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Rain Might Play Spoilsport In West Indies And Pakistans Start To Wtc 2021 23

Rain might play spoilsport in West Indies and Pakistan’s start to WTC 2021-23

Pakistan’s West Indies tour has so far been marred by rain and thunderstorms with the team being able to play only one of its previously scheduled T20Is. There seems to be no respite from the heavens as the first Test of the two-match Test series, which would also mark the beginning of the World Test Championship 2021-23 cycle for both the teams, seems to be draining under the water only.

There is more than 50% rain forecasted for the four out of five days of the first Test with two days earmarked to receive heavy thunderstorms as well. It is in such conditions that the two sides, having not had great success in the previous WTC, look to start their new journey.

While Pakistan finished six in the last edition of the WTC, West Indies finished eight, only above Bangladesh in a nine-team format. Thus improvement is on the minds of both sides, which are more known for their shorter format heroics rather than red-ball cricket.

West Indies vs Pakistan: Match Details

Match No.- 1st Test

Date and Time: August 12, 2021, 08:30 pm IST, 10:00 am Local, 03:00 pm GMT

Venue: Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica

Livestream: Fancode

Pitch Report

Sabina Park, once known as holy grave due to fast bowlers picking wickets and injuring batsmen with bouncers at will, has somewhat gone into a shell as far as Test cricket is concerned with only eight Tests being played over the last 10 years.

The pitch as slowed is just the tip of the iceberg of the problem that is facing Jamaica Cricket. However, getting back on the wicket, it would be slow and assisting spinner as and if the match progresses, but in the first few morning hours, the red cherry might swing.

Weather Forecast

There is a rain and thunderstorm prediction on all five days and hence to get a full game out of this is going to be a great struggle.

Team News

West Indies

Daren Bravo has been sidelined from the Test side and it seems to be the end of the riad for the left-handed batter. In place of him, Sharah Brooks has been called in. Young Jayden Seales has been maintained in the side and will be aided by experienced Kemar Roach in the fast bowling department.

However, with Shanon Gabriel, young guys like Alzarri Joseph and Chamar holder might get an opportunity and they need to encash it.

Probable XI

Kraigg Brathwaite (c), Kieran Powell, Shai Hope (wk), Kyle Mayers/Shamarh Brooks, Jermaine Blackwood, Roston Chase, Jason Holder, Rahkeem Cornwall, Kemar Roach, Alzarri Joseph, Chemar Holder.

Pakistan

Post the Zimbabwe series, Pakistan would be playing Test matches and it would be after four big months. However, since this is the start of the new season, the Babar Azam led team would be dying to start on a great note, that is if and when they get the chance to have that start.

Picking a team would be challenging considering a lot of new names have been drafted into the squad and the balance between new old is necessary. However going by the looks of it, at least the PSL emerging player of the tournament, Shahnawaz Dahani looks like making the cut.

Probable XI

Imran Butt, Abid Ali, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam (c), Fawad Alam, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Hasan Ali, Yasir Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Abbas, Shahnawaz Dahani

Fantasy XI

Kraigg Brathwaite, Babar Azam, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Jermaine Blackwood, Hasan Ali, Jason Holder, Rahkeem Cornwall, Kemar Roach, Yasir Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani

Captain Babar Azam

Vice-Captain Jason Holder

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'Excited' at his Test return, Bairstow urges others to stand up in likely absence of Broad-Anderson

