Two cricketers from Bengal

While every possible career statistic is tabulated for prominent cricketers, there are sometimes ambiguities in their place of birth.

We start with Wriddhiman Saha (who spells his first name in an unusual way). Where was he born? Cricinfo gives this:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/player/wriddhiman-saha-279810

This says that he was born in Saktigarh in West Bengal.

Most people who travel a bit will know of this Saktigarh:

This is a little east of Barddhaman and is on the main line from Kolkata to northern India.

However, if we look at his Wikipedia article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wriddhiman_Saha

his birthplace is given as Siliguri in West Bengal. But there is no contradiction, as there is a lesser-known Saktigarh which is close to Siliguri. While it does not have a railway station, here is proof of its existence:

The cases of Mohammad Shami is more interesting.

First we see his cricinfo profile:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/player/mohammed-shami-481896

Here it is mentioned that his birthplace is Amroha in Uttar Pradesh. This is near Moradabad on the road to Delhi. Wikipedia also gives the same birthplace.

He started his cricketing career in Bengal and the Kolkata Knight Riders.

At that time, all the references mentioned his birthplace as “Jonagar, Bengal”.

There is no town in Bengal with this spelling. However, someone pointed out that this may have meant Joynagar, an outer suburb of Kolkata best known for the sweet “Joynagar er Moa”:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaynagarer_Moa

This place is served by this station, on the suburban line to Lakshmikantpur and Namkhana:

Even today some references like the Playfair Annual of 2022 still show his birthplace as “Jonagar, Bengal”.

While Mr Shami is one of the key members of India’s current team, he could not have possibly been born in two different places over a thousand km apart. Presumably someone connected with the Bengal cricket association (perhaps with the connivance of KKR) produced some document to show that he was born in Bengal.

If I am wrong, then why is his birthplace now listed in UP? Strange that none of the large tribe of cricket journalists commented on his moving birthplace.

The ODIs of 2019-2

Hope that you have read Part 1

Continuing with the individual performances in ODIs for the calendar year 2019:

Bowling:

Most wickets (20 or more):

Led by M Shami and TA Boult.

However Mustafizur Rahman and MA Starc are the only ones with two fivers.

Starc is also the only one with 4 hauls of 4+wi.

Best innings bowling ( including all fivers):

Newcomer SS Afridi has the best figures here, followed by YS Chahal.

Also note the remarkable 5-13 off 8 overs by JN Frylinck of Namibia.

Best bowling averages (Min 1000 balls, all instances):

Shami has the best average as well as strike rate and Boult the best economy rate.

Now for

Fielding:

Most dismissals (10 or more):

Carey, Hope and Latham lead here although Hope has the most catches by a keeper. Kohli has the most catches by a non-keeper and Dhoni the most stumpings.

Most dismissals in an innings (4 or more):

There is an unfamiliar name (ZE Green of Namibia) among those who made 5 dismissals in an innings. CR Woakes and CS Macleod took 4 catches as non-keepers.

Best dismissal rate (Min 20 innings, 0.5):

Carey and Hope have the highest dismissal rate, while the third-placed Root has the best by a non-keeper.

Overall All-round performance:

(See criteria below):

Mohammad Nabi and Imad Wasim have almost the same difference rate.

All-round match performance: (30 runs and 3 wickets):

The best performance would be by Khawar Ali followed by that of AL Phehlukwayo and Soumya Sarkar. Perhaps Khawar Ali’s performance should be downplayed as it was against one of the weaker teams.

 

 

A tale of two hat-tricks

Here is a list of all hat-tricks in World Cup matches, as on June 22 2019:

Live link: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/1190325.html

The first as well as the most recent instances were by Indian bowlers.

The first one was by a bowler who is not always given the credit he deserved. He is unfortunately remembered more for a last-ball six by Javed Miandad in a crucial match.

It may not be remembered that he is still the only Indian bowler to take a 10-for in a Test in England. And that he is one of the few Indian tailenders who scored an ODI century when tried in the middle order.

