WI vs AUS | 1st ODI: When & where to watch, pitch report, fantasy XI details

West Indies and Australia are all set to lock horns in the three-match ODI series slated to begin on July 21 in Barbados. The Caribbean side is coming into the series on the back of some brilliant display in the T20I fixtures that they won 4-1.

Australia on the side would be looking to make a comeback in the ODI series after they were thumped earlier on the tour.

But the visiting team might not have the services of their regular skipper Aaron Finch.

According to cricket.com.au, Finch was asked to perform “light duties” during the practice session to manage his knee injury.

There hasn’t been any confirmation that Finch would miss the game but the team management will have some work if the right-hander is ruled out.

For West Indies, coach Phil Simmons has said that he wants his batsmen to capitalise on the starts they get in order to put some good total on the board.

"We are looking for the way we batted to continue and improvements have to be made in the middle overs from 20-39 in order for us to get from 280-290 to the 320-330 we'll need against Australia," Simmons said. "We've been discussing that since the Sri Lanka series so now it's time to put it into action.”

Match Details

Match: WI vs AUS, 1st ODI, Australia tour of West Indies, 2021

Date: Wednesday, July 21, 2021

Time: 12:00 AM (Jul 21)

Venue: Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados

Probable XI

Australia: Josh Philippe, Mitchell Marsh, Moises Henriques, Alex Carey (c), Matthew Wade ( wk), Andrew Tye, Jason Behrendorff, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Swepson, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc

West Indies: Andre Fletcher, Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle, Lendl Simmons, Darren Bravo, Nicholas Pooran (c & wk), Andre Russell, Fabian Allen, Hayden Walsh, Sheldon Cottrell, Oshane Thomas

Fantasy XI

Alex Carey, Shai Hope (C), Lendl Simmons, Matthew Wade, Kieron Pollard, Mitchell Marsh (VC), Sheldon Cottrell, Hayden Walsh Jr., Adam Zampa, Riley Meredith, Josh Hazlewood

West Indies ODI squad: Kieron Pollard (C), Shai Hope (VC), Fabian Allen, Darren Bravo, Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Evin Lewis, Jason Mohammed, Anderson Philip, Nicholas Pooran, Romario Shepherd

Australia squad for ODIs & T20Is: Josh Philippe, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Ashton Agar, Wes Agar, Alex Carey, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Dan Christian, Riley Meredith, Ashton Turner, Jason Behrendorff.

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Mayank Agarwal, Pujara under spotlight; Rahul to keep as India buckle up for England Test series

Team India have come back from a month-long break after the conclusion of the World Test Championship final against New Zealand with a three-day against a selected county side before taking on England in a five-match Test series. India have suffered massive setbacks since the WTC final as their first choice opener Shubman Gill has been ruled out of the series and another match-winning batsman Rishabh Pant tested positive for Covid-19. However, Pant has recovered in a big relief for the team management but he is yet to join the squad in Durham and won’t take part in the practice game that has been granted the status of a first-class game. The team management has confirmed that KL Rahul will wear the wicketkeeping gloves in the game as even Wriddhiman Saha is spending his time under quarantine after being deemed close contact with the throwdown specialist. KL Rahul has batted at the top order before in his Test career but the team management has given a strong hint that the right-hander will be considered only for a spot in the middle order. Hence, a lot of spotlights will be on Mayank Agarwal, who is all set to get back in the playing XI in the first Test in Nottingham except for some mishaps. Agarwal was found wanting in the first two Tests of the series against Australia late last year, and hence it will be an audition of a sort for the Karanatka lad to press his case for the first Test. The game will begin as a first-class fixture and hence the sides will have to play with a pre-decided playing XI and it would interesting to see the team composition of India. They had played both Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the WTC final against New Zealand. Jadeja’s batting has improved big time in the last couple of years while at the same time Ashwin has now become undroppable due to improvement in his overseas performances. Ashwin is also the only member of the squad who has had some match practice after the big WTC final as he played for Surrey against Kent in the County Championship. He returned with an impressive seven wickets across the two innings of the game and looks certain to start the series against England even if the Virat Kohli-led team management decides to go with a sole spinner in the playing XI. The team management will also have its eyes on Cheteshwar Pujara, whose method of batting at the number of three attracted some attention in the aftermath of the loss to New Zealand. Pujara has been known for occupying the crease for a long time while the other batsmen play aggressive cricket around him, but Virat Kohli has hinted that the team management might look to walk away from that idea of bating.

Shreyas Iyer opts out of Royal London ODI Cup stint with Lancashire

India’s middle-order batsman Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out of England’s domestic one-day tournament the Royal London Cup. Iyer had dislocated his shoulder in the first ODI of the series against England that preceded the Indian Premier League and the batsman missed out on the big event as well. He is recovering well to get back to playing at the highest level in the second half of the IPL 14 but has given the Lancashire stint a miss. “I am gutted to not be able to play for Lancashire this summer, a Club that has such history and ambition. I hope to play at Emirates Old Trafford for Lancashire at some point in the future,” Iyer said in a statement issued by the Lancashire County. Lancashire’s director of cricket Paul Allot expressed disappointment at the absence of Iyer for the tournament but said that the county respect his decision keeping in mind the long-term fitness. "We are obviously very disappointed, as we were thoroughly looking forward to welcoming Shreyas to Emirates Old Trafford. Ultimately Shreyas' long-term fitness is of paramount importance and Lancashire Cricket fully respects the decision,” " Lancashire's director of cricket, Paul Allott, said. Iyer was a regular number for India in the ODI cricket before injuring his shoulder and might find it tough to get back in the side with the likes of Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan finding their feet in the middle order.

