Rishabh Pant drops catches, Twitter scolds him while remembering Wriddhiman Saha

Sourav Ganguly discharged from hospital, thanks doctors and others who waited for his recovery

In a big relief to his family and fans, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has been discharged from the Woodlands Hospital in Kolkata, where he was admitted after complaining of chest pain. Ganguly had suffered a mild cardiac arrest on January 02 and later on undergone angioplasty in the hospital but showed signs of recovery immediately. "Thank you all those who waited all these days. To Woodlands Hospital, a big thank you. Thank you to all the doctors. They say, you come to the hospital to get your life back. Really been that way for me. Am absolutely fine. Hopefully, will be ready to fly soon,” Ganguly said after being discharged from the hospital. Ganguly’s worsening health came at a wrong time for the BCCI when a lot of decisions related to the next IPL, and other cricketing events are pending.

Cricket Australia seeks BCCI's clarification on Brisbane Test

There's no end to the controversy surrounding the venue of the fourth Test match between Australia and India as various conflicting reports are emerging from the tourists' camp as well as from Cricket Australia. As per the latest report by Fox Cricket, the CA has sought clarifications from BCCI over the players' refusal to travel to Brisbane in wake of severe quarantine measures imposed by the Queensland state authorities. Earlier, Indian players were quoted as saying that they were being treated like ‘animals in a zoo’ and that it was a tough time being under strict quarantine when the city outside their bubble lives a relatively free life. India captain Ajinkya Rahane, however, stressed on the fact that the team is not complaining about anything, and that all of their focus remains on the SCG Test. He also said that the decision to play or not play the fourth Test at the Gabba lies in the hands of administrators, and not players. If the team really disagrees from travelling to Brisbane, Cricket Australia will have to fix the SCG, which is hosting the third Test, as the venue of the fourth Test as well.

Inside out | Mayank Agarwal’s technique is a mess, and so is Indian team management

The road to hell is paved with good intentions and by the looks of it, the sentence has come to bite the Indian opener Mayank Agarwal who has been shown the exit door before the third Test at the SCG. The development will surely come as a disappointing one for Agarwal, and rightly so, as he was touted as the number one opener for India in Tests before the tour of Australia started. Some experts went a step ahead and rated him as one of the few batsmen who tick all boxes to become an all-format opener for India. So what happened that left Agarwal on the edge before the MCG Test, and twin failures in the Test actually threw him off the clip before the SCG Test. Agarwal has undergone many transitions in his short international and long domestic career. He first burst onto the scenes with swashbuckling stroke playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, but he could never cement his position in the star-studded batting line up, but more due to his inability to convert explosive starts into substantive innings, and more often not than not was guilty of being over attacking. He was smart enough to understand his undoing, and he went old-school ways to conquer his frailties. He spent time with a personal coach to balance his mental game with stroke playing and paid special attention o not throwing his wicket away playing loose shots. The move paid dividends and Agarwal started rising through the ranks in the domestic circuit to stake a claim in the senior team. His batting temperament paved the way for his entry in the India A team where he kept on piling runs to bang the selection door down. Ironically, it was the same tour of Australia two years back when he was brought in as an emergency replacement after the first two Tests when the team management had enough of Murali Vijay and KL Rahul, and now he faces the axe after same two Tests on the tour of Australia. There are two aspects of Mayank Agarwal’s losing form in Tests and it includes the technical changes he brought in his game and how the team management handled his case. First thing first. On the technical aspect of his failures in the first two Tests, Agarwal has been found wanting on the balls that came back to him, and his lack of awareness about off stump while being worried about ball shaping back to him. In two of the four innings, he was been pinned in front of the stumps, and Cummins has gone through his gate once while Starc found him late on a ball that swung back considerably from the line outside the off stump. He also got a jaffa from Hazlewood on the third morning of the Adelaide Test, but he was caught back in the crease, and he clearly appeared late on the ball. Experts and close watchers of the game had pointed out his higher backlift, and wider stance as reasons behind him coming late towards the ball. A short analytical video on the host broadcaster of Cricket Australia- Channel 7 clearly emphasized the change Agarwal has brought in the game from his last series in Australia where he looked like the batsman who could do no wrong while in the four innings he batted on this tour, he has barely looked like the batsman he eas two years ago. For sure, Agarwal would have made the changes in his batting stance and backlift to bring power in his game to excel in the T20 format and specifically in the IPL. He had scored runs in the Test format, and as per the demands of the current era of cricket, he intended to own the T20 format as well. Notably, he had revealed his intentions of making a special effort to make the IPL 2020 count. One can’t blame Agarwal to be ambitious and trying to ace all formats, but his well-intended tactics to excel in the T20, has been the probable reason behind his downfall in the Tests. Now comes the point of how did the team management handle his case and was he taken care of in terms of giving proper backing and letting him know about the advantages and advantages of a changed batting stance. The management of the team is being done by professions and hence there should be no doubt about the latter, but questions must be raised on he has been handled by the team management in Australia. There are enough shreds of evidence available with respect to other players that establish the callousness of the team management in terms of managing players who start losing their shine after making a grand entry on the big stage. Prithvi Shaw was backed to come good against Pink ball in Adelaide but was dropped just after two failures against high-quality bowling. Yes, he was exposed by the quality of the Australian pacers, and should never have been picked, but the fact he got the backing to come good even with a loose technique in the first Test and then being given up just after one Test begs questions that if the team management is cutting down the length of ropes for players, especially the younger ones. Prithvi Shaw, Karun Nair and now Agarwal have faced this problem with the team management while on other hand the likes of KL Rahul has received a far linger rope from the team management and he was also included in the squad even without playing the domestic first-class cricket and earning his place back. Shaw was replaced by Shubman Gill, who by all means looked more assured in his footwork and looked solid in defence but so was Agarwal on the last tour. What if Shubman Gill loses his patience and keeps edging the ball to slip cordon while attempting to drive without moving his front foot like the way he got out in the first innings at the MCG after a good start. If the yardsticks that were followed to drop Agarwal and Shaw would be followed, Gill too will face the axe after few failures and it will leave the team management with a Frankenstein monster with too many contenders for the opener slot but not enough batsmen in a right frame of mind to bat freely and without the feeling of a cut-throat competition where one edge to slip will work as a sword a career built on the back of years of hard work in domestic cricket. What has happened with Agarwal was an inevitable event with Rohit Sharma returning to the team, but the team management needs to remind itself the story of Murali Vijay that how the policy of horse for courses and continuous chopping and changing ruined his game that once an opener who could leave the balls outside off stump for days kept on edging the ball to slip cordon in pursuit of driving balls so far away from his reach, in real uncharacteristic fashion showing nothing but mental brittleness.

