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World T20 2021 Moeen Ali Opens Up On Undefined Role Assures Livingstone Fine After Injury Scare

World T20 2021 | Moeen Ali opens up on undefined role; assures Livingstone fine after injury scare

Moeen Ali who played an important role in Chennai Super Kings’ title-winning Indian Premier League campaign just a week ago is unable to find clarity in his role in the destructive and scary Eglish batting lineup.

"I absolutely loved it," he said. "Obviously when you win a competition like the IPL it's amazing and with the role, I was given, I felt like I was quite important to the team,” Moeen was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

While he batted at number three and later four for CSK in IPL, the force of the English batters in Jonny Bairstow, Jason Roy, Jos Buttler alongside Dawid Malan and Liam Livingstone doesn’t leave any space for him in the top five and number six is anyway reserved for skipper Eoin Morgan.

But with the absence of both Sam Curran and Ben Stokes, Ali could bat at seven and play the finishing role which he did in the warm-up match against India, scoring 43 off 20 balls.

“My role could change but the good thing is I feel like I could play any type of role. If a chance does come, I can bat No. 6 or 7 [or] I can bat up the order, so I'm just trying to get myself ready and be in a good frame of mind. Whatever role I'm given, I'm hopefully going to do well in,” the 34-year-old, who just bid adieu to Test cricket ahead of the Ashes 2021, said.

It was scary to see Liam Livingstone getting injured after dropping a sitter in the deep during the warm-up match. He seemed to have hurt his finger, but Moeen assured that his Birmingham Phoenix teammate was all fine and would be ready ahead of the start of the World Cup.

"I think he's alright. I think it's just bruising on the back of the hand but I think he'll be fine. Obviously, it was a bit of a scare at the time but he said it was fine, so hopefully, he's all good,” said Moeen.

England eventually lost the warm-up game against India by seven wickets and will have another warm-up match against New Zealand before they finally take against West Indies in the rematch of the 2016 T20 World Cup final rematch.

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World T20 2021 | OMA vs BAN: One or two tweaks in the lineup possible, suggests Tigers’ coach Domingo

Bangladesh coach Russel Domingo is ready to make a few changes, possibly just one in the playing XI in the team’s next affair against Oman in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021. The decision was taken after the country’s shocking defeat against Associate nation Scotland in their first match of Group B which also has Oman and Papua New Guinea in it. "We want to have different types of batters batting at the same time, not similar types of players. We have discussed it in depth. There might not be major changes, but there might be one or two tweaks in the line-up,” Domingo said in a pre-match presser in Muscat. "As you have seen in the series against Australia and New Zealand, we have been flexible. It will depend on the situation and the bowlers that are bowling at the time,” he added. With a mindset that the Bangladeshi batters will target to get 35-45 in the first six without losing a wicket or at max one to get a foot on the accelerator, later on, Domingo said, “We have made a few mistakes, played shots we shouldn't have played, stopped playing those shots we should be playing. So we have to find the right balance between attack and defence in the first six overs.” Contrary to popular belief that Bangladesh took the Scottish challenge lightly, Domingo said that no World Cup game is being taken lightly by his boys. "We didn't take Scotland lightly. They beat Bangladesh in their last T20I encounter. There was no complacency in yesterday's game. We have to show Oman great respect,” he said. Bangladesh face Oman in a do or die game where any slip up would mean that they are out of the competition even before reaching its main stage.

