ICC announces Player of the Month awards starting January; Pant, Root others in contention

It was Virat Kohli’s idea to ask Pant to bat at number 5: Vikram Rathour

Wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant played a couple of crucial knocks against Australia during India’s successful run. Pant scored a fighting 97 in the third Test to lead India to a draw from a crunch situation while remained unbeaten on 89 in the fourth Test to take the side over the line while chasing 328 in Brisbane. Batting coach Vikram Rathour while chatting with R Ashwin told that initially it was Virat Kohli’s idea to ask Pant to bat at number 5. “It came from Virat to be honest,” Rathour said. “He said, ‘in case we play both left-handers, it will be a good idea if we can send Pant at No. 5 so that we can have a left-right combination. We discussed it with Ajinkya also. Then during the match, in the first innings, we decided to let him go at No.6.” Rathour further revealed why they decided to send him at no. 5 in the 2nd innings at SCG. "Irrespective of when we lose wickets, this is the last innings, and we were going for the runs. The intent was not to draw the Test. Till we can, we were going to go for the win. That was the right time to send him in,” Rathour added. Talking about head coach Ravi Shastri’s opinion about the same, Rathour told that Shastri is a great believer of left-right combination. “Ravi Shastri is a great believer of left-right combination and thought for a long time that Australians don’t bowl that well to the left-handers. And Ajinkya agreed to send him at No.5." "I was telling Ajinkya if we get a good start we can send him at No. 4 in the first innings but that didn’t happen,” Rathour added. India won the four-match series 2-1 and defended the Border-Gavaskar trophy.

Cricket Australia confirms Indian players faced racial abuse in Sydney Test

Cricket Australia has confirmed Indian players were subjected to racial abuse in the third Test of the series at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The board further said that the investigation is still on while it is looking at footage from CCTV cameras, and ticketing data along with interviews with spectators to assess and identify the culprits. However, the board cleared the six spectators who were evicted on the fourth day of the Sydney Test as the investigation found they did not engage in any racist behaviour. “CA confirms that members of the Indian cricket team were subjected to racial abuse. CA's own investigation into the matter remains open, with CCTV footage, ticketing data and interviews with spectators still being analysed in an attempt to locate those responsible,” CA head of security and integrity Sean Carroll said in a statement. "CA's investigation concluded that the spectators filmed and/or photographed by the media in the Brewongle Stand concourse at the conclusion of the 86th over on day four of the test did not engage in racist behaviour." "CA's investigation concluded that the spectators filmed and/or photographed by the media in the Brewongle Stand concourse at the conclusion of the 86th over on day four of the test did not engage in racist behaviour." Cricket Australia has submitted its findings to the International Cricket Council (ICC) and has also asked the New South Wales Police if they have completed their investigation. The first episode of racial abuse was reported when the Indian team management led by the captain Ajinkya Rahane and other senior players such as Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin reported those incidents against pacers Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah to the match officials after the end of the third day’s play in Sydney. Match officials took cognisance of the matter and suggested instant reporting of these issues the next time they were to face and Siraj did that on the fourth day when match officials halted the game for a period of 10 minutes when those six individuals who now have been cleared of the charges of racial abuse were evicted from the ground.

CA announces two separate squads: Wade dropped from South Africa Tests, Alex Carey earns call up

