Virat Kohli can surpass Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar in Test series against England

Virat Kohli's baby girl makes Instagram debut on Anushka's account

Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma have for the first time made public the picture of their first child. It was Anushka who took to his Instagram account to share a picture of the power couple with their baby girl. Earlier this month on January 11, the couple announced the birth of their first child. Then Virat Kohli had tweeted: "We are thrilled to share with you that we have been blessed with a baby girl this afternoon. We thank you all for your love, prayers and good wishes. Anushka and the baby are both healthy and we are feeling beyond blessed to start this new chapter of our lives. We hope that you can respect our privacy at this time." Kohli came back to India on paternity leave to be with his wife who is a Bollywood star in mid of the series against Australia.

IND vs ENG 1st Test: Curator to roll out 'sporting' pitch with English look

As the time is nearing for the much-awaited Test series between India and England, there has been a lot of hype about the nature of pitches, especially at the Chepauk in Chennai. The curator of M.A Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk, Chennai has said that the pitch will be a sporting one and will assist all aspects of the game. He has said that pacers will get help on the first day, followed by batsmen’s days on the second and fourth day and it will start crumbling to help spinners on the fourth and fifth day. "We are working to get a sporting wicket. It will be a typical Chepauk pitch with an English look. It will work for all three departments. It will be a keen contest between bat and ball. First day, there will be something for the fast bowlers. Second and third days will favour batsmen. Fourth day onwards there will be wear and tear and support for the spinners,” curator V Ramesh Kumar, who will be making his debut as a curator of Test pitch said to ESPNcricinfo. The last Test between these two sides in India was also at the same ground, and it had thrown up different sets of numbers as the game progressed. Both England and India made merry with the bat in the first innings, while Indian spinners, in particular, Ravindra Jadeja bowled exceedingly well on a day five pitch to help India win the game by an innings.

IND vs ENG | BCCI to allow fans back in stadium in 3rd Test at Sardar Patel stadium: Report

The Board for Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is mulling allowing fans into the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium at Motera near Ahmedabad where the third and fourth Test between India and Egland are scheduled to take place. As per a report in The Indian Express, BCCI along with the Gujarat Cricket Association is exploring the possibility of accommodating up to 50 per cent of the ground’s seating capacity which is 1,10,000. “As the seating capacity is more than a lakh, the GCA can easily accommodate 50 per cent crowds for the third and fourth Tests. The Government has allowed sports stadiums to run with 50 per cent capacity so it has been decided to allow fans for the matches in Ahmedabad. The media will also be able to cover the game from the stadium,” The Indian Express quoted an unnamed source in the BCCI as saying. If BCCI successfully rolls out this move it will be for the first time since the pandemic that cricket fans will be able to see the action from close quarters on Indian soil. The third Test against England is a Day-Night Test and coincidentally the last Test match played on Indian pitches was also a day-night affair between the hosts India and Bangladesh.

Manimaran Siddharth shines as Tamil Nadu wins it’s second Syed Mushtaq Ali title

It was a case for second time lucky for Tamil Nadu as the Dinesh Karthik led side, riding on the destructive bowling from spinner Manimaran Siddharth, won the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2021 against Baroda by seven wickets at the Sardar Patel Stadium Stadium, Motera. Siddarth, playing his first game of the SMAT 2021 took the Baroda team off guard and picked up four wickets to break the back of Kedar Devdhar’s team’s batting line up. Siddarth, who was awarded the Man of the Match for his 4/20 match-winning performance, said, “I just wanted to keep it simple for the team and it paid off. I'm glad it paid off. I've been working hard on my variations. My arm ball always gives me wickets and I just go with it.” Chasing a small but testing target of 121, the men in yellow started it cautiously and added 26 in the first four overs before Narayan Jagadeesan, the highest run-scorer of this season, was trapped by Lukman Meriwala short ball. Baba Aparajit then played it to the plan anchoring one end as Hari Nishant kept the scoreboard running before he got out against the run of play on a Babashafi Pathan’s delivery. Skipper Dinesh Karthik then combined with Aparajith to finish the game in a hurry. The two added 34 runs in which Karthik’s share was of 22. In an attempt to increase the flow of runs he mistimed a pull shot to give Atit Seth his first strike. Shahrukh Khan then did what has been doing in this tournament, finish the game in a hurry. With his quickfire 18 off seven balls, Tamil Nadu finished the game in the 18t over itself with Aparajith unbeaten on 29 off 35. Skipper Karthik was delighted with the win especially after a one-run loss against Karnataka. He praised the team and said that hopped that much like T Natarajan and Washington Sundar, who have made it to team India, more of Tamil Nadu cricketers would reach higher levels. “It really hurt us last year, we lost by a whisker. This year we had our sights on the knockouts and then we got consistent. It's the sign of a good team. I think just the fact that there are players like Natarajan and Sundar in the Indian team, who were in this team last year, is the sign of a team doing well. I'm sure there are a few who'll go on from this team as well.” “I think our support staff has done a great job. The assistant coach Prasanna, he and I do all the strategy work,’ he added thanking the support staff for their work behind the scenes in keeping the team ready for all the matches. Earlier in the evening, winning the toss, Tamil Nadu decided to bowl first. His decision wasn’t a surprise, but the way he operated his bowlers hit like a great shock to Baroda who did not seem prepared for it. One after another Karthik kept on introducing spin bowlers and they kept on chipping away with the wickets. With Siddarth four wickets and a total of six wickets down for 36, Vishnu Solanki, the hero from the quarter-finals for the Baroda team, got into a partnership with Atit Seth and the duo added 58 for the eighth wicket in 57 balls before Seth was removed by Sonu Yadav. Solanki, although missed his fifty as he was run out for 49 of 55 balls, but hit quite a few boundaries, including two Helicopter shot sixes to take 49 off the last four overs. Bhargav Bhatt too hit a few lusty blows, in the end, to get Baroda to 120. Baroda reached from 36/6 to 120/9 and at the end of halfway mark, they would have taken it with both the hands. Kedar Devdhar, the Baroda skipper, who showed exemplary leadership in the entire tournament in the absence of full-time skipper Krunal Pandya, said, “I want to congratulate the TN team and also my team. Without our big players, we reached here. Win and loss is part of the game, we should be proud of this effort. The support staff and strength and conditioning guys, the assistant coach, the players, have all put in big efforts in the tournament. Once in a while you have days like this, it's alright. We'll take the positives from here.”