The Walsh-Lara Captaincy Saga

The MI-GT match clearly showed what many predicted, that the Rohit-Hardik captaincy issue is a big one for the fans and they will let their feelings known. Now, let me take you back to almost three decades ago when something similar happened in West Indies cricket.

For the uninitiated, West Indies doesn't exist as a country but is a collection of islands who come together to form the West Indies team. And these islands have a history of rivalry, which often translates into sporting rivalry as well.

THREAD

The wild story of England's 2013 Ashes Boot Camp

Ben Stokes and his team got a lot of flak in the build up to the ongoing India-England series for deciding to go to UAE instead of playing practice matches in India. A lot of people linked it to the team's liking for golf, a sport many in the team enjoy playing to relax. With the series still at 1-1, it's only fair to reserve judgment on Stokes and team's methods at this point, but what strikes me is how contrasting it is to what the team was put through more than a decade ago ahead of

THREAD

Border, Langer, Clarke and an advice for life

Quite early in his cricketing career, Justin Langer went up to Allan Border and asked him how can he get a shoe sponsorship, so that he could get his hands on his favorites shoes without having to pay for them. The guy Langer was talking to was the highest run scorer in Test cricket at that time. Goes without saying, he knew a thing or two about the game and its many attractions. 'Grumpy', as Border was called, looked straight into Langer's eyes and said to him with a serious face,

THREAD

So, on the eve of #IndvEng, it's only fair I write about an incident that tells you how competitive this rivalry has been, especially in this century. This incidnet happened in the first Test of England's tour to India in 2001. A bit of context before I tell the story. The tour was England's first to India in eight years and second in 17 years. They had been embarrassed on the 1993 tour with a 3-0 whitewash. But their chances of staging a comeback in 2001 were thwarted by something that had happened off the cricket field and in a place far away

THREAD

It's been some time since I told the story of a picture and this one seems perfect for telling a story as there seems to be a lot to unpack here. One batter seems to be celebrating as if the match has been won while the other's body language suggests nothing of that sort. Then there are fielders who seem bewildered and are appealing for something that can possibly change the outcome of the match. But what if I tell you that the batting team hasn't won the match? And this result, in fact, would result in them losing the series? And the batter

This is Dean Waugh, the third Waugh brother to play First Class cricket. Not sure how many of you have watched any footage of him batting before. So, here it is.

Meanwhile, the tournament being played here is
the Super 8s, a short format innovation tried out in Australia in the mid 90s. Rules were quite unique. Only 8 players per side. Matches were of 14 overs. Every member of the team apart from the wicketkeeper had to bowl. Instead of sixes, there were 8s. That's what the signal is for in the above video. Batters were to retire after reaching 50 but could come

There was something comforting about seeing Umpire David Shepherd go about his business on the cricket field if you were watching the game in the 90s and early 2000s. With his benevolent father-like aura, he not only seemed to be always in control of the proceedings, but his gentle smile seemed to have enough to defuse any tension simmering on the cricket field. And, of course, there was the famous little hop when the score reached 111 that made everyone at the ground smile.

But not too many were smiling on 4th June 2001. Definitely not Shepherd.

The Waugh-Dravid friendship

Rahul Dravid was just a 12-year old boy when Steve Waugh was walking out to bat in his first ever Test for Australia against India. In the mid 90s when Dravid was amassing huge scores for Karnataka and trying to break into the Indian side, Waugh was scripting a story of his own.

After starting as a flashy batter with an array of strokes, which saw him achieve great success in his early years, Waugh had suddenly hit a trough in his career. In 1989, he had averaged 86 in Test cricket. In the next 11 tests played over 3 years

LONG THREAD

You know where the photo is from and maybe you also know what this post is about. But it's a little more than that, trust me.

This is a photo of Brad Haddin from the 2015 World Cup Final against New Zealand. Although Australia won the match comprehensively, a lot of Haddin's actions on the day left a bitter taste in the mouth. Throughout New Zealand's innings, he was in the ears of the Kiwi batters, particularly Grant Elliot, who had played the knock of his life in the previous match and won people over with a gesture of a lifetime

The long running Chappell-Waugh feud

20 years ago, Steve Waugh brought the curtains down on his international career after making his debut in 1985. He left the stage with a characteristic gritty knock of 80 that denied India a historic series win over Australia in Australia. Naturally, tributes poured in from everywhere and deservedly so. Waugh had won two World Cups, one of them as a captain and was at the helm of Australian cricket during their remarkable 16 Test long winning streak. But one man wasn't moved. That was Ian Chappell.

THREAD

Of course, for a billion people including me, Ricky Ponting was the heartbreaker on March 23, 2003. But what did that innings of 140* in that Jo'burg final mean for the man himself?

