Sports
Bangalore – India’s garden city
Rex Clementine in Bangalore
Of all India’s cricketing centers, Dharamshala is quite special for its natural beauty situated in the footsteps of Himalayas. But travelling there costs you an arm and leg with just a couple of flights available from Delhi. The road trip is the best option through the hills of Punjab. Sri Lanka of course do not have a game in Dharamshala. Two of their nine games of the tournament will be played in Bangalore – the garden city.
There are multiple daily flights from Colombo to Bangalore and a family trip in the long weekend to this lovely city is not a bad idea. The weather is pleasant and entertainment is plenty. IndiGo, a budget airline gets you here for a decent price. If you want to cut costs the best option is to fly to Madras and then catch the train.
Bangalore’s airport is of course a marvel. It is a state-of-the-art facility and many European airports are far behind Bangalore. The immigration and customs takes you less than 15 minutes. Hassle free parking and convenient cab services, all these make Bangalore airport a pleasant experience.
Out of the airport as you hit the highway to get to the city, you see all sorts of modern European cars on the road. Then, you wonder whether this is the same India that you visited 20 years ago. They have come a long way in the last two decades.
International cricket in Bangalore is of course played at Chinnaswamy Stadium. The venue is named after Chinnaswamy Mudaliar, a lawyer, who was a founding member of the Mysore State Cricket Association. He went onto become the President of Board of Control for Cricket in India (1977-1980).
It was at Chinnaswamy Stadium a certain Vivian Richards made his Test debut almost 50 years ago in 1974. He wasn’t alone. There was a certain Gordon Greenidge as well receiving his maroon cap for the first time.
Bangalore is also the home for some of India’s all-time greats of the sport. There was Gundappa Viswanath, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Javagal Srinath, Roger Binny and many more. Binny incidentally is the President of Board of Control for Cricket in India.
Some say that Binny, the 1983 World Cup winner is only a figurehead while the man who calls shots in cricket is Jay Shah, the son of India’s Home Minister Amit Shah. The correct way to put it is that Jay Shah isn’t Indian cricket’s most powerful man but world cricket’s most powerful man.
Not very far from Chinnaswamy Stadium, there is an exclusive club called Century Club. Like SSC, NCC, CCC and Tamil Union, Century Club is over 100 years old.
An Engineer in Bangalore named M. Visvesvaraya during the British rule of India tries to get a membership of Bangalore Club. But he’s refused membership as at that point the membership is exclusive for the British nationals.
Determined to form a club for the locals, Visvesvaraya meets the Mysore Maharaja floating the idea to form a club where Indians can get together. Generously, Mysore Maharaja donates a five-acre land inside the pristine Cubbon Park.
Then, 100 Indian civil servants come together to form the club and hence the name Century Club.
Getting membership at Century Club is extremely difficult these days. The club currently has a membership of 6000 and there is a 30 year wait if someone wants to get a new membership.
Members gather to Century Club for recreation and there are both indoor and outdoor sports and card games. The club also has some posh restaurants and several bars.
The club’s hotel with 30 room is also quite popular. It’s decently priced, at the heart of the city and has fabulous facilities. The only problem is booking a room there is a tedious task. Which is why during your travels to other parts of the world you need to make friendships. It doesn’t matter how many people you know in a city. All what matters is you need to know the right person. If you are in New Delhi, the go to person is Vijay Lokapally, the longstanding cricket writer of English daily Hindu. In Bombay, all your needs are taken care of by G. Viswanath, the cricket writer of Indian Express. If you are in Bangalore it is R. Kaushik, a freelance cricket writer. Knowing them is as good as knowing the Prime Minister of India.
Some Indians repay the complement saying that they don’t have to know the President of Sri Lanka when they come to Colombo. They only need to know the right reporter.
The first truly heavyweight clash of this expanded T20 World Cup format comes freighted with both history and subplots. A rematch of the 2010 World T20 final at Kensington Oval, the match pits Jos Buttler’s defending champions – who are aiming to become the first team to retain the trophy – against the Australian winning machine, victors at the 2021 edition and current world title-holders in Test and ODI cricket. And that’s before you throw in the Ashes for afters.
Already there is added pressure on England, after the rain in Bridgetown led to a share of the points in their opener against Scotland (and that having conceded 90 runs from 10 overs without taking a wicket in a tepid bowling display). Lose to their oldest rivals and it will leave their Super 8 prospects open to being waylaid by the perils of net run-rate calculations, or worse.
The Scotland match was the third abandonment in five suffered by England, after a rain-affected home series against Pakistan, which has clearly hampered their readiness for this campaign after almost six months without playing T20 together. It does not take much for a side to click in this format – and England looked in decent shape when they did get on the field against Pakistan – but Buttler will be anxious for things to go their way on Saturday, if only to avoid further questions referencing the team’s disastrous ODI World Cup defence last year.
Australia, under the laidback leadership of Mitchell Marsh would love nothing more than to add to the English sense of jeopardy – having helped bundle them out of the tournament in India on the way to taking the crown. Their head to head record is less impressive in T20 however, with England having won six of the last seven completed encounters, as well as that 2010 final.
