Month: September 2019

India Women’s Squad for West Indies Tour Announced- Sushma Verma the only addition

The India Women’s squad for their upcoming tour of the West Indies has been announced and it features only one new name, with wicket keeper Sushma Verma added to the ODI side. With the exception of Verma’s addition, both ODI and T20 squads remain the same as the ones announced to play South Africa at home. India currently lead the T20 series against the Proteas 1-0, with the ODI’s yet to be played.

Verma’s inclusion could be seen as India requiring a backup wicket keeper on a long overseas tour- Taniya Bhatia is currently the national team’s first choice behind the wickets.

This is India’s first tour of the West Indies since 2012. They lost both the T20 and ODI series on that visit, going down 2-1 in the ODI’s and 3-2 in the T20’s.

India were captained by Anjum Chopra on that 2012 tour. Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur both played then, with the former now captaining India in the ODI’s and the latter at the helm of affairs in the T20 format.

Despite the near eight-year long gap between the two tours, conditions in the Caribbean will not be totally alien to India- the region also hosted the T20 Women’s World Cup last year. India won all four games in their group, including ones against eventual champions Australia and a strong New Zealand side, only to go down to England in their semi-final.

The ODI series against the Windies starts on November 1 in Antigua, with the other two one day internationals set to be played on the 3rd and 6th of November respectively. The T20 series will be played in St.Lucia (November 9, 10) and Guyana (November 14, 17, 20).

India Womens Squad for West Indies Tour 2019

Raj, Kaur and Veda Krishnamurthy are the only survivors from that 2012 squad for the visitors.

This tour could result in several key members of the squad- Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues, having to withdraw from the Women’s Big Bash League as the two events will clash with each other.

Talking Points- India Women vs South Africa Women 1st T20 Surat September 2019

The first ever international game at Surat’s Lalbhai Contractor stadium went the way of India’s Women as they beat their South African counterparts by 11 runs earlier this evening. Here are our talking points from the clash.

Fantastic Deepti: Deepti Sharma turned this game on its head with her wonderful a spell of 4-3-8-3. Her first three overs were all maidens and she also picked up the wickets of Tasmine Brits, Nadine de Klerk and Shabnim Ismail. Essentially brought India back into the game after Pooja Vastrakar had gone for 18 in the opening over.

Dane van Niekerk sorely missed: South Africa’s women had a great chance to win this game, having initially restricted India to an under-par score of 130/8, and then scoring 18 runs off the first over of their innings. Unfortunately, their batsmen came a cropper- only three crossed double digits, and one of them was veteran Mignon du Preez, who effectively scored half of their runs (59 off 43). It was a game where they missed regular captain Dane van Niekerk and even all-rounder Marizanne Kapp and the hard hitting Chloe Tryon as well. Continue reading “Talking Points- India Women vs South Africa Women 1st T20 Surat September 2019”

India vs South Africa Third T-20 Match Report September 22 2019- Bengaluru

South African skipper Quinton de Kock led from the front with an unbeaten 79 as the Proteas comfortably defeated India by nine wickets in Bengaluru to level the series 1-1 on Sunday.

The home side went in with an unchanged line up, while the visitors included Beuran Hendricks in place of the injured Anrich Nortje.

Like he had in Mohali, Indian skipper Virat Kohli again won the toss, but this time surprised one and all by opting to bat first. The Chinnaswamy has a reputation of being a chasing ground and India’s win percentage in T20 internationals drops to below 50% while batting first (as opposed to a near 75% win percentage while chasing). Kohli said at the toss that it was an attempt to test his bowlers ahead of the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia.

The opening duo of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma put on a quickfire 22 run opening stand before Beuran Hendricks drew first blood, with Rohit caught at slip by Reeza Hendricks. The left armer pacer has a fine record against Rohit in T20’s- 3 dismissals in 4 deliveries across 3 innings Continue reading “India vs South Africa Third T-20 Match Report September 22 2019- Bengaluru”

Talking Points- India vs South Africa 2nd T20 September 18 2019 Mohali

India started their home season with a comfortable seven wicket win as they brushed aside South Africa by seven wickets in Mohali. Here are our talking points from the game.

Another Virat Kohli masterclass:The only player to average over 50 in all three formats of the game, Kohli produced another chasing masterclass as India went 1-0 up in the series. He ensured that the hosts always remained ahead of the asking rate, and his 52 ball 72 was studded with some fine shots- none better than the flicked six off Kagiso Rabada towards the end of the chase.