Redemption. Ponting was just 21 year old when he played in his first World Cup in 1999. Despite having played less than 20 ODIs before the tournament, he was trusted with an important spot in the batting lineup. But besides the century against West Indies in Jaipur, Ponting hadn't made a

THREAD

'England out of a World Cup in the subcontinent because of poor preparation' isn't happening for the first time. Now that England has crashed out of the 2023 World Cup, it's not a bad time to reel back to 1996, where England endured another forgettable World Cup campaign. England had finished Runner's Up in the 1987 and 1992 World Cups and had made it to the semis of every World Cup before the 1996 one. But in 1996, the only two teams they could defeat in the tournament were UAE and the Netherlands before Sri Lanka thrashed them in the QF.

THREAD

Strange as it may sound but every time I hear Rinku Singh, I am reminded of a certain Bantoo Singh. No similarity between the two except whatever there is in their names, and the only reason I know of Bantoo Singh is because of a story related to him.

Here is the story👇 Mumbai vs Delhi might not be the biggest rivalry in the IPL but for decades until the beginning of this century, Mumbai & Delhi had the biggest of rivalries in domestic cricket, so much so that the distrust and dislike emanating from it would often spill into the Indian team too.

THREAD

This is a wild cricket thread. Trust me.

Two cricketers brought the curtains down on their cricketing careers recently - Eoin Morgan and Murali Vijay - and both of them had a very unique beginnings to their international careers.

Let's start with Murali Vijay first. In 2008, India were playing a 4-match series vs Australia at home. They went into the 4th Test of the series with a 1-0 lead but were struck a blow before the match when Gambhir, who had scored 206 in the previous match, was handed a one Test ban for an incident with Watson.

#Thread

The Hogg-Bedi Story

In 1977-78, the Indian team under Bishen Singh Bedi toured Australia to take on a depleted Aussie side courtesy the Packer controversy. During that series, which the hosts would win 3-2, India played a tour match against Western Australia Country XI India fielded a strong side against a fairly weak opposition and soon had them on mat with Bedi and Venkat bowling in tandem. At 43/5, out walked Greg Hogg with the tough job of resurrecting the innings and give his bowlers something to bowl at. The score soon became 67/6 though

THREAD

Since the IPL announced a major innovation for the 2023 edition, let me tell you some suggestions that John Buchanan, famous for his successful stint as Aus coach and not so successful stint as KKR coach, made after the first IPL to the organisers. Some of them are WILD👇 Batting Cages and Bull Pens

As the presence of 'Bull Pens' would suggest, the idea is borrowed from Baseball where Bullpen is an area where the relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. Buchanan said that there should be dugouts where the batters waiting in the fray

THREAD

'Cricketers of today only chase the money and aren't committed enough to play for the country.'

We keep hearing this a lot in the age of T20 leagues. A small story from almost a century ago that might interest you because it involves the OG GOAT - Sir Don Bradman At the age of 22, the Don in 1930 broke all possible batting records in Australia' 2-1 Ashes win. 974 runs in the series from 7 innings is a well-known and still unroken record of Bradman, but equally astounding were his overall numbers on the tour. 2960 runs in all FC matches.

In 2014's Unforgettable, Anand loses his eyesight after an accident and becomes a recluse. He also fails to see the love of his caretaker Tara. But then he meets another accident and gets his eyesight back.

And guess who help him realise his love for Tara? Two cricketers. YES In this forgettable film starring Iqbal Khan and shot in the UAE (I write this because they mention this right at the beginning of the credits), Irish cricketers William Porterfield and Niall O'Brien play themselves. They appear twice in the movie.

THREAD

You think Ben Stokes is tough? Let me tell you the story of another tough guy.

It's the 80s and this man was playing rugby for Wellington. This was supposed to be the last match he had to play before flying to England where he had a season ahead of him with Workington. Within the first five minutes of the match, he dislocated a finger of his. Of course, rugby is a tough sport and injuries are normal but his finger was sticking out sideways. It was that bad. When he went off, the medical team said that they wouldn't be able to put it back asap.

THREAD

We hear so many female voices in the commentary box in cricket today. But as most of you following the game would know it wasn't so not too long ago.

And here's a clip from 1993 with a female commentator calling the game, the only one in the panel. So, who was she? The name is Donna Symmonds. Those following cricket in the Caribbean in the 90s might be well familiar with her voice, but those outside of the Caribbean don't know the pioneer too well.

Donna inherited the love for cricket from her father Algernon whose friend list had some

THREAD

This is Gary Pratt on top of the world. If you don't know who he is and where he is in the photo, let me tell you that in the next few tweets. But if you know who he is, then wait for the tweets to follow because this is the story of what happened to Pratt after this. The 2005 Ashes is still considered one of the greatest Test series ever and there are reasons for that. Not only was the competition top-notch, reflected well in the results, but even the teams were ready to do anything to win, even if that meant bending the rules a bit.