West Indies to tour Pakistan in December 2021 for three T20Is and as many ODIs

T20 World Cup | Hanging by glimmer of hope, India have Scotland in sight to stay in tournament

The buildup Hope was Team India’s strategy coming into the T20 World Cup and now, having paid a big price for it, that’s the only thing they have in their hands to qualify for the semi-finals lying in someone else’s hands. They hoped their misfiring finishers and star batsmen would find their best touch with the bat and their experience bowling lineup will find a perfect rhythm to bowl in the main draw of the event. Turned out, they could do neither and the men in blue suffered massive jolts one after another in both departments. They have to rely upon and hope that Afghanistan would defeat New Zealand but at the same time, they don’t want a big win for them for an already higher run rate for the Afghans. However, they have a task in their hands as well apart from hoping and counting good fortunes. They had to win all their last three games with a big margin to give themselves a chance to stay in the race if Afghanistan win their clash against the Blackcaps. If the Blackcaps can prevent an Afghan advance over them, it would be curtains for Virat Kohli-led side and hence, hope is pertinent for the men in blue. And, they have responded well against the same side they want to win badly in their next game. Their star openers were “brave enough” to take the attack to the opposition and their bowlers stuck to the task after getting a comfortable cushioning of big runs on the board. The might of the Indian batting unit that was anticipated by the experts and fans who rated them as one of the best teams before the start of the tournament finally arrived in their third game and they pulverise Afghanistan to secure what they wanted to achieve—a big win to boos the required run rate that was plummeted after a couple of embarrassing losses. Now, they face Scotland in the fourth challenge of the tournament and the task and aspirations of the men in blue would remain the same. They would look to go all out with the bat in case their captain’s luck refuses to come true to his calling and unleash an experienced bowling attack on an inexperienced Scotland batting lineup. But, the big question is? Can they maintain the momentum with both bat and ball after finding it the toughest way? And if they can't? Can they just do enough to stay in the contest by winning by a fair margin? Answers to all those questions will come from the bats of an experienced trio of Scotland batsmen Kyle Coetzer, Richie Berrington, Calum MacLeod. Match details India vs Scotland, Match no.: 37, Super 12 Group 2 Date & Time: November 05, 06:00 PM LOCAL, 07:30 IST Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Pitch details After playing a game in Abu Dhabi, the men in blue return to Dubai where they have struggled to time the ball with balls not coming onto their bats. First, they were blown away by the swing of Shaheen Shah Afridi and then they were tied down by the slowish bowling of Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner who kept bowling away from them and never allowed them the opportunity to time the ball. There have been two major collapses of the batting order at the Dubai International Stadium but Virat Kohli and his team would rather hope and be eager to inflict those pain on the Scotland side. Team News India The men in blue preferred Ravichandran Ashwin to replace Varun Chakaravarthy who got a niggle before the game and the team management will have to do a lot of explaining to the off-spinner if they want to go back to Chakaravarhty for this game. The batting order looks settled with Suryakumar Yadav returning in the last game although not getting the opportunity to bat against Afghanistan and the Team India are all but set to field an unchanged XI. Probable XI KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli (c), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah Scotland The Scottish are out of the competition but the men in blue will be wary of their giant-killer status. They ran closer to make their task easier by giving New Zealand a run for their money and only more runs than par total prevented an upset and saved the Blackcaps. Scotland have no reason to change their playing XI barring some last-minute events and it should offer some sort of challenge to India who will be desperate to make a big score once again. Probable XI George Munsey, Kyle Coetzer (c), Matthew Cross (wk), Richie Berrington, Calum MacLeod, Michael Leask, Chris Greaves, Mark Watt, Safyaan Sharif, Alasdair Evans, Bradley Wheal CE Fantasy XI Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma, Craig Williams, Ravindra Jadeja, Chris Greaves, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mark Watt, Brad Wheal Captain: KL Rahul Vice-captain: Rohit Sharma

Six Pakistan Women players test Covid positive ahead of series against West Indies

The Pakistan Women’s cricket team was shocked with as many as six of their players testing positive for Covid-19 ahead of their three-match ODI series against West Indies Women scheduled to begin on November 08 at the National Stadium in Karachi. The Pakistan Cricket Board confirmed that the players in the squad will not be changed and the series will also go ahead as scheduled. It also clarified that as many as three of the six players will integrate with the team by November 06 when their 10-day quarantine gets over. The 18 member squad announced for the series against West Indies Women as well as for the ICC Women’s World Qualifier to be played in Zimbabwe, was undergoing training in a preparatory camp at the high-performance centre in Karachi when the six members tested positive. As the six players tested positive, the remaining players and members of the support staff also went into self-quarantine to avoid any spreading of the virus. Pakistan squad: Javeria Khan (capt), Aiman Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Ayesha Zafar, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana, Iram Javed, Kainat Imtiaz, Maham Tariq, Muneeba Ali, Nashra Sundhu, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Rameen Shamim, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz (wk).

