Page 69 - Cricket

Been trying to make some technical changes ahead of T20 World Cup: Finch

Out-of-form Australian skipper Aaron Finch says he has been working on making some technical changes ahead of the T20 World Cup. Finch, who stepped down from ODI captaincy recently, has been enduring a rough patch for over a year. In the three T20Is against England at home, he managed just 25 runs. "I think T20 cricket as an opening batter, that comes with some risk and reward at times when you're trying to be aggressive and get the team off to a quick start," Finch said at the captains' press conference. "But it's not always going to go to plan. I'm okay with that. I think when you play T20 for long enough, you understand that you just ride the highs and lows a little bit. "But I feel really good. There's some technical changes and stuff that I've been trying to make over the last little bit. Yeah, I feel ready to go for the World Cup," he added. Australia will begin the defence of their title against Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand on October 22 in Sydney and the skipper feels t

India to clash with Sri Lanka in pursuit of winning 7th Asia Cup title

A ruthless Indian team would look to reassert its supremacy and aim to win an unprecedented seventh Asia Cup title when it clashes with Sri Lanka in the final here on Saturday. The tournament brought to fore India's depth as the younger crop of players has shouldered the burden of taking the team to the final without any tangible contribution from skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and her deputy Smriti Mandhana. Such has been the impact of the Indian team, that skipper Harmanpreet played only four games (81 runs) and in total faced a only 72 balls in those matches. Even Mandhana, who led in three games, skipped one game and didn't need to contribute much. The biggest takeaway from a tournament like this is that Indian team's junior members could react to pressure situations in a perfect manner when they were thrown at the deep end of the pool. The most heartening aspect was how three 'seasoned' youngsters -- 18 year-old Shafali Verma (161 runs and 3 wickets), 22-year-old Jemimah Rodrigues

Pakistan beats New Zealand by 5 wickets in the T-20 tri-series final

Mohammad Nawaz struck an unbeaten 38 from 22 balls to lift Pakistan to a five-wicket win over New Zealand with three balls remaining in the final of the New Zealand Twenty20 Tri-Series. After his 45 from 20 balls in Pakistan's seven-wicket win over Bangladesh a day earlier, Nawaz established himself as key member of the Pakistan middle order heading into the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia. The final see-sawed through both innings: New Zealand was on target for a more substantial score before faltering against Pakistan's late bowling and finishing with 163-7. Pakistan made a solid start, then also wavered at times before Nawaz provided the final impetus for the win. He found a dependable partner in Iftikhar Ahmed, who made 25 from 14 balls in an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 36. "I just backed myself yesterday and today on the basis of what I've done in the nets," Nawaz said. "I had belief in myself and I was backing myself to go in with a clear mind. We are looking forward

David Warner injured; unlikely to play third T20I against England: Report

Australia batting stalwart David Warner is an injury concern ahead of the third and final T20 International against England, with Steve Smith likely to replace him at the top of the order

KL Rahul's 74 in vain as India lose 2nd practice match to Western Australia

Opener KL Rahul made 74 off 55 balls, but his efforts went in vain as India lost their second practice match to Western Australia XI by 36 runs at WACA Stadium on Thursday

Women IPL to take place in March with 5 teams, max 5 overseas players in XI

The much-awaited inaugural edition of Women's IPL will have five teams and is set to take place in March 2023 before the start of men's IPL. As per a BCCI note accessed by PTI, the tournament will feature 20 league games with teams to play each other twice. The table toppers will get a direct entry into the final, while the second and third place teams will battle out in the Eliminator. Each team can have no more than five overseas cricketers in the playing eleven. "To have a well balance of domestic & international players and to have competitive teams, it has been tentatively decided to have five teams for WIPL. Each team can comprise maximum of eighteen players where no team can have more than six overseas players. "Further, no more than five overseas players - four from Full Members of the ICC and one from the Associate Members of the ICC can be part of the playing XI of each team," read the BCCI note. The Women's Big Bash League in Australia and The Hundred in UK don't allow

West Indies tour of Pakistan in 2023 likely to be postponed: Report

The proliferating Twenty20 leagues seems to be having an impact on bilateral tours and could lead to the postponement of West Indies' three-match T20 tour of Pakistan early next year

Injured Chahar ruled out; Siraj, Shami, Shardul set to join team for T20 WC

Pacer Deepak Chahar, who was a strong contender to replace Jasprit Bumrah in the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup, has been ruled of the marquee event due to a back injury, BCCI sources said on Wednesday. While Chahar, a stand-by player for the World Cup, will miss the plane to Australia, the national selectors have asked pacers Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur to join the squad. The trio will fly to Australia on Wednesday night. "Deepak will take some time to get fit. His back issue has flared up again. His ankle is fine and there wasn't any problem there. So BCCI is sending three reinforcements, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur," a BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity. One among the three pacers will replace Bumrah in the squad of 15. Since the team has time till October 15 to announce Bumrah's replacement, the team management has time to check out form and fitness of all three pacers. Chahar had competed in the T20 series agains

