T20 World Cup | David Warner faces criticism for not showing ‘spirit of the game’ against Pakistan

After exclusion from Test squad, Hanuma Vihari finds place in India A squad for South Africa tour

Just hours after his omission from India’s Test squad for the upcoming series against New Zealand raised many eyebrows, Hanuma Vihari has been added into India A squad for the tour of South Africa. Vihari could not feature in the squad and there were a lot of questions over how is being treated by the team management. He last played in Test cricket in the famous Sydney Test against Australia where he and Ravichandran Ashwin batted with full of courage and determination to save India the game. He was batting while being injured and did not play any Test after that game as India preferred to go in with only five specialist batsmen and Rishabh Pant as wicketkeeper-batsman in England. India A tour of South Africa is scheduled to start on November 23 while India Senior’s tour of the country is set to commence a month later and hence Vihari’s exclusion from the New Zealand series where he could not have found a place in a full-strength India side, could be seen as a potential move by the management to allow him to prepare for the conditions in South Africa.

Ravi Shastri rates Virat Kohli in highest league among Indian captains of the past

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri, whose tenure ended with the conclusion of the T20 World Cup has lavished praise on Virat Kohli and the contributions that he has made. “No Indian cricketer has had the kind of success he has had in Test cricket. I don't think even on the world stage, he will be right up there with the great captains of all time when it comes to the success rate of a team,” Shastri said while talking to Republic. “So why are we even talking about it? You know unless he doesn't want unless he feels that he needs to share the burden and focus on his batting and concentrate on his batting- only he will know,” he further said. India bowed out of the T20 World Cup after losing three out of the five matches in the group stage. The defeats came against Pakistan and New Zealand respectively. Former India captain Rahul Dravid has now been handed over the coach’s baton and he will begin his duties with the New Zealand series at home slated to begin on November 17.

“You don't come halfway around the world just to win a semi-final,” Jimmy Neesham dreams big for NZ

When the whole of New Zealand dugout was celebrating after Daryl Mitchell hit the winning runs against England, James Neesham and Kane Williamson were the mute spectators of that emotional outburst. It was more peculiar and eye-catching for Neesham to not react and celebrate as he is known for his wit and humour on social media. Later on, he justified his case while replying to a tweet and gave an insight of him meaning business just at the right time for the Blackcaps. He was the chief tormentor for Eoin Morgan’s England and changed the momentum in an 11-ball 27 innings towards the Kiwis’ favour but the absolute absence of emotions and later justification highlighted his hunger. He has doubled down on his hunger for the ultimate goal and ruled that they have not travelled so far from their homes to “ just to win a semi-final”. Neesham said that while the Blackcaps deserved to celebrate resoundingly after the heroic win over England, the larger goal of winning the T20 World Cup is still ahead of them and a bigger and grand celebration would come only after achieving that purpose. "It's a situation worthy of celebrating I guess - winning a semi-final - but you don't come halfway around the world just to win a semi-final," Neesham said. "We've got our sights pretty firmly set on the game in a few days' time... I'm personally, and we as a team, are not getting ahead of ourselves. One game to go and I'm sure there will be a bigger outpouring of emotion if we manage to get across the line.” When Neesham walked out to bat in the semi-final, the Blackcaps were in a precarious situation needing 54 runs off the last 29 balls. At the other end of the crease was Mitchell who was finding it tough to hit boundaries and was midway through a sluggish 40-ball 46 till the 16th over. The tide started to shift towards New Zealand as Neesham took the attack to Chris Jordan and deposited him twice into the stands to plunder 23 runs off him. He was ruthless in his approach and seemed to be on a mission that he has confirmed now. Neesham said that he was eyeing to hit every ball for six as he was feeling good about hitting and timing the ball. His onslaught rubbed onto Micthell as well and he took the initiative from the next over by hitting Rashid for a big six after Neesham’s whirlwind innings. "I just said to Daz [Daryl Mitchell], I hit CJ [Chris Jordan] for a six-second ball and Daz sort of came down and said: 'what do you think?' I just said I'm going to try and hit every ball for six," Neesham told NZC's media team. "It doesn't always come out of the middle but chunked a couple and got enough to get over the rope. Yeah, ended up doing reasonably comfortably in the end..”

Cricket in Commonwealth Games: India Women to play Australia Women in opening encounter

The women’s T20 cricket will be included in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 and will take place at the Edgbaston Stadium from the 29 July. The bronze and gold medal matches will be played on August 7 while the tournament will commence with the encounter between India and Australia. India will then play Pakistan on July 31 and Barbados on August 3. “The women’s cricket T20 competition will be held at the Edgbaston Stadium from the 29 July, with the bronze and gold medal matches taking place on 7 August. The first match on the schedule will see Australia take on India in the early session,” the ECB said in a statement. Matt Kidson, Director of Sport for Birmingham 2022, said: “Not surprisingly we have already sold thousands of tickets for both the netball and cricket T20 sessions through our ticket ballots, but we know that some fans have been waiting to find out the details of the match schedules before choosing which sessions they want to attend, so we’re expecting these sports to sell quickly, when ticket sales go live.”