‘Smriti Mandhana to lead India soon,’ feels coach Powar

‘Those calls are made on field,’ Ponting on last over decision that cost Delhi Capitals

As the audience witnessed a vintage Mahi in action yesterday, finishing the game with a boundary and leading his team to the 9th Final of IPL, the onus fell on the Delhi Capitals’ skipper Rishabh Pant’s choice of bowlers in the death overs. Delhi Capitals lost the hold of the game in the very last overs against CSK in the first qualifier when they went with Tom Curran and Avesh Khan instead of going with Kagiso Rabada. It was difficult to conjecture the reason behind this but coach Ponting shed a light on the issue. "And Tom had bowled his first three overs for 16, had bowled really, really well. And done a good job. So that's down to the gut feel of the captain in the middle at that time. And Rishabh obviously thought that Tom was the right man to bowl that last over on the back of how well he had already bowled in the game. It didn't pay off for us tonight. I think it will be a good learning experience for Tom again," said Ponting after the match. Ponting also said that such decisions are entirely up to the captain to take. "I haven't had a chance to ask the captain that yet. Obviously, those calls are made on the field.” DC will be playing against the winner of the second qualifier scheduled to be played on 11th October between KKR and RCB.

Nabi to lead Afghanistan in T20 WC as ACB released revised 15-member squad

The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has announced a revised 15-member squad. Mohammad Nabi will be leading the team in the upcoming T20 World Cup. Last month, the ACB released a 18-member team which players like Sharafuddin Ashraf and Dawlat Zadran were a part of. But in the revised squad, they have been chosen as reserve players. At the same time, left-arm spinner Fareed Ahmad Malik has been promoted to the 15-member list. Last month, Rashid Khan stepped down from his captaincy after alleging that he was not a part of the selection process. After his resignation, these changes were expected in the squad. Mohammad Nabi, who has earlier led the team in 2015 ODI world cup will be accompanied by Andy Flower as a consultant, while Lance Klusener will be the head coach and Shaun Tait as bowling coach. Afghanistan is placed in Group-2 along with India, New Zealand and Pakistan. They will be playing their first match against a qualifier from Group B. on 25th October at the Sharjah cricket stadium. Earlier, there were uncertainties surrounding the fate of the game in Afghanistan after the takeover by the Taliban but on Sunday, ICC Action CEO Geoff Allardice said that Afghanistan was preparing ‘normally’ for the upcoming tournament.

T20 World Cup 2021 | Sri Lanka name final 15-member squad, Pathum Nissanka surprise entry

The Sri Lankan team announced its final 15 member squad for the T20 World Cup 2021 on October 10, set by the International Cricket Council as the deadline for all teams taking part in the first round of the World Cup to submit their final squads. The core group of Lankan players have been retained and there are no surprise inclusions apart from Pathum Nissanka, who was added into the squad for the Oman tour and was not originally part of the extended squad selected for the World Cup in September. Players such as Ramesh Mendis, Praveen Jayawickrama, Nuwan Pradeep and Kamindu Mendis, who seemed like getting a chance in the final 15 have been left out. Nissanka played both the games against Oman and scored eight and 26 respectively. The Sri Lankan team will face Netherlands, Ireland and Namibia in Group A of Round 1 in their quest to qualify for the Super 12 stage of the tournament. Their first match will take place against Namibia on October 18 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. The Lankan team recently beat Oman in two T20Is, which they played as part of their World Cup preparations. Sri Lanka T20 World Cup Squad Dasun Shanaka (Captain), Dhananjaya De Silva (Vice Captain), Kusal Janith Perera, Dinesh Chandimal, Pathum Nissanka, Charith Asalanka, Avishka Fernando, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Chamika Karunaratne, Wanindu Hasaranga, Dushmantha Chameera, Lahiru Kumara, Maheesh Theekshana, Akila Dananjaya, Binura Fernando

IPL 2021 | Qualifier-1 | What Experts said as Dhoni-Uthappa turn the clock back to take Super Kings to final