It seemed an end of the road for Jonny Bairstow in Test cricket after his horrendous couple of outings in India. Coming back from England for the last two Tests, Bairstow batted like a fish out of deep water and left-arm spinner Axar Patel made him look like a mediocre batsman at best. There were genuine reasons to believe that his career in the longest format was over as England were returning to play at home against India and New Zealand and they had the young batsmen in Ollie Pope and Dan Lawrence to claim positions in the middle order. However, for Bairstow’s good and England’s worst, things did not pan out that way as they faced their first series defeat at the hands of New Zealand at home since 1999. The idea that the young batsmen could take over from failing and experienced batsmen were under the spotlight. Then, fortunes smiled at Bairstow once again as Pope injured himself and got ruled out of the first Test against India. The top order also failed miserably against New Zealand and the England selectors led by the all-powerful coach Chris Silverwood went back to Bairstow. As the series against India drew closer, the chaos started erupting for the hosts as Ben Stokes pulled himself out of the series and Joe Root needed someone to use his experience to absorb pressure in the middle order. In walked Bairstow, just a slot below Root at the number five position and the duo was on track to succeed with what they set out to do. The Yorkshire duo had put on a commanding 72-run partnership that was filled with some signature crisp drives from England’s news number five before Mohammed Shami got him with the one that came in with the angle. In the second innings too, he and Root forged an aggressive partnership to put India in a spot of bother. However, on both occasions, he could not stretch his good start into a substantial score that could have steered England to a formidable position. Although being “excited” over his Test return, Bairstow conceded the issue of lack of big runs. That however is not deterring him to bat with the right mindset and he is banking on his approach to produce big runs going forward. He is not putting himself under a lot of pressure and rather wanting to enjoy his return to the England Test team and play at Lord’s after a long time. "I spent a decent amount of time at the crease though I did not get big scores. If I keep doing what I was doing in those two innings, hopefully, I will do well. I am excited to be back in the Test side, first full house at Lord's in a long time (in the second Test). As I mentioned, if I keep that mindest, approach, that's going to be the best way forward for me in the near future. It's (Test cricket) is different, I am just looking to enjoy,” the right-hander said in the pre-match press conference. England face a grim prospect of not having both James Anderson and Stuart Broad in the second Test and Bairstow admitted the “big loss” the hosts will have to endure at Lord’s. However, he is not losing his sleep over their absence and instead has put the onus on other bowlers in the side to put their hands up as the England ODI side did against Pakistan in the recent past. "It's a big loss for the team -- both have over 1000 wickets between them -- but it's also an opportunity for others, just like it was against Pakistan recently. There is going to be injury, illness, you have to be adaptable within the group, we are playing a professional sport," the Yorkshireman said. Bairstow will be hungry for big runs, especially against India as he has struggled badly against them in the longest format. Before the Trent Bridge Test, he had six ducks across nine Test innings against India and he would love to get a big one to settle all the debates around his credentials as a long-format batsman in the Lord’s Test.

ECB confirms Stuart Broad out of remainder of India series, Saqib Mahmood called up as cover

Stuart Broad has been ruled out of the remainder of the Test series against India after tearing his right calf, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has confirmed. He had suffered the injury in the afternoon of August 10 and was due for an MRI scan later today, which revealed a tear. Broad’s confirmed absence from the series will hurt England’s prospect in the five-match long series. They got out of jail at Trent Bridge last week on the back of Joe Root’s classy century but overall the quality of their bowling attack made them formidable against a very strong Indian team. Broad had gone wicketless in the first innings of the last Test but picked up the only wicket of KL Rahul that fell late on the fourth day. The second Test starting tomorrow at Lord’s would have been his 150th Test as he and James Anderson have formed a long-running partnership with the ball. England’s selection headaches don’t end here as Anderson too has reported difficulties in his quad muscles. However, there is no clarity on the severity of his injury. If Anderson misses out from the second Test, it will be the first instance since 2007 that England will be playing without their most successful bowling pair in their home conditions.

Mzansi Super League intact even as Cricket South Africa announce new provincial T20 tournament

A new T20 tournament will mark the start of the South African cricket summer which will also mark the dawn of a totally new set-up in the domestic cricket of the country. Previously recognised by six top tier franchise teams, the domestic competition will now feature 15 provincial teams with eight teams forming part of the top tier division one and seven teams in division two. This new competition though will comprise 16 teams which would include 15 provincial teams and the national Under-19 side. The teams have been divided into four groups and will play each other over three days before the semi-finals and final. The group stage matches would be played in Bloemfontein and Kimberly. However, the introduction of this tournament will have no effect on the top tier T20 league, the Mzansi Super League, which will be restored later this season after a gap of one season due to the pandemic. The MSL would be played by the top division provincial tournaments. As far as the 50 over and First Class domestic competitions are concerned, teams in both divisions will play the tournament and there would be a system of promotion and relegation.

