AUS vs IND: Tim Paine will play the main sledger, reckons Mohammad Kaif

AUS A vs IND: Ton-up Vihari, Pant push India towards victory in Sydney

The Indian team under the leadership of Ajinkya Rahane has attained a firm control over the second tour match against the Australia A team after complete team performances with the bat on the second day. The visitors started their second innings on the third and final day of the match and it provided the pair of Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw- to have a perfect outing to stake a claim on the opener slot created by Rohit Sharma’s absence. But, Prithvi Shaw failed to seize the opportunity and was dismissed early. The next man in, Shubman Gill was up to the task and he made most of the opportunity to push on for a place at the top of the order. Gill batted with supreme confidence and found immaculate timing and his placement was delicate in an innings of 65 from 78 balls where he hit 10 crisp boundaries. On the other hand, Mayank Agarwal, who is one of the certain starters for the Adelaide Test, was patient to wait for loose deliveries before he could go for big runs. He showed patience to see out more than 120 balls for his 61 runs that included only four boundaries and two sixes. He was admirably cautious against going after the pacers but the leg-spin of Swepson was too inaccurate to trouble him and he enjoyed it to the fullest and made a good display of his technique against spin bowling. The batting of Hanuma Vihari, who has made a name for himself in the Indian Test team on the back of his attritional batting and bowling the team out of trouble, was a point of contention for the visitors after he had failed to make any big runs in the three innings preceding the one on the last day of the second tour game. Vihari started positively against the full tosses off Swepson but quickly settled into his rhythm and showed resistance against tight bowling from the Australia A bowlers. Like Agarwal, he too was severe against Swepson’s loose deliveries but against pacers, he was willing to wait for the deliveries to pitch in his arc, and whenever bowlers erred by bowling too full to him, he obliged to drive them for boundaries through his innings. Another concern for the visitors was the batting of Rishabh Pant and there is a toss-up between him and Wriddhiman Saha on who will don the gloves for the visitors in Adelaide. Pant was given the perfect opportunity to launch his attack, in a role the Indian team would love him to play whenever they will be in an ascending position going ahead in the main series. Pant looked at his usual best and in the last over of the day, he needed 22 runs to complete his century, which he did in a signatory emphatic style, hitting Jack Wildermuth to all parts of the ground. Earlier, on day one, It was India’s bowlers day to make early inroad before the series starting Adelaide. Joe Burns poor form continued while the left-handed Marcus Harris, who has been added to the Test squad to face the touring Indians in Adelaide, too failed to make any impressive outing against the menacing duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami. Both of them bowled like a champion pair and restricted the hosts without any hittable balls barring a few later in their spells. Shami made good use of the round-the wicket angle and troubled the left-handers in the lineup. Other pairs of pacers in Navdeep Saini and Mohammad Siraj looked sharp and mopped up the tail after the rout of middle-order by Shami and Bumrah. Before that, the Australia A bowlers had posed massive challenges to the Indian batting line up as the tourists could have resurrected only on the back of a stupendous last-wicket partnership between Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah, who scored his maiden first-class fifty. The visitors had a lot of boxes to tick before the game began and ended up ticking all the boxes at the end of the play on day two. The conundrum on Gill and Shaw will be more or less settled with Gill scoring runs and showing signs of being in great form and same is the case of Pant and Saha debate where Pant has against established what he can bring to the table for the visitors but the final call on selection is presumably yet to be made. Gill’s runs would keep him reckoning especially from the second Test when Kohli will return home in his paternity leave. Good news has emerged for the Indian team with Rohit Sharma regaining full fitness and preparing to take the flight to Australia on December 13 but he is unlikely to join the squad before the conclusion of the second Test on December 30 in Melbourne.

