Psychological warfare under the towering presence of Gabba


The condiment of spice generally remains at the heart of the India-Australia feast. Verbal shots are fired much before the players take center-stage to let their bat and ball do the talking. A loud shout out to the rival's strength, which is nothing but an empty gesture to feed their egos and lull them into a false sense of vanity. Sledging, that is most often harmless banter but could veer towards the nasty and nefarious at the drop of a hat is also very much present. The beer-drenched spectators do not mince their words either, crossing the line so flagrantly once back in 2012 that the boundary rider, an esteemed one for that matter, couldn't help but flip the bird in retort. With the firebrands at each other's throats, you wonder whether the heat of the battle contributes to global warming. 

However, the ongoing tour comes across as a white sheep in a black herd. Let alone the psychological warfare, there's been plenty of love-sloshing in the air. Be it Marnus Labuschagne doffing his baggy green to Ravichandran Ashwin's tactical nous or Pat Cummins not being tight-lipped when it came to complimenting his KKR teammate Shubman Gill, the hosts have fancied introspection and been rather willing to dispense credit where it's due. The cricket itself has been bold as brass in terms of competitiveness with both sides refusing to concede an inch. But the on-field altercations and media shenanigans lay largely on the backburner. 

It was all fun and games until India expressed their reluctance to play the fourth and final Test in Brisbane. Their sudden scepticism over travelling to Queensland stems from reports that they might be subjected to stringent quarantine restrictions yet again. India have been adamant on the demand that after serving the mandatory 14-day period, they must be treated like anyone else around Australia, with regards to freedom of movement. And with apprehension now that they would be confined to a less porous bubble which is likely to restrict their excursions from hotel to stadium and back upon reaching Brisbane, via Sydney, the visitors are far from impressed. 

But so are Australia, who've wasted little time in accusing India of making a mountain out of a molehill. Fielding coach Brad Haddin even went to the extent of alleging them of creating all this nuisance to avoid dealing with their fortress named Gabba - a venue where India have never won a Test and Australia haven't lost one in the last 28 years. Just when you thought the Richter scale reading of the current series would bear a serenely level path, there's some zapping turbulence to revert the state of affairs to type. 

“From a cricket point of view, why would India want to go to the Gabba? No one wins at the Gabba! Australia plays really good cricket there and no one’s won for a really long time (besides Australia),'' Haddin told Fox Cricket.

“There’s a lot of moving parts here. The one thing is these guys have been in a bubble for a long, long time and they might just start to be getting a little bit tired. But you can’t move a Test match - if a state doesn’t have any virus - just because you’re over the quarantine," the former wicketkeeper added.

The former wicket-keeper batsman also pointed out that India boarded the flight to Australia well aware of the stringent protocols that would be in place. "You came to Australia knowing exactly what was going to happen. You knew there were restrictions, you knew this could’ve happened. Yes, it’s been a long time now they’ve been in quarantine, first with IPL and now with the Australian summer,” he reasoned. 

“It’s the same with the Australian teams (the safety measures), we haven’t heard them whinge and they’ve just got on with it. To me, it just looks like they’re trying not to play at the Gabba,” Haddin finished with a bang. 

Off-spinner Nathan Lyon, standing on the verge of notching up a century of Tests, jumped on the bandwagon too, urging the naysayers to comply with the rules and regulations at any cost. "I know there's a few people from both squads who've been in a bubble for close to six months now, but in my eyes it's a very small sacrifice for us to get out there and play the game that we love and put a lot of smiles on a lot of people's faces around the world, so in my eyes, we just have to suck it up and get on with it and get out there and play cricket for our respective countries and make sure that we're playing a really competitive brand of cricket." he appealed. 

Notwithstanding the myriad speculations making rounds of India casting a disapproving glance at Brisbane, Nick Hockley, Cricket Australia's chief executive, cleared the board's stance by specifying that BCCI hasn't given anything in writing, which implies that the schedule will go ahead as per planned. In retrospect, the whole fiasco amounted to zilch and we've come a full circle. Nonetheless, it fit the missing piece in the India-Australia jigsaw.

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BBL 10 Match Report: Burns and Denly lead Heat to victory over Thunder

