News Analysis India

Tag: T20 World Cup

  • Axe on Ishan Kishan worrying sign for India

    Express News Service

    CHENNAI: Just moments after Mumbai Indians suffered a comprehensive defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday, Virat Kohli put an arm around Ishan Kishan’s shoulder. He then offered a few consoling words to the sobbing youngster with the gaze of the prying television cameras for company.

    Kishan had cut a disconsolate figure for a majority of Mumbai’s innings that day, following another low score with the bat. He, perhaps, knew what was coming: an exclusion from the playing XI for Mumbai’s encounter against Punjab Kings on Tuesday.

    Since the resumption of the IPL in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the 23-year-old has been having his travails in a below-par middle-order that is searching desperately for runs and confidence. Scores of 11, 14 and 9 from Kishan’s blade have been underwhelming of course, and such returns tend to go unpunished only when your team is winning. That luxury isn’t available to Mumbai at the moment, given that they have won just one game since landing in the Middle East. The rest of the middle-order – comprising Suryakumar Yadav, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya and Hardik Pandya — isn’t exactly coming up with earth-shattering performances either, but the axe was always likely to fall on the Jharkhand left-hander first. In eight matches this IPL, which includes the India leg, he is averaging a paltry 13.37 with just 107 runs in eight games. It is pertinent to note that Kishan was dropped after the first five games in India too.

    While a few games without runs need not necessarily be judged harshly, the upcoming T20 World Cup – with Kishan part of the 15-member India squad — dictates the current situation. In a team where there is no dearth of competition for places, it is perhaps inevitable that every innings will be viewed with a microscopic lens. While the squad was announced on September 8, the International Cricket Council (ICC) allows for further changes to be made until October 10. The changes need not be necessitated by injuries only, with selectors allowed to revise their assessments qualitatively.

    It is understood that the Indian selectors don’t deem it necessary to make any changes, but the possibility of another contender making a strong case in the coming days is likely to keep Kishan on tenterhooks. The southpaw must be even more frustrated by his present run considering the purple patch that he had hit in the UAE last season. Having not started the season as first choice, he forced his way into the team and made one of the middle-order spots his own by sheer weight of runs — ending the campaign as the fifth highest run-getter with 516 runs at an average of 57.33.

    What Kishan’s dropping has done is also give a gentle nudge to Suryakumar. The 31-year-old is averaging 17.18 this season and must be looking over his shoulder at the present moment. On Tuesday, he worryingly fell for a first-ball duck, bamboozled by a Ravi Bishnoi googly. Such a build-up is far from ideal for India’s lofty aspirations at the T20 World Cup. Both Surya and Ishan are considered X-factors in the shortest format and allow India to have the kind of free-flowing approach that they desperately need to match up to the likes of England and West Indies. With a few games still left in the IPL, Kohli & Co will be casting a keen eye on how Surya and Ishan fare.

  • IPL in UAE will level playing field for T20 World Cup: RCB all-rounder Glenn Maxwell

    By PTI

    DUBAI: Star Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell believes having the Indian Premier League in the UAE will level the playing field “a fair bit” in the T20 World Cup to be held at the same venue next month.

    The IPL will resume on September 19 in the UAE after being suspended in May due to the second wave of COVID-19 in India, which led to multiple cases inside its bio-bubble.

    It will be followed by the T20 World Cup from October 17.

    “The tournament being in UAE probably levels the playing field a little bit,” Maxwell, who plays for Royal Challenger Bangalore in the IPL, told ‘icc-cricket.com’.

    “Probably makes it a little bit easier for there not to be as much of a home ground advantage. For the IPL to be there to have a lot of international players that are potentially going to be in that World Cup over there playing, I think it’s probably levelled the playing field a fair bit.”

    Australia’s top players, including Steve Smith, David Warner, Aaron Finch and Pat Cummins, have not competed in the last few months and will be back in action at the IPL.

    Maxwell said the IPL stint will help the preparation of the Australian players.

    “The fact we’ve got a lot of guys going over for the IPL as a preparation, get a few games in those conditions, it’s going to do wonders for our batters,” he said.

    “Our bowlers are going to be up and firing by the time the tournament starts. I can assure you everyone is looking forward to hitting the ground running over there.”

