CPL 2021 | JT vs BR: Despite early hiccups, Jamaica Tallawahs etch easy win against Barbados

4th Test Preview: England ride on momentum, India seek turnaround after Headingley horror

Past the halfway stage, the ongoing Test series between England and India has been living up to the expectations of being a “box office” stuff as Virat Kohli has been reiterating. From the topsy-turvy ride at Trent Bridge that did not produce any result due to bad weather to a fierce battle between the sides at Lord’s that India won in an emphatic manner riding on fiery bowlers and passionate captain. The magnitude of defeat was telling on England and skipper Joe Root stuttered in the defence of his side as critics began to write the hosts off from the series. Then, as a buoyant India took a courageous step to bat first in the third Test, the hosts created a “perfect storm” as skipper Root suggested after the end of a fairly one-sided game to blow India away and come roaring back in the series. Now, the tables have turned and it’s the Virat Kohli’s men who face the moment of reckoning and scepticism from critics about their ability to play swinging balls and win more than one game in this part of the world. India were on a rampant ride after an impressive performance in the first and winning the second Test. However, the massive loss at Headingley has ripped all the faultlines of the side open in front of the crowd and critics. They suffered monumental collapses in both the innings which have been emerging as a perennial issue and if the next two Tests don’t go as they have had the aim of, there will be obituaries of careers at the end of the series. England, on the other hand, were relying only on the bat of Joe Root and fingers of James Anderson before all cog of the wheels came into perfect place at Headingley. They were forced to make changes in the side and all of them provided them with perfect performances to produce one of the best wins they have had in the past few years. The return of Haseeb Hameed to the top of the order with Rory Burns paved the way for the middle order which was only strengthened by a confident Dawid Malan who batted with no insecurity to leave little or hint of returning to the longest format after three long years. All said and done, England would be wary of a resounding Indian come back and hence Root has underlined consistency as key for England and has asked his teammates to build on a massive win at Headingley. They have the better complete team at the disposal albeit with some chinks in the armour and Root and his men would do harm to their fortunes by downplaying an Indian resurgence. India though need quite a bit of reset in both the batting and bowling department. Root has churned out three centuries from three Tests without breaking any sweat and the bowling coach Bharat Arun must step in to enforce bowlers into bowling fuller length to Root. They would be disappointed for not extracting any movement from the Headingley pitch where the duo of Anderson and Robinson made merry against their batting mates. England vs India: Match Details Match Number- 04 Date and Time: September 02-06, 2021, 3:30 pm IST, 10:30 Local, 10:00 GMT Venue: The Kia Oval, London Broadcast and Live Stream: SonyLIV, Sony Six Pitch and weather The Oval is considered the best batting-friendly wicket in England, which also provides some assistance to spinners in the latter part of the game, and the pitch for the fourth Test is unlikely to be any different. Among all the England grounds that have hosted five Tests in the recent past, the Oval has produced bets number of spinners. In the five Tests played here, spinners have claimed 50 wickets at an average of 29.1 runs per wicket— a full two percentage points above the pacers’ average of 31.8 in as many matches. However, they have taken 123 wickets which can not be a no-factor in England. However, having seen their bowler running riots among Indian batsmen, the hosts would be eager to have a pitch that has at least some pace and bounce to enable edged of the bats to carry through to the slips and the wicketkeeper. The pitches so far in the series have been slower in nature, and the trend is likely to be continued at the Oval as well. The weather can play a spoilsport at the Oval with the chances of rain on the third and fourth day ranging between 25 per cent to 65 per cent. Even the last scheduled day of the game can be spoilt with a 12 per cent of chance of rain as per Accuweather. Team News England England were at their best in the last game but they will have to make some changes with the return and departure of key players. Jos Buttler has left the squad on paternity leave, leaving Jonny Bairstow to take the wicketkeeping gloves. It also opens an opportunity in the middle order for the likes of Ollie Pope and Dan Lawrence and the former is the likeliest choice of the team management. They are also ecstatic with the return of Chris Woakes, who was their player of the summer last year. His return will see the departure of Sam Curran, who has struggled with the bat so far in the series while Woakes’ tremendous skills with the ball do not deserve any comparison with Curran. Mark Wood, who missed the Headingley Test due to a shoulder injury, is fit to play and might replace Craig Overton, who played his part almost perfectly in the last game. England would have loved to give Anderson a break after playing him in all the Tests of the series so far but the absence of Stuart Broad and Woakes’ immediate entry to the side doesn’t give the team management that luxury. Probable XI Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, Dawid Malan, Joe Root (C), Ollie Pope, Jonny Bairstow (WK), Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood, James Anderson India All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who has been preferred over Ravichandran Ashwin more for his batting, was injured while fielding and was sent for a scan. There is no clarity on the extent of his injury and in case he gets ruled out, the door will finally open for Ashwin as India are unlikely to go in an Oval Test without a spinner. They also have to ponder over a big question of fragility in the batting order. Cheteshwar Pujara’s brilliant 91 guarantees him a place in the playing XI while the form of Ajinkya Rahane, who has gone back into a slump after good innings in the second innings at Lord’s, and Rishabh Pant will worry them. Pant’s critics have argued that the number six position is one place too high or the swashbuckling left-hander and that India must play a batsman at number six that will reinstate him at number seven. Skipper Kohli has already rejected “that balance” saying it limits the team’s chances of winning a Test match. There are also talks calling for the exclusion of Rahane from the side but Kohli has always been deaf to what he and the team call “outside noise” and hence India are unlikely to change their batting order at the Oval. Ishant Sharma, who looked off colour at Headingley is all but out of the fourth Test and the composition of the bowling attack will depend on how the management sees the pitch. There are chances of playing both Jadeja and Ashwin with just three pacers or if Jadeja doesn’t pass the fitness test, Kohli will have to take a tough call of weakening the batting further by playing the fourth pacer in Shardul Thakur or an extra batsman in Hanuma Vihari. Probable XI KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj Fantasy XI Rishabh Pant, Joe Root(C), KL Rahul (VC), Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Ollie Robinson, James Anderson, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

