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Wont Even Think Twice Sean Abbott On Batting Up The Order Against India

Won’t even think twice: Sean Abbott on batting up the order against India

Australian all-rounder Sean Abbott, who has been doing incredibly well in the Sheffield Shield this season, feels that he would not let go of any opportunity, be it batting up the order or getting wickets with the ball if he gets a chance to play against India in the upcoming Test series.

"If there's an opportunity to bat higher up the order and the selectors and Painey [Tim Paine] think I can do that job, I won't even think twice about it. I'd definitely say... if a bowling spot came up, I'd be more in line for that one as opposed to someone who can bat at six or seven. But we'll have to wait and see,” he was quoted as saying in 7 news.

Abbott hit his maiden first-class hundred playing for New South Wales against Tasmania during the current season of the Sheffield Shield. While he is averaging 130.5 with the bat in the current season, things weren’t always smooth for the Windsor born as he had to play majorly as a Night-Watchman during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. The 2019-20 Sheffield season saw his average improve drastically with Abbot consistently putting in the hard yards in the middle.

Remembering those days, Abbott said, "I don't like losing, so every time I went out there and made a duck or not a big score, it really hurt.”

“The work had always been done (but) I'd be lying if I said the motivation was always there. When I was asked to be a night watchman and batting at nine and 10, you almost just feel like going out there and start slogging so you can get to bowling,” he added.

Abbott, who is also one of the leading wicket-taker in this year’s Shield with 14 already in the kitty in just three games including a six-wicket haul, credited his team New South Wales for backing him up.

“I worked on my batting, I got better, I got some opportunities back up the order and scored some runs. I'm pretty fortunate that it worked out that way... they saw the way I was batting at training and they backed me in and believed in my ability to go back up the order," said Abbott.

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Aus vs Ind: Tim Paine opens up on his relationship with Virat Kohli

Australia Test captain Tim Paine is not a fan of the on-field shenanigans of his Indian counterpart Virat Kohli was a talking point last time the two teams met together for a full series. In a recent interview with ABC Sport, the Australian described his relationship as something very complex where he loves to hate him and yet loves to watch him bat. "With Virat, it is a funny one, we love to hate him but we also love to watch him bat as cricket fans. He certainly is polarising in that type of scenario. We love watching him bat, but we don't like seeing him score too many runs," said Paine. Further throwing light on the on-field banters, the 35-year-old Tasmanian said that he really holds nothing for Kohli and he is as close to him as any other member of the Indian team. "He’s just another player to me it doesn't really bother me. There's not really a relationship there with him to be fair, I see him at the toss and play against him and that's about it," he said. Describing the on-field tensions between the two players, Paine said, "Australia and India, it's a heated competition and he's obviously a competitive person and so am I, so yeah there were a few occasions when we had words but that wasn't because he was the captain and I was the captain, it could have been anyone.” Saying that the intensity goes up when the best players in the world come out to the crease, Piane said he reacts in the same to Joe Root or Stokes as he does to Kohli. "There is always a bit more tension when a player is as good as he is, it's the same when you play against England, its Joe Root or a Ben Stokes," Paine said.

Mark Taylor bats for Puckovski, says he is ready for the big challenge

Former Australian captain Mark Taylor has backed emerging new talent Will Puckovski to play a big role in the Australia- India Test series. The 56-year-old said that instead of playing established opener Joe Burns, he would like to go ahead with a much younger but better-shaped batsman Puckovoski. "I would play Will Pucovski and leave Joe Burns out. Burns averages 38 in Test cricket he's been a solid player for Australia without being a great one," he said on Channel 9's 'Sports Sunday'. Calling him the batsman of the next decade, Taylor said, "Pucovski said he's ready - he's made two double hundreds. Pick him while he's in form. He has the potential to be a player for the next decade." Praising his openness to his mental health issues, Taylor said that it shows how strong he is and that would get him places. "He's been open and honest about it from the word go that wouldn't have been easy. In the sides I played in it would have been seen as a sign of weakness now it's seen as a sign of strength," he said. Batting at the top has helped the 22-year-old Moustache man and the former Aussie also agrees to it. "I like the fact Victorian coach Chris Rodgers has had a word to him about batting at the top of the order. He's done that, made two double hundreds,” he said. “His openness and his transparency with his mental health issues have really helped him, and I think has set a really good example for young sportspeople," Taylor added lauding Puckovoski. The Victorian batsman has indeed been sensational as he has scored two successive double hundreds in three-inning and is the leading run-scorer of the Sheffield shield while Joe Burns has given awfully dismal performances averaging just about 12 having scored 57 runs in five innings.

WTC: Finalists to be decided by percentage points, NZ fancies its chances

In a rare instance, to make sure that the World Test Championship is completed and in its truest form, the International Cricket Council has come up with a plan to decide the two finalists through percentage points. This decision has been arrived at considering that the Pandemic has caused teams to miss out on various series. The percentage points refer to the percentage of points they have earned from those they have actually contested for. The final decision will be made at ICC's last quarterly meeting of the year, which is scheduled for this Monday. Another option to decide the finalists was to treat all Tests which the teams couldn’t play as Draws and split points among them. However, it was rejected by the committee members. This option has given New Zealand a bright chance of making it to the finals of the inaugural championship. The maximum points that New Zealand can get from their home series against Pakistan and West Indies are 240. If that happens, they would end up with 420 points (out of 600 contested) or 70%. They are currently in the fourth position in the table. Teams ahead of them are Australia, England, and India. For they all play tougher series than New Zealand and not all at home either then getting to 70% would become a bit more difficult. For Australia to go ahead, they would need to win the home series against India comfortably (with less than two losses) to be able to afford two or even three losses in South Africa and still be able to qualify. For India to be able to qualify, they need to win at least one Test in Australia and rest five against England at home.

Rahul Dravid backs Cricket's inclusion in Olympics

Indian legend Rahul Dravid has backed the idea of bringing cricket into Olympics for the expansion of the game into more and more countries. The batting maestro who also heads the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru said that inclusion of the shortest version of the game -T20 in the Olympics will be great for the wellbeing of the game. "I think it would be great for the game if the T20 format can become an Olympic sport. There's cricket being played in so many countries. I'm certainly for the expansion of the T20 game," Dravid said at the virtual launch of a book named A New Innings by Manoj Badale and Simon Hughes. Dravid also acknowledged the complications the inclusion of cricket in Olympics will bring with it such as preparation of the pitch, finding window amid narrowing Future Tour Programme (FTP, but he was excited about the prospect of watching Cricket expanding into a wider global sport through Olympic games. He also made his assessment clear that cricket, unlike other sports, needs necessary playing conditions to be played and that the Indian Premier League turned out to be successful because of the nature of the pitches that were used which produced competitive cricket between the bat and the ball. Dravid’s assertions come at the back of a serious discussion ongoing between the International Cricket Council and its member boards on the issue of financial benefits that the inclusion of cricket will bring to the table for both the ICC and members. Last month, ICC sent out a questionnaire to its member boards to establish the ‘potential financial assistance they would receive from their respective governments and Olympic governing body in case of the inclusion of cricket in Olympics. A similar exercise was carried out a couple of years ago to estimate the benefits of taking cricket to Olympics but the idea was sent into cold storage as the Big Three’ boards such as the BCCI, ECB, and CA viewed the move that would cut into their bilateral series and other tournaments and ultimately deplete their sources of revenue.