It was vintage MS Dhoni and Robin Uthappa at the display as they turned the clock back and won Chennai Super Kings a game that looked surreal in all aspects and aesthetics. The match had all the things needed for someone like Dhoni to come and finish it in style. There was drama in the middle, an early breakthrough, a hero of yesteryears showing his class and finally the finish that everyone craved for, that moment when all could say in unison, ‘Dhoni finishes it in style’. People waited for this entire IPL, but as he has been unpredictable yet very elegant with his surprise, Mahi pulled out his best in the match that mattered the most. As Super Kings chased down 173 with two balls to spare, they also made it to their record ninth final in 14 editions of the tournament, out of which they were absent for two seasons. Captains' Viewpoints MS Dhoni, the winning skipper looked very relieved after his efforts which finally bore fruit after many attempts. Describing his knock, the 40-year-old in the post-match presentation said, “It was a crucial innings, Delhi has a very good bowling attack and with big boundaries to contend with, they bowled really well. I've not done a lot this season so today I was just trying to watch the ball and hit it.” When the skipper walked in to bat ahead of in form Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo, his team needed 23 off 11 balls and when he walked out, having scored unbeaten 18 off just six balls, two balls still remained in the innings. While his intervention turned out to be great and satisfying, sending Shardul Thakur at number four looked very absurd. Explaining that, Dhoni said, “We haven't really experimented with our batting order. The thinking behind Thakur's promotion was if he clicks, he'll make it easier for us. [But it]Didn't happen that way.” Robin Uthappa was yet another batter who looked in his vintage form. When he played in place of Suresh Raina in the last two games, it was thought that as a temporary measure to give Raina some time off before the big game. But when he was named in the playing XI even for this game, many loyal Super Kings questioned the decision. However, the 35-year-old proved everybody wrong and scored a brilliant 63 off 44 balls, attacking Delhi bowlers and giving Ruturaj Gaikwad time to construct his innings. Talking about sending Uthappa up the order, Dhoni said, “Robbie likes to bat up the order, we leave it to God to decide who goes at 3. If the openers bat well, it's Moeen [Ali], if not, it's Robin.” Chennai were ruled out of the last year’s tournament sat at number seven, their lowest ever position in an IPL season. Now that they have reached the final, their Jharkhand born leader thanked everyone involved in the team’s journey from there to here. “Emotions were quite high after we didn't qualify last season, credit goes to the support staff and the individuals' character,” Dhoni said. Rishabh Pant, the losing captain in this game couldn’t believe his luck and said that the only way out from this loss was to get better and make the final in the second qualifier. "Obviously it's very disappointing, don't have enough words to describe how we are feeling right now. The only thing we can do is rectify our mistakes and move on to the next one,” Pant said in the post-match interview. It was a matter of concern and heavy debate as to why Tom Curran was given the 20th over instead of Kagiso Rabada who had bowled well too. Answering that, the 24-year-old said, “I thought that Tom bowled beautifully throughout the match, last over unfortunately went for runs. I thought the bowler who is having a great day, it's better to use him for the last over.” Tom was indeed having a great day until the last over as he had given away only 16 runs in his previous three overs and taken three wickets too. Talking about where his team lost the plot, Pant said, “I thought the score was decent but they got off to a flier in the powerplay and we didn't get enough wickets and that was the main difference.” Expert Opinion While captains had very different notions on the happenings of the game, Experts were also cast their verdict on key moments. Boria Majumdar, a veteran cricket journalist asked the same question to Pant as to why he did not bowl Kagiso Rabad on to the best death bowlers in the death itself. Hasha Bhogle, a renowned commentator on the other hand was awed by the witty charm and honestness of Dhoni who admitted to the shortcomings he has had this season. Aakash Chopra, the former India player turned commentator and cricket pundit reiterated how Chennai have been the team to beat for several years now, as far as Playoffs and playing in final is concerned. Former India player Wasim Jaffer was at his witty best as always and compared Uthappa to bring out the Batman analogy into play. Senior journalist Ayaz Memon was infuriated by the way Chennai Super Kings lost their three wickets in the span of six runs and complicated the chase which was going pretty smooth by then. Winning this match, the CSK would now remain in Dubai and wait for the finalists. Delhi Capitals would now have to go to Sharjah to face the winner of the Eliminator between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore.