The IPL Sunday Roast #7

By Rahul Patil

There are a number of T20 franchise leagues in the world but there is a reason why the IPL is considered to be the best T20 league in the world. We are on the cusp on game number 60 out of 70 and still 7 out of the 10 teams have a great chance of finishing in the top four and making it to the playoffs. The Gujarat Titans and The Chennai Super Kings have one foot in the playoffs whereas 5 teams are still the mix for the remaining two spots.

A third kiwi apart from Boult and Conway made waves in the IPL this week. Playing only his second game for the Sunrisers Hyderabad this season Glenn Phillips scored 25 in 7 balls with 3 sixes and a four to take his side home. Another casualty of the IPL’s “maximum of 4 overseas players in the playing 11” rule Phillips has been patiently waiting for his opportunity while captain Markram, Klassen and Harry Brook kept being picked ahead of him. Brook’s inconsistent form led to an opportunity for Phillips who grabbed it with both hands. SRH are now out of playoff contentions but Phillips should be a regular in the rest of their league stage matches.

Speaking of waves, a big one hit New Zealand shores this week with Trent Boult’s first major interview since giving up his blackcaps contract was published on espncricinfo.com. The only thing permanent in the world is change and thanks to the rapid rise of franchise owned T20 leagues around the world the cricketing landscape is definitely changing.

Acknowledgement is the first step to healing and cricket governing bodies around the world need to first acknowledge the presence of the elephant in the room and then find ways of co-existing with it. A delay in acknowledging or a reluctance in co-existing might turn the wave into a tsunami that will be catastrophic for world cricket.

New Zealand Cricket CEO David White this week announced that he will be stepping down from his role in August after a marathon innings that lasted over 11 years since February 2012. A report card of David White’s tenure can be found here.

David White has never been a man of many words hence it was surprising to see him put his weight behind Boult’s inclusion for the ODI world cup later this year. I wonder if the weight of the job being off David’s shoulders we might see him being more open and transparent with the media in the next couple of months.

I know we are still four and a half months away from the start of the world cup but David White’s Trent Boult comments got me thinking of my own blackcaps 15 for the tournament as of today so here goes;

Devon Conway

Tom Blundell (Wk)

Daryl Mitchell

Tom Latham (C)

Glenn Phillips

Michael Bracewell

Mitchell Santner

Ish Sodhi

Matt Henry

Tim Southee

Trent Boult

Mark Chapman

Lochie Fergusson

Rachin Ravindra

Finn Allen

I would like a full time keeper for the world cup in Blundell and free up Tom Latham to concentrate solely on his batting and captaincy. If Williamson is fit in time, then Rachin would miss out in my team. Other names that I thought long and hard about were Neesham, Milne, Young and Shipley but considering the surfaces and conditions we will be playing in the above 15 would be my choice. Do let me know yours!

Last but not the least a few words on the one and only Suryakumar Yadav or SKY as he is popularly known. In a short space of time the SKY has seen it all. A phenomenal start to his international T20 career, a disastrous start to his test/ODI career and then a magnificent return to form in T20 cricket. Since his debut for India every possible adjective in the English language has been used to describe the beauty of Sky’s artistry and yet with every passing innings Sky makes us search the dictionary again by making us fall in love with the magic of his willow. Sky’s latest IPL 100 was yet another reminder that as far as T20 batting is concerned he is the benchmark. India have to find a way to somehow convert his T20 form into ODI cricket as he could single handedly bring the cup back to India after a gap of 12 years.

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