Sports
T20 World Cup: Australia beats Pak to storm into the final
After a stunning chase of New Zealand against England, we witnessed another close thriller between Pakistan and Australia tonight. While the Kiwis held their nerves last night and chased the target, it was the Aussies who repeated the same feat tonight. Now, both New Zealand and Australia will take on each other in the final on Sunday.
Chasing a big total of 177 runs is never an easy task in Dubai. We have seen how the pitches troubled the batters in the IPL and the World Cup. The dew factor was the only advantage for Australians. However, Pakistan got an early breakthrough by scalping the wicket of the Aussie captain Aaron Finch right in the first over. But David Warner (49) and Mitchell Marsh (28) have settled the innings by making a partnership of 51 runs for the second wicket. Once Marsh departed, Warner took the charge. But he got out in the 11th over. Even Smith and Maxwell got dismissed for single-digit scores, all thanks to Shadab Khan’s brilliant spell (4/26).
Australia was in deep trouble. That’s when Marcus Stoinis (40*) and Matthew Wade (41*) took responsibility and made sure not to lose another wicket. They played slow until the 17th over and then unleashed their arms. When they needed 22 runs off the last two overs, Matthew Wade smashed all runs in the 19th over bowled by Shaheen Afridi and finished the game in the penultimate over. As a result, Australia scored 177/5 in 19 overs.
Also Read: T20 World Cup: New Zealand enters the final by winning a thrilling chase
After they lost the toss and was asked to bat first, Pakistan batters took the opportunity to post a big total on the scoreboard. They executed their plans so well and thus, they got good partnerships after every wicket. While opener Babar Azam (39) and Mohammed Rizwan (67) made a partnership of 71 runs for the first wicket, Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman (55*) have made a partnership of 72 runs for the second wicket. In the process, both of them have scored their respective half-centuries. The Australian bowlers came back strong in the death overs and scalped the wickets of Asif Ali and Shoaib Malik in quick time and restricted Pakistan in scoring a humongous total. However, the Pak batters managed to post a high total of 176/4 by the end of 20 overs.
The final will be held in Dubai on November 14.
Also Read: India’s squad picked up for the T20 series against New Zealand
Ravi Shastri: Ravi Shastri relieved his coaching duties as India’s head coach recently. He served as the team’s head coach for almost four years. Under his guidance, India didn’t win any ICC tournament but registered some historic overseas victories in Australia and England. Recently, Shastri opened up on his toughest day as the head coach.
Ravi Shastri
In an interview with The Week, Shastri said that India getting all-out for 36 during the Australia tour last year was his toughest day as the coach. He stated that the coach is always on a firing line and there is no choice. There are no escape routes according to him and the coach has to be ready for the challenges from day one.
“The 36 all out was the lowest point. We had nine wickets in hand (according to the overnight score) and then we were bundled out for 36. All that had to be done was to score 80-odd more runs (to be in the game). We were all numb. We were in a state of shock for days. How could that have happened?” Shastri recalled the incident.
After that disaster in the first Test, Team India came back stronger in the next three Test matches. It won two of the rest three games and sealed the series by 2-1. Shastri relieved his duties as a head coach after the recent T20 World Cup. Rahul Dravid took up the charges from Shastri and is working as Team India’s head coach now.
IPL 2022: Former cricketer Harbhajan Singh has been a key player in the history of IPL. The off-spinner represented Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders in the league. He took a total of 150 wickets in 163 matches he played in the league. After participating in the league for 14 seasons, it looks like Bhajji is planning to retire from IPL. But he will be associated with the tournament in a different role.
Harbhajan Singh
Harbhajan Singh announced his retirement from international cricket long back but is continuing in the IPL. However, it is reported that he will now quit the league as well. Apparently, he will be a part of the support staff of one of the major teams and come back in a new role next season.
According to the sources, this role could be of a mentor or a bowling coach or a consultant. It seems that Bhajji always had an interest in grooming young players and thus, a high-profile franchise has made him this offer. His inclusion in the support staff will be made official once Bhajji signs the contract.
Young cricketers like Varun Chakravarthy and Venkatesh Iyer credited Bhajji for guiding them in the nets when they were representing KKR in the 2020 and 21 seasons. Bhajji’s new role may get announced ahead of the mega auction which will be held in January 2022.
Team India ODI Captaincy: Virat Kohli relieved his T20I captaincy duties after the T20 World Cup and handed over the responsibilities to Rohit Sharma. Now, it is being speculated that BCCI is planning to hand over Rohit the ODI captaincy as well. It is being speculated that Rohit will be made the white-ball captain ahead of the South Africa tour but BCCI is in no rush. Apparently, it wants to hold talks with Virat and Rohit before taking a decision.
Team India ODI Captaincy
Reportedly, Rohit and Virat will meet the selection committee today in Mumbai. The decision will be made final before the ODI squad for the South Africa tour gets announced. India will play 3 Tests and 3 ODIs in the upcoming South Africa tour. If Rohit gets the ODI captaincy, he will lead the one-day team while Kohli will lead the Test team.
Kohli’s performance was under-par in the last couple of years. Everyone is feeling that captaincy has become an additional burden for him which is indirectly affecting his performance. Thus, the board wants to keep him as the Test captain and give the rest of the formats to Rohit.
Meanwhile, it is also being heard that Kohli doesn’t want to give up the ODI captaincy anytime soon. As the upcoming ODI World Cup is scheduled to be held in 2023 in India, he wants to lead the team and try his luck in winning the tournament in home conditions. Anyway, we have to wait for a few more days for the captaincy suspense to end.
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