NZ vs WI: Exciting Young to make his New Zealand debut

A hard worker in domestic cricket, Will Young has finally got his opportunity to debut for New Zealand as the team's captain Kane Williamson confirmed the news ahead of the first Test between the Blackcaps and West Indies, beginning in Hamilton on December 3.

"He's been around the environment for some time without getting his first opportunity, so, I think that's also a real positive," Williamson said in the pre-match press conference.

Recounting Young’s exploits in domestic cricket, where he has been prolific over the years, skipper of the New Zealand team praised the 28-year old and stated, "Often you come into teams and it's new, you are trying to get a feel for the group but he's got that feel, he's an experienced player, has played a lot of first-class cricket and to a very high standard and he deserves that opportunity."

Young, on receiving the news, was congratulated by his Central Districts and now New Zealand teammate Neil Wagner. Young has played 78 first-class games and in them, he has scored 5077 runs with the highest score of 162 and at an impressive average of 43.76.

The debutant will likely open the innings as Tom Blundell has been asked to take BJ Watling’s place in the middle order. Devon Conway has replaced Watling in the team but would have to wait for his Test debut, having made his Blackcaps debut early on in the T20I series which the Kiwis won 2-0. The second Test would take place at Basin Reserve, Wellington from 11-15 December.

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Won't tolerate if he degrades my people: Naveen Ul- Haq hits back at Afridi

The flare between Shahid Afridi doesn’t seem to be dying down soon as the Afghan cricketer replied to the Pakistan legend’s comments, which he said as advice to him post the game between the Kandy Tuskers (Nvaeen’s side) and Afridi led Glle Gladiators. Although, the center of the controversy or the fight wasn’t Afridi. The incident took place at the end of the game when Pakistan and Galle pacer Mohammad Amir had a heated exchange with Amir and players had to separate the two. Afridi, replying to a Sky Sports video in which he was seen scowling to Naveen during the customary after match handshakes, tweeted, “My advice to the young player was simple, play the game and don't indulge in abusive talk. I have friends in the Afghanistan team and we have very cordial relations. Respect for teammates and opponents is the basic spirit of the game.” Replying to this tweet from the 40-year-old Afridi, Naveen, 21, said, “Always ready to take advice and give respect, Cricket is a gentleman’s game but if someone says you all are under our feet and will stay their then he is not only talking about me but also talking abt my ppl. #give #respect #take #respect.” What Naveen suggested through his tweet was that Amir tried to insult Naveen and his Afghan people, of course, it could never be verified. As far as the game in Hambantota is concerned, Kandy tuskers had beaten Galle by 25 runs.

Twitter reacts to Jadeja- Pandya storm in the last 10 overs in Canberra

India were traveling in deep waters when the pairing of Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja was created at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. At 152 / 5 with a well set Virat Kohli going back to the pavilion and a ‘bits and pieces’ player taking his place on the crease, nobody would have given India any chance of getting to 250, let alone 300. But, the day had something very special reserved for all the fans of Sir Jadeja [and his sword celebration] and Hardik Pandya as the two played cautiously at the start and then build upon it to change gears as and when required. From making just 42 in the first eight overs of their partnership to hitting 76 in the last five, the two showed that the Indian team indeed bats deep. While Hardik hit his fifty off 56 balls, Jadeja too was slow at the start. But it was the Sean Abbot over that changed things for Jadeja and he took over the mantle from Pandya in the last three overs and scored thirty runs in just seven balls to reach his fifty. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Pandya’s innings of 92 from 76 were rather overshadowed by Jadeja’s 66 off 50 balls. However, thanks to these two innings, India have been able to post a competitive total of 302 runs. Although it is less than the average score of 355, with the momentum, the Indian team can back itself to defend. At the time of writing this news, T. Natrajan had already got his first scalp in international cricket bowling out Marnus Labuschagne. Australia are 44-1 after 8 overs.

Another Pakistan squad member tests COVID-19 positive in New Zealand

One more member of the Pakistan Cricket squad on the tour of New Zealand has tested positive for the coronavirus, the country's health ministry has said. The latest case was one among the cases that were under investigation yesterday, the ministry added in his daily health bulletin. Embarrassingly for the Pakistan squad, that was the only case of Covid-19 reported in the last 24 hours, as per the health bulletin. The latest addition is the number of cases in the tourist camps will not change the overall tally as the new case is one among the cases deemed under investigation. But, it adds on to the number of active cases in the camp to 8 while the other two have been categorised ‘historic’ by the health officials in New Zealand. The tourists have already been issued a ‘final warning’ after they were caught on surveillance engaging in interactions with each other along with sharing food. The health ministry then noted that the conduct of the tourist significantly improved but the rising number of cases may well put the tour and the series under jeopardy.

AUS vs IND: Virat Kohli becomes fastest batsman to 12,000 ODI runs

Continuing his dominance in One-day cricket, Indian captain Virat Kohli has completed 12,000 runs in the ODIs in the third match of the series against Australia in Canberra. Virat achieved the feat when he pushed a Sean Abbot’s delivery to mid-off to take a single. Kohli has dominated one-day cricket since he started hitting hundreds 10 years earlier. He has reached the landmark, only in his 242 innings, which is a record and beat Sachin Tendulkar who had taken 300 innings for 12,000 ODI runs to become the fastest to the landmark. He has also trumped Ricky Ponting who took 314 innings while Kumar Sangakkara took 336 and Sanath Jayasuriya took 379 innings. Virat Kohli has been an ODI legend and most likely will end up as an all-time great in the format on the back of 59 fifties and 43 hundred that he has notched up so far in his career. His record in the ODI format shows a peculiar pattern that establishes him as a great batsman and that is having more hundreds away than at home. Before the ODI against Australia in Canberra, in the previous 241 innings, Virat has scored 24 ODI hundreds away from home while at home his bat has produced 19 hundred. He is also touted as one of the great finishers of the game although he bats in the top order. He has won accolades as a finisher because he in general, makes sure that once he gets in and scores a hundred, he leads India to a win in chasing efforts. He has played a lot of match-winning innings while chasing and teams across the world can’t take sigh of relief without dismissing him early in his innings.