Waqar Younis laments Babar Azam missing T20I series against New Zealand

Kuldeep Yadav reckons spinners might be difficult to pick under lights

Indian left arm-chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav has backed himself to be part of the Indian XI for the opening Test against Australia slated to start from 17th December. It will be India’s first pink-ball Test in overseas conditions and Kuldeep is of the opinion that the spinners might be difficult to read under lights. It will be a huge challenge for the Indian team especially given the fact that the Aussies have won all their home day-night Tests so far. Kuldeep might not have made a mark in the last year or so but he was tipped to be India’s go-to bowler in the longest format for overseas conditions by Ravi Shastri not long ago. He might have fallen off the radar quite a bit but given his skills as a wrist spinner, Kuldeep still stands a chance to play the first Test at the Adelaide Oval from Thursday. “I feel it’s difficult to read spinners at night because if a spinner uses variations it’s not always easy to spot the seam position of the ball. That can be an advantage for us,” Kuldeep was quoted as saying to KKR.in. India played their only pink-ball Test against Bangladesh in Kolkata last year and they don’t have much of an experience of bowling with a pink ball in overseas conditions. However, the pace brigade of India showed quite a lot of promise in the 2nd practice game skittling out Australia A for a meagre 108 runs in the 1st essay. “I have never experienced a pink ball match outside India. So, it will be exciting to see how it goes. It’ll be unfair to say spinners haven’t dominated in Australian conditions, there have been many instances when spinners have done well Down Under. It completely depends on how quickly you adapt to, and read the conditions. “A lot of us, having played so much T20 cricket of late, will have to be patient when playing Test cricket. Mental toughness is very important. “When switching to the longer format, you sometimes tend to try too many things too quickly. Wickets don’t come easy in Test cricket, so patience is the key.” India won their maiden Test series in Australia when they toured last time around in 2019. They won the series 2-1 in the absence of two top-class players from Australia Steve Smith and David Warner. However, Kuldeep didn’t really accept the fact that the series win was largely possible due to the omission of those two stalwarts. “You need to win Test matches to win a series. We won two of them, and could have won the fourth one too had there been no rain. The criticism holds no merit. Whenever you are playing against a team, your own team’s performance matters the most. “So instead of looking at the other team – who they have in their squad, and who they don’t – it makes more sense to talk about your own team.” Kuldeep has been part of the Test squad for a long time but he hasn’t been given a long break due to indifferent performances especially in overseas Tests. He has played a couple of Tests against Australia. While he did make a mark in the Dharmshala Test, he looked off-colour in the next one. However, he feels that if the fast bowler can rise to the occasion, India can beat Australia again in the Test series. “We did well, and hence we won the Test series. If our fast bowling works well and we perform as prolifically with the bat as we did the last time, we will win this time too. “Yes, their team has now improved with the return of the experienced David Warner, Steve Smith and the likes of Marnus (Labuschagne), who has really done well for them in recent times. “But last time too, their team was good but we played some really, really good cricket to win. Looking forward to the challenge once again, it’s going to be a great contest.” Kuldeep has grown up idolizing Shane Warne just like several wrist spinners from that generation. When asked whether he had taken any piece of advice from his idol, Kuldeep said that Warne has always suggested him to wear a smile on his face to hide the stress. “He has shared a lot of valuable inputs about bowling over the years, but mainly, he talks about mental preparation. “One thing he always insists on is to always wear a smile on my face. He has told me that’s a very important virtue for a spinner. If your face shows any sense of stress, your body language goes for a toss. “I’ve worked on this specifically and I consider it as one of the best advice I’ve got,” Kuldeep added.

