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Wtc Final Cheteshwar Pujara Confident Of Indias Chances At Neutral Venue Against New Zealand

WTC final: Cheteshwar Pujara confident of India's chances at neutral venue against New Zealand

As India and New Zealand are gearing up for the big World Test Championship final, there have been numerous references made with the last series between the sides played last year. In that series played in New Zealand, Virat Kohli’s men were thrashed left, right and centre by a dominating team led by Kane Williamson in their own backyard.

India’s number three Tests, Cheteshwar Pujara has a different take on this as he believes the factors that helped the Blackcaps in the home series would be limited as the WTC final will be played at a neutral venue—Southampton, England.

“When we played the Kiwis in 2020, it was in their backyard. That won’t be the case in the WTC final ... it’s a neutral venue for both the teams. None of the teams will have a home advantage,” Pujara said TOI in an interview.

Pujara, however, said that the Indian batsmen have learnt hard lessons from that series in New Zealand and other encounters of the past which will help them be better prepared for the varieties in line and angle of attack of Kiwi bowling line up.

“Their bowling attack is very well-balanced. We have faced their bowlers before and have a fair idea of how they operate, the angles they use, and we will be prepared,” Pujara added.

Pujara commended the amount of talent in the Indian team and cited the big series win in Australia where they won even in the absence of star players such as Virat Kohli, Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma.

“The amount of talent in the Indian circuit is humongous. The Australia series earlier this year was an example. We had so many injuries, but the backup options did well for us to win the series. Everyone in this Indian team is hungry to do well and that’s the sign of a good side,” Pujara concluded.

Indian players are quarantining in Mumbai before they will take off on a chartered flight to the United Kingdom in the first week of June. The World Test Championship final will be played in Southampton from June 18.

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Southampton to have crowd for the WTC Final between India and New Zealand

After the County Championship was allowed to facilitate a limited crowd for the matches of this round, most of them starting on May 20, the expectations of seeing crowds in an international cricket match in England has heightened with World Test Championship closing in. With crowds attending the Hampshire and Leicestershire Championship game at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, the same ground which is scheduled to host the WTC Final from June 18, the Hampshire County Club head Rod Bransgrove is hopeful of seeing at least 4000 people in the India- New Zealand game. "I understand 50 per cent of the permitted crowds will be taken by the ICC for its sponsors and other stakeholders and we will be selling the rest 2000 tickets. We have already received more than double applications from the fans," Bransgrove was quoted as saying to Cricbuzz about the crowd arrangements for the inaugural edition of the Test Championship. "It is a high-interest game and there is a good demand for it," he added. Although the ICC, ECB and BCCI have booked all corporate boxes, Bansgrove still feels that with travel restrictions in place, the county can manage to sell those tickets if the dignitaries from India are unable to make it for the Final. "Given the travel restrictions and quarantine protocols, I am not sure how many of ICC and the Board of Control for Cricket in India members will come for the game. We will be happy to sell those tickets too,” he said. The veteran administrator also awaited the welcome of the Indian team to the town. "We are waiting for the Indian team to complete their quarantine in India and arrive here. We are ready to host them," he added. This will be the first time since September 2019 that England will have crowds in the stadium during an international cricket match.

Shafali Verma moves up, Richa Ghosh bags first deal as Veda Krishnamurthy is snubbed from BCCI central contracts

Richa Ghosh and Shafali Verma two of the youngest Indian Women’s team members made headlines as the Board of Control for Cricket in India announced the Annual Player Contracts. While 17-year-old Verma moved to Category B from her previous contract under Category C the lowest, Ghosh from Silligusri bagged her first-ever central contract by BCCI. Verma has recently been picked in India Women's squad in all formats for England tour. The Senior Women have been offered the central contract for the period from October 2020 to September 2021. The three all-format players in T20I skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandana and Poonam Yadav retained their top category spots and remained the only three in Category A of the contract list. Apart from Verma, Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Punam Raut have climbed the ladder from Category C to B as well. Senior players like Mitali Raj and Jhulan Goswami have retained their Category B spots. Although the remuneration of each category remains the same at Rs 50 Lakh, 30 Lakh and 10 Lakh for A, B and C category, the number of contracted players has gone down from 22 to last year to just 19 this year. Key players to miss out on the contract are Veda Krishnamurthy, Ekta Bish, D Hemlatha and Anuja Patil. Veda lost her mother and elder sister to Covid-19 this year. Among those snubbed from the contracts, Ekta Bisht is the only one in Team India’s squad for England tour. While Manasi Joshi is the only player who is neither injured nor part of the Indian squad even after bagging a Category C contract. Grade A [INR 50 Lakh]: Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Poonam Yadav Grade B [INR 30 Lakh]: Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami, Deepti Sharma, Punam Raut, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shafali Verma, Radha Yadav, Shikha Pandey, Taniya Bhatia, Jemimah Rodrigues Grade C [INR 10 Lakh]: Mansi Joshi, Arundhati Reddy, Pooja Vastrakar, Harleen Deol, Priya Punia, Richa Ghosh

India Women to play their first ever pink-ball Test against Australia Women

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Honorary Secretary Jay Shah announced that the Indian Women’s team would play their first-ever pink-ball also known as day-night Test in the game’s history. The match would take place when the Indian Eves would tour Australia for a multi-format series, involving a one-off Test in September this year. Shah tweeted this news early on May 20, even as the central contracts for 2021-22 were handed out to Indian Women’s players the previous night. The Women in blue are currently in Mumbai for a two-week hard quarantine post which they will travel to England along with the Men’s team for a multi-format tour which would begin with the one-off Tests in Bristol, starting June 16. The Indian teams would land in London on June 2 and would then undergo soft quarantine for 10 days before they get ready for their respective challenges. The Men’s team would begin its tour with the World Test Championship Final against New Zealand at Southampton from June 18. This would also be only the second pink ball Test ever in the history of Women's cricket, the first one was played between Australia and England at the North Sydney Oval during the 2017 Women's Ashes. For India, which has so far played 36 Tests, it would be the 38th game and first in Australia since 2005-06.

Indian rope in KS Bharat as cover for Wriddhiman Saha in squad for England tour

India have added KS Bharat into the squad for the tour of England where they will play as many as six Test matches including the final of the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship, news agency ANI reported. Bharat has been added as a cover for Wriddhiman Saha, who has just recovered from a Covid-19 infection that he contracted while being in the biosecure bubble with the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2021, the report further said. “He was added as cover for Saha considering he was still recovering from the virus and wicket-keeping is a specialised job. If Saha wasn't fit in time, we would have needed a second keeper in the squad for the tour which is a three-month-long one," ANI quoted an unnamed source in the know of the developments. The BCCI has arranged a chartered flight for players outside of Mumbai to assemble in the city and to quarantine before flying to the UK for the long tour. India have already picked a large squad consisting of 20 players to cover all bases keeping in mind the longevity of the tour and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic situation that does not allow swift fly in and fly out for players.