cropped-short_post_logo.png
For Authentic Gossip
Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
madrasi camp
3 cm
vaibhav S
Mamata_036
dino rain
sitare housefull
Sidda_Hari
MBRajesh
thug life
ajit_020
gill bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah Captain? Shubman Gill His Sidekick!
With India’s armed forces engaged in the battle front against Pakistan, no way the Tata-IPL-18 could have continued, and the BCCI has rightly stopped all action (entertainment) for a week. It’s a matter of conjecture, even though a ceasefire has been called, as to when play will resume to complete season-18. Until the call was taken to bring the league to a halt, the interest and focus — apart from the performances of the 10 teams — was on the homegrown talents leading the teams like Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, Rajat Patidar, Shubman Gill, Rituraj Gaikwad (replaced by MS Dhoni), Sanju Samson (replaced by Riyan Parag)  and Ajinkya Rahane. It was great to see so many Indians trying to show their leadership qualities, but only two or three could be said to be in contention for the leadership role for the five-Test series in England, even after Rohit Sharma called it “quits” from Test cricket. The notable absentee from this group was Jasprit Bumrah who was not a starter for Mumbai Indians this IPL, but he breathed fire soon after joining the MI ranks. Gill, Iyer and Patidar earned some brownie points and the Gujarat Titans captain Gill will get a role in England. But can the selectors ignore the claim of Bumrah who stunned one and all with his captaincy in Australia, in the first Test in Perth that India won with consummate ease. With the experience of playing nine Tests in England and bowling 357 overs there, Bumrah ought to be the captain for the tour of England. Gill can only be Bumrah’s sidekick. The selection committee has plenty to mull over.
jadeja_003
After Mauling By Pakistan In 2017, Jadeja Still In The Fray For A Champions Trophy Berth!
Incredibly, left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja is in contention for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 after being dumped by the wayside following his 8-0-67-0 returns in the 2017 final against Pakistan at `The Oval’ London. He, along with off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (10-0-70-0), were dropped after Pakistan amassed 338 for four and won the final by 180 runs. Jadeja and Ashwin travelled to the West Indies immediately after the final on June 18, 2017. However, Jadeja was not picked again until the Asia Cup in September 2018; after a gap of 14 months, Ashwin was cast away for four and a half years. But even after his recall, he played only five more ODIs, with the then-team management opting for the wrist spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. While Ashwin has taken a final bow from international cricket, the 36-year-old Jadeja still competes with a fellow Gujarati from Nadiad, Axar Patel, for India’s immediate ODI campaigns, including the Champions Trophy matches in Dubai. The rough and tough all-rounder from Jamnagar has taken 65 wickets @37.69 after the forgettable final in 2017. Axar, who will turn 31 on January 20, has taken 64 wickets @32.56 in 60 matches. The national selection committee may have been disappointed that Patel was not being played on spin-designer pitches against New Zealand in Pune and Mumbai. He was the first choice to replace Ashwin in Australia. Jadeja (4 matches in seven wkts) has played at the Dubai International Stadium, and Axar hasn’t. The selection committee may pick both for the CT2025; it depends on chinaman (left arm wrist spinner) bowler Kuldeep Yadav’s recovery from a groin-related issue. But to be in the fray after a mauling by the Pakistan batters in 2017 speaks of Jadeja’s unyielding attitude to compete at the highest level.
Axar patel_002
Why Axar Patel Was Selected
Why two left-arm spinners? Why not a right-hand off-spinner… was the question raised by the cricket fan and even some experts when the team was announced. The team’s think tank had convinced the national selection committee that though Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel are like spinners, the wiry Patel was sort of a most valuable player with splendid skills in bowling, batting and fielding and that he had to be on board. Patel was India’s best left-arm spinner in the two years, starting from 2022, and no way was he not going to be travelling to the USA and West Indies for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav may have bagged plenty of wickets, but Patel has quietly chipped in with eight scalps at 15.50 and with a strike rate of a wicket for every two point some overs. He has played the supporting cast role exceptionally well; it was his three strikes against England that, in a way, paved the way for India to call the shots after posting 171 on the board in the semi-final. The Nadiad-born Patel converted a miraculous catch of Australian captain Mitchell Marsh: his spectacular effort in the deep just about demonstrated his commitment to the game. An injury suffered during the Asia Cup last September kept him out of the World Cup in India. The decision-makers kept faith in him, and the results are there. Patel has been the cynosure of all eyes in the Twenty20 tournament. He has sent down 108 balls for eight wickets as against Jadeja’s 78 balls for one wicket.
