SA vs ENG: Faf du Plessis won’t be part of the Proteas ODI team

Former Proteas captain Faf du Plessis has been rested for the ODI series against England after playing continuous cricket for the past three months, which included both the IPL as well as the three-match T2OI series against England, which the guests won 3-0. 

The 36-year-old had already said goodbye to Test cricket having retired from the format last year. Along with him, star bowler Kagiso Rabada too will not available for the selection in the ODIs as he has been ruled out of the series due to injury.  

Other players including Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, and Pite van Biljon have also been released from the squad, getting its size down to just 18, after it was increased citing the scare fo the positive covid cases in the South African camp. 

Skipper Quinton de Kock and his young team have a lot at the hands as they are hungry to prove their mettle having been whitewashed in the T20Is. First of the T20Is begin in Newlands, while the other two will be played at Boland Park, Pretoria, and Newlands on 6th and 9th December respectively.

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Natarajan's ‘surreal experience’, motivates him for challenges ahead

Thangarasu Natarajan, the 29-year-old from a remote village in Tamil Nadu finally realised his long-cherished dream of playing for India when he debuted for the Men in Blue against Australia in the third and final ODI at Manuka Oval. Now he looks forward to tackling challenges ahead in life, the immediate one being a pertinent T20I debut in the first game of the T2OI series beginning 4th December in Canberra. Reacting to the debit and entailing his experience of playing for India for the first time, Natarajan wrote on Twitter, “It was a surreal experience to represent the country. Thanks to everyone for your wishes. Looking forward for more challenges.” Natarajan became the 11th left-arm fast bowler to play for the country when he made his debut. Virender Sehwag, who had first signed him for the Kings XI, was jubilant with the Sunrisers Hyderabad player. He also got two scalps in his first game and the first one was of Marnus Labuschagne while his second wicket was of Ashton Agar. He said, “I was very happy because when I had picked Natarajan in the IPL for the Kings XI Punjab, everyone was asking questions that this player has come who has not even played domestic cricket and came after playing just the TNPL league, so how he was picked at such a huge price.” The Tamil Nadu cricketer first played in the IPL in 2017 for the Kings but couldn’t really make any inroads as he could only pick two wickets in six games before making a comeback in 2020 with Sunrisers Hyderabad and picking up 16 wickets in 16 games to get the India call. He was drafted into the team only after Varun Chakravarthy, the initial choice spinner got injured just ahead of the tour. Powered by Froala Editor

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Australia vs India | 1st T20I: Match Preview, Predicted XI & Dream11 Fantasy Picks

Having finally tasted victory on the Australian tour team India and its captain Virat Kohli would like to continue the same momentum going into the T20I series which begins with the first game at Manuka Oval, Canberra, the same ground where India defeated Australia on Wednesday. The Australians though missed out on an opportunity to whitewash the Men in Blue and almost managed it with Glenn Maxwell and his brilliance. If it wasn’t for Jasprit Bumrah’s inch-perfect yorker, It could have been an easy victory for Australia. Having said that, India would be hoping to came a comeback into the Australian summer with the T20 series and the format could not have been more suitable considering the form the contingent has shown for their respective teams in the recently concluded Indian Premier League. What do the records say? The Australian team in the year 2020 played six games winning three and losing three. The team in opposition, India has an impressive 5-0 score in their favour when it comes to wins and losses. On head to head as well, India fares better than the Kangaroos with 11 victories in 21 games, while their opponents have only 8. When it comes to matches in Australia, even then the Indian team is ahead with 5 games to 3 in the 9 matches played between the two Down Under. There, however, is one thing that the Indian teams have to be mindful of, and that is the record of the last five games played between the two nations. Australia have won 4 of them while Virat Kohli and his men could muster just one win among the five. In their last and only game at Manuka oval, Australia beat Pakistan quite comprehensively and Steve Smith was the Man of the Match. Aus vs Ind: Match Details Match No. - 1st T20I Venue: Manuka Oval, Canberra Broadcast: SonyLIV, Sony Ten Network, DD Sports Date and Timing: 2nd December, 01:40 pm IST, 08:10 GMT Pitch Report If the last game was to give any indication, the pitch has something in it for both the batsmen and the bowlers if they hit the right areas. Since it would be a full night affair, the pitch would also remain the same for both sides, with a slight advantage to the team bowling second as indicated from the game yesterday. Weather and Toss The weather at Manuka Oval is predicted to be cricket friendly as the city would have clear skies on Friday. As far as the toss is concerned, it wouldn’t be a bad option to chase considering how close Australia came while chasing that total in the last ODI. In a total 10 T20Is have been played at the venue, five times team batting first have won while 4 times it has been the other way around. So there isn’t much to choose from empirical evidence as well. Team News Australia The Australian team would have obvious changes in the sense that D’Arcy Short and Mitchell Starc would come into the teams in places of Marnus Labuschagne and Sean Abbot while the rest of the team would most likely remain the same. Moises Henriques and Cameroon Green along with Maxwell would be the three all-rounders for Australia. If Stoinis attains full fitness, which can only be clarified on the match day, he might replace Henriques. Strongest XI Aaron Finch(c), D’Arcy Short, Steve Smith, Moises Henriques, Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Adam Zampa India The Indian team would also likely remain the same barring the obvious two changes of Shubamn Gill and Kuldeep Yadav, both of whom are not part of the T20I setup. In their places, Sanju Samson and Yuzvendra Chahal would be the likely entrants, while the rest of the team would remain constant. The only surprise that India might throw, would be the inclusion of Manish Pandey, at Shreyas Iyer’s place as he has failed thrice on the tour so far. Strongest XI Sanju Samson, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (c), KL Rahul (wk), Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, T. Natarajan Australia vs India: Dream11 and fantasy team suggestions Sanju Samson(wk), Aaron Finch (C), Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, Lokesh Rahul (VC), Glenn Maxwell, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Josh Hazlewood, Adam Zampa, Jasprit Bumrah Captain: Aaron Finch Vice-Captain: Lokesh Rahul India T20I squad: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (wicketkeeper), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, T Natarajan Australia T20 Squad: Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey , Pat Cummins (vc), Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Daniel Sams, D'Arcy Short, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa