of days back, India successfully chased 311 in U19 Semis against Afghanistan when a swashbuckling 33-ball 68 from Vaibhav Sooryavanshi set the tone.    

Most fans would remember that Vaibhav Suryavanshi made his IPL debut for Rajasthan Royals on April 19, 2025, against the Lucknow Super Giants at 14 years and 23 days old, becoming the youngest player in IPL history. He started his innings in remarkable fashion by hitting a six off his very first ball off Shardul Thakur  and scored a quick 34 off 20 balls.  Picked up for ₹1.1 crore, he was the first player born after the IPL's inception (2008) to play in the league.

Hope he matures and plays for the Nation accomplishing much bigger things.

 
Regards – S Sampathkumar
6.2.2026 

India beats Bangladesh - U19 WC at Bulawayo

 

What a catch ! what a match !  - sensational win by India over Bangladesh – it is U19 World Cup (50 overs) 2026

 

In a rain tormented match, earlier, 14-year-old sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi slammed 72 off 67, and 17-year-old wicketkeeper-batter Abhigyan Kundu made a patient 80 as India posted 238 after put into bat.  Vaibhav Suryavanshi became the youngest player to score a fifty in U19 World Cup history, and also surpassed Virat Kohli in the list of players with the most runs in youth ODIs.  .. .. yet his innings could not win him the Man of the Match. 

The 2026 ICC Under-19 Men's Cricket World Cup is an international limited-overs cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC), being held in Zimbabwe and Namibia.   It is the sixteenth edition of the Under-19 Men's Cricket World Cup. Australia are the defending champions. 

16 teams are divided into four groups. The top three teams from each group advanced to the Super Six stage. The fourth-placed teams in Group A and D face each other, while the fourth-placed teams in Group B and C face each other in the placement stage. The top two teams from each group in the super-six stage will qualify for the semi-finals. 

Today the 7^th match of the tournament was played at Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Queen's Sports Club is Zimbabwe's second ground behind Harare Sports Club and a constant on the itinerary of any touring side. 

The scorecard reads : India U19 – 238 beat Bangla 146 by 18 runs   (DLS method).  Player of the match was Vihaan Malhothra for the cool performance of 4 for 14 and 2 catches !! 

It was a wet ground at the start – at drinks after 15 overs India was 71/3; rain affected again after 39 overs with India 192/6  (AA Kundu 63, RS Ambrish 4).  Match was reduced to 49 and Indians were bowled out for 238   

Bangladesh had a steady start and were 83/2 in 16 overs at first drinks break.  It rained at 17.2 and target was revised much favourably to Bangla at 165 in 29 overs;    Bangladesh U19 thus needed 75 to win in 70 balls when the match resumed after the break. They looked well in control, but Vihaan Malhotra produced a magical spell of 4 for 14 in four overs to help India win the thriller.  Indian fielding & catching  also deserves the credit for this comeback victory. 

The Bangla fall of wickets read :   1-6 (Zawad Abrar, 0.4 ov), 2-62 (Rifat Beg, 11.5 ov), 3-106 (Kalam Siddiki, 21.2 ov), 4-124 (Sheikh Parvez Jibon, 23.5 ov), 5-126 (Azizul Hakim, 24.2 ov), 6-129 (Samiun Basir, 25.2 ov), 7-138 (Farid Hasan, 26.4 ov), 8-143 (Al Fahad, 27.1 ov), 9-144 (Rizan Hossan, 27.3 ov), 10-146 (Iqbal Hossain Emon, 28.3 ov) 

And in the final over of Henil Patel – Vihaan Malhothra pulled off a stunner at long … ensuring a clean Indian win.  

Just to recall India’s glory in U19 WC – in 2000 India won under Mohammad Kaif, Yuvraj Singh was Man of the Series.  In 2008, Virat Kohli led team defeated SA; 2012 Capt  Unmukt Chand played a match winning knock of 111* not out in 130 balls with the help of 6 sixes & 7 fours. Sandeep Sharma also excelled with four wickets under his belt as they beat Australia.  In 2018, at Mount Maunganui, India defeated Australia by 8 wickets, with Manjot Kalra scoring a match-winning 101* under the captaincy of Prithvi Shaw.  In 2022 at West Indies, India defeated England   Yash Dull was the Captain. 

