Playing two Test matches against India was a mistake: David Warner

NZ vs Aus | Swashbuckling Finch-Maxwell, accurate Asthon Agar sink Blackcaps in Wellington

Having been pushed against the wall after the loss in the first two T20Is, Australia came into the third T20 all guns blazing and defeated the hosts New Zealand by a big margin of 64 runs to keep the series alive. Chasing a momentous target of 209 runs was always going to be difficult for New Zealand at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington and an impressively accurate Ashton Agar broke their back in the middle overs to suppress any chance of them chasing the total. Martin Guptill was in no mood to waste his hard-earned form and started from where he had finished in the last game in Dunedin. The pacer duo of Jhye Richardson and the debutant Riley Meredith came under his hammer in the first couple of overs, but the newcomer held his nerve and saw the better of Seifert in the very first over of his T20I career. Aaron Finch was trying to be proactive and introduced the leg spinner Adam Zampa fairly early in the piece, but both Williamson and Guptill took a liking to him before Meredith came back with a changed end to snaffle a big wicket of Williamson. At the end of the powerplay, New Zealand were not way off track with 59 runs on the board although with the loss of two wickets. The hero of the first game--Devon Conway started opening his shoulders right after the end of the powerplay and Agar was taken to the cleaners by the left-hander. Agar conceded 12 runs in his first over and it looked like a terrible day on the filed was on offer. Adam Zampa punched a deadly blow to the Blackcaps by dismissing Guptill in the ninth over as Guptill felt the need of going big in the wake of run-rate surging past 11 runs per over. The next man in-- Glenn Phillips and Conway tried their best to get the hosts back on track but it was not to be tonight as Agar came back to redeem himself with his second over and took three big wickets of Phillips, Conway and James Neesham. 109/3 in 12 overs quickly became 111/6 and the prospect of a New Zealand win was all over before Agar came back to pick up two big wickets of Mark Chapman and Tim Southee in consecutive overs to crush whatever chances of magic the hosts had in the game. Agar finished with a magnificent figure of 30/6 and was rightly adjudged the Player of the Match. Earlier in the evening, Kane Williamson won the toss and asked the Australians to bat first on a pitch that left Australian skipper Aaron Finch weary for the moisture in it. The opening duo from New Zealand--Tim Southee and Trent Boult started off on a usual note a dn swung the balls from both ends. Boult was the first to strike and edged Matthew Wade to Guptill at the only slip stationed. There were a lot of noise about Aaron Finch’s lack of form leading up to this game, and he silenced one and all in some style. He was in an ominous mood from the word go and made his intentions clear in the third over by walking down the pitch and blasting Southee down the ground. Australia’s number three- Josh Phillipe has been impressive with the bat although he has not been able to win Australia games in this series. He was up and ready against Boult who was guilty of spraying the ball towards his pads in search of swing. The hero of the last game with the ball--James Neesham were not to have a great day and Finch provided an early hint with a first-ball six off the right-armer. His first over yielded 10 runs, while the second was an even expensive one but his tormentor was Phillipe. Williamson brought Ish Sodhi into the attack and the leg spinner repaid faith by getting Phillipe on the way back to the pavilion, but Finch’s show was to continue. At the end of the 13th over, Australia were 116/2 and with Finch and the new man Maxwell at the crease, they were poised to a big total, something in the excess of 200 runs by the end of the 20th over. Seeing Neesham getting tonked all across the ground, Williamson brought back the Boult-Southee duo once again, but by then, Australia had a completely different outlook than the one battered by the hosts in the last two games. Boult conceded 14 runs while Southee was smashed around the corners for 15 runs in his over. Sodhi came back to dismiss Finch after a 44-ball-69, but the baton was passed on to Maxwell and he looked like on a mission to annihilate Neesham and take revenge e from him for defeating them in the last game. New Zealand were a bowler short and hence Neesham was persisted with by Williamson and what followed in the 17th over of the innings was nothing but a brutal onslaught by Maxwell. Neesham tried everything from yorkers to short balls, but failures to execute properly allowed Maxwell to get hold of his deliveries and the over yielded 28 runs. Southee came back to see the back of Maxwell but not before he had taken away the momentum from the hosts with a nerve-racking 37-ball-70. New Zealand were able to carry out a bit of damage control, conceding only eight and nine runs in the last two overs, but Australia had already scored enough by the 18th over to test every bit of New Zealand’s might with the bat in the second innings.