See the overview:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/player/33949.html

And his World Cup hat-trick in 1987. No one else had taken a hat-trick in the World Cup until then in matches starting from 1975.

See the scorecard:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8039/scorecard/65114/india-vs-new-zealand-24th-match-reliance-world-cup-1987-88

That match on Oct 31, 1987 was critical, as it was India’s last match in the group and needed to defeat New Zealand by a large margin to ensure that they topped the group. If they came second, they would have to face Pakistan in the semi-final (which, by prior agreement, would have been held in Pakistan if the two teams were to meet).

New Zealand won the toss and batted first. They made steady and unspectacular progress until they reached 182/5. One of their key batsmen Ken Rutherford was batting along with pinch-hitter Martin Snedden. Chetan Sharma had not taken a wicket at that stage.

He then had Rutherford bowled, followed by bowling No 8 Ian Smith (a Test centurion) and No 9 batsman Ewan Chatfield (capable of stubborn batting). This would be one of the relatively rare all-bowled hat-tricks in international cricket.

From 182/8, they got up to 221/9 in 50 overs.

This is still the only World Cup hat-trick where all three dismissals were bowled.

The Indian team knew the required run rate. Sunil Gavaskar had not been much of a success as an ODI batsman, but seized the occasion to score his only ODI century, an unbeaten 103. Srikkanth (75) and Azharuddin (41*) also ensured that India met the required run rate. Gavaskar and Sharma shared the Man of the Match award.

So it was India vs England at Bombay, and Pakistan vs Australia at Lahore. We all know how THAT turned out. So there was an Ashes final rather than a South Asian final at Calcutta, where Border’s unheralded team won by a narrow margin.

Hat-tricks in World Cup matches remained scarce, with no instance in 1992 and 1996. The next instance was by Saqlain Mushtaq in a Super Six match against Zimbabwe in 1999.

Forward to 2019. Mohammad Shami had made a good beginning to his Test career (with a 9-wicket haul against an admittedly weak WI team) but was generally felt to have performed below expectations. He did score a fifty in a Test batting at no 11. Injuries and domestic issues played their role.

There was even some kind of fudging in his records as his birthplace was initially shown to be in Jonagar in Bengal. No such town can be found in the map. Later his birthplace was mysteriously changed to Amroha (near Moradabad in UP) which is generally considered to be correct.

From the table in the beginning, we see that hat-tricks in the World Cup had become more common since 1999, with Malinga going a step beyond with 4 in 4. That is the only such dismissal in ODIs (or Tests). Malinga also took two regular hat-tricks later.

As I write this on June 23, the result of the 2019 World Cup is unknown. The only thing we know definitely is that Afghanistan (0 points in 6 matches) cannot qualify.

Points table after matches on June 22, 2019:

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8039/scorecard/1144510/afghanistan-vs-india-28th-match-icc-cricket-world-cup-2019

In this match India batted below par and finished with 224/8, primarily due to lower-order failures. Shami’s dismissal was typical as he scored 1 off 2 balls.

Some time later the unthinkable seemed likely as Afghanistan made good progress towards the modest target. Shami had earlier taken the first wicket of H Zazai. With an over left, Afg was 209/7 with Nabi and Ikram going strong.

The upsets by Bangladesh against WI and Sri Lanka against England were fresh in viewer’s minds.

16 in the last over was difficult but not impossible (as Dinesh Karthik would testify). With the 3rd ball, Shami had Nabi caught by Pandya for 52 (213/8). 12 to get off 3 balls with 2 wickets in hand.

Surely that was the end for Afghanistan’s hopes? Shami made sure of that by bowling No 10 (Aftab 49.4) and No 11 (Mujeeb, 49.5) and taking India’s second hat-trick in the World Cup, over 31 years after the first. He finished with 4-40.

Also see this: https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/27035426/mohammed-shami-reveals-ms-dhoni-advice-world-cup-hat-trick-ball

However, it was JJ Bumrah (2-39) who was Man of the Match as his wickets were probably more critical.