The week that was in cricket (January 12-18)

With the current international cricketing calendar being pretty much round the clock, no week goes by where certain contentious issues or talking points don’t crop up and occupy the mind space of the average cricket fan. The last week was the same, with towering records being broken, ex-cricketers demanding an improvement in the behaviour of modern-day players and a prominent former Indian captain expressing his dissatisfaction with the current World Cup format where the top 8 Test teams reaching the quarter-finals of the tournament is almost guaranteed. Here are the five biggest talking points of the past week:

#5 Current World Cup format too \"predictable\" - Rahul Dravid

Former India captain Rahul Dravid expressed his displeasure over the format that will be used during the 2015 Cricket World Cup. The 42-year-old feels that the current format is extremely predictable, in the sense that the group stages of the tournament become a mere formality with the top 8 Test playing nations almost certain to reach the quarter-final stage of the competition.

Dravid added that every game in a World Cup should hold some kind of importance, which is not the case at the moment, and added that the organisers should try to come up with ways of making the tournament shorter in the future.

The format for the 2015 World Cup is exactly the same as the one used in the 2011 edition. Despite Ireland and Bangladesh pulling off upset wins over England, the nature of the format was such that England had no real problem in getting past the group stages. With a pre-eminent figure like Dravid suggesting the need for a reconsideration, it will definitely be worth for the ICC to pay heed and have a re-look at whether the current format is hindering the interest in the early part of the tournament.

#4 Kevin Pietersen - Leading BBL run-scorer but not good enough for England?

Kevin Pietersen hasn't played a game for England since being a part of the side that got drubbed 5-0 in the Test series in Australia last year. The 34-year-old, however, has kept himself busy by playing in T20 competitions across the globe.

He captained the Delhi Daredevils in the IPL last year, but he and the team didn't have the greatest of times and they finished last in the IPL table. He also represented his county Surrey in the Natwest T20 blast in England, but once again didn't perform as well as was expected.

But the South Africa-born batsman seems to have hit his stripes in the Big Bash League (BBL) where he is representing the Melbourne Stars and has emerged as the highest run-getter in the tournament with 262 runs in 6 matches at a strike rate of 124.71.

What makes Pietersen’s good run of form Down Under all the more juicy is that England are currently involved in a tri-series with hosts Australia and India in preparation for the Cricket World Cup in Australia and New Zealand which is just a month away. The 34-year-old has been constantly saying that he is available to once again play for England, and if England get off to a poor start in the quadrennial event, the demands for Pietersen to make a return are only going to increase.

#3 Martin Crowe urges punishment for bad behaviour

Former New Zealand right-hander Martin Crowe lashed out at the on-field behaviour of Australian opening batsman David Warner during the recent ODI between Australia and India, saying that the left-hander should be disallowed from playing the game if he doesnt improve his behaviour in the imminent future.

Crowe's criticism came after Warner clashed with Indian batsman Rohit Sharma out in the middle, asking the latter to speak English. The 28-year-old acknowledged his mistake and was docked 50% of his match fees.

The former New Zealand captain suggested that yellow and red cards should be brought into the game to reprimand players and the penalty for a player receiving a red card should be a ban of six months from the game.

Noted cricket commentator Jonathan Agnew, meanwhile, had also expressed his displeasure at the constant sledging taking place during the recent Australia-India Test series, adding that hehopedfollowing the tragic demise of Phillip Hughes in November 2014 that players would've turned over a new leaf and looked to play the game in a more cordial manner.

#2 Rohit Sharma comes of age

When Rohit Sharma scored the unbelievable 264 versus the Sri Lankans at the Eden Gardens last November, everybody wondered whether the Mumbaikar could produce such an innings in overseas conditions during crunch situations. He had, after all, scored only two centuries in overseas conditions after having played more than 100 ODIs, against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka in Zimbabwe.

On Sunday, in front of a sizeable crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), the 27-year-old proved that he has what it takes to produce the goods in difficult conditions when his team needs him the most by scoring a fine 138 off 139 balls, thereby rescuing India from a score of 59 for 3 to help post a competitive 267 for 8 in 50 overs.

The knock had all the qualities that one associates with Rohit's batting: lazy elegance, deft shots and effortless sixes off fast bowlers. But the most heart-warming aspect of his batting was the fact that the right-hander almost played the entire 50 overs and took the onus of leading the batting unit upon himself, which hasn’t often been the case.

#1 AB de Villiers\' blitzkreig at Johannesburg

On a hot morning at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, West Indies won the toss and opted to bowl first, to utilise whatever little the pitch had to offer early on. However, that decision horribly backfired on them as the opening pair of Hashim Amla and Rilee Rossouw put on 247 runs for the first wicket before the latter was dismissed for 128.

That brought in Proteas captain AB de Villiers to the middle, and what transpired over the next couple of hours will remain etched in everyone who watched it as the right-hander unleashed a devastating attack on the Caribbean bowlers, hammering a staggering 149 off 44 balls, that included 9 fours and 16 sixes.

The effort broke a spree of records, including the records for the fastest fifty & hundred scored in One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and also equalled the record for the most number of sixes by a batsman in a single innings.