Home
Cricket News
Aaron Finch Gives Up Melbourne Renegades Captaincy Nic Maddinson To Be New Skipper

Aaron Finch gives up Melbourne Renegades' captaincy, Nic Maddinson to be new skipper

Australia’s world cup-winning captain Aaron Finch has relinquished the captaincy of the Melbourne Renegades and Nic Maddinson has been roped in as the leader of the side at his place. Finch conceded that leaving Renegades’ leadership wasn’t necessarily a tough decision for him and he took the call considering the toll of leadership takes on his mind.

"That was a really easy one, to be honest," Finch said on Thursday. "It was a chat I had with Sakes, probably two months, six weeks ago about I think just having a young family and I guess captaining every game that you play around the world.

"It does take its toll and probably doesn't allow you enough time at times to be able to work on your own game as much as you would like and I suppose in the Big Bash we've got a really young squad at the Renegades and I think to have the opportunity to work with the young players a bit closer as just as a player and not have your focus taken away from just helping them out as much as you can by meetings and strategy meetings and things like that, I think it will be really important.

He also said that playing for a couple of seasons more before walking away and not helping the Renegades with a succession plan would have been unfair on the side and also the new leaders. He offered his best assistance to Maddinson in the near future of the side in the Big Bash League.

"Hopefully I can be a really important part of the transition with Maddo as captain as well. I think I wouldn't like to leave the Renegades, say I play for two more years and I just captain right to the end of that and there's been no real succession plan, I think that would be a bit unfair. So hopefully I can still have an impact with Maddo and sort of help him if need be,” Finch added.

Discover more

Pakistan announce 12 for first T20I against Bangladesh

Pakistan have announced their 12-man team for the first T20I of the series against Bangladesh starting November in Dhaka on Friday, November 19. There are changes in the side from the last they played against Australia in the Semi-final of the T20 World Cup with the likes of Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz Haider Ali and Mohammad Wasim Jr. have been added into the squad. Hasan Ali, who has had a pretty torrid time with the ball in the world cup and has managed to retain his place in the side and should form a pace bowling combination with Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf if Pakistan play a three-man pace attack. The senior pro Shoaib Malik, who showed good form with the bat in the world cup has also managed to secure his place. Pakistan 12 for 1st T20I Babar Azam (Captain), Shadab Khan (Vice-Captain), Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Wasim Jr., Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shoaib Malik

Fresh from a match-winning score, Suryakumar Yadav shows off his flexibility to bat anywhere

India batsman Suryakumar Yadav had a good day at the office on Wednesday in Jaipur after he played a crucial knock of 62 off 40 deliveries against New Zealand. Chasing 165 in 20 overs, India went over the line by 5 wickets and a couple of balls to spare during the course. Surya who came in at number three against the Kiwis said that he was pretty flexible as far as his batting position is concerned. “I have batted from opening to number seven position. I am very flexible with batting order. This number three role I have been performing for my franchise (MI) for the last three years so I didn’t feel much difference,” said Suryakumar at the post-match press conference. “I batted the way I bat in the nets. All my shots are the same. I don’t try to do anything different. T20 cricket is to enjoy and that is what I try to do with my batting,” he added. After a steady start, India lost their first wicket after KL Rahul was dismissed for 15 off 14 but SKY along with the new skipper Rohit Sharma stitched a stand of 59 runs for the second wicket. The home side then lost a few wickets at regular intervals but eventually clinched a win to go 1-0 up in the three-match series. The second clash will take place in Ranchi on Friday.

Mohammad Amir pulls out of T10 League 2021-22 after getting affected by Covid-19

Former Pakistan bowler Mohammad Amir has pulled out of the T10 League after getting affected by Covid-19. The left-arm pacer in a social media post wrote, “hi everyone just wanted to say m I am not playing T10 league this year because I got affected with the covid but now I am fine ALHUMDULILLAH just need prayers for the speedy recovery.” The tournament is slated to begin on Friday (November 19, 2021) and Amir was a part of Bangla Tigers which also comprise the likes of Faf du Plessis, Hazratullah Zazai and James Faulkner. The tournament will commence on Friday with Norther Warriors taking on Delhi Bulls in the first match of the day which will be followed by the encounter between Team Abu Dhabi and Bangla Tigers in Abu Dhabi while the final will be held on December 4 at the same venue. Bangla Tigers: James Faulkner, Benny Howell, Faf du Plessis, Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Qais Ahmed, Hazratullah Zazai, Will Jacks, Hassan Khalid, William Smeed, Adam Lyth, Karim Janat, Luke Wood, Isuru Udana, Sabir Rao, Tom Hartley, Vishnu Sukumaran

"They would have had to strap me to the bed," Matthew Wade played T20 World Cup final with torn back

Australia’s wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade, who batted with absolute firepower and aggression to win them the semi-final contest against Australia, played the big final of the tournament despite injuring his back. He tore his back a day before the final against New Zealand and did not opt to check the status and seriousness of the injury to keep on playing in the final that Australia won to win their first T20 World Cup title. "Day before the game, second last ball before the end of the session I did my side," Wade said on Thursday. “I didn't really want to go for a scan. But they sent me and then to the physio and the doctor's credit they kind of hid the information from me and just said let's see you pull up tomorrow and we'll go from there. "It pulled up about the same as what it felt the night before, so I went and hit some balls before the game and I tried to bluff my way through that, then they made me hit a few more so I got through it and felt pretty fine." "I was a little bit worried the night before the game, for sure. If I had have woken up and I couldn't swing the bat, I wouldn't have played. I was worried that if we'd batted first and I had to go as hard as I could and I tore it then, I wouldn't be able to keep and that would hurt the team a lot," he said. "But in my mind, they would have had to strap me to the bed. I was always going to go out there and play. But I wouldn't have played if there was a chance it was going to hurt the team. I went and hit some balls before the game and bluffed my way through that. Then they made me hit a few more, but I got through it and it felt pretty fine." Australia captain Aaron Finch said that he was not surprised at Wade’s turning up for the final of the tournament despite the injury. He said that Wade could have been out of the final only if he had lost one leg and although he was in some pain towards the end of bowling innings, his wicketkeeping was not affected one bit. "There was always a little bit of a fear," Finch said. "I knew the result being a grade two, I thought that a grade two tear in his side was going to be tough. But if anyone's going to play it would have been him. You would have had to cut his leg off for him not to be out there. "I thought he kept brilliantly. Towards the back end I saw him in a bit of pain with a couple of dives and throws so yeah, he was never missing that though." Australia were down and out in the semi-final of the tournament against Pakistan before Wade produced a 17-ball 41 and stitched an unbeaten partnership with 81 runs with Marcus Stoinis to lead Australia into the final.