Hope India wins this edition too

 

Regards – S Sampathkumar
17.1.2026

the Man who accurately predicted Bihar ........ rampage by teen at Doha !!

The Psephologist who predicted Bihar results and the teenage sensation at Doha !! 

Bihar’s assembly election results have delivered a sweeping win for the NDA government. The victory   was no surprise, with most  exit polls  predicting a clear return to power for the National Democratic Alliance.  However, none of them could gauge the  massive scale of the political shakeup that gave NDA a landslide victory, pushing its tally to a whopping 206 seats, in the 243-member. 

Social media is abuzz with an X post of  former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha,  three days ahead of the Bihar Assembly election results. Laced with sarcasm, the post turned out to be a prophecy  as the 88-year-old Sinha, whose barbs at the ruling dispensation often draw eyeballs, accidentally outdid even psephologists and political analysts by foretelling Bihar's electoral fate, that too, with precision.

He tweeted  "The exit polls of Bihar assembly polls are all wrong. My survey shows that NDA is winning at least 200 seats and Mahagathbandhan is being wiped out !!!! 

 

Unlikely you recognize this Cricketer – he is Sahil Chauhan !! 

 

                     Episkopi  is a village and a municipal district  of Cyprus, an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, located off the coast of the Levant in West Asia. Cyprus’ capital is Nicosia.  The island is the third largest and third most populous in the Mediterranean, after Sicily and Sardinia -  Wonder the reference in a Cricket post !!  

This morning at Eden Gardens, Kolkatta, South Africa won the toss, opted to bat, raced away to 57 no loss  in 10 overs, but then became victims of Jasprit Bumrah's 16th five-wicket haul and excellent support work from Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammed Siraj. India, with a new No. 3 in Washington Sundar, crawled slowly, slowly to  37 for 1 in 20 overs which was pain to watch.  

The hero of the Post is child-faced Cricketer from Bihar - Vaibhav Sooryavanshi who plays for Bihar in domestic cricket and Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League.  He is the youngest Indian List A debutant and the youngest to debut in the Indian Premier League.

 

Tournament by name -  Rising Stars Asia Cup 2025, organized  by the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is underway at Doha.  The tournament - first held in 2013 as the Emerging Teams Asia Cup - has completed six editions so far. The 2025 competition, to be played in T20 format, marks its first under the new Rising Stars banner. The U23 Indian cricket team won the inaugural edition held in Singapore while Afghanistan A lifted the title - the last Emerging Teams Asia Cup - in Oman last year. Sri Lanka and Pakistan are also past champions.  This year’s edition runs from November 14 to 23 with eight teams - five ‘A’ or developmental squads from full-member nations and three associate national sides - battling it out for the continental team.  

The India A cricket team, led by wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma, has been placed in Group B alongside Pakistan Shaheens (Pakistan A), UAE and Oman. The other group has :  Afghanistan A, Sri Lanka A, Bangladesh A, Hong Kong. Each side will play their other three group members once before the top two from each pool move to the semi-finals. The final will be played on November 23.  

Today, the Indian batting sensation Vaibhav Suryavanshi continued to smash records as he blazed 144 off just 42 deliveries in India A's opening game in the Asia Cup Rising Stars 2025 against UAE. His century, coming off just 32 balls, was the joint-second fastest by an Indian in men's T20s. His score was also the fourth-highest for an Indian in the format.  

Suryavanshi, at 14 years and 232 days, also became the youngest man to score a hundred for a national representative team at senior level. It was a record previously held by Bangladesh's Mushfiqur Rahim, who was 16 years and 171 days old when he scored 111* for Bangladesh A against Zimbabwe A in a first-class match in 2005. Suryavanshi was dropped first ball but made full use of his second life, hammering 11 fours and 15 sixes in his knock before getting out in the 13th over. He finished with a strike rate of 342.85, the fourth highest for a score of 100 or more in men's T20s.  

This was Suryavanshi's second T20 century, following his 35-ball effort for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2025. He is the youngest man to score a hundred in T20s. He had become the second-fastest centurion in IPL history, only behind Chris Gayle, who had taken 30 deliveries for his ton against Pune Warriors in 2011. He credited his father for helping him stay focused during games.  He also played down talks of feeling pressure, despite drawing attention at a young age.  India A raced to 297 for 4, the joint fifth-highest team total in men's T20s, with captain Jitesh Sharma applying the finishing touches with an unbeaten 83 off 32 balls.  

