Cricket News Daily Wrap February 4: No Decision on Asia Cup 2023 Venue; Curators Asked to Prepare Pitches For 'Good Test Cricket' in IND vs AUS

Parth Bhut capped off a dream game with a five-wicket haul after game-changing century and half-century as Saurashtra won a memorable Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Punjab by 71 runs on Saturday to set up a semi-final date with Karnataka. Needing 252 to win, Punjab started the day at 52 for 2 and were all out for 180 in 89.1 overs with veteran Mandeep Singh’s 45 being the highest score. (Read Full Story)

Former India cricketer Suresh Raina feels that the Australian team has made a mistake by not opting for a warm-up match ahead of the mega Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Pat Cummins and Co. have decided to opt for simulation training and working hard on the nets with some special arrangements to tackle the Indian spinners. They have hired a little-known Baroda spinner Mahesh Pithiya to bowl in the nets, whose bowling action resembles Ravichandran Ashwin. (Read Full Story Here)

West Indies openers Kraigg Brathwaite and Tagenarine Chanderpaul scored half-centuries before rain ended play early in the first day of the first Test against Zimbabwe on Saturday. Play will begin at 0930 local time (0730 GMT) on the next four days to compensate for the lost time, although there are concerns of further weather interruptions.

The Asian Cricket Council meet in Bahrain has ended but no decision was taken on the venue of the Asia Cup later this year. In December last year, ACC chairman Jay Shah released a detailed itinerary but the venue for Asia Cup wasn’t mentioned.

Sources close to the developments have informed News18 Cricketnext that no decision was taken with regard to the venue and it will only be taken after March. (Read Full Report Here)

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy series is considered one the fiercest rivalries in Test cricket. Whenever India and Australia have locked horns with each other, there have been some memorable moments and stellar performances on the field.

When the two legendary teams will clash, it will be interesting to see who will have the upper hand. Let’s a have look at the players to watch out for when the highly anticipated rivalry takes off in Nagpur. (Read Full Story Here)

Teenager Cooper Connolly’s big hitting at the death and skipper Ashton Turner’s heroic 53 saw Perth Scorchers beat Brisbane Heat to win an unprecedented fifth Twenty20 Big Bash League title on Saturday.

Their fireworks propelled them to 178-5 and a nail-biting five-wicket win with four balls left in front of a record 53,886 parochial fans at Perth Stadium after Brisbane put on 175-7.

Former BCCI selector Saba Karim feels that credit for instilling a strong belief in the Indian team that it can beat Australia both in home and Down Under should go to former captain Virat Kohli. India reached big heights under Kohli’s leadership in Test cricket as the Asian giants registered their first-ever Test series win over Australia Down Under. Kohli himself admitted during his captaincy tenure that he will go for a win and not draw if there is still a minimal chance to get the better of the opposition. (Read Full Story Here)

Judging by how things have transpired since Australia landed in India, they are certain that a trial by spin awaits them. That they were expecting this to be the case was clear when their squad was packed with spinners led by the experienced Nathan Lyon. (Read Full Story Here)

Premier pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi got married to legendary Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi’s daughter Ansha in Karachi on Friday. Shaheen, who has been recovering from his knee injury, got engaged to Ansha last year and on Friday they got married in a grand ceremony. Pakistan cricket team captain Babar Azam alongside several other players was present in the ceremony to celebrate the big day with their teammate Shaheen.

Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar feels that Virat Kohli should change his approach against Nathan Lyon in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Kohli has been struggling against the spinners in recent times and Lyon is expected to bring a tough challenge in the four-match Test series starting from February 9. The Indian batting maverick has returned to form in white-ball cricket but his recent red-ball numbers don’t justify his talent and calibre. Since 2020, Kohli has scored 879 runs in 18 Test matches at an average of 28.35 without any century. (Read Full Story Here)

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is all set to organise the first-ever Women’s Premier League (WPL) for which the auctions are set to take place in February. This is not only a revolutionary move for women’s cricket, this is also bound to go down as a win-win for our upcoming young women cricketers who had just returned from South Africa after their victorious campaign in the under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup. With such fine talent on display, there is a high chance that a few, not all, will get some mouth-watering deals. We take a look at the five talents who can make it big. (Read Full Story Here)

