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By K.R. Nayar From Zayed Cricket Stadium  Abu Dhabi. A belligerent knock of 68 runs off 33 balls studded with four boundaries and six sixers from England’s Tom Kohler-Cadmore gave Deccan Gladiators a 22 runs win over New York Strikers in the opening match of the Abu Dhabi T10 at the Zayed Cricket Stadium. His knock gave Deccan Gladiators an impressive total off 118 for 8 and helped restrict New York Strikers to 96 for 6 through UAE’s medium pacer Zahoor Khan’s timely two wickets giving away just 12 runs.   Shaji Ul Mulk, Chairman of the T10 Sports Management, declared the tournament open with both teams lining up with the trophy before the start of the action.   Start of Abu Dhabi T10 with Shaji Ul Mulk declaring the tournament open   Kohler-Cadmore batted with a strike rate of 206.06 with only 11 dot balls after New York Strikers captain Kieron Pollard won the toss and elected to bowl. Pakistan’s left-arm pacer Mohammad Amir, who once bowled Pakistan ...

By K.R. Nayar It is well known that India produces cricket talent in  abundance. The future Rohit Sharmas, Virat Kohlis, and Mohammed Shamis do not emerge by accident but are shaped by cricket academies that groom talent. One such cricket academy is the Karnataka Institute of Cricket (KIOC) in Bengaluru, not far from the historic M Chinnaswamy Stadium, which I visited during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. I realized that it was a factory that churns out cricketers.   Stepping into this academy, I felt like I was walking into a world filled with cricketers bubbling with enthusiasm to sharpen their skills. I was first escorted to a hall where nearly 300 young cricketers were listening to an inspiring talk by Irfan Sait, the Director of this academy. Sait was impressing on the youngsters the essential traits required to enjoy the game and play it with passion. Incidentally, KIOC’s slogan is: ‘making cricketers with passion.’   Irfan Sait addressing over 300 young ...

By K.R. Nayar From Narendra Modi Stadium Ahmedabad.  Writing about a nation in joy is effortless, but the challenge arises when an entire nation is engulfed in sorrow. Witnessing nearly 100,000 fans, who had anticipated celebrating yet another World Cup victory for India, exit the stadium wrapped in the India flag they did not get to wave for a long time, was emotional. There was a funeral like silence all around. Every hopeful spectator left with heads bowed down to a match-winning performance by a man named Travis Head.   It is difficult to blame Indian fans for this. Team India had instilled immense hope in by winning all their league matches before reaching the final. They  were enamored with Team India, overlooking the unpredictable nature of cricket, which can turn heroes into zeroes for both teams and players alike. The prevailing question among Indian fans is whether it is fair to determine a world champion based on a single day's performance.   Fe...

By K.R. Nayar From Narendra Modi Stadium Ahmedabad.  Travis Head turned the hopes of Indian fans on their head through a stubborn century, and together with Marnus Labuschangne's half century, the two helped Australia lift the World Cup for a sixth time at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Their spirited knocks under tremendous pressure proved that a cricket match cannot be won even if played in front of nearly 100,000 partisan crowd. Australia’s six-wicket win justified their tag of the ‘mighty Australians’ having lifted the World Cup six times despite a not so dominant show in this World Cup.   Exhibiting immense fighting spirit, Head cracked 137 runs off 120 balls with 15 boundaries and four sixes. Labuschangne scored an unbeaten 58 off 110 balls with four boundaries to play the role of second fiddle with elegance.  Together they put on a 192 runs partnership for the fourth wicket, lifting Australia from 47 for 3 in the first seven overs and win the match with 42 balls ...

By K.R. Nayar From Narendra Modi Stadium Ahmedabad.   Walk, run, or crawl — somehow everyone wants to get to their seats at the Narendra Modi Stadium to witness  the final. As I stepped out of my hotel room as early as 7.30am, all I saw was groups of people wearing Team India jerseys ready to go to stadium. They walked out, not with "bag and baggage," but with flags and placards.   Dharamveer Pal, who is pralaysed from his waist down, is here to watch the final  For those complaining about the walk to the stadium and the climb up of hundreds of steps in this 130,000-capacity venue, I met a man with no legs who had come for the final. Years ago, I had featured Dharamveer Pal who hails from Madhya Pradesh,   in an article, and he called out to me while waiting in the shade near the stadium. A polio attack when he was 18 months old had left him paralyzed from his waist down. However, this hasn't deterred him from attending the final. He is such a big fan of t...

By K.R. Nayar From Narendra Modi Stadium Ahmedabad.  Indian skipper Rohit Sharma will handle Australia with the respect they deserve. Answering to a query from this writer on how is it to take on a not so dominant Australia like in the past or the does the tag they have of being five-times champions make him feel cagey, Sharma said: “ I don't agree with (Australia) not being dominant. They've won eight out of eight, the last eight games that they've played. And they played it really well. So, it's going to be a good contest. Both teams deserve to be at this stage playing the finals and we do understand the importance of what Australia can do.” My click when Rohit Sharma accepts the best wishes from journalists  Speaking on the five-time champions tag, Sharma said: “They are a very complete side and for us again what is important is to focus on what we want to do as a team and I have said it many a times in the past in this tournament and even now I will say the same...