Lucknow franchise takes the name of owner’s previous IPL team, call themselves Lucknow Super Giants

Sri Lanka clinch berth at Commonwealth Games 2022, defeat Bangladesh in Qualifier’s final

Sri Lanka women beat Bangladesh Women in winners’ take all round-robin clash at the Commonwealth Games 2022 Global Qualifier event hosted at the Kinrara Oval in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This was the last round-robin clash of the tournament which began on January 18 and was played by five teams to find one team which will be part of history as women’s cricket would be included for the first time in the Commonwealth Games during Birmingham 2022. Apart from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, Scotland, Kenya and hosts Malaysia also participated in the qualifying tournament. Before the final games, both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh had won three matches each and thus the last game became a virtual final. In this match, the Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu won the toss and decided to bat first. It was thanks to her innings of 48 off just 28 balls, coupled with those of Nilakshi Silva’s 28 and wicket-keeper batter Anushka Sanjeewani’s 20 that the Sri Lanka women reached a competitive total of 136 in its 20 overs. In reply, the Bangladeshi women started in a slow fashion as Murshida Khatun and Fragana Haque built a 50 run stand for the second wicket but fell way below the required run rate. The pressure started mounting and as a result, the team lost wickets in quick intervals at the wrong time as it went from 93-2 to 11-5 very quickly. In the end, Bangladesh could only make 114 at the loss of five wickets in their quota of 20 overs, eventually losing the match by 22 runs. Sri Lanka would now join hosts England, New Zealand and South Africa in Group A of the quadrennial event. In Group B Australia, India and Pakistan made it through on the virtue of the ICC rankings in the T20 format while Barbados was given the seat at the event to represent the West Indies as the West Indies cricket team represents a group of islands in the Caribbean seas instead of one nation. For Sri Lanka this victory also acts as a balm as it missed out on the World Cup 2022 berth on the virtue of rankings as the qualifier event for that was cancelled due to Omicron spread in Zimbabwe. This will only be the second time that cricket will feature in the Commonwealth Games after a men's 50-over competition that was played in Kuala Lumpur Games in 1998. However, the difference between that and this is the fact that this event will be contested in the shortest format i.e. T20 and only women's teams will take part in it.

Usman Khawaja’s controversial dismissal copped a lot of flack from all around in a tight knockout game

Umpiring in the BBL has come under massive scrutiny in this season as well as the previous one with some really controversial calls over the two seasons.

Babar Azam thanks his team after being crowned ICC ODI Men’s cricketer of the year 2021

The International Cricket Council announced Pakistan captain Babar Azam as the ODI Men’s cricketer of the Year 2021. In his thank-you speech for the honours, Babar thanked the team for their brilliant support saying that he could not have received it without the support of his teammates. The 26-year-old who scored 405 runs in six ODI matches in 2021 at an average of 67.50 with two centuries in his kitty also thanked his fans and parents for their support. “Firstly I would like to thank the fans for their overwhelming support and next I would thank the PCB and ICC as well. My team members especially deserve thank you because without their belief in me, it wouldn’t have been possible and I would also like to thank my parents because they have prayed a lot for my success,” said Babar. Asked as to what his best innings of the year, the Pak skipper said, “It would have to the century against England. It is also my highest score in ODIs and more than that, it was something that I needed in my armoury more than anything else at that point. I was going through a bit of a lean patch.” Babar outweighed the likes of Shakib Al Hasan, Paul Stirling and recipient of the ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year 2021 award, South Africa’s Janneman Malan to win this. On the other hand, South Africa Women’s opener Lizelle Lee, who scored 632 runs in 11 matches at an average of 90.28 with one century and five half-centuries was awarded the ODI Women’s cricketer of the year 2021. Lee in her acceptance speech said, “To be honest with you, I didn’t expect this. This award could have gone to anybody and I feel privileged to have won this in a very tough and competitive pool of players.” Lee defeated West Indies’ Hayley Matthews, England’s Tammy Beaumont and Pakistan’s Sana Fatima in the race to the crown of the Women’s ODI cricketer of the year.

Smriti Mandhana, Shaheen Afridi crowned ICC Women’s and Men’s cricketers of 2021

The International Cricket Council revealed in two consecutive social media posts across all platforms that India’s Smriti Mandhana and Pakistan's Shaheen Afridi are crowned the ICC Women’s and Men’s cricketers of the year for 2021 respectively. While Mandhana defeated tough competitors in form of England’s Tammy Beaumont, Ireland’s Gaby Lewis and South Africa’s Lizelle Lee to grab the most revered Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy, Afridi competed against the likes of England skipper Joe Root, World Test Championship winning captain Kane Williamson and compatriot Mohammad Rizwan to win a tightly contested battle for the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy. Afridi, who took 78 wickets in 36 international matches throughout the year with the best figures of 6/51 and at an average of 22.00, said that he was thrilled to be bestowed upon such a great honour at such a young age. "My only endeavour was to try and perform as best as possible for my nation and in 2021 Pakistan did in all formats," said the Afridi. "The current team gels together and finds joy in each other's performances. But the most memorable match this year for me would remain the T20 World Cup encounter against India. It was a historical game and I was happy to have performed so well in it," the 22-year-old added. While Afridi is the fourth Pakistani to have won an ICC award this year after Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam and Sana Fatima, Mandhana on the other hand, is the lone India representative at the annual cricketing honours. Through the year in 2021, the 25-year-old scored 855 runs in 22 internationals at an average of 38.86 with one century which came in a historic Test against Australia Women and five half-centuries that came against Australia, England and South Africa across formats.