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan feels that Axar Patel is the bowler who is going to trouble premier Australia batter Steve Smith in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Smith is ranked amongst the best Test batters to play the game and he also has a good record in India with 660 runs in 6 matches at a sublime average of 60 which also includes 3 centuries. While many feel the match-up of the series will be Ravichandran Ashwin pitted against Smith but the Pathan feels that it could be Patel who might turn out to be a big threat to the Aussie batter. (Read Full Story Here)

“I would like to bring to your kind notice that I have come to decide to step away from the sport and retire from all forms and levels of the game which I have loved very much. I would like to take the opportunity to thank the BCCI and Assam Cricket Association,” Abu Nechim said in a note posted on his Instagram account.

“After the 2019 World Cup, there was a lot of bad press about what allegedly happened in the dressing room during our campaign and following our loss to New Zealand in the semifinal. We were informed that there was a Rohit camp and a Virat camp, that someone had unfollowed another on social media – stuff that could be unsettling if you allowed it to fester,” Sridhar wrote.

Sridhar writes, “We landed in the United States (US) some 10 days after the World Cup for a T20 series against West Indies in Lauderhill. One of the first things Ravi did on arrival was to call Virat and Rohit to his room and impress upon them that for Indian cricket to be healthy, they needed to be on the same page. ‘Whatever happened on social media, that’s all fine, but you two are the most senior cricketers so this must stop,’ Ravi said in his typical non-nonsense manner. ‘I want you to put all this behind and get together for us to move forward'”.

The emergence of Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik has meant the competition for a pacer’s slot has only gotten stiffer with the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Deepak Chahar awaiting full fitness. Add to it Avesh has an economy of 9.10 from 15 T20Is which also works against him.

“Twice I was ruled out because I was not feeling well. People might judge that on a few occasions I went expensive but in today’s cricket 6 out of ten times bowlers have a bad day,” Avesh told The Indian Express.

Former Australia cricketer Greg Chappell has warned the Pat Cummins-led side about what awaits his touring party.

“A tour of the sub-continent challenges an individual in unique ways. The culture, the climate, the food and the cacophony and activity can work against a touring team like no other country. Winning in India takes pluck, planning, patience and persistence,” Chappell wrote in his column for The Sydney Morning Herald.

“The Australians will have to summon every ounce of their talent and experience during the next month to succeed. India is no longer the mystery it once was. Tours are more regular and the IPL offers valuable exposure,” he added.

It hasn’t been the best of times for Kohli in Test cricket, having scored only 917 runs during the period, in 20 Tests. He is also yet to score a century in the format, having last reached the three-figure mark in November 2019.

Pathan however feels that Kohli should adopt a more aggressive approach against spinners during the series against Australia.

“At the same time, how he is going to be countering the spin of Lyon as well as Agar because he has been struggling against spin especially. I think the one thing he can do personally as well is try to be a little more aggressive because the strike rate against spin has come down as well. I know we are talking about Test cricket here but sometimes being slightly more aggressive against spin might actually make you better in that counter when you are facing guys like Nathan Lyon, who is outstanding with his spin, extra bounce and he gets that ball going away from the right-handers as well,” he said.

“Especially, how he plays against the spin. If you see his numbers from 2020 to now in Test cricket, those are embarrassing numbers, for a guy like Virat Kohli who is an absolute legend of Indian and world cricket, having scored nearly 25,000 runs. When you see you can’t even have an average of 30 for three years, that’s a long period of time, so I think that’s one thing he will have on his mind,” he said on Star Sports’ show ‘Game Plan.

“We were looking for quick runs in the second innings so that we could stick South Africa back in. Rohit Sharma, who had got a 100 in the first innings, was again flowing, but Pujara got stuck. At one stage he was 8 off 61 deliveries when Ravi decided he had seen enough. So he called one of the substitute fielder and instructed him to repeat his message to Pujara verbatim, ‘Stop riding a Luna and get on a Harley-Davidson’. There was a passage of play just after that where Pujara actually outscored Rohit. He had the capacity; it was important to ensure his thoughts were always aligned to that of the team and to make him realise that he had the tools to do so,” added Sridhar.