Blog Posts by Akshay Iyer

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is often at the wrong end of allegations of not being proactive enough, but every once in a while, the game's governing body takes decisions worthy of their authority.

Three such important decisions were taken by the ICC executive board last week in Dubai - increasing the number of teams to 16 in the Twenty20 World Cup from 2014; scrapping the Champions Trophy after its 2013 edition and agreeing to go for a constitutional amendment to spilt the role of the president by creating a new post of chairman who won't have any voting rights.


FAREWELL CHAMPIONS TROPHY
Rahul Dravid, who is now a former India international cricketer, during the course of his much-lauded and appreciated speech at the Sir Don Bradman Oration in December 2011, touched upon a range of topics including the need to review the scheduling of international matches, especially one-day internationals (ODIs).

Dravid said, "We now realise that the sport's three formats cannot be played in Read More »from Winds of Change

After more than 37 months of Pakistani players and fans' waiting and hoping, international cricket is all set to be revived in that country in end-April with Bangladesh agreeing to a very short tour. International cricket was suspended in Pakistan after a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in March 2009.

In a strange coincidence - Lahore - the city where the terror attack took place, will play host for the only one-day international on April 29, and a Twenty20 match the following day. As preparation for the historic and eagerly awaited series, the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore is undergoing renovation work even as a security wall is being constructed outside the main gate.

This though will not be the first visit by an international team to Pakistan since March 2009, as earlier this month, the British Universities XI had played a couple of matches in Lahore. Kamal Alam, the touring team's captain was effusive in his praise for the security arrangements, and said: "One of the mainRead More »from Is Pakistan really ready?

South Africa pace spearhead Dale Steyn isn't considered to be amongst the best fast bowlers of all time for nothing. Steyn is at his lethal best in Test cricket, where he can take some time to find his rhythm; but there are also occasions when unfortunately for the opposition batsmen, the Protea pacer gets into the groove early on in the shorter formats of the game as well. When he's on song, there are hardly any better sights in cricket than watching Steyn make the best batsmen look like novices.

Most recently against Mumbai Indians at Visakhapatnam on 9 April 2012, Steyn produced one of the best bowling spells one can hope to see across formats, let alone Twenty20 cricket where even his South African counterpart Richard Levi found him too hot to handle. Steyn, playing for Deccan Chargers, had figures of 4-1-12-3, and each of those 24 deliveries were an exhibition of world-class bowling as he also worked up some serious pace; but despite this he was mighty unfortunate to end on the Read More »from The magical Steyn

India and Mumbai Indians' medium-pacer Munaf Patel had a good outing against Deccan Chargers at Visakhapatnam on Monday night in the ninth match of the ongoing fifth edition of the Indian Premier League.

Munaf bowled an exceptional spell at the start, middle and end of the Chargers' innings to finish with figures of 4 for 20; and he also took a good catch at long-on to give Lasith Malinga his third wicket of the match. But, Munaf spoilt what should have been a memorable night in one moment of petulant outburst when he launched a sustained verbal assault on the umpires after a decision went against him.

In the third ball of his third over and the 13th of the Chargers' innings, Munaf thought he had clean bowled the opposition captain captain Kumar Sangakkara, who had added 36 runs for the fourth wicket with Daniel Christian. 

Sangakkara attempted to drive a full delivery, but dragged the ball onto the stumps; however square leg umpire Johan Cloete of South Africa thought the ball had comeRead More »from Munaf at his petulant worst!

Mumbai Indians bowler Munaf Patel (C) and teammate Rohit Sharma (L) argue with the umpire about the wicket of Deccan Chargers captain Kumar Sangakkara. (AFP/Getty Images)


Action in images | Scorecard| Finger still not looking good: Tendulkar



Rohit Sharma anchored Mumbai Indians' chase of 139 against Deccan Chargers brilliantly at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Monday night as Dale Steyn ended on the losing side despite a brilliant bowling performance. Mumbai Indians needed 18 runs to win from the last over of the match bowled by Dan Christian, but Rohit hit two sixes, including one in the last delivery to steal a five-wicket win for his team and get them back to winningw ays.

There was also a hint of controversy in the dismissal of Deccan Chargers' captain Kumar Sangakkara; but despite that unfortunate event, this was the kind of match the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League desperately needed.

Steyn gave the Chargers the perfect start when he brilliantly caught T Suman off his own bowling and then bowled an excellent maiden over to his South African counterpart Richard Levi before clean bowling him with a swinging yorker to leave

Read More »from Calm Rohit stars as Mumbai Indians steal win over Deccan Chargers

Last month, 16 Associate and Affiliate member nations of the International Cricket Council (ICC), competed against each other for the right to qualify for the 2012 Twenty20 World Cup to be hosted by Sri Lanka in September-October.

The 16 countries were Afghanistan, Netherlands, Canada, Papua New Guinea, Nepal, Hong Kong, Bermuda, Denmark, Namibia, Ireland, Scotland, Kenya, Italy, United States of America, Uganda and Oman with Afghanistan and Ireland qualifying for the Twenty20 World Cup.

The qualification process started in early 2012 with 81 member countries who had to gain promotion from their respective regional Division 3 to Division 1 before eventually booking their place in the World Twenty20 qualifier which was held in UAE. Breaking it down further, as Afghanistan, Ireland, Canada, Kenya, Netherlands and Scotland automatically qualified for the main qualifier, there was place only for 10 qualifiers from the regional Twenty20 tournaments that were played across Africa, Asia, Read More »from Cricket should be more inclusive

Not many cricketers have made an immediate impact early in their international careers; but South Africa pace bowler Vernon Philander is among the few who have bucked that trend. And, Philander has done that in some style racing to the 50-wicket mark in only his seventh Test to become the second quickest ever to reach the landmark.

Philander has got a magnificent cricket brain and is acutely aware of his strengths and sticks to them with unbelievable discipline as he gets the better of batsmen almost at will. He doesn't have the longest run-up in world cricket but his nagging line and length, consistency, getting the ball to nip back into or move away from the batsmen, and the occasional quick delivery have helped him get on top of the opposing batsmen with devastating results.

Australia's right-arm seamer Charlie 'Terror' Turner holds the record reaching the mark in only his sixth Test, way back in 1888; while England's Tom Richardson, a feared express bowler himself, took his 50th Read More »from The phenomenon called Vernon Philander

The performances of Bangladesh in the Asia Cup and West Indies in on-going ODI series against Australia is just the fillip cricket needed in those two countries. And watching the underdogs finish on top is also something the sport could really do with.

Bangladesh lost a thrilling Asia Cup final. Heartbreaking and disappointing as that two-run loss may be, the future augurs well for the ‘Tigers’ if they use the victories over India and Sri Lanka as the launch pad and blueprint for a fresh start.

In the last decade, Bangladesh have scripted the occasional upset, but for the most part they have lacked consistency, self-belief and have been lethargic to an extent.

But the current Bangladesh team led by Mushfiqur Rahim and coached by former Australia batsman Stuart Law have displayed a refreshing change of attitude; and this is reflected in the players' body language and mindset on the field as well as more consistent performances and the increased self-belief.

These changes were on display

Read More »from The underdogs bite