BCCI confirms T Natarajan as replacement for Umesh Yadav


Left-arm pacer T Natarajan has been added into the Indian squad as a replacement for the injured pacer Umesh Yadav for the remainder of the ongoing Test series against Australia. Umesh picked up an injury in his calf on the third day of the second Test at the MCG and went off the filed to never come back. 

On the other hand, Shardul Thakur was added into the squad as a replacement for Mohammed Shami who had broken his wrist after taking a hit on the third day morning in the first Test. 

Both Shardul Thakur and Natarajan are in contention for a place in the laying XI in place of Umesh Yadav in the third Test starting January 07 at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). There have been reports about Shardul being considered ahead of Natarajan as the third seamer in the third Test, but Natarajan’s left-arm pace may bring in a much -needed variation in the pace department.

“The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named T Natarajan as Yadav’s replacement. Ahead of the Boxing Day Test, Shardul Thakur was added to the Test squad as Mohd. Shami's replacement after the senior fast bowler suffered a hairline fracture in his right forearm. Both Shami and Umesh Yadav will head to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru for further rehabilitation of their injuries,” BCCI said in its release.

The BCCI has said that both Yadav and Shami will head to the National Cricket Academy to undergo their rehabilitation process after arrival in India.

India will have other concerns to manage in the batting department as well with the return of Rohit Sharma, who is certain to play if he is physically in shape to take the field, and that will leave the team management with a key decision on whom to leave out among Mayank Agarwal and Shubman Gill.

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Marnus Labuschagne admits Australians batsmen have been choked for runs

Marnus Labuschagne has been one of the top scorers with the bat for Australia, but he too will admit that he has looked way below he was batting against New Zealand and Pakistan in the last Australian summer. In Labuschagne's views, it is more to do with the pinpoint accuracy of the Indian bowling line up along with perfect field placement. Labuschagne has said that the tourists’ bowlers have been able to contain Australian batsmen as they have been relentless with their line of attack on stumps, along with packed leg aide field. He also said a lot of shots they used to get away with a four, have resulted in mere a single against India. "They've certainly come in with a plan... and made sure they're really not leaving the stumps and having a really heavy leg-side field. It obviously slows your scoring rate down because those shots you do get on your legs go for one, not four. We need to be very disciplined and we also need to come up with ways to put them under pressure," Labuschagne said in the virtual press conference. Labuschagne was troubled by Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, and after getting a reprieve by DRS, the right-hander was caught at the slip off Ashwin on a delivery that kept on going with the arm from round the wicket angle. The ongoing tour is fourth of Ashwin, and the wily off-spinner is showing all his tricks on Australian pitches and really making great use of his experience over the last three tours. Labuschangne commended Ashwin for his quality bowling and said that the way he has shown his class in the series, he deserves all the stats he owns in Test cricket. "I've never faced Ashwin before until this series. You don't have the stats that Ravi has without being a great bowler and also a great thinker. He's (Ashwin) obviously come in really prepared and they're being really crafty with their field and what they're trying to do. We have fallen into their trap a few times," Labuschagne said. Australia will challenge India’s comeback in Sydney in the third Test, and Labuschange has batted well on the SCG pitch. In the last summer, he scored a masterful double century against New Zealand, while he also showed his promise against the same opposition-- India during the last Border Gavaskar series. As the series has progressed to the third Test with Australian top order under pressure, Labuschange will be looking forward to rediscovering his fluency with the bat.

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Sachin Tendulkar lauds Indian team for MCG win; analyses Ashwin vs Smith battle

Indian bowlers have bowled brilliantly against Australian batsmen in the first two Tests of the series, and more so against their star batsmen in Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne. The right-handed duo was touted to be the biggest challenge for the tourists and by far in the series, Indians have been able to dismiss Smith quite cheaply while Labuschagne has not been allowed to run away with the game. Indian pacers and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin have been able to forge tactics that have been consistent and they have earned praises from all quarters but they would certainly enjoy the plaudits from batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar who has deciphered the tactics adopted by the Indian side. In the first Test at Adelaide, Smith was deceived by an arm ball bowled with a flatter trajectory and Smith was standing deep in the crease in hope of turn to him. In a sign of perfect setup, Ashwin got Smith flicking to Pujara at the leg slip tp ball that turned from the line of stumps and Tendulkar has commended the control of Ashwin to dominate Smith's technique in the first two Tests. Tendulkar also spoke very highly of Indian stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane for performing the dual role of leading the side on the field and the batting performance on the back fo a splendid century. Tendulkar said that Rahane was not lagging in aggressive intent, but he was also cautious and reasonable in his approach and batted for a long period of time to wear the Australian bowler down. “I thought Ajinkya batted brilliantly. He was calm, relaxed and composed. He had aggressive intent, but aggression was rightly balanced by calmness and surety. So he did not miss opportunities when a boundary ball was there. And when one had to be patient, he was patient. The intent was very good. I felt this was a brilliant performance by our team, the manner in which our team was able to play and the way Ajinkya led the team. Also, if you look at senior cricketers and their contribution, it has been good. People shouldn't get into comparisons with Virat. Ajinkya has [a] different personality. His intent was aggressive. I would like to remind everyone that they are both Indians and they both play for India, so no individuals come above India. Team and country is above everything else,” Tendulkar said. The win at the MCG was earned on the back of strong performances from the debuting duo of Shubman Gill and Mohammed Siraj, and Tendulkar noted that both of them looked ready for the Test arena. He said that neither of them showed any signs of playing their first matches. He commended Gill for his confidence on debut and also his ability to play good shots against quality short-pitched bowling by Australian pacers."Shubman looked confident and comfortable," Tendulkar said. "He played some good shots off the short-pitched stuff that the Australians bowled.” For Siraj, Tendulkar said that the pacer was on the money from his very first over, and at the same time showed composure to set up batsman over a period of time. Siraj bowled his heart out in both innings, and the words of praise from Tendulkar would make him feel a lot sweeter about his Test debut. "Let's also not forget how Siraj has bowled. It did not appear to me that he was playing his first Test match. The way he bowled his first over and then built it up gradually, but never did it look that he was playing his first match. The plans were well thought out. He executed it well. Both debutants were comfortable in the execution of their plans,” Tendulkar said of the pacer from Hyderabad. India have had to face multiple crises of injury to star players, and all except Jasprit Bumrah among the first-choice pacers of the team have gone back to India after sustaining injuries. India will look to keep the momentum going at the SCG, but they will have their task cut out with David Warner returning at the top of the order for Australia, while India will be playing two rookies in the pace department.