Unstoppable Jamieson gives New Zealand clean sweep over Pakistan and no. 1 rank

New Zealand achieved a perfect ending to their Test home summer by bowling out Pakistan for just 186 and consigning them to an innings and 176-run defeat. The day was always expected to be a tough one for the visitors as Kyle Jamieson had looked threatening on day 3 itself and the likes of Tim Southee and Trent Boult were expected to have an impact at some stage. The first wicket, as expected, was of the night-watchman Mohammad Abbas who nicked one from Boult to wicketkeeper BJ Watling. Surprisingly, Abbas decided to review, only to find out that he indeed got an edge. Then came the most promising partnership of the day, between Abid Ali, the overnight batsman and Azhar Ali. The two played some delightful shots and resisted the Kiwi attack for 86 balls, scoring 29 runs together. But a magnificent one-handed catch from substitute Will Young ended that partnership. Young dived to his right and took a slightly aerial square drive by Abid with his right hand, giving Jamieson his second. He also dismissed Haris Sohail later and Pakistan were 4-down for just 79. However, Azhar Ali was playing really well and Pakistan’s hopes rested on him. Unfortunately, New Zealand, especially Jamieson, adopted a new strategy against him. The tall left-armer came round the wicket and started bowling at Azhar’s ribs. Eventually, the tactic worked as the former Pakistan captain moved towards the off side and fended a ball into the wicketkeeper’s gloves. With Azhar gone, Pakistan were pretty much done and dusted. Captain Mohammad Rizwan received a peach of a delivery as Jamieson got one ball to swing into the right-hander a long way and go through his defences to shatter the stumps. Jamieson eventually ended with 6/48 which, along with 5/69 in his first innings, gave him his first 10-wicket haul in a match. Some late fireworks were provided by Zafar Gohar but they were only dying flickers of a doomed flame. The match ended with him getting out for 37 as New Zealand achieved the top spot in ICC rankings, for the first time in their history. This also meant that they won all their home matches this season. Skipper Kane Williamson won the Man of the Series Award while Jamieson took home the Man of the Match trophy.