Will shave half of moustache if Pujara hits England spinners over the top: R Ashwin

BBL 10 | Sydney Thunder seal playoffs in their final group stage clash

The Sydney Thunder defeated their nearest rivals to the playoff spot Adelaide Strikers, in a rain-marred game to seal their place in the Big Bash League finals. Chasing a target of 116 runs in 14 overs, Thunder, riding on the pyro techniques of Englishman Alex Hales brought the house down to clinch victory with 11 balls to spare. Setting the new target of most numbers of sixes hit in a single season (30), Hales scored 63 runs in just 39 balls to lead the way for Thunder who lost their opener, Usman Khawaja, to a peach of a delivery in the first delivery of the chase. The former top ranked T20 batsman was ably supported by Australian Callum Ferguson who contributed a crafty 46 off 33 balls to stitch a partnership of 116 runs. Earlier in the first innings, Thunder chose to bowl first after the rain delay. Strike bowlers Adam Milne, Brendan Doggett kept runs in check bowling exceedingly well in the first few overs picking up three wickets in the first seven. If it were not for Jake Weatherald’s antics in the later half of the innings, Strikers would have been down and out by a long mile. When the opportunity presented itself in the 11th over (Power Surge), Weatherald took Milne to cleaners scoring 18 runs off him. Strikers put on 52 runs in the final four over, Strikers put on a respectable 115 runs. But as it would turn out, the score would not be enough for the Strikers to be defended against the mighty Englishman, and now they would have to wait for the other teams to play it out on the final day of the Big Bash League. The Strikers with 28 points are followed by Hobart Hurricanes (27), Brisbane Heat (25), Melbourne Stars (24) who are all contenders for the final qualification spot. Talk about an unmissable day of cricket. The final day is scheduled to play out three fixtures Brisbane Heat v Perth Scorchers Melbourne Renegades v Hobart Hurricanes Melbourne Stars v Sydney Sixers

Ajinkya Rahane reveals what he told Ashwin ahead of the Australia series

Ajinkya Rahane had lengthy conversations with Ravichandran Ashwin about the latter’s approach to batting and the drying up of runs ahead of the matches against Australia. The stand-in Indian captain while speaking to Marathi daily Sakal revealed that he advised Ashwin not to be tensed about his batting after the Indian spinner was dismissed for 5 runs in the practice match ahead of the Test series. "Our discussion started from the [first] practice match itself," Rahane said. "Ashwin got out early and was sitting alone. I told Ashwin, please do not take tension about your batting. There are times when you think too much about your batting. His record as a batsman is pretty good. When things are not going well, obviously you start brooding about your batting not going well.” Rahane added that he wanted Ashwin to focus more on his bowling because he felt that Ashwin was a matchwinner overseas with the ball. "With your bowling you can win us matches. He bowled well and I feel that reflected in his batting [later in the series]. My responsibility was to get his focus on his bowling. He bowled well and that confidence showed in his batting." The Indian middle order maestro further divulged the details about how he advised Ashwin not to be desperate for runs. Rahane said he explained to Ashwin that the more "desperate" he was to do well with the bat, the more disappointed he would get if he failed. "Desperation does not work. I told him to play 40-50 balls while batting without thinking about it. And that is what happened. I did not say much to him. All credit should go to Ashwin. I told him, too: your bowling is going so good and consequently, mentally, you are very relaxed and that is why you are batting well [now]. And where we wanted him, he did perform [with the bat] in Sydney." Ashwin copped several blows on his body in the Sydney Test and in a gladiatorial battle with the Australian fast bowling held the fort on one end along with Hanuma Vihari to see India through that game. The duo negotiated a total of 259 deliveries in the second innings and put together an unbeaten partnership of 62 runs before taking a long back to the stands in the final day.

England complete clean sweep win over Sri Lanka

England completed a clean sweep win over Sri Lanka in Galle after beating the hosts by 6 wickets in the second encounter. Chasing a small total of 164 runs, England went over the line on penultimate day of the match. The visitors had few hiccups before Dominic Sibley and Joe Buttler held the fort and won the game for the side. Sibley remained unbeaten at 56 while Bairstow scored 46*. Lasith Embuldeniya who scalped seven wickets in the first innings picked up three in the second to complete his ten-year in the match. England spinners rattled the hosts in the second innings to scalp all the ten wickets. Dom Bess and Jack Leach bagged a four-for apiece while skipper Joe Root picked up a couple to bundle out Sri Lanka for 126. Embuldeniya top-scored with 40. Earlier, the visiting team rode on Root’s 186 to put 344 in reply to Sri Lanka’s 381 on the board in the first innings. This was Root’s second ton on the trot in the series. For Sri Lanka, it was Angelo Mathews who notched up a hundred while Niroshan Dickwella scored 92. The England seamers shared all the wickets in the first innings with James Anderson bagging a six-wicket haul. “It was nice to spend some time at the crease as I was just trying to build a partnership. Watching Joe, the way he has played in this series, it has been incredible. I have changed a couple of things about myself during this series, it takes a lot of courage to do few of these things. Just trying to work it out. Jos (Buttler) plays at a higher tempo and he took the pressure off me (during that partnership). It's a good win. Let's see what happens against India with a lot of guys coming back in. But scoring some runs has obviously taken some pressure off,” Sibley who scored a half-century in the second innings said. England are now slated to travel to India for four Tests, five T20Is and three ODIs next month.

Ajinkya Rahane reveals details about fightback after 36-all out

India’s stand-in captain for the Test series Down Under, Ajinkya Rahane has revealed the process behind the remarkable turn around in the series. Easily, India’s best victory in Test cricket history, Rahane spoke to Marathi daily Sakal about how it all unfolded till the final Brisbane Test. Rahane credited the leadership group of Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravi Ashwin and vice-captain Rohit Sharma for the win overseas and stated that the senior pros took additional responsibilities on themselves to instil belief in the Indian team that lacked experience. Rahane could not have taken over the captaincy at a worst possible time. Before Virat Kohli’s scheduled return to India for the birth of his first child, the team was bundled out for just 36 runs in the first Test match in Adelaide. India’s lowest score in Test history. Rahane told Sakal that his first message after getting the baton was that Adelaide was a closed chapter and nobody should discuss it. "I told them that topic should not be discussed at all. The fact that we got all out for 36 is not any mistake. We should just accept it and move on. No point going in-depth and thinking about it because the [next Test] match was immediately starting in three days. My only message was: it happened in one hour. They [Australia] played good cricket. Such things happen once in a century. The faster we accept this happened and move on, that is good for us." Leading from the front in the next game, Rahane score a magnificent 112 runs in the Boxing Day Test match at the MCG to set the tone for the rest of the series. And the rest was history. Battered, bruised and depleted, Rahane’s India played out a gladiatorial draw at Sydney which they had no right to win and then went onto breach fortress Gabba to chase down 324 runs in the final day. Cheteshwar Pujara, Shubman Gill, Rishabh Pant and Washington Sundar battled for every inch on the final day of the Test match to win the game with three overs to spare.