Know there's been a lot of negativity in last few weeks, rang Langer to offer support: Ponting

Bumper domestic schedule announced with Ranji Trophy Knockouts at Kolkata and SMAT at Delhi

The Board of Control for Cricket in India intimated to the state associations about the upcoming domestic season and stated that the premier tournament, Ranji Trophy would be played from January 13 at six centres with one centre allocated for each of the six groups. As per reports, the Ranji Trophy centres selected are Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Trivandrum and Chennai. Kolkata has been selected to host the Knockouts which comprise four quarterfinals, two semis and a final slated to begin on March 16. All the knockout games would be five-day affairs. The interesting thing about this time’s grouping is that no team gets to play its matches at its home turf until and unless Bengla makes it to the Knockouts. Ranji Trophy Groupings Elite A: Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal, Madhya Pradesh, Services and Assam (in Mumbai) Elite B: Bengal, Vidarbha, Rajasthan, Kerala, Haryana and Tripura (in Bangalore) Elite C: Karnataka, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand (in Kolkata) Elite D: Saurashtra, Tamil Nadu, Railways, J & K, Jharkhand and Goa (in Ahmedabad) Elite E: Andhra, Uttar Pradesh, Baroda, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Pondicherry (in Trivandrum) Plate: Chandigarh, Meghalaya, Bihar, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Arunachal (in Chennai) The board also informed states that the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the regional T20 tournament will be played between November 04 and 22 with the Knockouts being hosted in Delhi. The six centres chosen for its group stage games are Lucknow, Guwahati, Baroda, Delhi, Haryana and Vijayawada. There is no intimation about the formation of groups for the SMAT thus far. Vijay Hazare Trophy, the third premium tournament of the Indian domestic calendar will be held from December 8 to 27. The vines and groups of this tournament are yet to be announced. The newly developed Men’s State A one-day competition, remodelled from its previous version of the U-23 ODI tournament will begin from November 20 and will go on until December 10 with the Knockouts played in Bangalore. The group stage matches of this tournament will be played in Rajkot, Pondicherry, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mohali and Guwahati. Men's Under-25 four-day championship for the CK Nayudu Trophy, another remodelled competition from the Men’s U-23 four day is scheduled to begin from January 28 and will be played till March 31 with the Knockouts being held in Vijaywada. The group stage matches of this competition will be held in Nagpur, Hyderabad, Vijaywada, Mohali, Jaipur and Ranchi. While these are the major competitions, the domestic season kicks off with the Women’s U-19 ODI Championship and Men’s U-19 Vinoo Mankad Trophy. While Rajkot, Nagpur, Vizag, Surat, Jaipur and Bhubaneswar are being considered for the women's competition, Men’s competition is likely to be played in Mohali, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Indore and Ranchi. Surat and Ahmedabad are being considered as the hots for the Knockouts of both women's and men's under-19 respectively. The tournaments will start from September 20 and will be played for 29 days to end on October 18. The grouping for this tournament is different as only 36 teams take part in it and each group plate or elite will have six teams each with the five plate teams directly making it to the quarterfinal and the second-placed teams from each Elite Group and the winners of the Plate Group playing three pre-quarter-finals to decide the Quarter-Finals lineup. Men's Under-19 groupings Elite A: Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Andhra, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Odisha (in Mohali) Elite B: MP, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh (in Delhi) Elite C: Mumbai, Hyderabad, Team Rajasthan, Tripura, Assam and Goa (in Ahmedabad) Elite D: Haryana, Punjab, Bengal, Baroda, Kerala and Uttarakhand (in Hyderabad) Elite E: Karnataka, Jharkhand, Vidarbha, Saurashtra, J& K and Pondicherry (in Indore) Plate: Nagaland, Arunachal, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Manipur (in Ranchi) Women's Under-19 groupings Elite A: UP, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Assam, Gujarat and Vidarbha (in Rajkot) Elite B: Delhi, Goa, Bengal, Pondicherry, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu (in Nagpur) Elite C: MP, Kerala, Baroda, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Bihar (in Vizag) Elite D: Andhra, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Saurashtra and Chandigarh (in Surat) Elite E: Punjab, Odisha, Himachal, Karnataka, Tripura and Mizoram (in Jaipur) Plate: Nagaland, Manipur, Sikkim, Meghalaya, J & K and Arunachal Pradesh (in Bhubaneswar)

CPL 2021 Preview | TKR vs SLK: Trinbago seek comeback, Saint Lucia look to continue momentum