BBL10 | MLR vs PRS: Usual Marsh stuff takes Renegades past Scorchers in Hobart

It was usual Shaun Marsh at the display as the ever consistent renegade took his team home in its opening encounter against his former team, the Perth Scorchers. Although Marsh got out just when two more runs were required and weren’t able to carry his bat, the damage had already been done, as Renegades chased down the 130 set up by the Scorchers, with 21 balls remaining and seven wickets in hand. Interestingly Renegades played the match with six debutants. Marsh-Finch ring the warning bell The 130 runs put up by Scorchers was in no way a daunting total to chase, yet instead of getting complacent, the experienced pair of skipper Aaron Finch and run machine Marsh got on to it with an attacking mindset, reaching 70 runs in just eight overs. The partnership was full of dashing shots and yet smooth as a banana with no hiccups until Finch was caught by Marsh off Jhye Richardson. But with this partnership, the old foxes rang a warning bell to other teams that they are going to be a tough nut to crack for the opposition and probably the most prized scalps in the entire Renegades’ batting line up. While Finch scored 35, Marsh went on to register his 48th t20 fifty. Scorchers scorched The three quicks in Jason Behrendorff, Andrew Tye, and Jhye Richardson were playing together for the first time in 670 days and although the Scorchers were defending a small total, it was expected that these three would at least get into the groove and pose some threat with the new ball. However, they were taken for the cleaners by the Renegades openers as Behrendorff leaked 34 in his four while Tye gave away 37 and the two stalwarts returned without a wicket. Jhye, though, was quite exceptional with the ball, as if starting the season from where he left it the last time, picking two wickets in 3.3 overs and giving away just 20 runs. Roy-Livingstone badly missed Earlier, electing to bat after winning the toss, the Scorchers started their innings on a disastrous note as they lost three wickets for just 19 runs in three overs as both their openers along with the destructive Colin Munro were back in the hut. Ashton Turner and skipper Mitchell Marsh tried to build the partnership but it was broken by a brilliant throw from wicketkeeper Sam Harper as he removed the risk-taker Turner. The team very evidently missed the services of their foreign recruits in the Englishmen Liam Livingstone and Jason Roy, both of whom are known for taking the attack back to the opposition. In their absence, no other Scorcher could take the lead, although all-rounder Aaron Hardie tried hard. Richardson-Lalor strike in tandem The Melbourne team had built pressure right from the start of the game as Kane Richardson and Josh Lalor taking wickets of openers Josh Inglis and Munro. From there onwards, the two didn't stop and kept taking wickets at regular intervals. They were ably supported by the leggie Peter Hatzoglou, who on his debut took two important wickets of opposition captain Marsh and experienced Bancroft. The two pacers however took three wickets each and the 33-year-old Lalor was also adjudged Man of the Match for his performance. What's Next? After two games, that were not very eventful and rather one-sided(at least the second one), the weekend would be cashed in by the BBL authority as two more matches would be hosted on Sunday. In the first game, the Hobart Hurricanes, who would be high on confidence having won the opening encounter against the last year champs Sydney Sixer, would play the Adelaide Strikers tomorrow morning. While in the evening game, it would be a Sixers vs Renegades competition, where the Sixers would like to get back to winning ways, but Finch led Renegades would try to continue the momentum.

Mujeeb Ur Rahman recovers from COVID-19, joins Brisbane Heat squad in Canberra

The Brisbane Heat will be relieved to welcome back Mujeeb Ur Rahman after the spinner was discharged from a Gold Coast hospital having recovered from the novel coronavirus infection. Mujeeb has joined the Heat squad in Canberra and is likely to be available for the next fixture against the Sydney Thunder scheduled to take place on Monday, December 14. Mujeeb had tested positive for COvid-19 while in quarantine after arriving in Queensland and the Afghan spinner has no or little preparation of competitive cricket before he came to Australia after a poor outing in the IPL where he played only two matches for the Kings XI Punjab franchise and conceded more than 10 runs per over. However, Heat skipper Chriss Lynn has expressed optimism that Mujeeb will be ready to take on the Thunder in the team’s next match after they suffered a convincing defeat at the hands of Melbourne Stars in their first game. "He's really upbeat. He can't wait to play. He has been part of our Heat family for a number of years now. He's a world-class player and can be a game-changer," Lynn had said on Mujeeb after the last game. Mujeeb has an outstanding record in his short BBL career where he has played only 18 matches and taken 15 wickets at an astounding economy rate of 6.09 runs per over. He has an outstanding strike rate and average combination of 28.1 and 28.5 respectively.

