Hanuma Vihari’s maiden ton, followed by a magnificent spell of fast bowling by Jasprit Bumrah, put India in the drivers’ seat at the end of the second day of the second test against the West Indies on Saturday. Continue reading “West Indies vs India Second Test Day 2 Kingston Match Report August 31 2019”
Category: Test Cricket
West Indies vs India Second Test Day 1 Kingston Match Report August 30 2019
Mayank Agarwal and skipper Virat Kohli both scored fine half centuries as India recovered from a shaky start to finish Day 1 of the second test at 264/5 in Kingston on Friday.
India went in with an unchanged line up, while the home side included debutant Rahkeem Cornwall and wicket keeper Jahmar Hamilton in place of Miguel Cummins and Shai Hope respectively.
Continue reading “West Indies vs India Second Test Day 1 Kingston Match Report August 30 2019”
West Indies vs India First Test Day 1 Antigua Match Report August 22 2019
Under-fire Indian vice captain Ajinkya Rahane saved his team’s blushes with a gritty 81 as the visitors finished Day 1 of the opening test at 203 for six in Antigua on Thursday.
The decision to axe Ravi Ashwin, left out in favour of Ravi Jadeja, took fans and pundits alike by surprise. The visitors also chose to persist with Hanuma Vihari, with the Andhra batsman getting the nod at 6 ahead of Rohit Sharma.
Continue reading “West Indies vs India First Test Day 1 Antigua Match Report August 22 2019”
End of an era- Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn retire from cricket
It’s officially the end of an era. With the retirements of Dale Steyn and Hashim Amla, all members of the South African side who scripted that famous series victory Down Under against Australia in 2008 have called it a day.
That Proteas team was also the first one since readmission to beat Australia in Australia, and they didn’t lose a single away test series between 2007 and 2015- quite an amazing statistic given the variety of conditions that prevail in test cricket today. Amla and Steyn were both key members of that squad as was AB de Villiers, who also hung up his international boots last year. Interestingly, the trio were the 295th, 296th and 297th players for South Africa and made their debuts in the same year- will the Proteas ever have a more impactful troika of players in the future? Continue reading “End of an era- Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn retire from cricket”
India Squad for Tour of West Indies 2019 Announced- No Shubman Gill
India have officially announced their squad for their upcoming tour of the West Indies. There was talk that the World Cup semi-finalists would adopt split captaincy for this tour, but skipper Virat Kohli continues to hold the reigns across all three formats. A couple of key players have been rested given their workload, but it still remains a very strong squad- certainly not a second string one by any stretch of imagination.
Because this tour comes on the heels of the just concluded World Cup, let’s take a look at their ODI squad first.
What changes have been made from the World Cup roster for this squad to tour the Carribean?
There are a few changes- Vijay Shankar is injured, MS Dhoni has made himself “unavailable”, Dinesh Karthik has seemingly been axed and the pair of Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah have been rested. In come Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey- the former widely expected to be India’s next No.4 and the latter rewarded for a string of strong domestic performances. Navdeep Saini and Khaleel Ahmed are the new bowlers in the squad.
Shikhar Dhawan returns to the squad after missing the latter half of India’s World Cup campaign with a thumb injury.
Somewhat surprisingly, there is no Shubman Gill, but chairman of selectors MSK Prasad said that the Punjab youngster, who toured New Zealand earlier this year, is very much in their plans. Rishabh Pant is also the only wicket keeper in the squad, with KL Rahul expected to provide temporary cover if required.
Kedar Jadhav retains his spot in the fifteen despite not featuring in the XI that took on New Zealand in the semis.
India Test Squad for West Indies Tour 2019
The test squad will be seen in action for the first time since that historic win in Australia. Several “test-only” regulars of the squad- Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma all feature as expected. There is a welcome return after a long injury layoff for Wriddhiman Saha. Bhuvneshwar Kumar misses out with the selectors preferring the quartet of Mohammad Shami, Sharma, Bumrah and Umesh Yadav in the pace department. Rohit Sharma, so prolific in the 50 over format, has been given another chance to add to his 27 test caps.
India T20 Squad
The T20 squad retains a strong batting core, with Kohli, Sharma, Dhawan and Rahul all present but features an experimental bowling outfit. Both Chahars- Rahul and Deepak, have made the cut, as has Washington Sundar.
Jofra Archer could have key role to play in Ashes, says Stuart Broad
While a lot of the talk has been around whether or not Jofra Archer will be in England’s World Cup squad, veteran Stuart Broad has said that the 24 year old could also play a vital role in the Ashes later this year.
Archer, already a T20 superstar, impressed one and all with his bowling in England’s recent internationals. His pace was particularly eye-catching, with the Barbados born star comfortably hitting speeds of 90 mph+, and unlike some others in the modern game, he’s also got the control to go with it. Archer bowled only four overs in England’s rain-hit first ODI against Pakistan at the Oval, but his 4-2-6-1 spell was enough to make several veterans of the game gush about him.
Legendary all-rounder Andrew Flintoff has said that he would drop “anyone” for Archer, and added that he was impressed with the latter’s array of skills, saying that he had “to be in” the squad. Archer’s pace and ability to deliver yorkers, bouncers and slower balls at will impressed the Lancashire great. Continue reading “Jofra Archer could have key role to play in Ashes, says Stuart Broad”