Vice captain Ajinkya Rahane not concerned about criticism ahead of third Test

Brushing aside the criticism he received for three bad innings in the first two Tests of the ongoing five-match series against England, Ajinkya Rahane said that he hardly cares for what people say.

“I am happy people are talking about me. I believe people talk about important people and I am not too concerned about that,” Rahane said during the virtual press conference before the third Test at Headingley beginning on August 25.

Rahane, who played a crucial 146 ball 61 run knock in India’s second innings in the Lord’s Test and added 100 runs alongside Cheteshwar Pujara to bring India back in the game. The duo consumed 297 balls together brining back India from the verge of collapse.

“It was really satisfying, I always believe in contribution and for me, I always think about the team and my innings of 61 was really important. Team performance is always the ultimate goal,” said the 33-year-old.

“It’s all about contributing to the team. Pujara and I know how to handle pressure. What I cannot control, I am not worried about,” he further added.

Talking about the next game, India’s vice-captain said that he and the team are in a good headspace and want to encash on the confidence booster come from behind win at Lord’s.

“Not thinking too much about conditions. All players are in a good headspace and it’s all about having confidence and putting the best foot forward,” said Rahane.

The right-hander also went on to confirm that Shardul Thakur, who missed the second Test due to injury was available for selection in the third Test. "Shardul Thakur is fit and available for selection for the 3rd Test. Now, we have to look at which combination we are going with. All the fast bowlers are ready to play and they want to play as the break after the 2nd Test helped," he said.

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The Hundred becomes the most attended Women’s cricket event in history

It has been revealed that the inaugural edition of The Hundred has become the most attended event in the history of women’s cricket and that too by a huge margin. Wisden, leading cricket media house in England tweeted that in total 267,000 people attended women's matches in The Hundred, which is the highest attendance for a women's cricket event ever. The record was previously held by the 2020 T20 World Cup, which attracted 136,000 people. In that sense almost double the people attended The Hundred Women’s with just 11 matches more being played in this event against the World Cup in Australia. Also, among the 136,000 in the T20 World Cup, around 80,000 had attended the Final itself. The Hundred Women’s saw in total 34 matches and if average attendance is calculated, it would come down to 7853 people attending every game. Oval Invincibles Women won the inaugural edition of The Hundred Women after they defeated Southern Brave Women in the Final by 48 runs to lift the trophy at Lord’s. Birmingham Phoenix Women finished third in the eight-team competition that saw women’s teams playing in the venues as men’s. The matches were hosted back to back with women playing the first game of the evening. Spectators were charged a one-time fee for full-day attendance.

ENG vs IND | Mark Wood ruled out of Headingley Test

The England and Wales cricket board in a press release confirmed that England seamer Mark Wood has been ruled out of the third Test against between the home side and India which is due to take place in Headlinlgy, Leeds from August 25. It was told that the pacer is suffering from a jarred right shoulder. The 31-year-old sustained the injury during the Lord’s Test on the fourth day while fielding at the third man. While attempting to save a boundary, he rammed into the advertisement board shoulders first and hence was taken off the field immediately. However, he later came on day five with heavy taping and bowled again. Early in the day, he slipped in the process of completing his action and fell on his injured shoulder, and had to be taken off the field. Visuals from the ground suggested that his bowling arm was heavily strapped with ice. The release said that Wood ‘will remain with the squad in Leeds and will continue his rehab with the England medical team.’ Earlier England Head coach Chris Silverwood had said that the management wouldn’t be rushing wood to play the third Test if he isn’t fit enough. This would mean that post-Archer, Wood would be the second out and out quick for England to have been injured right ahead of the T20 World Cup. Wood's exclusion from the third Test match would allow either Saqib Mahmood or Craig Overton to come into the English team, depending on the kind of combination they prefer. After a victory at Lord’s India lead the five-match series 1-0 heading into the third Test.

