It has been a fantastic year for cricket fans with some fabulous contests between bat and ball. And many of these fans took to Twitter to express their joys and frustrations. Here’s a collection of the best tweets in the year:
Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement
Sachin Tendulkar announced his retirement this year in October just ahead of the Test series against the West Indies. Incidentally, the 2nd and last Test of the series was his 200th Test as well. Only player to do so.
BCCI in partnership with Twitter India and Digigraph came up with a huge campaign ‘#ThankYouSachin’ which was a major success on the micro blogging site. The campaign provided digital signatures to the fans when anyone used to tweet to @BCCI with a #ThankYouSachin hashtag.
Tweet a message for Sachin to @BCCI with #ThankYouSachin & we will tweet you a personalized picture of @sachin_rt pic.twitter.com/nlvSumUGfQ
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 6, 2013
This picture of Tendulkar with the 22-yard strip will remain in every fans’ memory forever.
A truly unforgettable moment! #Respect #ThankYouSachin pic.twitter.com/MFC5BKeH9m
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) November 23, 2013
A pic of teary-eyed Tendulkar.
The final, moist good bye from apna Sachin. #ThankYouSachin #ThankYouCricket #BestOf2013 #cricket #ForeverCricCrazy pic.twitter.com/bkRdqorj34
— Nikhil CCN™ (@CricCrazyNIKS) December 26, 2013
Sachin’s reply to his fans, which you can see generated more than 17,000 retweets.
I am really touched with #ThankYouSachin messages. Your support all these years have inspired me to give my best.
— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) November 13, 2013
Last but not the least, a tribute the great man.
The Tendulkar Flip book – Absolute brilliant creative work #Mustwatch #ThankyouSachin http://t.co/JdR8yMmx7G
— jigar mehta (@jigsactin) November 20, 2013
Jacques Kallis’s retirement
Jacques Kallis, one of the best all-rounder in cricket and probably the best of the lot. Kallis announced his retirement just before the 2nd Test against India at Durban. He scored a classy 115 against the Indian bowling attack on his last Test.
Here are some of the best tweets on King Kallis’s retirement:
Sir Gary Sobers and King Kallis will have a longer CV than every other cricketer
— shishir hattangadi (@shishhattangadi) December 29, 2013
Indian players forming a guard of honour for Kallis:
Jacques kallis fitting farewell what a way to end the career! pic.twitter.com/9Uu9X1HI5E — Sampath Kumar M S (@SampathRedDevil) December 29, 2013
Now this is some stat:
Kallis has hit a Test Century in every calendar year since he scored his first century in 1997 (1997-2013, 17 years!) @mohanstatsman — Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) December 30, 2013
Captain Graeme Smith with an emotional good bye in his last Test
Jacques #Kallis struck an emotional farewell century to become the third highest Test run-scorer pic.twitter.com/A70I8Se6cv
— Sadam shahani (@Sadam_Shahani) December 29, 2013
A tweet on low turn out for Kallis’s last Test:
There is empty stands in Durban in Kallis farewell match, because even SA audiences stopped watching cricket after Sachin’s retirement.
— EngiNerd (@mainbhiengineer) December 30, 2013
The Homework gate
The Australian tour of India was a forgettable one for the Aussies. India had taken 2-0 lead in the series and just before the 3rd Test, four Australian players – Shane Watson, James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson and Usman Khawaja were banned for playing in the 3rd Test by the Australian management.
The controversial sequence was named #HomeworkGate by the tweeps after it was revealed that Australian coach then, Mickey Arthur had a fallout with the players after failing to submit a ’5 point dossier’ on ‘how to win the remaining two Tests’. Here are some of the best tweets on the controversy:
Apparently Micky Arthur has given Australian batsmen a new homework: to grow moustache like Shikhar Dhawan.
— Stereotypewriter (@babumoshoy) March 16, 2013
@TommyBick: David Warners #homework for Micky Arthur #homeworkgate pretty accurate if you ask me pic.twitter.com/HjpM4dLaKS
— Thomas Bick (@TommyBick) March 12, 2013
BREAKING NEWS: Warner 5th player to be dropped from 3rd test side. Allegations he copied Ed Cowan’s answers #indvaus #homeworkgate
— Gleeso (@gleeso73) March 11, 2013
LEAKED: Documents surface after the #homeworkgate saga from early 2013. Steve Smith’s submission to Coach Arthur. pic.twitter.com/X7Li5iKmlC
— Shooter’s XI (@ShootersXI) May 11, 2013
EXCLUSIVE LEAK: Cricket Australia’s Player Feedback Form #Argus #homeworkgate @MClarke23 @warne888 pic.twitter.com/0LwBM9pvQO
— Murzo (@murzo_4) March 15, 2013
The 6th edition of the Indian Premier League
This year’s IPL will be remembered for some blistering innings by Gayle, Miller, Watson and Suresh Raina to name a few. And some awesome catches by Ricky Ponting and Gurkeerat Singh. Mumbai Indians went on to win the tournament as Sachin Tendulkar received a fitting farewell from the IPL.
