Cricket news round-up – October 23: India complete whitewash, Netherlands rise to top

It took India 12 balls on Tuesday morning to complete the 3-0 whitewash over South Africa; Netherlands became the first team to win 3 matches at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier; UAE cricketer Ghulam Shabbir, who had mysteriously disappeared during the tournament, has surfaced in Pakistan; and Virat Kohli insisted India host Test matches in only five venues.

India complete maiden whitewash

India needed 2 wickets to wrap things up in the third Test, at Ranchi. After 10 wicketless balls, Wriddhiman Saha caught one spectacularly off the bottom edge off Shahbaz Nadeem (2/18) to send back Theunis de Bruyn (30). Lungi Ngidi hit the next ball hard, only to hit non-striker Anrich Nortje; Nadeem caught the ball on the rebound.

This was India’s first whitewash over South Africa. Not only did they regain the Gandhi-Mandela Trophy, they also reached a maximum possible 240 points from two series in the ICC Test Championship: the other sides, between them, have 232.

Netherlands rise to top

Namibia beat Scotland by 24 runs in Match 19 of the World Cup T20 Qualifier. Namibia first posted 159/6 (JJ Smit 43 in 22 balls, Josh Davey 3-0-29-2, Hamza Tahir 4-0-18-1). Jan Frylinck (4-0-15-2) and Christi Viljoen (4-0-24-2) then restricted Scotland to 135/8.

Tim van der Gugten (3-0-9-3) and Roelof van der Merwe (4-0-22-3) bowled out Singapore for 101 in Match 20. Max O’Dowd (35 in 31) and Colin Ackermann (34* in 36) then helped Netherlands cruise to a 5-wicket win, in the 17th over. They thus became the first side to win 3 matches in the tournament.

Benjamin Ward (47 in 24) helped Jersey reach 147 in Match 21 even as Junaid Siddique had 4-0-34-2 and Rohan Mustafa 4-0-13-1. The UAE openers then put on 60 in 50 balls before they collapsed to 112 against Harrison Carlyon (4-0-15-3), Ben Stevens (2.2-0-20-3), and Charles Perchard (4-0-22-2).

Kohli calls for five Test centres

At the post-match press conference at Ranchi, Virat Kohli called for India to designate five venues across the country to host Test cricket. This will be a departure from India’s current policy of rotating Test matches across the country.

“I agree [with] state associations and rotation and giving games and all that, that is fine for T20 and one-day cricket, but Test cricket, teams coming to India should know, ‘we’re going to play at these five centres, these are the pitches we’re going to expect, these are the kind of people that will come to watch, crowds’,” said Kohli.

Double blow for UAE

UAE had already suspended captain Mohammad Naveed, Shaiman Anwar, and Qadeer Ahmed on corruption charges ahead of the T20 World Cup qualifier. They then suspended Ashfaq Ahmed after the match against Hong Kong.

Ghulam Shabbir, who had mysteriously gone absconding from the squad during the tournament, has now turned up in Pakistan. While this came as a relief to the team management, who had been frantically reaching out to his next of kin and contacting hospitals, the exact reason of his disappearance remains unknown.