Final between India & New Zealand becomes most watched across all WTC series

The Hundred | Manchester Originals vs Northern Superchargers: Where to watch Live, Probable XI, Fantasy XI

Two teams with different trajectories in what is a very short span of cricket in the game’s newest version will collide with each other. These two teams the Manchester Originals and the Northern Superchargers would now also be without their natural leaders and original captains Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes respectively. While the home team in this encounter, the Originals have come back strong after the first defeat to register a win in their next game, the Superchargers are still looking for a charged-up performance having gone down twice in their first two matches. Even after the absence of Buttler and Stokes, the teams have enough firepower and star value to keep drawing a large number of fans on the ground as well as on the screens around the world. The likes of Colin Munro, Carlos Brathwaite and new English spin sensation Matt Parkinson would now have to take responsibility in Buttler’s absence for the Originals. On the other hand, the Superchargers would be banking on the experienced heads of Adil Rashid, Chris Lynn and Adam Lyth while at the same time hoping that young guns Harry Brook and David Willey come good as well. Manchester Originals vs Northern Superchargers: Match Details Match Number- 09 Date and Time: July 28, 2021, 11:00 pm IST, 06:30 pm Local, 05:30 pm GMT Venue: Emirates Old Trafford Manchester Broadcast and Live Stream: Fancode App Pitch Report The pitch at Old Trafford has proved to be a happy hunting ground for the spinners as Parkinson evidently showcased in the last game with his brilliant performance against Birmingham Phoenix. And as things stand, the pitch would most likely keep on helping the pinners as well. Weather Forecast There is a forecast of more than 70% chances of precipitation throughout the day at Old Trafford on Wednesday, July 28. Thus there are more than sure enough chances of the match getting disturbed due to rain. Hopefully, there won’t be much disturbance and the crowd could witness another entertaining game of The Hundred. Manchester Originals Probable XI Philip Salt, Joe Clarke (wk), Colin Munro, Tom Lammonby, Sam Hain, Carlos Brathwaite, Calvin Harrison, Tom Hartley, Fred Klaassen, Steven Finn, Matthew Parkinson Northern Superchargers Probable XI Adam Lyth, Chris Lynn (c), Harry Brook, David Willey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, John Simpson (wk), Brydon Carse, Callum Parkinson, Adil Rashid, Mujeeb Ur Rahman Fantasy XI Philip Salt, Colin Munro, Carlos Brathwaite, Steven Finn, Matthew Parkinson, Adam Lyth, Chris Lynn, Harry Brook, David Willey, Adil Rashid, Mujeeb Ur Rahman Captain Matthew Parkinson Vice-Captain Chris Lynn

SL vs IND | 2nd T20I: Amid Covid scare, Sri Lanka look to square series as India struggles to field XI

A lot has changed since the first T20I in this three-match series with India's Krunal Pandya testing positive for Covid-19 and eight other Indian players, identified as close contacts of him being disallowed to take further part in the series even after testing negative for Covid-19 in the RT-PCR tests. With a comfortable win in the first T20I of the three-match series against Sri Lanka, the Indian team was looking to sweep the series in the second match at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. However, this sudden development has now forced Indian management led by coach Rahul Dravid to look for XI players, especially batters to fill in the positions. The Lankans on the other hand would look to end their batting woes and with support from their bowlers, search for the victory which would keep the series alive for them. Forced changes for Team India The confirmation from BCCI regarding eight players being in close contact with the senior Pandya means that India would have to field an almost different XI in the second T20I from the one that played in the first game. What's more painful is the fact that reports suggest Hardik Pandya, Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan could be the four with the other two prominent names being Devdutt Padikkal and Krishnappa Gowtham. There is no clarity about other two names, however, these six were the players who would have defiantly been a part of the XI in the second T20I even if only Krunal had gotten out due to Covid. Now with so many changes to make and so few options available, Dravid has no other options but to field a compromised XI with hardly any batting depth. However, in contrast, this also presents an opportunity to players such as Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rahul Chahar and Nitish Rana, along with Manish Pandey who were waiting for opportunities to prove their mettle. SriLanka need to bat better to win The target of 165 wasn’t a daunting one and the Indian bowlers weren’t bowling at any express speed or with some magnificent precision either. Yet the Sri Lankan batters, getting as close as 42 requiring from three overs with six wickets in hand, lost the game by a huge margin of 38 runs, that too after getting all out. The batsmen need to take responsibility for their shots and when there is a partnership like there was between Charith Asalanka and Ashen Bandara, the partner who is unable to hit shots must rotate the strike. Basics like these must be cleared among the Sri Lankan batters to then try and gauge their target. Sri Lanka vs India: Match Details Match Number- 02 Date and Time: July 28, 2021, 08:00 pm IST and Local, 02:30 pm GMT Venue: R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo Broadcast and Live Stream: Sony Sports Network and Sony LIV Pitch Report The pitch at Colombo has so far been slow and has helped the spinners and those bowlers who have applied change of pace. It will most likely remain the same way. Weather Forecast The weather at Colombo has disturbed a few games, but never resulted in a washout. There are chances of rain even on Wednesday, July 28, however, the rain would most likely take place in the daytime and from 08:00 pm onwards the precipitation chances decrease below 20%. Team News Sri Lanka The Sri Lankan team might bring in a few changes which include bringing in the likes of Bahanuka Rajapaksa who batted exceedingly well in the third ODI but wasn’t given a chance in the 1st T20I. Apart from that, Praveen Jayawickrama might also be tried in place of Akila Dananjaya who was too expensive in the first game. Probable XI Avishka Fernando, Minod Bhanuka (wk), Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Dasun Shanaka (c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Isuru Udana, Dushmantha Chameera, Praveen Jayawickrama India India would be forced to make at least eight changes in the squad after nine players have been disallowed to make any further participation in the series having been identified as close contacts of Covid-19 positive Krunal Pandya. Probable XI Shikhar Dhawan (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson (wk), Nitish Rana, Manish Pandey, Deepak Chahar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rahul Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal, Varun Chakravarthy Fantasy XI Avishka Fernando, Shikhar Dhawan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Dhananjaya de Silva, Charith Asalanka, Sanju Samson (wk), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy Captain Shikhar Dhawan Vice-Captain Charith Asalanka

