Vivian Richards, Richie Richardson, other Windies greats hail India for donating Covid-19 vaccine

IND vs ENG: Eoin Morgan happy being forced to play 'out of comfort zone' in pursuit of World T20

After outplaying India on a surface that offered consistent pace and bounce in the first T20I of the series, England were returned the favour by India on almost a completely different surface in the second game. The pitch for the second T20I of the series offered variable bounce and Indian bowlers picked it quite clear that taking the pace off the ball held the key on such a surface. Hence, they employed tactics of bowling cutters and slower balls to check England’s batsmen in the latter half of the innings. The outcome of the game along with the failure of players to adapt to different conditions on ‘typical Indian pitch’ as the skipper Eoin Morgan suggested could have been disappointing for the tourists who take pride in their standings as the best white-ball side in the world. However, Morgan chose to see the larger picture and underlined the need of playing more and more cricket on similar surfaces as they have their eyes on the big prize of the World T20 slated to be played in India. "I thought the other night, the pitch really suited us because it had more pace in it - similar to a wicket at home, a Cardiff wicket or somewhere like that, that was a little bit uneven and maybe stood up a little bit. But this took us out of our comfort zone and really was a typical Indian wicket that we would play on in an IPL game. Again, your accuracy has to be on, and you're bowling to guys really on their home patch when you talk about a wicket like this. He said that England have to accept the fact of learning to play on such surfaces through harder ways in order to give themselves the best chance when they will return for the T20 World Cup. "To become better in these conditions, the only way you do that is by playing and making mistakes. You tend to learn quicker if you're winning and confident and everything goes reasonably smoothly - you can integrate the learning quite quickly - but equally, if we have to learn the hard way, we're still going through that process of trying to learn game-on-game so when it comes to the World Cup in seven months' time, we can be as best prepared or know more about ourselves and where we need to get better before then." Morgan conceded that India put them under serious pressure and dragged them to out of their comfort zone on a pitch they have not been able to conquer even when the team is on an upward curve in the white-ball formats. He lamented missed opportunities as England had players settled at the crease to go for expansive shots in the last part of the batting innings, but regular fall of wickets made life tougher for batsmen to go big from the word go. "It was quite slow, low, and didn't really turn a great deal - that does expose our weakness," Morgan said. "We don't play a lot on slow, low wickets and the more that we can do that, the better. Posting a total on a wicket like that, I thought we were right in the game… we established partnerships, we got to the point where we tried to accelerate, but managed to lose wickets at different stages. An all-important toss did not go in England’s favour as well on the Sunday night as Morgan realised the balls were coming onto the bat nicely in the second innings which was not the case when his batsmen were batting. India won the toss and sent England under pressure on a sluggish pitch to level the series. But for England Morgan, the loss does not mean as much as the preparations for the World T20 which has been and will be the theme of the white-ball leg of the series.

Explosive but responsible Ishan Kishan earns high praise from skipper Virat Kohli

Ishan Kishan was handed a debut in the second T20I of the series against England to bring impetus into the batting order. On cue, he provided all the blitz at the top of the order along with his skipper Virat Kohli at the other end. Kohli was seen enthusiastic after every big shot coming off Kishan’s bat and he summed up in the post-match presentation what the innings from Kishan meant for India in the second T20I. Kohli said that the form and confidence Kishan has been showing in the Indian Premier League was all on display in the very first game of his career and the left-hander showed no signs of being nervous and under pressure facing quality international bowlers. "Special mention to Ishan. I tried to do what I can but he just took the game away from the opposition. Quality innings on debut. When you play in the IPL with such dominance like he has, against quality bowlers,” Kohli said in the post-match conversion with the host broadcaster. Kohli outlined that Kishan batted with absolute freedom and intent that India have been in need of but was not reckless in his shot selection. "We've seen him hit international fast bowlers for big sixes. He knew he was hitting the ball well but he was calculated, not reckless. Today that counter-attacking innings of his and our partnership was something the team needed," Kohli added. Kishan batted at the top of the order with KL Rahul as Rohit Sharma was resting form the first T20Is of the series. It will be interesting to see if te left-hander can retain his place even after the return of his Mumbai Indians’ captain in the playing XI in the next game. "Credit to Hardik that he's bowling at least 3 overs for us in every game. And the next six to eight months period he has promised he is going to commit everything to being the all-rounder the team needs in all three formats. "He plays for the team in all times and these kind of players are priceless."

Shai Hope becomes first player to hit six consecutive fifty-plus scores against one nation in ODIs

West Indian wicket-keeper batsman Shai Hope has become the first man in history to hit six consecutive fifty-plus scores against one nation in the history of One Day Cricket. All his fifty-plus scores in the last six games have come against Sri Lanka, albeit the duration between the first and last three is more than one year. This rare feat was achieved by Hope while batting in the last of the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, being held at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound Antigua. Hope, who scored a match-winning century (110 of 133) in the first game, followed it up with a half-century (84) in the second one and 64 in the last. The only player to have hit more than six consecutive 50 plus score is Javed Miandad of Pakistan. He has nine consecutive fifty-plus scores to his name. With this sixth consecutive fifty-plus score, Hope also joins the West Indian club of legendary openers Sir Gordon Greenidge and Chris Gayle. Prior to this series, the last series that the Bajan played was against Sri Lanka only, in February, just before the global Lockdown due to Pandemic. Hope, 27, missed the only other ODI series of West Indies, which was against Bangladesh. In the last series, Hope hit one century and two fifties as well, although all of them came in a losing cause. In his 81 matches old ODI career, Hope has been one of the best batsmen that the world has seen, scoring 3547 runs at an average of more than 53 and a strike rate of more than 74. The right-hander has so far hit 10 centuries and 19 fifties in his career. West Indies, chasing a target of 275, were 149-3 at the end of 32 overs at the time of writing this piece. The last game is inconsequential in the sense that having won the first two matches, the Men in maroon have already acquired an unassailable lead of 2-0.

Ishan Kishan rules Twitter after emphatic India debut

Mumbai Indians enigma Ishan Kishan made his India debut with a bold statement, scoring a brilliant 32 ball 56 and bagging the Man of the Match award in a match in which Virat Kohli also scored a fifty and compiled more runs than him. The Jharkhand skipper was hailed by all, especially former and current India cricketers for his heroics which helped Team India draw level (1-1) in the five-match T20I series against England. Kishan, 22, opened the innings and did not lose his cool even as more accomplished KL Rahul was removed for a nought at the other end. Batting with skipper Kohli, the Nalanda born stole the show and was the centre of attraction as long as he remained on the ground. In total, the former India Under-19 hit four sixes and five scoring 78.5% of his 56 runs in boundaries. It was nothing less than a dream debut for Kishan who scored with a thundering strike rate of 175. Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony he said, “It's not easy to come and play your first game against a quality side. I was disappointed with the fact that I didn't finish the game. I don't know if I'm gonna get this feeling again, but really proud and happy and I want to thank all my coaches, seniors and everyone who helped me get here.” The Jharkhand lad also got an emotional saying, “My coach's Dad passed away a few days back and this innings was for him. I wanted to prove myself because he said you have to score at least fifty for my Dad. So I want to dedicate this award to him.”