STATegic Timeout - All things Cricket

Tawhid Hridoy in LPL in numbers:
Total Runs: 1️⃣5️⃣5️⃣
Balls Faced: 1️⃣1️⃣4️⃣
AVG: 3️⃣8️⃣.7️⃣5️⃣
SR: 1️⃣3️⃣5️⃣.9️⃣
4s: 1️⃣4️⃣
6s: 5️⃣

Suryakumar Yadav scored 83* off just 44 balls with strike-rate of 188.64, BUT

This was his slowest 80-plus T20I knock. Placing himself in the GOAT list of T20 cricket!
🙏 🔥

Shaheen Shah Afridi has taken the most first-over wickets in T20 cricket in the world since his debut (42) 🔥

T20 WC 2022 PREVIEW:

The conditions in Australia are very different from what we’ve seen in UAE last year.
In bowling it demands:

▶️Pace and Bounce. 140km+ and above waist.
▶️Wrist Spin because it offers more bounce and spin in the Australian pitches which naturally doesn’t offer much spin.

✅ Pakistan’s bowling attack looks definitely the strongest with the insane pace of Shaheen, Naseem, Haris and wristspin of Shadab. They might go for the 4th pacer as well by picking Wasim Jr.

✅ South Africa, New Zeland both have their bases covered in high pace and wrist spin.

✅ Australia can be a curious case. The big names like Starc, Cummins are not quite in form in the T20 format. Stoinis as a bowler is a good advantage to have.

In batting:

▶️Big hitters to clear the significantly big boundaries.
▶️Good back foot players to face the high pace short balls.
▶️Players who have access to all areas of the field.

✅ All the usual suspects, England, South Africa, New Zeland.

✅ India has some serious batters who thrive against high pace. All of their top 4 batters have amazing numbers against high pace and are very good back foot players.
❓Australia has some concern. Warner is the only one who can play spin. A lot depends on him if he can play deep. Maxwell is out of touch.

For Bangladesh 🇧🇩:
❌Batting against high pace
❌Batting against short ball
❌Bowling high pace (apart from Taskin Ahmed)
❌Bowling wrist spin
Bottom of the measure in all aspects.

🔑 Afghanistan can cause trouble against Australia/England if they can get their matchups right.

This might be a very difficult tournament for Bangladesh.

Yet another 100 for the marstro. 2 in this season's IPL already!
Its a Jos Buttler world. We are just living in it!

Umesh Yadav may have been leaking runs overall but he is the one to strike the first blow to the opponents since 2018 IPL.

Records do show him being a lethal weapon in the powerplays and Shreyas Iyer would love to get the best out of him to strike in the powerplay, particularly Faf Du Plessis as Yadav seems to have a knack of getting the Right Handers more often!

Apart from the usual suspects like Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, Pollard, Tim David has been phenomenal in this format for quite some time.
Tim David 's strike rate in different phases in T20s:
PowerPlay: 158.3
MiddleOvers: 141.8
DeathOvers: 194.8

While unable to attack the quality spinners, the situation gave Dhoni license to wait for the more hittable quicks at the death, and he has been ruthless. 12 off his first 20 balls; 38 from his next 18.

As the former giant captains make way for the new captains, both teams come into this game wiith some big players missing.
➡️The average score in this ground in the last 20 games is 175. CSK batting first, needs to register a score of 180+ to restrict the newly revived batting line up of KKR.
➡️10 of the last 13 IPL games were won by the team chasing.
➡️KKR are banking heavily on Dre Russ in the bowling department as we do not see any Southee in the lineup.
➡️Wristspinners find it challenging, going at 9.15 runs per over and striking once every 34 balls, while fingerspinners go at just 6.92 per over and strike once every 27 balls.
➡️Pacers took 31 wickets compared to the one wicket that spinners took in IPL 2021

Expect to see Conway as a floater in the CSK batting line up!
Conway averages 61.63 and strikes at 134.65 against spin. Against pace, the average drops to 37.40 and strike rate to 126.15.

Fifth MOTM in a row!
Shakib Al Hasan owning BPL!

The Mumbai Born Blackcaps Left-arm spinner, Ajaz Patel stormed the Wankhede Stadium against India today.