Dale Steyn issues clarification over IPL-PSL comparison

After creating a furore with his opinion comparing the quality of different leagues across the world, former South African pacer Dale Steyn has issued a clarification and apology for hurting sentiments. However, he said that his words were taken out of context and got amplified by social media users in a tweet on Wednesday. Earlier in his interview with Cricket Pakistan, he had said that playing in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) where he is currently representing Quetta Gladiators this year or in the Lanka Premier League (LPL) have been more rewarding as a player. He had also said that the talks around money which the leagues such as the IPL have in abundance leave the actual cricket far behind. “I wanted some time off. I found that playing in these other leagues was slightly more rewarding as a player. I think when you go to IPL, there are such big squads and so many big names and so much emphasis on maybe the amount of money players earn and everything like that, so sometimes, somewhere down the line, cricket gets forgotten,” Steyn had said to Cricket Pakistan. “When you come to like a PSL or the Sri Lankan Premier League, for that matter, there is an importance on the cricket. I have only been here for a couple of days and I have had people in and out of my room, just wanting to know about where I have played and how I went about it. Whereas, when I go to something like the IPL that gets forgotten and the main topic is how much money did you go for in this IPL? That’s just me being brutally honest. I wanted to stay away from that and really put more emphasis on playing and bringing good vibes to good cricket teams and tournaments I feel are worth it.” Dale Steyn was released by the Royal Challengers Bangalore before the auction of the next edition of the IPL. He could feature in only three games last season where he picked up only one wicket at an alarming economy rate of 11.33 runs per over. Steyn has played right from the first season of the IPL in 2008 and represented franchises such as the RCB, now-defunct Deccan Chargers, Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Gujarat Lions. He was at his peak in the tournaments between 2010-13 when he picked up 66 wickets across four seasons. His numbers in the league started to dwindle as he started struggling for fitness and could not play in the majority of games for his franchises.

Thanks to AUS- SA dispute, India can qualify for WTC Final even with drawn series against England

It was calculated that Team India had to win the series against England at least by a margin of 2-1 to make it to the finals of the World Test Championship, but there seems to be a way for them even if they lose the final Test and end up drawing the series. This piece of good news has come from a rift between Cricket South Africa and Cricket Australia, with the former having lodged a formal complaint against the latter in front of the ICC for cancelling a three-match Test series scheduled to be played in South Africa. According to a Sydney Morning Herald report, Cricket Australia has time until the end of this week to inform the dispute resolution committee of the ICC that the issues with CSA can be resolved with CSA ‘through good faith negotiations.’ In case of failure from CA, the matter will be in front of an independent panel that will decide whether the Australian cricketing body was within its rights to pull the plug on the tour of South Africa. If the panel finds Cricket Australia at fault, it will award the total 120 points on offer from a scheduled three-match long Test series to the hosts of the series, which will rule Australia out of contention for a spot in the WTC Final. However, if India win the last Test of the series against England, they will be through to the WTC Final irrespective of the outcome of the dispute resolution mechanism working between the CSA and CA.

PSL 6: Refreshed from long break, Multan Sultans look to dent in Quetta’ already reduced reputation

After a roadblock in form of the Covid-19 case and a match being rescheduled, the PSL is once again back on its feet and is up and running. Multan Sultans, the star-studded side from South Punjab have surprisingly had a long three-day break in a league, where teams have played matches on consecutive days. This time around, they are up against a Quetta Gladiators side, which has bared the brunt of not winning even a single toss, and also it’s bowlers being unable to deliver in crunch situations. The two teams in this game are almost at the same place, barring one win for Sultans, in a match they were able to win the toss. As of now, all 12 matches have gone to teams chasing and thus for either of the teams to make sure that they have any chances of making it to the Playoffs, they need to turn the tide around and win a game, irrespective of the toss result. The big battle of Rizwan and Sarfaraz This match is also going to be a show of power as two of the best wicket-keepers of Pakistan, captaining their respective sides, one seeking a place back in the side, the other trying to hold firm the established position he has got, will be up against each other. Sarfaraz Ahmed, the skipper of the Quetta team has played well in the tournament, but Mohammad Rizwan, the Sultans’ leader has been in a scintillating form. Thus this game is going to be a show-off between the two. It is not only going to be about the batting but also about the captaining of their respective sides. Sarfaraz has been aggressive, but impatient too. On the other hand, Rizwan has been calm and composed even in most tough and trying situations. This game will test the character of the teams as well, especially Quetta who have to play two games in two days, after having been beaten comprehensively in their last game. With four losses in four games, it’s now a matter of survival for Quetta, and they would give it their all to win this. Quetta Gladiators vs Multan Sultans: Match Details Match Number- 14 Date and Time: 03rd March, 07:30 pm IST, 07:00 pm PST, 02:00 pm GMT Venue: National Stadium, Karachi Broadcast and Live Stream: Sony Six and Sony LIV Pitch Report The National Stadium has provided a lot of entertainment to the audiences of the PSL. In this game too, the pitch is going to be a belter no doubt. Some help would be there for the pacers early on with the evening sea breeze. But it is going to be a used pitch, would also grip a bit early on till the dew settles in. Weather and Toss In the range of 26 degrees to 22 degrees, the temperatures at the NSK would suit the players, Although heavy dew is once again expected, making bowling an obvious choice for the team winning the toss. Probable XI Quetta Gladiators Saim Ayub, Cameron Delport, Faf du Plessis, Sarfaraz Ahmed (c & wk), Azam Khan, Ben Cutting, Mohammad Nawaz, Dale Steyn, Zahid Mahmood, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah Multan Sultans Mohammad Rizwan (c & wk), Chris Lynn, James Vince, Rilee Rossouw, Sohaib Maqsood, Khushdil Shah, Shahid Afridi, Carlos Brathwaite, Sohail Khan, Usman Qadir, Shahnawaz Dhani Dream XI / Fantasy XI Picks Sarfaraz Ahmed(wk/vc), Mohammad Rizwan(c), Faf du Plessis, Sohaib Maqsood, James Vince, Mohammad Nawaz, Ben Cutting, Carlos Brathwaite, Zahid Mahmood, Mohammad Hasnain, Dale Steyn