CPL 2021 | Evin Lewis, Dominic Drakes shine in an easy win for Patriots over Warriors

CPL 2021 | SLK vs TKR: Butchered by Tallwahs, St. Lucia Kings look to bounce back against Knight Riders

It is not going to be an easy task for any team to come back after being defeated in the manner that St. Lucia Kings were by the Jamaica Tallwahs in their opening encounter. They were hammered all around the park while bowling and while batting it was just not their day as they got bowled out 120 runs short of the target. It was not even close to what they would have expected their season opener to be with new captain Faf du Plessis in command. On the other hand are Trinbago Knight Riders, who, after going down narrowly against Guyana Amazon Warriors in their season opener, came back strong against Barbados Royals and went on to register their first win of the season in a comfortable manner by six wickets and with plenty of balls to spare. So two teams with contrasting last match results will now go head to head with one trying to come back from a disaster and another trying to build on the momentum. It won’t be easy for Kings to come back, but sometimes you need early lessons to rise up to the occasion. Also, they need to bowl Cornwall too if they are playing him in the XI. St Lucia Kings vs Trinbago Knight Riders: Match Details Match Number: 07 Date and Time: August 29, 2021, 07:30 pm IST, 10:00 am Local, 02:00 pm GMT Venue: Warner Park, Basseterre Broadcast: Star Sports Live Stream: Fancode Pitch Report The pitch hasn’t really had one face so far as it has been slow at times and at other times the ball has just come on to bat nicely. Thus to say that it would be a belter of a wicket would be a bit too hasty for an assumption. But no doubt, it wouldn’t be dead bat and totals around 160 will be competitive. Weather Forecast and Toss The weather at Warner Park will remain hot and humid with humidity being as high as 72%. The temperatures would remain in the lower thirties with the moderate wind blowing from the northeast and thus helping the bowlers early on in the morning. A captain winning the toss would look to bowl first without any doubt. Probable XI Trinbago Knight Riders Lendl Simmons, Sunil Narine, Colin Munro, Tim Seifert, Darren Bravo, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Kieron Pollard (c), Isuru Udana, Akeal Hosein, Ravi Rampaul, Jayden Seales St Lucia Kings Rahkeem Cornwall, Andre Fletcher (wk), Faf du Plessis (c), Roston Chase, Tim David, Mark Deyal, Keemo Paul, Wahab Riaz, Usman Qadir, Obed McCoy, Kesrick Williams Dream XI fantasy team suggestion Batters Lendl Simmons, Faf du Plessis, Tim David Bowlers Akeal Hosein, Obed McCoy, Usman Qadir All-rounders Kieron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Isuru Udana, Rahkeem Cornwall Wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin Vice-Captain Tim David Captain Sunil Narine

Ravindra Jadeja under injury cloud, taken to hospital for scan on knee

In what will come as a setback for India in the aftermath of a big loss in Leeds, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was sent to a hospital for a scan on his knee. He had jarred his knee against the ground while attempting to stop a shot on the first day of the Headingley Test. He did come back to the field and bowl later on in the game which should suggest that the injury is not that serious in nature. However, a final report on the extent of the injury and its final assessment is likely to be out tomorrow. In case Jadeja misses out from the fourth Test scheduled to start on September 02 at the Oval, India will not hesitate to call back Ravichandran Ashwin who has not got the opportunity so far in the series. He was under strong contention to play both at Lord’s and Headingley but the team management led by Virat Kohli decided to play with a fourth seamer in place of a second spinner in him. Jadeja has shown signs of having better defensive technique against pacers and contributed well in Australia before he had fractured his finger to be ruled out of the final Test of the series earlier this year. India would be hoping he does not get ruled out midway through the series once more in the same year.