Toss up between Ishant, Ashwin as Kohli willing to risk batting depth to take 20 wickets

India have made two brave calls in their last two Tests in England and in the hindsight, those calls have returned mixed results for the side. At first, they selected the duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the playing XI for the World Test Championship final against New Zealand calling them part of their “best bowling attack”. However, as the big WTC final took its course, the team management learnt their lessons of respecting conditions as Jadeja was under bowled due to more requirements of pacers, they took another big call for the first Test of the series against England. They left out Ravichandran Ashwin from the Trent Bridge Test and that too after his superb spell of bowling in the and in a county game for Surrey at the Oval. The move ignited many debates but the team management believed that having a “template” of four pacers and one spinner in the form of Ravindra Jadeja provided them with the perfect chance to beat England in Nottingham with spells of rain predicted across all days. But, why did Jadeja was preferred over Ashwin and Shardul Thakur was preferred as the fourth seamer over Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav? It was the batting credentials of both Jadeja and Shardul that made the case easier for them as India were reluctant to field a batting-thin side in the first Test of an important series. Their complicated quest of finding a “deeper” batting order and “balanced” playing XI has not stopped at the Trent Bridge as now Shardul has injured his hamstring and has been ruled out of the second Test. This complicates the issue further as either it will force the team management to disown their favourite “template” which captain Kohli had affirmed to carry on with or it will ask them to give up on the batting depth. Addressing the concerns around the team selection for the second Test, Kohli dropped a subtle hint that India will not be desperate to search batting depth and instead will look to get 20 England wickets. "For us, it's about finding that perfect balance but if someone like Shardul is not available, then we definitely need to think how to pick up 20 wickets and not try to plug in another guy, who can give us some runs with the bat. I think we are very comfortable with how the first Test went," Kohli said. Commending the batting performance of Jadeja and the credentials of Shardul, Kohli said that the team will be richer in the batting department after the left-hander’s runs in the first Test while Shardul brings more batting ability to the table. However, he said that there was a need for runs from the lower order only because the middle-order trio of himself, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane could not stand up with the bat. He refused to admit that Shardul’s absence from the second Test will limit their batting depth and instead he chose to see this as an opportunity for other batsmen to “step up”. "Good thing is that Jadeja has got runs in the first Test already and he is going into the second game confident that already makes our batting deeper, the lower order contributed with bat a well. Yes, Shardul brings in more batting ability but having said that from the batsmen's point of view, we are well placed because Pujara, Jinx (Rahane) and myself we didn't score too many,” Kohli said in the pre-match press conference. "Every game is an opportunity for other batters to step up as well, Rohit and KL played very well and we are very comfortable with how we are placed as a batting unit, and we don’t feel that we will be a batsman short if Shardul doesn't play," he said. Albeit he conceded failure in the middle order including him, he did not highlight the form of his vice-captain Rahane and Pujara as an “area of concern” and instead said that the duo adds collective strength to the Indian batting order. "I don't think that's an area of concern. Our basic focus is not to think individually where people are but collectively how much strength they bring into the team is our focus. What's your best and strongest batting unit that you can take on the park," the skipper said. Rishabh Pant has continued to bat in his audacious way on the tour fo England so far and Kohli has sent a public backing to his method. Kohli said that the team management has set very “clear communication” with the left-hander that they don’t see him batting with a defensive mindset. However, he reiterated that the wicketkeeper has an “intelligent” sense of batting to not throw away games and scores from crucial positions. "That's basically how he plays. He obviously has the capability to carry on and play long innings in that manner. It doesn't necessarily have to be a very defensive role. Obviously, when there is a demand of the situation, he (Pant) is intelligent enough to understand if we are looking to save a game. Obviously, he won't play those kinds of shots but wherever there is 50-50 situation and he has a chance to change the momentum of the game he will take that chance. That's how he plays and we want him to be that way," he asserted. "Obviously, communication is very clear from the team and where we are heading as a team and what kind of approach is needed in different situations. We expect him to play innings that changes momentum and tilt the balance towards us." Kohli himself could not get going in the last Test and was scalped by his longtime nemesis James Anderson on the very first ball he faced. He has not had a great number at Lord’s and the India skipper would love to correct all those mistakes at the home of cricket and end an elongated drought of a hundred.