T20 World Cup | Gary Stead wary of England challenge; hopes to put up good fight in semi-finals

On the heels of Australia’s full tour announcement, ECB CEO Tom Harrison flies to Pakistan

The English and Wales Cricket Board’s chief executive, Tom Harrison, has flown to Pakistan to mend relations between the ECB and the Pakistan Cricket Board. The relationship went sour after England’s cancellation of the promised tour of Pakistan, which was scheduled to take place in October 2021. This has come on the heels of the announcement made by Cricket Australia to visit the subcontinental nation for a full tour which would include three Tests, three ODIs and a T20I to be played in March 2022. Harrison is scheduled to meet with Pakistan PM and patron in Chief of the PCB Imran Khan and Ramiz Raza. His job will be to assure that the promised Test tour of Pakistan for 2022 would go as planned. The PCB chief was irked after England’s cancellation of the October tour. "I am severely disappointed in England's withdrawal but it was expected because this western bloc gets united unfortunately and tries to back each other. This is a lesson for us because we go out of our way to accommodate and pamper these sides when they visit. From now on we will only go as far as is in our interest,” Ramiz had said back then. It would be a two-day visit by Harrison as he is supposed to be in UAE for ICC’s first in-person Chief Executives’ meeting later this week.

IPL 2022 | Sanjay Bangar appointed as new head coach of RCB

After Simon Katich quit before the second leg of the Indian Premier League last year, Mike Hesson, the former New Zealand coach had overtaken the responsibility of the head coach. But the franchise has decided to upgrade their batting consultant Sanjay Bangar to the position of the head coach right before the mega auction of the cash-rich league. Hesson will continue in his original role as director of cricket operations. Bangar, who has been previously associated with Team India as batting coach between the years 2014-2019, also has under his belt the experience of coaching IPL sides. The 49-year-old was the head coach of the Kings XI Punjab from 2014 till December 2016. A domestic cricket legend and one of the few players to open both batting and bowling for their sides, the Railways man could play only 12 Tests and 15 ODIs between 2001 and 2004 for India. He was also part of the Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders franchises in the 2008 and 2009 editions of the IPL. Speaking on his appointment, Bangar said, "I have worked with some exceptional and talented members in the squad and can't wait to take this team to the next level. There's a lot of work that needs to be done with the IPL mega auctions and the season following it, but I'm sure that together with the continued support of the management and the support staff, we can deliver the goods and bring cheer to our fans across the globe.” Come the 2022 IPL mega auctions RCB have a lot of important calls to make, starting from choosing their captain after Virat Kohli’s resignation from the role and figuring their new core with players like AB de Villiers set to retire in the next couple of years.

Watch | Emotional Ravi Shastri gives farewell speech to Team India

The Indian cricket team bowed out of the T20 World Cup on a winning note against Namibia on Tuesday, 9 November, at the Dubai International Stadium. It also marked the last game of head coach Ravi Shastri with the team as his contract with the national team ends with the commencement of the World Cup. The former India cricketer was emotional in his final speech as a coach and termed the current Indian side as one of the greatest teams to have played the game of cricket. “You guys as a team have over exceeded my expectations. Over the last few years, you go across the globe and beat everyone across all formats. It makes you one of the great teams that have played the game. Not [just] a great Indian team, hear me out, this will go down as one of the great teams to have played the game ever,” Shastri said in a video uploaded by the BCCI on their official website. The 59-year-old was not shy to admit that this T20 World Cup was not the best of the efforts that Team India have put in. And he also repented having missed out on winning a few ICC trophies but was happy to proclaim that the team members will get another chance to do that. “You will be wiser, more experienced when the next opportunity comes. But for me the most important thing is, you know in life, it’s not all about what you accomplish, it is about what you overcome, overwrites everything else,” he said. “What you have gone through in the last two years, the Covid, the hurdles that have come on the way, write-offs that happened and everything. You become stronger in mind, tougher and ready to compete at the highest level and that’s the best thing I like about this Indian team,” the coach added. With Shastri gone, Rahul Dravid would now be taking over as the coach of the Indian team starting with the New Zealand series from November 18. Watch Video Here

India bow out of T20 World Cup campaign outclassing Namibia

The Indian cricket team bowed out of the T20 World Cup by defeating Namibia by a comprehensive margin of 9 wickets. Virat Kohli’s men showed no signs of relaxation despite having their campaign ended by a New Zealand victory against Afghanistan on Sunday 7 November. They stuck to their process and stayed on top of the game at every possible phase making sure that there are no surprises left in this edition of the World Cup. After restricting Namibia to a total of 132 runs, the Indian batting unit, courtesy of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav put pedal to the metal and brought up the total with 28 balls remaining. KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma scored fluent 50s after surviving early scares in the innings. After the departure of Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav took over the reins and was at his absolute best, displaying his breathtaking range of strokes. He scored 25 off 19 balls. Earlier in the innings, the Indian spinners weaved their magic to puncture any momentum that the Namibia batting order could have had. Aided by the cross-breeze from the Pavillion end, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja routed the Namibian batting order picking three wickets between them. While Ashwin beat the players in flight, Jadeja used his length and pace to good measure outfoxing the opposition players. Jasprit Bumrah was among the wickets as well, picking up key wickets of Micheal van Lingen and David Weise at two ends of the innings. Weise top scored for Namibia with 26 runs off 25 balls before chipping a full length slower ball from Bumrah to Rohit Sharma standing inside the cricle. There was a silver lining for Namibia despite the loss in the tournament as they qualified for the 2022 T20 World Cup scheduled in Australia. Captain Gerhard Erasmus acknowledged the same and stated that they have hopefully inspired the next level of cricketers in Namibia to take the sport forward. Ravindra Jadeja was adjudged the man of the match for his stellar spell of 4-0-16-3. The game marked the end of Virat Kohli’s captaincy in the T20I format with the legendary right hander finishing off with a 64 percent win record in his tenure. Reflecting on the same, Kohli stated that it has been ‘6-7 years of intense cricket’ and it is a relief to have relinquished the captaincy given the ‘toll it has taken’ out of him. He added that as long as he plays for India, his passion will never fade and he will forever give his 120% for the team. India will now be heading home and hopfeully for a much needed break after staying in bio-bubbles for over six months. They start their next assignment against New Zealand on 17 November in a three match T20I series.