10 Cricket Things you wouldn’t have believed at the start of decade

by Karthik Atchuta

What were you doing on January 1, 2010? Well, cricketing wise – ODI Cricket still didn’t have a double century – Test Cricket didn’t have pink ball matches – England didn’t even record a single ICC tournament win at International level.

Here are the 10 cricket things you wouldn’t have believed if I were to have predicted them at the start of the decade:

10. Test Cricket will be played under lights

Cricket’s most traditional format – The Wimbledon of International Cricket, Test Cricket was at its orthodox best at the end of last decade. Things took a turn with cricketing innovation and need for enthusiasm boost for the longest format of Cricket. Cricket fans pride in their love for Test Cricket but with the advent of T20 Cricket, the longest format needed a slight tweak to encourage viewing.

Enter Pink ball which had better visibility under lights. Crowds can now join in the action after work, TV viewers can tune in to watch cricket when they get home and most importantly the frustrating bad light stops play situation can be taken care of now.

Do you see the future for Day-Night tests?

9. International Cricket to be played in empty stands

If I were to have predicted the high profile International matches will be played with no crowds – you would have asked me to get the hell out. The unfortunate entry of COVID-19 has affected different spectrums of our life. Cricket was no exception. Many tours were postponed indefinitely. With the uncertainty over the prevailing conditions cricket came to a complete halt for a while.

On March 13, 2020 – Australia took on New Zealand in a ODI match with no crowds. The repercussions were baffling enough. It was quite weird to watch a cricket match on TV with out crowds – even weirder for cricketers who had to play in those conditions.

With no crowds helping to throw the ball back on field, the cricketers had to fetch the ball themselves. To make the experience a little less weirder, CPL tried putting crowd posters in the stands – IPL tried DJing the crowd noises. Well has it made things more weird? Beat this – WWE has individual crowd cheer screens all round the ring with virtual fans expressing on the digital displays.

8. Double Century in ODI Cricket

With the advent of T20 Cricket most of you might have believed the double century was just around the corner in ODI Cricket. Asian batsmen Saeed Anwar and Sanath Jayasuriya did come threateningly close way back in the late 90s. Virender Sehwag’s rise in International cricket made most of us predict he would become the first player to achieve the feat, but it was the cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar who achieved this feat at Gwalior against a formidable bowling attack of South Africa (Steyn, Langeveldt, Kallis, Parnell etc) in February 2010.

The following year Virender Sehwag became the first ODI captain to record a ODI double century. Rohit Sharma followed suit in 2013 making it three consecutive double centuries by Indians in 2013.

World Cup 2015 witnessed 2 double centuries – Chris Gayle became the first to achieve this feat when he scored a 215 against Zimbabwe. Martin Guptill bettered it when he scored a massive unbeaten 237 against West Indies in the quarter-finals.

The question though is would you have believed if I were to have predicted a ODI Cricket 250? even better – would you have believed if a single batsman would score multiple double centuries in the decade? Rohit Sharma’s mind blowing knock of 264 in 173 balls at Eden Gardens in November 2014 broke shackles on the limits of scoring in the 50 over format. 3 years later Rohit Sharma recorded his 3rd double century at Chandigarh against Sri Lanka.

What’s in store for us in the new decade? A 300?

7. Ireland recording the highest chase in World Cup history

At the start of the decade, the highest chase by a team in World Cup was 313/7 by Sri Lanka against Zimbabwe. Little did we know that a associate nation will break the record chase.

On March 2, 2011- Ireland chased down England’s target of 328 at Bengaluru, creating a new chase record in World Cup history. In the process Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien recorded the fastest century in World Cup history in just 50 balls.

On March 17, 2011 – Ireland repeated the feat of chasing down a 300+ target against Netherlands at Eden Gardens. Ireland became the first team to chase down three 300+ targets in World Cup history in February 2015 when they upset West Indies in the 2015 World Cup group match at Canberra scoring 307/6 in the chase.

The new rules by ICC has seen Ireland out of 2019 World Cup. Wouldn’t it have been wonderful to watch them upset some big team in near home conditions in the decade’s last World Cup as well?

6. International batsman dying on field

With the modern protection gear and innovations set in motion – cricket was looking more and more safe for the players. On November 25, 2014 cricket woke up to a rude shock when South Australia batsman Phillip Hughes collapsed while batting on 63 after being hit by a Sean Abbott bouncer. Hughes was hit on the back of his head which was not protected by any gear till that point in cricket.

2 days later Hughes was declared dead. This exposed the harsh reality of cricket and teams have become sensitive to any such events here on. A new protective clip extending the helmet was set in play. Few years later concussion substitute was introduced in Sheffield Shield cricket. ICC followed suit and brought in the concussion substitute feature in International cricket from the year 2019.

