Ashes | Nasser Hussain picks Jimmy Anderson over Stuart Broad for Adelaide Test

Wriddhiman Saha denies dressing room issues after power change in Indian white-ball set-up

Wriddhiman Saha is the first person from the current Indian squad to have given a statement after Rohit Sharma was announced skipper of the 50 overs format for Team India. The change of power wasn’t smooth by any measure and with Virat Kohli, the incumbent skipper not announcing his resignation and rather BCCI appointing Rohit as his successor through a tweet was seen as a bit putting off for a captain that has given India almost everything in white-ball format apart from an ICC trophy. There were rumours that this sudden change in the dynamics has resulted in a tense dressing room environment with India going on an important South Africa tour for three Tests and three ODIs. However, Wriddhiman Saha, the Test specialist wicket-keeper batter for India has denied all such rumours and called the dressing room environment as enjoyable as ever. "Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are very good leaders - I am sure both work together and take the game ahead. Having spent lots of time with them, I can tell you, the dressing room is very happy - everyone has only one interest, work as a team,” Saha was quoted as saying in an interview with Economic Times. Team India’s South Africa tour begins with the first Test on Boxing Day, December 26 at the SuperSport Park, Centurion.

I was disappointed: Stuart Broad on being left out of the first Ashes Test

Having been left out for the first Test match at Gabba, Stuart Broad has expressed his disappointment via a column at The Mail on Sunday, 12 December. England were no match for the Australians in the first Test and were blown away in all departments to surrender the match in just four days. Broad wrote that he felt that he could have had a positive impact at the game and was 100 per cent preparing to play at the Gabba. "Over the past 12 months, Jimmy and I tried to ensure we were as fit as could be in the current Covid climate, ready to go and available for all five Tests in Australia. I think we ticked that box - but England selection is not in the hands of players. "It is in those of people who have to make choices based on conditions and the balance of the team and our job now with four matches to go is to be ready for the next [Test]. Although he stated that he would not be kicking up the ‘stink’ and realises that this series is ‘a marathon and not a sprint’. He argued that realistically no seamer will play all five Test matches and he will be raring to go whenever he gets a chance next time around. Broad's comments are in the context of his 2020 interview, where he threw a fit in frustration for not being selected to play in the series. "There is no time to feel sorry for ourselves, dwell on not batting, bowling, or catching very well. We know that's the case." "What we mustn't do is carry negatives with us for the next month. We've done that on Ashes tours past and consistently lost. We must pretend it's 0-0 in a four-match series and go again.”

BBL 11 | Watch Afghan Qais Ahmad’s socially distanced celebration for Melbourne Stars

Qais Ahmad of Afghanistan is playing his second game in the Big Bash League 2021 and is still not allowed to come in touch with the other nine players of the playing XI apart from Andre Russell, who has also travelled with the Afghan from Dubai where both were part of the recently concluded T10 tournament. Both Ahmad and Russell are part of Melbourne Stars. So after Qais picked his first wicket as he bowled Sydney Thunder’s Matthew Gilkes round his legs in only his second over, the 21-year-old couldn’t celebrate by high fiving his teammates and therefore created a unique celebration which was praised on Twitter. In the tweet done by Channel 7, the official broadcaster of the league, Ahmad is seen giving in the air high fives. Few people couldn’t understand the reason and asked why Ahmad, who could play in the XI was not allowed to be in touch with the players on the field. The reason for that has been given as the number of days in self-quarantine after their return from Dubai. This means that these two players, Ahmad and Russell would not be allowed to touch other players for the first two games. In the match, both Russell and Qais bowled four overs each. While Qais picked two wickets he also held on to catch. As far as the match is concerned, the Thunder batting first have set a target of 152 for the Stars to chase.

LPL 2021 | Chandimal’s lone ranger not enough as Colombo suffer narrowest defeat in league’s history

It was a case of so close and yet so far for the Colombo Stars as they suffered a 1 run defeat against Dambulla Giants in the Lanka Premier League 2021. This is now the narrowest margin of defeat by runs in the league’s two-season history. Colombo’s Dinesh Chandimal, who probably played the innings of the season so far, scoring an unbeaten 65 off just 40 balls, when only one other batter was able to get onto the double figures, was the star of the game but finished on the losing side. When Chandimal walked in to bat, Stars’ skipper Dhananjaya de Silva was batting on 15 off 16 balls and the team was struggling at 38-4, needing 101 from 73 balls with the Giants’ spinners tightening the grip ever so effectively. The experienced and most reliable duo then started building the partnership to chase down 139. Having added 32 off 26 balls, the partnership was broken by a brilliant catch at the boundary ropes from Chamika Karunaratne off the bowling of Tharindu Ratnayake. Chandimal though started teeing off just after the fall of that wicket even as wickets kept falling from the other end. He completed his 25th T20 fifty on the way and almost got his team to a win. From 52 needed off 24 balls, it was only the brilliance of the 32-year old that he brought down the target to 13 off the last over even as the 18th over by Imran Tahir brought only four runs. In the last over too, he started well by hitting a four of the first ball, with 8 needed from four balls, Dushmantha Chameera got out and now eight runs were required off the three balls, Chandimal played a dot and the target came to 8 off two, before two runs were taken off the penultimate ball to bring the equation to a heroic requirement, six off the last ball to win. The final ball was a length ball, slightly rising, but there to be hit. However, Chandimal had already shifted towards the offside, but he controlled himself, swivelled on one foot and then raised it over the fine-leg boundary only to find it falling just a few yards short of the ropes and going for a four. Chandimal was on his knees and then fell flat on the ground as all his efforts has come to zero as his team remained bottom of the table after the one-run loss. Earlier in the evening, after winning the toss and deciding to bat first, the team from Dambulla had a good start, but couldn’t relay convert it. At the start of the innings, they were 48 without loss in the first five overs. But once they lost both openers in Phil Salt and Nisroshan Dickwella in quick succession, the wickets just kept falling. In the end, they could only get up to 138-9 in 20 overs. Dickwella top-scored for Stars with 30 off 16 balls. Experienced Jeffrey Vandersay picked up three wickets with his leg spinners while another leggie Seekuge Prasanna picked two wickets as well. West Indian import for Stars, Ravi Rampaul, who was taken for cleaners early on, also came back well and picked three wickets.