DOHA: With the ICC ODI World Cup seven months away, participating teams are engaged in respective bilateral series to gauge their strengths and weaknesses.
The 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup will be the 13th edition that will be hosted by India between October and November.
India’s 2-1 home Test series win over Australia in the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy was exciting. But barely the dust had settled down at the world’s largest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad on the final day, the ODI series began the following week in Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.
On the same day, India held Australia to a draw in the fourth and last Test in Ahmedabad, another interesting match featured New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Christchurch.
The Lankans, who needed a win to keep India out of the race for WTC Final, failed to reach their target.
Another sub-continent team, Bangladesh, shocked their English counterparts by winning the T20 series at home.
It was a fabulous display of grit and determination from the Bangla Tigers under their experienced captain and all-rounder Shakib Al Hassan.
After thrashing the Englishmen, the babumoshais came strongly in the opening match against Ireland in the ODI series last Saturday. The hosts won 183 runs at Sylhet. Debutant Towhid batted with a hridoy (heart) and scored 92 as the hosts racked up 338-8 off their 50 overs.
Away from India and Bangladesh, cricketing actions reached its crescendo in Pakistan with PSL 8. A mesmerising final at Lahore witnessed a nail-biting finish.
The home team, who were keen on retaining the title, managed to held their nerves in the final over. Shaheen Afridi was a revelation.
His batting and bowling performance was the talk of the town at the corridors of Asian Town Cricket Stadium, where his father-in-law and former Pakistani star Shahid Afridi starred for Asian Lions at the Legends League Cricket.
There was shade of his father-in-law in his 15-ball 44 not out. It was a cracker of an innings that helped Lahore put up a challenging 200 in 20 overs. Later, Shaheen’s picked up four wickets to guide his team to win the consecutive titles.
As most of the teams will be getting ready for the ICC World Cup in India, more actions are in the pipeline and that will sure enthrall the audience.
