India vs New Zealand series 2021

 As the T20 World cup got over on 17th November and Australia lifted the trophy for the first time and New Zealand were the runners - up, just after three days of the final of the T20 World cup. It was India taking over New Zealand in India. It started on 17th November. From India Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami were rested and Rohit Sharma was captain and from New Zealand's side Kane Williamson was rested and Tim Southee was captain. In the test series, Virat Kohli was only rested for the first test and in the first test Ajinkya Rahane was captain and   Kane Williamson played in both but due to injury did not play the second test and Tom Latham was captain in the second test. 

Now, let us take a preview of the T20I and Test series. 

          

                                       T20I Series 

                            

Starting Date - 17th November 

First T20I – India won by 5 wickets.

Record Made – Martin Guptill scored his first half century vs India in T20I’s in the 14 matches he played against India.  Suryakumar Yadav recorded his highest score in T20 Internationals, 62. Trent Boult became the fifth bowler to dismiss Rohit Sharma three or more times in T20Is.

Venue: Jaipur

Ground: Sawai Mansingh Stadium

 

Second T20I – India won by 7 wickets.

Record Made – At 30 years and 361 days, Harshal Patel became the sixth-oldest T20I debutant for India.  Guptill also completed 150 T20I sixes as an opener, becoming the first batter to get the feat. – Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul now have joint-most half-century stand in T20Is, 13.

Venue: Ranchi

Ground: JSCA International Stadium Complex

 

Third T20I – India wins the series and won the match by 73 runs.  

Record Made – India recorded their second successive whitewash against New Zealand in bilateral T20I series. Harshal Patel became the second Indian batter to get out via hit wicket in T20Is.

Venue: Kolkata

Ground: Eden Gardens Stadium

                                         

                                           Test Series 

         

 

First Test – Match drawn  

Record Made – Shreyas Iyer is the first Indian to score a century and a fifty on test debut. 52 for the sixth, 64 for the seventh and 67 (unbroken) for the eight wickets have provided the first instance in the second innings when three successive pairs for these wickets – positions have shared 50 plus partnerships for India.

Venue: Kanpur

Ground: Green Park Cricket Ground

 

Second Test – India won by 376 runs.

Record Made – 372 - India's margin of win in Mumbai, their biggest win - margin in terms of runs in Tests. 300 - Wickets for Ashwin in home Tests, the second India bowler with 300-plus Test wickets at home after Anil Kumble  (350). 

Venue: Mumbai

Ground: Wankhede Stadium

 

Ending Date - 6th December

My Punjab trip - Part 1

 

I often go to Agra and always mention about it in my blog but this time I went to Punjab. There was a marriage of one of my relative. They live in Ludhiana. So, we started our journey on Saturday on 6:15 and reached till 12:30. We went to Sonipat till the Eastern Peripheral Expressway. We reached them till 12:30. In the evening, my grandmother came and my Chachu came and then we slept after doing dinner. The next day as per the Indian tradition, it was Sagan. In this the bride and groom wear a ring to each other and other people just enjoy the party. The next day, it was a free day for everyone there was nothing to do and the next day was the wedding. I enjoyed this day by going to a restaurant in the night with my Bua. The next day, we all had to wake up early and go to Jalandhar for the wedding. So, we went to Jalandhar and first went to the Gurudwara. The bride and the groom took phere and we went to the banquet. We came in the evening after the marriage and I came in a bus as there was a bus arranged as there were many people so there was a bus arranged. We came till 6:30 and I came and rested for a while and played with my little sister who was of just 8 months. The bride and groom came late as they were stuck in traffic. It was dinner after that and we all came in the house just beside to the groom’s house because there were a lot of people so there was a house booked, it was just beside the main house. We all were tired after the marriage and we all slept. Next day, we had the plan to leave for Amritsar to visit Golden Temple but the next day we had to leave with two more families but the next day there were just unexpected things which were totally not expected by anybody as I woke up, I We stayed at my father’s Mama’s house and my Bua booked a hotel for a night. In the night, we went to Golden Temple and came back, my Bua also went with me and came to the house in which we were living, which was my father’s relative’s house. I was very tired and slept till 11:30. Next Day, we had to leave for Delhi and we left till 10:30 and reached at 10, means it was a 10-hour drive. We all were very tired and slept till 10 and the next to next day, we had a guest in our house which was the newly wedding couple.

 

Virat Kohli leaving captaincy ?

 

Virat Kohli is the captain of the Indian cricket team of all three  formats for 4 years. After Ajinkya Rahane led India to their 2^nd victory in Australia netizens started to say that Ajinkya Rahane should become India’s all - time captain of tests and after the England test series rumors spread that Virat Kohli may leave the captaincy but after one day only a BCCI person confirmed that Virat Kohli is not leaving the captaincy and it will be his own decision of leaving the captaincy. But after some weeks Virat Kohli on his own confirmed that he will be leaving the T20I captaincy after the T20 World Cup. He said that by leaving the T20I captaincy his workload would be less. After some days, just after the first match of IPL he also confirmed that after this year’s IPL he will quit the captaincy of RCB. Most likely, Rohit Sharma will take over the captaincy of T20I’s from Virat Kohli. He may want to focus more on his batting he has not crossed the three – figure mark for almost 2 years. BCCI said that the contenders for the vice – captain for the T20I vice – captaincy are KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant.

 

 

Reviewing squad of the Indian team for the T20 World Cup

I have mentioned before, the T20 World Cup will be held in October this year. The squad of the Indian for the T20 World Cup was announced last week on Wednesday. So, I thought let us review India's T20 World Cup squad.

                                            Squad of Indian team 

• Virat Kohli (C)
• Rohit Sharma (VC)
• KL Rahul 
• Suryakumar Yadav
• Ishan Kishan
• Rishabh Pant (WK)
• Hardik Pandya
• Ravindra Jadeja
• Axar Patel
• Ravichandran Ashwin
• Rahul Chahar
• Varun Chakravarthy 
• Bhuvneshwar Kumar 
• Jasprit Bumrah
• Mohammed Shami

Reserves - Deepak Chahar, Shreyas Iyer, Shardul Thakur 

Head Coach - Ravi Shastri 

Mentor - M.S Dhoni 

Ravichandran Ashwin’s selection in the squad left everyone surprised as he was out of India’s limited overs squad for four years. Although, he was performing well in the IPL but was not Picked in India’s limited overs squad. Indian team’s selector said that he was Taken in the squad for his performance in IPL. He also told that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma backed them to take Ravichandran Ashwin in India’s T20 World Cup squad. 

 

  Yuzvendra Chahal and Shikhar Dhawan not in the Squad

Yuzvendra Chahal and Shikhar Dhawan both were dropped from India’s T20 World Cup Squad. Yuzvendra Chahal’s Drop from India’s T20 world cup squad Didn’t surprise much as he was not in good form in both international matches and IPL. Some analysts said that Yuzvendra Chahal should have been taken in the squad. Shikhar Dhawan’s drop surprised Everyone as he was in sublime form in both international matches and IPL. Everybody said That Shikhar Dhawan should have been taken in The T20 World Cup Squad.

 

                  Dhoni selected as mentor

Another surprise to the fans was that M.S Dhoni was selected as India’s mentor. He took his retirement from international cricket last year and was chosen as India’s mentor of India for the T20 World Cup. Some People questioned the BCCI as the Indian team Have a coach so why do they need a mentor. Fans of MS Dhoni were very happy. He has Confirmed to the BCCI that he will only be the Mentor for the T20 world cup. Sourav Ganguly Said that MS Dhoni’s experience would help India as India have not won any ICC trophy since 2013.