Tag: India

India ODI Squad for South Africa Series March 2020- First by new Sunil Joshi selection committee

Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have made a comeback to India’s 15 man ODI squad for the South Africa series that was announced earlier today. The trio had missed the recently concluded tour of New Zealand, which the visitors lost 3-0, due to injury.

This is the first Indian squad to be selected by the country’s new selection committee, headed by Sunil Joshi.

What changes have India made from the NZ ODI series for the South Africa games?

Rohit Sharma is injured- he has not fully recovered from the calf injury he suffered during the fifth T20I against New Zealand, but Shikhar Dhawan, as mentioned above, has returned. Mayank Agarwal, who replaced Sharma in NZ, is not part of the 15, with Shubman Gill included in the side.

Also missing out are Kedar Jadhav, Shivam Dube, Mohammed Shami and Shardul Thakur. Shami has been rested as a precautionary measure following his shoulder injury in the second test. Continue reading “India ODI Squad for South Africa Series March 2020- First by new Sunil Joshi selection committee”

Talking points- Black Caps vs India Second Test Christchurch 2020

New Zealand continued their dominance at home as they thumped India by seven wickets in less than three days to complete a memorable series win at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch on Monday. The victory ensured a whitewash for the Black Caps across both ODI and test formats after they had been blanked 5-0 in the T-20’s.

Here are our talking points from the second test.

Uncharacteristically poor tour for Virat Kohli.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli’s woeful run with the bat continued as he was dismissed cheaply yet again in both innings here. In the test series, Kohli had scores of 2, 19, 3 & 14 respectively. He was dismissed leg before wicket twice here, with Tim Southee accounting for him in the first innings and Colin de Grandhomme claiming his scalp in the second.

Kohli’s tally for the series was only 38 runs- even tailender Mohammed Shami (44) scored more than him.

Kyle Jamieson’s handy runs down the order hurt India.

India’s bowlers roared back on the second morning, reducing the Black Caps to 153/7 shortly after lunch. However Kyle Jamieson again rescued the hosts by scoring 49 very handy runs to lift the home side to 235. He also claimed a five wicket haul in the first innings, including the key wickets of Cheteshwar Pujara and young Prithvi Shaw, both of whom had scored half centuries and were looking threatening for more.

Jamieson was also excellent at the Basin Reserve, and this has been a fine debut series in the longest format of the game for the lanky pacer. Continue reading “Talking points- Black Caps vs India Second Test Christchurch 2020”

Talking points- India vs New Zealand First Test Wellington 2020

New Zealand thumped India by 10 wickets in the first Test at the Basin Reserve in Wellington to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. The victory was also a major milestone for the Black Caps- it marked the 100th test win in their history.

Here are our talking points from the first test.

1. New Zealand tailenders bat India out of the contest

Having been bowled out of 165 in the first innings, India themselves managed to reduce New Zealand to 225/7 early on Day 3. The visitors would have been hoping to get through the lower order to prevent the Black Caps from taking a sizeable lead. However the pair of Colin de Grandhomme and Kyle Jamieson had other ideas and effectively batted the Men in Blue out of the contest by adding 71 valuable runs for the 8th wicket.

To add insult to injury, No.11 Trent Boult also managed a quickfire 38 from just 24 balls and propelled New Zealand to a total of 348, thereby allowing the hosts to take a healthy (and ultimately match winning) lead of 183 runs in the first innings.

2. Rare failures for Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah

The two are probably India’s most valuable players but struggled in Wellington. Kohli had scores of 2 and 19 here, while Bumrah finished with figures of 26-5-88-1, both well below their usual standards. Even Cheteshwar Pujara, normally so reliable, batted for long periods and had starts, but couldn’t convert them into bigger scores. Continue reading “Talking points- India vs New Zealand First Test Wellington 2020”

India vs New Zealand Third ODI Match Report 2020

KL Rahul’s impressive knock of 112 went in vain as India fell to a five wicket defeat in the third and final ODI in Mount Maunganui on Tuesday. The result saw hosts New Zealand take the series 3-0- the first time in over 30 years that India have lost all the games of a bilateral ODI series.

The visitors dropped Kedar Jadhav and included Manish Pandey, while the home side were bolstered by the return of regular skipper Kane Williamson from injury. Having recovered from illness, Mitch Santner also took his place in the XI with Mark Chapman dropping out. Continue reading “India vs New Zealand Third ODI Match Report 2020”

Kyle Jamieson impressive on debut, unwell Southee leads from the front & More- Talking Points from Black Caps v India Eden Park ODI 2020

A fine all round performance from Kyle Jamieson and an excellent half century from the in-form Ross Taylor helped New Zealand beat India by 22 runs at Eden Park and seal the ODI series. Here are our talking points from the game.

Kyle Jamieson stars on debut: Brought into the XI due to Scott Kuggeleijn’s illness, the lanky pacer had a dream ODI debut. Coming in at No.10, his 25* (24) helped New Zealand recover from 197/8 to post a competitive total of 273. Jamieson and Taylor added 76 runs in 51 balls and their partnership swung momentum the Black Caps’ way after India had fought back in the middle stages.

Jamieson was also influential with the ball- he took out Prithvi Shaw, who scored only boundaries in his knock of 24, including three off the first four deliveries of the innings, and later returned to rattle the stumps of Navdeep Saini, who was threatening to pull off an unlikely win for India in the company of Ravi Jadeja.

Unwell Southee leads from the front: Tim Southee was unwell and would probably not have played this game if the Black Caps had enough fit players in their ranks. The onus of leading an inexperienced attack fell on him and he didn’t disappoint- bowling his full quota 10 by the half way stage, and more importantly, accounting for Virat Kohli. The set up to dismiss the Indian captain was fantastic Continue reading “Kyle Jamieson impressive on debut, unwell Southee leads from the front & More- Talking Points from Black Caps v India Eden Park ODI 2020”