CELEBRATING 75 YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP THROUGH CRICKET

Prime Ministers of India and Australia witness 4th Test of Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Ahmedabad

The fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy had two very special and important guests as the Honourable Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modiji and the Honourable Prime Minister of Australia Mr Anthony Albanese graced the start of play in Ahmedabad with their august presence on Day 1 of the final Test.

The Honourable Prime of India handed over the Test Cap to the captain of Team India, Shri Rohit Sharma while the Australian PM handed over the Test Cap to the Australian captain, Mr Steve Smith. This was followed by the Prime Minister of India and the Australian PM taking a guard of honour at the Narendra Modi Stadium, the biggest cricket stadium in the world. The two Prime Ministers unveiled the Friendship Hall of Fame, a specially commissioned wall at the Gujarat Cricket Association, commemorating and chronicling some of the best moments of India-Australia’s cricketing history. The two Prime Ministers then accompanied the two respective captains onto the field of play and were introduced to each member of the team and match officials, followed by playing of National Anthems of the two great nations.

START OF SOMETHING SPECIAL: THE TATA WOMEN'S PREMIER LEAGUE

History was created on March 04, 2023, as the first-ever game of the TATA Women’s Premier League (WPL) was played at the DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai between Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians following a glitzy opening ceremony featuring Bollywood actresses Kiara Advani, Kriti Sanon and singer and songwriter AP Dhillon.

The WPL trophy was unveiled by the five captains – Beth Mooney of Gujarat Giants, Meg Lanning of Delhi Capitals, Harmanpreet Kaur of Mumbai Indians, Smriti Mandhana of Royal Challengers Bangalore and Alyssa Healy of UP Warriorz in the presence of Mr. Roger Binny, President, BCCI, Mr. Jay Shah, Honorary Secretary, BCCI, Mr. Rajeev Shukla, Vice-president, BCCI, Mr. Ashish Shelar, Honorary Treasurer, BCCI, Mr. Arun Singh Dhumal, Chairperson, IPL and Mr. Devajit Saikia, Joint Secretary, BCCI.

There was no shortage of extravaganza in the performances at the opening ceremony while Mumbai Indians put on a dazzling performance on the field to win the opening match of the TATA WPL.

Mumbai Indians crowned inaugural TATA WPL Champions

Twenty-two matches, five teams – Delhi Capitals (DC), Gujarat Giants (GG), Mumbai Indians (MI), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and UP Warriorz (UPW) brilliant cricket all-around, the first edition of the biggest women’s league culminated with Mumbai Indians winning the inaugural edition of the TATA Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2023.

DC, MI and UPW made it to the playoffs, with the latter two, facing each other in the Eliminator and DC, made it to the final directly after finishing at the top of the points table at the conclusion of the league stage. MI, ably led by Harmanpreet Kaur then pipped UPW in the Eliminator and then went on to beat the Meg Lanning-led DC in the final at the jam-packed Brabourne Stadium - CCI, Mumbai to clinch the TATA WPL title in its first season.

While Lanning bagged the Orange Cap, Hayley Matthews received the Purple Cap and became the Most Valuable Player of the Season. Yastika Bhatia, meanwhile, won the Emerging Player of the Tournament award.

INDIA LIFT THE BORDER-GAVASKAR TROPHY QUALIFY FOR WTC FINAL

1st Test:

The much-anticipated Australia’s tour of India for the Border Gavaskar Trophy commenced on February 9 with the 1st Test match that took place in Nagpur. India captain Rohit Sharma shone with the bat with a brilliant century, along with contributions from the lower order to get a hefty first innings lead. Australia in response were bundled out cheaply with 177 and 91 in their first and second innings respectively. India won the 1st Test by an innings and 132 runs.

2nd Test:

The match took place at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi. It was an even contest with the bat in the first innings, whereas the second innings was dominated purely by spin with Jadeja accounting for 7 wickets (7/42), which were his best figures till date. India won convincingly by 6 wickets to take a 2-0 lead in the series.

3rd Test:

The match in Indore saw the visitors come back hard with a dominant performance. Australia won the Indore Test by 9 wickets and became the first Team to qualify for the World Test Championship Final.

4th Test:

The match took place in Ahmedabad and it was nothing short of a run fest. Usman Khawaja and Cameron Green were the two centurions from Australia, whereas in response, Shubman Gill, and Virat Kohli amassed runs for India. The match resulted in a draw with India winning the series 2-1.

On Day 5, just before the final session of the India-Australia 4th test, New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by 2 wickets in an exciting contest, which meant that India qualified for the WTC final and will face Australia in the big match at the oval.

ANNUAL PLAYER RETAINERSHIP 2022-23 FOR TEAM INDIA (SENIOR MEN) ANNOUNCED

On 26th March, the Board announced the Annual Player Contracts for Team India (Senior Men) for the 2022-23 season. The 26 players named in the annual contract list have been divided into four grades - A+, A, B and C. Players in Grade A+ fall in the play bracket of INR 7 crore, grade A in INR 5 crore, INR 3 crore for grade B and grade C with INR 1 crore.

GRADE A+ : Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja

GRADE A : Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Rishabh Pant, Axar Patel

GRADE B : Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Mohammed Siraj, Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill

GRADE C : Umesh Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan, Shardul Thakur, Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, KS Bharat

ICC UPGRADES INDORE PITCH RATING FOLLOWING BCCI’S SUCCESSFUL APPEAL

Following a successful appeal from the BCCI, the pitch rating for Indore's Holkar Stadium, which hosted the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia, has been upgraded. The pitch was initially rated 'poor,' with three demerit points. However, the decision has been changed from "poor" to "below average." The footage from the Test was reviewed by an ICC appeal panel and it observed that there was not enough excessive variable bounce to warrant the 'poor' rating. Indore will now get only one demerit point instead of three, as deemed earlier.

DOMINANT REST OF INDIA LIFT IRANI CUP

A dominant performance from Rest of India saw them beat Madhya Pradesh and clinch the Irani Cup at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium in Gwalior. A rampant Yashasvi Jaiswal was the star of the show as he hit 213 (259) and 144 (157) in the first and second innings respectively and was named the Player of the Match. Jaiswal and Abhimanyu Easwaran (154) set the platform for ROI with a record 371-run stand for the second wicket, the highest for any wicket in the history of Irani Cup, as ROI posted 484 in the first innings. Yash Dubey led MP's fight with 109 along with half-centuries from Harsh Gawli (54) and Saransh Jain (66).

However, Navdeep Saini (3/56) and Pulkit Narang (4/65) helped ROI bowl MP out for 294 and take a 190-run lead. The MP bowlers came out fighting in the second innings, however Jaiswal's 144 helped ROI set a daunting 437-run target. A collective bowling performance in the second innings from ROI saw them bowl MP out for 198 and win the match by 238 runs.

STATUS UPDATE ON NEW NATIONAL CRICKET ACADEMY (NCA)

The construction of the New National Cricket Academy is proceeding as per schedule. As of the end of March, approximately 96% of the total excavation work has been completed on Ground C, while 61% of the total excavation work has been completed on Ground B. Approximately 65% and 58% of total backfilling work for the dining block and practice pitch area, respectively, has also been completed.