Virat Kohli Average over 50 + in all 3 formats

He also took a fine diving catch to dismiss his opposite number Quinton de Kock just as the latter was beginning to look dangerous. Kohli was off the field in the final stages of South Africa’s innings with an apparent back problem- the only way the Proteas might have made a match of it was if he didn’t recover in time to take the crease. But he did, and once he got into his stride, the outcome was inevitable.

Temba Bavuma’s T20 debut: South Africa handed a T20 debut to Temba Bavuma and the gritty batsman made a pretty decent fist of it- scoring 49 off 43. However numbers don’t quite tell the exact story- Bavuma was 42 (31) at the end of the 14th over, and his struggles at the death meant South Africa couldn’t quite tee off. They managed only 16 runs between overs 16-19, and only got to 149 thanks to two sixes in the last four balls from Andile Phehlukwayo and Dwaine Pretorius.

Bavuma is a decent batsman, but South Africa possess too many similar players – several who can strike at a little over a 100, but take their time to get in. If they don’t convert (like Kohli did today), it doesn’t exactly help the team’s cause. Someone like Shreyas Iyer, with his ability to strike from the word go, would walk into this Proteas T20 side comfortably. Continue reading “Talking Points- India vs South Africa 2nd T20 September 18 2019 Mohali”

Talking Points- India A vs South Africa A 1st Test in Thiruvananthapuram September 2019

South Africa A’s struggles on their tour of India continued as they were comfortably beaten by the hosts in the first test between the two sides in Thiruvananthapuram. A change in personnel from the ODI’s didn’t really help the Proteas’ cause as they were outplayed in all three facets of the game. We take a look at our talking points from the fixture.

Worrying times for Aiden Markram: Markram, the A side’s captain, and the likely partner for Dean Elgar when the official senior test series begins, made only 0 and 4 in this game. He struggled badly on South Africa’s last tour to Sri Lanka, and long-suffering Proteas fans will be hoping that this India tour doesn’t go the same way for him as it did for Stiaan van Zyl four years ago. Fortunately for Markram, he’s a more natural opener than Van Zyl, and there aren’t too many contenders knocking on the door in domestic cricket back home.

South Africa’s batsmen fail again: It wasn’t just Markram, but the likes of Pieter Malan, Khaya Zondo and co. also came a cropper. Across both innings, no Proteas batsman managed to make a single half century. The highest score came from the bat of Titans keeper Heinrich Klaasen (48)- a man who has seen his international career stall over the last eighteen months or so. Batting has been a serious issue for the Proteas for the best part of this decade, and more so after the retirement of AB de Villiers. The Proteas batting was a key component of their unprecedented success between 2006 and 2014- there doesn’t seem to be anyone in the class of De Villiers, Kallis or Amla coming up the ranks.

No Anrich Nortje in the SA XI and Muthusamy underbowled: Anrich Nortje has a strong case to be in the Proteas test side next month, given that Vernon Philander doesn’t quite have the pace required for Indian conditions and Lungi Ngidi tends to struggle with heavy workloads. Nortje wasn’t even in the squad for this game, and all rounder Senuran Muthusamy, who has been talked of as a potential third spinner option for the test side, bowled just a handful of overs.

Jalaj Saxena makes his mark: Saxena stamped his authority on this game- his 61 in the first innings bailed India out after they were in a spot of bother at 199/7, and also took two wickets in the second innings.

South Africa (164 and 186) lost to India (303 and 49/3) by seven wickets.

India Test Squad for South Africa Series Announced- Shubman Gill in, Rohit to open?

India have today (September 12, 2019) officially announced their test squad for their upcoming home series against South Africa.

After a mediocre performance with the bat in the recently concluded series against the West Indies, Karnataka batsman KL Rahul has been axed, with the the selectors opting to bring in young Shubhman Gill into the squad. Gill captained India A in their recent test against South Africa A in Trivandrum, a game that was comfortably won by the home side. The India U19 star opened the batting in this fixture, and scored a masterful 90 in the first innings- the highest score by an individual player across both teams in this test.

As suggested by previous media reports, the selectors have also given Rohit Sharma another chance at resurrecting his test career- this time as an opener. The MI skipper is expected to partner Mayank Agarwal at the top Continue reading “India Test Squad for South Africa Series Announced- Shubman Gill in, Rohit to open?”