Steyn, Lara & Muralitharan included in Sunrisers Hyderabad coaching line-up for 2022 season

The Sunrisers Hyderabad have announced a star-studded support staff line-up ahead of the 2022 mega auctions. The six-member team is led by Tom Moody, who is the most successful coach in SRH history having won the tournament in 2016. Alongside Moody, SRH have acquired the service of Simon Katich who was with the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the last IPL season and he will be acting as Moody’s deputy in the dugout.

SRH have chosen to keep an Indian counterpart in Hemang Badani as the fielding coach and scout. Badani, a former India international is currently well regarded in the domestic circuit as an able tactician and has won the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) three times with the Chepauk Super Gillies. He will be in charge of bringing in domestic talent.

Given SRH’s consistent failures in all departments last season, the franchise has chosen to bolster the key areas with world-renowned talents. The team has roped in Dale Steyn, Muttiah Muralitharan and Brian Lara as the pace bowling coach, spin bowling coach and batting coach respectively.

Going into the mega auction, the team has chosen to retain just three players. Among those three, the team has shown faith in two uncapped Indian stars in Umran Malik and Abdul Samad - two players that are fairly untested in the domestic circuits as well. The side will be led by Kane Williamson for the 2022 season.

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The Ashes | Justin Langer keen on staying head-coach across all formats

Ahead of the Boxing Day Test match between Australia and England, coach Justin Langer has confirmed that he would like to stay as the head coach across all formats. Langer confirmed his stance in a press conference ahead of the third Test match of the Ashes after speculations had risen over the last year that he had strained his relationship with the first team players. "I've never thought differently to be honest," Langer said on Thursday, 23 December. "I've been consistent with what I've said for the last four years. I love my job. And the boys are playing well. No doubt about it. It's a great team to be involved in. So nothing's changed from my point of view." Langer had admitted back in July 2021, that he had been hurt by critical reports of his methods that emerged after the historical loss at the Gabba against India earlier this year. Reports suggested that several players including senior members of the team did not take too kindly to Langer’s headmaster-like approach, something that was dubbed as ‘uncompromising’. However, things got straightened after Australia’s win at the World T20 event, a tournament where they were tagged as favourites by a long margin. While the chatter about his coaching tenure went down after the WC win, it was once again speculated by the Australian media that Langer could be moving out if he wins the Ashes as well. However, the head coach has made his intentions clear ahead of the game that he would like to stay in charge going into the busy schedule of the T20 World Cup in Australia next year and the ODI World Cup in India in 2023. His current tenure ends in June 2022.

Having done well in England & Australia will give us confidence against South Africa: Cheteshwar Pujara

India and South Africa are slated to lock horns with each other in a three-match Test series commencing on December 26, 2021 which will be followed by a three-match ODI series. Talking about the team and the preparations, Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara said that the Indian team is an experienced one and the players know what is expected from them. “Most of the players have played in South Africa, we are an experienced side and we know what is expected from us,” he said on BCCI.tv. India have played some good cricket in England and Australia in the recent past and Pujara insisted that the players will be riding high on confidence after the way they fared in those overseas conditions. “Having done well in England and Australia will make a big, big difference in this squad’s confidence and set belief that we can win overseas and in any condition. I’m very confident that we have the capability to win a series in South Africa considering the batting and bowling line up that we have,” Pujara said. Talking about the South African bowling line up, the right-hander said that the Proteas have one of the most lethal units especially in the home conditions and it’s going to be challenging to negotiate them. “Most of the teams play well in their home conditions and it's the same with the South African team. They are one of the best bowling line ups and facing them in South Africa is always challenging.” India would be without the services of the new Test vice captain Rohit Sharma and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja due to injuries. KL Rahul was named Virat Kohli’s deputy for the series in Sharma’s absence.

Bizzare tactics, over-reliance on Joe Root and the road that lies ahead for this England side

Except for Joe Root and Dawid Malan, all the other English batters average less than 29. More often than not, other players have failed to stand up and this has been a trend.

IPL mega auctions to be held on February 12 & 13

The mega auctions of the Indian Premier League (IPL) are scheduled to take place on February 12 & 13 in Bengaluru as per a Cricbuzz report. The official confirmation from the BCCI is yet to come but if the reports are to be believed then the officials had called up the franchises on Thursday for informing the dates. It has been speculated that this might be the final mega auction for the tournament and afterwards, teams will be asked to build their own ecosystem. There will be 10 teams going into this year's auction, and for the first time in the history of the tournament, the two new teams - Ahmedabad and Lucknow, will be allowed to buy players outside the event. While earlier it was reported that the auction would take place in December giving the teams ample time to familiarise themselves with the squad, investment firm CVC Capital's complexities with the deal pushed the event back to February. According to reports emerging in the media, CVC Capital is scheduled to be all clear ahead of the mega-auctions.