The ugly side of the IPL was exposed as 3 players from Rajasthan Royals were arrested by Delhi police for spot-fixing including Indian fast bowler S Sreesanth. In a separate case, Mumbai Police arrested Vindu Dara Singh and Gurunath Meiyappan for alleged betting and having links with bookies. Here are some of the best tweets on these events:
On Gayle’s 66 ball 175*:
Life is all about taking the right decision,seeing Gayle bat today I think I took the right decision of being a wicket keeper.
— Mahendra Singh Dhoni (@msdhoni) April 23, 2013
That Chris #Gayle record-breaking century: 001440440416640664616066466016. Then he scored 75 more. Just bonkers. #IPL
— amol rajan (@amolrajan) April 23, 2013
On RP Singh’s last ball howler:
Reactions of Captain Cool and Virat Kohli during RP Singh and Sir Jadeja’s last-ball magic last night #CSKvsRCB #IPL pic.twitter.com/S9YojxGK2L
— Sir Cricket (@SirCricket) April 14, 2013
On the catches:
Must admit, there have been some cracking catches in the #IPL so far, here’s the latest one from Gurkeerat Singh pic.twitter.com/S8OLgoJmMd — Shayan Siddiqui (@Shayan6688) April 7, 2013
On Ricky Ponting, Sachin and Mumbai Indians’ win:
Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar open batting for MI. One of the best picture of #IPL #SRT #BestOf2013 #cricket pic.twitter.com/SFw7e3Mgqh — Nikhil CCN™ (@CricCrazyNIKS) December 26, 2013
Thank you Captain @ImRo45 and team for giving @sachin_rt a wonderful moment of retirement in #IPL !!! @mipaltan pic.twitter.com/dInZEBnGjQ — munnAz (@munnAdilz) May 27, 2013
Virat Kohli’s miss:
IPL: And here’s Virat Kohli dropping the match (David Miller’s catch) #PepsiIPL pic.twitter.com/q6CPzGRDp9 #IPL — Pepsi IPL 7 (@IPLSeven) May 6, 2013
On spot-fixing, illegal betting and ban:
SINCE 1877 … !! #SpotFixing #IPL pic.twitter.com/bcFDYhk1Nq
— Si? J?h?™ (@_Sir_John_) May 28, 2013
Gurunath Meiyappan Before and After on Twitter #IPL #SpotFixing pic.twitter.com/3waEfSW3Q4
— APRAMEYA .C (@APRAMEYAC) May 24, 2013
Cricket fans in Bangalore protest against the spot-fixing scandal that hit the IPL. @ipl @BCCI @cricketicc #IPL pic.twitter.com/jk48723IEx
— Ricky Simms (@ricky_simms) May 16, 2013
ICC Champions Trophy
India won the final edition of the ICC Champions Trophy by beating England. Some brilliant performances from Shikhar Dhawan and Ravindra Jadeja stole the show as MS Dhoni became the only captain to win all the ICC major tournaments.
Here are some of the best tweets on the tournament:
India’s title wins in England: 1983 World Cup at Lord’s 2002 NatWest Series at Lord’s 2013 Champions Trophy at Birmingham #CT13 #IndvsEng
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) June 23, 2013
T20 World Cup IPL ODI World Cup ICC Champions Trophy All won by MS Dhoni, in the last six years!
— Alternative Cricket (@AltCricket) June 23, 2013
Only captain in world to win T20 WC, 50 over WC & ICC Champions Trophy @msdhoni #9YearsOfMSD pic.twitter.com/V09d0JwUkS
— J????¤S???v?n?? (@SaravITVFC) December 23, 2013
Shikhar Dhawan, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja pose with the ICC Champions Trophy in Birmingham. #ct13 #IndvsEng pic.twitter.com/jDtakEnri3
— CricIndian (@CricIndian) June 24, 2013
The ICC has confirmed that the #ct13 was the final edition of the Champions Trophy. In 2017, we’ll have the World Test Championship instead.
— Alan Wilkins (@alanwilkins22) June 29, 2013
The Ashes
Two Ashes series in 2013 paved way for some really good quality cricket and some on-field and off-field banter. When we saw some really good performances from both the sides, it was some of the antics which caught the most attention on twitter.
