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David Warner injured his groin during the second ODI of India’s tour to Australia and has not yet fully recovered. But the hosts are desperate to have him a part of their playing XI for the third Test against India, considering their frailties at the top of the order. During a discussion on Sports Today, Deep Dasgupta and Pragyan Ojha shared their thoughts on Australia going down that route....

A senior contingent from the Indian team led by skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Ravichandran Ashwin spoke to the two on-field umpires, Paul Reiffel and Paul Wilson, and brought the incident to their notice. The group discussed the issue for a few minutes after the end of the day’s play on Saturday. The Indian team then stayed back in the dressing room while discussions continued between security officials of the team, the ground security staff and the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) security official....

The last Test has been embroiled in controversy ever since reports from Australia emerged that India are thinking of pulling out of the series after the Sydney Test. The BCCI official revealed that they are in talks with their Australian counterparts. Under current circumstances, quarantine rules will restrict the players to their hotel rooms, and they wouldn’t be allowed to meet each other in the hotel premises. Even during match day, players will return to their rooms straight from the cricket ground....

Since the batsmen have to negate the swinging and the spinning balls a lot more in Test cricket than ODIs and T20Is, they need to play more dot balls and settle down in the middle before trying to dominate. Sometimes, a win is out of reach, and the team on the backfoot need to play for a draw. In such a situation, the batsmen need to frustrate the bowlers and play as many dot balls as possible....

According to reports, Varun Chakravarthy hasn’t performed too well in the fitness parameters set for Indian cricketers. The latest fitness benchmark for Indian players requires them to either complete a 2-km run in 8.5 minutes or score 17.1 in the Yo-Yo test. Varun Chakravarthy was included in the 19-man squad for the England T20Is earlier this month, along with new faces Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan and Rahul Tewatia. If he doesn’t make the cut for the England series, it will be the second time in the space of a few months that the 29-year-old will miss out on a chance of making his international debut....

KL Rahul scored an unbeaten 127 off 248 deliveries on the first day of the second Test against England. The stylish opener played second fiddle to Rohit Sharma and took on the aggressor’s role once the latter was dismissed. In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra spoke in glowing terms about KL Rahul playing as per the demands of the situation. He said: The former Indian opener highlighted that KL Rahul played some sumptuous cover drives during the course of his knock....

The former England cricketer and now commentator lamented the fact that ICC couldn’t get the best umpires in the world to officiate the India vs England series. Nitin Menon, Anil Chaudhary and Virender Sharma will be the three umpires to officiate the first two Tests in Chennai. Out of the three, only Nitin Menon is part of ICC’s Elite Panel of umpires. The other two will make their Test debuts against England....

The hosts overcame Bracewell’s stunning assault and edged the Kiwis’ side by 12 runs in the final over of the chase to win the contest on Wednesday, January 18, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Team India batted first in the match and amassed a huge total of 349/8 in 50 overs, courtesy of a double hundred from Shubman Gill (208). In reply, New Zealand got off to a poor start as they lost opener Devon Conway (10) cheaply after a sedate start....

Chasing 148, Virat Kohli gave India a decent start after KL Rahul walked back in the first over. But Mohammad Nawaz brought Pakistan back into the game, dismissing Rohit Sharma (12) and Kohli (35) in quick succession. Hardik Pandya (33* off 17) and Ravindra Jadeja (35) steadied the ship with a 52-run partnership to bring the equation down to seven runs off the last over. Nawaz gave some hope to the Pakistani fans, dismissing Jadeja on the first ball of the final over....

Both India and Pakistan will be without their top fast bowlers for this match as Shaheen Afridi, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Wasim Jr. and Harshal Patel have been ruled out of the tournament. Nevertheless, they still have strong squads and the match promises to be a thrilling one. Teams winning the toss have looked to bowl first in the T20Is at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Before the big game between India and Pakistan gets underway, here are some important stats you need to know from previous games played on this ground....

The Proteas gave the hosts a great fight when the two teams met earlier in June. With an almost full-strength squad this time, they will hope to better their performance and win the series. However, Team India are in some great form too, having just won their ninth successive T20I series under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. Although there might be some issues in their bowling department, their batting has been firing on all cylinders....

The Men In Blue head into the third game of the five-match series with their backs to the wall, having come up short in both encounters thus far. They will hope to stage a comeback in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday (June 14) to keep alive their hopes of winning the series. During an interaction on Sports 18, Sanjay Manjrekar was asked if Team India should make wholesale changes for the third T20I....

In spite of putting up a superb show in the first innings, South Africa weren’t able to cope with the fifth-day pitch. With a series win in the balance for the Indians, they will fancy their chances although their memories at the venue aren’t very memorable. The last time they played here, Australia and Steve O’Keefe spun a web around them as they were pummeled to a defeat. This should give the Proteas some hope as well in what promises to be a mouth-watering clash....

Hardik has been laid low by persistent back issues and has not been picked in the Indian squad for the upcoming T20I series against Sri Lanka. Venkatesh, who is being groomed to play the batting all-rounder’s role at No. 6, gave a decent account of himself against the West Indies and will hope to continue in the same vein against the Lankans. In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra was asked if Venkatesh Iyer doing a brilliant job as a finisher and all-rounder is creating a threat to Hardik Pandya’s spot in the Indian team....

Kohli scored eight runs off four deliveries, which included a couple of boundaries. He seemed to be in a hurry and hooked Alzarri Joseph straight down the long leg fielder’s throat to be dismissed. While reviewing the match in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra was concerned by Kohli’s approach. He said: The former India cricketer pointed out that Kohli’s batting was in stark contrast to his approach in the ODIs against South Africa....

Kishan was originally only included in the squad for the T20I series that’ll follow the ODIs. He’s now become the second player after Mayank Agarwal to get an emergency call-up due to a COVID-19 outbreak that hit the Indian team on Wednesday. Seven members of the Indian contingent, including senior opener Shikhar Dhawan, reserve opener Ruturaj Gaikwad, middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer and net bowler Navdeep Saini tested positive for the virus during their mandatory isolation period....

The action now moves to Eden Park for the first match of the doubleheader on Friday where Harmanpreet Kaur and co will be looking to level the series against a fairly new look New Zealand women side. With the Auckland pitch being as flat as they come in the world, another high-scoring match is on the cards for both teams to tussle upon. While the Kiwis aim for revenge for the lost ODI series, India will be hoping to keep the series alive and take it to the third and final T20 in Hamilton....

Despite being dominated by the visitors for large parts of the game, the Blue Tigers showed plenty of resolve to ride their skipper’s inspirational effort to triumph 1-0 on the night and take a huge leap towards making the Asian dream a reality. REPORT: India 1-0 Kyrgyzstan Yes, in the end it was an uplifting victory against a strong side but one could argue that Kyrgyzstan were wasteful with their finishing a bit....

Chasing 321 for victory in the second innings of the game, India A got off to a decent start with a 50 run partnership for the first wicket. Ravikumar Samarth was dismissed soon after that but Hanuma Vihari, who has been excellent in the tour so far, scored another half-century to put India in a great position. He put on a 136 run partnership with Karun Nair for the third wicket, with Nair scoring a half-century as well....