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India’s Bowling Woes in T20Is: Are the Bowlers to Blame for Skyrocketing Scores?

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Mayank Yadav (PC: @mayankyadav_8) Eleven. That is the number of times India have conceded more than 200 runs in the shortest format since the T20 World Cup win earlier in the year. Recently, we also witnessed West Indies chase down a target in excess of 250 against India. Moreover, in that India-West Indies T20I series, from the home team’s point of view, only Prince Yadav managed to maintain an economy rate of under 10. Unfortunately for the Indian bowlers, the chastening experience has continued in the ongoing T20Is in New Zealand, with the likes of Prince, Mayank Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel and Co. all conceding runs at more than 10 an over. So, how should we look at these statistics? Is it down to India not having the required resources beyond Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh for T20Is? Or are there other factors that have made life tougher for bowlers across the cricketing landscape? For starters, we have to understand that we live in an e...
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“More Than Just Hitting Bombs”: Bevon Jacobs on Mumbai Indians’ Lessons, Rohit-Surya Advice, and NZ All-Format Dreams

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Bevon Jacobs for New Zealand (PC: RevSportz) In modern-day T20 cricket, where power-hitters are often judged solely by brute force and bat speed, Bevon Jacobs is quietly mastering the subtleties of the craft. The hard-hitting New Zealand batter – whose rapid ascent through the Super Smash ranks and into the Black Caps’ white-ball setup turned heads across the cricketing world – is far more interested in the layers of run-scoring than mere highlight-reel sixes. Reflecting on an intense whirlwind period that saw him journey across foreign conditions and rub shoulders with global giants in franchise cricket to the Black Caps teams, Jacobs remains remarkably grounded. “Yeah, it’s been awesome,” Jacobs says in an exclusive interview with Revsportz, summing up his introduction to the international circuit. “Just to be able to experience going to a few different countries with this group and playing in different conditions has definitely added some things...
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Shehbaz Sharif’s Hong Kong Sixes Tweet Exposes Pakistan Cricket’s Obsession With India

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  Image :X Boria Majumdar Political leaders tweeting about sporting achievements has become a global norm. Sport is an instrument of soft power, and such posts are par for the course. But Shehbaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, has taken the cake with his tweet the other night. He congratulated the Pakistan team on beating India in the group stage at the Hong Kong Sixes and went on to praise Mohsin Naqvi and his team for the achievement. I am willing to concede that it is not the Prime Minister’s job to follow every inconsequential cricket tournament around the world. He has a country to govern, after all. But what about his advisers? Are they so ill-informed that they would encourage him to post something that makes him a laughing stock in front of the world? Do they not understand where this competition stands in the global cricket hierarchy? Is this really something a Prime Minister should be tweeting about? The post makes him look like an ill-informed enthusiast rat...
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The Machine Doesn’t Sleep: Unfazed by Travel Fatigue, Virat Kohli Dazzles Eden Park Ahead of ODI Opener

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  Picture Credit: Subhayan Chakraborty(RevSportz) Subhayan Chakraborty, Auckland Jet lag? What jet lag? Around three Hours after touching down in Auckland following an exhausting long journey from Mumbai via Dubai, Virat Kohli was out on the Eden Park turf, with the bat in hand. While modern schedules, punishing flights, and timezone shifts are frequent points of contention in professional sport, Kohli remains cut from an entirely different cloth. Touching down in the City of Sails around midday on Friday, he bypassed the hotel bed and headed straight for the nets. The occasion already carried a sense of occasion. Eden Park was completely sold out for the fourth T20I between India and New Zealand – the first cricket sellout at the venue since Grant Elliott’s unforgettable, heart-stopping finish in the 2015 World Cup semi-final. For the fans who streamed through the turnstiles early, the evening came with an unexpected curtain-raiser – an up-close look at India’s ODI...
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SA vs AUS: Inglis’ Ton, Harmer’s Four Wickets Make for a Dramatic Day at Newlands

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South Africa players in the middle. (PC: X.com) On Day 2, South Africa didn’t allow Australia to extend their lead to 100 runs but couldn’t prevent Josh Inglis from scoring a Test century, as the visitors took a mere 40-run lead in the third Test at Newlands. Between Australia taking the lead and South Africa taking the lead, Inglis struck a century, Alex Carey missed out on a hundred, and Simon Harmer and Nathan Lyon found turn on a pitch that has started to play a lot more tricks. Australia added 99 runs on the third day before coming out to bowl again. Harmer bagged four wickets for South Africa, while Marco Jansen finished with three. Marques Ackerman struck his second fifty of the game but was dismissed in slightly controversial circumstances. The southpaw was given out LBW but couldn’t take the DRS review in time, leaving Proteas head coach Shukri Conrad and the batter completely distraught. Much like in the first innings, Ackerman was the only one who looked in complete cont...
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Padikkal’s willow charting its own destiny

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Devdutt Padikkal (PC: RevSportz) Around seven years ago, in a Ranji Trophy game against Uttar Pradesh, a left-hand batter from Karnataka played with unruffled elegance. His drives off Mohit Jangra had the stamp of a batter destined for higher honours. Unfortunately, the promising 19-year-old Devdutt Padikkal couldn’t convert yet another start into a hundred. By the end of that Ranji season, Padikkal had a 99 against Himachal Pradesh, along with nine other first-class fifties to his name. But that elusive century was still missing from his batting cabinet.   Padikkal eventually scored his maiden first-class hundred against Puducherry in the 2021-22 season. A couple of years later, he even represented India in Test cricket. The general consensus, however, seemed to be that Padikkal wasn’t really cut out to play at the highest level for long. His average of a mere 5.42 for Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL only reinforced that perception.   Perhaps ...
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Musheer’s game at BKC — quiet power and elite feat

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Musheer Khan at the BKC. (PC: RevSportz) Somehow, every time Musheer Khan bats or bowls, the cricket pitch feels like a patch of quiet defiance. The game runs through his veins, ‘fatherhenned’ (the tweak is allowed here) by his dad Naushad and inspired by his elder brother Sarfaraz. Musheer’s cricket is an amalgamation of the aspirations of a proud cricket family and the indomitable spirit of Mumbai maidans. Fight is the very mantra of success. Musheer made his Ranji Trophy debut for Mumbai in 2022. He was only 17 years old then. In his first nine first-class games, he scored three centuries and a half-century. He was a star-in-the-making. Then, life turned cruel. A shattering collision en route to Lucknow from his hometown Azamgarh, where he went to play the 2024 Irani Cup between Mumbai and Rest of India, rendered him hors de combat. The car toppled after colliding with a median and fatality played peek-a-boo. Musheer duly thanked the almighty for granting him a “new life”. Pain,...
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