Cricket in 2023: The 12 months of yellow

In a 12 months the place groups donning the yellow jersey dominated, cricket in 2023 noticed many information tumble by way of viewership, workforce, and particular person achievements.

After fully breaking free from the chains of COVID-19, it was enterprise as typical. Fans had been welcomed again, and the ICC mega-events stole the headlines.

JANUARY

India wins ladies’s U19 T20 World Cup (January 14)

India grew to become the primary ever ladies’s U19 T20 World Cup champion, comprehensively beating England by seven wickets within the closing. It was an all-round efficiency by the Women in Blue, with Soumya Tiwari high scoring with an unbeaten 24, and Titas Sadhu chipping in with figures of two for six.

Shubman Gill turns into sixth Indian to attain ODI double century (January 18)

In a match towards the touring Kiwis that additionally noticed the teen from Punjab turn out to be the quickest Indian to 1000 ODI runs, the 24-year-old smashed a 149-ball 208, becoming a member of an elite listing comprising legends Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar.

FEBRUARY

Saurashtra wins Ranji Trophy (February 16)

Saurashtra defeated Bengal by 9 wickets to clinch its second Ranji Trophy 2022-23 title on the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Awesome Aussies clinch Women’s T20 World Cup (February 26)

The victory was their sixth general, they usually have accomplished a ‘three-peat’ underneath the captaincy of Meg Lanning, successful in 2018, 2020, and now 2023. Beth Mooney high scored with 74*, and the 156-run goal proved to be an excessive amount of for the Proteas, who fell brief by 20 runs.

MARCH

India comes out on high in Border-Gavaskar Trophy conflict (March 13)

Pat Cummins and Co. got here into the sequence with redemption on the again of their minds after shedding towards India in their very own yard. However, the Indian workforce, which is a distinct beast at dwelling on spinning tracks, proved to be one problem too many because it sealed the sequence 2-1 and retained the trophy. Australia did go away with some comfort, although, because it received the ODI sequence that adopted.

Mumbai Indians wins inaugural WPL (March 26)

The Mumbai Indians-led Harmanpreet Kaur defeated the Delhi Capitals by seven wickets within the closing. It was a historic victory for the house facet, which etched its title in historical past books as the primary champion of the Women’s Premier League.

APRIL

Rinku’s High Five efficiency (April 09)

With KKR needing 28 runs to win off the final 5 balls, Rinku smashed GT pacer Yash Dayal for 5 sixes to take the Knight Riders dwelling.

MAY

Yashasvi Jaiswal breaks IPL file for quickest fifty (May 11)

The Rajasthan Royals opener smashed a 13-ball fifty towards Kolkata Knight Riders, breaking the earlier file held by KL Rahul (14 balls).

Kohli-Gambhir-Naveen spat (May 1)

The incident befell when RCB confronted LSG on the latter’s dwelling floor in Lucknow. A fired-up Virat Kohli was not one thing the LSG followers and the workforce appreciated, which led to an altercation between Kohli and Lucknow pacer Naveen-ul-Haq. The scenes continued post-game too. Naveen and Kohli didn’t maintain themselves again, and this prompted then-LSG mentor Gautam Gambhir to become involved.

Shabnim Ismail retires from worldwide cricket (May 03)

Wanting to spend extra time together with her household, the South African pacer, who is taken into account to be the quickest within the recreation, drew curtains on her 16-year worldwide profession. Ismail’s 191 ODI wickets are the second-most within the ladies’s recreation, behind Jhulan Goswami, whereas her 123 T20I wickets are the fourth-biggest profession haul for any bowler.

CSK wins record-equalling fifth IPL title (May 29)

In the IPL closing between Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans, the match was predominantly in favour of Gujarat Titans, largely as a result of Sai Sudharshan’s 96. Despite dealing with a difficult goal of 215, Devon Conway’s fast 47 runs off 29 balls and Ravindra Jadeja’s spectacular last-over efficiency, scoring 10 runs off the ultimate two balls, led the Chennai Super Kings to victory.