In case you still remember the reference and the photo at the start - Sahil Chauhan is an Indian-origin Estonian cricketer who currently holds the record of fastest century in Twenty20 International. Sahil studied at  DAV Senior Public School, Surajpur. then, graduated  Punjab University. He currently works as a manager in a chain of restaurants, in Estonia.   

Back in Jan 2024 -  at Episkopi against Cyprus -  Sahil Chauhan, the Estonia batter, smashed a century off just 27 balls making it the fastest century in all T20s.   Along the way, Chauhan also got to the top of the table for most sixes - 18 - in a men's T20I innings.

 
Interesting !
 
Regards – S Sampathkumar
14.11.2025 

Story of talented Man who shaped the Indian Womens Team

A few decades ago, Ranji matches were won by Bombay and hence not much would be read about that Pre QF on Feb 1994 at Faridabad between Haryana & Bombay - Bombay won by an innings and 202 runs 

Touch your heart and tell !!  ~  how many times we have voiced, heard, acknowledged criticism of bias & Prejudice -  whenever a player whom we felt good enough was  not selected – one would jump to say – it is Bombay lobby !! 

While everyone is rejoicing the great win of Indian Womens’ Team in ICC WC 2025 – there is a man whom now everyone knows – made more than 11000 first class runs, captained Mumbai .. .. yet never played for India !! – never lacked talent but the timing was just not right !!!

 

Indian Women are Champions – we are rejoicing .. .. but the preliminary rounds progressed rather differently.  Australian Women were the best – won 6 of their 7 – lost none – one was no result.  In the other SF – England women who won 5 and lost 1 of their 7 were knocked out by South Africa.  Earlier, SA were bowled out for paltry 69 and England scored it with ease without losing wickets in just 14 overs.  Overall, SA won 5, lost 2 and in their league match, overpowered Indian women.  India on the other hand had a poor start – won 3 lost 3 – 1 no result.    

On 2.11.2025, rain delayed DY Patil Stadium at Navi Mumbai – things were totally different.  India played really well.  Score card reads :  India 298 for 7 (Shafali 87, Deepti 58, Mandhana 45, Ghosh 34, Khaka 3-58) beat South Africa 246 (Wolvaardt 101, Dercksen 35, Deepti 5-39, Shafali 2-36) by 52 runs. 

Shafali Verma capped an extraordinary week with an extraordinary display in the final: 87 off 78 balls to set up a total of 298 for 7, and two  wickets of characteristic cheek at a crucial juncture in a chase that threatened more than once to turn into a nailbiter. Deepti Sharma, a world-class offspinner who has raised her batting to a new level this year, backed up a run-a-ball half-century with a five-wicket haul that combined old-school overspin with new-age defensive skills. India won by 52 runs, and that margin disguised how much tension this final contained. 

                South Africa's captain Laura Wolvaardt, made the chase possible with a grand century  101 off 98 balls, miscuing Deepti high into the Navi Mumbai night. Nadine de Klerk, the match-winner in the league-stage meeting between these teams, kept faint hopes alive with her hitting, and when Harmanpreet Kaur took a brilliant catch, it was great moment defined for the Indian Team. 

To recap :

 

·        On 25^th June 1983 at Lords, Kapil Dev stunned Cricket World beating mighty West Indies by 43 runs.

·        On Sept 24 2007 at Johannesburg, MS Dhoni assembled young brigade winning the inaugural T20 WC beating Pakistan by 5 runs

·        On 2^nd Apr 2011 at Wankhede, MS Dhoni lifted 50 overs WC by beating Srilanka by 6 wickets

·        On june 29, 2024, Rohit Sharma beat SA by 7 runs  at Bridgetown Barbados.

 

o   Moving from recent times -  Rahul Dravid was the head coach for India during the 2024 T20 World Cup, which was his final assignment with the team. Dilsher Khanna !!   was the team manager for the tournament. 

o   In 2011, Gary Kirsten was the Head Coach and Ranjib Biswal was the manager   

o   In 2007 – it was Lalchand Rajput who was the Coach and Administrative Manager   

o   During 1983, there was no role for Coach.  PR ManSingh who had represented Hyderabad in Ranji was the administrative Manager.  