On the urine-gate at the Oval after England won the series:
England players celebrate winning the Ashes with the Sprinkler. Yet again! #urinegate
— The Middle Stump (@TheMiddleStump) August 26, 2013
The headline should have been : “England team retains the URN and releases the URiNe.” #Ashes #Oval
— Keh Ke Peheno (@coolfunnytshirt) August 26, 2013
On the DRS blunders, especially Usman Khawaja’s dismissal:
The Khawaja dismissal should not be used to highlight the pros and cons of DRS. The dismissal was entirely due to human stupidity. #Ashes
— Freddie Wilde (@fwildecricket) August 1, 2013
@BryceMcGain18 Here’s the 3rd umpire in action during the DRS of Khawaja #lunch #ashes pic.twitter.com/W8RWzI0yDu
— Bryce McGain (@BryceMcGain18) August 1, 2013
Key Match-ups: – Broad vs Rogers – Swann vs Khawaja – Watson vs DRS #Ashes
— Alternative Cricket (@AltCricket) August 1, 2013
On Stuart Broad’s (not) walking incident:
Given the #royalbaby won’t be walking anytime soon… What are the odds he’ll be named after Stuart Broad? #Ashes @sportsbetcomau — Tim Hipsley (@TimHipsley) July 23, 2013
Given the #royalbaby won’t be walking anytime soon… What are the odds he’ll be named after Stuart Broad? #Ashes @sportsbetcomau — Tim Hipsley (@TimHipsley) July 23, 2013
Keep Walking Stuart Broad. Keep Walking… #Ashes pic.twitter.com/jeEFoEdRHD — WarrenK 2.0 (@MrSmithMachine) July 19, 2013
On Warner punching Joe Root controversy:
Boxing Day Test sounds like name of a special romantic date between David Warner and Joe Root. #Ashes — Nikhil CCN™ (@CricCrazyNIKS) December 25, 2013
Apparently David Warner’s contact on Joe Root was so poor that Snicko couldn’t even detect it. RB — Richie Benaud (@Richiebenaud1) June 12, 2013
On Mitchell Johnson’s moustache and his brilliant performances throughout the year:
BREAKING: Mitchell Johnson’s moustache has been named Australian of the year #Ashes — Ashley Bradnam (@ashleybradnam) December 29, 2013
This pic of Mitchell Johnson encapsulates everything! Raw pace, steely determination, intense focus and that ‘tash! pic.twitter.com/3XE1vaD8W9 — Röhith Nair (@RohithNair) December 17, 2013
The plight of Ishant Sharma
It was the 3rd ODI between India and Australia, the Aussies needed 44 runs off the last 18 deliveries. James Faulkner smashed 30 runs off Ishant Sharma’s over to tunr the match on its head as they went on to win by 4 wickets. Twitterverse were not amused and Ishant Sharma was made a butt of all the jokes nad humorous one liners on twitter:
Positives for Indian fans: – Dhoni and Kohli in awesome form. – Ravi Jadeja’s bowling. – Ishant Sharma will never play ODIs again. — Alternative Cricket (@AltCricket) October 19, 2013
The most ODI runs conceded in an over 4 India is 30: Yuvraj Singh (by D Mascarenhas at The Oval 2007) & tonite by Ishant Sharma #IndvsAus — Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) October 19, 2013
Ishant Sharma’s Wiki page: pic.twitter.com/bVDXXOsQPt — Alternative Cricket (@AltCricket) October 20, 2013
For bowling accurately, Ishant Sharma needs to be equipped with Instrument Landing System, GPS and Autopilot. — Rofl Indian (@Roflindian) October 23, 2013
Ishant Sharma’s #BBM Pin : 666666mAtChOvEr — Keh Ke Peheno (@coolfunnytshirt) October 22, 2013
The year of Shikhar Dhawan and Ravindra Jadeja
The duo of ‘Sir’ Ravindra Jadeja and Shikhar Dhawan had a terrific year. While Jadeja contributed with his bowling, stamped himself as a genuine all-rounder for India, Dhawan on the other hand played some really brilliant innings for India. Not to forget the moustache. #JadejaFacts trended in India for a some time:
Jadeja is so quick, that once he took a bat-n-pad catch while fielding at the long on boundary. #JadejaFacts
— Gabbar Singh (@GabbbarSingh) March 24, 2013
Sir Jadeja can take all 20 wickets in first inning only. #JadejaFacts
— LOLendra Singh (@LOLendraSingh) March 24, 2013
Hahaha #JadejaFacts #sirjadeja #IndvsEng #CT13 pic.twitter.com/eVT4R5g2nh
— Shubham Joshi (@SJ_Shubhamjoshi) June 21, 2013
The epic moment when your name appears ahead of Alex Ferguson and Isaac Newton. #SirJadeja #jadejafacts pic.twitter.com/6I7d2AnLLv
— Chiranjeev Kumar (@TheTechieBoy) April 14, 2013
Only Jadeja can end Undertaker’s streak at wrestlemania #JadejaFacts #wwe
— chennai walah (@chennai_walah) March 24, 2013
Shikhar Dhawan was not far behind, thanks to his intimidating moustache and some innings which defined him:
#ShikharDhawan Fear the Moustache! \m/ pic.twitter.com/NtmNPsRrhw
— Sportskeeda (@Sportskeeda) August 12, 2013
We can’t watch Shikhar Dhawan’s innings in real-time but we can close our eyes and imagine him twirling his moustache.
— Alternative Cricket (@AltCricket) August 12, 2013
Shikhar Dhawan hits his second century of #ct13 as India chase down 234 with over 10 overs to spare #indvwi pic.twitter.com/bCzdo7y1Aw
— ICC (@cricketicc) June 11, 2013
Shikhar Dhawan slams fastest debut ton – What an impressive debut for Dhawan 185* – #IndvAus pic.twitter.com/wTfn0PmQdy
— Ajmal Jami (@ajmaljami) March 16, 2013
Quickest to 1000 ODI runs for India is in 24 inngs by Virat Kohli and now Shikhar Dhawan #IndvsAus
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) October 30, 2013
