BBL 11 | Jason Sangha’s brilliant showing with bat takes Thunder past Strikers

KL Rahul named captain, Bumrah vice-captain as India announce ODI squad for SA series

In another shocker just ahead of the new year, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the ODI team of India that would take on South Africa in a three-match series n the rainbow nation. KL Rahul, who was appointed the vice-captain of the ODI team on December 08th would now lead the team as Rohit Sharma is unable to tour due to injury concerns. Along with Rahul, it is probably the first time that an outer and out bowler has been given the vice-captaincy responsibilities of the Indian ODI team. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was recently appointed vice-captain on a tour of Sri Lanka, but he is considered more than a decent lower-order batter as well. “The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Mr KL Rahul as Captain for the ODI series as Mr Rohit Sharma is ruled out owing to an injury,” BCCI said in a Twitter post. Ruturaj Gaikwad and Venkatesh Iyer, both of whom performed exceptionally well in the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy have also been given ODI call ups. While this is the maiden ODI call-up for Iyer who shot to fame after the second leg of the IPL 2021, for Gaikwad it would be the second occasion post the Sri Lanka tour. Other than these major announcements, Ravichandran Ashwin has also been called up for the first time for the 50 over format post-2017. Yuzevdnara Chahal will be the second spinner and Washinton Sundar third in the 18 man squad. Along with Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur and Mohd. Siraj are the pacers in the squad. The first ODI of the three-match series will be played on January 19 at Boland Park. Team India for three-match ODI series KL Rahul (Capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Venkatesh Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Y Chahal, R Ashwin, W Sundar, J Bumrah (VC), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Prasidh Krishna, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj

Ostwal, Raghuvanshi help India lift Asia Cup U-19 trophy after comprehensive win over Sri Lanka

India won its record seventh title in the Asia Under-19 competition as it defeated Sri Lanka by nine wickets in the final of the 2021 edition of the competition held at Dubai International Cricket Stadium in UAE. India outplayed its opposition on all flanks in the rain-marred game. The only thing that went in Sri Lanka’s favour in the entire match was the toss. After winning the toss, the islanders decided to bat first even as there was a forecast for rain. After that nothing was in favour of the Sri Lankan side that defeated a strong Pakistani team in the semi-final a day earlier. Courtesy of some brilliant bowling from the Indian clots who were led by left-arm spinner from Maharashtra Vicky Ostwal, the Sri Lankan team was reduced to 57-7 in the 27th over. A partnership did develop, but rain interrupted with the Sri Lankan score at 74-7 in the 33rd over. When the match began again after a two-hour halt, it was reduced to 38 overs a side and the Lankans were given the last five overs as powerplay. However, they could only manage to add 32 more runs to their tally and ended their innings at 106-9. While Yasiru Rodrigo top-scored for Sri Lanka with an unbeaten 19, Otswal picked three wickets for India. With the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method at play, India were asked to chase down 102 in 32 o ers. With a fifty from Angkrish Raghuvanshi (56*) and SK Rasheed’s unbeaten 31, the Indian colts chased down the total in only the 22nd over.

EXCLUSIVE | Walking the talk - Inside Story of how Himachal Pradesh won the Vijay Hazare Trophy

