ICC World Twenty20 Short Stories: Top reads from the mega tournament

Suresh Raina (Source: Pal Pillai/Getty Images)

From UP hostels where he was beaten up with hockey sticks and trash thrown in his milk to staying in five-star hotels and travelling in luxury cars, it’s been quite a journey for Suresh Raina. (READ FULL HERE)

Being MS – Mohammad Shahzad by Daksh Panwar

Afghanistan player Mohammed Shahzad is an ardent fan of MS Dhoni. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar singh)

Unlike the super-fit modern-day cricketer, Afghanistan’s batting mainstay is rotund, flaunting his one-pack after every ton. A star in his own right, Shahzad is also an unabashed, die-hard fan of MS Dhoni, copying everything from the Indian’s hairdos to his strokes. (READ FULL HERE)

Martin Guptill’s feat by Sandip G

In 2009, after prolific returns on the domestic and A tours, Martin Guptill was included in the ODI series against the West Indies, and on January 10, in the fourth ODI in Hamilton, he made his debut.

To pep up Martin (after an accident), his father got in touch with the then New Zealand manager and former cricketer Jeff Crowe, and the next day Kiwi skipper Stephen Fleming was by his bed. “Zimbabwe were touring and I asked him if it would be possible to get any of the Black Caps to come and visit Martin in hospital. The next day Stephen Fleming popped in to see him. It had a huge impact on him,” says Peter. And as coincidental as it came, a decade on, on his ODI debut, he bested Fleming’s record of the highest score by a New Zealander on debut. (READ FULL HERE)

Finding Netherlands with Roelof Van Der Merwe by Vishal Menon

Roelof van der Merwe (Source: Ritam Banerjee/Getty Images)

Given their past of racial segregation, it’s difficult to argue against SA’s quota system. But it has made it harder for a white player to break into the team, retain spot, or make a comeback. Van der Merwe had lost hopes of playing international cricket again, but mother’s land gave him what motherland didn’t. (READ FULL HERE)

Mithali Raj – The bat woman of India by Nihal Koshie

Captain of Indian women’s cricket team Mithali Raj. (Source: PTI)

A reluctant cricketer to start with, nothing could stop Mithali Raj from succeeding and becoming Indian women cricket’s biggest role model. Her journey began in Secunderabad, where the budding Bharatnatyam dancer switched to the sport with help of a coach who replaced cricket balls with stones, flinging them at her in practice, and a strict father who set high standards. (READ FULL HERE)

Dial Ben for Botham by Bharat Sundaresan

Ben Stokes during a training session. (Source: Express Photo by Kevin D’Souza)

Drummed up as the bad boy of English cricket and later cast as the new Botham, Ben Stokes, the boy who punched locker-room doors and indulged in bacchanalia, has grown to be the hot new talent who could one day lead England. (READ FULL HERE)

Mohammad Amir – The Revenant by Sandeep Dwivedi

Mohammad Amir is doing everything possible to return a better bowler. (Source: PTI)

That massive misdemeanor caught on camera was to become a notorious frame, plus a clinching evidence. Never perhaps in the history of sport has a picture of an athlete committing the most common field-of-play foul become the undeniable and conclusive ‘Exhibit A’ needed to ban the once-in-a-decade cricketer for five years, jail him and give him a permanent tattoo of taint. But before the infamous spot-fixing drama uncoiled, ironically at the home of cricket, the devious script with deceitful lines had started to unfold. (READ FULL HERE)

The New Yorker by Devendra Pandey

Jasprit Bumrah’s journey to the Indian cricket team and becoming MS Dhoni’s ‘go-to’ man has involved lots of self-belief. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)

It all started with an afternoon nap. In order to get some sleep, Daljeet Bumrah imposed a condition on her son who liked to bowl inside home in the hot summers. She told him he could only bowl at the walls if he found a way to keep the noise down. The 12-year-old Bumrah had a eureka moment. The floor skirting, where the wall meets the floor, was chosen as the target as he found that the ball made the least sound when it bounded off it. Daljeet was happy as she didn’t have to hear the heavier thuds from floor or the wall and just had to contend with the softer sounds. The boy was happy that he could just continue playing cricket. Both barely realised it would be the formative years of training for the yorker that Jasprit would come to be known for, and the reason MS Dhoni throws the ball to him now in the death overs. (READ FULL HERE)

Keeping The Faith by Sriram Veera

Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid. (Source: Express photo by Subham Dutta)

This isn’t just a story about religion but without it, England’s spin twins wouldn’t be here in Kolkata for Sunday’s final. The heart-warming tale of Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid is about how sport often paves the road for multiculturalism in countries and also about dreams coming true. (READ FULL HERE)