Cricket Zelo

For someone to play international cricket for two decades is a significant procurement. To add value to such a career was the sustained entertainment provided by him. Notwithstanding what others said of him, this man had his own modus operandi on the pitch and off it as well. Whether you have or you have not guessed it, I am taking about 'Shahid Khan Afiridi'.
Having announced his retirement from test cricket in 2010 and from ODIs after the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, he was only engaged in cricket's up to the minute format. After an abortive ICC World Twenty20 2016, Afridi let go of the captaincy but expressed unfulfilled desires of continuing as a player. Consequently, Pakistan's last group match against Australia in Mohali of the 2016 event remained his last.

In 98 T20Is (most by any player), Afridi scored 1,405 runs at an average of 18.01 and a herculean strike rate of 150.75. Apart from his highest score of 54*, the right-hand batsman has three more half-centuries t…

Here are some important numbers which came out in the wake of the IPL Auction 2017:

No. of players sold = 66 (Overseas = 27).
Total money spent today = INR 91.15 crores.
Maximum money spent by a franchise today = INR 17.2 crores (Rising Pune Supergiants).
Minimum money spent by a franchise today = INR 3.85 crores (Gujarat Lions).
Maximum money spent (overall) = INR 65.7 crores (Rising Pune Supergiants).
Minimum money spent (overall) = INR 52.1 crores (Kings XI Punjab).
Maximum no. of players = 27 (Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Lions).
Minimum no. of players = 23 (Kolkata Knight Riders).

A fleeting detail on the happenings of today's auction:

Rising Pune SupergiantsYou don't have many options left when you buy your first player for INR 14.5 crores. They acquired the services of Ben Stokes which was also the highest bid for a player in this auction. RPS was only left with INR 3 crores and had a lot to shop for thereafter. Buying effective fast bowlers would have been their ma…

Over the course of this weekend, cricket had it's share of variance in Mumbai. The two most renowned stadiums - Wankhede and Brabourne, had their share of variance as well. Both are situated in South Mumbai and are only at a distance of less than a km from each other. But the cricket on offer was divergent in nature.
Brabourne was hosting Australia for their three-day warm-up game versus India A ahead of the four-match test series. On the contrary, Wankhede witnessed the nation's top domestic T20 stars during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Australia was put into bat after by India A captain, Hardik Pandya. The visitors finished Day 1 on 327-5. Mitchell Marsh and Matthew Wade were unbeaten on 16* and 7* respectively. Steven Smith and Shaun Marsh had been retired out after scoring individual hundreds. The elder Marsh perhaps showing why he is a must in the Australian line-up in the sub-continent conditions. Going by the recent record, he might be picked towards the front of Usman Kh…

Rising Pune SupergiantsPlayers released = 11 (six overseas). Players retained = 16 (five overseas). No. of players they can buy = 10 (four overseas). Purse remaining = INR 175,000,000.
Only a year old in the Indian Premier League, Rising Pune Supergiants released the most number of players (11) before the auction. Kevin Pietersen's unavailability might hurt them just as his injury did in the last season. After releasing Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan and Rudpra Pratap Singh, the management would want to invest in Indian seamers. With MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, Steven Smith, Faf du Plessis and Usman Khawaja in the squad, the batting department has been taken care of. The ploy of buying Mayank Agarwal from Delhi Daredevils during the transfer window might work in their favour as well. What would they be looking forBowlers - both Indian and overseas as there is not a big gun in the bowling division except Ravichandran Ashwin and Ashok Dinda. A hard-hitting all-rounder as a cover for Mitchell Ma…