4th T20I Preview: Series won, Bangladesh to explore depth; Australia to fight for pride

1st Test, Day 3 report: Jadeja, tailenders hand India decisive advantage on another rain-hit day

Riding on the back of strong performances from KL Rahul and lower-order batsmen, India bounced back from a disastrous phase on the second day’s play to take a decisive lead in the first innings. There was no stopping rain on the third day as well and England were 25/0 at the end of the day’s play, significantly behind India’s lead. England would have hoped for a greater return with the ball and they started on a brilliant note after Rishabh Pant was sent back to the pavilion very early in the piece. Rise and rise of Jadeja, the batsman India lost the big wicket of Pant at 145 runs and England’s first innings total of 183 appeared too far away. India had taken a big call of dropping Ashwin for an extra pacer and picked Jadeja more for his batting. It could not have been a better occasion for Jadeja to repay the faith by the team management and he started leaving balls around off stump to give Rahul comfort at the other end. Jadeja has had success in England before but all of those knocks have come in swashbuckling avatars and hence the team management would have been ecstatic at seeing him building an innings like a champion batsman. He put on a sixty run partnership with Rahul to take India past the 200-run mark and as soon as Anderson bounced back to send both Rahul and Shardul Thakur back to the pavilion, he switched himself back to the mode has been otherwise known for in international cricket. Between Shardul’s departure to his dismissal, the all-rounder hit some remarkable shots including one pickup shot off Anderson that went sailing over the long leg boundary. The eagerness to dictate terms to the England bowling lineup resulted in his downfall as Ollie Robinson proved his credentials as a bowler by making life tough for batsmen by bowling hard lengths. Indian tail wags, finally Indian tailenders have not had the best of times and their struggle with the bat have been there for many years now. At the same time, they face a lot of difficulties to wipe out the oppositions’ tail and it has made for a frustrating view of the Indian bowling attack. On the last tour of England in 2018, the highest aggregate by India’s 9th, 10th and 11th batsmen was 20and the issue was so problematic that India could not attain the guts to play four out and out pacers and included Sahrdul Thakur. However, all of that were to be put to rest by the Indian tailenders led by Jasprit Bumrah, who mimicked the mindset of the accomplished batsman by changing the approach of his batting with a very change in the situation. Bumrah has had to see Sam Curran thrashing his bowling partner for fun while batting with batsmen lower to him and he offered him a taste of his own medicine. He smashed the left armer for three consecutive boundaries, one of which went over the midwicket boundary when he pulled right out of Rohit Sharma’s school of pulling a ball. India’s last three added as many as 73 runs and the 95 runs lead established ow valuable were their contributions in taking India to an advanced position in the game. Robinson puts ban behind him Ollie Robinson walked into this game after serving a ban and an uncertain period where his career could well have been hampered. There was o impact of his recent past on his bowling though and he was the best enforcer for England although Anderson picked the biggest wicket of the Indian batting lineup. He was the one who explored the centre of the pitch when nothing was working for his partners to dismiss Rohit, and today it was him only who pegged India back by the wicket of Pant very early in the day. Again, it was him only who did not offer hittable lengths to Jadeja, who was looking to make good use of the freedom that batting with lower-order batsmen brought to him. His impressive bowling and a fifer were critical for England as they were suffering from an off-colour Stuart Broad on his home ground in Nottingham. England’s slippery fingers If England don’t improve their catching in the slips and also in general, there will be competitions between their batting department and fielding department as to what is their weakest department. Earlier Dom Sibley had dropped KL Rahul off Anderson which resulted in more and more pain for England and Joe Root compounded his misery by dropping another edge of the right-hander’ bat by himself. Then, James Anderson dropped Ravindra Jadeja while fielding at mid-off although that drop did not cost them so dearly. Looking ahead to 4th day England batsmen have their task cut out to fend off India’s four-man pace attack on the fourth-day pitch that will become damper and damper due to increasing rain. Some balls have started stopping on batsmen and it resulted in Pant’s dismissal on the hid day and they will have to be watchful for natural variations off the surface. There are fair chances of rain stoppages on the fourth day as well and their task will be made difficult by constant on and off due to intermittent rain breaks. India, on the other hand, will back their bowlers to dismiss England on the fourth day itself if weather permits and then will set their eyes on a target to take a 1-0 lead in the series. The game can go anywhere, but in all sense of likelihood, only Joe Root and rain stand in between an Indian win and a draw in Nottingham, and the script will be far more clear by the end of the fourth day’s play.

