Rohit Sharma likely to travel to Australia; will surely play T20, Test series

Virat Kohli likely to miss last two tests against Australia

India captain Virat Kohli is expected to miss the last two Tests of the upcoming four-match Test series against Australia starting December 17, as per a PTI report. Virat Kohli is expecting his first child in January 20121 and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) understands that the skipper will opt for paternity leave to be with his wife, actor Anushka Sharma. There is no confirmation regarding the schedule of Virat Kohli’s departure from Australia but BCCI expects that Kohli will leave the series midway after the completion of first two Tests scheduled to be played in Adelaide and Melbourne, PTI report added. “The BCCI has always believed that family is a priority. In case, the skipper decides on availing paternity break, he will then be available only for the first two Test matches,” PTI quoted an unnamed BCCI source as saying. Shedding light on the complications for cricketers amid coronavirus pandemic, a BCCI source said PTI that in normal circumstances, Kohli would have flown back home for the delivery of his child and then a return flight to Australia would have made him available for the fourth and the last test of the series scheduled to start on January 15 in Brisbane. But, in these times, due to covid-19 and subsequent biosecure protocols, that would not be a viable option for both Kohli and the team.

IPL 2020: RCB think-tank open up on crucial selection calls against Sunrisers

After the Royal Challengers Bangalore crashed out of the tournament last night against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, the head of cricket operations, Mike Hesson and the head coach Simon Catich addressed the media on the outlook of the team’s performance in IPL 2020. OneCricket asked the duo about the contentious decision to drop Josh Philippe and bringing an out of form Aaron Finch who has really looked out of sorts this season and also Moeen Ali instead of bringing back Ishrur Udana who has shown his worth in the team this year. “Once we made the decision to open with Virat, that changed the whole dynamic of the potential batting order. We discussed if the young Josh would bat at number three or Moeen Ali will bat at that position looking at the matchups with the Sunrisers bowling attack. Fall of wickets at wrong times did not help the issue as the team had planned for Moeen to bat at number three but only if the wickets had fallen at the backend or after the end of the first powerplay,” RCB head coach Simon Catich said. On the question of Why Ishuru Udana, coach Catich heaped a lot of praise on the Sri Lankan left-arm pacer and said that he had provided the team with much-needed depth in the bowling department. However, he added that the decision to include Adam Zampa was purely based on the conditions and the type of pitch that was available for the last game as the think tank believed there will be a lot more purchase for spinners than a pacer and hence Zmapa made the cut above Udana.

Gautam Gambhir asks Virat Kohli to put his hands up and own failures of RCB

Former Indian Opener and one of the most successful captains in the history of the Indian Premier League, Gautam Gambhir has called for Virat Kohli’s removal from the captaincy of the Royal Challengers Bangalore. He made his comments on the ESPNcricinfo post-match show after yet another flop show from him with both bat and as a captain as the RCB went crashing out of the tournament after the loss in the eliminator against the Sunrisers Hyderabad. “100%, because the problem is about accountability. Eight years into the tournament [without a trophy], eight years is a long time. Tell me any other captain…forget about the captain, tell me any other player who would have got eight years and wouldn’t have won the title and would have still continued with it. So it has to be accountability. A captain needs to take accountability,” Gambhir said in a live interaction on ESPNCricinfo. Gambhir directly questioned the reluctance of Kohli in admitting his failure as the leader of the side. He urged Kohli to put his stand up and show some guts like a good leader by accepting his failures in not winning the IPL title in the eight long years of his captaincy stint with the RCB. Gambhir was no short of criticising the freehand Kohli has been getting from the RCB management as he asked about the fate of other captains such as Ravichandran Ashwin who was sacked as the captain of the side after two seasons of failure for the Kings XI Punjab franchise. Gautam Gambhir has been one of the greatest captains of the IPL and had led the Kolkata Knight Riders to triumphs in the 2012 and 2014 season. The Royal Challengers Bangalore could not get it right on the big night against the Sunrisers and were proved not good enough, especially with the bat--their strongest suit when all were at stake for the team and its legacy in the history of the league.

South Africa call up Glenton Stuurman for series against England

South Africa has announced a full strength to take on England in a home series after a long time away from the field. The Proteas have tried to fill in a perfect balance of experienced and young players in the white-ball squads to challenge the Eoin Morgan-led English side. With an eye on future of South African cricket, selectors have backed a 28-year-old Glenton Stuurman with a place in the 21-member-squad for the series scheduled to kick off from November 27. Stuurman, a right-arm medium-pace bowler has taken 55 wickets from 43 matches in South Africa’s domestic circuit. He also has 178 first-class wickets against his name from a 45 game long career. Along with Sturrnamn, selectors have also backed Junior Dala to make a comeback into the Proteas squad after a long lay off due to injury. The selection committee has also gone in with the group of players comprising former captain Faf du Plessis, Kagiso Rabada, David Miller, and Temba Bavuma along with the captain Quinton de Kock for an all-important series against England. Both de Kock and du Plessis have been in great form off late and the Proteas will hope for their longer streak of runs against England. South Africa squad for England series Quinton de Kock (c), Temba Bavuma, Junior Dala, Faf du Plessis, Bjorn Fortuin, Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Janneman Malan, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lutho Sipamla, Jon-Jon Smuts, Glenton Stuurman, Pite van Biljon, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne.