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India aim to avenge warm-up loss against New Zealand, rain may play spoilsport

Agencies
June 12, 2019

Nottingham, Jun 12: India and New Zealand, the only two unbeaten sides in the ongoing World Cup so far, will look to dominate each other and prove a point when they meet on Thursday at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. The Black Caps have been absolutely ruthless in the three games they have played so far in the tournament.

After defeating Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in their tournament opener, the Kiwis didn't put their foot off the peddle and registered comprehensive victories against Bangladesh and Afghanistan in their next fixture.

On the other hand, India have also played like tournament favourites and have registered reaffirming wins over South Africa and Australia. However, they would be wary of the fact that they had to be at their absolute best against Kane Williamson`s side which defeated them quite convincingly in the warm-up fixture.

In that warm-up game, the Indian batsmen seemed to have no clue against the pace and swing from Trent Boult and other Kiwi pacers and were bundled out for mere 179 which the Black Caps chased down with ease at the Kennington Oval in London.

As Shikhar Dhawan is out for the game, the Men in Blue will hope that KL Rahul -- who in all likelihood, will open the innings alongside Rohit Sharma - gives them a solid start and lay the foundation for the upcoming batsmen to score big and go full throttle against the New Zealand bowlers.

Also, it will be interesting to see whom they include in place of Dhawan. Either they can include Dinesh Karthik to strengthen their batting or they can go with either Ravindra Jadeja or Vijay Shanker who give them a bowling option too.

However, one thing which both teams would be looking at is the weather in Nottingham. The weather forecast is not good for Thursday and there are high chances that rain may play spoilsport in the game.

The pitch at Trent Bridge is easily one of the best batting wickets in the country but the overcast conditions would definitely assist the fast bowlers.

So, far the two teams have met seven times in all World Cup editions and New Zealand hold an edge of 4-3 against India. Thus, Virat Kohli would be looking to better that record.

Squads: India: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, M.S. Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, K.L. Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Vijay Shanker, Ravindra Jadeja, Kedar Jadhav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammad Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah

New Zealand: Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Trent Boult, Martin Guptill, Colin de Grandhomme, Colin Munro, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Tom Bundell, Tom Latham, Henry Nicholls, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Henry, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi.

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News Network
April 7,2020

London, Apr 7: Bowling coach Waqar Younis feels that it was the absence of pacers Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Amir which saw Pakistan getting whitewashed during Australia tour last year.

Amir and Riaz had quit the red-ball format ahead of the matches against Australia in 2019.

"Just before the Australia series, they ditched us and we had the only choice to pick youngsters.

We were the new management and decided to go on with taking in the younger lot and groom them. ESPNcricinfo quoted Younis as saying.

Pakistan was not able to win a single match in Australia as they got defeated both in T20Is and Test series.

"It's not like we have lost a lot, but yes they left us at the wrong time. But anyway, we don't have any grudge against them," Younis added.

"We cannot control players' choice on what they want to play, but then there should be a mechanism so we all are on board. "It's not like I am saying we could have won in Australia but we could have done better than what we have done," he opined.

Amir gave up the red ball format in July in order to manage his workload and extend his white-ball career for Pakistan as well as in T20 leagues around the world, while Riaz took an "indefinite break" from Test cricket in September last year.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

New Delhi, Jul 28: 'Your character stood out for me than the number of runs you scored," said India skipper Virat Kohli while explaining his decision to give opening Mayank Agarwal a Test debut in the 2018-19 Australia series.

Mayank Agarwal had made his Test debut against Australia in the third Test of the four-match series.

Playing the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Agarwal managed to register a half-century in his very first innings in the longest format.

"I had seen you play for RCB, even then you played international bowlers with conviction and you would take them on. You were performing in first-class matches in a dominating way. That is something always stood out with you, I would say your character stood out for me than the number of runs. I knew you would be fearless without having any baggage," Kohli told Mayank Agarwal in a video posted on the official website of BCCI.

In the longest format of the game, Agarwal has managed to score 974 runs from 11 matches at an average of 57.29 with three centuries as an opening batsman.

The Indian skipper also explained as to what makes him notice in a player and added that it is important that guys in the team look to face new challenges and emerge triumphantly.

"For me, the biggest marker is how a person approaches the game, so for example when you opened and we made Vihari open with you. The first opportunity we presented Vihari to open the batting, he said yes to it and that matters me to the most," Kohli said.

"I opened in my first series for India, I said yes to this opportunity and things worked out fine for me. So, a guy who wants to get into tough situations will come out either holding his head high or learning from his mistakes," he added.

Kohli and Mayank would soon be seen in action for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab respectively in the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting from September 19 in the UAE.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar keep on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

At present, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings. Kohli has so far played 86 Tests, scoring 7,240 runs with 27 centuries at an average of 53.62.

His knock of 254 against South Africa at Pune in 2019 remains his highest Test score to date. When it comes to ODIs, the current Indian skipper has played 248 matches and has 43 centuries.

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News Network
May 14,2020

May 14: Veteran South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis has proposed a two-week isolation period for players before and after the T20 World Cup as a way to stage the event as per schedule later this year.

Like other sports, cricketing action too has come to a complete halt due to the coronavirus pandemic. The fate of the T20 World Cup to be held in Australia in October-November is shrouded in uncertainty.

Talking to Bangladesh ODI captain Tamim Iqbal, du Plessis said travel was going to be an issue despite Australia being less affected by the deadly contagion.

"I am not sure... reading that travelling is going to be an issue for lot of countries and they are talking about December or January. Even if Australia is not affected like other countries, to get people from Bangladesh, South Africa or India where there is more danger, obviously it's a health risk to them," du Plessis said.

"But you can go in before the tournament (for) two weeks isolation and then play the tournament and afterwards two weeks isolation," said the former captain.

Several countries across the globe, including South Africa, Australia and India, have travel restrictions in place and the veteran Proteas batsman joked travelling by boat is not an option.

"But I don't know when South Africa will open their travel ban because we can't go there like old days on boats," du Plessis said.

In March, South Africa's ODI series against India was called off after the first match in view of the pandemic.

The coronavirus outbreak, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has infected more than 44 lakh people worldwide while causing close to 3 lakh deaths.

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