Ryan ten Doeschate to mentor the Netherlands to their tour of South Africa

Michael Gough removed from umpiring panel for remaining T20 World Cup 2021

International Cricket Council removed Michael Gough from the umpiring panel of the T20 World Cup 2021 citing his health conditions. Gough who was earlier suspended for six days from October 28 onwards till November 03 for breaching the ICC bio-bubble protocol was supposed to return to action for November 04 games, but the ICC decided against it. "The ICC recognises the extended periods he has spent in bio-secure conditions over the past two years and will continue to support the wellbeing of all match officials operating in this environment," the international governing body said in a statement. The Englishman was scheduled two officiate in two more Super 12 games, one on November 6 between Australia vs West Indies in Abu Dhabi, and the other on November 7 between Afghanistan vs New Zealand, also in Abu Dhabi. Though South African Marias Erasmus replaced Gough in his scheduled match between India and New Zealand on October 31, his replacements for the upcoming games have not been named yet.

West Indies to tour Pakistan in December 2021 for three T20Is and as many ODIs

After several tour cancellations, there is finally some good news for the Pakistan Cricket Board as well as the Pakistan cricket fans as Cricket West Indies confirmed that West Indies will tour the South Asian nation for an ODI and T20I series of three-match each. The ODI series will be part of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League and all three matches, starting from December 13 will be played at the National Stadium in Karachi. This will be the first time since 2006 that West Indies will play an ODI in Pakistan. They last toured the country in April 2018, but they only played three T20Is. On this special occasion, PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja said, “After missing out on home internationals in September and October, the West Indies tour will formally kick-off of an exciting and entertaining season of men’s international cricket in Pakistan with HBL Pakistan Super League 2022 and Australia’s first full series to follow.” “The West Indies have always remained one of Pakistan cricket fans’ favourite sides. I am hopeful that the NCOC will support this series by allowing maximum crowds so that the fans can watch live in action their favourite players and back both the sides,” he added. Schedule of West Indies tour to Pakistan 13 Dec – 1st T20I, Karachi 14 Dec – 2nd T20I, Karachi 16 Dec – 3rd T20I, Karachi 18 Dec – 1st ODI, Karachi 20 Dec – 2nd ODI, Karachi 22 Dec – 3rd ODI, Karachi

T20 World Cup | Hanging by glimmer of hope, India have Scotland in sight to stay in tournament

The buildup Hope was Team India’s strategy coming into the T20 World Cup and now, having paid a big price for it, that’s the only thing they have in their hands to qualify for the semi-finals lying in someone else’s hands. They hoped their misfiring finishers and star batsmen would find their best touch with the bat and their experience bowling lineup will find a perfect rhythm to bowl in the main draw of the event. Turned out, they could do neither and the men in blue suffered massive jolts one after another in both departments. They have to rely upon and hope that Afghanistan would defeat New Zealand but at the same time, they don’t want a big win for them for an already higher run rate for the Afghans. However, they have a task in their hands as well apart from hoping and counting good fortunes. They had to win all their last three games with a big margin to give themselves a chance to stay in the race if Afghanistan win their clash against the Blackcaps. If the Blackcaps can prevent an Afghan advance over them, it would be curtains for Virat Kohli-led side and hence, hope is pertinent for the men in blue. And, they have responded well against the same side they want to win badly in their next game. Their star openers were “brave enough” to take the attack to the opposition and their bowlers stuck to the task after getting a comfortable cushioning of big runs on the board. The might of the Indian batting unit that was anticipated by the experts and fans who rated them as one of the best teams before the start of the tournament finally arrived in their third game and they pulverise Afghanistan to secure what they wanted to achieve—a big win to boos the required run rate that was plummeted after a couple of embarrassing losses. Now, they face Scotland in the fourth challenge of the tournament and the task and aspirations of the men in blue would remain the same. They would look to go all out with the bat in case their captain’s luck refuses to come true to his calling and unleash an experienced bowling attack on an inexperienced Scotland batting lineup. But, the big question is? Can they maintain the momentum with both bat and ball after finding it the toughest way? And if they can't? Can they just do enough to stay in the contest by winning by a fair margin? Answers to all those questions will come from the bats of an experienced trio of Scotland batsmen Kyle Coetzer, Richie Berrington, Calum MacLeod. Match details India vs Scotland, Match no.: 37, Super 12 Group 2 Date & Time: November 05, 06:00 PM LOCAL, 07:30 IST Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Pitch details After playing a game in Abu Dhabi, the men in blue return to Dubai where they have struggled to time the ball with balls not coming onto their bats. First, they were blown away by the swing of Shaheen Shah Afridi and then they were tied down by the slowish bowling of Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner who kept bowling away from them and never allowed them the opportunity to time the ball. There have been two major collapses of the batting order at the Dubai International Stadium but Virat Kohli and his team would rather hope and be eager to inflict those pain on the Scotland side. Team News India The men in blue preferred Ravichandran Ashwin to replace Varun Chakaravarthy who got a niggle before the game and the team management will have to do a lot of explaining to the off-spinner if they want to go back to Chakaravarhty for this game. The batting order looks settled with Suryakumar Yadav returning in the last game although not getting the opportunity to bat against Afghanistan and the Team India are all but set to field an unchanged XI. Probable XI KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah Scotland The Scottish are out of the competition but the men in blue will be wary of their giant-killer status. They ran closer to make their task easier by giving New Zealand a run for their money and only more runs than par total prevented an upset and saved the Blackcaps. Scotland have no reason to change their playing XI barring some last-minute events and it should offer some sort of challenge to India who will be desperate to make a big score once again. Probable XI George Munsey, Kyle Coetzer (c), Matthew Cross (wk), Richie Berrington, Calum MacLeod, Michael Leask, Chris Greaves, Mark Watt, Safyaan Sharif, Alasdair Evans, Bradley Wheal CE Fantasy XI Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Craig Williams, Ravindra Jadeja, Chris Greaves, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mark Watt, Brad Wheal Captain: KL Rahul Vice-captain: Rohit Sharma

Six Pakistan Women players test Covid positive ahead of series against West Indies

The Pakistan Women’s cricket team was shocked with as many as six of their players testing positive for Covid-19 ahead of their three-match ODI series against West Indies Women scheduled to begin on November 08 at the National Stadium in Karachi. The Pakistan Cricket Board confirmed that the players in the squad will not be changed and the series will also go ahead as scheduled. It also clarified that as many as three of the six players will integrate with the team by November 06 when their 10-day quarantine gets over. The 18 member squad announced for the series against West Indies Women as well as for the ICC Women’s World Qualifier to be played in Zimbabwe, was undergoing training in a preparatory camp at the high-performance centre in Karachi when the six members tested positive. As the six players tested positive, the remaining players and members of the support staff also went into self-quarantine to avoid any spreading of the virus. Pakistan squad: Javeria Khan (capt), Aiman Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Ayesha Zafar, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana, Iram Javed, Kainat Imtiaz, Maham Tariq, Muneeba Ali, Nashra Sundhu, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Rameen Shamim, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz (wk).