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Strikers vs Scorchers: Clinical Perth register first win of BBL 10 against toothless Adelaide

In a battle between two sides on the middle and lower half of the points table, the Perth Scorchers defeated the Adelaide Strikers by 7 wickets at the Adelaide Oval on Friday, December 31 to open their winning account in the ongoing Big Bash League. With the help of this win against the Strikers, the Scorchers have gone up to the sixth position on the points table of the league with eight teams, while the Strikers are holding forth on the fourth position with three wins and three losses in their six matches this season. Chasing a modest target of 147 runs, the Scorchers were powered off to a rapid start on the back of Jason Roy who went on to score a 32-ball-49 and followed by finishing efforts from the bats of Micthell Marsh and Josh Inglis. Marsh remained unbeaten on 24-ball-38 while Inglis carried his bat with 44 not out to help the Scorchers register their first win. Roy was in exquisite form from the very first over off Daniel Worral and made his intention clear that the required rate of almost seven runs per over doesn't necessarily mean he will take his time to settle down. Coming to bowl from the other end, Peter Siddle was treated with the same disdain, but the pacer managed to get hold off Roy and ended up conceding only five runs. The gap between Roy and his opening partner Liam Livingstone was growing wider and wider as Roy put Worral to the sword in his next over, taking 11 runs off him. At the end of the mandatory powerplay, Scorchers were well on their way to chase 147 runs, but Carey had his main weapon—Rashid Khan up his sleeve and he was brought into the attack right after the field restriction. Roy wasn’t to be disturbed one bit and reverse swept Rashid on his first ball to send a signal to the Strikers’ camp that the run chase was well and truly on, that too at a more rapid pace than required. Worral was again treated with disdain in the next over and by the end of seven overs, Scorchers had piled more than 50 runs without losing any wicket. Roy was equally aggressive as Wes Agar returned with his second over of the spell and the pacer was welcomed by Roy in emphatic fashion. However, Agar was good enough to find an element of surprise and extracted extra bounce off the pitch to leave Roy playing uncomfortably, and the leading edge was snaffled comfortably by Rashid Khan at the cover region. Livingstone did not get too much of a strike when Roy was going all guns blazing at the other end, and he could not get going when he started getting the strike. In the end, Agar was better of him as well with his extra bounce as the right-hander tried to guide a delivery outside off stump to the third man for a single. Colin Munro batted at the number three and Josh Inglis came to bat after the fall of Livingstone as the duo had to make sure the run-rate doesn't go higher than the manageable level, while also keeping wickets in hands. Munro throughout his career has struggled to pick leg spinners and in the end, Rashid Khan proved to be too good for him in the 11th over. At the end of the 11 th over, the Scorchers were 85/3 with Mitchjellmarsh and Inglis at the crease and required rate plummeting down to 6.89 runs per over. The duo kept the scoreboard going with odd boundaries as Agar got on the wrong end of Marsh and yielded 15 runs in his third over that spoiled his bowling figure. At the end of the 15th over, the Scorchers took the power surge and Agar was trusted by Carrey to keep a check on the Scorchers' duo, but it wasn’t to be as Both Marsh and Inglis took full toll of the field restriction and shifts the momentum that never allowed Strikers to come back in the game. Earlier in the night, the Perth Scorchers’ captain Asthon Turner won the bat flip and they sent in the Strikes on an Adelaide Oval pitch that promised to offer some assistance with the new ball. Jhye Richardson vindicated his skipper’s call and dismissed Phil Salt in the very first over and when Aaron Hardie got Jake Weatherald top-edging to Inglis in the third over, the Strikers were on the backfoot in the initial phase of the game itself. Jason Behrendorff released a bit of pressure in the fourth over as the pair of Matt Renshaw and Carey started to look fluent in the middle. Carey was particularly severe against Andrew Tye, who also did not help his cause bowling two back to back half volleys and the Strikers’ captain was not to miss out on the chance to get his team back in the momentum. Aaron Hardie came back in his second over and dismissed Renshaw to peg back the Strikers and when Jonathan Wells got run out in the 10th over, Carey had his tasks cut out to take his side to a defendable total. He wasn’t helped by his teammates and wickets kept falling around him but the left-hander held his composure and made sure that his side did not wither away before reaching a total his bowlers could attempt to defend. He cut loose once again against Tye and deposited him over the sightscreen in the 19th over that yielded 16 runs for the Strikers. He would have hoped for similar returns in the remaining two overs, but Jhye Richardson and Aaron Hardie were too good and gave away only four and eight runs in their respective overs. Carey was dismissed by Richardson after a magnificent 59-ball-82 that helped the Strikers post a respectable total. This Scorchers’ win has opened up the contest in the Big Bash League with the Strikers equaling their number of wins and losses this season while the Scorchers coming off the mark with their first win the BBL this year.