JUNE

Australia wins World Test Championship closing (June 11)

Australia convincingly defeated India by 209 runs within the closing on the Oval. Centuries from Travis Head and Steve Smith established a powerful basis for the Aussies. This marked India’s second consecutive loss in a WTC closing, having been defeated by New Zealand within the earlier one.

JULY

Jonny Bairstow’s run out incident (July 02)

The England wicket-keeper was dismissed by Alex Carey within the first session on day 5 of the Lord’s Test when he was discovered wandering exterior the crease after leaving a supply. Bairstow left the ultimate ball of Cameron Green’s over alone and began strolling exterior the crease assuming the ball was useless. However, an alert Carey effected a direct-hit on the striker’s finish to catch Bairstow effectively wanting his floor, leaving the batter fuming. The MCC legislation states that the ball shall be thought-about to be useless when it’s clear to the bowler’s finish umpire that the fielding facet and each batters on the wicket have ceased to treat it as in play. In this case, the Aussies nonetheless thought-about the ball to be in play.

SL and Ned qualify for World Cup, WI and Zim fail to make the minimize (July 09)

It is usually stated that everyone’s second favorite workforce is West Indies. But sadly, it’s excessive recognition couldn’t translate into excessive degree performances, because the workforce didn’t make the minimize for the ODI World Cup for the primary time since 1975. Zimbabwe couldn’t use dwelling circumstances to its benefit because it didn’t make it to the ultimate 10 for the second successive time. Sri Lanka and Netherlands had been the 2 groups that made it by way of.

Stuart Broad proclaims retirement (July 30)

In a transfer that no one noticed coming, legendary England bowler Stuart Broad introduced his retirement from worldwide cricket following the conclusion of the Ashes. His profession highlights embrace his spell of 8 for 15 towards Australia, and changing into solely the second quick bowler in historical past to take 600 Test wickets.

India tour of West Indies (July 12)

The guests sealed the Test and ODI sequence 1-0 and 2-1, respectively, whereas the house facet clinched the T20I sequence 3-2.

Harmanpreet’s outburst (July 24)

Indian ladies’s cricket workforce captain Harmanpreet Kaur was handed a two-match ban by the ICC for shedding her mood in an ODI recreation towards Bangladesh over a dismissal. The 34-year-old smashed her stumps in disgust, and her verbal exchanges with the umpire and on-field behaviour additional resulted in her being fined 25 % of her match price.

Ashes 2023 ends in 2-2 stalemate; Australia retains urn (July 31)

Australia’s quest for an Ashes victory in England since 2005 couldn’t be achieved. However, Pat Cummins and Co. managed to retain the Ashes after taking part in out an entertaining 2-2 draw towards an attacking English facet led by Ben Stokes. The cricket’s age-old rivalry lived as much as its expectations, as soon as once more. While the Aussies received the primary two video games, the Three Lions overturned the deficit by successful the following two video games. Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Starc topped the charts, with 496 runs and 23 wickets, respectively.

AUGUST

Viacom18 luggage TV, digital rights for India’s dwelling matches in 2023-2028 cycle (August 31)

The digital rights had been offered for about Rs 3100 crore, whereas the estimated worth for the tv rights has been Rs 2860 crore, which suggests Viacom18 will shell out a complete of Rs 5960 crore – about Rs 67.7 crore per recreation.

SEPTEMBER

Senanayake arrested on prices of match fixing (September 06)

Former Sri Lanka off-spinner Sachithra Senanayake was arrested as he was alleged to have tried to persuade gamers to repair within the 2020 Lanka Premier League. Although he was not himself a participant on this event, the 38-year-old was alleged to have contacted multiple participant participating within the LPL. He was later granted bail on September 25 by the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s courtroom.

India wins Asia Cup for the eighth time (September 17)

The 2023 version was held within the ODI format, with the World Cup in thoughts. A reasonably aggressive group stage paved the best way for an India versus Sri Lanka closing. Unfortunately, the ultimate was hardly a contest as Mohammed Siraj’s fiery spell of 6 for 21 skittled out the Sri Lankans for 50. India coasted to victory with 10 wickets in hand, successful an eighth Asia Cup title, the right construct as much as the World Cup.