T20 World Cup 2021 | Adam Zampa-led Australia humble Bangladesh, come knocking at semi-finals door

The arch-rivals England had given Australia real hiding in the last game and the magnitude of defeat did only threaten their existence in the tournament based on net run rate, but it would also have caused some dent in confidence. They had to bounce back quickly with two more games to go and all at stake for them in the competition, and they did it solemnly against Bangladesh and thrashed them by eight wickets with as many as 82 balls remaining to be bowled. Chasing a small total of 74 runs, Australia looked set to go for the kill and make up for the dent in the net run rate suffered in the last game. Aaron Finch took all Bangladesh bowlers to task, who were anyway helpless in the company of sloppy fielders. David Warner looked in decent touch and played some trademark shots before paying the price of being too greedy. Mitchell Marsh came and bludgeoned two boundaries and then hit a thumping pull shot for six to seal the deal for the Australians. The win was magnanimous for them but the stepping stone of that success was laid down in the first innings when Adam Zampa spun a web around the Bangladesh batting lineup that looked muddled and short of inspiration. But even before that, the pace duo of Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc ripped the heart out of the Bangladesh batting unit by eliminating all of Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar and Mushfiqur Rahim before they could double-digit score. Starc found swing with the new ball to get Liton inside edging onto stumps and Hazlewood tight line and length produced another inside edge on the stumps that sent Soumya Sarkar back to the pavilion. Mushfiqur Rahim’s dismissal to an innocuous delivery from Glenn Maxwell slumped up his horrendous tournament with the bat and Bangladesh were tottering. Then, skipper Mahmudullah and Mohammad Naim tried to steady the ship with a flurry of boundaries from both ends but their success was limited as Hazlewood came back to cramp the left-hander of room and Bangladesh lost a crucial wicket just at the worst time possible. Afifi Hossain was too eager but unsure of Adam Zampa’s trick and in the end edge to Finch at slip to reduce Bangladesh five down for nothing. The next man in —Shamim Hossain fought valiantly and slapped a crisp lofted slog to Starc and slow sweep off Zampa to show his intentions. However, he was too desperate to score off the leg spinner and Zampa found a bit of extra bounce off to find his edge. He followed with another quicker one to trap Mahedi Hasan LBW to give himself a chance to claim a hat-trick. His captain Finch was may be unaware of what he was up to and offered the ball to Starc and in a way denying him that opportunity straightway. Starc did the job of wiping out the last major batsman clinically although in a fortunate way when the Bangladesh skipper glanced a leg sides delivery too fine and into the gloves of Matthew Wade. If Finch’s act of taking the ball away from him was not enough, Wade dropped a fairly easy catch off the bat of Taskin Ahmed and Zampa could offer juts a wry smile in agony. Notwithstanding the frustration of missing a hat-trick, Zampa was aware of the wickets on offer and wiped the Bangladesh tail to pick his maiden five-wicket haul in the international T20s. Bangladesh were never in the game and it was more a reflection of Australia’s outright dominance and clinical performances first with the ball and then with the bat. Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo had urged the Bangladesh players to get rid of the fear of failure and obsession of winning so that they could focus on the process, but the result in the next game against Australia has highlighted a flaw in all of his assertions. Bangladesh have been mediocre at best in the tournament and although the level of competition went up several notches in the Super 12, there were enough warning signs in the qualifying round as well. On the other hand, Australia have come storming on the qualification door to enter the semi-finals and their immediate competitor South Africa have got a task on their hand to treat the clast game against England as a must-win affair.

T20 World Cup | AUS vs BAN: Adam Zampa picks five-wicket haul as Bangladesh fall like pack of cards

Bangladesh, who have been struggling in the entire Super 12 stage apart from two games against Sri Lanka and West Indies, which also they lost, are once again in all sorts of trouble against Australia. The Tigers folded for 73, which is now their lowest total in this World Cup and second-lowest ever in any T20 World Cup. They lost their first five wickets in just 6.1 overs with all their top batsmen apart from skipper Mahmudullah back in the hut. A 29 run partnership ensued between Mahmudullah and Shamim Hossain Patwari. But just as things started getting better, Shamim, in his hurriedness of playing a cut short without their being much of a room, edged a googly by Adam Zampa which was caught by wicketkeeper Matthew Wade. On the very next ball, Mahedi Hasan was found napping and played all over yet another googly and was adjudged leg before wicket on Umpire’s call. Earlier after being asked to bat first, the Bangladeshi side has the worst possible start with Liton das getting played down on the third ball of the innings. Soon after Somya Sarkar was removed by Josh Hazlewood. Surprisingly, Mushfiqur Rahim was trapped leg before wicket by Glenn Maxwell. Mohammad Naim was the next to go as he was caught at short square leg trying to pull a climbing ball by Hazlewood. Afif Hossain, who has been harped about a lot was miserable, to say the least as he was caught by Australian skipper Aaron Finch off the bowling of Zampa. Mahmudullah was the last man to go as he nicked a wide outside leg delivery and unfortunately, it directly went into the hands of the wicketkeeper. Adam Zampa missed his hattrick as Wade dropped a tough chance on the very first ball of the 15th over of the innings and fourth over of the bowler's. However, he overcame that disappointment and picked two wickets in that very over to finish with the career-best figures of 5-19.