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ENG vs IND | Bairstow, Stokes return as England name strong Test team for first two Tests

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Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Dom Bess, and Sam Curran all have returned to the England Test squad for the first two Tests of the home series against India. The squad also sees the return of Ollie Robinson, who was banned from international cricket due to “historic” tweets in the last series against New Zealand.

The fast bowling group will comprise James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood and all-rounder Sam Curran while the responsibility of the spin department will fall on the shoulders of Jack Leach and Dom Bess.

The duo of Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley have been retained after a tough last home series against New Zealand however they have been put under notice by the selection of Haseeb Hameed in the side

Wicketkeeper-batsman James Bracey has been dropped from the side that played against the Kiwis.

In the middle order, Ollie Pope and Dan Lawrence, too, have been retained from the last squad against the Blackcaps.

Bairstow would consider himself lucky to be able to return in the longest format after a horrific last series with the bat against India batting at the all-important number three position. He was rested from the first two Tests of the series played in Chennai and his returns in the last two Tests of the series were abysmal. 

It was feared and speculated that Bairstow will be one of the scapegoats for England’s big defeat in India but the latest developments would give him much-needed relief.

The all-powerful coach Chris Silverwood, who also oversees the selection of players now, may well look at him as a number three batsman in place of Zak Crawley, who was found wanting agast New Zealand. 

Or else, he could well come in the squad as a second wicketkeeper other than Buttler after James Bracey’s rather unceremonious introduction to Test cricket. 

Notably, England have hinted they will continue rotation of their big and multi-format players and it could open a door of opportunity for Bairstow to come into the playing XI at some point during the series against India.

England team for first 2 Tests

Joe Root (C), Ben Stokes, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler (WK), Sam Curran, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson, Haseeb Hameed, Zak Crawley, Dom Sibley, Jack Leach, Dan Lawrence, Johnny Bairstow, Mark Wood, Dom Bess, Ollie Pope

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Rahul Dravid hails 'incredible and fantastic' fightback after Deepak Chahar's magical batting

Rahul Dravid, whose reputation as a coach has been on an upward curve with each passing day hailed India’s “incredible and fantastic” run chase against Sri Lanka in the second ODI of the series. He said that the men in blue were aware of the challenges of a Sri Lankan comeback after a humiliating defeat in the first game, but they were equally prepared to up their game as well and establish their dominance as a “champion side”. “Obviously we finished on the right side of the result, which is incredible and fantastic but even if we didn’t finish on the right side of the result, it is the fight all the way through was absolutely brilliant, so well done to all of you,” Dravid said in a dressing room video released by the BCCI. “We said they were going to respond, we knew we had to respect the opposition. The opposition was going to respond, they’re also an international team. They responded, and we responded back like a champion team. With our back to the wall, we found a way to break them. So really well done to all of you. Fantastic job.” The partnership between Deepak Chahar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar bailed India out of trouble when all seemed out of their sight. Before them, Suryakumar Yadav had hit his maiden ODI fifty to keep India in the game. However, Dravid chose not to talk about individual performances but also did not downplay their efforts and achievements one bit. “It is not the right time to talk about individuals at this point, obviously there were some fantastic individual performances, especially towards the end. We had talked about that, we acknowledge and recognise every player’s contribution in this game. If you look at the whole game, there were some very good team performances. So many good performances in our bowling, batting, even at the start, fantastic team performances from all of you,” Dravid added. One of the principal architects of India’s win, Suryakumar Yadav also hailed the “special” batting credentials of Chahar and Bhuvneshwar. He rated the second ODI between Sri Lanka and India as one of the best games he has been part of as after India triumphed the game by three wickets. “I don’t have words, I think it is one of the best games which I have been part of, I have seen live… it is an unbelievable victory. Bhuvi, our vintage man and DC, we have been talking about his batting, and today he has proved himself, it was a complete team effort. It was something special from Deepak Chahar,” Suryakumar Yadav said. The third ODI of the series will be played at the same venue on July 23.

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WI vs AUS | 1st ODI: Starc, Hazlewood rattle Windies to give Australia a dominating start

