T20 World Cup | Watch: Earthquake tremors felt in Dubai ahead of the Final

VVS Laxman likely to take over as NCA chief after Dravid’s appointment as India head coach

Former India batter VVS Laxman is all set to take charge of the National Cricket Academy as its head, a position that has been left vacant since the time Rahul Dravid took charge of the Indian cricket team as its head coach. The deal is almost settled and only an official announcement is awaited. “Laxman has agreed in principle. BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah were very keen to have another stalwart take forward Dravid’s project at NCA. Dravid and Laxman share a great understanding and the board wants synergy between Team India and NCA,” a source close to the BCCI was quoted as saying by the TOI. “The modalities of his terms of appointment are still being worked out. But he has already been sharing his ideas on NCA,” it added. There was reluctance on the part of Laxman, who has represented the country in more than 100 Tests as he did not want to move base from Hyderabad to Bengaluru, where the Academy is located. “Laxman has been reluctant to move to Bengaluru from Hyderabad where his family is settled. However, he had multiple discussions with Ganguly and Shah after the IPL finished on October 15. His concerns were addressed. He will now discuss the offer with Sunrisers Hyderabad where he has been working as a mentor. The negotiations around his salary and other compensation will have to be completed now,” the source said. The appointment would have to be made early as the head of the NCA would also be responsible for Team India’s U-19 World Cup campaign which begins in January 2022 in West Indies.

India Test players to undergo 4-day training camp

India’s Test players are set to undergo a four-day camp at the Mumbai Cricket Association’s ground in Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) from Monday, 15 November. Ajinkya Rahane who will be leading the side in the first Test in the absence of regular skipper Virat Kohli has already been practicing for the last three days at BKC informed the sources in the know of the matter. Apart from the right-handed batsman, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Wriddhiman Saha, KS Bharat, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Prasidh Krishna will attend the training camp. “The BCCI asked us to organize this camp at a very short notice. However, we’re very happy to organize it,” a source in the Mumbai Cricket Association told TOI on Saturday. The first Test of the two-match series is slated to begin on November 25 in Kanpur while the second clash will take place in Mumbai. New Zealand are touring India for a three-match T20I series which will be followed by two Tests. The two sides last played each other in a Test match in the final of the inaugural World Test Championship which the Kane Williamson-led side won.

IND vs NZ | Maharashtra Govt. approves 100% attendance for second Test at Wankhede

The Maharashtra government has put out a directive that it would allow 100% attendance at the Wankhede Stadium for the second Test between the two teams which begins on December 3rd. The order comes days after the Rajasthan government allowed people with a single shot of COVID-19 vaccine to attend the first T20I between India and New Zealand to be hosted at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur. "Yes, the government has allowed MCA to have 100 per cent capacity for the second Test at Wankhede,” a source close to the development was quoted as saying by ANI. Although the mandatory Covid appropriate behaviour guidelines have yet not been issued, it is expected that they would remain the same as is being implied by the Rajasthan Government. While allowing the single-shot people entry into the stadium, the Rajasthan Government maintained that those people who have not been fully vaccinated need to produce an RT-PCR Covid-negative report which should be not older than 48hrs from the start of the game. In this series, three T20Is will be played in Jaipur, Ranchi and Kolkata while the two Tests will be played in Kanpur and Mumbai.

T20 World Cup | Final: Finch not worried about toss, says AUS must overcome all challenges

Both New Zealand and Australia have arrived in the final of the T20 World Cup by ashing down totals against England and Pakistan respectively, and the same has been the trend for the entire length of the tournament. However, for Australia’s captain Aaron Finch, the toss won’t be a big factor that can’t be overcome. He believes that to become world champions, a side must prevail over all the challenges and somewhere down the line Australia will have to be prepared to win by batting first. Finch went a bit further and said that he was hoping to lose the toss against Pakistan with an aim to put big runs on the board. He didn’t rule out the advantage of bowling first but said that it can backfire big time if the team batting first goes on to put big runs on the board. "Absolutely it can be overcome. I said a couple of weeks ago that to win this tournament, at some point you are going to have to win the tournament by batting first," Finch said. "I was actually hoping to lose the toss because I would've loved to have put a score on the board against Pakistan. It comes down to the day. If you can put a big enough total on the board and make the opposition take risks early in their innings then that's what it's all about and to try and exploit that. I reckon around the world T20 teams love chasing, but it comes with its risks if an opposition puts a big score on." Australia started their T20 World Cup campaign on a winning note against South Africa but their ambitions were threatened by a roadblock in the game against England as their batsmen failed to bat aggressively and bowlers capitulated in the face of an onslaught launched by Jos Buttler. After that game, Australia have bounced back remarkably and the high-profile win against Pakistan from a precarious situation should give Finch and his men strong momentum going into the final. However, Finch once again contradicts the popular notion about the game and said that he doesn’t believe momentum plays a role in multi-team tournaments such as the T20 World Cup as all aspects of the game such as the nature of the pitch, opposition and match-ups get changed frequently. "I don't believe in momentum especially in tournaments like this," he added. You're playing a different opposition all the time so you're not playing on the same wicket, same opposition so it's hard to drill into any positive match-ups you might get. It's about the team who turns up and executes on the day. T20 cricket can be brutal at times."