Rahul Dravid's positive culture, a boon for Indian cricket: Paddy Upton

Australian dressing room not happy with Justin Langer: Reports

Australia suffered a 2-1 defeat against India in the recently concluded four-match Test series at home. Australia won the first Test but lost the second and fourth while the third game ended in a draw. Australia coach Justin Langer has faced some backlash since the defeat. Apparently, some of the players are not happy with Langer’s management style according to a report in the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’. “Dressing-room sources say that over a gruelling summer, Langer’s management style wore thin with some players, who on top of having to live in a bubble for months on end say they have become drained by his intensity and mood swings,” the SMH reported. “…some senior players are frustrated at the atmosphere in the team being brought down by the coach’s shifting emotions and what they see as too much micro-management. They say that has extended to bowlers being bombarded with statistics and instructions about where to bowl at lunch breaks including during the fourth and final Test against India at the Gabba,” the report further read. Though, Langer has denied these claims. “Couldn’t be further from the truth,” adding that “leadership isn’t a popularity contest.” “If players just want someone to tickle their stomachs all the time then I’m not doing my job.” “It’s actually the opposite of what happens. I never talk about statistics to the bowlers, ever. I don’t go to any of the bowlers’ meetings. That’s what the bowlers’ coach is meant to be doing,” he said.

BCCI to go ahead with Vijay Hazare Trophy this season

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed that it would go forward with the Vijay Hazare Trophy and the women's one-day tournament while the Vinoo Mankad Under-19 Trophy will take place later on. This means that there would be no Ranji trophy this season. According to a Cricbuzz report, BCCI Secretary Jay Shah has confirmed that the Vijay Hazare and women’s one-day tournament will go ahead in a letter to the state associations, "It was extremely important for us to ensure that women's cricket takes place and I am extremely happy to inform you that we are going to conduct the senior women's one-day tournament simultaneously with the Vijay Hazare Trophy and follow it up with the Vinoo Mankad Under-19 Trophy," Shah wrote in his letter. "This has been decided after having received your feedback on the domestic season 2020-21." "I write this with some sense of satisfaction and a whole lot of gratitude towards the State Associations and the staff of the BCCI for the successful conduct of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament so far, after having delivered a flawless IPL earlier." "I would like to take this opportunity to thank each one of you for your support. It has been heartening to see the outstanding quality of cricket on display during the course of the tournament and the coming of age of quite a few youngsters. We are keenly looking forward to an exciting final game," stated the letter. The T20 tournament Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy is in progress with the final scheduled to take place between Tamil Nadu and Baroda in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

