David Warner extends apology to team India, Mohammed Siraj for racial abuse

Jasprit Bumrah to miss Brisbane Test, India await scan reports on Mayank Agarwal's injury

Indian pacer Japsit Bumrah is nursing an abdominal strain and the team management is fearing the injury could be more worrying, and hence considering not risking him for the Brisbane Test starting December 15, as per a PTI report. If Bumrah misses out at the Gabba, the tourists will be without four of their first-choice pace attack with Ishant Sharma not touring Australia altogether while the likes of Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav getting ruled out at different times on course of the series. Hence, Bumrah is invaluable to this Indian side in Australia and news agency ANI reports that the team management is contemplating paying Bumrah even if the pacer is at his 50 per cent. The drawn Test at the SCG left the Indian team as a touring contingent of injured and bruised players than the fitter ones as Ravindra Jadeja and Rishabh Pant suffered hand injuries. Jadeja has been ruled out of the series and he will consult a hand specialist in Sydney before heading to the National Cricket Academy to undergo rehabilitation. Both Hanuma Vihari and Ravichandran Ashwin who unleashed a marathon display of resistance against the Australian bowlers to save the Test for India have suffered injuries. Vihari pulled up his hamstring on the fifth day and has been ruled out of the Brisbane Test, while Ashwin’s wife revealed on Twitter that the off-spinner was nursing a severe back injury before coming on to bat on the final day. Apart from the injuries that occurred on the field of play, Mayank Agarwal, the first-choice opener before the series started has been hit on the hand and the team management is waiting for the scan reports to come before deciding his fate going into the Test at the Gabba. Mayank was the first-choice opener for the series but later faced the axe due to lack of runs in the first two Tests as Rohit Sharma returned after injury to play the just-concluded Test at the SCG. If Mayank Agarwal misses out, Prithvi Shaw will get back in the team in the most unlikely way but the success of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill at the top of the order in both the innings of the Sydney Test would mean he will have to bat in the middle order and replace Hanuma Vihari. The Gabba in Brisbane will host an all-important series decider game of the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy which is levelled at 1--1, with the hosts winning the opening game in Adelaide while India bouncing back strongly in Melbourne to square off all the momentum hosts had.

BBL10 | Match Preview: Hurricanes look to stop Scorchers’ winnning momentum at Perth

The Hobart Hurricanes, after a rest of more than five days, and having nursed two back to back defeats would be ready to have a go at the in form and on a roll Perth Scorchers at the latter’s home ground at the Perth Stadium to try and stop the momentum of the Orange Army. The clash is going to be for the entry into the top four of the BBL 10 Points Table which looks evenly poised at the moment, although the two Sydney sides seem to be running away with the top two slots. If Scorchers manage to win the game, they would be replacing the Hurricanes in the top four. Malan- Handscomb need to raise their hands For Hobart to succeed going further in the tournament, their big guns in the batting department. Especially experienced guys like World number one T20I batsman Dawid Malan and their captain Peter Handscomb along with senior members like Colin Ingram and Tim David need to take the responsibility of finishing teh games. In the last two games, it has been seen that Hurricanes, even after getting into good positions, haven’t really been able to close in at the crucial moments which is leading to their downfall. For instance, in the last game against Thunder, they were 91-2 in 11 overs with two set batsmen in, but then from there onwards, they just let it go, and teh match slipped from their hands very easily. It is these situations where the senior members need to utilize their expertise and guide talented youngsters like Ben McDermott and D’Arcy Short along. Scorchers would like to let it roll The Ashton Turner led side seemed to have got back their mojo having landed at home in Perth. They have won their last four games courtesy of some brilliant bowling by their speedsters which had been the strength of the Scorchers over the years. But even among the youngest of the bowlers, Jhye Richardson has been wrecker-in-chief with 10 wickets in the last four games. The batters have imp[roved considerably as well, piling up huge amounts of runs on a regular basis in the last three games. In their last three games, they have scored in excess of 180 batting first and the best part is it is not one batsman that has done all the scoring in all games but someone or the other has raised his hand in every game, be it Colin Munro, Mitchell Marsh, Josh English or Jason Roy. All this is reason enough to believe in the fact that Perth is now a side that is tough to beat at home and might become tough away as well. So Hurricanes have to put their best foot forward apart from putting the best XI in the game against a very hostile Scorcher side. It will also be a battle between the highest run-getter of the tournament so far, Mcdermott, and the highest wicket-taker Richardson. Scorchers vs Hurricanes: Match Details Match Number- 37 Date and Time- Jan 12, 2021, 1:45:00 PM IST, 04.15 PM Local, 08.30 AM GMT Venue- Optus Stadium, Perth Broadcast and Live Stream- Sony Six, Sony LIV Pitch Report As such the Perth pitch has not thrown any surprise to anybody. The two low scores achieved by Sydney Sixers and Melbourne Renegades have been courtesy of some very poor shot selection. The pitch much like any ground in Western Australia offers the bounce, the ball comes to the bat nicely and if you can ride the bounce as a batsman, a lot of running scoring opportunities are there as shown by the Scorchers so far. Therefore there is no reason to believe why this time around the pitch would be any different. Weather and Bat Flip The weather has been predicted to remain sunny throughout the game and temperatures would also remain in the late 20s. In such a scenario, winning the toss and batting the first night would not be a bad choice if you are a scorcher. But Hurricanes on the other hand would be more likely to trust their batting and hence chasing would be on their cards, although they have lost two games chasing. Scorchers Strongest XI Jason Roy, Liam Livingstone, Josh Inglis (wk), Colin Munro, Mitchell Marsh, Ashton Turner (c), Aaron Hardie, Jhye Richardson, Andrew Tye, Jason Behrendorff, Fawad Ahmed Hurricanes Strongest XI Ben McDermott (wk), D'Arcy Short, Dawid Malan, Colin Ingram, Tim David, Peter Handscomb (c), Macalister Wright, Nathan Ellis, Scott Boland, Sandeep Lamichhane, Nick Winter

Social media showers love as Virat and Anushka welcome their first child

Apart from India’s Test draw against Australia at Sydney, which according to most Indian fans was no less than a victory given teh circumstances, the fans were given another reason for joy as India captain Virat Kohli and Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma became proud parents of a baby girl. Kohli himself tweeted the news and as excepted good wishes and congratulatory messages started to pour for the Indian couple from their friends and in Bollywood and Cricket fraternity, the general public was elated as usual. Among the congratulatory messages, there was one from today's hero and Indian spin all-rounder Ravi Ashwin as well. Apart from him, God of Cricket Sachin Tendulkar and many more cricketers congratulated the power couple. Apart from cricketers, Bollywood also showered love to the newborn and congratulated Anushka and Virat. Even as the congratulatory messages kept on coming, the couple has decided not to expose any pictures or information of any sort to the public or media regarding the newborn.

BBL10 | Match Report: Vintage Wells, Rashid Khan and Agar take Strikers past Stars

Jonathan Wells for the first time in this entire BBL10 looked like himself as he steered the Adelaide Strikers’ ship, which at times looked like spilling over, to a victory against a hard-fought Melbourne Stars at the Adelaide Oval. With the help of his 27 balls 36 at a very crucial stage in the game, the Alex Carey side achieved teh 150 run target set by the Stars to go to the top four in the league’s points table. Gibson-Wells partnership At one p[oint of time after having lost the Bash Boost point and subsequently the wicket of skipper Carey, the Strikers couldn’t get the required momentum in their chase and by the time Jake Weatherald looked like upping the ante, he was dismissed by Adam Zampa resulting in a precarious situation where the Adelaide team required 53 from 33 and a new man Ryan Gibson on the crease. However, post the Weatherald wicket the complexion of the game changed as Wells started to shift his gears and after getting only six runs from the first power surge over, he and Gibson hit 14 in the next over to make the surge reasonably useful getting 20 from two overs. But the real change came in the 18th over as having scored a meager four runs from the 17th over, the pressure had mounted on the Strikers and they now needed thirty from three overs. It was at this moment that Wells, 32, showed his class, hitting the most dangerous bowler Rauf for 14 runs in three balls before finally getting out attempting another big hit. But by the time his wicket fell, the Strikers were in the touching distance with just 16 required off 13 balls. And the 37 run partnership between Gibson and Wells had done the trick for the team. Bash Boost and the Stars' domination Right from the time that Nic Madddinson hit two sixes in the last over to take Stra to respectable and fighting 149, from a pretty hopeless situation, there was a spark among the men in green on the field. They started well bowling tighter lines and not giving away much room for the Strikers to strike. In fact, most of the runs in the first half of the Strikers’ innings came from thick edges that either did not carry or were good enough to pass the fielder. In fact, teh bowling had been so tight and accurate that Strikers weren’t even able to get the Bash Boost point and their skipper Carey got out trying to get the Boost as they needed seven from the 10th over, but Zampa had restricted them to just four of the five deliveries and three was required off the last ball to get first points of the game. Trying to hit a four, Carey reverse swept and it was caught brilliantly by Maddinson at short third man. At the end of the 10th over the Men in Blue were 65/3 needing some real sensible batting, which fortunately came from Wells. Agar- Rashid shine with the ball Appearing in his last BBL game of the season, teh 22-year-old Afghan Rashid Khan made sure that it was memorable for him, not only by being there to see his team through with the bat but most importantly by doing what he is known for- picking wickets at the right time. tODAY, Danny Briggs, usually the most economical bowler in the Strikers lineup was taken for the cleaners and thus Khan decided to turn out his best as he knocked out Nick Larkin and Glenn Maxwell, two big fishes in two consecutive deliveries to jolt an already weak looking Stars lineup. Rashid ended his spell with 2/29 in four and was cheered by the loving Oval crowd after every ball. Another bowler that made sure that Stars never got going was Wes Agar, now the joint highest wicket-taker with Jhye Richardson with 17 wickets in the BBL10 so far. He bowled exceptionally as well, picking up the wickets of Spiceman Andre Fletcher and the dangerous Marchus Stoinis just when he was looking to let loose in his start-stop innings. Agar finished with the figures of 2/19 from his four Stars' batsmen lacked application of skills There was nobody in the Stars line up apart from Maddisnson who tried to apply himself and sticker the crease, (Larkin did stick but his stay was miserable, to say the least). From a soft dismissal of Fletcher to a nothing shot by Stoinis, to Maxwell being Maxwell. Nobody was able to make amends with the situation and had it not been for Maddinson’s 34 balls 48 not out which included two sixes and three fours, teh match would have been over pretty soon. Stars seriously need to get rid of Fletcher the batsman and bring back Nicholas Pooran in if they want to have a crack at entering the Playoffs. What's Next? These two teams clash once again at the same venue in three days' time on 15th January, where Stars would try hard to avenge this loss and get their points table going.