Match Report: Vince’s blitz blows scorchers away; glides Sixers into consecutive BBL final

SMAT 2021 Final: Tamil Nadu hold edge over Baroda

Dinesh Karthik led Tamil Nadu will be playing in their third Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final and for the first time in two consecutive finals after being beaten by Karnataka in a thriller last year. This time around the opposition is Baroda, who have shocked most cricket pundits by beating two heavyweights in Haryana and Punjab in the knockouts and Gujarat at the group stage, remaining unbeaten throughout their campaign. Battle of perseverance Both the teams in the finals are battle-hardened having come out of all sorts of trouble in the entire tournament and remaining unbeaten throughout. While Tamil Nadu faced their biggest hurdle in the quarterfinal against Himachal Pradesh, Baroda had been subjected to danger right in their first game against Uttarakhand which they won by four runs and then again against Haryana which they won on the last ball of the match through Vishnu Solanki’s heroics. Thus in this game both the teams would be looking to bank on their skills to come out of the troublesome situations. A lot will also depend on the captaincy of Kedar Devdhar and Dinesh Karthik as both of them have been great with their decision-making skills. How they deal with the best team they are going to face would be interesting to see. Baroda would also be a bit more pumped in a way that they have beaten quality sides on their run-up to the finals in their last three games while Tamil Nadu’s win over Himachal and Rajasthan could not be rated as highly, mostly due to the absence of stars in both the teams as compared to those present in Punjab and Haryana, which Baroda have beaten. Players to watch out for Both the teams have some great players who have shown throughout the tournament. Some of them have really shone and turned the game on its head from unbelievable situations. Thus, in the final, the following players can turn out to be the game-changers. Tamil Nadu Narayan Jagadeesan Jagadeesan has been Mr Consisitent for the team from down south so far with 350 runs in seven innings with an average of almost 88 (87.50), which is huge for a T20 tournament. His strike rate of 142.27 is also as good as it gets for an opener. Thus he is going to be an important wicket for Broda, although he hasn’t been able to make a big impact in the Knockouts so far. Sai Kishore Sai Kishore is another Tamil Nadu youngster who has utilised the opportunity to make a case for himself, especially in this tournament with an amazing economy rate of 5.16, although he has taken just eight wickets in seven games. But more than the wickets, it’s the amount of pressure that he puts on the batsmen which eventually leads to wickets for other bowlers too. Dinesh Karthik The name is enough for this man. With the amount of experience that he has got of playing at higher levels, he is always going to be a man to watch out for. In this tournament heh has socred 161 runs but has been out only twice in seven innings and has an average of 80 alongside a strike rate of 161. Baroda Kedar Devdhar For Baroda, their acting captain (in absence of Krunal Pandya) Kedar Devdhar has done amazingly well as he is the third-highest run-scorer in the tournament with 333 runs at an average of 83 and with a best of 99*. He occupies one end and plays the anchor and therefore could be dangerous as he allows the likes of Vishnu Solankis and Karthik Kakade to attack from the other end before takes on the charge after settling down as well. Lukman Meriwala Meriwala could be really dangerous and it was evident during the semi-finals against Punjab as he removed two of the best Punjab batsmen Prabhsimran Singh and Abhishek Sharma quite early in the game. He is quick and can bounce the batsmen out as well along with the ability to bring the ball back in for the right-handers. He has so far picked up 14wickets in the tournament with a brilliant average of 11.78 and an economy rate of 6.22 Vishnu Solanki Solanki has won a game that was almost over for Baroda with 15 required from three balls. But apart from that also he has scored 218 runs in seven innings with an average of 54 and thus he could be a good prospect for Broda at the top of the order. Pitch Report The pitch at the Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad has been on the slower side in the day games and n the night, it has been difficult to chase down totals, even as a lot of dew is there on the ground. There is an initial movement for fast bowlers in the evening and that plays an important role for the team fielding second as the fast bowlers come into play. Weather and Toss The weather at Motera for tomorrow is going to be perfect for a cricket game as there is no chance of rain. The dew is going to heavy as usual and therefore the skipper winning the toss would choose to field first. Tamil Nadu Strongest XI Hari Nishanth, N Jagadeesan, Baba Aparajith, Arun Karthik, Sonu Yadav, Dinesh Karthik (c & wk), Shahrukh Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, M Mohammed, Murugan Ashwin, Aswin Crist Baroda Strongest XI Kedar Devdhar (c), Smit Patel (wk), Vishnu Solanki, Abhimanyu Rajput, Ninad Rathva, Atit Sheth, Bhanu Pania, Babashafi Pathan, Lukman Meriwala, Bhargav Bhatt, Karthik Kakade

