• Home
  • Cricket News
  • India Prefer India A As Opposition Over County Teams Before Test Series Against England

India prefer India-A as opposition over county teams before Test series against England


The Indian cricket team has opted to play two warm-up games against an India -A side instead of the earlier norm of playing practice games against county teams in the time leading up to the Test series against India. The warm-up games will be played on the county grounds of Northamptonshire and Leicestershire as Virat Kohli-led senior team will challenge an A side that will be picked later on.

These two warm-up games will be four-day fixtures and the first one will commence on July 21 at Wantage Road while the final warm-up game has been scheduled to take place from July 28. The series against England will begin at Trent Bridge, Nottingham on August 04.

The tickets for these warm-up games will be open for sale in March later this year.

The Indian team has shown apprehensions in the past about the quality of pitches and opposition they get in warm-up games and they have for a long time contemplated the option of skipping these practice games before the actual series as they had a belief that these games do not give too much value to their efforts of acclimatising with the pitches and conditions in the country.

India on the last tour in 2018 cut short a four-day fixture against Essex due to be played at Chelmsford to a three-day affair and also relegated the status of the game from a first-class fixture to practice game and instead decided to use the one extra day to practice before the first Test in Edgbaston.

Powered by Froala Editor

Discover more
Top Stories
news

SMAT: Bihar impresses on big stage even as Mahipal Lomror takes Rajasthan to semis

Bihar cricket team impressed on the big stage of Indian domestic cricket as they put on a brave fight against a much-fancied Rajasthan side in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Mahipal Lomror was the hero for Rajasthan as he single-handedly took his team to 164 which seemed very difficult at one stage with all the main players in the pavilion at the score of 119 in 17 overs. The left-hander hit the last 39 of his 78 runs in just 14 balls of the last three overs at the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Stadium in Motera. Bihar, for the first time in their 2021 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign were chasing a total of more than 120 and had a great first over to begin the chase as Babul Kumar hit Aakash Singh for three boundaries. But after that, it was a bit of a struggle as the run rate slowed down and Babul got run out as well. Mangal Mahrour, who had dropped a precious catch of Mahipal Lomror in the first innings then tried to up the ante, but wickets fell in regular intervals and derailed his onslaught. In the end, wicket-keeper batsman Vikash Yadav, who impressed all with his brilliant catch to remove the Rajasthan skipper Ashok Menaria, scored a quick 27 off 17 to keep Bihar in the hunt with 36 required from two overs. But that wasn’t enough as the team finally fell short by 16 runs in the end. Earlier in the day, Bihar skipper Ashutosh Aman won the toss and decided to send Rajasthan to bat first. The decision was backed by his bowlers as they restricted Rajasthan to only 119 till the 17 overs even the openers made a 59 run stand. Aman was the pick of the bowlers as he picked two wickets before being clubbed for three sixes in the final over of the innings as Mahrour dropped Lomror in that over. Aman with these two wickets is now the leading wicket-taker in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021 with 16 scalps from six games. Rajasthan have now made it to the semi-finals and would face Tamil Nadu on 29th January.

news

Daily Round up | Jan 27: IPL 2021 auctions to take place on Feb 18

The BCCI President Sourav Ganguly was hospitalised again on Wednesday while Pakistan batsman Fawad Alam scored a ton against South Africa in the first Test. Here are the daily updates from the cricketing world. Sourav Ganguly hospitalised The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly has been hospitalised once again after complains of chest pain. Sources close to his family revealed that Ganguly complained of pain in his chest on Tuesday night and was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday afternoon after it increased. IPL 2021 auctions to take place on Feb 18 The IPL 2021 auctions dates have been announced. The auction will take place on February 18 in Chennai. Some big names were released by the franchises ahead of the auctions. RCB released Chris Morris while KXIP let go Glenn Maxwell. Vishnu Solanki anchors Baroda to semi-final in SMAT Baroda batsman Vishnu Solanki helped his team march into the semi-final after beating Haryana in the quarter-final encounter. He scored a last ball six when Baroda needed five to go over the line. Earlier in the day, Baroda won the toss and decided to bowl first, and did exceedingly well to restrict Haryana to just 148 in their 20 overs even after Himanshu Rana and Shivam Chouhan got starts. Broda will now face Punjab in the first semi-finals of the SMA Trophy 2021 which will also be played at the Motera on 29th January. Virat Kohli in trouble India skipper Virat Kohli has been a legal notice by the Kerala High Court. It is related to the petition seeking a ban on online rummy portals after several youths have questioned the fact that brand ambassadors play a very important role in getting them addicted to playing the games. Kohli is one of the brand ambassadors of the online rummy. Fawad Alam scores third ton Pakistan batsman Fawad Alam scored his third Test ton for the side against South Africa in the first innings of the first match against South Africa in Karachi. Pakistan were in a spot of bother after being reduced to 27/4 but Alam held the innings well and scored a fine century. Pakistan were eventually 308/8 when stumps were called on Day 2 in reply to South Africa’s 220.

news

From Khipro to Pakistan National team, Nauman Ali's long journey

Nauman Ali is the fourth oldest Pakistani to make Test debut and in the post-2000 era, the second after Zulfiqar Babar, another left-arm spin bowler like Nauman himself. Nauman, who picked South Africa captain Quinton de Kock as his debut Test wicket in the first Test at the National Stadium in Karachi comes from a small town of 'Khipro', a subdivision of the Sanghar division in Pakistan's southern Sindh province. His home town is located 285 Kilometers away from Karachi. Talking about his debut he said, "I was hopeful of getting a call-up after bowling well and taking wickets in the last two seasons of first-class cricket,". Nouman who debuted at the age of 34 years and 111 days has done exceedingly well over the last two years in the domestic first-class competition picking 43 and 54 wickets in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 Qaid-e-Azam trophies respectively. Nauman made his debut in First Class for Khan Research and Laboratories in the 2007-08 domestic season. Since then he has picked up 285 wickets in 79 games at an average of 23.98. He can also handle the willow and has got 10 fifties in First-Class cricket to show for it. Saying that "It has been a long journey”, the Northerns player detailed it as “I was born and studied in Khipro but moved to Hyderabad to pursue a career as a professional cricketer with my uncle,". "My father works in the clerical staff of an oil factory in Hyderabad now," he added. Coming back to the match in which he picked up two wickets and Pakistan have got themselves in a good position after a fighting hundred from Fawad Alam, he said, "If they (team) show confidence I am ready to deliver anywhere not only in home series.”