Australia had a perfect start to the ODI series against West Indies in Barbados after they defeated the hosts by 133 runs in a rain-curtailed match. In a match that was reduced to 49 overs per side, West Indies were asked to chase 257 according to the DLS method but Mitchell Starc ripped apart the batting line up and scalped a five-wicket haul. The hosts had a terrible start to the chase after they were reduced to 27/6 before captain Kieron Pollard and Alzarri Joseph tried to steady the ship for the team but their efforts eventually went in vain. The two batsmen put 68 runs for the seventh wicket before Joseph departed for 17 off 33. Pollard on the other side went on to score a half-century but no other batsman looked in the groove and West Indies were bundled out for 123 in the 27th over. While Starc picked up a fifer, Josh Hazlewood also returned with a three-for. Earlier, Australia were without their regular skipper Aaron Finch after he had sustained a knee injury in the fifth T20I against the Caribbean side while batting. Wicket-keeper batsman Alex Carey had donned the captain’s hat in Finch’s absence. The Aussie team batted first and started the proceedings well with openers Philippe and Ben McDermott stitching a stand of 51 runs for the first wicket but then lost some wickets at regular intervals before Carey and Turner chipped in with a 104-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Carey struck 67 off 87 while Turner missed out on a fifty by just one run. For West Indies, it was Hayden Walsh who was the pick of the bowlers after he picked up a five-for during the course. Carey, who was the stand-in captain for Australia in this match said that it was a”special” moment for him. “Yeah it was (special). Not only for me but the three other guys on debut. Obviously the two quicks up front were pretty special as well,” he said. Pollard admitted that the failure with the bat led them to defeat against Australia. ”I think we did pretty well with the ball. Par score here is 260-270 and being able to restrict them to 250 was a fantastic effort. It is what it is (how does he assess the batting effort?). My biggest thing is I want the guys to fight. We have practiced long and hard enough. Most disappointing factor is we didn't show fight,” he said. The two sides will now take on each other in the second clash at the same venue on Friday.

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Bhuvneshwar Kumar heaps praise on all-round brilliant Deepak Chahar

When Bhuvneshwar Kumar joined Deepak Chahar in the middle, India were 83 runs away from the target with 90 less than 90 balls remaining. The situation was tense and there could have been the pressure of scoring runs at a fair clip to avoid falling short of the target. However, both Chahar and Bhuvneshwar showed composure and batted with immense patience. They gambled on Sri Lankan bowlers to provide scoring opportunities while they were determined to “play till the last ball”. Chahar did hit some crisp shots but only when the spinners gave the ball too much air or bowled too full or pacers provided him width around the off stump, and it helped them in managing the required run rate to a manageable level. Bhuvneshwar kumar said that the duo decided to not take any chance and did not let their guard down even at the touching distance of the target. “Our aim was to play till the last ball, last over, so we wanted to take it as deep as possible, so we can score runs. The only plan was to play till the last, and the way Deepak batted was amazing. The only chat and plan was to play till the end. We never said to each other that from here on, we can win. Even when we needed 1 run (3 runs), we were taking one ball at a time. Deepak never let the run rate go above six,” Bhuvneshwar said in the post-match press conference. “He almost played risk-free shots, where he got few boundaries and brought the required rate to under six. At no stage did we think that we are going to win or lose. We were playing according to the situation and taking it ball by ball.” Chahar was promoted to the number eight position and Bhuvneshwar Kumar said that the call of his promotion over himself was taken by Rahul Dravid as he has been witness to Chahar’s batting abilities while they were with the India A side. He said that it was not a tough call to send Chahar one level up the order but commenced Chahar for putting his hands up with a match-winning performance that proved Dravid’s assessment right at the end of the day “Look, he has played under coach Rahul Dravid before in India A or some series and he had scored there as well. So, Dravid knew that he can bat and he can hit a few balls, so that was Dravid’s call. And the way he batted, Chahar proved it right. We all know that he can bat, he has batted in Ranji Trophy many times, so it wasn’t a tough call but it is good to see the way he scored the runs,” Bhuvneshwar said of his partner. Earlier in the day, both Bhuvneshwar and Chahar had struggled to pick up wickets with the new balls. however, they came back strongly and used their subtle variations to peg Sri Lanka back in the middle phase of the game. Both of them have a very wily knuckle ball and it was on display in the second ODI and Bhuvneshwar commended his bowling partner for executing the delivery well to fox batsmen. He also downplayed his own drying wicket column with the new ball as both of the pacers have not taken wickets in the initial phase of the game. He said that the conditions have been stacked in the favour of batsmen and hence he is “satisfied” with his performance so far in the series. “Deepak has always been bowling knuckle balls. He has always had that and he is executing that well. And as far as my bowling is concerned, in both the matches, it has been batting-friendly conditions and extremely hot. It becomes difficult for bowlers. I’m satisfied with the way I’ve bowled,” Bhuvneshwar provided an assessment of himself and his bowling partner. The Indian bowling attack has not been at their best, especially at the start and at the end of the game. They have not taken wickets with the new balls while have also conceded a lot of runs (80 and 76) in the death overs against an inexperienced batting lineup. The surge in the end overs have inflated Sri Lanka’s scores in both the ODIs of the series, but Bhuvneshwar refused to call it a “concern” and rather was “happy” over the performances so far. “Definitely, as a strategic part, you always look to bowl spinners, a few overs, after 40. Because there are five fielders outside the circle. I don’t think that’s a concern that we have conceded 80 runs or 76 runs in the last 10 overs, because team always looks to score. As a bowling unit, we all are happy with the way we have bowled in the last two matches,” Bhuvneshwar said. India have sealed the series 2-0 with one game more to go and most likely they will field a changed playing XI in the next game.