Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales all set to return for India series
England limited-overs skipper Eoin Morgan and opening batsman Alex Hales are all set to make a return for the India series. After the conclusion of the 5-match Test series, England is scheduled to play 3 ODIs and as many T20Is on the tour. The ODI series commences on January 15 at Pune. Earlier, both Morgan and Hales had backed out from the tour to Bangladesh citing security reasons.
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Arrest warrant issued against former South African cricketer Thami Tsolekile
An arrest warrant has been issued against former South African wicketkeeper, Thami Tsolekile, as he failed to appear in the Goodwood Magistrate court.
As per reports, Tsolekile was expected to appear before the Magistrate court in a case in which he is accused of assaulting a 14-year-old boy in Pinelands in September.
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Mickey Arthur memorable for all the wrong reasons: Brad Haddin
Former Test and ODI wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has slammed former Australia coach Mickey Arthur at current Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur, who also served as coach of the Australian cricket in his newly-released autobiography My Family’s Keeper.
The bitterness between Haddin and Arthur began in 2012 when the wicketkeeper took a break from the game to look after his ill daughter.
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MSK Prasad justifies his decision to go for Parthiv Patel ahead of Rishabh Pant
Chairman of selectors MSK Prasad had a tough choice to make between young Rishabh Pant and veteran Parthiv Patel. Going by the way Parthiv has developed his game in domestic circuit in the last couple of seasons Prasad & Co. decided to call him back in the Test team after a gap of 8 years. He made the chance count and scored healthy runs in both the innings.
It did justify the selectors decision but having ignored someone as talented and in-form as Rishabh Pant the selectors should have had a strong reason to back it up. Prasad was quoted by Indian Express saying “It’s 100 percent a strong message to those scoring at domestic level. I have been talking to Parthiv for the past one year or so. Parthiv has raised the bar and has reached new levels,”
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Selection dilemma for the South African team management
Though people might argue that this is a good problem to have but in reality, the South African team management faces a difficult task when they sit down to decide on their starting XI for the Boxing Day Test against Sri Lanka in Port Elizabeth. AB de Villiers who missed the 2-1 series triumph over Australia in their own backyard due to an elbow injury will undoubtedly return to the playing XI for the match but the inevitable question is who will be left out?
Until the final Test against the Aussies it was almost certain that Stephen Cook would be the one who will face the axe he still might be but his fighting century in the 2nd innings of the Pink Ball Test has surely put the selectors under the dilemma. It was Cook’s 2nd Test century in only his 6th match and dropping him despite his brilliant showing might be unjust for the fighting character.
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George Bailey’s new side-on batting stance
One man – George Bailey – seems to be attempting to change the basic rules of batting. No issues with that. The world is quite open to innovations these days more than ever. MS Dhoni, Steven Smith, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers head the unorthodox batting club. But Bailey, with his new batting stance, is trying to gatecrash and that league abruptly.
The above-mentioned paragraph just wants to roughly describe the strange, awkward yet unique batting stance which Bailey is implementing at the international arena. He perhaps might be having a very out of box theory behind it but to a spectator, it looks outrageous. It’s creating a bit of discussion among cricket fans and a few in the social media circles are demanding for an ‘ABW’ which translates to ‘Ass before wicket.’
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The battle between Sanju Samson and KCA intensifies
Just when it appeared that things couldn’t get worse the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) has released injured Sanju Samson from the team. While this looks like a pretty regulation move by the association, things aren’t quite right between the wicketkeeper-batsman and the KCA.
The player having sustained a knee injury and given that he could no longer be a part of the team had requested the KCA for a No Objection Certificate to go to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru for rehabilitation but when he did not receive a reply for it, his father Samson Vishwanath decided to ring up KCA president TC Mathew to check for an update.
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BCCI may cancel rescheduled Ranji matches
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is reconsidering its decision of rescheduling two Ranji Trophy league matches that were called off on the second day of the four-day match after objections raised by at least two State associations.In fact, indications are the senior tournament committee is all set to reverse the earlier decision of rescheduling the two games.
BCCI had earlier announced the dates for the two 5th round matches which were abandoned. The matches were slated to be played from December 15 to December 18. The Group A encounter between Gujarat and Bengal was scheduled at Vizag while the second match, the one between the Group C teams – Hyderabad and Tripura – was scheduled at Kolkata.
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Parthiv Patel set to retain his place, Ishant Sharma released for the fourth Test
Given the opening troubles Parthiv Patel who made a comeback in the Mohali Test and a remarkable one has been retained in the squad for the next match.
