Ali Speaks Cricket

India beat NZ to win the T20 world cup for the third time and they have done so in some style infront of a capacity home crowd who had their monies worth in a big final. The rest of the cricketing world can cry foul all they want but the fact remains that team India is way ahead of everyone else in skillset, ex*****on and game awareness. They had all their bases covered with explosive batters, worldclass allrounders and specialist death overs bowlers. The gap between India and rest of the world seems to be widening with every major tournament they play and that is a testament of the hard work they have put in their domestic setup. Congratulations India! Deserving winners!

India, your men's 2026 T20 World Cup champions 🏆 🇮🇳

After years of heartbreaks, South Africa finally cross the line to become the deserving champions of WTC25!!

Glory for the Rainbow Nation! 🇿🇦🏆

Pakistan beat Australia comprehensively in Perth and take the series 2-1. What a commanding performance by the men in green coming from behind after losing at MCG and then showing great resolve and character to win the next two games convincingly. Rizwan was outstanding with his captaincy and the team looked united and gelled together after a very long time. Haris Rauf was sensational with the ball and there were lots of positives with the bat as well in the form of Saim and Abdullah. Babar had some decent time out in the middle and fittingly hit the winning runs in a memorable series win down under. Good signs for team Pakistan. Congratulations Pakistan!!!

Babar Azam hit the winning runs in Perth, clinching the series for Pakistan 🥇

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NZ beat the mighty India in their own backyard once again and take the series 3-0. A whitewash that no one expected, and it has been a proper hammering at home if there ever was one. India have never lost to any team 3-0 in their entire cricket history which just goes to show how big a moment this is for the Kiwis. It is no less than winning a World cup or a WTC final. Playing at home on turning tracks has always been a strength for India and not many touring sides have been able to win a single test on their tour, let alone a whole series. A stellar performance from Latham and his men indeed. All of them turned up at different situations, be it the pace in the first match, Santner in the second or Ajaz in this match. Remember they were playing without their star batter Williamson and still winning 3-0 is massive for the black caps. Congratulations New Zealand!!! You have achieved what no team has been able to achieve in India!
For India, well it will go down as the most disappointing series of all time perhaps. Nothing really clicked for them. They lost crucial tosses and some of the batters made terrible shot selections, crazy runouts and what not. It’s a series they would like to forget as quickly as possible, especially with the BGT coming up. The road to WTC final for India might be all but over now since they will need to win 4 out of 5 matches in Australia which will not be easy, specially with the team in such low morale. Lots to ponder for Gambhir and Rohit. It could possibly be the wake-up call that Indian cricket needed, who knows!

New Zealand found a way in Mumbai, producing a clean-sweep at Wankhede stadium 🏆

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Historic day for Bangladesh cricket and their fans. They outperformed the Pakistan team in all three departments of the game and except for that one hour where they lost 6 for 26, they completely dominated the whole test series. Kudos to them for showing resilience and courage to turn the match on its head after being put under immense pressure in the first innings. Congratulations Bangladesh!!!
For Pakistan, well this would surely be the lowest point in their cricket history. Getting whitewashed by a lower ranked team in home conditions and the manner in which they lost was just humiliating. A 10-wicket loss followed by a 6-wicket loss is as comprehensive as it gets in Test cricket. There are captaincy blunders, batters not performing, technical issues, bowlers either not fit or not skillful enough to get 20 wickets, no camaraderie or unity in the team and it just feels like they are going through motions. The fans have lost interest in this team and perhaps the only silver lining is that once you hit rock bottom, the only way is up!!

- First Test series win against Pakistan
- Took the series against Pakistan without dropping a single match
- Third Test series victory away from home

It's a landmark day for Bangladesh 👏 es.pn/PAKvBAN24-Test2

A famous victory for Bangladesh in Rawalpindi and they have handed a humiliating 10-wicket defeat to team Pakistan in clinical fashion. Bangladesh played excellent cricket in all three departments, and they deserve all the accolades for this historic win. Their batters put them in a commanding position with a first innings lead and then the spinners coming into the act in the second innings bowling Pakistan out cheaply. Congratulations to Bangladesh on this victory.
However, plenty to ponder for Shan and the coaching staff. They have made one blunder after the other and its been a shambolic and timid performance by Pakistan, to say the least. They picked only one spinner in the squad of 15 and that too was released ahead of the match citing a green pitch and hence played four quicks. Why on earth do you need four fast bowlers on a Rawalpindi pitch is beyond me. An over ambitious first innings declaration, poor bowling from all the bowlers, no front-line spinner, misreading the pitch horribly and then the awful shot selection from most batters in the second innings. What a comedy of errors from team Pakistan. I have been saying this since the last home season that the main problem is the pitches and curators. They simply cannot prepare a good sporting pitch, no matter what you ask them to do. Either it’s the weather or the soil or just pure incompetence, but whatever it is, you cannot win many games playing on these pitches. You can, at best, get draws or win an occasional game if the other team does blunders (which mind you, Pakistan team does more often than not). Such test cricket is a torture to watch and follow for the fans and it was evident with the empty stands. Losing to Afghanistan in ODIs, then losing to USA in T20Is and now losing to Bangladesh in Test at home, just when you think Pakistan cricket cannot get any worse, they prove you wrong!

What a way to register a historic win!

Test looked primed for a draw on a docile track and then Bangladesh shake things up on Day 5 to inflict a huge defeat - first 10-wicket loss at home for Pakistan

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