5. A Century in 31 balls

At the start of the decade, Shahid Afridi held the record for the fastest century in ODI cricket in 37 balls. The record was set way back in 1997. The record seemed almost undisputed for a long time. It was New Year’s day in 2014 and Corey Anderson who walked in to bat at No.5 for New Zealand blasted a century in just 36 balls against West Indies at Queenstown.

It just took just a year for South Africa batsman AB de Villiers to break the record. de Villiers blasted his century in just 31 balls at Johannesburg. The victim again was West Indies. This unbelievable feat of AB gets even much sweet when you know the fact that the Proteas batsman walked in to bat in the 39th over of the match. He scored 149 runs in just 44 balls in the process with the help of 9 Fours and 16 Sixes.

4. Team India to be bowled out below 40 runs

Since 2010, we have seen high profile teams like Australia, Pakistan and New Zealand bundle out for less than 50 runs in an innings.

Team India has been known for the batting strength in the 21st Century and with the likes of Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane in the team one would have dismissed the very thought of the team being bowled out for 36. This misfortunate event took place in India’s first ever overseas Day-Night Test at Adelaide on 17 December, 2020. Not a single Indian batsman reached double digits with Mayank Agarwal top scoring with a 9.

3. One year ban for ball tampering

We have already witnessed a few ball tampering incidents in International Cricket. On Jan 31, 2010 – Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi took it to a new level when he went on to bite the ball to help his pacers with some reverse swing in a low scorer at Perth. Pakistan went on to lose the match by 2 wickets and he was handed a 2 T20I match ban by ICC.

We have also seen Faf du Plessis fined 50% match fee for ball tampering in 2013. Things took a ugly turn in 2018 when Australian fielder Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera tampering the ball with a sand paper against South Africa at Cape Town. The direct consequence was a year ban for vice captain David Warner and captain Steve Smith by Cricket Australia. Cameron Bancroft was slapped with a 9 year ban. The punishment was highly debated and many felt it was Australia’s way of inflicting the damage control. Coach Darren Lehman resigned from his post soon after.

Australian cricket took a new turn as they have gone softer since then under the new coach Justin Langer. Smith and Warner returned for the World Cup in 2019. Tim Paine has got himself a steady captain’s role ever since.

2. England winning a World Cup

By January 2010 – England had no ICC trophies to their credit at International level. It was way back in 1998 that a Owais Shah led England U-19 team went on to win a ICC U-19 World Cup title.

At the start of the decade no one really believed England would make it to the crunch stages of big tournaments let alone winning the tournament. It all changed in the T20 World Cup in West Indies as Paul Collingwood led England clinched the World T20 title by beating Australia at Bridgetown in May 2010.

Following their T20 success, the ODI future still looked bleak as they sweated their way to World Cup quarter-final in 2011 and couldn’t even qualify past group stage in the 2015 event. The ODI cricketing culture took a major haul ever since in England. Captain Morgan inspired his troops to play attacking cricket – something which was never heard of. By the later half of the decade England rose to the ICC No.1 rank in ODI cricket. It was not long that England were rooted as the favorites for the World Cup event in 2019.

The dramatic finals at Lord’s against New Zealand ended in favor of England as they became 50 over World Cup champions for the first time in ODI history. In all seriousness did you have had England in even Top 3 teams to win a World Cup tournament at the start of the decade?

1. Afghanistan Cricketer to win the T20I Cricketer of the Decade Award

Afghanistan made their ODI debut in April 2009 while their first T20 International was played in February 2010. They made huge strides in a short amount of time. They qualified for the 2015 Cricket World Cup as they already featured in the 2010, 2012 and 2016 editions of T20 World Cups.

Their major win came in the form of a low scoring thriller against T20 champions West Indies in the 2016 World T20. That match also witnessed a teenage sensation Rashid Khan Arman hit a six off the first ball he faced and took 2 wickets. Not many knew he was going to be the T20I Cricketer of the Decade in 4 years time!

Rashid Khan had a prolific rise in International cricket ever since. His IPL stint with Sunrisers Hyderabad under bowling coach legendary Muthiah Muralitharan helped his skill exponentially. Rashid Khan was the hot pick in franchise cricket all over the world. He also showed that he was no muck with the bat when he scored a match changing half century on his 20th birthday in Asia Cup.

On December 28, 2020 – Rashid Khan was adjudged as the ‘T20 Cricketer of the Decade’ competing against top notch cricketers like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Lasith Malinga, Chris Gayle etc. Check the complete list of nominees here

Praised all over the world Rashid Khan’s prime years are yet to come in the new decade and it will be a treat to watch how he would evolve as a cricketer.

What is your list of cricket events you wouldn’t have believed at the start of the decade?