Current Affairs - Cricket

On 17^th September, 2023, India secured its 8th Asia Cup championship by easily chasing down a target of 51 against Sri Lanka.

Key Points

• One-Sided Contest: Mohammed Siraj played a pivotal role in India's victory, decimating Sri Lanka's batting lineup with remarkable figures of 6 for 21 off 7 overs.
• The result was all but assured after Sri Lanka's batters struggled, with five of them getting dismissed without contributing to the score.
• Swift Victory: India achieved the target in just 6.1 overs, winning the final match with a remarkable 263 balls to spare and all 10 wickets intact.
• This victory marked India's largest winning margin in terms of balls remaining in Asia Cup history, surpassing their previous record set against Kenya in 2001.

Madhya Pradesh cricket team won their first-ever Ranji Trophy title recently.

• MP, led by Aditya Shrivastava, defeated 41-time champions Mumbai in the final played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.
• The team was coached by former India wicketkeeper-batsman Chandrakant Pandit.
• Player of the Match (Final): Shubham Sharma (MP)
• Player of the Tournament: Mumbai batter Sarfaraz Khan was crowned as the ‘Man of the Tournament for his brilliant Ranji Trophy 2022 with the bat, which saw him score 982 runs at an average of 122.75, finishing at the top of the batting charts.
• Shams Mulani from Mumbai was the leading wicket-taker of the tournament with 45 scalps.

• India beat England to win the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup played at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua (West Indies) on 5 February 2022. It was a record fifth U-19 title for India.
• Yash Dhull became the fifth Indian captain to win the title after Mohammad Kaif, Virat Kohli, Unmukt Chand and Prithvi Shaw.
• Raj Bawa (India) received the ‘Player of the Match’ award in the final while Dewald Brevis from South Africa won the ‘Player of the Series’.

The ICC Awards are an annual set of sports awards for international cricket, which recognise and honour the best international cricket players of the previous 12 months. The awards were introduced by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2004.

Winners for the Year 2021

• Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy for ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year – Smriti Mandhana (India)
• Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year – Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan)
• ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year – Joe Root (England)
• ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year – Babar Azam (Pakistan)
• ICC Women’s ODI Cricketer of the Year – Lizelle Lee (South Africa)
• ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year – Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan)
• ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year – Tammy Beaumont (England)
• ICC Emerging Men’s Cricketer of the Year – Janneman Malan (South Africa)
• ICC Emerging Women’s Cricketer of the Year – Fatima Sana (Pakistan)
• ICC Men’s Associate Cricketer of the Year – Zeeshan Maqsood (Oman)
• ICC Women’s Associate Cricketer of the Year – Andrea-Mae Zepeda (Austria)
• ICC Umpire of the Year – Marais Erasmus (South Africa)

• The International Cricket Council (ICC) on January 10 announced Ajaz Patel as the winner of the ICC Men’s Player of the Month Award for December 2021.
• Ajaz Patel (New Zealand) made history in December 2021, when he picked up 10 wickets in an innings against India at Wankhede, becoming only the third player in Tests to achieve that feat after Jim Laker and Anil Kumble.

• Himachal Pradesh beat Tamil Nadu in the final to win their maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy title, at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.
• The game was decided under VJD Method due to bad light.
• Player of the Match (final): Shubham Arora (Himachal Pradesh)
• Player of the Tournament: Rishi Dhawan (Captain, Himachal Pradesh)
• Mumbai were the defending champions.

(Image Source: Indian Express)

• India won the 2 match Test series 1-0.
• In the second test India won by its biggest margin by runs (372).
• Ravichandran Ashwin from India was declared ‘Player of the Series’.
• In the second Test played at Mumbai, Ajaz Yunus Patel from New Zealand became the third bowler to take all ten wickets in an innings in Test cricket after Jim Laker and Anil Kumble.

• Tamil Nadu beat Karnataka in the final to win the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021.
• The final was played at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi.
• Tamil Nadu is the most successful team in the history of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy history (3rd titles).
• Batsman M. Shahrukh Khan who smashed a dramatic last-ball six to help Tamil Nadu defend the T-20 title was adjudged as the ‘Man of the Match’.

(Image Source: timesofsports.com)

About the Tournament

• The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is a domestic Twenty20 cricket championship organized by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), among the teams from the Ranji Trophy.
• It is named after the famous Indian test cricketer, Syed Mushtaq Ali.
• The tournament is held in Round robin, then knockout format.

• India took a clean-sweep over the Kiwis in the three match series 3-0.
• Axar Patel was declared Player of the Match while Rohit Sharma was declared Player of the Series.

• The International Cricket Council (ICC) awarded the hosting rights of the T20 World Cup in 2024 to West Indies and USA. USA has hosted some T20I matches between India and West Indies at Fort Lauderdale in 2016 and 2019. However, this will be a major boost for USA cricket as their national team will get a direct entry into the tournament.
• Namibia will also get to play co-host with South Africa and Zimbabwe for the 2027 ODI World Cup. But Namibia will have to go through qualification because only full members of ICC get automatic qualification in the World Cup.
• The move could firm up ICC’s bid to get cricket into the Olympics for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
• The Indian cricket board (BCCI) has managed to acquire rights of three events — 2026 T20 World Cup (with Sri Lanka), 2029 Champions Trophy and 2031 ODI World Cup (with Bangladesh).
• Pakistan will get to host an ICC event after 29 years with the Champion Trophy 2025. The 2009 Champions Trophy was moved out of the country to South Africa for security reasons.