CPL 2021 | TKR vs SLK: Pollard, bowlers help Trinbago get back to winning ways

Trinbago Knight Riders were back on the winning ways after they defeated Saint Lucia Kings convincingly by 27 runs while defending a target of 159 runs in 20 overs. The Kings lost an early wicket during the chase in the form of Rakheem Cornwall who was undone for 8 off 8 deliveries by Isuru Udana but Andre Fletcher and captain Faf du Plessis tried to steady the ship for the side as the two chipped in with a partnership of 40 runs for the second wicket. Du Plessis was eventually sent back in the hut for 14 off 24 by Sunil Narine and the skipper’s wicket certainly broke the shackles. The Saint Lucia side kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were reduced to 104/7 in the 18th over to eventually end the innings at 131/7. Fletcher was the pick of the batsmen for the Kings after he notched up a 55-ball 81 that included four maximums and 6 fours during the course but his efforts went in vain as the side failed to go over the line. Ravi Rampaul scalped a three-wicket haul for the Knight Riders while Udana bagged a couple of wickets for the team. Narine and Akeal Hossain were also among the wickets as the two bowlers picked up a wicket apiece. Earlier, riding on Kesrick Williams four-fer, Saint Lucia managed to restrict Trinbago for a total of 158/7. TKR lost Lendl Simmons early in the innings but Narine and Tion Webster scored 38 runs for the second wicket to provide the resistance before Webster departed for a run-a-ball 14. Webster’s dismissal saw a couple of more wickets falling for the Knight Ridersand they were eventually left tottering at 68/4 before Kieron Pollard and Seifert joined hands to stitch a stand of 78 runs for the fifth wicket. Pollard scored 41 off 29 while Seifert was dismissed for a 25-ball 37. With the win, TKR are now placed at number three spot in the points table with a couple of wins and as many defeats in the four matches that they have played. TKR captain Pollard later expressed his delight at the win and also discussed his own innings. “Very pleased. Happy Independence day. Sometimes you have to take the initiative, I knew if I came up, they would bring back their main bowlers. It's about capitalising on those things,” he said after the match. SLK skipper Du Plessis too lauded Pollard’s efforts with the bat. “We lost it with the ball at the end. 20 too much on that wicket. It's not easy batting, especially against the spinners. Polly hung in there and he got the bowling at the end to capitalize,” he said. TKR will now face Guyana Amazon Warriors on Wednesday while the Kings will be up against the same opposition on Thursday.