BBL 10 | Sixers vs Renegades: Match Preview, Predicted XI, Pitch and Weather Report

After losing their first game of the season, Sydney Sixers would look to get their Big Bash League (BBL) campaign back on track when they take on Melbourne Renegades at Hobart on Sunday. For Renegades also, it would be their second match of the season, the first being the contest against Perth Scorchers on Saturday. This match would be the fourth of the season on this ground and second of the day. Whether this affects the pitch or not remains to be seen. The first match on this ground, the opening contest of the series turned out to be a modestly high-scoring affair while the second was low-scoring. But if the pitch becomes worn out, spinners may come into play. Sixers' Hopes The bowling from Sixers in the opening game was disappointing. None of the bowlers were able to achieve an economy rate of less than 8/over except Ben Manenti. Even Steve O'Keefe proved to be very expensive. Ben Dwarshuis did pick up three wickets but conceded too many runs in return. If the pitch starts to show signs of wear and tear, then the spinners, Manenti and O'Keefe could become more useful. Also, it would be an opportunity for players such as Gurinder Sandhu, Carlos Brathwaite, and Daniel Christian to use some cutters for greater impact. On the batting front, Sixers would be hoping for another good showing by James Vince. A failed player at the Test and ODI level, Vince seems to be in his elements in such competitions. His fluent strokeplay and exquisite timing makes him well-suited to the challenges of T20 cricket. Jack Edwards also had a good showing in the match against Hurricanes. His good innings was a big positive for a team that does not have that many stars in the line-up presently. Batsmen like opener Josh Philippe, captain Daniel Hughes, and Jordan Silk will also have to fire. And then, of course, is Brathwaite. This tournament is another opportunity for him to show that he isn't a once-in-a-blue mood performer. So far, he hasn't done that. Renegades' Plan Renegades' batting looks strong. Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh will be the leaders of this line-up and would have gained good support from Marcus Harris, but for his inclusion in Australia A and, subsenquently, Australian Test team. Rilee Rossouw would be expected to live-up to the expectations also, being the South African import. In absence of players like Finch and March, his role becomes all the more crucial. Not only does he need to score runs himself but also provide some leadersiip with his insights. The bowling attack though, packs a punch. Kane Richardson and Josh Lalor are likely to be in the playing XI. But many of the prominent bowlers would be unavailable for selection. James Pattinson is with the Australian team while Imran Tahir will also join the team later. But others such as P Hatzoglou, Mitchell Perry, Benny Howell, and Beau Webster will be in contention for selection. The bowling department would look much stronger when everyone becomes available but, as of now, they still have enough talent to get through. Sydney Sixers vs Melbourne Renegades: Match Details Venue: Bellerive Oval, Hobart Date and Time: December 13, 1:45 PM IST, 7:15 PM Local, 8:15 AM GMT Broadcaster: Sony Sports Network, Sony LIV Pitch Report After the first match which saw both teams score around 170, the second match saw bowlers making a mark. So, it is hard to predict what kind of pitch will be there for this game. But it certainly won't be a greentop. Also, with this being the fourth match on this ground in three days, wear and tear would also be a possibility. Weather and Toss Weather will remain calm and comfortable in the evening. So, it won't have much effect on the game. The pitch will be the key in determining what the captain does after winning the toss. Probable XIs Sydney Sixers: Josh Philippe (Wk), Jack Edwards, James Vince, Daniel Hughes (C), Jordan Silk, Daniel Christian, Carlos Brathwaite, Ben Dwarshuis, Steve O'Keefe, Benjamin Manenti, Gurinder Sandhu Melbourne Renegades: Shaun Marsh, Aaron Finch (C), Sam Harper (Wk), Rilee Rossouw, Beau Webster, Jack Fraser-McGurk, Benny Howell, Jack Prestwidge, Kane Richardson, Josh Lalor, P Hatzoglou