 

Back in Feb 1994, Ravi Shastri (80 tests / 150 Odis) was the captain, when Amil Mazumdar made his debut and made 260; with centuries from Jatin Paranjpe (played 4 ODIs); Ravi Shastri, Samir Dighe (6 tests / 23 ODIs) – the debutant was to make 30 centuries and 60 fifties toalling over 11000 yet was never picked despite being a Mumbaiakar.  

Ages ago,  Amol Muzumdar was padded up and next man in for Shardashram English school when Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli had their world-record 664-run partnership.  He was promptly hailed the next big thing from the Bombay school of batsmanship. In 1994 he was vice-captain of India under-19s, and played alongside Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid for India A.   He led Mumbai to Ranji triumph, and in 2009  after being left out of the Buchi Babu tournament, Muzumdar announced he would play for Assam in the next Ranji Trophy season. He spent five years as a professional cricketer in Assam and Andhra before retiring from first-class cricket in 2014. Amol Muzumdar was appointed as the head coach of the Indian women’s cricket team in October 2023.  

 

Now he is credited to the winning ways and force behind Indian Women winning  ICC World Cup 2025 

The contingent is bigger - Aavishkar Salvi is a former Indian cricketer who represented Mumbai and played for Delhi Daredevils is the bowling coach.  Munish Bali who  has been with the Indian women's senior side since 2022 is the fielding coach.  Ashok Iyengar Harrsha is a performance, Strength & Conditioning (S&C) coach; Aniruddha Desphande is   Performance Analyst; Harini Murali is the team doctor; Rakhi V Darne is head sports physiotherapist; Akanksha Satyavanshi is  team physio  alongside Dhananjay Kaushik & Purva Kate, Mamta Shrisulla – Masseurs 

Well done Team India – and appreciations to Amol Muzumdar

 
Regards – S Sampathkumar
3.11.2025 

A cricketer by name Imliwati Lemtur playing for Nagaland !!

 

How much of Cricket do you follow !  - ever heard of a PT Teacher by name - Imliwati Lemtur

 

After that historic run chase against Australia scripted by Indian Women, the whole Nation would be glued to watching the finals of ICC Womens’ World Cup final against South Africa. 

Today, a spellbinding performance from Josh Hazlewood silenced an MCG crowd of 82,438 on a ground that appeared to be home ground of India.   His 3 for 13 from four overs bundled out  India for 125 despite a stunning lone hand from Abhishek Sharma, who made 68 off 37 balls to give Australia something to chase. Abhishek could not get much strike, facing 37 balls from a possible 111 before falling in the 19th over. Harshit Rana was the only one to stay with him, making a valuable 35 from 33 

Possibly you would have read the result of Ranji trophy elite group A match at Bengalure, where Tamil Nadu made a massive 512/3 !!  Gurjapneet Singh then took a hattrick in the 6^th over with wickets of Rupero, Chetri & Jonathan !! 

In mid 1990s, there was Debasish   Sarbeswar Mohanty with a very different action, capable of swinging the ball well. Yet he ended playing just 2 tests & 45  - he was a capable pinch hitter too, smothering huge sixers.

 

The Battle of Kohima was the turning point of the Japanese offensive into India in 1944 during the Second World War.  The battle is often referred to as the "Stalingrad of the East".  The place of occurrence,  Nagaland in North East India borders Assom,  Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Burma.   

Nagaland is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and the Naga Self-Administered Zone of the Sagaing Region of Myanmar (Burma). Its capital city is Kohima and its largest city is the twin Chümoukedima–Dimapur.  Nagaland consists of 17 administrative districts, inhabited by 17 major tribes along with other sub-tribes. Each tribe is distinct in character from the other in terms of customs, language and dress.  In the 19th century, the British India forces began expanding their influence in Northeast India, including the Naga Hills. After India's independence in 1947, the question of the Naga Hills' political status emerged. Nagaland was a district in the State of Assam until 1957, known to others as "The Naga Hills".  .. .. and they too play Cricket !!   