Himachal Pradesh players were ecstatic and emotional and why not. After all, they had created history. They were the bunch of cricketers who had anchored the side to their first Vijay Hazare title. And so was captain Rishi Dhawan who had led this team from the front not just to the winning triumph but to a DREAM. A dream that many had seen. A dream that he himself had seen. A dream that is now a reality. In an EXCLUSIVE chat with OneCricket and Cricketexchange Rishi talks about how special this win is not just for him but for Himachal Pradesh cricket after putting in hard work for so many years. “It feels amazing after the historic win. We have had confidence in our team as we have been performing well for the past 4-5 years but were not getting that finishing touch. We finally got it this year, so it feels great. The mix in the team was good. All the players performed really well. Prashant, Nikhil, Amit and in the bowling unit we have Pankaj Jaiswal, Akash Vashisht who have performed really well. It’s a total team effort and the whole team has produced a brilliant show in the tournament,” he said. While Shubham Arora played an important role in the final against Tamil Nadu after scoring a century, Prashant Chopra had been among the runs consistently for the side in the tournament. Apart from these two, the middle-order and Rishi himself chipped in with important runs every now and then. Hailing the team, the right-hander said that it was the all-around show from the unit that helped clinch the title. “We got good batting wickets in the tournament. Like earlier, we played in Mumbai, so the tracks there had helped on offer for the batters. From the very starting, our focus was to play all the 50 overs and try not to give away many wickets. Our plan was to save wickets for the slog overs so that we can accelerate then. In almost 80% of the matches that we played, we scored a lot of runs in the final overs,” Dhawan noted. “Moreover, the batting order performed really well. Prashant gave us good starts then in the middle-order, we had Nikhil and Amit who chipped in with valuable contributions and then me and Akash and partnerships in 2-3 games which were really crucial and important. Overall, as I said this is a team effort. The good part was that we didn’t just have a couple of match-winners but there were different players in all the matches who made contributions.” An emotional Dhawan credited Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association for providing the players with facilities and also thanked Anurag Thakur for his hard work and efforts. “Obviously, you can’t create history in one and it’s a process that goes on. I really want to give credit to the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) who provided us with a lot of facilities. The infrastructure is good, we have indoor stadiums as well. We have at least 6-7 grounds where national level games can be held. Apart from this, the preparations are good, we get to play a lot of matches. So, I really want to thank the association and especially Anurag Thakur sir for his efforts. He had worked really hard for this. It was everyone’s dream that Himachal Pradesh should win a title and it has now come true.” The 31-year-old revealed how the players couldn’t control their emotions after qualifying for the finale and how he got the side back in the groove. “The players were really emotional after we made a place in the final. We had this feeling that we have been working hard for so many years and now we have got the reward so it was really emotional for us. But after all the celebrations and all, we got back into the groove that we are left with one game and kept in mind that we have to play our game and not really think about the opponent. We want to give our 100% and keep it simple,” he said. Looking at the conditions, Tamil Nadu had made some tweaks in their batting order in the finale and sent the lower-order batters up the order. Though they were reduced to 40/4, Dinesh Karthik and Baba Indrajith steadied the ship for the side. Karthik in fact, went on to notch a ton. Talking about the same, Dhawan admitted that his side had come under some pressure while DK was at the crease but as they had played at the venue earlier, they had the idea that it would be a high-scoring clash. “Dinesh Karthik is of course a big player and the way he was playing, the players were under some pressure despite getting a good start. But we had played a couple of games at the venue, so we had the idea that the wicket would gradually assist the batsmen. The outfield is fast. So somewhere down the line, we had this in mind that a high score will be put on the board eventually. In fact, we chose to field after winning the toss to take advantage of the conditions in the first hour. But we knew after 10-15 overs, the pitch will assist the batters,” he said. “We were expecting a change in the lineup because we knew they would also try to shield their important batters in the initial phase. But we had a plan of picking up as many wickets as we can,” he added. Himachal Pradesh had won the final by 11 runs (VJD Method). When asked if that was in his mind, Dhawan said in the affirmative that he was keeping the scoring rate in check. He further talked about the interaction that he had with Arora in the middle. “Being a senior player, I had to take up the onus and moreover, Shubham was a bit tired as well. He had kept wickets earlier and then he batted throughout, so he was tired. He in fact, called the physio also a couple of times during the drinks break to get the stretching done. He told me that he wasn’t really able to run so I just told him that don’t give away your wicket because a wicket at that point of time would have put us under pressure.” “I told him that I will take up the responsibility of scoring the runs and asked him to rotate the strike. Also, the VJD thing was going on in the back of our minds and a wicket there would have pushed us on the back foot,” he revealed. The Vijay Hazare Trophy will now be followed by the Ranji Trophy and the Himachal Pradesh side will be back to work. “We will be resting for 2-3 days and then we will start with the preparations for the Ranji Trophy. We are starting the tournament in Mumbai from January 13, 2022.” When asked about how much importance does IPL keep in being a platform for youngsters for showcasing the talent, Dhawan replied that it does keep a lot of importance. “You see, social media is so powerful that you get noticed if you perform well. This is a BCCI tournament so everyone knows how big this opportunity is for everyone. So, this thing is in everyone’s back of the mind and it only depends upon you how you take it. If you just enjoy the process, it enhances the performance,” he concluded.

BBL 11 | Brisbane Heat replaces injured Tom Abell with Pakistani import Fakhar Zaman

Big Bash League side Brisbane Heat have signed up Pakistan top order batter Fakhar Zaman as a replacement for their overseas player Tom Abell after the latter was not able to get fit for the later stages of the tournament. Talking about the signing, Wade Seccombe, the Heat's head coach, said, "Fakhar will join us in Melbourne ahead of the game against the [Melbourne] Renegades [on January 6]," "Due to Queensland's current border restrictions, he will need to spend 14 days outside of the state before he can play in Queensland. We are pleased he will be with us for what are shaping as key games. He is a classy performer who gets the job done in the teams he has played for so we are confident he can settle in quickly,” the coach further added. Englishman Abell, who travelled to Australia with the England Lions squad joined Heat at the start of the season but subsequently injured himself in only his second game and it was confirmed on Friday that he will not be able to further take any part in the league. The 27-year-old has returned to the United Kingdom and will now rehabilitate to get ready for the Pakistan Super League in late January where he will represent Karachi Kings. Fakhar, who has mostly played as an opener in his career but of late made himself an able number three player has an experience of 175 T20s and can come in handy for the Heat, who are currently placed fifth in the BBL points table.