Sunday, April 05, 2020

End of PSL Career for few

PSL 5 is still in continuum but in my own person opinion, below are few of the International Players who might have played their penultimate PSL game.

Shane Watson

Shane Watson, the quintessential T20 batsman, became an instant success since the advent of PSL. He has shredded many bowling attacks insolently and used all his experience to great effect and without a doubt, Watson has remained indispensable to Quetta's phenomenal success over the years. 
Last season, he amassed 438 runs and scored these colossal number of runs at an average of 43 however in HBL PSL V, he couldn't really find his groove and there was a noticeable dip in form as he accumulated 247 runs in nine games and the average plummeted to 27. 
He scored a blistering 80-run knock albeit for a losing cause against Multan Sultans in match 12 of PSL V which emphatically shows he still got enough in his tank to deliver the goods and one mediocre season in no way effects his desirability in T20 leagues around the globe. That said, the major point is that he has already announced his retirement from professional cricket in Australia and made it clear that his season for his side Sydney Thunders in 2019 was his last.
He made his international debut for Australia way back in 2002 and retired after an illustrious international career in 2016. He has always been a most sought out player in Pakistan's premier T20 tournament and he was the first foreign player to be picked in the draft in the inaugural edition. 
Watson was appointed Australian Cricketers' Association president in November 2019 and with the focus shifting on the administrative side and dwindling fitness, it will be a challenge for him to stay on the field and turn up next season.
Watson has enjoyed his company with Quetta Gladiators family and on numerous occasion, he has expressed how he holds Nadeem Omer in high esteem and so it's safe to say that the cordial relations with the owner played a big role in Watson pursuing with PSL this year and so it remains to be seen if he would come again to join his favoured team in PSL VI.

Luke Ronchi

Born in New Zealand but raised mostly in Australia, Luke Ronchi became a cricketing rarity by representing both countries. His first international incarnation came for Australia in the West Indies in 2008 when he stood in for the injured Brad Haddin in four ODIs and a Twenty20 and he showed he was not out of his depth: his glovework was brilliant and at the tiny Warner Park in St Kitts he clubbed a 22-ball half-century, then the equal third-quickest ODI fifty scored by an Australia player. But his form fell away during the following domestic summer and he added only one more T20 international to his tally for Australia. By the end of 2008-09 his runs had dried up so severely that he had even been dropped by Western Australia and his future appeared bleak.
Over the next few seasons, Ronchi was there and thereabouts in state cricket but he was overtaken by Graham Manou, Tim Paine and Matthew Wade in the queue behind Haddin. At the end of 2011-12, he decided to try his luck in his country of birth and secured a contract with Wellington. His performances were strong enough to earn him a call-up to the New Zealand ODI side once he had qualified in 2013 and against England in May he debuted, becoming the first man since Kepler Wessels nearly 20 years earlier to represent two full ICC member nations.
As New Zealand rode an ODI wave that eventually culminated with defeat at the final of the 2015 World Cup, Ronchi made a decent case for himself as a lower-order batsman. He smashed 170 off 99 balls against Sri Lanka in Dunedin in 2014, then the highest score ever by a No. 7 batsman and, in May 2015, seven years after making his international debut, Ronchi earned his maiden Test cap. A half-century in the first innings at Headingley helped his side level a two-match series against England 1-1. Ronchi played three more Tests, two World T20s and two Champions Trophies before calling time on his international career in June 2017.
He had moved with his family to Perth at the age of seven and debuted for Western Australia in 2001-02. He established himself as a solid gloveman and clean striker of the ball and in 2006-07 he made his mark with the then fastest century in Australian domestic one-day history. His 56-ball ton against New South Wales featured a series of powerful pulls off Stuart Clark, and it eclipsed the 62-ball record set by Ronchi's team-mate Adam Voges two seasons earlier.
Another standout moment was when he struck 89 from 49 balls against an England XI in the Lilac Hill match the same summer. Perhaps his most remarkable display was in a 2007-08 Pura Cup match against Queensland when he scored a 51-ball century, with the second fifty coming in a scarcely believable 11 deliveries. At that stage Australia were keen to call Ronchi their own, but several years later New Zealand were equally pleased to claim his services.

Dale Steyn


Dale Steyn, who can rip through the stumps like he was born to do this, was inarguably the top-billing signing in the HBL PSL V and right through the players draft, he hogged the limelight and rightly so especially because Pakistanis adore fast bowlers a lot and the country has been a breeding ground for producing outstanding fast bowlers. 
It was a delight to watch Steyn return to the shores after more than a decade and inspire the next generation of fast bowlers. He got the ball to talk in four games in this unfinished PSL season while representing Islamabad United and he has surely got the firepower to continue haunting batsmen but it's a widely known fact that tearaway quicks often fell prey to lingering injuries especially in the late 30s and so how he feels about his body and fitness levels cannot be determined at the moment.
Steyn hasn't been included in the contracted players' list for 2020-2021 season which hints that the 36-year-old is not part of board's plans and this might as well kill the purpose for Dale to toil in competitive cricket. 
He had a good reason to partake in PSL V as it would have helped him prepare for T20 World Cup in Australia later this year but keeping himself fit and going through the drills and routine for T20 leagues around the world might not be his priority.


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