Southern Brave vs Northern Superchargers: When & where to watch match LIVE, Probable XI, Fantasy XI

The Southern Brave and the Northern Superchargers have had a similar fate so far in the inaugural edition of the Hundred, and hence when they will meet in the 21st match, one of them will slip further down from their current standings at the points table. Both the Superchargers and the Brave have been able to grasp two wins out of five games played so far and their journey is similar in terms of losing games as well. Both these sides are filled with internationally acclaimed superstars, but they have not been able to transcend reputation into performances, thereby leaving them poor in the campaign. On paper though, the Northern Superchargers appear to be a far stronger side and will test depth and all the bravery of the Brave at the Rose Bowl, Southampton. Southern Brave vs Northern Superchargers: Match Details Match Number- 21 Date and Time: 07 August, 2021, 11:00 pm IST, 06:30 pm Local, 05:30pm GMT Venue: Rose Bowl, Southampton Live Stream: FanCode Pitch Report The pitch in Southampton has thrown up high-scoring games in limited-overs cricket and it should not be any different for this game. The boundary size straight down the ground is not huge and batsmen would enjoy hitting the balls. Probable XI Southern Brave Paul Stirling, Quinton de Kock (wk), James Vince (c), Alex Davies, Colin de Grandhomme, George Garton, Ross Whiteley, Liam Dawson, Chris Jordan, Tymal Mills, Jake Lintott. Northern Superchargers Chris Lynn, Adam Lyth, Harry Brook, David Willey (c), Dane Vilas, John Simpson (wk), Ben Raine, Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts, Adil Rashid, Mujeeb Ur Rahman Fantasy XI Harry Brook (C), Chris Lynn, James Vince, Quinton de Kock (WK), Alex Davies, David Willey, Chris Jordan, Ben Raine, Adil Rashid (VC), Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Jake Lintott

Salem Spartans vs Siechem Madurai Panthers: When & where to watch match LIVE, Probable XI, Fantasy XI

The Salem Spartans will meet the Siechem Madurai Panthers in a contest of underperformers in the 26th game of the ongoing edition of the Tamil Nadu Premier League. The Spartans are languishing at the bottom of the points table with just a solitary win from six games this season. The situation is not too different for the Madurai Panthers, who have managed to win just one more game than the Spartans. The fortunes of Spartans will depend on Akshay Srinivasan and Vijay Shankar, while Jagatheesan Kousik and NS Chaturved will give batting impetus to the Madurai Panthers. Match Details Match: ITT vs DGD, 25th Match, Tamil Nadu Premier League 2021 Date: Saturday, August 07, 2021 Time; 7.30 PM Venue: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai Pitch report The pitch at the M.A Chidambaram stadium has been traditionally on the slower side and will assist spinners. However, the onset of dew, especially in the second innings will negate some of the advantages for the spinners. Probable XI Salem Spartans S Abhishek, Akshay Srinivasan, Daryl Ferrario (c), Vijay Shankar, Umashankar Sushil (wk), Murugan Ashwin, Ravi Karthikeyan, M Ganesh Moorthi, AVR Rathnam, Lokesh Raj, G Periyaswamy Madurai Panthers P Praveen Kumar, Sugenthiran, B Anirudh Sita Ram (wk), NS Chaturved (c), Jagatheesan Kousik, Arun Karthik, Aushik Srinivas, R Silambarasan, V Gowtham, Kiran Akash, B Rocky Fantasy XI Arun Karthik, Akshay Srinivasan, B Anirudh Sita Ram, NS Chaturved, Jagatheesan Kousik (C), V Gowtham, Vijay Shankar, B Rocky, G Periyaswamy (VC), Kiran Akash, Murugan Ashwin

Bangladesh script history, thrash listless Australia to win first ever series against them

Bangladesh defeated Australia by 10 runs in the third T20 international and registered their first-ever series win over Australia. Chasing a modest total of 128 runs, Australia needed 22 runs from the last over to keep the series alive after losing the first two games of the series. However, Mahedi Hasan held his nerves and denied the pair of Alex Carey and Dan Christian the chance to win the game. The bowling trio of Mustafizur Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan and Nasum Ahmed were the chief architects of Bangladesh’s historic series win. and Australia suffered from the lack of firepower and experience of playing on low and slow surfaces. They dropped Josh Phillipe, who has not had a good form with the bat and the stand-in skipper Matthew Wade promoted himself back to the top of the order. The move, however, did not yield fruitful results as he perished very early on and his partner Ben McDermott could not quite get into the momentum of scoring runs. Mitchell Marsh enhanced his reputation further with another slow and steady fifty run score. However, lack of support from the other end and his inability t break free against Mustafizur and spinners did not help Australia at all. Earlier, Bangladesh too suffered a collapse of their top order with openers Mohammad Naim and Soumya Sarkar failing to get going. Shakib played some delightful strokes to get Bangladesh going, but could not quite extend his 17-ball 26 cameo to something substantial. The hosts’ captain Mahmudullah scored a half-century but he battled to keep up the pace of his innings and it took a short cameo from Nurul Hasan that helped them post a respectable total. The debutant Nathan Ellis registered a phenomenal record to his name on his international debut when scalped out Mustafizur Rahman, Mahedi Hasan, and Shoriful Islam on three consecutive balls to claim a hattrick. However, the feat came very late in the piece for Australia to have any say on Bangladesh’s batting efforts. The series has gone to Bangladesh and Australia have been handed a harsh reality check about their preparations leading up to an all-important World T20 in the UAE later this year.