Overreaction Monday ft Glenn ‘limited opportunity’ Maxwell, Dinesh ‘inconsistent’ Karthik and Sanjay Manjrekar on T20

Glenn ‘limited opportunity’ Maxwell 

But wait, he did take 1 wicket this season- maybe that’s where the confidence stems from. He has played the most stupid shots to get out and the last match was the perfect example of the kind of form he is in. Coming out to bat at number 3, he did have lots of balls to win the game for KXIP, but he rather chose to play a cross-batted rash shot to get out on the first delivery itself. He left KXIP high and dry when they needed him the most, but surely even they would have gotten used to single digits against the name Maxwell. Hopefully, no one wastes huge bucks on a ‘flop show’ next season. 

After the twin Super Over in the clash between KXIP and MI, Sanjay Manjrekar reckoned that the match should be declared as a draw when the first Super Over ends up in a tie. He insisted that Super Over ‘drags on’ T20 cricket. 

SC Take: Okay, so we have a new definition of the T20 cricket given by Mr. Manjrekar, who seem to think that results are not important in every league match and hence, a draw should be awarded to both the teams and points should be shared after the teams tie the match in the first Super Over. Why have even one Super Over? Maybe Manjrekar doesn’t like the twin Super Over because he wants to get done with the game early. Fair point. But to say that Super Over ‘drags on’ the game is being ignorant of the fact that Super Overs made the match even more interesting and intense, which is what a good cricket match is all about. Maybe Manjrekar should stop thinking about himself all the time and see from the perspective of a team as well. 

Dinesh ‘inconsistent’ Karthik steps down from KKR captaincy

Not able to perform with the bat, scoring just 1 fifty in 7 games, Dinesh Karthik stepped down from the captaincy of KKR to hand over the reins to Eoin Morgan. In Morgan’s rein, Kolkata have won one and lost one so far. 

From the strategic point of view as well this decision makes no sense as, now, even if Morgan doesn’t perform according to standards the team will have to carry him throughout the tournament. Karthik had a good understanding of the Indians players that Morgan will take time to get used to and by the time the transition process is over, KKR would have lost all hopes of the trophy. All in all, it looks like a short term measure to change the captaincy, which might or might not work in their favour, but from the outside, it certainly gives a feeling that things are not right at the Kolkata based franchise. 

Indian domestic cricket starting from January 1st

SC Take: Now that international cricket has started along with various T20 leagues around the world, the Indian domestic fraternity has been divided regarding the start of the cricket with some supporting the move and some in against the move. While the argument that there is a model available now for everyone to follow in these pandemic times, it still hasn’t been clear which model makes sense and which one is even viable because domestic cricket won’t have the luxury of heaps of money. 

And given the scale of operations that involves 38 state teams in the whole tournament, it is highly unlikely that the tournament can be conducted without cutting corners in terms of safety. Rightly so, even the state associations were unhappy with BCCI’s decision as they were not consulted on the same. It feels like BCCI is the dictator and everyone in its kingdom has to follow whatever they are told, which is not new but to put the lives of players at stake is something that is new.