King's Are Back

                  

CSK made a comeback in IPL after 2 years of ban.Before the suspension this was the only team to go beyond the league stage to play the playoffs and have won the title 2 consecutive titles in 2010 and 2011. Infact they were so dominating throughout the seasons that we started seeing posts like these:

So let's see how CSK is now after the comeback.

1. Dhoni Returns as the captain

Dhoni resigned from the Indian captaincy from limited overs in 2017 but all of us know he still use to give orders from behind the stumps with Virat Kohli. Everyone knows how respected he is as a captain  and as a player in the world of cricket. So who other than this man is better for the captaincy and to continue carry the legacy of csk.

2. Players Retained
CSK reatined 3 players at the IPL player retention in 2018.They were Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Suresh raina and Ravindra Jadeja. Suresh Raina is the leading run  scorer of the IPL so far and he is the next man anyone can think of in CSK after Dhoni. Ravindra Jadeja is a decent batsman, a good bowler and an incredible fielder. After making his debut in  csk in 2012 Jadeja has contributed a lot for the team in all the 3 formats of the game with his bat,bowl as well as in the field.


3.New and Old Players
In the 2018 IPL auction CSK bought a lot of new players and we also have seen few old players again joining back the team. One thing that surprised most of the fans is allowing Ravichandran Ashwin to leave and not trying hard to let him bring back to his old club. Other than that Dwayne bravo is back to show off his fun moves after CSK used RTM(Right To Match) Card to get him back in the Line up. South African captain Faf Du Plesis will also join the squad along with some new faces like Shane Watson, Harbhajan Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, Mark Wood, Lungi Ngidi, Shardul Thakur,Imran Tahir and some uncapped players like KM Asif, Deepak Chahar and lot more will be seen in the Yellow Jersey this year.

Overall the Squad got and intersting pair of Bravo and Watson as All rounders with some spice of Indian Spinner like jadeja and Bhajji. The batting looks quite strong with Watson at top, Raina Rayudu in  the middle and Dhoni Bravo as the finishers. The only downside that i can see in this Squad is a lot of Players are above 30 so injuries can affect the form of the players and the team but at the same time the team has a lot of experience in it which can definitly gives them the advantage over the others. It will be Interesting to see whether they can continue to be seen as the real Kings as they use to do or it will take something else to continue their good form in IPL.

Ball Tampering

Recently we have seen 3 Australian cricketers got banned due to ball tampering allegation but that's not the first time we have seen such kind of uncouth thing in the game of cricket.There have been a number of instances of alleged ball tampering before:

1.Micheal Atherton in 1994

In 1994  Micheal Atherton  was first accused of ball tampering during test match against south africa in  Lord's after he was caught rubbing a substance(dirt) on the ball. He denied claiming  that he has dirt in his pocket in order to dry his hand. But regardless of his claims he was fined.

2. Sachin Tendulkar in 2001


Yes,you read that right even the "god" Sachin tendulkar was suspended for one game due to alleged ball tampring. In 2001 tour of South Africa Sachin was caught rubbing his nails over the seam of the ball though tendulkar claimed that he was only removing the piece of grass that was stuck on the ball.
But later he was cleared of all the charges by ICC.

3.England cricket team in 2005
Marcus Trescothick used mints to keep the shinning of the ball to make the ball swing for longer period of time. He even admitted this in his autobiography "Coming back to me".

4.Pakistan cricket team in 2006

In 2006 on 4th day of a test match between England and Pakistan the umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove believed that Pakistan has intended to tamper the ball because of which they gave 5 extra runs to England as a penalty and new ball was taken then and there.The play continued till tea without any protest from Pakistani team.After the break the Pakistan team has agreed among themselves that no tampering has been done from their side and then they refused to go back to the field after 15 minute the umpires warned Inzamaam ul haq and whole pakistan team but pakistani players were determined not to go back due to which umpires have awrded the win to England by saying that Pakistan has forfeited that match by refusing to play.