Despite a wobble with the bat, Australia avoided mishap against Oman earlier in the week, the experience of David Warner and Marcus Stoinis shining through in difficult batting conditions. Surfaces in the Caribbean – not to mention those games staged in the USA – have already had teams scratching their heads; rather than the “slug-fest” England had prepared for, following a high-scoring tour of the Caribbean in December, it looks as if boxing smart may be the way to go.
Speaking of Warner, this could be the last time he faces up against England in national colours – and another match-winning contribution would likely reduce the chances of them meeting again in the knockouts. On the other side of the card is Jofra Archer, fresh from an emotional maiden outing at Kensington Oval and ready to take on Australia for the first time in any format since 2020. Can Mark Wood fire up England’s campaign, as he did during last summer’s Ashes? Will Pat Cummins be back to harass the old enemy once again? Seconds out, it’s almost time to rumble.
Cummins is set to return after being rested for the Oman game, which saw Mitchell Starc leave the field with cramp. Starc is understood to be fine and could keep his place – which would likely see Nathan Ellis miss out. Marsh is still not fit to bowl, with Australia likely to continue with the allrounder combination of Stoinis and Maxwell to give them cover.
Australia (probable XI): David Warner, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Pat Cummins, Nathan Ellis/Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
The one change England may consider is Reece Topley coming in for Wood, with the expectation that there will be some rotation among the seamers through the course of the tournament.
England (probable XI): Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (capt & wk), Will Jacks, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley/Mark Wood
[Cricinfo]
Once is coincidence, twice is a clue, and three times is proof.
To paraphrase Agatha Christie, that is the narrative around South Africa’s meeting with Netherlands at this T20 World Cup.
The Dutch beat South Africa at the 2022 tournament and ended their semi-final hopes in a match where South Africa appeared to be sleep walking, and then beat them again at the 2023 ODI World Cup, where they exposed South Africa’s vulnerability in the chase. If they to do the treble, not only will Netherlands take the lead in Group D, but they will offer conclusive evidence of the threat they pose to Full Members, especially South Africa.
Of course, it will take some doing after South Africa’s opening performance against Sri Lanka, where they reduced their opposition to their lowest T20I total and chased it down in fairly straightforward fashion thanks to the most stable middle-order of their white-ball era. In Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, South Africa have bankers and big-hitters and, for this match, they also have the advantage of experience. They’ve already played at Eisenhower Park, and have first-hand knowledge that run-scoring doesn’t come easily;Klassen said they are prepared to use their “cricket brains” and play “smarter cricket”.
But the conditions could be good news for Netherlands, who are not naturally a line-up of big hitters and build their innings on a foundation of turning ones into twos. In other words, they tend to take a slightly more conservative approach to batting, which may work well here, but they’ll be wary of the uneven bounce of the surface and will have to come up with plans to counterattack especially against South Africa’s seamers. Their own bowlers were exemplary in Dallas and will look to build on that performance against a line-up that will likely be more proactive than Nepal’s, but who they have managed to keep quiet not once, but twice in the past. Third time’s the charm, they say.
Anrich Nortje’s stunning return to form against Sri Lanka means South Africa may not have to tinker with the bowling combination, and Gerald Coetzee and Tabraiz Shamsi may have to wait their turns to get a game. The batting line-up should be unchanged, with no space for Ryan Rickelton yet.
South Africa: Quinton de Kock (wk), Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markam, Tristan Stubbs, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Ottneil Baartman, Anrich Nortje
Conditions in New York may tempt Netherlands to include an extra seamer and they have Kyle Klein in their squad. But it could come at the expense of a shortened batting line-up and they may not want to risk that.
Netherlands: Michael Levitt, Max O’Dowd, Vikramjit Singh, Sybrand Engelbrecht, Scott Edwards (capt, wk), Bas de Leede, Teja Nidamanuru, Logan van Beek, Tim Pringle, Paul van Meekeren, Vivian Kingma
[Cricinfo]
Nuwan Thushara’s last over brought Sri Lanka screaming back into the match,as he first bowled Rishad Hossain, and then nailed Taskin Ahmed in front of the stumps with a pinpoint swinging yorker. This left Bangladesh eight wickets down, with 12 runs still to get.
However, the experienced Mahmudullah was at the crease for Bangladesh, and despite some further nervy moments, pushed Bangladesh across the line off the last ball of the 19th over.
But this was a match chiefly decided by Bangladesh’s own outstanding bowling. Mustafizur Rahman was the best among them, using shorter lengths and his cutters efficiently, to claim figures of 3 for 17. Rishad Hossain’s three-for through the middle overs also kept Sri Lanka quiet.
Mustafizur was instrumental in Sri Lanka’s downward spiral through the middle overs, which culminated in a crash-and-burn end. Ultimately, their inability to find boundaries, or even rotate strike against good Bangladesh bowling resulted in their downfall. A score of 125 for 9 always seemed poor on a decent pitch, even if their bowlers made a match of it in the end.
Brief scores:
Bangladesh 125 for 8 in 19 overs (Towhid Hridoy 40, Litton Das 36; Dhanajaya de Silva 1-11, Nuwan Thushara 4-18, Wanidu Hasaranga 2-32, Matheesha Pathirana 1-27) beat Sri Lanka124 for 9 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 47, Dhananjaya de Silva 21; Tanzim Hasan Sakib 1-24, Taskin Ahmed 2-25, Mustafizur Rahman 3-17, Rishad Hossain 3-22) by two wickets
[Cricinfo]
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