The Good, Bad & the Ugly ft. Steve Smith, Gianluigi Buffon and Afghanistan cricket

The only Aussie, who actually managed to turn public condemnation into sympathy following a heart-wrenching press conference after the infamous sandpaper scandal in South Africa, was former skipper Steve Smith. Possibly one of the greatest batsmen of this generation, even missing one year of Smith’s batting would be a huge waste for the sport and when the possibility of him returning to Canada’s T20 league came to the fore, people welcomed it with open arms.

Ireland’s performance against Pakistan in Dublin will fill any cricket lover’s heart with pride. Though not new to the game, Ireland had to toil really hard to acquire the Test status and when given the chance to prove their mettle, the players performed unbelievably. Though they started off shakily as Pakistan bowled them out for just 130 runs, they regrouped the second time and came up with a solid batting performance of 339 against one of the world’s best bowling attack. It didn’t end there though as Pakistan were given a run for the money as they were reduced to 14/3 chasing 159, thanks to some brilliant bowling by Tim Murtagh. 

IPL, this season, hasn’t seen many superstars performing on the big stage. While the likes of MS Dhoni, Shreyas Iyer, Virat Kohli and more have managed to pile on the runs, old horses Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh have given enough hints that they are done and dusted. Kings XI Punjab had decided to buy Yuvraj Singh against all odds in slim hopes that the once golden boy of the country will shine one last time. But, Yuvraj has looked a shadow of his former self this season, managing just 65 runs in 8 games, and his terrible display at the face of adversity against Mumbai Indians on Tuesday pretty much reflected up how the almighty has fallen.

While on other weeks, I struggle to unearth instances that would be fit for this category, it was fairly easy this week. Afghanistan has been one of the most successful stories of modern-day cricket. Not only have they been granted Full Member status by ICC last year, the brilliant performances by Rashid Khan and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman in the IPL has kept the excitement of their upcoming Test match with India at the peak. However, they were given a stern reminder on Friday that cricket alone couldn’t be their way out of the throes of terrorism. During a cricket match held in the city of Jalalabad, a series of bomb explosions killed as many as eight spectators and 45 more were wounded.