Overreaction Monday ft. IPL schedule confusion, FC Goa's guilty pleasure and Michael Vaughan's post
Overreaction Monday - March 8 edition
|The Indian cricket team has already sealed the four matches against England, the Indian Super League play-offs are underway, while the schedule of the 2021 IPL has been announced. With so many developments in the past week, the overreactions have poured in from all corners - have a look.
Twitter did not spare the Indian womenâs cricket team
The Indian womenâs cricket team lost to their South African counterparts in the first of the five-match ODI series in Lucknow, last Sunday.
SC Take: The Covid-19 pandemic has been too harsh, but weâve learned to pick ourselves up and sync with the flow, even though it has been a rough ride after the bump. The Indian womenâs cricket team was out of action for more than a year, during which the players have gone through a see of change, before they took the field against their South African counterparts in the first of the five ODIâs last Sunday evening at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium, in Lucknow. Agreed, the Indian eves were outplayed in every department, but why the fuss? It was the first match of the series and occasional off-day at the office is a norm prevalent in each field.
Twitter overflowed with criticisms, which can only prove the impatience weâve imbibed during the pandemic times and the inability to read the situation without empathising. Mithali Raj and Co. took the International arena for the first time in over a year, which could have acted as a force for the eight-wicket loss, but we cannot deny that South Africa are a competitive side. With enough time to turn the tides in the ongoing series, âhastyâ conclusions should not be welcomed. All the players have earned the âblue jerseyâ and thereâs no denying that they are capable of imparting their responsibilities. Unfortunately, we had to pick up the topic on world womenâs dayâ.
FC Goa demand immediate action against Mumbai City FCâs Mourtada Fall
Mourtada Fall committed a clumsy foul on Princeton Rebello during the semi-final match between FC Foa and Mumbai City FC.
SC Take: In a season marred by major flaws in refereeing, the teams have almost learned to live with the small errors, even though they have every right to voice their opinion. The business end of the tournament has reached its climax with the play-offs knocking at the door, but some things never change, do they? It was in the first-leg of the semi-final fixture between FC Goa and Mumbai City FC that Mourtada Fall came up with a clumsy challenge on Princeton Rebello, which seemed like an outright yellow, even if red was too harsh. The score reading 2-2, the turn of events could have had a drastic effect, with the second-led awaiting, but referee Pranjal Banerjee turned a deaf ear.Â
Plenty of suspensions, unruly behaviour, coach getting sacked owing to foul comments, we have seen much worse in the 2020-21 ISL. But, reaching out to the AIFF for a clumsy challenge, which did not go their way was taking the bar too far by the FC Goa officials. After all, we are not equipped with VAR (Video Assistant Referee), while human errors cannot be negated from the mix, it has been this way ever since. Itâs not that theyâve been dealt a huge blow. The âGaursâ held Mumbai City FC to a 2-2 draw in the play-offs and still have an entire match to change their fortunes. Distractions for the sake of it cannot be deemed as professionalism.
Hosts face surprise resistance from IPL franchises
A total of six venues - Chennai, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Kolkata, and Bengaluru have been shortlisted for the 2021 Indian Super League.
SC Take: After the Indian Premier League was entirely played outside the country for the first time since 2009, the BCCI was eagerly waiting to bring it back home, but had several hurdles to cross. The brain-storming sessions inferred a cluster-format road ahead, going along with the six venues Chennai, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Kolkata and Bengaluru. To negate home advantage for the hosting cities has been of utmost importance even though most of the matches are to be played in front of empty stands. For instance, Kolkata Knight Riders wonât play their matches at the Eden Gardens, or Royal Challengers Bengaluru donât get to play their matches at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Sounds pretty sorted, isnât it?
Apparently, some of the franchises have raised questions regarding the same for reasons that would have struck to idle minds. The claim is that many of the stalwarts like MS Dhoni - at the dusk of their career would not be allowed to play in his home ground, while teams like Delhi Daredevils, that have players like Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane and skipper Shreyas Iyer would play three matches at the Wankhede (their home ground in domestic cricket), while Kings XI Punjabâs KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal would also get the comfort of the Chinnaswamy Stadium, which again creates a claim of âhome advantage.â Although nothing has been replied for the hostsâ end, keeping things as it is is trying times should be the best policy at times.
Michael Vaughan gets tangled in fresh assault once again
Former England skipper feels that Eoin Morgan is getting too much power from ECB.
SC Take: While Michael Vaughan was too busy scrutinizing Indian pitches over the course of the four-match Test series, Joe Root signed-off the white-ball contest with a heart-warming message to the Indian team. The former England skipper, in an entirely different topic, pointed the sword at their limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan that the later is enjoying too much âpowerâ with the ârest and rotationâ policy not being applied to limited-overs cricket, with the country often setting foot with a weak unit when it comes to the five-day format, as observed in the recently-concluded series.
As a matter of fact, the limited-overs team was also not spared from the policy as well, with them not having the privilege of playing with a full-strength squad in their previous assignments against Australia or South Africa. With the Three Lions set to play five T20Is and three ODIs soon and the 2021 World T20 a few months away, it was normal for Morgan to demand a top-bunch dress rehearsal ahead of the mega-event. For the time being, Michael Vaughan really needs to assess himself and leave aside the myopic vision, even though Test cricket should be preserved in its own unique ways. Albeit, neither New Zealand or India will be taking the World Test Championship final less than a 50-over World Cup finale.