After Pradosh Ranjan Paul’s unbeaten 200 and the hat-trick  - Nagaland were 9/3; then 31/4 !! Alongside 9 teams, Nagaland too got a member status from BCCI in 2018 and played   Vijay Hazare Trophy in Sep 2018.  At that time Nagaland did not had a cricket team but cricketers from clubs, trials were initiated 

A 26 Year old PT teacher from a school in Dimapur also gave trials and was shortlisted as an all-rounder, Slow left arm spinner and a lower order batsmen named Imliwati Lemtur.  It is stated that he applied for leave from his school and came without salary.  Now he has more than 100 Ranji wickets and is a centurion too !!   

At Bengaluru, Imliwati walked in at no 7 with Nagaland requiring another 203 to avoid follow on. His heroics ensured a drawn match, Nagaland scoring  446 with Imliwati last man out scoring 146.  His maiden First Class Hundred at the age of 33 

Tamil Nadu chief coach M Senthilnathan was disappointed that his team could not get full points  and blamed the surface. Even on the fourth day, we can't see a single mark on, a good mark or where the ball can turn. Nothing is happening, It's (ball) coming straight," he added. On this surface, Tamil Nadu sorely missed the services of Ajith Ram, who was injured and not part of the team 

For Nagaland the other hero was Dega Nischal who made 175.  Former India fast bowler and erstwhile national selector Debashish Mohanty is the current coach of Nagaland.   Debashish Mohanty  once took all 10 wickets in a single innings for East Zone against South Zone   in Agartala in January 2001. He achieved these figures of 10 wickets for 46 runs and his victims were :  Sridharan Sriram, Nand Kishore, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Vijay Bharadwaj, Thilak Naidu, Sunil Joshi, Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad.   

Digging some my earlier posts – in 2017 there was this abysmal performance in the game of Cricket.   In BCCI’s U-19 women’s one-day super league match between Kerala and Nagaland was  shot out for just two runs with as many nine batters getting out for duck.

 
Regards – S Sampathkumar
31.10.2025 

DLS and inept batting banish India at Perth

At Perth, it was huge disappointment as Indian team played poorly – the ridiculous  rain-rule known as DLS method,  is to be blamed partly and more so, the lack of understanding such rule and adapting to it is to be blamed – Captain, Coach should take the blame for this !! – it is not mad hitting but losing lesser wickets, a critical calculator in DLS !!

 

First it was an outstanding looking Optus Stadium at Perth  that has total capacity of  61,266, primarily used for Australian rules football and cricket. The Stadium   on the Burswood Peninsula overlooks  Swan river. 

It was double disappointment as Indian Women too crashed out of World cup from seemingly sure win position.  Smriti Mandhana has taken the blame for India's batting collapse against England on Sunday night at their women's World Cup match in Indore, where they went from needing a-run-a-ball 57 with seven wickets in hand to a four-run defeat.  Chasing 289 for a win, Mandhana was dismissed for 88 off 94 balls in the 42nd over, and from there they slipped to 262 for 6 by the 47th and just couldn't get the final impetus with left-arm spinners Sophie Ecclestone and Linsey Smith bowling six of the last nine overs.

 

The rain marred Men’s match scorecard reads :  Australia 131 for 3 (Marsh 46*) beat India 136 for 9 (Rahul 38) by seven wickets (DLS squad).  Mitchell Marsh spoiled counterpart Shubman Gill's ODI captaincy debut.   Luckily Travis Head's recent patchy form continued as he slashed left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh straight to deep third man but it was all Aussie way !!  It was a disappointing ODI return for India since their Champions Trophy triumph in March. Their batting order was not helped by numerous rain delays as the covers were used for the first time at Optus Stadium since the ground opened in 2018.  

During the brief passages of play, their top order struggled to handle the back of a length bowling from Australia's trio of quicks.   Rohit made a scratchy 8 while Kohli fared even worse after falling for an eight-ball duck. Hazlewood utilised the bouncy conditions to menacing effect, bowling 35 dot balls in his brilliant spell of 2 for 20 from seven overs.  Towards death, Indian batsmen failed to read left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann.    

