Sunday March 14 will be remembered as the day when there were five cricket matches spread across Twenty20s, Tests and ODIs.
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March 14, 2021 redefined the very concept of Super Sunday when it came to cricket. If an individual wanted some Test cricket action, he got it. ODIs and Twenty20 International cricket was played on the same day. From the West Indies all the way to India, there was non-stop cricketing action throughout the day. There was glory for India and redemption for one youngster in a domestic ODI competition. There was the West Indies achieving a rare series whitewash in ODIs while Afghanistan continued their upward trend in world cricket with yet another Test win. Here is a small recap of each of the cricket games that took place on Super Sunday.
The ongoing five-match Twenty20 International series between India and England is the clash of No.2 vs No.1. After winning the first match, England looked to increase their advantage. England managed to notch up 164/6 thanks to Jason Roy’s magnificent knock. However, Ishan Kishan on debut stole the show with a fearless knock of 56 off 32 balls that included five fours and four sixes. Virat Kohli roared back with a brilliant 73 which made him the first player to go past 3000 T20I runs.
The first international series for women’s cricket in India has been bittersweet to say the least. Mithali Raj dazzled by becoming the first cricketer to India to reach 10,000 runs in international cricket but India lost the match. In the fourth game, Punam Raut hit a brilliant century while Harmanpreet Kaur hit 54 off 35 balls. But, South Africa won the match by seven wickets to take a 3-1 lead in the series.
When it comes to Kieron Pollard’s captaincy, there is a unique statistical anecdote. Pollard has lost only once while captaining Mumbai Indians in the IPL. As West Indies captain, he has been outstanding in the series against Sri Lanka. During the third and final game in Antigua, Darren Bravo smashed his first ODI century since 2016 as West Indies achieved a whitewash against Sri Lanka for the first time in their bilateral contest. With this, West Indies have improved their ODI and T20I record against Sri Lanka in one swift blow.
When he failed in Australia, Prithvi Shaw just went into the dressing room and started crying. For him, the turmoil of the past few years was simply too much to take after the disappointment in Adelaide. However, for the Vijay Hazare, Shaw became the ultimate symbol of redemption as he was the star in their title run.
In the final between Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh in Delhi, Madhav Kaushik smashed 158 as he became the highest individual scorer in a List A final in India. Uttar Pradesh scored 312/4. Shaw hammered 73 off 39 balls and the platform was laid. Aditya Tare showed his maturity to hit 118 as Mumbai clinched the trophy with six wickets in hand and with eight overs left. Shaw aggregated 827 runs with an average of 165 and one feels this could be the start of something big.
99.2 overs. That is Rashid Khan’s workload in the Test match against Zimbabwe. This was already the most by any spin bowler in the last fifty years. After Hashmatullah Shahidi became the first Afghanistan player to hit a double century, his 307-run stand with skipper Asghar Afghan helped the team notch up 545/4 declared.
Zimbabwe followed-on after Rashid Khan picked up 4/138 in 36.3 overs. In the second innings, Sean Williams smashed 151 and shared a partnership of 187 with Donald Tiripano. However, Tiripano was unlucky to have been dismissed for 95. Rashid took 7/137 to finish with 11 wickets in the match. Afghanistan won the contest by six wickets.