Rishabh Pant recovers from Covid, to join squad on July 21

In a big relief to the Indian team before the Test series against England, Rishabh Pant has recovered from Covid-19 infection and will join the side in Durham on July 21. The wicketkeeper-batsman had tested positive for the virus on July 8 and did not travel with his teammates to Durham. Pant’s Covid-19 report was the first case of Covid-19 in the Indian camp which was followed by the throwdown specialist Dayanand Garanai testing positive. The backup opener Abhimanyu Easwaran and backup wicketkeeper Wrridhiman Saha had to isolate after being deemed in close contact with Graani. Pant tested positive for the novel coronavirus while being away on a break for three weeks when he had visited a packed football stadium to watch a Euro Cup game. Pant’s absence could well have hurt India’s chances massively in the five-match Test series against the host England starting on August 04 in Nottingham. He has emerged as one of the most important match-winner of this Indian Test side over the last nine months on the back of stupendous knocks against Australia and England. India have already suffered a massive setback in the form of injury to Shubman Gill that led to miscommunication between the team management and the selection committee over the presence of backup players.

TNPL 2021: A glance at full fixtures, schedule & timings

The Tamil Nadu Premier League will begin on Monday (July 19, 2021) while the final of the tournament will be played on August 15. All the fixtures of the competition are scheduled to take place in Chennai behind closed doors. The Tamil Nadu government had earlier given permission to hold the tournament. “The Tamil Nadu government formally approved holding the TNPL 2021 tournament on July 1 subject to no spectators and strict Covid protocols. After discussions with all the stakeholders, it was decided to start the 2021 edition of TNPL from July 19 to August 15,” Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) secretary R S Ramasaamy said. The 2020 edition of the TNPL was cancelled after there was a Covid-19 outbreak in the country. Here we take a look at the schedule of the tournament. 20-07-21 7.30 PM CHEPAUK SUPER GILLIES v IDREAM TIRUPPUR TAMIZHANS 21-07-21 7.30 PM NELLAI ROYAL KINGS v RUBY TRICHY WARRIORS 22-07-21 7.30 PM DINDIGUL DRAGONS v SIECHEM MADURAI PANTHERS 23-07-21 7.30 PM RUBY TRICHY WARRIORS v LYCA KOVAI KINGS 24-07-21 3.30 PM CHEPAUK SUPER GILLIES v NELLAI ROYAL KINGS 24-07-21 7.30 PM IDREAM TIRUPPUR TAMIZHANS v SALEM SPARTANS 25-07-21 3.30 PM SIECHEM MADURAI PANTHERS v RUBY TRICHY WARRIORS 25-07-21 7.30 PM LYCA KOVAI KINGS v DINDIGUL DRAGONS 26-07-21 7.30 PM NELLAI ROYAL KINGS v IDREAM TIRUPPUR TAMIZHANS 27-07-21 7.30 PM DINDIGUL DRAGONS v RUBY TRICHY WARRIORS 28-07-21 3.30 PM SALEM SPARTANS v CHEPAUK SUPER GILLIES 28-07-21 7.30 PM SIECHEM MADURAI PANTHERS v LYCA KOVAI KINGS 29-07-21 7.30 PM RUBY TRICHY WARRIORS v IDREAM TIRUPPUR TAMIZHANS 30-07-21 7.30 PM DINDIGUL DRAGONS v SALEM SPARTANS 31-07-21 3.30 PM LYCA KOVAI KINGS v IDREAM TIRUPPUR TAMIZHANS 31-07-21 7.30 PM SIECHEM MADURAI PANTHERS v NELLAI ROYAL KINGS 01-08-21 3.30 PM SALEM SPARTANS v RUBY TRICHY WARRIORS 01-08-21 7.30 PM CHEPAUK SUPER GILLIES v DINDIGUL DRAGONS 02-08-21 7.30 PM IDREAM TIRUPPUR TAMIZHANS v SIECHEM MADURAI PANTHERS 03-08-21 7.30 PM NELLAI ROYAL KINGS v DINDIGUL DRAGONS 04-08-21 7.30 PM SIECHEM MADURAI PANTHERS v CHEPAUK SUPER GILLIES 05-08-21 7.30 PM SALEM SPARTANS v NELLAI ROYAL KINGS 06-08-21 7.30 PM CHEPAUK SUPER GILLIES v LYCA KOVAI KINGS 07-08-21 3.30 PM IDREAM TIRUPPUR TAMIZHANS v DINDIGUL DRAGONS 07-08-21 7.30 PM SALEM SPARTANS v SIECHEM MADURAI PANTHERS 08-08-21 3.30 PM LYCA KOVAI KINGS v NELLAI ROYAL KINGS 08-08-21 7.30 PM RUBY TRICHY WARRIORS v CHEPAUK SUPER GILLIES The first qualifier will be played on August 10, 2021 while the eliminator will take place on August 8, 2021. The second qualifier of the tournament will be played on August 13 while the title clash is scheduled to take place on August 15.