Rinku singh
Rinku Singh Is Plain Unlucky!
  Rinku Singh has awe-inspiring numbers in 15 Twenty20 internationals for the men in blue. The numbers are: 11 innings, seven times not out, 356 runs, balls faced 202, average of 89, highest score of 69 not out, 2 x 50s, scoring rate of 10.57 an over, 20 x 6s, 31x 4s and seven catches. He has not bowled a single over. He has featured in 11 wins against Ireland, Nepal, Bangladesh, Australia, South Africa and Afghanistan. In comparison, Shivam Dube — almost four years older than the Uttar Pradesh and Kolkata Knight Riders left-hander– has played 21 Twenty20 internationals, 14 innings, seven times not out, 276 runs from 190 balls, scoring rate 8.72, 15 x6s, 19x 4s, 11 catches and he has taken eight wickets bowling 36.3 overs. He has featured in 14 wins against Bangladesh, West Indies, New Zealand, Ireland, Nepal and Afghanistan. It has to be construed that skipper Rohit Sharma would have preferred Dube to Rinku because, as he revealed at a media interaction, he will use him as a bowler when necessary. Sharma and the selectors also preferred a second left-arm spinner, Axar Patel (an injury forced him out of the 50-over World Cup), because he has been India’s leading spinner, playing 37 matches since January 2022. He has taken 36 wickets at an economy rate of 7.54. He also scored 282 runs. It’s just that Sharma chose an additional left-arm finger spinner (in addition to Ravindra Jadeja) apart from two wrist spinners in Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. Rinku – a travelling reserve now – was plain unlucky not to make the cut for the ICC event in the USA and West Indies.
ollie pope
Ollie Pope Leads "Bazball" Rough Up On India
Call it “Bazball” or whatever that is supposed to convey playing a brand of cricket to take the rival head-on and thereby entertain the paying spectator, England has sent across a message to India in no uncertain terms that its batters from 1 to 11 will go after its bowlers. In two opening stands in the first Test at the Uppal venue in Hyderabad, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett swung their bats without fear of getting out to rattle up 55 and 45 runs before the first wicket went down. Clearly the camp the team held in Abu Dhabi to prepare for the five-Test series has yielded results. England made only 246 in the first innings and trailed the home team by 190 runs, but not perturbed by a daunting task, it roughed up the bowlers with the brilliant Ollie Pope collaring the spinners to make a near double century, though he was let off at 110 by Axar Patel and 186 by KL Rahul. From a clear first-innings setback England gave it a chance to cause a turnaround in the first Test and in the event of India going down will give plenty of thought for the national selectors to look at options in the bowling department. Moreover, questions will be asked about the attitude of the batters in offering catches when set. The likes of Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul will do well to introspect.  All said and done the “Bazball” style has made an impact in India.
Axar patel_001
Axar Patel's World Cup Woes!
One can only pity Axar Patel for missing his first World Cup bus because of a left quadriceps tear he suffered during the Super 4 round-robin league of the Asia Cup in Colombo. The left-hander was in the thick of action against Bangladesh with his thigh strapped. He was hit a couple of times in his left and right hand which necessitated treatment on the ground. As a result Washington Sundar made it to the Asia Cup final against Sri Lanka in Colombo. On Thursday (Sep 28), the deadline day to effect changes to the 15-member team for the World Cup announced before, the BCCI got to know from Nitin Patel — the physiotherapist attached to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru — that Axar cannot be in action for three weeks at least and so the selectors chose off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in the official squad for the World Cup. Ashwin was always the front-runner, but once he took three wickets against Australia in Indore his selection became inevitable. The reason is that he is more experienced than Sundar who flew to China for the Asian Games and Ashwin flew to Guwahati for the warm-up games. Axar because of his all-round skills was in the original squad announced at Pallekele on September 5. Three weeks later Axar’s World Cup dreams lay shattered. He had played 54 ODIs, scored 481 runs, taken 59 wickets and was viewed as a solid utility player.
Ashwin_Sundar
Ash And Washy Get Into The Right-Hand Finger Spinner Fray
The ICC Cricket World is just a fortnight away and most of the teams are girding up its loins to compete hard in conditions that are most likely to show bias to the spinners. Surprisingly though India will be going into the multi-nation event with two finger spinners of the left arm variety and one of the Chinaman — leg spin and googly. A left quadriceps tear to the conventional left-arm spinner, Axar Patel may appear to have kept the door ajar for a right-hand finger spinner to find his way into the team that will be confirmed on September 28, a day after India plays its third and last one day international against Australia. The two contenders are Ravichandran Ashwin who has entered his 38th year but brings in a 113-match experience with 151 wickets at an economy rate of 4.94 an over. He played two matches of the 2011 World Cup that India won and eight matches of the 2015 World Cup. The veteran offy has played only two ODIs in the last six years, missing 122 matches. The second option is Washington Sundar who will be 24 in 13 days; he has played 17 ODIs and has taken 16 wickets. The final call may be taken by skipper Rohit Sharma. The three-match series against Australia will guide Sharma to make a choice should Patel be declared not fit for a competition that will be tough as it comes.