Kohli vows intense comeback at Oval, says Leeds loss hurting, not demoralising

After an exhilarating win at Lord’s when they had decimated England inside 60 overs on the last day to earn a famous win, India were handed a harsh reality check by the Joe Root-led England, who were disciplined than them with the bat, and precise with the ball. The question marks over Indian batsmen that were getting papered over by the remarkable composure of KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma in the first two Tests were ripped open once again. Owning up the mistakes committed by his players across the four days of the Test, skipper Virat Kohli said that they have had gone through these situations when the world start doubting their credentials and reiterated confidence that it brings out only the best in them. He admitted that players are hurting but ruled out a “demoralised” Indian team going forward in the series citing that nothing in the game guarantees success as they have witnessed in Leeds after a thumping win at Lord’s. India were guilty of not batting with control around their off stump on the first morning of the Leeds Test, but Kohli termed the failure in the game as an “aberration” and not particularly a general weakness. However, he conceded complete failure in the first innings while showing satisfaction over the improvement shown in the second innings. "If what happens in one game guarantees you the same thing the next game, we should have smashed England again. It didn't happen. We like to be in this situation where people start coming at us with doubts and start questioning our ability. That is the situation we love best. We will not be demoralised by this loss. The guys in the changing room are hurt. When you are hurt, you really want to correct the things that did not go our way. That is the way we will play the next two Tests." "As a batting group, we failed in this game in the first innings. Second innings we did a better job. As a bowling group also, we accept we are not consistent enough. That's it. I know what happens when we lose one game. I have said this in the past so many times that we are not going to fall into this trap where we start picking on issues or one or two things to talk about. We fail as a team, and we win as a team." "This game has been kind of an aberration in how we have gone this series. First two games, we put ourselves in a position where we won one game and had the opportunity to win the first one as well. We analyse ourselves as a team and not [individual] numbers. That all happens on the outside. Whether we are helping to build partnerships and putting the team in good positions is our only focus. There is no connect between the focuses on the outside and focuses within the group." India will be particularly disappointed with batsmen not making best use of their hard-earned starts. All batsmen including Rohit Sharma, Chetehswar Pujara, Rahane and captain Kohli himself worked hard, especially in the second innings, but failed to step up the tempo and convert those starts into substantial scores that could have saved India from the embarrassment of a loss by an innings. However, he defended the batting group and said that they would be looking forward to correcting those mistakes they have committed so far in the series. He said that batsmen don’t go out there to prove people wrong or right but instead they go out there to play big innings and contribute to the team’s success. "They have done that [understand the situation and find ways to score runs] in the first two games," he said. "And even in this game, batsmen got in good positions to play a big knock. We were not able to do that but that doesn't mean we will not be able to do that. When you step onto the field, you are not looking to prove to people that you can play. You obviously want to do the best you can and play big innings. The reason why we won the second Test or were in a position to win the first was because guys stepped up and got the job done for the team." Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has also come under fire after a string of low scores in the series and more worryingly, he has been found out around off stump for not having a solid defence to defend good balls. He has tried to take the game to the bowlers from the word go to get going but that move has not worked for him either so far in the series. Kohli refused to judge Pant’s performances based on absolute numbers and took reference to “conversations” about Pujara’s form to shield his young and bashing number six. He promised Pant “space to play his game” while also pointing out the need of understanding game situations and taking more responsibility. He refused to do a comprehensive post-mortem of India’s batting demise in the Leeds Test and said that individual performances will only be assessed and analysed after the end of the series against England. "With one loss I cannot assess or start analysing that as captain. Definitely, the management is not going to start that either. We are not failing consistently as a team. Yes we failed this game and we take responsibility for that. Similar conversations were being initiated about Pujara as well, which seem to have disappeared after yesterday. We want to give Rishabh all the space to play his game and understand situations and take responsibility like is expected of everyone else in the batting order. You can't judge people all the time on numbers and whether they are succeeding or failing. That is not how you make a team. There is still time in this series. After two more Test matches, we can look back and analyse, 'okay these are the areas that were not quite right,' but right now is not the time,” the skipper concluded. India will have their task cut out in the next game at the Oval as England might as well prepare a lively surface taking confidence from their brittle batting in Leeds. The tourists have also some tough selection calls to take in both the batting and bowling department. The question of Ravichandran Ashwin always hovers over Kohli’s press conferences and the pitches at the Oval have a reputation of aiding spinners that could pave the way for his return. India will also have to ponder over the lacklustre performances from the vice-captain Rahane, whose nervous batting in both the innings at Headingley exposed his fragile mind and poor application. Kohli has vowed to return with great intensity at the Oval and he would be eager to get back among runs himself after not converting another good start into a substantial and match-defining score.

AUS W vs IND W | With World Cup in mind, coach Ramesh Powar looks to find fast bowler support for Jhulan

The Indian Women’s team embarked on their tour of Australia after spending a good amount of time in their Bengaluru camp. The team might be playing only three ODIs and the entire focus might be on the one-off day/night Test at WACA in Perth, but coach Ramesh Powar is pretty sure of what he wants. "World Cup is a very important tournament for us and we're focusing on that. If you see only the one-off Test, we can't go in with a mindset of preparing for that,” he said in the pre-departure press conference. But his focus on ODIs doesn’t mean that he or the team is taking the Test lightly. According to the former India player, the team will transition itself from the ODI mode to the test mode and he trusts them to do so. "I think it is about taking the one-day confidence into Test. I'm confident that we don't have to prepare separately for the pink-ball Test. We back our players in the format and they are good enough to react to the situation,” said the coach whose time drew the one-off Test against England Women coming from behind in June this year. Powar, himself a successful Mumbai off-spinner knows that it won’t be easy for the Indian team to adjust quickly and the experience would be totally different for the team. Hence he has focused on making sure that players react to the situation instead of going with a fixed mindset. "The Test in Australia will be slightly different because we will be playing with the pink ball under lights. The experience will be different because we have never played with the pink ball under lights before,” he said. “We don't go in with a set mindset. It's all about how we apply ourselves at that moment,” Powar added further. Another point of focus of Powar is to find a pacer who would share the responsibility with Jhulana Goswami for opening the innings with the ball. Meghna Singh, the Railways medium pacer, and Renuka Singh Thakur of Himachal Pradesh have been drafted into the side as extra support to Goswami Shikha Pandey and Pooja Vastrakar. Powar believes that these new pacers would be tried to get to the composition before the ODI World Cup in 2022 in New Zealand in February. “In the fast-bowling department, we are looking for consistency so that Jhulan can express herself. Because of lack of partnership, she is defensive which we don't want as a team. And we are giving her that support,” the coach said. The Indian Women begin their tour with the first ODI at North Sydney Oval on September 19.