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Justin Langer Looking To Extend Contract After Getting Full Support From Players

Justin Langer looking to extend contract after getting 'full support' from players

Australia coach Justin Langer had come under scrutiny after there were reports of a dressing room rift earlier this year. But the former left-handed batsman has now said that he has “full support” from the players and would like to extend his contract after the Ashes which is scheduled to begin in December.

"Yeah, I do" when he was asked whether he had the support from the players. “It's been an incredibly humbling experience," he added while talking to Sydney Daily Telegraph.

"My experience in life is that often in the most humbling periods are the best periods for learning and growing and that's certainly the case for me and I'm sure you can feel it already within the team."

Langer also mentioned about the chats he had with the two skippers, Tim Paine and Aaron Finch and also with Pat Cummins and insisted that the talks led to a greater level of trust.

"They were honest, they were open and I really respect and admire the guys for that. It's actually led to a greater level of trust believe it or not."

Australia are presently in UAE for the World T20 2021 and began the campaign with a win against South Africa by 5 wickets in Abu Dhabi. Despite chasing a small target of 119 runs, the Australian batters had to put up a fight to clinch the victory.

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T20 World Cup | It's Pakistan's international experience vs India's individual familiarity of UAE

Team India are favourites in the T20 World Cup is a well-established fact and both the fans and experts deemed them the team to beat citing tier valuable experience of the conditions present in the UAE where they are scheduled to play most of their games. However, if their experience will be compared to their arch-rivals Pakistan, whom they will face in their tournament opener, they are well below on the list of teams to have played T20 internationals in the country. Among the Test-playing nations, India are the only side that have not played any international T20 games in the UAE while Pakistan are the most experienced international side in these conditions with having played as many as 36 games. However, although India, as a team, have not played any T20 international games in the UAE, the amount of experience they have had at the individuals level having played one and a half season of the Indian Premier League can’t be discounted one bit. Both India and Pakistan are firm favourites to qualify for the semi-finals of the tournament from Group 2 but Team India are the best team on paper to win the tournament, in the eyes of experts.

T20 World Cup | Watch Lahiru Kumara, Liton Das exchange heated words, Twitter faults the bowler

The scenes got ugly as soon as Liton das, Bangladesh opening batter was caught at mid-off of the bowling of Sri Lanka’s Lahiru Kumara. Kumara, who had previously thrown a ball at the other opener Mohammad Naim Shiekh was fired up after the ball was caught by his skipper Dasun Shanaka. The ball was well hit and it was just a matter of meters in terms of elevation to take it over mid-off, but the send-off that Kumara tried to give to Das, who was walking back to the pavilion, got the batter enraged and some words were exchanged between the team, the heat was so much that Liton even raised his bat towards the bowler. Senior players calmed things down as umpires also came in between and took Liton away. Twitter was not at all impressed with the behaviour of the Sri Lankan pacer as many cricket experts and fans termed it unnecessary for him to give such a send-off. As far as the game is concerned, Bangladesh, even after losing the wickets of Das and Shakib Al Hasan, managed to get to 93-2 in the 13th over, batting first at Sharjah.

T20 World Cup | IND vs PAK: Kohli, Rohit focus on getting basics right, Rahul sees 'huge' opportunity

As the euphoria among fans of both sides is set to reach its peak ahead of tonight’s game, Indian top players are keener to downplay the magnanimity of the occasion and focused on getting the “basics” right. Captain Virat Kohli has reiterated that the game doesn’t understand emotions flowing from the fans of either side and it just comes down to hard work and who gets the fundamentals of the game right. His deputy Rohit Sharma accepted Pakistan as a big challenge to face in the first game of the tournament but he also highlighted that the game will be decided only on the basis of the quality of cricket they play. His partner at the top, KL Rahul saw the game as “another big opportunity” for him and the tournament “a huge opportunity” for the men in blue to win the global tournament after coming so close and missing out on numerous occasions in the recent past. The trio of Rahul, Rohit and Kohli will determine the dominance or struggle of India in the tournament. Of all three, Rahul has been in the most devastating form with the bat and the team would bank on him to come in top gear with the bat against an impressive Pakistan bowling lineup in Dubai on a Sunday night.

T20 World Cup | SL vs BAN: Pacer Binura Fernando in for Theekshana, Bangladesh play spinner Nasum for Taskin

It was a totally contrasting approach by Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as they revealed their playing XI in their first-ever Super 12 game at Sharjah. Dasun Shanaka, the skipper of Sri Lanka after winning the toss, chose to bowl first and said that Maheesh Theekshana, the mystery spinner was out of the playing XI due to a side niggle. In place of Theekshana, the Sri Lankan side played a tall left-arm pacer Binusra Fernando, who would be playing his first game in the World Cup. While Sri Lanka have previously played at the venue, but on the other hand, Bangladesh, who are coming in from Oman, which had lively wickets and helped their pacers, decided to omit their prime pacer Taskin Ahmed for a left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed, who would be playing his first World Cup game. The decisions show that both the teams have gone into the game with totally different approaches as Bangladesh are banking on their spin to come good and were happy to bat first, Sri Lanka chose to bat second, meaning they are trusting their pace bowlers to restrict Bangladesh under a low total. This game is also a heavy clash because two South African coaches in Sri Lanka’s Micky Arthur and Bangladesh’s Russell Domingo are up against each other in a tactical battle.