Patel who scored 42 and 67* in both the innings of the game was also at his best behind the wickets. Making his way back into the Test squad after eight long years he was able to translate his first-class form at the highest level and that has certainly helped his case.
Indian pacer Ishant Sharma whose services haven’t been required thus far in the series with Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav doing the job quite efficiently has been released from the team. Ishant is all set to tie the nuptial knot with fiancée Pratima Singh on December 9. The dates coincide with the Mumbai Test that starts from December 8 and thus he has been released.
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Ben Stokes is impossible to captain: Paul Collingwood
England all–rounder Ben Stokes, despite all his wonderful performances, has been every now and then attracted the attention of the law keepers of the game due to his mercurial behaviours. Most recently, Stokes was involved in an exchange with the Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli who too has been in red hot form and has scored over 400 runs in the series. His on-field behaviour didn’t go down well with the ICC and he was reprimanded after the third Test at Mohali.
Former England captain Paul Collingwood who leads the all-rounder at Durham advised Alastair Cook to let Stokes be as he is impossible to captain. “There’s no point in trying to captain Ben Stokes,” said Collingwood. “I can sit here and pretend he’d listen to us. That’s beauty about him – he wants to be in the important points of the game and wants to play a big part in winning the game. He’s almost impossible to captain.
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Not 100 percent sure if Stuart Broad will be fit for the 4th Test: Trevor Bayliss
England pacer Stuart Broad having sustained a tendon injury to his right foot during the second Test at Vizag missed out from the Mohali Test that the team eventually went on to lose.
The fourth Test at Mumbai is still five days away and Broad has been wearing the moon-boot to boost his recovery. But England coach Trevor Bayliss yesterday admitted that there was no certainty whether the 30-year-old would be fit in time for the next Test.
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Mohammad Shahzad’s return in the game against Bulls surprises most
Afghanistan’s star wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad who has been in some form in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) representing the Rangpur Riders was banned by the BPL Governing Council for a couple of matches for breaching the Code of Conduct for players during the match against Rajshahi Kings.
He was found guilty after the on-field incident where he poked his bat at Rajshahi’s Sabbir Rahman after being dismissed.
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Current Indian team is the best in the world: Sachin Tendulkar
Indian cricket fans of the current generation be asked about the best team they have seen represent the country has to be the one led by Sourav Ganguly that had legends like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman and Zaheer Khan among others back in 2002-03.
The Indian Test team is in rebuilding phase right now, where there are no legends, no certain names on the team sheet and every individual is eager to go out there, perform and enhance his reputation and cement his spot.
Virat Kohli & Co. has received a huge compliment from master blaster Sachin Tendulkar who feels that this unit is the best in the world at the moment and they remind him of the team he was a part of in 2002-03.
Talking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit he said, “The current bunch of cricketers remind me of the team we had in 2002-2003. We had (Virender) Sehwag opening the innings, Rahul (Dravid) came at No.3, followed by me in No.4, Sourav (Ganguly) at No.5 and (VVS) Laxman at No.6,”
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MS Dhoni likely to enter England ODI series without match practice
As per the recent news, team India limited-overs skipper MS Dhoni will most likely head into the England ODI series without any practice. This comes in contradiction with the recent protocol announced by the Indian team. Team India head coach Anil Kumble had mentioned that any player who makes a comeback to the national side must prove himself at the domestic arena first.
However, with no domestic limited overs matches scheduled before the England series, MS Dhoni might have to get into the national set up without match practice. The Indian skipper last featured in an ODI match during the India-New Zealand series. He led the team to a comfortable win in the Vizag ODI on October 29.
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Mohammad Asif feels there is nothing special about the current Pakistan pacers
Mohammad Asif who was involved in the spot-fixing debacle in 2010 gave a brief assessment of Pakistan’s current crop of bowlers. He feels that the current bunch aren’t very talented and there is nothing ‘special’ about them. Asif recently made his return to competitive cricket in Pakistan’s domestic tournament following his 5-year ban for his involvement in spot-fixing during the Test series in England in 2010.
“We talk about talent…but this is all the talent that we have. I don’t think there is anything special about our pacers. It is an average sort of attack,” Asif told the Dawn. “To develop something special, you must work hard. And of course, some have abilities which are God-gifted. I’ve played a full season now but I didn’t see anything special, be it Rahat [Ali] or Imran Khan or Sohail Khan.”
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