Untitled (900 × 900 px) (4)
Suryakumar 'SKY' Yadav Is The New Darling Of The Crowd
The Indian cricket fan is so unique to the world of cricket; in the sense that he/she buys a ticket only with a fond hope of seeing the national team win even if the chips are down. About 25000 turned up at the Wankhede Stadium on January 3 and a narrow home team win — by 2 runs — resulted in a bigger turn out for the second match at the MCA International Stadium, near Pune. Hardly anyone among the 30,000 plus was ready to leave after Sri Lanka had dismissed the top 5 Indian batters for a frugal collection of 57 runs. The reason for not giving up hope; Suryakumar Yadav (SKY) was still in the middle. Such has been the kind of impact SKY has made on the Indian fan in a very short span of time, thanks to the slam bang variety of the sport. And SKY has his own inimitable style to executive strokes that can be found in coaching manuals and also find ways using his hands and wrists to send the ball racing to the fence and also soaring over the line. Though left hander Axar Patel swung that bat for optimum results to make the Sri Lankans anxious, Yadav roared into action to bring India close to the target. The Indian cricket fan was thrilled by the Yadav- Patel onslaught, but a tad disappointed by the 16-run defeat.
jasprit bumrah
Jasprit Bumrah To Be In The Thick Of Action, Very Soon!
The return of Jasprit Bumrah for the three-match one-day series against Sri Lanka was the biggest news on Tuesday (Dec 3). Bumrah has been India’s linchpin for almost seven years, but he missed the Asia Cup Twenty20 in September before making a brief appearance against Australia at Nagpur. He was ruled out of the ICC World Twenty20 in Australia. According to the BCCI the fast bowler who has taken 319 international wickets for India in 1893 overs has been declared fit by the Bengaluru-based National Cricket Academy. Bumrah was laid low by a serious back ailment. He was kept in cotton wool in order to give him a chance to fully rehabilitate himself for the four Test series against Australia set to start in Nagpur on February 9. India beat Bangladesh in the Two-Test series recently and is placed No 2 in the ICC World Test Championship cycle. A fit as a fiddle Bumrah will strengthen India’s attack, although he has taken only 14 of his 128 Test wickets at home. Clearly the spin friendly tracks will bring the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel into the picture against Australia, but Bumrah’s value as a speedster just cannot be discounted.  In the last Test match he played against Sri Lanka in India 10 months ago, he took 5 and 3 wickets.

TRENDS & VIEWS

Editor’s Note: Short Post Noticed By People Who Matter

Four years have zipped by and we are crossing another milestone on 31st January 2025 – it’s our 4th Anniversary. It feels good.
Looking back at the 1460 days, I must say Short Post has made its mark with people who matter via 4000 stories published in the areas of politics, business, entertainment and sports. All made possible by the unflinching commitment and dedication of our senior editors, most of whom have been part of this journey from Day One.
Small pack, big impact is in essence the story of Short Post which was launched at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021. It shows our conviction. In all humility, I can say, we have created a new niche in the news segment space like Hindustan Unilever which created a new segment, when it launched CloseUp Gel.
Yes, we have created a brand (in a limited sense), created demand (readers) and created supply (senior journalists). But we are facing teething problems like all start-ups. What makes us happy and confident is the recognition of our efforts. For instance, we have an arrangement with the OPEN Magazine, part of the $4.5 billion Kolkata-based Sanjiv Goenka-RPG Group. This arrangement sees around 10 Short Post stories posted on OPEN Magazine website every week. This arrangement is testimony that our content has been well received! Also, I may add that the Maharashtra government has recognised Short Post and has allowed our senior editor to cover the Assembly sessions. Ditto: Odisha.
Our goal is to ensure that Short Post becomes a habit. I would like people to keep checking their smartphones to know the latest Authentic Gossip. As regards AI and the fear of it disrupting all businesses including media. On that, personally, I have no such fear as I am confident AI cannot smell news particularly Authentic Gossip. That’s the place we are well entrenched.