TNPL | Lyca Kovai Kings vs Siechem Madurai Panthers: Where to watch Live, Probable XI, Fantasy XI

The Tamil Nadu Premier League will witness a midweek doubleheader for the first time in the 2021 season and the second match or the evening game of that doubleheader would be played between Siechem Madurai Panthers and Lyca Kovai Kings at the iconic MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. While the Panthers from Madurai are second from the bottom having won one and lost one from the two games, the Kings fro0m Kovai haven’t done too well either sitting right at the edge of the Playoffs qualification at number four with three points from three games as one of their games washed out. However, since both the teams are coming from a loss in their previous game, thus this game becomes a mouthwatering clash with both teams trying to up the ante and get going to take their chances of Playoffs qualification one notch up. Lyca Kovai Kings vs Siechem Madurai Panthers: Match Details Match Number- 13 Date and Time: July 28, 2021, 07:30 pm IST and Local, 02:00 pm GMT Venue: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai Broadcast and Live Stream: Star Sports Network and Hotstar Pitch Report The Chennai wicket has so far offered assistance to both pace and spin as bowlers, but as the number of matches is increasing, the pitches seem to be getting rougher and hence grip is going to be offered in great amount for the bowlers. Weather Forecast The forecast for July 28 suggests that there would be no interruptions in the game from rain although there would be enough cloud cover to provide support for swing bowlers. The temperatures would be ranging in the lower thirties and humidity around and about 60%. Siechem Madurai Panthers Probable XI Arun Karthik (wk), K Rajkumar, B Anirudh Sita Ram, NS Chaturved (c), Jagatheesan Kousik, M Shajahan, R Mithun, Ramalingam Rohit, R Silambarasan, Kiran Akash, Aushik Srinivas Lyca Kovai Kings Probable XI Ganga Sridhar Raju, Sai Sudharsan, Ashwin Venkataraman, U Mukilesh, Shahrukh Khan (c), J Suresh Kumar (wk), Abhishek Tanwar, N Selva Kumaran, Krishnamoorthy Vignesh, S Ajith Ram, Elangovan Srinivasan Fantasy XI Ganga Sridhar Raju, Arun Karthik (wk), B Anirudh Sita Ram, Shahrukh Khan, Jagatheesan Kousik, J Suresh Kumar, Abhishek Tanwar, N Selva Kumaran, Krishnamoorthy Vignesh, Kiran Akash, Ramalingam Rohit Captain Ganga Sridhar Raju Vice-Captain Jagatheesan Kousik

Krunal’s close contacts test negative, but can’t participate in remaining games of the series

In late-night confirmation, it was revealed that all the eight Indian players who were identified as close contacts of Indian all-rounder Krunal Pandya, who had tested positive during the day on Tuesday, July 27, have all returned negative results in the RT-PCR tests that were conducted during the day. Since Krunal returned a positive test result even in the RT-PCR, all the nine players including him are forced to isolate. Thus these nine players would not be part of the remaining two matches of the series. The rest of the Indian team members have already been removed from the contact of these nine players. The identity of the eight players was not revealed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India even as it identified Krunal. It is unclear as to how the 30-year-old senior Panday contracted the virus as Sri Lanka Cricket’s overseer of the io-bubble protocols for international tours, Professor Arjuna de Silva could not identify the reason. According to him, the Indian team has an entire hotel to itself and all the staff in it also form the part of the bubble undergoing stringent checks every day., In fact, the hotel staff was checked even on Tuesday and they all returned negative results. This news has however confirmed that the series would go as planned and the second and third match would be played on July 28 and 29 respectively.