So what were the top stories of 2008?
Inaugural Success of IPL
Year 2008 witnessed the opening of IPL (Indian Premier League), the mega event from BCCI that clearly gave cricket a stunning make-over and boost in game excitement, viewership and tremendous marketing potential. The mantra for 2008 became T20 or, as it is called, 20-20. A 3-hour-rapid fire game that takes you to the edge of your seat until the final ball is bowled.
IPL is BCCI’s response to the rival Indian Cricket League (ICL) into Twenty-20 era. They pulled up 8 teams from Indian cities bringing overseas and domestic player mixture. The key difference being IPL swamped in current top International players while ICL dominantly settled for retired, yesteryear stars. IPL is BCCI’s child, so you can imagine the media attention, money involved is big.
South Africa Record 2nd Highest Run Chase in Test Cricket History
South Africa beat Australia in the first Test of their series by 6 wickets chasing down a huge victory target of 413, becoming, in the process, the 2nd highest-run chasing team in Test cricket. AB de Villiers was chosen Man-of-the-Match for his unbeaten 106 in the chase (and for his vital 1st innings 63 and pouching 4 catches off the Australian batting line). Graeme Smith continued to excel in batting in the 4th innings, with his average the 3rd highest in history, behind Geoff Boycott (England) and Sunil Gavaskar (India). West Indies still hold the record for highest run chaser, scoring 418/7 against Australia in 2003.
The Super Six of 2008
Chanderpaul 6 and Win – In their ODI home series against Sri Lanka.
Mystery Spinner – Ajantha Mendis
2008 saw the entry of a new (yet another!) spin wizard from Sri Lanka with his finger talking googlies, flippers, offbreaks, legbreaks and anything you can spell. He clearly gave India a very hard run during their away series and even India’s strong middle order were unable to read him. Mendis took 26 Test scalps and lead the 2008 ODI bowling with 48 wickets at an astonishing average of 10.12 and economy rate of 3.54. He is overturning the conventional wisdom in ODI where bowlers are relegated to side acts as batsman become big bat bullies.
Take a look at Mendis cleaning India’s clock in the Asia Cup final.
2008 Top Performances – Batting & Bowling
Top 10 ODI Batsmen
- Gautam Gambir (India): 1119 runs – Gambir came of age this year and stabilized the Indian opening.
- Mahendra Dhoni (India): 1097
- Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka): 942
- Virender Sehwag (India): 893
- Yuvraj Singh (India): 893
- Younis Khan (Pakistan): 865
- Salman Bhatt (Pakistan): 861
- Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh): 807
- Shoaib Malik (Pakistan): 681
- Suresh Raina (India): 680
Top 10 Test Batsmen
- Graeme Smith (South Africa): 1656 Runs
- Virender Sehwag (India): 1462
- Ricky Ponting (Australia): 1182
- Hashim Amla (South Africa): 1161
- Gautam Gambhir (India): 1134
- VVS Laxman (India): 1086
- Neil McKenzie (South Africa): 1073
- Michael Clarke (Australia): 1063
- Sachin Tendulkar (India): 1063
- AB de Villiers (South Africa): 1061
Top 10 ODI Bowlers
- Ajantha Mendis (Sri Lanka): 48 wickets
- Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka): 35
- Nuwan Kulasekara (Sri Lanka): 33
- Stuart Broad (England): 32
- Sohail Tanvir (Pakistan): 32
- Nathan Bracken (Australia): 31
- Shahid Afridi (Pakistan): 30
- Abdur Razzak (Bangladesh): 29
- Mashrafe Mortaza (Bangladesh): 28
- Ishant Sharma (India): 27
Top 10 Test Bowlers
- Dale Steyn (South Africa): 74 Wickets
- Harbhajan Singh (India): 63
- Mitchell Johnson (Australia): 63
- Brett Lee (Australia): 57
- Makhaya Ntini (South Africa): 54
- Daniel Vettori (New Zealand): 54
- Ryan Sidebottom (England): 47
- Jimmy Anderson (England): 46
- Morne Morkel (South Africa): 43
- Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka): 43
Stats Courtesy: Cricinfo.com
High-Tech Review System
ICC embraced the technology to allow the batting or fielding team to appeal against umpiring decisions. Considering the amount of pressure the umpires are involved in making critical decisions which significantly impact game outcomes, this is definitely a welcome move from ICC. Not to say anything about avoiding acrimonious incidents such as what happened in the Sydney Test between Australia and India.
Controversy
Harbhajan Singh made his mark on 2008, but not always in a good way. He and Andrew Symonds were involved in a racial sledge/abuse case that resulted a three test ban on Harbhajan Singh. Not satisfied with that, Harbhajan got into a slapping incident with fellow Indian teammate Sreesanth and got thrown out of the IPL. He is back with the Indian team spearheading the Indian attack.
Well there you go that rounded up 2008 stories. Let’s look forward to yet another exciting year of cricket in 2009.