Thread:

Highlighting a couple of improvements from United's Europa league R32 win over La Real. #MUFC

La Real 0 v 4 Man Utd — Buildup & Pressing. #RSOMUN

📍A thread. @RishabhPant17

Rishabh Pant's father was ill for a long time. He passed away in Roorkee on April 7, 2017. He went home to attend his father's funeral.

It's 16th of December, 2020. India is standing at the back of an ODI series loss and a momentum shifting win in the t20i series. It's time for the marquee Border Gavaskar trophy. The pink ball test, the boxing day, new year's test and the Gabba Challenge. Are we up for it?

Join me on a special thread where I take you through the series with the journey of the series. We shall look at the playing 11s, the game progressions, special strategies, important moments, standout performances.

Fasten your seat belt or don't, hop on anyway for 46 tweets ☺️

Match 1: Adelaide

Jadeja is injured so Ashwin becomes an easy answer for the tough question of the lone spinner. There are other tough questions as to who should be the 2nd opener, Gill who had good practice game or Shaw who scored a 50 in the last test he played? Pant or Saha?

India is going into the pink ball test with Pace trio Bumrah Shami Umesh. Shaw is opening and Saha keeping. A decision probably taken with the Wicketkeeping ability as the priority

Virat has one the toss and decided to bat. He has never lost a test match after winning the toss

Second ball of the first over and the nightmares turn true as Starc runs through Shaw. Mayank gets out after getting a start and then Virat stitches two gritty partnerships with Pujara and Rahane. Things turn bad only when Virat gets run out on an unfortunate wrong call by Rahane

The thing about cricket in Australia is that it’s very white. I know, I know, I say that about everything (true but!) Just stick with me here. Cricket is verrrrrry white. More-so than other (well-loved) sports in this country.

Yes, it’s played in South Asia and the Caribbean (which is a thread in itself!) but I’m talking about cricket specifically here in Oz and more specifically in Sydney communities.

For some context. I grew up in Western Sydney and I have Lebanese heritage. This is important to note because growing up I didn’t know a single Lebanese-Australian person - kid, adult, man or woman - who played, watched or talked about cricket. ZERO.

Cricket was never on in our home (several reasons for that) and nor was it ever on in the homes of anyone I ever visited. EVER. This is not an exaggeration.

To give you an example of how much I did not know about cricket, I only heard of Richie Benaud when he died. (To be fair, I knew Steve and Mark Waugh because they were from Bankstown and sometimes in the local Torch newspaper. Also, I knew Shane Warne because of hair-loss ads).

If you are a 90s kid, you’ve seen everything in Indian cricket. Start & End of SRT, Match-fixing, some embarrassing displays in England & Australia, some individual heroics & some deserving team wins. You’ve seen Dravid grind it out, you’ve also seen 81 all out (1/n)

If you are a 90s kid, you are mentally tough. You expect your team to put up a fight, more often than not, you ended up in disappointment. You’ve digested everything. You’ve laughed & cried. Sometimes both at same time (remember Perth ‘08). Too much depends on Tendulkar you’d say

Now you are in your late 20s early 30s. You see your team travelling to Australia. Kohli is leaving early after embarrassing Adelaide loss. Injuries are in bucketful. Covid restrictions mean they have to struggle for an XI. You write off your team mentally before Boxing Day Test

Rahane is captain now. He’s known for his silent aggression & counterattacking play. Pujara, Ashwin, Bumrah stand up with him, they create magic. India win Boxing Day test convincingly to shun off 4-0 critics (you loved this as a 90s kid, dont you). Yes, Gill is born!

1-1 & its Sydney. Media tries to play games. You’ve seen this before. But this is new India! They are determined. Bowlers get us back in the game & well, India tries to win, later save the match. Enough has been documented on Vihari & Ashwin. Stuff of legends! Momentum: India