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If Kohli won IPL instead of Rohit, captaincy woulnd't be an issue : Nehra

Former India bowler Ashish Nehra believes that if Indian captain Virat Kohli would have won the Indian Premier League as captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, then all the talk regarding the change in the captaincy of the Indian team would have been shunned. 

Speaking on a cricket website’s talk show, Nehra, in a reply to a viewer’s question whether Indian should ask Virat Kohli to leave captaincy and focus on his batting, said, “All the time people come up with Rohit Sharma’s name as an alternative. I say, had RCB won the last two IPLs instead of Mumbai Indians, would people have still wanted a captaincy change, the answer is simple, and it’s a ‘no’.”

The Delhi cricketer, who represented India in a total of 164 international games and took 235 wickets, further said, “Even if BCCI or selectors want to make Rohit Sharma the captain, then they should do it till 2023 World Cup. It can’t happen that you make Roghit the T20 captain and then ask Virat to captain the ODI and Tests team.”

With India losing the last game against Australia in Sydney, it was the team’s fifth consecutive ODI loss and the second consecutive series loss after England. It is this very reason that has cropped up the captaincy talk once again.

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South Africa vs England 2nd T20I: What Experts Said

England won the three-match T20I series against hosts South Africa thanks to a win in the second match played at Paarl. After Jonny Bairstow's heroics in the first game, it was time for Dawid Malan to step up and shine on this occassion. His 55 off 40 balls proved the decisive factor in a low-scoring match. Once again, it was England that won the toss and, just like the previous game, they decided to chase. Despite a powerful start, thanks to their captain Quinton de Kock's 18-ball 30, South Africa had to struggle on a spin-friendly and slow pitch. Both the Curran brothers, Tom and Sam struggled. But Jofra Archer was again effective with 1/18 in his four overs. Adil Rashid again showed his wiles, picking up two wicket for 23 runs in four overs. In the end, South Africa managed a score of 146/6 in their 20 overs. De Kock was the top-scorer while all-rounder contributed a valuable 29 at no. 7. In reply, Malan shepherded his team with his determined knock. A quickfire 17-ball 26* from captain Eoin Morgan finished off the match for England, giving them the series victory with one match to go. Captain's Take After his team's second consecutive loss in the series, de Kock felt his team lacked a bit of luck. "Dawid batted really well, the captain came in and led from the front. Once again the guys played well, just unfortunate for us. Makes you frustrated but that's the game, got to keep positive and keep learning," he said after the match. Just like the last match, de Kock felt his team missed the mark by a small margin. "I came out and said 150 could be a good score. Just one or two small things went our way we could have won that game." De Kock praised the performance of Tabraiz Shamsi who picked up 3/19 in the match. "Shamo was a bit disappointed with his last game. He wanted to make a statement and lead from the front, so I'm very happy for him." On the other side, Morgan was thrilled with his team's victory. "We weren't up with the run rate we were a couple of nights ago. With a short boundary, you're only ever a big over away. Experience helps, holding your nerve. Today's performance was very pleasing. Everyone in the changing room will applaud the bowling unit. Everybody contributed," Morgan said. Experts' Take Former England spinner Monty Panesar weighed in on England's performance and espcially praised Malan's efforts. "Dawid Malan is surprised how he is T20 number 1 ranked batsmen , we see today under pressure, facing 150kph beaten for pace but he showed fight and skill to get England over the line," Panesar stated on Twitter. South African cricket broadcaster Kass Naidoo also weighed in with her views. "Dawid Malan has to rank as one of my favourite T20 batters. Love the way he effortlessly ups the tempo," she said. Another tweet from her talked about the importance of spinners: "High point in a losing series is the battle between the spinners. Shamsi was brilliant today. Linde was in the spotlight in the first game. Good signs ahead of the T20 World Cup in India. What are your thoughts?" Cricket writer Freddie Wilde weighed up the positives for South Africa. "South Africa's bowling attack is shaping up quite nicely with Rabada, Nortje, Ngidi & Shamsi at its core; Linde's start has been encouraging & they've got Tahir & Morris technically available as well." However, he also mentioned the problems faced by Proteas. "This current team are short of boundary-hitters: the primary driver of T20 batting success. de Kock & du Plessis aside none of the rest of the batters are assured of a spot... South Africa are suffering from a number of brilliant—& in some cases elite—batters not playing: de Villiers is the obvious one but also Rossouw, Ingram, Delport & Wiese who dominate on the domestic circuit. Miller's absence is also leaving a hole." With the series won, England may try out some new players while South Africa may try to figure out their best combination. The last T20I takes place on December 2 at Cape Town.

