If you are an ardent fan of Test cricket and believe the shorter formats are not adding any value to the game of Cricket, you shouldn’t focus on what’s happening in Sharjah these days.
If not, tune yourself into all the actions in the exciting format – T10 League.
The opening game of the league saw something special from Mohammad Shahzad scoring 76 off 16 balls with eight sixes and six fours. McCullum scored 21 runs off eight balls. Rajputs chased the target in four overs with both their openers remained unbeaten for Rajputs. 24 runs per over while chasing a game, isn’t it something special?
It wasn’t a one-off game, former Australian player Shane Watson smashed 42 runs in 20 balls in the first innings against Rajputs. Paul Stirling, Eoin Morgan, Andre Fletcher continued the trend in the second game scoring at a strike well above 200. Jason Roy and Rutherford joined the fun with 60 off 29 balls and 47 off 21 balls.
Watson scored his first half-century in 24 balls in the third game, and Devcich made 49 off 20 balls to snatch a nine wickets win over Kerala Knights.
We have seen teams scoring above 180 in T20 games which is an above-par score on most of the occasions. However, West Indian batsman Nicholas Pooran scored 77 off 25 balls at a strike rate of 308 to help Northern Warriors post a mammoth 183 in ten overs. Andre Russel played a cameo with 38 off nine balls. Six sixes in his innings and a strike of 422. Fletcher ( 68 off 29 balls) and Shafiqullah ( 45 off 16 balls) helped Pakhtoons post 137 runs on board in their victory by eight runs against Sindhis.
Can you believe these numbers in any form of cricket?
Eight teams will compete in the two-week tournament which turned out to be a batsmen’s game. However, there is good news for the bowlers too. The 47-year-old Pravin Tambe who was a sensation in IPL had picked four wickets in one over including a hat-trick. He started the over giving away six extra runs even before bowling a legal delivery. He took four big wickets of Gayle, Morgan, Fabian Allen and Upul Tharanga in six balls in the same over. His spell read 2-0-15-5.
Pakistan pace bowler Aamer Yamin took four wickets in four balls and recorded a spell of 2-1-4-4. Ravi Bopara was also in the best bowling list taking four wickets in two overs giving away just 15 runs.
T10 league sets up a different bench for the entertainment. With plenty of games left in the tournament, we may see an even more exciting game from the eight teams.