5. Stuart Broad and James Anderson in 2010
In 2010 when England went to the tour of South Africa two of the England's best bowlers were accused of tampering the ball by rubbing the ball on the ground with their spikes though no charges were placed by hte South Africa team against them.

6. Shahid Afridi in 2010


Shahid Afridi who was the captain of Pakistan team during the tour of Australia in 2010 was accused of ball tampering when he was caught biting the ball really hard in order to adjust the seam. He received a 2 match ban for this. He told to Hindustan times that he was only smelling the ball but later apologised for the incident.

7. Faf Du Plesis in 2013


During the second test in Dubai against Pakistan  Faf was caught by the cameras scuffing the ball by the zip of his trouser. Considering this, the umpires awarded extra 5 runs to the Pakistan. Du Plesis was fined for about 50% of the match fee. After the incident the captain of South Africa Graeme Smith denied their participation in any kind of cheating in the match and South Africa easily won the match by an innings leveling the series 1-1.

8.South Africa in 2014
For the second time in 12 months South Africa was under speculations of alleged ball tampering when their medium pace bowler Vernon Philander was accused of tampering the ball against Sri Lanka on  3rd day of Galle test.Philander was found scratching  the ball with his thumb. He was fined 75% of his match fee.
Later after this David Warner comes into action and commented that South African Players like to do a lot of mischievous things with the ball like throwing the ball on the ground on return throws during fielding and wiping the ball from every side. These comments made him pay 15% of his match fee under ICC code of conduct breach.

9.Australia vs South Africa 2018


Now comes the latest incident that happened. On 24th March Australian Player Cameron Bancroft was charged with ball tampering when video showed him rubbing the ball with a tiny yellow sand paper.When asked from Steve Smith about this he accepted that he was aware that Bancroft was tampering the ball and it was well planned. The next day itself Smith as well as David Warner (Vice-Captain) stood down from the leadership but continued to play on under captaincy of Tim Paine.
ICC banned steve smith for a match and fined him and bancroft 100% and 75% of the match fee respectively.


On 27th March 2018 sutherland announced that as a result of their investigation all 3 players had bought the game into disrepute and will be suspended.Later Smith and Warner received a 12 month ban from cricket while Bancroft received  a nine month ban from all forms of the game.

The Last Chance.

Argentina in FIFA World Cup 2018

FIFA world cup is about to begin. Every football fan all around the globe are waiting for this
greatest international event to happen. And just like last year every Messi fan is dreaming of having their champ the only silverware he is being deprived off so far.
But to me Argentina even after having some of  the great names in their squad especially in the attacking like Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Paulo Dybala, Angel Di Maria, Mauro icardi still misses to impress us because to certain extent there is only one player carrying Argentina(offcourse Messi it is), he has the most contribution to the team & in 2018 WC qualifiers he even proved it, He single handedly took his team to this year world cup.

Argentina is a good team but not a complete one. On nice days, they can beat anyone with attacking magic but on the other days they can frustrate their fans by some technically limited but detemining opponents.

Overall they need a team who can play by sacrificing their pride. Their chance of winning the world cup depends on how they will line up their squad and for this the greatest factor is their coach Jorge Sampoli. Every one knows what he brings to the game mentally, physically and technically. He made a not so good sevillia and chile to challenge big clubs and teams like Real madrid, Barcelona ,Brazil ,Argentina.He will be so good for Argentina in pusuit for the cup.If messi was able to lead Argentina this far with mediocre coaches and tactics then i think Sampoli will be the man to handover messi the only missing trophy in his pocket.
Finally I'd rate their chance to win it all a 6/10. Yes, they are up there with maybe the top 5 contenders for the championship but they often come up short of their full potential when it matters in a big match on a big stage. Messi deserves an international trophy in his well shinning trophy cabinet he is currently in a good form for Barcelona and as long as this form continues they will have a chance.Also Argentina strikers are in good for Gonzalo Higuain, Dybala, Icardi and Aguero and there is no such big problem with midfield the only big thing that they have to focus on is their vulnerable defense that need to co-ordinate with messi and if they do it right they have a bright opportunity.
So, all the best to them!