Some records 👇

➡️The 3️⃣rd Cricketer in the 144 Years of Test Cricket to register a 10 wicket haul in an Innings.
🔝The 1️⃣st cricketer of the 21st Century to do so.
🔝Best Bowling figures by an NZ bowler
🔝Best Bowling figures in Test against India

Players with 10 wickets haul in an innings:
🏅Jim Laker, 1956 - 10/53 vs AUS
🏅Anil Kumble, 1999 - 10/74 vs PAK
🏅Ajaz Patel, 2021* - 10/119 vs IND

History.

Perfect representation of Starc's bowling today.

Mitchell Starc has bowled the second most expensive spell for Australia in T20i -

4 overs | 60 Runs | 0 Wickets

And one record he wouldn't want to keep in his bag -

Starc now is the most expensive bowler to bowl in a T20 World Cup surpassing Lasith Malinga 's 54 runs against WI in 2012.

Kane Williamson 's double faced innings -

Until Drinks Break - 18 off 19 (SR 94.73)
Since Drinks Break - 67 off 29 (SR 231.03)

This is what you call a MASTERCLASS innings.

5️⃣ weeks of intense cricket is down to one match, The Final. A new champion awaits at the end of the match!

Match Preview - AUS v NZ | The Final

Whoever bats first needs to be more aggressive.
▶️Teams batting first in this T20 World Cup have not scored enough (50% attacking shots played) which has given the chasing team a big advantage (56% attacking shots played).
▶️The average score of the last ten winning first innings in night matches in Dubai is 176. Only once in 20 chases has 180 been chased down in a night match in Dubai. Hence, the team batting first, definitely needs to target 180.
▶️New Zealand is likely to be more cautious in the Powerplay. Martin Guptill struggles against left-arm pace while Daryl Mitchell is clearly weaker against the fuller lengths he’s likely to face up top.
▶️Warner holds the key to unlock Australia’s batting order. If he can bat deep he will either match-up very favourably with Mitchell Santner and, or Ish Sodhi or postpone or entirely block their usage.
▶️New Zealand needs to take down Australia’s ‘fifth bowler.’ So far in the tournament no team has attacked the fifth bowler less than New Zealand (54% attacking shots). This pervasive sense of caution may be linked to their lack of batting depth but is also evident in the strike rates of their right-handers against off spin.

We are hoping for a cracker of Final here. Can New Zealand take revenge for the 2015 Cricket World Cup? Or, Australia thumps it like 2015?

David Warner: The Key 🔑

If Warner can bat deep he will either match up very favorably with Mitchell Santner and, or Ish Sodhi or postpone or entirely block their usage.

✨Sodhi seems to have an edge -
⚔️Warner vs Sodhi
4️⃣ Inns
2️⃣ Dismissals
9️⃣ Runs

Bangladesh Cricket Team has hit only six 6s in 4 matches (470 deliveries) in the ICC T20 World Cup 2021.

This means Bangladesh has hit a 6 in every 78.3 deliveries.

Now if we put that data into some context...

Edit: After Australia's Match they sit at 7 Sixes.

Rashid Khan dominates KL Rahul in T20 cricket:

18 Runs
30 Balls
3️⃣ DISMISSALS

One LHB in the top 4 of the Indian Batting Lineup and the absence of Mujeeb should give Afghanistan even more of an incentive to bowl Rashid in the Powerplay. Let's see and hope for some fireworks.🔥

Bangladesh are yet to hit a powerplay six in the Super 12 stage in this T20World Cup.
Their powerplay scores:
vs Sri Lanka- 41/1
vs West Indies- 29/2
vs England-27/3
vs South Africa- 28/3

Jos Buttler opening the batting in T20s for England:
Avg: 60.50
S.R.: 149.17
It’s Jos Buttler’s world and we’re just living in it!

With England having 2 Right Handed openers, Jos Buttler, and Jason Roy's strength against pace, Wanindu Hasaranga De Silva is the favorite to bowl in PowerPlays.

England has 3 Left-Handers in the middle order to counter Hasaranga, so bowling him in the powerplay is the best bet Dasun Shanaka has.