OCTOBER

Ravindra turns into youngest Kiwi batter to attain World Cup ton (October 05)

At 23 years and 301 days, Rachin Ravindra achieved the milestone within the opening recreation of the World Cup towards England. The man who has roots in Bangalore got here as an out-of-syllabus issue for the defending champion.

SA posts highest World Cup whole (October 07)

Centuries from Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen, and Aiden Markram propelled the Proteas to a mammoth rating of 428, which is the very best whole posted by a workforce in World Cup historical past.

India wins gold at Asian Games (women and men) (October 07)

India extends unbeaten World Cup successful streak towards Pakistan (October 14)

The World Cup’s most anticipated group recreation was a reasonably one-sided one. India got here out on high as soon as towards Pakistan in a World Cup recreation. India received the sport by seven wickets, and Jasprit Bumrah was adjudged Man-of-the-Match for his figures of two for 19.

Afghanistan: Shedding the underdog tag (October 15)

While Afghanistan has been backed for a few years now as a workforce able to beating the massive weapons, the numbers to again that declare had been lacking. All that modified on the World Cup when the workforce beat defending champion England. Moreover, it wasn’t merely a win, however a convincing one.

IOC provides nod for cricket participation in Olympics 2028 (October 16)

Cricket within the T20 format is about to characteristic for the primary time within the Olympics because the 1900s when the IOC (International Olympics Committee) gave its nod for a six-nation competitors in Los Angeles in 2028.

The Dutch get a maiden W (October 17)

The Netherlands replicated Afghanistan’s giant-killing act on the World Cup by beautiful the Proteas, unbeaten within the event till that recreation, by 38 runs.

Bishan Singh Bedi dies (October 23)

The legendary Indian spinner Bishan Singh Bedi handed away after battling ailing well being.

NOVEMBER

England crashes out of World Cup (November 04)

The defending champion had a World Cup to overlook, exiting within the group stage. It solely managed to win three video games out of 9, a under par efficiency from a workforce that was anticipated to make the highest 4 at the very least.

Angelo Mathews turns into first batter to be timed out (November 06)

Controversy erupted through the recreation between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh when SL all-rounder Angelo Mathews was given ‘timed-out’. As per the ICC taking part in situation, a brand new batter is given a most of two minutes to get able to face the ball. An alert Shakib al Hasan appealed for the wicket, when Matthews breached the two-minute mark. Mathews referred to as the act a ‘disgrace’, one thing that was not in keeping with the spirit of cricket.

Punjab wins Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (November 06)

Punjab beat Baroda to win its maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title. Anmolpreet Singh’s 58-ball ton propelled Punjab to a aggressive goal of 224, after which Arshdeep Singh’s three essential wickets within the fag finish sealed the deal.

Maxi goes Super Saiyan (November 07)

A bat and one leg are all of the 35-year-old wanted to single handedly take Australia throughout the road towards Afghanistan. The Aussies, chasing 291 for victory, discovered themselves in a precarious scenario when the workforce was decreased to 91 for seven. But the ‘freakshow’ determined to take issues into his personal arms. Riding on two dropped catches and a cramping left leg, Maxwell smashed a maiden double-century, a 128-ball 201 that some pundits take into account the best ODI innings of all time.

ICC suspends Sri Lanka Cricket (November 10)

The Sri Lankan Cricket Board was discovered to be in breach of contract guidelines with the ICC, when the nation’s Sports Ministry dismissed the board and changed it with an interim committee following the nation’s poor efficiency at this 12 months’s World Cup. Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe referred to as SLC “traitorous and corrupt” in an announcement to parliament on November 3, saying board members ought to resign, and an interim committee chaired by former World Cup-winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga was shaped.

King surpasses God (November 15)

Records are made to be damaged. All information however one. At least that’s what the cricketing fraternity considered Sachin Tendulkar’s file of 49 ODI centuries for the longest time. But come 15 November, this file was damaged too. Virat Kohli’s comeback after his lean patch noticed him inch nearer and nearer to this historic landmark and the inevitable lastly occurred within the semifinal towards New Zealand.