ENG vs IND | Moeen Ali to replace Jos Buttler as England vice-captain

Opener Rory Burns is set to be named England’ vice-captain for the fourth Test against India. The left-hander will replace Jos Buttler as the deputy to Joe Root as the wicketkeeper-batsman will miss the Test for paternity leave. Buttler, too, had replaced Ben Stokes as Root’s partner in a leadership position as the all-rounder took a break from the game to fix his finger injury. Burns has been on and off in terms of runs at the top of the order in the series and summer so far. He scored a commanding century against New Zealand but was silent in the first two Tests against India. He came back strongly in the third Test in Leeds and put on a 100-run partnership with Haseeb Hameed. His return to form and partnership with Hameed would have given relief to England after they have to drop Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley after the first two Tests. England are also set to make changes in the playing XI for the fourth Test at the oval scheduled to start on September 2. Jonny Bairstow will move from the slips and take up the wicketkeeping gloves in the place of Buttler. He is likely to shift in the batting order as well with one of Ollie Pope or Dan Lawrence set to bat at the number five position while Chris Woakes is all set to replace Sam Curran, who has struggled with the bat in the series.

CPL 2021 | TKR vs GAW: Two teams on different trajectories seek similar results

While Trinbago Knight Riders made a comeback from the loss against Saint Lucia Kings from the two sides’ first meeting and won the second game comprehensively to get back to the winning ways. They would be looking to repeat the feat against a battered Guyana Amazon Warriors, who, after winning their first encounter against the Knight Riders lost momentum and lost back to back games against Saint Kitts and Nevis Patriots. Thus it is two different teams that are seeking two different types of goals with the same result to get their trajectories in different directions. For Amazon Warriors to come back, their batters need to do a bit more than they have been doing so far. They need to score a big and score quick. Another change could be in decision-making and playing a settled XI according to the conditions of the wicket instead of experimenting with it every time. Knight Riders on the other hand would hope that their skipper continues the form he is in and so does veteran Ravi Rampaul as he is picking wickets for fun and is currently the leading wicket-taker in the league. Their combination is solid and they do not like changing it much, hence they would most likely be going in with the same team. Trinbago Knight Riders vs Guyana Amazon Warriors Match Number: 11 Date and Time: September 01, 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 has slowed down considerably from the first week of action and it now seems that 160 is a winning total given that the defending team has the right kind of bowlers who could bowl slower one and back of the hand deliveries forcing the batsman to apply his strength and into the wind, it is really becoming hard to clear the boundary lines. Weather Forecast The weather at Warner Park will remain hot and humid with humidity decreasing to 72% from touching 80 in the last week. The temperatures would remain in the lower thirties with the moderate breeze blowing. A captain winning the toss would look to bowl first, but losing a toss wouldn’t be a bad thing either as batting first or second, would hardly matter in the day game. Probable XI Trinbago Knight Riders Lendl Simmons, Tion Webster, Colin Munro, Kieron Pollard (c), Tim Seifert, Denesh Ramdin (wk), Sunil Narine, Isuru Udana, Jayden Seales, Ravi Rampaul, Akeal Hosein Guyana Amazon Warriors Brandon King, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Mohammad Hafeez, Shimron Hetmyer, Shoaib Malik, Nicholas Pooran (c), Odean Smith, Naveen-ul-Haq, Imran Tahir, Nial Smith, Romario Shepherd Dream XI Fantasy Team Wicketkeepers Nicholas Pooran, Tim Seifert Batters Lendl Simmons, Shimron Hetmyer, Brandon King All-rounders Keiron Pollard, Sunil Narine, Odeon Smith Bowlers Imran Tahir, Ravi Rampaul, Jayden Seales Vice-Captain Shimron Hetmyer Captain Keiron Pollard