T20 World Cup | Sri Lanka give Namibia a rude wake up call

Dasun Shanaka led Sri Lanka trimmed the wings of a high flying Namibia to begin their T20 World Cup campaign with a thumping victory. Coming into the tournament Sri Lanka were expected to fall in tough competition in the group of death, but this emphatic win suggests that they will have no hiccups while entering the Super 12s. Chasing a modest total of 97 runs, the infamous Sri Lankan batting order faltered early on and were reduced to 26 for three inside the powerplay, however, the target was just not big enough to put them in panic mode. Avishka Fernando and Bhanuka Rajapaksa saw them through the tough phases and accelerated in the later stages to win the game in just 13.3 overs. Rajapaksa starred in the chase scoring 42 off just 27 balls while Fernando scored 30 off 28. Namibia tried eight bowlers on the night but only Ruben Trumpelmann, JJ Smit and Bernard Scholtz returned with wickets. Earlier in the day, the Sri Lankan pacers were all over the Namibia batting unit and hurt them with a relentless barrage of bouncers and hard length deliveries. All of the three pacers, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera and Lahiru Kumara crossed the 140kmph barrier and returned with impressive figures. While Namibia did not lose their entire top order in that pressure phase, the quality pace bowling paved the way for Sri Lankan spinners to take wickets. Mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana starred with three wickets, while star player Wainindu Hasaranga picked up two from his four overs. Although it was not a performance to boast about from the second ranked T20I bowler, and he was comfortably the worst among the Sri Lankan bowlers tonight. The performance means that Sri Lanka can be supremely confident of their bowling unit and they just need to back them up with a batting performance. For Namibia, this match was a wake-up call to the harsh reality that is the T20 World Cup. Coming into the game they had form in their side, but were slow to start off against a quality pace attack. To be fair to them Sri Lanka are the front runners in the group and they will not have to face the same again in the next two matches. With this loss it is imperative that they win the next two games, else it would be early curtains for a side that came with so much promise in the showpiece ICC event.

World T20 2021 | IND vs ENG Warm-up match: Rahul, Ishan unveil batting masterclass

India batters KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan unleashed a batting masterclass during the warm-up match against England in Dubai on Monday evening. Chasing 189, Rahul and Ishan put up 82 for the first wicket before KL departed for a brilliant 26-ball 51 that included three maximums and six boundaries. Kishan on the other end continued with his onslaught and notched up 70 off 46, a knock that comprised three sixes and seven boundaries before retiring hurt. India captain Virat Kohli failed to leave a mark during the chase as he was dismissed for 11 but it was Rishabh Pant and all-rounder Hardik Pandya who made sure to take the side over the line by seven wickets and with an over to spare. Pant chipped in with an unbeaten 29 off 14 while Pandya remained not out on 12 off 10. Earlier, the Indian bowlers too had a tough outing as Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami and Rahul Chahar went for some runs. England were 77/3 when Liam Livingstone and Jonny Bairstow joined hands to put up a partnership of 52 runs for the fourth wicket. While Bairstow struck 49 off 36, Livingstone scored 30 off 20 but it was Moeen Ali’s late surge that helped England post 188/5 in 20 overs. The left-handed batsman remained unbeaten at 43 off 20. For India, Shami picked up three wickets for 40 runs in 4 overs, Bumrah scalped one for 26 runs and Chahar returned with figures of 1/43. India will begin the campaign against Pakistan on October 24.

CSA Provincial T20 | Knights, Titans face newbies South Western Districts and Western Province in quarters

After a break of nine days, the Cricket South Africa Provincial T20 tournament, the premier domestic T20 tournament in the new domestic set up of South Africa cricket is back. After the first round of matches, eight teams made it to the quarter-finals in batches of four each. The first batch was selected from eight First division teams which will also compete in the domestic premier First Class four day competition. The second batch of eight teams was picked from a combination of seven Second division teams and South Africa Under-19. From the first batch qualified the regulars in South African domestic set up Titans and Knights and along with the two new First division teams in Western Province and Western Districts, which previously played as one team called Cape Cobras. And it is these four teams that will be up against each other in the first two quarter-finals. First QF: South Western Districts vs Titans The two teams had very different journeys to the quarterfinal. While the South Western Districts were tied with two wins in their group alongside Lions and Western Province (two first division teams) but qualified as the top side on the basis of better net run rate. The Titans on the other hand were only defeated by Knights in their group and won the rest of the two games against Rhinos and Tuskers to qualify for the quarter-finals. Herschelle America, the top wicket-taker is from the South Western Districts while no player from the Titans features in the list of top three wicket-takers or run-getters. Second QF: Knights vs Western Province The second Quarter-Final would take place between two first division teams in Western Province and Knights. While Western Province qualified as the second-ranked team from Group A and edged Lions on net run rate. They had also beaten Lions and Northern Cape Heat in the group and lost only to South Western Districts. Knights, on the other hand, won two of its matches and its last game against Rhinos, who finished bottom of the table in Group B was abandoned without any ball bowled due to rain. Migael Pretorious and Rilee Rossouw are the key members for Knights going into the quarter-finals while Zubyr Hamza and Wayne Parnell will come in handy for the Western Province side. Both the matches will take place at Diamond Oval, Kimberley.