What is an Impact Player? All you need to know about BCCI's new rule

The Impact Player rule allows a cricket team to make a tactical substitution in the middle of the game in each match

Suryakumar at No 2 as Conway jumps into top-5 in T20I Batter Rankings

New Zealand star batter Devon Conway has jumped into the top-five in the latest T20I Batter Rankings to join Pakistan's Mohammad Rizwan, India's Suryakumar Yadav and Babar Azam

Hasaranga's rise quite similar to Malinga, says Mahela Jayawardene

Sri Lankan batting legend Mahela Jayawardene is mighty impressed with the rise of Wanindu Hasaranga as he sees traits of pace bowling great Lasith Malinga in the 25-year-old spin allrounder. Hasaranga, who plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, hogged the limelight in the 2021 T20 World Cup in UAE when he topped the charts with 16 wickets -- the most in a tournament. He then played an instrumental role both with the bat and ball in their Asia Cup triumph to rise to world number 4 in the allrounder's rankings. "The way he has blossomed... he's also from down south, quite close to where Lasith was (Galle) and they have similar mannerisms," Jayawardena said in the ICC Review. "The way they both came out, they started their careers quietly -- you know, sat in the corner of the dressing room -- and little by little they grew. The hairstyles changed, the tattoos came out and the whole thing. "It (Hasaranga's development) is quite similar to how Lasith became

Clinical bowler, record-setting batsman: BCCI's next president Roger Binny

Binny was a part of the Indian team that won the 1983 World Cup and was the highest wicket-taker in the tournament taking 18 wickets in total

Swiss cricket: Newest kid on the block has a strong subcontinent flavour

Among the players, those from India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Jamaica

Delhi Metro extends train timings ahead of India-South Africa ODI

With an aim to facilitate the spectators during the third ODI between India and South Africa scheduled for today, the DMRC has revised the timings of the Metro trains

Roger Binny likely to succeed Sourav Ganguly as BCCI president: Report

Earlier reports had suggested that Jay Shah might succeed Ganguly for the post of president

India Deaf Cricket Team beats S Africa to win DICC T20 Champions Trophy

India Deaf Cricket Team was the only undefeated team in the tournament where it left behind South Africa by 39 runs in the final match and secured the DICC T20 Champions Trophy

Mitchell to travel with NZ squad for World Cup; seem fit for second match

Top New Zealand batter Daryl Mitchell will travel next week to Australia with the rest of the squad for the ICC T20 World Cup despite the 31-year-old stalwart suffering a hairline fracture

Ind vs SA 2nd ODI: Indian bowlers didn't give us any freebies, says Markram

South Africa middle-order batter Aiden Markram rued his inability to take the game deep despite top-scoring for his side, saying the Indian bowlers didn't give the visitors any freebies during the second ODI here. Markram (79) and Reeza Hendricks (74) shared 129 runs for the third wicket, but South Africa lost four wickets for 63 runs in the back-end to settle for 278 for 7, a target India chased down with seven wickets in hand, here on Sunday. "They (India) bowled well, they did not give us any freebies. Whenever a team goes bang-bang, the fielding team all of a sudden gets that momentum in their corner. Myself getting out at that time of the innings was, maybe, where we left that 15-20 runs short," Markram said after India levelled the three-match series. "I would have liked to take it 10 overs deeper and be there in the last five overs and try and cash in, maybe that's where we fell short." David Miller, who has been in imperious form in the tour with unbeaten knocks of 106 and

I am scoring runs, doing hard work, but not getting a chance: Prithvi Shaw

India opening batter Prithvi Shaw admitted that he was disappointed over not being considered for the ongoing ODI series against South Africa despite scoring runs and putting in a lot of hard work.

We gave away too many runs, says Shikhar Dhawan after ODI loss against SA

India captain Shikhar Dhawan admitted that his team leaked too many runs in the death overs and fielded poorly, leading to the nine-run defeat to South Africa in the rain-hit first ODI here on Thursday. Opting to bowl in the rain-curtailed 40-over-a-side game, India had reduced South Africa to 110 for 4 in 22.4 overs but David Miller and Heinrich Klaasen powered the visitors to 249 for 4. While the Indian bowlers conceded 54 runs in the last five overs, the hosts were also guilty of dropping as many as four catches in the outfield. "I thought 250 was too many runs. We gave away too many runs on a wicket that swung and spun, the fielding wasn't great, we leaked a few runs but this was a good learning experience for us," Dhawan said in the post-match presentation. South Africa skipper Temba Bavuma said his bowlers lost a bit in the middle overs with Sanju Samson (86 not out) going great guns but he was happy that they managed to hold their nerves in the end. "A good fight at the end