T20 World Cup | Obed McCoy injured and ruled out, West Indies add Jason Holder to squad

Quinton de Kock issues statement and apology after racism controversy

South African batsman Quinton de Kock has issued a statement of apology to his teammates and fans after he opted out of the Proteas’ game against West Indies for not choosing to take the knee. He said that he never wanted to make himself an issue and that he understands his 'responsibility' of setting up a good example. “I would like to start by saying sorry to my teammates, and the fans back home. I never ever wanted to make this a Quinton issue. I understand the importance of standing against racism, and I also understand the responsibility of us as players to set an example,” de Kock said in a statement released by Cricket South Africa. He also tried to clarify his stand of not taking the knee to the opponent of that game—West Indies, who have been very vocal about those gestures in solidarity with the fight against racism. He said that his decision to rule himself out of the game due to deciding against the gesture was not to 'disrespect' them. He reiterated his support in the fight against racism and outlined his belonging saying that he belongs to a mixed family where his own mom was black and hence it can’t be labelled against him that he doesn’t understand the importance of the fight against racial discrimination. He said that earlier he and his teammates had the choice of making gestures on the ground and he never made public his own emotions and views about it. He said that he finds it baffling that a gesture can prove his credential and commitment against racism. He said that he could have taken a knee and lied about the motives but instead he chose to keep his emotions check and expressed confidence that his mates and people who have played with him know about his personality and thought process.

T20 World Cup | AUS vs SL: Starc limps off from nets, but Australia not concerned over his fitness

Mitchell Starc had limped off from training session on Tuesday night, but Australia are not “concerned” over his fitness and availability for today’s game against Sri Lanka. As per an Associated Press article report, Starc copped a blow in his knee in his followthrough while bowling in the net. He walked off the session in serious discomfort but did not need any assistance in walking. However, he returned to the nets on Wednesday, October 27, a day before an important clash against Sri Lanka, who smashed Bangladesh in their first game of the Super 12 stage. Notably, Starc was on a long break from international cricket and did not feature in any cricket matches after the fourth Test against India at the start of this year. He along with Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood forms a trio of pace bowlers for Australia to challenge oppositions’ batting lineups and if Starc gets unfit for the next game, it can complicate matters for the team management. Australia have made an impressive start to the tournament having defeated South Africa in a close contest. They are in Group 1 which has been deemed a “group of death” by some experts for the number of evenly-matched sides in it and they would not want to lose the momentum with any untoward result against Sri Lanka who have shown enough form and firepower in the tournament so far.

T20 World Cup | Welcome sign for Team India as Hardik Pandya resumes bowling in nets

In a welcome sign for the men in blue who were smashed to all parts of the ground in the last game against Pakistan, Hardik Pandya showed signs of coming closer to regaining bowling fitness. He bowled in the nets under the watchful eyes of the head coach Ravi Shastri and mentor MS Dhoni on Wednesday, PTI reported. Hardik went through usual fitness drills including short sprints conducted by the strength and conditioning coach Soham Desai and physio Nitin Patel followed by a 20 minute-long bowling spell to Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shardul Thakur in the nets, the report added. Hardik had also injured his shoulder in the last game and did not take the field while India were defending a total of 151 runs. He was taken for scans and the return to nets and bowling all but rule out his overall unavailability from the next game against the Blackcaps. Hardik’s return to bowling will give the team management the sixth bowling option which they clearly lacked in the face of an onslaught by the Pakistan openers. There has been a school of thought that doesn’t rate Hardik highly as a specialist batsman on current form and argued his selection against Ishan Kishan. Hardik has been in the middle of patchy form with the bat and the lack of bowling fitness made his place questionable in the Indian team. He struggled through the entire course of the Indian Premier League, India’s tour of Sri Lanka but Virat Kohli so far has overlooked the current form and has chosen to throw his weight behind him based on his credentials and track record.

