AUS vs IND: Disappointed fans tear into Indian team for batting collapse

AUS vs IND: Hazlewood leads Australia's rout of India to lowest total in Tests

India were restricted to their lowest score in an innings of a test match in their long history of test cricket. They were restricted to 36/9 as Mohammed Shami was retired hurt after taking a blow on his right wrist from Pat Cummins and could not bat while in pain from that blow. The batting order was turned into a shambles as they beat the historical grim figure of 42 which they had registered in 1974 in the playing days of Sunil Gavaskar. It all began with the wicket of Jasprit Bumrah who was promoted as a night watchman and it started mayhem that ended only with the complete collapse of the tall batting order that had promised to be along stronger and tighter in techniques. Australian bowlers were on the money and found the devastating fuller lengths straightway and Pujara was the first man to go among the specialist batsmen. Cummins was looking threatening from his first spell on day 2 and he made Pujara rooted to the crease and playing for a ball that looked like coming into him with the angle. Turned out, the ball seamed away after pitching and took Pujara’s edge to Paine behind the stumps. Josh Hazlewood was brought in as the first change and he proved to be the most lethal weapon the Australians had in the store for the Indian batting line up. He struck twice in his very first over and sent both Mayank Agarwal and Ajinkya Rahane packing to the pavilion. Both the batsmen were caught rooted to the crease and Hazlewood, as he always does, was on the mark with fuller length and ball jagged away to take the edge of the bats. From 15/2, India went 15/4 in a matter of balls and then it was resting on Virat Kohli’s shoulders’ to lift the team from the hole they found themselves in. But, it was not to be as Kohli looked to get amongst the Aussies and drove a ball that he should have left keeping in mind the situation of the game. An outside edge was snaffled by Cameron Green in the gully after a brief fumble. Hazlewood returned with another over where he took two wickets and this time it was Wriddhiman Saha and Ravichandran Ashwin to go back to the pavilion on consecutive deliveries. Although Umesh Yadav denied him a hattrick, the pacer returned in the next over to produce yet another unplayable delivery to Hanuma Vihari and collected a much deserving fifer that turned the game on its head on the morning of day 3. His bowling spell read 5-3-8-5 and it emphasized the annihilation he along with fellow pacemen has carried out on the Indian batting line up.

Bangabadhu T20 Cup: Skipper Mahmudullah leads Khulna to title win

The month-long T20 extravaganza in Bangladesh’s domestic cricket came to an end with Mahmudullah led Gemcon Khulna beating Gazi Group Chattogram in a humdinger of a game by five runs at the Sher-e-Bangla cricket stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka. In a classic final, the Chattogram team had to find a different hero as all of its stars failed to shine on the day that mattered the most. Be it the tournament’s highest scorer Liton Das, big hitter Soumya Sarkar or the Fizz Mustafizur Rahaman. Even the skipper Mohammad Mithun and fancied young all-rounder Mosaddek Hossain couldn’t do much. However, it was an unlikely hero in Shykat Ali that took the fight to the opposition and challenged the Khulna team which was running away with the game initially. At one point in time, the men from the port city were struggling at 96-4 in 14.2 overs when Shykat decided to change gears and took the team as close as requiring 16 from the last six deliveries. However experienced Shahidul Islam held his nerve and bowled some brilliant lines to defend the total even after getting hit for a six off the last ball, he was able to win teh game for his team by five runs. Earlier sent to bat first after losing the toss, Khulna did not have an ideal start as they lost their opener, Jahurul Islam, for a golden duck. Wickets kept falling until skipper Mahmuddulah joined Ariful Islam in the middle. The pair added 40runs for the fifth wicket and gave some semblance to the innings. After Ariful’s departure, Mahmudullah partnered with all the lower order batsmen including Shuvagat Hom and Mashrafe Mortaza to take the team total a fighting 150. He was helped by Soumya Sarkar’s wayward bowling in the final over in which he scored 17 runs. In total Mahmuddalah scored a brilliant 70* off 48 balls and was adjudged Man of the Match for his efforts. Mustafiz of the Chattogram team was awarded Man of the Series for his brilliant bowling throughout the tournament, in which he took 22 wickets in just 10 games.

