Tuesday, March 28, 2017

IPL Top 5 Catches, Knocks Of Matches and Batting Records


Posted by Q at Tuesday, March 28, 2017 Pitched (1)
We’ve created a list that captures the most incredible player feats, and the most memorable knocks of matches since the IPL’s 2008 inception and there are some great sporting moments for you to relive. We’ve also include the top 5 IPL batting records, but as the season progresses, there may be players who knock these out the park and set new ones.

Top 5 Catches in The History of IPL

5. Ricky Ponting- (Mumbai Indians) vs. Delhi Daredevils
In April 2013 40 year old Ricky Ponting proved he was as agile as ever, plucking a one handed catch out the sky after seemingly coming from nowhere. The former Australian skipper pulled off one of the best efforts on the IPL field at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, with his catch going down in history.

4. AB de Villiers- Delhi Daredevils vs. Royal Challengers
In 2010 AB de Villiers pulled off a spectacular catch at the boundary ropes during the final stages of a game. de Villiers stunned fans with a one handed catch just inside the rope, and although the Daredevils were winning comfortably, his incredible catch once again highlighted his great fielding skills.

3. Faf du Plessis- Chennai Super Kings vs. Mumbai Indians
In April 2015 Faf du Plessis pulled off a catch that could only be described as a miracle. He nabbed an impossible-seeming catch after the ball was hit sky high, leaping backwards to grab the ball mid bounce and falling down, all while still clutching the ball.

2. Tim Southee/Karun Nair -Rajasthan Royals vs. Kings XI Punjab
Tim Southee went down in the record books in 2015 for his incredible relay catch with Karun Nair. The pairing has been described as one of ‘the best fielding efforts ever’ and when Southee managed to flick the ball back from just inside the ropes, Nair expertly grabbed it before it hit the ground, leaving the crowd awestruck.

1. Chris Lynn Kolkata -Knight Riders vs. Royal Challengers Bangalore
When Bangalore needed a six to win off 3 balls, Chris Lynn stepped in and made a catch that’s deservedly at the number on position on the list. He slipped, then managed to leap back up, catch the ball, and as he again tumbled, he arched his back to avoid going over the rope. His team not only won the game, he also deservedly claimed the award for Man of the Match.

Top 5 Batting Records

5. Chris Gayle
Most sixes (243 sixes in 88 innings)

4. Yusuf Pathan
Fastest 50

3. Gautam Gambhir
Most 50’s in IPL history (31)

2. Chris Gayle
Fastest Century in IPL

1. Virat Kohli
4110 runs in 131 matches

Top 5 Memorable Knocks Of Matches

5. Quinton de Kock - 108 vs. RCB
When it comes to memorable batting performances the Daredevil’s Quinton de Kock has earned his spot on this list. In only his 3rd game he gave IPL 9 its maiden century, with 108 not out. Cricket betting sites went into overdrive after his innings, and bets are still being taken as to whether he can repeat his incredible strike rate.

4. Gautam Gambhir 90 vs. SRH
Gautam Gambhir quickly but cautiously made his 28th IPL 50 off 41 balls in this match, and thereafter he upped his game, earning his spot on the list for hitting six 4’s and a 6 off his final 19 balls, scoring 40 runs an over at a strike rate of 200.

3. AB de Villiers 72 vs. Gujarat Lions, Qualifier 1
de Villiers’ unbeaten 129 runs is the current highest score in the IPL, but his 79 runs against Gujarat in the first Qualifier is what really stands out, as this batsman became a one man rescue act. He saved the game and racked up a match winning 91 runs for the 6th wicket, putting his team in the lead.

2. Virat Kohli 113 vs. KXIP
With 4 centuries and 973 runs, Kohli has made his name in the IPL. But the performance that stands out is his 113 runs against the KXIP in a match played almost entirely in the rain!

1. David Warner 93 vs. Gujarat Lions, Qualifier 2
Warner has racked up 848 runs in 17 games and has 9 half centuries to his name. However his number one spot on the list is due to his unbeaten 93 runs in the second Qualifier against Gujarat Lions. He became the 4th batsman ever to aggregate 700+ runs in one season and secured SRH a spot in their 1st ever IPL final.

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Saturday, March 25, 2017

25th March 1992 ... 25 years on from Pakistan's most memorable day


Posted by Q at Saturday, March 25, 2017 No Comments
The world is coming down
The flags are up
Whose gonna be number one
Whose gonna take out the cup
Who will it be?
Who will be the King?
It is a once in a lifetime chaaaaance
Who'll rule the world
Gotta see who'll rule the world


25th March 1992.

Today marks the 25th anniversary of that magical World Cup win for Pakistan. After all these years, I have that day (and the days leading up to it) engraved in memory.

No one expected Pakistan to be in the Final in 1992, let alone win it. It was a typical Pakistani comeback and win, a win against all the odds, a win when no one expected it, a win that placed Pakistan at the top of the world.