Despite a late wobble, Brisbane Heat were able to complete a rather clinical chase to gain an important victory over Sydney Thunder in their Big Bash League (BBL) match at Gabba on Monday. Joe Burns, recently dropped from the Test team for poor performances in the two Tests this summer against India, found his groove again and scored a brilliant 52 off 38 balls to spearhead the chase. He was ably assisted by Englishman Joe Denly who also scored a half-century, 50 off 36 balls, and crafted a pivotal 90-run partnership that sealed the game for the home team. In the end, the target of 175 was chased down by the Heat in 19.1 overs, for the loss of five wickets. Sydney Thunder won the toss and chose to bat first. They suffered a loss very early on as Usman Khawaja was dismissed on the second ball of the match by Xavier Bartlett. However, Thunder fought back strongly with Alex Hales and Callum Ferguson going after the bowlers. The 50 for the Sydney-based side came up in 6.2 overs as the Hales-Ferguson partnership started finding the boundaries regularly. Heat turned to their main spin weapon, Mujeeb Ur Rehman, and he brought results. Even though he went for runs in his first over, Mujeeb struck in his second over, getting Hales out four short of his half-century. The Afghan struck again three overs later to get the other set batsman Callum Ferguson out as well. At 93/3 in 11.4 overs, the match was in the balance. But it tilted towards the bowling side as Mark Steketee got the wicket of Ollie Davis soon after to leave the team at a precarious 96/4. Sam Billings played a couple of impressive shots before getting out himself for 22. Then, Daniel Sams played another great cameo, despite suffering a hard blow to his head when a bouncer struck his helmet. Sams’ 37 from 18 balls lifted Thunder from 108/5 in 13.4 overs to 147/6 in 17.3. After Sams’ dismissal, Ben Cutting took over and played a cameo of 24 from 15 balls. The Sydney side ended up with 174/8. For Heat, Mujeeb and Steketee picked up two wickets each. Heat then unleashed a major weapon in their arsenal – the super sub Chris Lynn. He and Max Bryant got their team a blazing start. Lynn threw all caution to wind and launched into various big hits. Bryant also got going with a few boundaries. The introduction of spin brought respite to Thunder. First, Chris Green ended the knock of Bryant and then, young leggie Tanveer Sangha got the prized scalp of Lynn. However, there was no backing away by Heat and in the same over that Sangha got the wicket of Lynn, his first, he also conceded 11 runs. The spinners were then held back as the pacers were brought back. The two Joes – Burns and Denly – then formed the key partnership that completely took the game away from Thunder. The only time the team wearing blue looked wavering in their chase was when Sangha picked up two wickets in two balls – first Denly and then Lewis Gregory. Another wicket quickly after, of Burns, did create some tension. But with the required run rate well under control, all it needed were a couple of boundaries to end the pressure and take the team home. With six needed off seven balls, a lofted boundary over midwicket took Heat on the brink of victory. A brace of the first ball of the last over brought curtains down on the match.

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Daily Round-up | January 4: Ganguly likely to be discharged

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly is likely to discharge from the hospital while the Cricket Australia has clarified that the Indian team hasn’t seek any changes for the fourth Test scheduled to take place in Brisbane. Here are the daily updates from the world of cricket. Sourav Ganguly likely to be discharged Former India captain is likely to be discharged from the hospital. The Woodlands hospital informed that the BCCI President was keeping well. “Our nine-member medical board met today at 11.30 am with reputed specialists on zoom platform. The consensus of the board was that deferring the angioplasty for now is deemed to be a safer option since Mr Ganguly is stable, without any chest pain and is on optimal medical management,” Dr Basu said at the press conference. “The family members were present during the board meeting and were explained about the disease process and further therapeutic plan,” she added. Dr Basu further said that Ganguly is likely to be discharged on Wednesday. “Dr Devi Shetty is coming tomorrow. We will have another round of discussion. He is likely to be discharged on Wednesday.” Ganguly was hospitalised after complaining of chest pain on Saturday morning. He later underwent angioplasty on Saturday. India hasn’t seek change of venue for Brisbane Test Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley has clarified that the Indian team hasn’t asked for any changes for the fourth Test scheduled to take place in Brisbane. “We speak to our counterparts at the BCCI daily,” he told reporters. “We’ve had nothing formal from the BCCI to suggest anything other than they’re supportive. Both teams have wanted to play the schedule as we’ve set out,” he asserted. The third Test between the two sides begins on January 7 in Sydney and the players will then travel to Brisbane. Kane Williamson shines New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has continued his form in second Test against Pakistan in Christchurch. Williamson went on to score another hundred and remained unbeaten at 112 at the end of Day 2. New Zealand are presently 286/3 in reply to Pakistan’s 297 in the first innings. Henry Nicholls is also not out at 89. New Zealand lead the Test series 1-0. Williamson has already scored a ton in the previous game while scored a double century against West Indies earlier. He attained the top spot in ICC Test rankings for men. Zimbabwe cricket comes to halt The cricketing action has been put to a break in Zimbabwe after a spike in COVID-19 cases in the country. Zimbabwe have recorded 1342 positive cases and 29 deaths in a span of one week.  "This is a very challenging situation, but ZC's aim is to reschedule all the affected events and fixtures - including the elite men's domestic T20 competition which was scheduled to begin this Monday - for them to be played as soon as it is deemed safe to do so," ESPNcricinfo quoted ZC as saying in a statement. SCG to have 25 percent crowd capacity The crowd capacity at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) has been reduced to 25% for the third Test between Australia and India. SCG has a seating capacity of up to 38,000 people, but as per the social distancing measures, it can take up a maximum 9,500 spectators for the New Year Test.  "Reducing the capacity of the venue is crucial in achieving social distancing requirements, and we sincerely thank ticket-holders for their patience, as we process refunds today, reconfigure the SCG seating plan to deliver these social distancing measures and go back on sale," Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley said in a statement.