WI vs PAK | Day 3 - Fawad Alam’s calm, Shaheen Afridi’s aggression puts Pakistan in commanding position

The day might have taken a lot of time to get going with wet outfield playing party pooper at Sabina Park in Jamaica on Day three of the second Test between West Indies and Pakistan. But once it did get going, Pakistan over all over it. Thanks to an unbeaten 124 from Fawad Alam, who came to bat once again after being retired hurt for on Day one and Shaheen Afridi’s ferocious spell in West Indies’ first innings, Babar Azam’s men ended the third day in a commanding position, leading by 263 runs with West Indies reeling at 39-3 in reply Pakistan’s 302-9 declared. Starting their innings, the Windies were cautious, but against a deadly speel of Shaheen where he was able to bring the ball back and take it away from the batter from the same length, it didn’t really take much time before the openers folded. Both Kraigg Brathwaite and Kieran Powell were dismissed by Shaheen. Roston Chase played few beautiful dhows before he was cleaned up by an inswinger from Faheem Ashraf when the team score had reached 34 for the West Indies Nkruma Bonner and Alzarri Joseph, who walked in as nightwatchman made sure that no more wickets and fell and the Men in Maroon would come back on Day four at 38-3. Earlier in the day, Pakistan didn’t have a good start either as it lost three crucial wickets in a span of span 13 runs from the day’s start. But then Fawad, who reached his fifth Test hundred, fourth in a span of just 10 months and eight Tests, got together, first with Hasan Ali and then with Shaheen Afridi to guide Pakistan past 300. Both Kemar roach and Jayden Seales picked three wickets each while Jason holder got the wickets of Mohammad Rizwan and Nauman Ali and Hasan Ali got run out.

There is a leak somewhere: Usman Khawaja on Justin Langer controversy

Usman Khawaja, the stylish Australian left hander, who currently does not find a spot in the Australian national team has backed under-fire coach Justin Langer. Langer has found himself in hot water after several media reports alleged that the head coach has strained relationships with multiple stars of the Aussie cricket team. Interestingly, Khawaja, was dropped by Langer back in 2019 midway through the Ashes series, a saga that has been well documented by the Amazon documentary 'The Tests'. Back then, Khawaja had voiced similar concerns with the head coach and had told that players were "walking on eggshells" around him. Khawaja has said that the responsibility of losses can not be alone pinned on the coach, and feels that players are actually backstabbing Justin Langer by not backing him. "How do you think JL feels? He probably feels like the guys in the team are stabbing him in the back and that's what it looks like and that's why it's so disappointing,” said the Queensland captain. "It's not always the coaches. The guys aren't performing, the players need to take ownership at some stage. It's not one person so there needs to be some sort of perspective put around this,” he further added while speaking on his YouTube channel. Khawaja, who has played 44 Tests for Australia after making his debut from 2011 to 2019, said that Langer is passionate about everything and rides on emotions, which is probably his weakest point. "He [Langer] is a very passionate person. Loves Australian cricket, wants the best for everyone, wants to only succeed. He's driven by winning, driven by winning the right way and all the things he brought after sandpaper gate were focused on those things,” said the 34-year-old. "One thing that keeps coming up is his emotions. Yes, the man wears his heart on his sleeve. He can be very emotional. It's probably his one downside, his greatest weakness is his emotion,” Khawaja further added, saying that the players and the management need to sort the issue out as soon as possible for the betterment of Australian cricket. The Pakistan-born went on to reveal that he wasn’t dropped because of Langer and that he actually has a great relationship with the coach to date. "People thought I got dropped because I stood up to him, it's actually the opposite, I actually got closer - he gained my respect and I gained his, because we had some really honest and open conversations. I still talk to him, still, text him till this day because we have a lot of respect for each other,” he said. Earlier last week, Cricket Australia and Test skipper Tim Paine had to put out a statement backing Langer after it was made evidently clear in the Australian media that the players were losing confidence in the 50-year-old coach especially after the 4-1 drubbing each by Bangladesh and West Indies in the five-match T20I series that Australia played against both teams.