Winding up 2019: Revisiting the most memorable moments of 2019 in Cricket
As 2019 waves past us, and the world joyously welcome the new decade, there are numerous memories of the time which come knocking back to us. The past year has been a zenith of excitement in the cricketing world. It has made us happy, sometimes made us sad, but it has never stopped amazing us. 2019 was supposed to be this exciting, as it was going to host Cricket World Cup. Apart from that, ICC Test Championship began this year, Afghanistan recorded their first Test win in 2019 as well. Hand-picking few moments would be very difficult, however, it will be absolutely heart-warming to reminisce and relive those moments, so here is our try at doing just that:
ENGLAND LIFTING THE WORLD CUP AFTER ALL THIS TIME:
This world cup was one of the most jam-packed events ever. The sheer quality of cricket delivered by the players was in itself was a treat to watch. Needless to say, it was an extremely heart-breaking time for the Indian supporters, for the team performed exceptionally well, only to get defeated by England, in the most magical way possible. However, none of the magic worked for these players of England for free. After having been eliminated at the group league matches of 2015, this time England had just one goal, and that was to win 2019 World cup. They changed their whole dynamic of the team; they made their game better more and more as they were inching close to finals. Overall team dynamics changed over time, team selection criteria, wicket-taking approach all changed as they wanted to win this world cup. All their hard work paid off. They bought the trophy home, and they rightfully did so. It was very heart-warming to see them lift the trophy finally
KANE WILLIAMSON: A REAL TREASURE OF THE CRICKETING WORLD
This world cup finale was as exciting as a cricket match could ever get. Not only did the excitement rise because of the fact that cricket was at its highest, but also because of the great turn of irony startled everyone. The moment when Kane Williamson was addressing the post-match press conference was the most beautiful example of a great sportsman, that international cricket has ever witnessed. Kane Williamson, who had every right to feel sad, and irritated, chose to be generous and accept the defeat with utmost grace.
When was made to revisit, the most painful time of the match was in the ball hit a boundary on the strike of the bat, he told that it is not right to think that it was the sole reason England won the game, or that was the game-changer. The answers that he gave was so very apt and unexpected of a captain who just lost the world cup finals by the slimmest margin ever, showed the world how a sportsman should be.
The match didn’t even end in the most appropriate way it should have. The rather unfair win of England, according to some fans, led to huge wrath, which then made ICC cancel the boundary count rule. However, none of this came in the way of Kane’s sportsmanship.
INDIAN TEAM’S HISTORIC VICTORY AT TEST SERIES IN SYDNEY CRICKET GROUND
This time while touring to Sydney, the atmosphere was quite heated up as India didn’t win at two consecutive test series first in South Africa and then in England. India was supposed to win both these, but as fate has it, it didn’t make it. This made a lot of people worry if this was the team capable enough to win any match at all. While these two defeats, made Indian cricket fans sad, it just made the players all the more driven towards the goal of winning the test series in Australia. Well India did create history by finally winning this test match and putting a stop to the 71-year drought of test series down under. The Indian team showed a fearless, relentless, competitive, fierce game of cricket absolutely startled the Test cricket viewers worldwide.
DADA WAS MADE THE BCCI PRESIDENT:
After much apprehension, Sourav Ganguly, one of the living maestros of Indian cricket was sworn in as the BCCI president. This was essentially one of the most enjoyable times of Indian cricket. Fans were all more than happy to see him take over the administrative part of cricket and clean a lot of filth which got accumulated over the years.
BEN STOKES TAKE A BOW!
His historic display of 135 runs without being knocked out with 11 fours and 8 sixes, made everyone go absolutely crazy about him. His performance was exceptional even in the World cup.