World Test Championship and the chances of India reaching the finals

Like most things in the world in 2020, the inaugural World Test Championship also got the bashing of COVID-19. As a result, the points system, which was plain and simple, with each series containing 120 points and each team playing six series which would include three home and three away, had to be altered as well. Courtesy of this altering, the Indian team, which was cruising towards Lord's for the 2021 Grand Finale of the first WTC, got a scare with a 0-2 series loss at the hand s of New Zealand and then a humiliating loss at Adelaide to start the Australia tour. Since then it was all one way fro India with two wins and a draw to end that series. At the end of that series that table looks something like this. T S SW P W L Pts Draw PCT IND 5 4 13 9 3 430 1 71.7 NZ 5 3 11 7 4 420 0 70.0 AUS 4 2 14 8 4 332 2 69.2 ENG 5 4 17 10 4 412 3 68.7 PAK 6 2 11 3 5 226 3 37.7 RSA 4 1 10 3 7 144 0 34.3 SL 4 0 8 1 6 80 1 16.7 WI 3 0 7 1 6 40 0 11.1 BAN 2 0 3 0 3 0 0 00.0 To understand the logic behind the table, we need to go back to decision which was taken by the ICC after the covid-19 changed the schedule of a lot of series. Here is how the table works. POP System of Rankings Owing to the pandemic, the International Cricket Council (ICC) cricket committee - headed by Anil Kumble - recommended that the points for the WTC be counted through percentage method instead of the usual points system. The Percentage of Points or POP system meant that the number of points scored by the teams would be divided by the total amount of points available to be won and thus the result would be the percentage of points. For example, India has won 360 points in four series that it has played so far. Now, the four series according to the rule of each series having 120 points, had a total of 480 points. So India’s POP ranking at the end of those four series would be 360 divided by 480 which is equal to 0.75 and if it is converted into a percentage, then it is 75%. So on this pattern, all teams are being ranked. According to the previous system, India was at the top by the virtue of points - 360. However now, Australia because of their better POP ( 296 points from 360 maximum available, which gives them 82.2%) is at the top of the table. Now that New Zealand are through to the finals of the World Test Championship finals, courtesy Australia postponing thier tour of South Africa, the fight is now between India and England. Indirectly even Australia is in the fight. Here are the scenarios which could lead to the qualification of these three teams to the World Test Championship. Different scenarios for India to reach the WTC final The case of India is simple. If India wins two tests and gets a draw out in the series, it is simply through to the finals and England and Australia then have no chance of qualifying. This is because, with two wins and a draw, India would have 500 points out of a possible 720 which would translate to 69.4% in terms of POP, which would be more than Australia's 69.2% and England's 62.7%, and that's how they go through. This is the minimum that India needs to get to play the World Test Championship Finals at Lord's. But what if there are rains and a match gets washed out, in such conditions the points would be split, so each team would get 15 points in case of the India - England series as this contains 30 points for each game. Match getting washed out due to rain is a rare scenario, but even if that happens, Indis would still need to not let England win more than one game to make sure that they reach the finals. How's the road for others! Australia For the Kangaroos, the road has gotten tougher ever since they lost the home series against India. All the Aussie hopes would ironically be pinned England and they would wish for England to win more than one game in India to make sure that India does not cross the 69.2% barrier. If the English are not even able to win a single game then the Baggy Greens and their fans would want the Poms to at least make sure that India down not win more than one game. And even if India manages to win more than one game, then England goes on to win two as well. But there is another twist in the tale, which is, the Australians wouldn't want England to win more than two games either. So the progression of Tim Paine' men to the WTC finals is totally dependent upon both the teams not playing their best form of cricket and drawing the series 0-0 or 1-1. And if not, then both the teams playing their best form of cricket and drawing the series 2-2. The Australians can't afford one team to dominate the entire course of the series. England For England to go through the scenario is pretty simple, they have to win more than two games. With their unexpected but brilliant 2-0 series win against Sri Lanka, they have given themselves a chance to make it to Lord's for the all-important WTC finale. But for that to happen, they need to win the series either 3-1 or 3-0 or 4-0. losing more than one game could be fatal for their chances of moving ahead. They are at 412 points and can get up to a maximum of 532 out of 720, which equals to 73.8%. But even if they manage to win three games and lose one, they would reach to 502, which would take them to 69.72% and that would be more than Australia's 69.2 to go through to final. But if England manages to win just two games, their chances perish dramatically as they fall behind the 69.2% barrier. With two wins and two draws, they could get only up to 492 points, which is equal to 68.3% and less than 69.2%, thereby pushing the Aussies into the finals. Thus for them to qualify, more than two wins are required. But if they could not get more than one win in the first three Tests, they can always spoil India's chances of going ahead by either winning or drawing the fourth test, if they have had a win in the previous three.

Dav Whatmore signs up as new coach of Nepal

Dav Whatmore, known for training the underdogs has picked one more as he has signed up as the official coach of the Nepal Cricket Team. Whatmore would have had Raunak Bahadur Malla as general manager and Binod Kumar Das as cricket manager of Nepal Cricket to assist him and provide him with all teh basic facilities. Whatmore’s main job would be to take Nepal to the 2022 T20 World Cup to be hosted by Australia as the team missed teh chance of qualifying for 2021 in India. "Dave is extremely keen to take on this new challenge, as he strongly believes Nepal has great talent and a very bright future in international cricket," Nepal Cricket said in a Press Release. "Nepal is a beautiful country and Dave [sic] is looking forward to this new challenge with young talent in Nepal.” Whatmore has a long list of accomplishments starting with the 1996 World Cup victory of Sri Lanka under his able guidance. Off late he saw Indian domestic side Kerala reach their first-ever Ranji Trophy Semi-Finals. Apart from this, It was under him that Bangladesh reached teh Super Eight stage of the World Cup for the first time in 2007, defending host favorites Indian and also surprising South Africa once during the tournament.