BBL Qualifier: Scorchers and Sixers fight for direct ticket to the final

Two of the topmost teams of the Big Bash League at the league stage, Sydney Sixers and Perth Scorchers will collide in the Qualifier at the Manuka Oval in Canberra to get a direct ticket to the final of the tournament. The loser will have to face the winner o the knockout between Sydney Thunder and Brisbane Heat in the Challenger on the fourth February. With a position in the final at stake, both teams will give their best to grab the place instead of being subjected to the Challenger. Since Sixers are coming on the back of a victory and Scorchers after being beaten by the Brisbane Heat, the Pink brigade is more likely to have greater confidence. However, Scorchers, who eight of their last nine games to reach the second spot in the table cannot be taken lightly what so ever. Moreover, the Orange brigade also has a history of playing the most number of BBL finals in the brief history of the league so far. Sixers will bank on proven talent to deliver One of the most experienced sides in the tournament this year, Sixers would bank on its proven worldwide talent of all-rounders Dan Christian, Moises Henriques and Carlos Brathwaite to take them through to the finals. And it is not for nothing that these match-winners are the aces for the Sixers as all of them in the tournament so far have proven their worth by winning games singlehandedly, from positions, where winning seemed impossible at one moment. Christian has so far scored 252 runs at an average of more than 36 and a strike rate of more than 186. Not only that he has 13 wickets to his credit as well while Brathwaite has taken 15 wickets. Henriques has had an impact in just three innings, scoring 137 runs in them with an average of more than 45. Along with these experienced blokes, the likes of Josh Philippe and James Vince in the batting department and Ben Dwarshuis and Steve O’Kefee in bowling make the Pink team a really dangerous proposition. Jhye Richardson & Colin Munro- Scorchers' main weapons While Stars have experienced all-rounders the team Perth will back their seasoned campaigners too as Jhye Richardson and Colin Munro, the two men with terrific form alongside them. Richardson, who has 27 scalps to his name in this tournament so far has been outstanding in all the matches except the last one, Munro, who has scored 411 runs this season in just 13 innings has a similar story as well as he too failed to impress in the last game. However, one failure does not take away from them the good that they have done throughout the tournament and the way they have carried Scorchers through to the Finals. Hence the team would bank on these two to hit form one more time and get them to the finals. Sixers vs Scorchers: Match Details Match: Qualifier Date and Time: 30th January 2021 01:45 pm IST, 07:15 pm Local, 08.30 am GMT Venue: Manuka Oval Broadcast and Live Streaming: Sony SIX and Sony LIV Pitch Report The pitch at Manuka oval has proved to be true wicket throughout the course of the tournament so far. The dryness has increased though with passing time and hence spinners would be getting assistance from the wicket. Weather and Bat Flip The weather has been predicted to remain ideal for playing cricket with at least 25% cloud cover throughout the evening and a mild Northwesterly wind blowing throughout. With the wicket being dry in the day time and swing on offer early on, the skipper winning the flip would look to bowl first. Sixers Strongest XI Josh Philippe (wk), James Vince, Daniel Hughes, Moises Henriques (c), Jordan Silk, Daniel Christian, Carlos Brathwaite, Sean Abbott, Ben Dwarshuis, Steve OKeefe, Jake Ball Scorchers Strongest XI Jason Roy, Liam Livingstone, Colin Munro, Josh Inglis (wk), Mitchell Marsh, Ashton Turner (c), Aaron Hardie, Jhye Richardson, Andrew Tye, Jason Behrendorff, Fawad Ahmed

SMAT: Baroda thumps fancied Punjab in a one-sided affair; will take on TN in final

A well-oiled unit of Baroda, inspired by captain Kedar Deaodahar’s batting and active decision making in the field, beat Punjab in a one-sided affair at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera to move to the finals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021. It was a surprise in the sense that Punjab had defeated big teams like Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh in their group with huge margins. Punjab couldn’t get to a start that they needed while chasing 161 as they lost two of their main batsmen Abhishek Sharma and Prabhsimran Singh, the two men that had propelled Punjab to better starts in the previous matches, were picked up cheaply by Lukman Meriwala. The rest of the players couldn’t get going either as Anmolpreet Singh and Ramandeep Singh took too many balls to settle down before getting out through forced shots. A major problem for Punjab occurred when their captain Mandeep Singh got injured while fielding and couldn’t bat at his usual number three position, putting a lot of o pressure on the less exposed and inexperienced middle order. It was exploited well by the Baroda bowlers especially spinner Bhargav Bhatt who choked the flow of runs in the middle overs forcing Gurkeerat Mann to take extra risks and thereby losing his wicket. Once he was out, all hopes of a Punjab revival died down and the team could manage only 135 runs in their 20 overs quota. Earlier in the evening, Punjab after winning the toss decided to bowl first and got a good start as Ninad Rathva and hero of the last game Vishnu Solanki was removed in the 9th over with only 58 runs on the board. The Punjab team was going strong until the players started dropping dollies as both Kedar Devdhar and Karthik Kakade were dropped very early in their innings on the bowling of Mayank Markande and Harpreet Brar respectively. Once the chances went begging, there was no coming for Punjab as Baroda raced to 160 in their 20 overs as both Devdhar and Kakade scored their fifties. With this win, Baroda have now made it to their fourth Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final in 12 editions where they will play Tamil Nadu, who beat Rajasthan earlier in the day to make it to consecutive finals and their third final in total.