Around the middle of the World Cup 1992, I remember Newspaper headlines saying "Pakistan going home early", "Pakistan's World Cup chances over", "Imran Khan's dream ends". Everyone thought Pakistan's World Cup campaign was over.

Except Imran Khan. He kept saying that this World Cup was Pakistan's.

It is quite possible that because of that improbable World Cup win (and Miandad's 6 in 1986) that some Pakistan cricket fans today still believe that the impossible is achievable in every game Pakistan plays.

The passion still burns with abundance fire!

I remember the day before the final in 1992. After coming back from school, I begged my parents to let me skip school the next day, a Wednesday (25.03.1992) so that I could watch the final.

I don't think I have ever asked my parents to let me skip school with an honest reason. It was always "pait ka dard"!

But this was cricket. It was the World Cup. It was the Final. And it was Pakistan!

My parents firmly said no.

The match was supposed to start in the morning around the time I would leave for school.

I begged and cried to no avail.

I went to bed that night sulking thinking I'll miss Pakistan's most important cricket match ever.

As on every other school day, my mother woke me up on the morning of 25th March 1992.

As I glanced towards the wall clock, it was past the time that school would start.

I don't think I have ever woken up happier.

I don't know which one of my parents decided that I could skip school that day, but I did. As did my brother.

My father skipped work. As did many of his friends, a lot of whom were over at our place in Abu Dhabi, ready for Pakistan's biggest game ever.

We were all glued to Channel 33, the lifeline of Television in the UAE in those days; it provided all of our entertainment from cartoons, to soap operas, comedy shows, Bollywood movies, Wimbledon finals, and now the final of the World Cup 1992.

All the way from Imran Khan sporting a white t-shirt with a tiger on it to what he said at the toss ...


... the quick loss of Rameez Raja and Aamer Sohail, Imran Khan and Javed Miandad's partnership, Imran's six, Miandad's reverse sweep, Inzamam Ul Haq and Wasim Akram's aggressive finish ...


... Botham's dismissal and Aamer Sohail's finger pointing, Mushtaq Ahmed's spell, Aaquib Javed's catch, Wasim Akram's two magical deliveries ...



... Moin Khan's catch and run-out, Rameez Raja's catch, Aamer Sohail and Zahid Fazal's sajdas, Imran Khan's raised arms ...


... Imran and Miandad's hug, Wasim Akram's man of the match award ...


... Imran Khan lifting the World Cup and his speech ...


... everything, absolutely everything is engraved in memory even today.

I even remember the scorecard of the match!

What a day it was.

When it all ended, the evening was spent rejoicing. Even more so because Thursday and Friday was the weekend so school was far far away :-)


There was no internet back then so we had to wait the next day for the newspaper to land at our doorstep to read all the coverage.

I still have the front page of Khaleej Times from the morning after, 26th March 1992.


Pakistan was indeed on top of the world.

It has been 25 years, but the memories are still fresh.

25th March 1992.

It was an unforgettable day! Pakistan's most memorable day of cricket!

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Friday, March 24, 2017

South defeat North in all three-match series


Posted by Q at Friday, March 24, 2017 No Comments
The three-match series are warm-up games, which serve as preparation for the international cricket and 50-over county competition – The Royal London One-Day Cup.

The stats are guided through the Professional Cricketers’ Association Most Valued Player rankings system. It shows how well the players performed during the domestic season, as classifying the key performers according to their skills and merits. The strike rates, captaincy, scored runs, taken wickets, conditions and quality of opposition are part of the criteria which help in qualifying the performers.

The players were selected through the PCA MVP rating method, while the England selectors chose the remaining ones. Each side has eight performers who were automatically selected to join either the South team, with players from southern counties, or North with ones from northern. 

Paul Farbrace oversees South and North are coached by Ottis Gibson. In the first-day match, South defeated North by 10 wickets in Dubai. It ended with 202 (50 overs) for North and 205-0 (33.3 overs) for South on March 17th. 

Dawid Malan, who is Lions’ and Middlesex’s batsman, hit the decisive 109, helping his team to emerge victorious in the first challenge. Malan and his teammate, Daniel Bell-Drummond, who hit 92, made it through with remaining 16 overs. 

North couldn’t make it as smooth and folded for 202 all out. The foothold couldn’t be gained with three wickets taken by Tom Curran. 

The second-day match was held on 19th of March, as previously, in Dubai, which ended with South’s win by 47 runs. 

Liam Dawson hit 83 helping his team to win again in the second encounter. Sam Northeast, Kent’s batsman, was on the top hitting 118 before Dawson to make South win it by 47 runs. 

Dawid Malan showed a brilliant performance again, hitting 78 gaining 2 wickets in 24 runs. 
North did their best, with Ben Duckett’s 64 and Tim Bresnan’s 74. However, it wasn’t enough to overturn South’s remarkable result. 

As it stood 2-0 up till now, South finished their three-day match series winning by 20 runs in the last encounter in Abu Dhabi on March 21st. 

