Virat Kohli likely to miss last two tests against Australia

India captain Virat Kohli is expected to miss the last two Tests of the upcoming four-match Test series against Australia starting December 17, as per a PTI report. Virat Kohli is expecting his first child in January 20121 and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) understands that the skipper will opt for paternity leave to be with his wife, actor Anushka Sharma. 


There is no confirmation regarding the schedule of Virat Kohli’s departure from Australia but BCCI expects that Kohli will leave the series midway after the completion of first two Tests scheduled to be played in Adelaide and Melbourne, PTI report added.


“The BCCI has always believed that family is a priority. In case, the skipper decides on availing paternity break, he will then be available only for the first two Test matches,” PTI quoted an unnamed BCCI source as saying.


Shedding light on the complications for cricketers amid coronavirus pandemic, a BCCI source said PTI that in normal circumstances, Kohli would have flown back home for the delivery of his child and then a return flight to Australia would have made him available for the fourth and the last test of the series scheduled to start on January 15 in Brisbane. But, in these times, due to covid-19 and subsequent biosecure protocols, that would not be a viable option for both Kohli and the team.

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IPL 2020: RCB think-tank open up on crucial selection calls against Sunrisers

After the Royal Challengers Bangalore crashed out of the tournament last night against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, the head of cricket operations, Mike Hesson and the head coach Simon Catich addressed the media on the outlook of the team’s performance in IPL 2020. OneCricket asked the duo about the contentious decision to drop Josh Philippe and bringing an out of form Aaron Finch who has really looked out of sorts this season and also Moeen Ali instead of bringing back Ishrur Udana who has shown his worth in the team this year. “Once we made the decision to open with Virat, that changed the whole dynamic of the potential batting order. We discussed if the young Josh would bat at number three or Moeen Ali will bat at that position looking at the matchups with the Sunrisers bowling attack. Fall of wickets at wrong times did not help the issue as the team had planned for Moeen to bat at number three but only if the wickets had fallen at the backend or after the end of the first powerplay,” RCB head coach Simon Catich said. On the question of Why Ishuru Udana, coach Catich heaped a lot of praise on the Sri Lankan left-arm pacer and said that he had provided the team with much-needed depth in the bowling department. However, he added that the decision to include Adam Zampa was purely based on the conditions and the type of pitch that was available for the last game as the think tank believed there will be a lot more purchase for spinners than a pacer and hence Zmapa made the cut above Udana.

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Gautam Gambhir asks Virat Kohli to put his hands up and own failures of RCB

Former Indian Opener and one of the most successful captains in the history of the Indian Premier League, Gautam Gambhir has called for Virat Kohli’s removal from the captaincy of the Royal Challengers Bangalore. He made his comments on the ESPNcricinfo post-match show after yet another flop show from him with both bat and as a captain as the RCB went crashing out of the tournament after the loss in the eliminator against the Sunrisers Hyderabad. “100%, because the problem is about accountability. Eight years into the tournament [without a trophy], eight years is a long time. Tell me any other captain…forget about the captain, tell me any other player who would have got eight years and wouldn’t have won the title and would have still continued with it. So it has to be accountability. A captain needs to take accountability,” Gambhir said in a live interaction on ESPNCricinfo. Gambhir directly questioned the reluctance of Kohli in admitting his failure as the leader of the side. He urged Kohli to put his stand up and show some guts like a good leader by accepting his failures in not winning the IPL title in the eight long years of his captaincy stint with the RCB. Gambhir was no short of criticising the freehand Kohli has been getting from the RCB management as he asked about the fate of other captains such as Ravichandran Ashwin who was sacked as the captain of the side after two seasons of failure for the Kings XI Punjab franchise. Gautam Gambhir has been one of the greatest captains of the IPL and had led the Kolkata Knight Riders to triumphs in the 2012 and 2014 season. The Royal Challengers Bangalore could not get it right on the big night against the Sunrisers and were proved not good enough, especially with the bat--their strongest suit when all were at stake for the team and its legacy in the history of the league.

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South Africa call up Glenton Stuurman for series against England

South Africa has announced a full strength to take on England in a home series after a long time away from the field. The Proteas have tried to fill in a perfect balance of experienced and young players in the white-ball squads to challenge the Eoin Morgan-led English side. With an eye on future of South African cricket, selectors have backed a 28-year-old Glenton Stuurman with a place in the 21-member-squad for the series scheduled to kick off from November 27. Stuurman, a right-arm medium-pace bowler has taken 55 wickets from 43 matches in South Africa’s domestic circuit. He also has 178 first-class wickets against his name from a 45 game long career. Along with Sturrnamn, selectors have also backed Junior Dala to make a comeback into the Proteas squad after a long lay off due to injury. The selection committee has also gone in with the group of players comprising former captain Faf du Plessis, Kagiso Rabada, David Miller, and Temba Bavuma along with the captain Quinton de Kock for an all-important series against England. Both de Kock and du Plessis have been in great form off late and the Proteas will hope for their longer streak of runs against England. South Africa squad for England series Quinton de Kock (c), Temba Bavuma, Junior Dala, Faf du Plessis, Bjorn Fortuin, Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Janneman Malan, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lutho Sipamla, Jon-Jon Smuts, Glenton Stuurman, Pite van Biljon, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne.

