SMAT 2021 Final | T Natarajan returns back for title clash against Karnataka

Match Report | The Dravid-Rohit era begins with a ruthless whitewash of New Zealand

India whitewashed New Zealand in the T20I series in the most ruthless of manners winning the third and the final match of the series by a huge margin of 73 runs. This marked the opening of the Rohit Sharma-Rahul Dravid partnership which in all likelihood, will be going into the next year’s T20 World Cup in Australia. There were a lot of positives for India, especially the two debutants in Venkatesh Iyer and Harshal Patel who did well on the night. Playing in Kolkata, Venkatesh Iyer got his first bowling experience at the Eden Gardens and held his own against the likes of Tim Seifert, Martin Guptill and Jimmy Neesham. He finished with the figures of 3-0-12-1. Harshal Patel has been the pick among the bowlers in this series and finished the match with two wickets to his name conceding 26 runs from his 3 overs. However, the star of the night was Axar Patel who built the foundations for India’s win early in the game. His power play spell of 2-0-2-3 trashed Kiwis hopes of chasing the total of 185 runs and they could not build any significant partnerships from there. Barring Martin Guptill who scored 51 off 36 balls, the visitors were found hapless against the all round bowling of the Indian team. Earlier in the innings, captain Rohit Sharma led from the front and took charge of the scoring. He smashed a 31-ball 56 and put India in a good position by the end of the powerplay. While India could not do much with that and lost momentum in the middle phase of play, a late surge from Deepak Chahar and Harshal Patel put India back in the hunt. The duo put on a partnership of 22 runs from just 9 balls and helped India reach a good total. Axar Patel was adjudged the man of the match for his exceptional spell of 3-0-9-3 and stated that he owes this to the Indian Premier League having earned his confidence from the cash-rich league. Rohit Sharma was announced the man of series having scored 159 runs in three matches.

Axar Patel spins web around New Zealand

Indian bowling allrounder spun webs around the New Zealand batting line-up picking up three wickets from his first two overs. Coming into bowl inside the powerplay after Martin Guptill dismantled Deepak Chahar in the second over of the match, Axar did not let the visitors build momentum and dismissed Guptill’s opening partner Daryl Mitchell and then Mark Chapman in the last ball of the same over. New Zealand were put on the backfoot with the early jolts and could not recover from that for the rest of the powerplay. If those two wickets weren’t enough, Axar returned to bowl in the fifth over and struck once again to get Glenn Phillips out. He went for just a single run in either overs. At the time of writing, New Zealand were finding it hard to rebuild and struggling with the variations of Yuzvendra Chahal and Harshal Patel. They were 45/3 after 8 overs, having scored just 24 runs in their last 6.

Mitchell Santner pulls NZ back after ripping start from Rohit Sharma

New Zealand spinner Mitchell Santner pulled the visitors back into the game after an excellent attacking start from Rohit Sharma. Playing in the third and the final T20I at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Rohit Sharma perpetuated the belief of Kolkata being his happy hunting ground. He attacked NZ pacers from ball go and put up 69 runs on board by the end of the powerplay. Just when things looked going horribly out of hands, Mitchell Santner was introduced into the attack and delivered straight away dismissing Ishan Kishan (29 off 21) and Suryakumar Yadav (0 off 4) in the same over. After giving just two runs in his first over, Santner removed the dangerous Rishabh Pant, frustrating him with his lengths in the second over of his spell. Pant flung his bat at an enticing ball but ended up skying it high up in the air. At the time of writing, Rohit Sharma (56 off 31) had departed as well, owing to an exceptional caught and bowled from Ish Sodhi and India have dropped quite a bit of momentum, with 109/4 on board in 12.1 overs.

Geoff Allardice replaces Manu Sawhney as the new full-time ICC CEO

Former International Cricket Council General Manager, Geoff Allardice has been named as the full-time ICC CEO having served the role on an interim basis for the last eight months. Allardice will be taking over from Manu Sawhney who was forced out of the position after allegations of “bullying” and signs of “physical aggression” against certain employees in the ICC. ICC chairman Greg Barclay spoke highly of Allardice and stated that the Australian had shown tremendous leadership during a tough period. "I am delighted that Geoff has agreed to take the role of ICC CEO on a permanent basis. He has shown tremendous leadership during an extremely challenging period culminating in the successful delivery of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021.” "Geoff has unrivaled knowledge of the global cricket landscape and its stakeholders and has consistently demonstrated he is the right person to work in partnership with our Members to shape the sport for the next decade as we embark on delivering a new strategy and our next commercial rights cycle."