Aussie crash to lowest ! ~ Bangla thumps Series

The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup [Seventh ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament] will now be held from 17 Oct 2021 to 14.11.2021  with matches being played  in the United Arab Emirates and Oman .. .. Do you know 1) what is lowest score in T2oI 2) when did India play its first ever T20I 3) who was the Indian Captain in that first match ????

Lot happening on the Cricket arena !  ..  .. .. West Indies head coach Phil Simmons acknowledged that the hosts are the underdogs in the upcoming two-match Test series against Pakistan. The Tests - both of which will be played in Jamaica - herald the start of the second edition of the World Test Championship for both sides. With both sides having endured something of a difficult time in the inaugural leg, Simmons emphasised West Indies were keen to get off to the right start, but expected a scrap against a Pakistan side that won a dramatic series 2-1 the last time they were on Caribbean shores, in 2017.

Mark Chapman, who represented Hong Kong at the T20 World Cup in 2014 and 2016, has been named in New Zealand's 15-member squad for the 2021 edition to be played in the UAE and Oman this October-November. There was no place for Ross Taylor, Colin de Grandhomme and Finn Allen. But Todd Astle, the 34-year-old legspinner and all of four T20Is old, was picked along with two other spinners in the squad - legspinner Ish Sodhi and left-arm spinning allrounder Mitchell Santner - for surfaces that will most likely aid turn. Fast bowler Adam Milne was named as a standby who will travel with the squad, but will be called upon only as an injury replacement. The same squad will also tour India later this year for three T20Is. Tom Latham will lead New Zealand in the absence of Kane Williamson on their white-ball tours of Pakistan and Bangladesh starting September. The opener will stand in as leader on both tours across white-ball formats. Several first team players, including Williamson, Trent Boult, Kyle Jamieson and Lockie Ferguson will be unavailable owing to their involvement in the IPL, which clashes with part of the tour. New Zealand take on Bangladesh in five T20Is in September, followed by three ODIs and five T20Is in Pakistan.

BUT the all important news is - Australia crash to their lowest T20I score in 4-1 series defeat.  The score card reads : Bangladesh 122 for 8 (Naim 23, Ellis 2-16, Christian 2-17) beat Australia 62 (Wade 22, Shakib 4-9, Saifuddin 3-12) by 60 runs

It was a nightmarish end to a tough tour for Australia. As if losing the series wasn't enough, in the final T20I, they lost 8 for 24 to collapse to 62 all out in a chase of 123. This was their lowest total across limited-overs cricket. It meant Bangladesh took the series 4-1 in Dhaka. Shakib Al Hasan, who nabbed his 100th T20I wicket on the way, led with a haul of 4 for 9, with Mohammad Saifuddin grabbing 3 for 12 as Bangladesh choked Australia, not for the first time, with spin. Australia picked three frontline spinners in the hope that the slowness off the surface and the turn would help apply the brakes, but Ellis reaped the rewards for tight lines, delivering four dots amid a heap of slower deliveries.

Left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed's twin blows within the first four overs meant Australia were on the back foot straightaway. Christian, promoted to open after clobbering Shakib for five sixes in an over two nights ago, was foxed by Nasum's skidder. In the fourth over, in-form Mitchell Marsh was trapped plumb in front trying to sweep. Saifuddin then killed the chase when he arrived in the middle overs to first fox Alex Carey off a slower ball. As if that was not enough, two balls later, Moises Henriques tickled one behind to the wicketkeeper while trying to run one down to third man. And after Shakib delivered his maiden, Saifuddin got Agar, who was castled after trying to step down and slog one away.

This 62 is also the lowest score by any team against Bangladesh in T20Is. Afghanistan's 72 all out in the 2014 World T20 game was the previous lowest T20I total against Bangladesh. Australia's innings on Monday lasted only 82 balls, their shortest all-out innings in all International cricket.  Australia's three lowest unsuccessful T20I chases came in this series. They failed to chase down 123 in the fifth T20I, 128 in the third match and 132 in the opening game. Simultaneously, Bangladesh's lowest three lowest totals successfully defended came in this series.

It is not akin to the second string Indian that was again reduced to less than fit X1 at Srilanka, the team that played in the last match is : Dan Christian, Matthew Wade ©;Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Alex Carey, Moises Henriques, Ashton Turner, Ashton Agar, Nathan Ellis, Mitchell Swepson & Adam Zampa.  Shakib Al Hasan had magical figures of 3.4-1-9-4; while Mohammad Saifuddin’s 3-0-12-3 was overshadowed.

Now Answers to the Qs at the start.  The lowest score was not that of any regular teams nor against any regular !  - the scene was the Continental Cup, in the village of Moara Vlasiei, north-east of the Romanian capital of Bucharest on Aug 30, 2019.  At Ilfov County, Czech Republic made a huge 278/4 and then bowled out Turkey for 21 in 8.3 overs thereby winning the match by 257 runs.

On December 1 in 2006, India played their first ever Twenty20 International at Johannesburg against South Africa, the tenth ever international match in the history of the format.  Interestingly it was not Sourav or Dhoni but Virender Sehwag who was the Captain - the only time he did in this format, comprising the  T20 stalwarts of later years  like MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh. This match was also the legendary Sachin Tendulkar's only T20 international. The player-of-the-match  was Dinesh Karthik (31*)- who when the team required 9 off the last – hit the first ball of the 20^th over for a 6 and finished the match.

The Indian team was: Virender Sehwag (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Dinesh  Mongia, MS Dhoni (wk), Dinesh  Karthik, Suresh  Raina, Irfan Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Sreesanth. South Africa, led by Graeme Smith, won the toss and opted to bat first and posted a then competitive 126/9.  Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar took two  wickets each as Sreesanth, Harbhajan and Tendulkar finished with a wicket apiece. Pathan and Sreesanth ended up the expensive bowlers for India, giving away 30 and 33 runs respectively.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
10^th Aug 2021.