T20 World Cup | AUS vs SL: Ahead of big England clash, buoyant Sri Lanka are Australia's litmus test

Before the T20 World Cup 2021, Australia might have thought that the clash against Sri Lanka would be one of the easier affairs considering that other teams in their group are South Africa, defending champions and runners up of the last World Cup, West Indies and England respectively. But as things have developed over the two weeks in the competition, Sri Lanka has turned out to be one of those teams which are not dependent on a single or two individuals and hence more dangerous than most teams in the tournament. We can beat anyone on our day The Sri Lankan coach Micky Arthur is confident that on their day his team can beat anyone, and Australia is no different. He also said that the pressure would be on the Australians as Sri Lanka is in a journey of improvement and not in a race of points. “For us, it is about us improving all the time and every time we go out there, we are going there for improvement and we are improving. For us it’s about a journey at the moment, it’s not a sprint,” said Arthur in the pre-match press conference. “The qualifiers were tough, there was a lot of pressure on us, but now the pressure is reversed because we come into this phase with nothing to lose. We are playing good cricket, the players are very clear on their roles and we are confident that we can beat anybody on our day,” Arthur added further. While he is right in saying that the Lankans could beat anyone on their day and given the fact that they have two quality spinners in Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana, who would be fit for this game, and with Charith Asalanaka able to rotate his arm over against the left-handers, the Sri Lankans would look to give proper 10 overs of spin at the Dubai wicket to the Aussies. Speaking about Maheesh’s availability, who missed the last game due to a niggle, Arthur said, “Yes, Maheesh will be playing tomorrow. We rested him from training yesterday and tomorrow we will warm him up and if everything goes well, he would be playing tomorrow.” Smith-Maxwell hold key Australia are also aware of the fact that they cannot take the Lnakns easily who haven’t lost any game since they have landed in the middle east so far. In the pre-match press conference, wicketkeeper batter Mathew Wade underscored the importance of batters Steven Smith and Glenn Maxwell in negotiating spin. “I think we will face up to 12 overs of spin tomorrow and Smith and Maxwell are the kinds of guys that are going to be really important to negotiate that tomorrow. Hopefully, they can bat through the middle overs and then at the backend, we can do more of what we did in the last game,” said Wade. He is quite right in his analysis given the fact that even while chasing a minimal 119 against South Africa, the Australians took the game way too deep and if it wasn’t for some calmness by Smith, who also eventually departed, but if it wasn’t for his calmness the match would have been even closer. Maxwell with his reverse sweeps could very well counter spin as he has done in the past too. Thus these two will be key to Australia’s success against Sri Lanka. Australia vs Sri Lanka: Match Details Match Number - 22 Date and Time: October 27, 2021, 03:30 pm IST, 02:00 pm Local, 10:00 am GMT Venue: Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Broadcast and Livestream: Star Sports and Hotstar Pitch Report The pitch at UAE as per the matches played over there so far has seemed to be behaving well in the first half, but with dew coming in the second half, the ball is skidding. Since it is a 06:00 pm start in this game, toss would be very crucial and the team winning the toss would look to field first. Weather Forecast The temperature at the stadium will fall from 30-degree Celsius at 06:00 pm to 28-degree Celsius by 09:00 pm and similarly, the humidity will increase from 55% to 65% meaning that there is a sure shot chance of dew and hence toss is going to play a huge role. Team News Australia Since Australia won their game against South Africa in the opening encounter, there is hardly any chance of changing the playing XI. But certain publications have cast doubt over Mitchell Starc being fully fit and in that case, there might be a change and Kane Richardson might come into play. Probable XI Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steven Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wk), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc/ Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood Sri Lanka As far as Sri Lanka are concerned, it has already been made clear that Theekshana would be back for this game and hence Binura Fernando, who replaced him in the previous match, will naturally go out. Probable XI Kusal Perera (wk), Pathum Nissanka, Charith Asalanka, Avishka Fernando, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dasun Shanaka (c), Wanindu Hasaranga, Chamika Karunaratne, Dushmantha Chameera, Maheesh Theekshana, Lahiru Kumara CE XI Fantasy team Wicketkeeper Kusal Perera Batters Charith Asalanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Steven Smith All-rounders Wanindu Hasaranga, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell Bowlers Maheesh Theekshana, Lahiru Kumara, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood Vice-Captain Wanindu Hasaranga Captain Glenn Maxwell