Australia put India into bat after winning the toss and got off to a flyer with the ball. The much-awaited return of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli didn’t go to plan as both were caught behind the wicket for 8 and 0 off the bowling of Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc respectively. Shubman Gill was then caught down the leg side in the ninth over, when the first rain break came. It lasted long enough to reduce the match to a 49-overs-a-side contest. But the second break was a much longer one, lasting close to two hours and shortening the game to 35 overs each. Shreyas Iyer failed.  Though the match was reduced to 26 overs, the batsmen could not accelerate and only some lusty hits of Nitish Kumar Reddy took them to 136/9.   

Indians were struggling at 25/3 in 8.5 when the first rain intervention came – match was reduced to 49 overs; second break came at 11.5 when India was 37/3  - match reduced to 32 overs; third came in 16.4 – India 52/4 and match reduced to 26. Ludicrously the target became 131 !!  Clearly India could not pace its innings due to rain breaks – yet were penalized badly.  The reduction was not equitable!  

The DLS method considers two primary resources for scoring runs: overs remaining and wickets in hand. An initial 50-over innings starts with 100% resources.  India's innings had multiple interruptions, which forced them to accelerate at less than ideal times. According to analysts, India was not able to use their resources as effectively as they would have in an uninterrupted innings.  In contrast, Australia's innings began with a clear, defined target and a full 26 overs to bat, allowing them to better pace their chase. When India batted,   Mitchell Starc (6-1-22-1) and Josh Hazlewood (7-2-20-2) combined to bowl 13 overs, totalling up to 50 per cent of 26 overs.  .. .. and Indian batters failed to capitalize Matthew Kuhnemann, the left-arm spinner bowling in death and returning figures of 4-0-26-2.

"I don't think too many people understand that method but it's been there for a long time. There was an Indian who had come up with the VJD method, which I thought was a lot better because it made things even for both the teams. And the BCCI uses the VJD method in domestic cricket, not sure now," Sunil Gavaskar said on India Today.  

The names of Frank Duckworth & Tony Lewis are known  to every Cricket fan.  It is the rain rule or rather how scores will be calculated when it rains in the midst of a match.  Rain rules are indeed strange;  Frank was a consultant statistician and editor of the Royal Statistical Society's monthly news magazine, RSS NEWS. Tony was a lecturer in mathematical subjects in the Faculty of Computer Studies and Mathematics at the University of the West of England, Bristol and chairman of the Western Branch of the Operational Research Society.  

On 22nd Mar 1992  - SA will ever curse the rule…. Victories over Australia, West Indies, Pakistan, India and Zimbabwe had propelled the reemerging SA all the way to the semi-finals.   Chasing 253 in 45 overs – rain  interrupted play for 12 minutes with South Africa 231/6 off 42.5 overs and the over limit was reduced to 43 overs with the target reduced by 1 to 252. So suddenly after the rain, the target became 21 off a single delivery….. !!!!

 
Regards – S Sampathkumar
20.10.2025 

Jharkhand hands down a humiliating defeat to veteran Tamil Nadu

 

In Mahabharata, the region was referred as Kark Khand due to its location near Tropic of Cancer. In those days, the region  was a part of Magadha and Anga. In Mauryan period, this region was ruled by a number of states, which were collectively known as the Atavika (forest) states.

 

Are you following domestic season; unlikely you recognize this Cricketer !!  Sadly the cup of woes is complete for Tamil Nadu, yet another humiliating defeat in  Ranji trophy  - when will we get to see another Balu Alagannan or S Vaduevan ?? 

Jharkhand, the 28^th  state of India was formed on November 15, 2000 after a long standing tribal movement for statehood. Jharkhand was earlier a part of Bihar, precisely it was then South Bihar, a highly mineral rich area with a substantial tribal population. The formation day  is the birth anniversary of tribal leader Birsa Munda who fought the British in the 1870s in the Chota Nagpur plateau. 

For Tamil Nadu, Ranji trophy title has been a pipe-dream save on two occasions : 1954-55 & 1987-88.  They have been runners-up 10 times, the last being 2014-15 season. 

At Coimbatore, in Elite Group A match -   little over an hour after lunch on Day 4, as Anukul Roy trapped Sandeep Warrier in front, the celebrations in Jharkhand ranks spoke much. In three meetings against Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy, they have won all, including twice this year alone in successive seasons. But none had been as astounding as the one in Coimbatore on Saturday, where they won by an innings & 114 runs to take home seven points.   

