The interesting IPL 2022 is in the home-bend. Of the 74, matches, 57 are complete. There is lot in stake for some teams. Gujarat Titans booked their spot in the playoffs in their first IPL season by comfortably defending 144 on a spinning pitch in Pune as Lucknow Super Giants collapsed to 82 all out. Yesterday’s game was crucial for the top 2 teams – a win here sealed the spot for GT who won despite posting the joint-lowest total batting first this season in Pune while losing only four wickets in a curious innings.
Shubman Gill batted through the 20 overs for 63 not out off 49 balls as Titans focused on keeping wickets in hand and rotating strike after choosing to bat. Those who criticized him as playing slowly would have understood the value of that innings when Lucknow Super Giants crumbled against spin in the chase. Rashid Khan and R Sai Kishore - the left-arm spinner from Tamil Nadu on debut for Titans - finished with combined figures of 6 for 31 from 5.5 overs as they ran through Super Giants' middle and lower order. The convincing margin between the teams dented Super Giants' net run rate and left them looking over their shoulder at Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore, with their hopes of a top-two finish - and qualification for the first qualifier - taking a significant blow. Shubman Gill's unbeaten 49-ball 63 was his second straight half-century, but his approach raised a debate on the ESPNcricinfo show T20 Time:Out. On 40 off 32 at the 12-over mark with Titans on 76 for 3, Gill took another 10 balls to reach his half-century in the 17th over, having got through the stretch without looking for a single boundary-scoring option. With all that still, Gill ended up with a better strike rate than every other Titans batter apart from Rahul Tewatia, who finished the innings with an unbeaten 22 off 16, and Matthew Wade, who only lasted seven balls.
Other than Sai Kishore who has represented Tamil Nadu in all 3 formats, there was Karan Sharma, a first-class captain on Ranji Trophy debut for Uttar Pradesh. Karan Sharma, 23, was brought in for his first IPL game on Tuesday in Pune. Since 2006, Karan is the first player in India to captain a top-division team on debut. The Delhi-born Karan is an allrounder who bowls handy offspin and bats in the top order. Super Giants handed Karan an IPL debut at the expense of legspinner Ravi Bishnoi.
We grew up watching the exploits of the WI team led by Clive Lloyd, batting giants Isaac Vivian Richards, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes….Pace battery of - Roberts, Holding, Garner, Marshall … Croft, Ambrose, Patterson, Walsh, Bishop and more………… the team unitedly called West Indies – but representative of more Nations that dominated the Cricket world for decades.
The West Indies is a region of the Caribbean Basin and North Atlantic Ocean consisting of many islands. Going by Worldatlas.com, the Caribbean, long referred to as the West Indies, includes more than 7,000 islands; of those, 13 are independent island countries. WI mainly comprises of : Bahamas (north); Greater Antilles (central) & Lesser Antilles (southeast). The Greater Antilles include the island countries of Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic (Hispaniola), and Puerto Rico. The Lesser Antilles are the much smaller islands to the southeast, and they are divided into two groups, the Leeward Islands and Windward Islands.
Keacy Uydess Carty is in news – the 25-year-old scored 57 and 49 against England in March in a test warmup game for the CWI President’s XI.
West Indies selection process is often debatable and perhaps is primary reason for their debacle too. New white-ball captain Nicholas Pooran will be without Jason Holder, Shimron Hetmyer and Evin Lewis during West Indies' ODI tours of Netherlands and Pakistan starting May 31. Instead, Jayden Seales, Shermon Lewis and specialist batter Keacy Carty have been included as new faces in the 15-member squad that will play the six ODIs that are part of the ODI Super League championship.
While Hetmyer has been given a break so he can be home for the birth of his first child, a statement from Cricket West Indies said Evin Lewis was not considered since he failed to meet CWI's fitness criteria. Holder has been rested, with workload management cited as the key reason. All three are part of the ongoing IPL season even though Hetmyer recently left the tournament bubble to be with his family.
Carty’s selection makes history as he is the first player from St. Maarten to don WI cap.
St. Martin's history shares many commonalities with other Caribbean islands. Its earliest inhabitants were Amerindians, followed by Europeans who brought slavery to exploit commercial interests. Sint Maarten is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. Sint Maarten's capital is Philipsburg. Collectively, Sint Maarten and the other Dutch islands in the Caribbean are often called the Dutch Caribbean. Before 10 October 2010, Sint Maarten was known as the Island Territory of Sint Maarten and was one of six island territories that constituted the Netherlands Antilles. Sint Maarten has the status of an overseas country and territory (OCT) and is not part of the European Union.
The island was named by Christopher Columbus in honour of St Martin of Tours, as he first sighted it on the saint's feast day on 11 November 1493. "Sint Maarten" is Saint Martin in Dutch. It is commonly believed that Christopher Columbus named the island in honor of Saint Martin of Tours when he encountered it on his second voyage of discovery. However, he actually applied the name to the island now called Nevis when he anchored offshore on November 11, 1493, the feast day of Saint Martin. The confusion of numerous poorly charted small islands in the Leeward Islands meant that this name was accidentally transferred to the island now known as Saint-Martin/Sint Maarten.
Interesting – will Carty make a name in WI Cricket remains to be seen.
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
11th May 2022.
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