Mark Wood, Durham’s bowler, gained 2-38 for North after stepping on the field after three surgeries on his ankle. 

Bell-Drummond hit 81, and Mason Crane ended it with a 4-39 helping South gain their third win in these series. 

The last game ended with 40 overs for each side, as it commenced to rain leaving South with a 228-8 dominance over North’s 208. 

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Thursday, March 23, 2017

All about the IPL and why fans love it


Posted by Q at Thursday, March 23, 2017 No Comments
All About the IPL

The Indian Premier League, or IPL, can safely be said to be the most widely attended cricket league globally, and is ranked 6th amongst all of the sporting leagues.

In 2010, the IPL managed to become the very first sporting event ever to be broadcasted live on YouTube, and its overall brand value was estimated to be in the region of around US$4.5 billion! This figure was a result of the guesswork of a division of Duff & Phelps, American Appraisal.

According to the Board Control of Cricket in India, or BCCI, the IPL’s 2015 season managed to contribute US$182 million to the Indian economy’s gross domestic product, or GDP. Duff & Phelps went on to add that the IPL’s brand value jumped up to US$4.16 billion after its 2016 season drew to a close, a staggering rise from 2015’s US$3.54 billion. What makes this even more incredible is that this jump is as high as it is, in spite of the fact that the Indian rupee depreciated by almost 10% to the US dollar!

What Is the IPL?

The IPL is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in India, and it is contested during the months of April and May each year by franchise teams that represent various Indian cities.

The league was found by the BCCI in 2007, and its title sponsor in 2016 was Vivo Electronics, which had the league thus officially known as the Vivo IPL. The current titleholders for the IPL are Sunrisers Hyderabad, and anyone who indulges in T20 cricket betting who backed this team did exceptionally well last year.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad, or SRH, are based in Telangana’s Hyderabad, and this franchise is under the ownership of Kalanithi Maran, of the Sun TV Channel Network. The team was founded in 2012, after the Deccan Chargers, also based in Hyderabad, was ended by the IPL. The SRH appeared in the IPL’s 2013 season, and won 2016’s IPL final against the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The Biggest Wins and Losses in the IPL

The Most Wins recorded by a team goes to the Mumbai Indians, with stats of 80 across its 2008 – 2016 span.

The Most Defeats are the Delhi Daredevils’ 73 across the same span, and the Highest Win, with stats of 64.28 in 2016 goes to the Gujarat Lions.

The Largest Victory in terms of runs was 144, when the Royal Challengers faced up against the Gujarat Lions in 2016, and the Most Consecutive Wins title is shared by the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Chennai Super Kings, with 7, in 2011 for the first, and 2013 for the latter.

The excitement of these games are what draws the huge amount of spectators to it, and the nail-biting action experienced watching these adrenaline fuelled match ups are what makes it a favourite sport.

The Biggest Names in IPL

The IPL has some of the rock stars of the sporting world, and their value is quite amazing. The most expensive players in the league’s history are as follows:

1.       Yuvraj Singh was bought by the Delhi Daredevils in 2015 for US$2.67 million        
2.       The Kolkata Knight Riders bought Gautam Gambhir for US$2.4 million in 2011
3.       2014 had Yuvraj Singh, once again, bought by the Royal Challenger Bangalore for US$$2.33 million           
4.       Yusuf Pathan went to the Kolkata Knight Riders for US$2.1 million in 2011
5.       The Pune Warriors acquired Robin Uthappa for US$2.1 million in 2011

This cricket league looks set to continue to flourish for years to come, and it’s a firm favourite both locally in India and across the globe.

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Monday, March 20, 2017

Mohammad Hafeez is Back!


Posted by Q at Monday, March 20, 2017 No Comments
After a lay off due to injury, indifferent form in international cricket, and a lackluster PSL, Mohammad Hafeez is back in Pakistan's ODI and T20 squads for the West Indies.

Not many people are thrilled with his inclusion. He used to draw plenty of criticism while he was performing, so one can only imagine the criticism he must be receiving right now when he has not been at his best.

I, however, am thrilled with his inclusion.

I am also thrilled because he liked my tweet, which questioned his critics.

To reiterate my point about openers and number 3s who have turned out for Pakistan in the past decade, just take a look at the following...

Besides Azhar Ali and Sarfaraz Ahmed, no one has a better average in ODIs as an opener for Pakistan in past 7 years. We all know the fate of poor Azhar Ali, and I guess Sarfaraz can't also open given his role as captain and wicket keeper! Or can he?

At number 3, Hafeez' performance is even more impressive. No one even comes close to him in terms of the runs and centuries he has piled on from this position (besides the majestic Babar Azam ofcourse). His average and strike rate also better at this position.

As I tweeted earlier, I will never understand the criticism against Mohammad Hafeez.

He has always been valuable as a top order batsman, and now with his bowling, he is even more key for Pakistan.

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