The scorecard reads : Tamil Nadu (fo) 93 & 212; Jharkhand won by an innings and 114 runs.  Player Of The Match - Ishan Kishan

 

Of the handful of Cricketers from Tamil Nadu who have played for India, there have been few pace-bowlers (includes medium pacers) starting with CR Rangachari, KJ Gopalan, the fastest from the State Thirumalai Ananthanpillai Sekar, Bharat Arun, Robin Singh, Laxmipathi Balaji, T Natarajan.  So the team’s reliance on spinners that would include Vaman Kumar, Srinivasan Venkatraghavan, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, WV Raman, M Venkatramana, mercurial GOAT Ravichandran Ashwin & Washington Sundar.   There have been players like R Vasudevan who excelled for the State but could not get a chance to play for India. 

Looking back, in Apr 1973 when Venkat led side lost to Wadekar’s Bombay in the finals – the new ball attack was Kalyanasundaram and P Mukund.  In Mar 92, when we lost to Delhi,  it was Diwakar VAsu and Robin Singh.  In Mar 2015 when Karnataka humiliated TN by defeating by an innings & 217 runs, new ball was shared by Lakshmipathy Balaji and Prasanth Parameswaran.                                                         

Going back even further there was this Triplicanite – MJ Gopalan, a double-international.  Morappakam Josyam Gopalan  from the village of Morappakam in Chingleput district, was discovered by C. P. Johnstone, one of the founding fathers of Madras cricket. He dismissed Jack Hobbs   in both innings in match against Vizianagaram; in the second he clean bowled the great man with a leg-cutter that pitched on the leg stump and took the off bail. Against Ceylon in 1933, he took a famous hattrick, the first in Chepauk.  When Ranji Trophy was inaugurated in 1934, Madras and Mysore (now Tamil Nadu and Karnataka) played the first match.  The very first ball of the tournament was delivered by legendary MJ Gopalan.    His only Test match was against England at Calcutta in early 1934. In 1935, he toured New Zealand with the Indian hockey team which enjoyed enormous success.  He missed out Berlin Olympics whence    team captained by Dhyan Chand,   won the gold medal.

 

At Coimbatore, there were handful of debutants. Jeganathan Hemchudeshan & Ambarish for TN;  Jatin Pandey, Rishav Raj & Shikhar Mohan for Jharkhand.  For J the recognizable player of Indian ranks was Ishant Kishan. It was in many ways inevitable from the moment Tamil Nadu let Jharkhand recover from 157/6 on Day 1 and eventually have 419 on board with Ishan Kishan playing a mature knock. The lone India cap holder, who is deemed not good enough for any format by the national selectors, is all it took for TN’s best laid plans to hit a wall. Thereafter, the batting crumbled at the first visibility of pressure, first getting shot out for 93 and in the second essay showing no signs of any corrective measures.  Jharkhand humbled former champions Tamil Nadu by an innings and 114 runs with young off-spinner Rishav Raj, playing his maiden first-class match, grabbing four wickets.   

 

Ishan Kishan scored 173; Gurjapneet took 4/71; in TN first  - debutant Jatin Pandey took 5/35; Sahil Raj 4/21;  in the 2^nd – Rishav Raj took 4/499; Anukul Roy 3/42. 

Statistically, Jharkhand made their debut in 2004  against Saurashtra   and the match was drawn.  The Madras cricket team, now known as the Tamil Nadu cricket team, started playing in the Ranji Trophy on November 4, 1934, in the very first match of the inaugural season.  

The man at the start is Gurjapneet Singh, aged 25 bowling left arm medium fast, A 6'3" left-arm seamer, was born in Ludhiana (Punjab) and grew up in Ambala (Haryana), Gurjapneet moved to Chennai when he was about 17. Seven years later, on his Ranji Trophy debut against former champions Saurashtra, he bagged 6 for 22, the best figures in a first-class innings by a TN fast bowler at home since 2005-06. Gurjapneet's record haul included the prize scalp of Cheteshwar Pujara for a duck. 

Tamil Nadu has the best system, scores of former players, Coaches – but something wrong with players, selection and more .. .. sad for the die-hard Tamil Nadu fan.

 
Regards – S Sampathkumar
19.10.2025