Joe Root is very hard to bowl dot balls at: Jos Buttler

England wicket-keeper batsman Joe Buttler has praised skipper Joe Root for his performance in Sri Lanka in the recently concluded Test series. "Joe was in fantastic form in Sri Lanka, he has always had a brilliant game to play spin bowling. He is one of the best exponents of the sweep shot and he picks length brilliantly. It is a big strength when playing spin, he is very hard to bowl dot balls at. He scores quickly against spin and he has so many shots, he manages to rotate strike. "He did that fantastically well in Sri Lanka, the biggest thing about him was the hunger shown by him to bat for long periods. He showed great application both mentally and tactically. He is in great form and it is a great place for him to be at just at the start of the year," said Buttler while replying to an ANI query during a virtual press conference. England thumped Sri Lanka to complete a clean sweep win away from home. Root scored a double ton in the match and followed it with 186 in the second encounter. The English team is slated to tour India where they will play four Tests, five T20Is and three ODIs. The Test series begins on February 5 in Chennai.

BBL 10: Mitchell Marsh left fuming after horrible call from umpire | WATCH VIDEO

Australia all-rounder Mitchell Marsh was left fuming after a horrible decision from the umpire during the Big Bash League qualifier match between Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers.  Marsh while playing for Scorchers was given caught behind on a delivery that was going down the leg side from Steve OKeefe. The replays showed that the right-hander didn’t edge the ball but had to go back in the hut eventually  England all-rounder Ben Stokes also reacted to the decision. “DRS isn’t there to make the umpires look bad. Why on earth aren’t all competitions using it,it’s frustrating to watch something like that happen when it can sooooo easily be fixed," he tweeted. Both the teams come into this match with a win under their belt in their previous individual matches.  Sixers had finished the group stage being at the helm of the points table with 36 points from 14 matches while Scorchers followed them at two with 32 points from 14 games.

Standby for England series, Shahbaz Nadeem compares Dhoni, Kohli captaincy traits

Veteran Jharkhand spinner Shahbaz Nadeem who played just one Test for India before getting overlooked has been included in the standby players for the upcoming England series. The BCCI had earlier announced the squad for the first two Tests. In an exclusive chat with OneCricket, the left-arm spinner talks about his India debut, IPL and much more. How are you feeling to be included in the squad? I have just got the call-up and my only focus is to go there and be with the team. I want to give my best in whatever the opportunities I get from the management. Talk to us about IPL. All the players are very excited and they are striving to give their best. We have been away from cricket for quite a long time now so we are pretty excited to get back in action. How did you keep up your fitness game during COVID-19? As you know there wasn’t any cricket going on so all of us were putting in an extra effort towards our fitness. I used to workout at home and running in the nearby campus. Talk to us about your journey before getting the India cap. Look some players play for the country early while some have to struggle a bit. My debut took time but that has actually helped me to be matured enough with my bowling. The experience of playing at the domestic level for so long has helped me in a different way. When I made my debut, I was not that nervous because I had been playing cricket for a very long time. I was more of excited to represent my country. How is David Warner as captain? David Warner is someone who always gives his best. He used to be in the game earlier when he just played as a pure batsman and now leads from the front after donning the captain’s hat. He interacts with all the players and gives his input to one and all. It feels good when you see that your captain is pretty involved in the game. You get that confidence. What difference do you feel between MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Warner’s captaincy? Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni have different ways of expressing themselves. While Virat plays more aggressive cricket, Dhoni is calm but both the players are committed towards the team they play whether IPL or India. Talking about the captaincy of these three players Dhoni keeps himself cool, Kohli is a bit aggressive and wants his team to dominate the opposition. Warner is also pretty aggressive and wants to remain ahead of the opponents in the game. Talk to us about your Vijay Hazare record of 8/10 vs Rajasthan Actually, I didn’t realise that I have achieved that milestone. I was bowling good and got wickets gradually. In fact I didn’t even realise that I have taken a hat trick because two wickets came on the last two balls of an over and the third one on the first ball of the next over. The scorer later told me about the feat at the end of the match. Competing with other left-arm spinners Honestly, it’s a good competition. Now we all know that we have to keep our game a level up. All of us have the realisation that we have to perform consistently. It is a healthy competition and helps us grow as a player. Are you focusing on batting as well? Yes, I’m also concentrating on my batting. My mind setup is to to stay at the crease for a longer time and negotiate as many deliveries as I can while being in the middle. How did you feel about India’s famous Gabba win? It was a great win for the team especially after the struggles that the side had to face on the tour. The players were young but showed good character. The players who won the match have played with us in India A, so it feels really good. It’s a good win for sure.