It will be the reverse fixture when Trinbago Knight Riders will face Saint Lucia Kings in St Kitts on Tuesday. The Kings might not have had an ideal start to the campaign but they were back on track after beating the Knight Riders by 5 runs in the last encounter when the two sides met. While Saint Lucia have played two matches and won one and suffered a defeat in the other, TKR on the other side have lost two of the three matches that they have played now. Despite getting a decent start to the chase in the last clash against Saint Lucia, TKR failed to go over the line and ended up losing the match. The issue that the side faced was that the batsmen weren’t really able to score runs quickly and that certainly pushed them on the backfoot. TKR would now be looking to make a comeback in the tournament. They do have some T20 specialists who can be dangerous on their day and have the ability to win a game single handedly on a particular day. From Kieron Pollard to Sunil Narine and from Denesh Ramdin to Isuru Udana, the Knight Riders do have an equipped line up. To add to the strength, the knock from Tim Seifert against the Kings in the last match was one positive that the Trinbago team would have taken. The Kings on the other hand made a huge return especially after the way they gave away runs against Jamaica Tallawahs and suffered a defeat by a mammoth margin of 120 runs. The bowlers maintained some good economy rate barring Keemo Paul and Rahkeem Cornwall and didn’t let the batsmen dominate. The Faf du Plessis-led side just needs to stick to the basics at the moment. Faf’s form though, is a cause of concern but the kind of experience he has, the right-hander would get among the runs soon. Match details Match: TKR vs SLK, 9th Match, Caribbean Premier League 2021 Date: Tuesday, August 31, 2021 Time: 7:30 PM Venue: Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts Pitch Report The track might help the batsmen but it would also have something on offer for the slower bowlers and the spinners. Chasing a target might be tricky, so if you win the toss, elect to bat. Probable XI Trinbago Knight Riders: Lendl Simmons, Sunil Narine, Colin Munro, Tim Seifert, Tion Webster, Denesh Ramdin (w), Kieron Pollard (c), Isuru Udana, Akeal Hosein, Ravi Rampaul, Jayden Seales Saint Lucia Kings: Rahkeem Cornwall, Andre Fletcher (w), Faf du Plessis (c), Roston Chase, Mark Deyal, Tim David, Keemo Paul, Wahab Riaz, Alzarri Joseph, Usman Qadir, Jeavor Royal Fantasy XI Andre Fletcher, Tim Seifert, Tim David, Faf Du Plessis, Colin Munro, Rahkeem Cornwall, Isuru Udana, Sunil Narine (VC), Kieron Pollard (C), Obed McCoy, Jayden Seales

CPL 2021 | BR vs JT: Tallawahs look to square the loss as Jason Holder’s Royals try to build momentum

It wasn’t an easy game for the Barbados Royals in their previous encounter when they were facing Jamaica Tallawahs, a team that had scored the second highest CPL total in history with its most feared batter Andre Russell bringing up the fastest CPL fifty ever in that very game. But now, facing the same team, the team from Barbados would be more relaxed having achieved two different feats. First, they beat the feared Jaimacan unit and second they now have lodged a point on the board and would be looking to build momentum from that point onwards. The Yellow and Green brigade though would have other ideas as it would be looking to come out of the defeat so as not to fall back into the same web that it had last year, losing all games in which Russell didn’t fire. To separate itself from that over-dependency, the likes of skipper Rovman Powell, Carlos Brathwaite and Shamrah brooks really need to come well along with foreign imports like Haider Ali. With two teams seeking two different goals from the same game, it is going to be an interesting watch. Barbados Royals vs Jamaica Tallawahs Match Number: 10 Date and Time: September 01, 2021, 04:30 am IST, 07:00 pm (August 30), Local, 11:00 pm GMT (August 30) Venue: Warner Park, Basseterre Broadcast: Star Sports Live Stream: Fancode Pitch Report The pitch hasn’t really had one face so far as it has been slow at times and at other times the ball has just come on to bat nicely. Thus to say that it would be a belter of a wicket would be a bit too hasty for an assumption. But no doubt, it wouldn’t be dead bat and totals around 160 will be competitive. Especially in an evening game, it could be a par total. Weather Forecast The weather at Warner Park will remain hot and humid with humidity being as high as 80%. It would be an evening game and hence even at 80% humidity, the cooling effect of sea wind will give respite from the heat and might also offer early swing for the bowlers. The temperatures would remain in the lower thirties with the moderate breeze blowing from north to the northeast. A captain winning the toss would look to bowl first without any doubt. Probable XI Barbados Royals Glenn Phillips, Johnson Charles, Shai Hope (wk), Jason Holder (c), Azam Khan, Kyle Mayers, Thisara Perera, Raymon Reifer, Hayden Walsh, Mohammad Amir, Oshane Thomas Jamaica Tallawahs Chadwick Walton (wk), Kennar Lewis, Haider Ali, Rovman Powell (c), Andre Russell, Shamarh Brooks, Carlos Brathwaite, Migael Pretorius, Chris Green, Veerasammy Permaul, Imran Khan Dream XI Team Fantasy Suggestions Batters Kennar Lewis, Haider Ali, Glenn Phillips Bowlers Mohammad Amir, Hayden Walsh Jr, Migael Pretorious All-rounders Jason Holder, Carlos Brathwaite, Raymon Reifer, Andre Russell Wicketkeeper Azam Khan Vice-Captain Glenn Philipps Captain Andre Russell

Pakistan-New Zealand series to have 25 percent crowd capacity

The series between Pakistan and New Zealand in the Asian nation will have an attendance of 25 per cent of crowd capacity. Pakistan's central body in the fight against COVID-19, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has approved spectators attendance in stands. "Spectators are the essence of any sporting event as they create an ambience and atmosphere for the players to excel, perform and enjoy. In this background, we are grateful to the NCOC for allowing the PCB to invite 25 percent crowds for the eight matches," said PCB Chief Executive Wasim Khan on Monday (August 30). He further said that this will also give the spectators an opportunity to support the players from either side. "This will be an opportunity for the spectators to not only enjoy some quality cricket in the season-opening series but also support and back players from either side as the ODIs count towards the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 qualification, while the T20Is will lead into the ICC T20 World Cup," Khan added. The Blackcaps will be touring Pakistan for a three-match ODI series and five T20Is in September-October. The first ODI will be played on September 17, 2021 in Rawalpindi while the T20I fixtures will begin on September 25, 2021 in Lahore and conclude on October 3, 2021 at the same venue.