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India Gears Up For T20 Series As Harmanpreet Returns To The Side

India gears up for T20 series as Harmanpreet returns to the side

Indian Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur makes a comeback after an injury as India looks forward to taking on Australia in a three-match T20 series beginning in Gold Coast on October 7. She missed the day/night Test and the ODI series due to her injury.

Her return to the side advances India’s chances of winning the series as she adds strength to India’s batting order that the likes of Smriti Mandhana, Shefali Verma are a part of. Apart from them, Richa Ghosh and Yastka Bhatia also add value to the team.

This comeback is also seen as a perfect opportunity for Harmanpreet to regain her lost touch in the shorter formats before the ODI world cup scheduled next year, for she could not continue playing because of her injuries that set her back. There is hardly any doubt about her match-winning capabilities in shorter formats and she must be looking forward to making most of it.

Earlier, India played 3 ODIs and lost the series by 2-1. They also played a day/night test that resulted in a draw. Smriti Mandhana made an impressive 127 off 216 balls, while Deepti Sharma (66) and Shefali Verma (52) also played crucial knocks in first and second innings respectively.

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T20 World Cup | Star Sports to broadcast India's warm-up games against England, Australia

Team India fans will have an opportunity to watch their favourite team’s preparation for the big global event as Star Sports Network is set to broadcast India’s warm-up games before the T20 World Cup on its channels. India are scheduled to play England on October 18 and Australia on October 20 and Star Sports will show both these games on its television network, it said on Twitter. Star Sports, the India-based host broadcaster of the ICC events has been showing warm-up games, in particular of the Indian side over the past many events. India have announced a strong squad to win the T20 World Cup for the first time since its inaugural edition in 2007 when they clinched the title in the leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The T20 World Cup will be kick off on October 17 with the clash between Sri Lanka and Ireland in the qualification round of the tournament while the main draw of the event—Super 12 will kick start from October 24 with the clash between Australia and Pakistan.

Ashes 2021 | ECB likely to give go-ahead as Cricket Australia softens quarantine norms

The uncertainty around the fate of the Ashes series is appearing to die as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is all set to give its go-ahead for the series after Cricket Australia’s concession of not putting players’ families under strict quarantine in the country, The Times reported. England players are all likely to arrive in Australia in bunches as many all-format players will arrive directly from the UAE after playing in the T20 World Cup while other Test specialists including the skipper Joe Root will directly reach Brisbane from England. Cricket Australia gave an online briefing to England players and said that they will not be forced to confine themselves in hotel rooms for the whole period of 14 days and instead they will be allowed to move freely around their hotel resort, the report added. After the fresh proposal from Cricket Australia with relatively softened quarantine norms, England players led by Joe Root have committed to the tour and the ECB is all but ready to stamp the green light on the Ashes series. The Times also said in its report that England will have enough players to choose from the first-choice squad to have a ‘strong’ tour to compete with the hosts. The final decision by the ECB is due today and it is all likely that a tour comprising of 30 players including from England Lions will be given a go-ahead and that the squad will be selected towards the end of the week. Earlier, Australia’s Cricket body was refusing to offer a lenient period of isolation to players and their families that had put serious doubts over the future of one of the most iconic and traditional series in the game of cricket.

Warner’s position as opener in T20 WC remains intact despite poor form

Australian opener David Warner is going through a poor form. He didn’t have a great IPL as he could only score 195 runs in 8 innings that he played with an average of 24.37. The figures nowhere seem to justify the stature of Warner. Yet the Australian batsman has the trust of his skipper and will be opening for Australia in the upcoming T20 world cup. Just before leaving Australia, he said, "Yep, absolutely, he's one of the best players to ever play the game for Australia. I've got no doubt that his preparation, while he would love to be playing for Hyderabad no doubt, I know that he's still training away. He'll be good to go." Meanwhile Finch himself has recently recovered from knee surgery. "When I first had the surgery, it was going to be touch and go for those two (warm-up) games," Finch said. "But over the last couple of weeks, my recovery has progressed really well so it's looking more and more likely I will be fit and ready to go for those.” Australia will be facing South Africa in their opening game in the T20 World Cup on 23rd October.

Finch comes out to support Cricket Australia’s decision on Afghanistan test

Australia’s stand to call off a test against Afghanistan if the latter don’t allow Afghan women to play cricket got support from Australia’s white-ball captain Aaron Finch. "It's a really challenging time no doubt, but we're supportive of Cricket Australia's position," Finch told reporters in a media call. Afghanistan Cricket Board said last month that it was committed to women’s cricket though they await the government instructions on its future. Their men’s team is gearing up for the upcoming T20 World cup that is scheduled to begin on 17th October. Earlier, Australia’s test-captain Tim Paine also expressed himself on the issue and said that teams might refuse to play Afghanistan at the world cup. Finch declined to say whether Australia would feel comfortable playing the Afghans at the World Cup where they would not meet unless both teams advance to at least the semi-finals. "That's an ICC decision," he said. "We're hopeful that things can resolve itself and Afghanistan can play a huge part in international cricket. "We've seen how important they are, the development of their game in Afghanistan no doubt is huge," Finch added.