Australia topped World Cup champion (November 19)

The closing between India and Australia was a story of two completely different tales. For India, a victory would have ended the decade-long anticipate an ICC trophy, and it could have additionally been the right redemption for 2003 World Cup closing defeat. For the Aussies, a World Cup victory would have rounded off an ideal 12 months wherein the workforce additionally received the World Test Championship. It was the Men from Down Under who finally prevailed. Some tight bowling restricted the Indians to a under par whole of 240, which the Australians chased with ease, because of Travis Head’s century. The victory noticed Australia win the World Cup for a file sixth time.

Hardik Pandya traded to MI, Green goes to RCB (November 26)

In arguably the largest commerce within the historical past of the IPL, all-rounder Hardik Pandya switched again to his outdated franchise in an all-cash deal of 17.5 crore. Pandya and Gujarat had an immensely profitable two seasons collectively, successful the title within the first and reaching the ultimate within the second season. To clear funds for the Pandya commerce, MI traded Cameron Green to RCB.

DECEMBER

Women’s IPL public sale (December 09)

Kashvee Gautam grew to become the costliest uncapped participant when she was offered to Gujarat Giants for Rs. 2 crore. Some of the opposite high buys included Annabel Sutherland (Rs. 2 crore to DC) and Vrinda Dinesh (Rs. 1.3 crore to UP Warriorz).

Pandya named MI captain (December 15)

MI’s transition with an eye fixed on the long run began when it named Hardik Pandya as the brand new captain for the 2024 season. According to experiences, the 30-year outdated’s deal included an settlement that Pandya can be named captain.

Haryana wins maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy (December 16)

Haryana beat Rajasthan within the closing to win its first ever Vijay Hazare Trophy title. After opting to bat first, Haryana put up a good rating of 287 for the lack of eight wickets. Rajasthan was bowled out for 257, because of Sumit Kumar and Harshal Patel’s three wicket-hauls.

Lyon joins 500 membership (December 17)

Spinner Nathan Lyon grew to become solely the third Australian, behind Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath, to take 500 Test wickets, and the eighth man general.

IPL public sale 2024 (December 19)

IPL franchises went berserk on December 19, on a day when the file for the most expensive ever purchase was damaged twice. SRH acquired the companies of Pat Cummins for Rs. 20.50 crore, whereas fellow Aussie Mitchell Starc went to KKR for a whopping Rs. 24.75 crore.

India Women beats Australia Women in Test (December 21)

The undisputed Australian Test cricket workforce endured its first loss ever by the hands of the Indian workforce. The India ladies had been complete from begin to end, as they utilised dwelling circumstances successfully to register an eight-wicket win.

Tom Curran banned from 4 BBL video games (December 21)

He was charged over an incident on 11 December earlier than a recreation towards Hobart Hurricanes in Launceston. In the build-up to the match, the fourth umpire – who’s tasked with supervising the pitch – requested Curran to not run on the pitch. But the 28-year-old was seen training his bowling run-up, operating in the direction of the umpire and the pitch, regardless of the warning given. The incident was deemed to be “intimidation or attempted intimidation of an umpire or match referee” underneath the Cricket Australia code.

ICC rejects Khawaja’s bid to put on dove sticker on bat and footwear throughout Boxing Day Test (December 26)

The Australian opener discovered himself in the course of a controversial debate when he was barred from sporting a dove sticker on his bat and footwear condemning the present scenario within the Israel-Palestine conflict. The 37-year-old was earlier reprimanded for sporting a black armband after the worldwide physique’s guidelines prevented him from carrying footwear with messages of assist for Gaza within the first Test towards Pakistan. Khawaja had the messages “Freedom is a human right” and “All lives are equal” on his boots within the colors of the Palestinian flag throughout coaching earlier than the opening Test of the three-match sequence final week, which the host received by 360 runs in Perth. Many cricketers have got here out in assist of Khawaja since.