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Pakistan on Monday announced their 12-man squad for the upcoming Boxing Day clash against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground with Mohammad Rizwan replacing experienced wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed. Sarfaraz has been sidelined from the Test squad after the nightmare he went through in the Peth Test. He scored just 7 runs in both innings with Mitchell Starc causing him all sorts of trouble.
Cricket is a team sport, but yet every day, every month and every year, we find some select faces who stand out in a crowd of hundreds of players out there representing their national flag on the pitch. 2023 was no different. While the year will be remembered for Australia completing a three-peat of ICC World Test Championship, The Ashes and ICC Cricket World Cup, India's dominant run at home that concluded with heartbreak of a World Cup final loss, the aggression of South African cricket team, England's 'Bazball' school of Test cricket and failing down of old, World Cup winning empires like Sri Lanka, England and West Indies, certain individuals caught the eye of fans with their performances. Let us look at some of the best players of this year:
Australia's experienced left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc was "surprised" to see Pakistan's lack of pace in the first Test which was one of the most talked about points. Pakistan are quite restricted in terms of putting up a quality pace bowling line-up with Naseem Shah nursing an injury and Haris Rauf opting out of the Test series. Without experience, the majority of the burden fell on Shan Masood's deputy Shaheen Shah Afridi, but even he struggled to generate pace. "I think everyone was slightly surprised at the lower pace of the Pakistan bowlers, when you're generally used to some guys getting in the 150s [kph]. I don't think that pace is the be all and end all but it certainly plays a part and can help," Starc said, speaking to media as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
When it comes to tackling the peerless Virat Kohli, Fannie De Villiers wants the South African team to play the waiting game in the upcoming Test series. The former South Africa pacer told PTI: "Only way to get a Virat Kohli kind of batter out is a very orthodox way of bowling on the fourth stump channel and play a waiting game. And wait for that one delivery which nips a bit far away. You can't attack a good player."
The Indian Premier League (IPL) is all set to host its 17th edition. The marquee T20 event was started in 2008 and since then it has been a huge success. IPL gives India's domestic players an opportunity to brush shoulders with top international cricketers. This, in turn, hugely helps the domestic players to learn and improve. Hence, there is no surprise that IPL has seen the rise of many Indian stars over the years. Former India batter Gautam Gambhir has opined that it would have been a "worst decision" if Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had not started the tournament.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 auction saw a distinct trend with fast bowlers being in demand. The top buys of the auction Mitchell Starc (Rs 24.75 crore, Kolkata Knight Riders) and Pat Cummins (Rs 20.50 crore, SunRisers Hyderabad) show that trend. Even the costliest Indian in the IPL 2024 auction Harshal Patel (Punjab Kings, Rs 11.75 crore) is a pacer. Even Yash Daya got a Rs 5 crore bid from Royal Challengers Bangalore. Left-arm pacer Chetan Sakariya, who has formerly played for Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Capitals, was picked up by Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 50 lakh.
The on-field spat between star India batter Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir during the IPL 2023 left everyone stunned. The incident took place on May 1 in Lucknow during the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Super Giants, where Kohli got indulged into a war of words with LSG pacer Naveen-ul-Haq. After the match ended, the things got heated up and Gambhir, who was the mentor of LSG, intervened in the support of Naveen, which led to an intense drama.
Former Indian cricket team batter Sanjay Manjrekar believes that Rohit Sharma has evolved as a batter and he no longer has a weakness against quality left-arm fast bowlers. In the past, Rohit has struggled against left-arm pacers but Manjrekar cited his performance in the Cricket World Cup 2023 to point out that the weakness is no longer present. Manjrekar said that Rohit came up against Mitchell Starc and Shaheen Afridi but his confident and aggressive batting showed a massive improvement.