Matthew Wade, who was guilty of throwing his wicket away at numerous occasions in the Test series against India, has been dropped from Australia’s tour of South Africa scheduled to take place next month. At his place, wicket-keeper batsman Alex Carrey has been named in the 19-men squad for the tour that according to Cricket Australia is subject to “satisfactory biosecurity arrangements” by Cricket South Africa. Having gone out of favour to Wade, Travis Head has retained the ‘opportunity to reclaim the number five slot.’ Other than that position, Will Pucovski has been brought back in the Test squad after getting ruled out of the final Test against India in Brisbane and selectors have put their money on the trio of David Warner, Marcus Harris and Pucovski to lead the Australian batting line up at the top of the order in South Africa. “The squad is quite similar to that selected for the final two Tests of the recently-completed Border-Gavaskar series, with the exception of Matt Wade, who will join the Australian men’s T20I squad in New Zealand, and the addition of Alex Carey, who has been in strong form with both bat and gloves,” Hohns said. “David Warner, Will Pucovski and Marcus Harris all opened at different stages against India and should be well-suited to the conditions in South Africa. Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith were in good form during the Australian summer and Travis Head has an opportunity to reclaim the No. 5 spot.” Mitchell Swepson has been entrusted as the backup spinner to Nathan Lyon who did not have a fruitful series against India while the trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood still make the bulk of the pace bowling unit albeit Starc is under severe pressure after a below-average series against India. James Pattinson has recovered from the injury that ruled him out of the series against India and he has made his way back to the squad to South Africa. “Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Swepson offer wonderful spin bowling options for South African conditions, Similarly, we like the skill, execution and variation offered by our pace corps of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Sean Abbott and Mark Steketee,” Hohns added. Test skipper Tim Paine has been able to save his place and reputation among the men who matter in XCricket Australia amid the call for his axe after a disastrous series loss to India. Cricket Australia’s Executive General Manager, National Teams, Ben Oliver has put all his and the board’s faith in Paine's leadership and said that he has been an outstanding leader for the Aussies and that he has been on the receiving end of many harsh commentaries in the aftermath of the loss against India. “Tim Paine has been an outstanding captain since taking over the Australian men’s Test team in incredibly difficult circumstances. Tim has the support of the team, the coach and everyone else at Cricket Australia and the result of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series have done nothing to diminish that. Tim is in career-best form with the bat and, while the series against India was not his best with the gloves by his own admission, he remains in the top echelon of wicket keepers globally. And as a leader, he has been brilliant,” Oliver said. “To captain a squad through the many challenges presented by the pandemic - not least the unique pressures of hub life - is no easy task and Tim did that with strength, humility and good humour. After a series that attracted so much global interest, it was inevitable there’d be scrutiny. But some of the commentary surrounding Tim and his position as Test captain has been wide of the mark. We’re fortunate to have such outstanding Australian team captains in Tim, Aaron and Meg.” Cricket Australia has selected a completely different team for the T20 series against New Zealand that will b e played concurrently with the Test series against South Africa as the board is looking to maximise its potential to help other cricketing nations amid “challenging period for international sport.” Cricket Australia made sure that there will be no change in the T20 squad to New Zealand in case the Test series against South Africa does not go ahead as per plan. Selector Trevor Hohns has said that the five-match T20 series against New Zealand will provide ample opportunities to the fringe players to stake a claim in the Australia squad for the T20 world cup due to be held later this year. “In a World Cup year, it’s exciting to select a squad that combines some of the biggest names in international T20 cricket with the best emerging players in the country. We like the balance of this squad for what should be a thrilling series against the Black Caps,” Hohns said after selecting the squad. Selectors have rewarded Josh Philippe and Ben McDermott for their excellent performances in the Big Bash League and they believe the duo will combine with the experienced pros in Aaron Finch, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis to make a lethal batting line up for the Aussies against the Blackcaps. The squad is filled with enough stocks of all-rounders and selectors have gone for them in search of a balanced squad in the T20 series. Mitch Marsh, Daniel Sams and Ashton Agar along with the likes of Maxwell and Stoinis form the all-rounders' slot of the squad that can give skipper Aaron Finch a good headache heading to New Zealand. Australia Test tour of South Africa Tim Paine ©, Pat Cummins (vc), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner Australia T20 tour of New Zealand Aaron Finch (c), Matthew Wade (vc), Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams, Tanveer Sangha, D'Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa

New Zealand hopeful, Australia series will go on even after covid-19 scare

The New Zealand Cricket chief David White confirmed that the limited-overs tour of the Australian men’s and women’s team to New Zealand will continue even as there is covid-19 scare in the Northland of the country. "We're very positive that the tours to New Zealand will proceed with the Australian teams. We've been guided by the New Zealand Government agencies all summer, they've been terrific and very supportive, and we will continue to be guided by them," White was quoted as saying to stuff.co.nz The Blackcaps and White Ferns are supposed to host the Kangaroo nation sides in February with the men’s Aussie team playing five T20Is from February 22 in Christchurch. The wone’s team of Australi will arrive after the Kiwi women are done with their three-match ODI and T20I series with England starting February 23 and March 7. England women have already landed in New Zealand and White feel that it would work as an advertisement for the upcoming series as well as a preparatory tournament of the next year’s women’s Wolrd Cup. "What's great is the England women land in New Zealand today. So they will be here for a tour, which our White Ferns are really looking forward to, and great preparation for the World Cup next year," he added. The series against the Aussie women’s team would be played with T20Is at Hamilton's Seddon Park and three ODIs at Mt. Maunganui's Bay Oval.