BBL 10 | Match Preview: Adelaide Strikers seek to stop Hobart's Hurricane

Just two days after facing each other, Hobart Hurricanes and Adelaide Strikers would be up against each other once again in the 10th edition of the Big Bash League (BBL). The first round went to the Hurricanes as they registered an 11-run win over Strikers at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart. The venue now changes to Aurora Stadium in Launceston. For the Hurricanes, riding high after two consecutive victories, there is very little that needs to be changed. The Strikers, on the other hand, have started their season with a loss. They would look for more contributions from their primary batsmen who went down in a heap against the Adelaide side. The trump card of Strikers, leg-spinner Rashid Khan, also had an uncharacteristically off day in his team's opening match of the season. His quality and consistency in the past suggests he will get back his form sooner or later. Hurricanes Looking Good With two victories in two matches, the Hobart team is off the blocks without any hiccups in BBL. For them, one of the biggest positives has been the form of their leading bowler James Faulkner. The left-armer had a good outing in both the games so far. Johan Botha, former South African spinner making a comeback in cricket, struggled in the first match but regained his composure in the second. His form provides strength to the spin-bowling department and justifies his place in the playing XI. There is some concern for the Hurricanes regarding the form of Nathan Ellis. The find of the last season, he is yet to hit his stride. One good match could bring him back into the kind of form that made him one of the team's most valuable players. The Hobart side did suffer a big setback in its first match, against Sydney Sixers, when both their openers, including T20 specialist D'Arcy Short, were sent back to the pavillion for ducks. But both hit back in the second game to put on a partnership of 63 in the match against Strikers. Short was in full flow again, scoring 72 off just 48 balls. His form at the top of the order will be very important. The middle order looks reasonably stable with Colin Ingram havaing scored a fifty and Peter Handscomb looking solid, though without a substantial score to his name. Tim David and James Faulkner provide good depth to the batting line-up. Improvements Needed for Strikers One match is too small a sample to judge any team. The collapse suffered by Adelaide in their first game may be more a result of ring-rust than anything else. A knock of 33 by Matt Renshaw is somethign to be looked upon favourably. So was, the blazing knock of 62* by Daniel Worrall. But the rest of the line-up had an off day. In the bowling department, Rashid Khan will often be the pivot around which the attack would revolve. His lack of success in the first game proved very costly. But that wouldn't worry his team since this was just one game. What would give them hope is that Wes Agar and Peter Siddle went for economy rates under eight, with the former picking up two wickets also. It would be interesting to see whether either of the two gets the new ball in the upcoming match on the back of their efforts against Hobart. Hobart Hurricanes vs Adelaide Strikers: Match Details Venue: Aurora Stadium, Launceston Date and Time: December 15, 1:45 PM IST, 7:15 PM Local, 8:15 AM GMT Pitch Report Being a less-used stadium, there is bound to be some mystery about the nature of the pitch at this secondary venue in Tasmania. While the pitch at Hobart can assist swing bowlers, the one at the Aurora Stadium seems, going by the matches of BBL it hosted last season to be good for batting. But, with COVID having prevented much cricket, until the first match, it would be difficult to accurately predict the nature of the wicket. Weather and Toss Overcast conditions and a bit of rain is expected on the day of the match, especially in the evening. This could work in the favour of seam bowlers. Hobart usually assists swing bowling when the weather is overcast. Whether Launceston is the same, we will find out during the match. The clouds and precipitation could incline the captain winning the toss to bowl first. Probable XIs Hobart Hurricanes D'Arcy Short, Will Jacks, Coling Ingram, Peter Handscomb (C, Wk), Tim David, Macalister Wright, Tim David, James Faulkner, Nathan Ellis, Johan Botha, Scott Boland Adelaide Strikers Phil Salt, Jack Weatherald, Matt Renshaw, Harry Nielsen (Wk), Jonathan Wells, Ryan Gibson, Daniel Worrall, Rashid Khan, Peter Siddle (C), Wes Agar, Danny Briggs

BBL10: Twitter goes crazy after Jack Wildermuth’s all-round brilliance

Brisbane Heat all-rounder Jack Wildermuth turned the tide in his team's favour, first with the bat and then with the ball as he scored a quickfire 31 of 11 balls in the death overs to take Heat to a par score of 178 against Sydney Thunder in Canberra. Wildermuth played his first season with Heat and then moved to Renegades, before coming back this year back to his first team. With the ball, he was right on the money in the first over itself, getting the dangerman Alex Hales bowled for a duck with only his second delivery in the match. Later in the first over itself, he got the prized scalp of Thunder captain Callum Ferguson, that too for naught, ending the over with the Thunder scorecard reading one for two. Twitter was full of praise for the 27-year-old, who just a few days ago has hit a hundred in a first-class game against Indians in Sydney. But that was not all, he came back in his second over and got out Usman Khawaja too, the second opener, who was trying to hit one out of the park over the cover and got a thick edge to Jamie Pierson behind the wickets. Seeing the luck that he was in, skipper Lynn bowled him out in one go, as he finished his four-over quota with amazing figures of 3-23. When Wildermuth had come at the crease to bat, the Heat were at 140/4 at the end of the 17 overs. It was courtesy of his four sixes in 11 balls that the Heat were able to get to a good total even after Lynn got out in the 19th over. At the time of writing this news, the Thunder, chasing a target of 179, 129-5 at the end of the 15th over, needing 50 in the last five overs to win their first game.

NZ vs WI Tests: Kiwis clean sweep hapless Windies

The Windies' lower order couldn’t provide much resistance even after pushing the game into the fourth day and suffered yet another defeat by an innings and 12 runs at the hands of a brimming with confidence New Zealand at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. Coming out to bat at their overnight score of 244-6, the West Indies captain Jason Holder and his partner Joshua Da Saliva couldn’t really get on with the partnership as Holder was clean bowled by Tim Southee for 61, after the pair having added only 8 runs to their overnight score. Once the 82 run partnership was broken, the resistance (however small it was) had finally been broken and then wickets fell at regular intervals as the Windies team got all out for 317 in the first session itself, but not before Joshua Da Silva brought up his maiden fifteen his debut Test itself. The wicket-keeper batsman scored 57 off 84 balls. For the Kiwis, Neil Wagner and Trent Boult were the pick of the bowlers as they picked up three wickets each. Earlier, following on after having been bowled out for just 131 in the first innings, in reply to New Zealand’s 460, the Windies batter in John Campbell and Shamarh Brooks along with Kraigg Brathwaite showed some determination and batted patiently to push the game into the 4th day. While Brooks and Brathwaite got out for 36 and 24 respectively, Campbell went on to score his second fifty in his Test match career. Darren Bravo, the most experienced of the batsmen failed in the entire series unable to go past the score fifty even once in four innings. New Zealand in their first innings scored 460 on the back of Henry Nicholls’ 174, which was well supported by Wagner’s first-ever Test fifty (66*). While Nicholls was judged Man of the Match, young Kyle Jamieson, who picked up 11 wickets, including the five-for in the first innings of this game, at an impressive average of 13.09 and also scored 71 runs including one fifty. With this win, the Kiwis have now equaled Australia’s 116 points in the World Test team rankings. However, they are behind the Kangaroos on the rating points and thus have been ranked second. In terms of the World Test Championship, the Blackcaps have occupied third place in percentage point rankings and will look to increase the points further when they face Pakistan in the upcoming two matches.