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SRH vs RCB: Hits & Flops as Holder-Kane show leads Orange brigade into Qualifier

The Jason Holder show was on full display today as the Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets at Abu Dhabi to enter the Qualifiers of the Indian Premier League’s 13th edition. In the Qualifiers the Orange brigade will face Delhi Capitals for a seat in the finals. For the Sunrisers Jason Holder, the West Indian Test captain played a decisive role and so did the Kiwi captain Kane Williamson. For the RCB, there wasn’t much positive apart from the two leggies in Adam Zampa and Yuzvendra Chahal and batting wise the veteran AB de Villiers was the only one showing some spark in the middle. On that note, let s look at the Hits and Flops from the game Hits #1 Jason Holder Originally the West Indian was not even a part of the Sunrisers set up as he was not picked by any team in the IPL auctions for 2020. But brought in as a replacement to Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Holder has probably been the best thing to happen to the Orange brigade. Continuously he has performed both with the bat and the ball and in this match too he showed what an asset he could be. The Test captain of the Caribbean team, Holder has established himself as one of the top all-rounders of the shortest format as well. He has now won two games for his team by batting till the end. The 29-year-old scored 24 off 20 deliveries and most importantly formed the much-required partnership with Kane Williamson. In batting, he might have got just three chances to showcase his skills and has got success on two occasions, but in bowling, the Barbadian has been phenomenal. In just six innings, he has taken 13 wickets including two three-wicket hauls. IN this game too, he ended up with the figures of 3/25 and accounted for the crucial wickets of RCB skipper Virat Kohli and in form Devdutt Padikkal. #2 Kane Williamson The Kiwi has been referred to as a bank by his skipper David Warner. Proving him right, Williamson pulled out one of the best innings for the pressure situation as he scored fifty and remained not out to see his team home. Although not able to perform in a great manner in every game, the importance of his presence was understood today. Before this game, he had only one fifty to his name this season. But as they say, you can’t buy experience, therefore the experience of the 30-year-old came in handy as in a tough situation, instead of getting bogged down, he was calmness personified. At 67/4, the Sunrisers were looking in all sorts of trouble chasing a small total of 132. But the Tauranga born Williamson remained unfazed and focused on his innings to get the team home. He built a partnership of 56 runs with Jason Holder. In his innings of 50* Williamson hit two fours and two sixes. #3 T. Natarajan Natarajan has probably been the best-uncapped bowler in this tournament so far. Unleashing yorkers at will, the Tamil Nadu born has impressed one and all with his bowling skills. In this game too, the ball he bowled to take de Villiers’ wicket is being termed by most as the ball of the tournament. Natarajan in total took 2 wickets in this match and finished with the figures of 2/33. But those two wickets were game changing in the scenarios that they were taken in. Flops #1 Virat Kohli This season has not the way Kohli or his fans would have wanted for him. Coming on the back of a failed New Zeland tour and six months lockdown, people had expected that Virat would be at his explosive best, looking to take this IPL as a challenge and win it for his team and himself. But that did not happen as he couldn’t come in-form in the entire tournament. In this game too, his decision to open the innings in place of Aaron Finch backfired as he himself got out for just six runs and on a delivery that did not deserve a wicket what so ever. #2 Aaron Finch For a crucial game, proven talent is always selected over someone new and Finch too was selected in place of his fellow Australian Josh Phillip for this game. But the Victorian couldn’t repay the faith shown in him. He was even shielded for the new ball (although unsuccessfully) by skipper Virat. Finch could only score 32 in this game and in the entire tournament; he has scored just 219 runs at an average of 21.9. He failed big time and was one of the prime reasons why the RCB couldn’t progress further in the series. Special Mention: Devdutt Padikkal Padikkal has been one of the finest young batsmen in this year’s IPL. He has scored 473 runs in 15 innings this season. The talent that he has needs temperament that he lacks. He threw away his wicket in this game when it was required the most for him to stay there and get his team a good score to defend. Still, he is young and therefore would improve by leaps and bounds. But for this game, he for sure was not a hit. While this would be it for the RCB in this year's IPLand they would go out with some positives for sure, but for SRH there is a whole lot of things coming their way. The next match hat 8 November promises to be a crackerjack.