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Tried to whack the ball too hard in IPL: Smith says his finesse is back

The former Australian captain and currently the biggest threat to Indian prospects in its ongoing tour of Australia, Steve Smith feels that he tried to hit the ball really hard in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and that’s why couldn’t really get going. Speaking at the post-match presentation during his Man of the Match interview, Smith said he seems to have more finesse in his batting now. “I tried to whack the ball too hard in the IPL but I've started hitting it with more finesse I should say, which is working for me. Nice to score some runs again for the team and get us to a good total. I thought the boys were outstanding in the field as well,” the 31-year-old said. Talking about the current game, the New South Wales man said that he minimized errors from the last game and as a result didn’t really give Indian bowlers any chance. “I think last innings I probably could have been caught at long-on, a close lbw. I didn't give any chances today and I just felt good from ball one. I was able to get myself in and go hard,” said Smith who scored a 62 ball hundred today as well. David Warner and skipper Aaron Finch had laid down yet another solid foundation and Smith, who scored 104 of 64 balls acknowledged it as well. "I felt good from ball one. It was another great foundation set by Finch and Davey. It's just summing up conditions and what's in front of you. Against India, you need to score big totals. Fortunately, it's come off,” Smith added. It was Smith's fifth hundred vs India and second consecutive one against the same opponent. No doubt, Sydney Cricket Ground is his favorite ground, but what would he do in Canberra is yet to be seen. Five of his 11 ODI centuries have come against the Men in Blue.

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Aus vs Ind | 2nd ODI: What Experts said as classic Smith shines in Aussie' series winning effort

Australia, led by brilliant knocks from Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell outdid India twice in three days at the Sydney Cricket Ground to clinch attain an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series. The Indian team found it hard chasing down an imposing target of 390 runs and never looked like achieving it as wickets fell on regular intervals. In the end, even after some fighting half-centuries by KL Rahul and skipper Virat Kohli, all that the Men in Blue could manage to reach only 339 for 9 in their allotted 50 overs losing the game by a huge margin of 51 runs. Captains' Viewpoints Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, winning skipper Aaron Finch called it a perfect performance with the bat from his team. “Anytime you get in the high 300s is good. Very pleased to wrap it up in two wins. David Warner had got injured while fielding and updating on his situation, Finch said that he really didn’t have much idea about it, but was sure that he would not be available for the next game. “No idea. We've got to reshuffle it around, I don't think he'll be available,” he said. Finch, 33, further praised Warner’s quick innings saying, “The way Davey played upfront was unbelievable.” “Then Smithy played out of his skin for two matches in a row,” he added, lauding the man who now has five centuries vs India in ODIs, out of a total of 11. Talking about the bowling, Finch said that their bowlers got an idea of how to bowl from Hardik Pandya’s slower ones. “Henriques bowled to a simple plan and changed his pace a lot. As Virat said, we probably got a blueprint with Hardik's bowling, he was really hard to hit with pace off deliveries,” concluded Finch. On the other hand, the Indian skipper Virat Kohli was seen rueing missed opportunities in the sense that he couldn’t really bat till the 40th over alongside Rahul. “KL and I thought even 100 in the last ten overs with Hardik to come was achievable. If KL and I had stuck around till the 40th over, we could have put them under pressure. The wicket was beautiful to bat on,” said Virat. Agreeing that the Indian team was completely outplayed, the skipper reasoned that it was because as a bowling unit, they were unable to execute their plans. “I think with the ball we were not that effective. Didn't hit the areas we wanted to consistently. They've got a strong batting lineup and know the angles. Their total was a bit too steep if you see we got 340 and still lost by 51 runs,” Smith said. “With the areas they bowled, they were in a position to create chances, and with those chances taken, they were on top,” added Kohli, who scored an 87 ball 89, but couldn’t take the team home. Pandya bowled for the first time and Kohli said that he just casually asked in one of the mini-conferences and the all-rounder agreed. “I think he gave away a bit of a bowling plan on this pitch, a lot of them bowled cutters (smiles). His bowling was out of nowhere I just asked him,” said Kohli. Expert Opinion The experts centered their commentary on four main issues including the over rate, Steve Smith's brilliance with the bat, Indian bowling not being able to execute the plans, and most importantly the Indian batsmen losing the plot under pressure. Vikrant Gupta, a cricket journalist, though summed up all in one tweet saying that signs are not good for Team India going ahead on the tour. On the other hand, a well-known journalist and cricket expert, Ayaz Memon put the blame on the bowlers and rightly so as in both the matches, the batsmen have crossed the 300 hurdles quite easily, while in none have the Indian bowlers been able to dismiss the Aussie openers in the powerplay. Known commentator and one who is respected for his words on cricket worldwide once again brought out a point that went unnoticed by many. Harsha Bhiogle pointed out how the fifth bowler, a combination of Moises Henriques and Glenn Maxwell, a weak link in the Australian line up, went for just 68 runs in 12 overs in a run chase of 390 runs. Gaurav Kalra, as always was up with his wits, pointing out how Virat Kohli was doing well, while others came and went. Mr. Kalra was once again in the business, this time though with his commentary on the slow over-rate. In the same tweet, former cricketer turned analyst and cricket pundit, Aakash Chopra also got involved and discussed how slow over rates are turning out to be a big boon for the entire series. Harsha Bhogle's one more comment on the way, Steve Smith has batted throughout the series so far. It probably was the best description attributed to his efforts so far. The series now moves on to Canberra with the final match of the three ODIs to be played there. Team India would not only be playing for the pride but also the much needed momentum to the tour as well as crucial Cricket World Cup Super League points.