    Australia will have to battle it out against defending champions West Indies, world number one England and South Africa in a tough group in the Super 12 stage.

    With their key players missing, Australia suffered 1-5 series losses against the West Indies and Bangladesh but Maxwell has no doubts they’ll manage a better performance at the big competition.

    Talking about Australia’s chances at the World Cup, Maxwell said: “I think they’re very good. When this team comes together, I think we’ll slip straight back into us being in a great position.

    “We’re all looking forward to it. You look through our line-up, we’ve got a team full of match winners and guys that on their day can take the game away from the opposition.”

    Asked about the draw in the T20 World Cup, Maxwell said: “There are no weak teams in this World Cup and we know that. We know we’ve also got a very good chance of beating everyone on our day. Both groups are going to be tough, it doesn’t matter.

    “If we play our best, I feel that’s going to be good enough on the day. I think we’ll be focussing solely on what we can do every game and hopefully, that is good enough at the end of the day.”

  • Rajasthan Royals spinner Tabraiz Shamsi looking to pick ‘inside information’ about UAE pitches

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Set to play for the Rajasthan Royals in the second leg of the IPL, South African spinner Tabraiz Shamsi said he is looking to gather some “inside information” about the UAE pitches before he returns to the country for the upcoming T20 World Cup.

    Shamsi, the world no.1 ranked T20I bowler in ICC rankings, will be joining the Royals squad as a replacement for Australian pacer Andrew Tye for the remainder of IPL scheduled to be held in the UAE from September 19.

    “I’m not going to sit here and pretend that I’m not excited about (the IPL). I am very excited. Especially because I’ve never played in Dubai and Abu Dhabi,” Shamsi was quoted as saying by ‘ESPNcricinfo’.

    “The IPL is a different thing. I have played in the past but I was a lot younger and I didn’t get a lot of game time regularly. When you get regular game time, you can showcase what you can do. You can improve,” he added.

    Shamsi had earlier played four IPL matches in which he picked up three wickets for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, who had recruited him as a replacement player during the 2016 season.

    “…I’m really happy I got picked up in the IPL because I’ve never been there and played there. It will be nice if I can play on those pitches and get some inside information and gain some experience; just to be able to pick up some knowledge and information that might help us in the World Cup,” said Shamsi, who has since picked up 45 wickets in 39 T20Is, along with 32 wickets in 27 ODIs for South Africa.

    The 31-year-old left-arm spinner feels South Africa will do well at the T20 World Cup, considering their strong bowling attack. “…I believe we have one of the best bowling attacks in the world. All we need is a bit of game time. I’m not saying that because we’ve won a couple of series back-to-back. The talent in the squad is there,” he said.

    “We might be inexperienced at the international level but it doesn’t mean that we don’t have the skill. We showcased that against a very strong West Indies team, and against Ireland. Nobody here wants to lose and I know the people back home don’t want to see us losing. So we’re pushing it. We just need a bit more time together. The more we play together the better we’re going to get,” he added.

  • CA clears top Australians for IPL return before T20 World Cup

    By PTI

    MELBOURNE: Cricket Australia has cleared the way for the country’s leading players to return to the rescheduled Indian Premier League in the UAE starting next month ahead of the T20 World Cup.

    CA has issued No Objection Certificates for the players to return to the IPL next month, while a planned T20 tri-series with Afghanistan and West Indies may be re-purposed as (T20) World Cup warm-ups, according to a report in cricket.au.com.

    This year’s IPL was halted in May after an outbreak of COVID-19 in India, and about 40 Australian players, coaches, broadcasters and support staff had to spend time in Maldives while international borders were shut, before eventually returning home via a charter flight provided by the BCCI.

    The IPL has since been rescheduled to complete the remaining 36 games in 27 days between September 19 and October 15 in the UAE, finishing just two days before the T20 World Cup begins, which has also been relocated to the region from India.

    CA’s clearance came after the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) confirmed the postponement of a three-match ODI series between the two nations originally planned to be held in India in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup, the report said.

    A mooted T20 tri-series also involving the West Indies was due to form an important part of the World Cup preparations for all three squads, and Afghanistan authorities are continuing efforts to secure a venue to host it.

    With the initial group stages of the T20 World Cup expected to be played primarily in Oman, the UAE venues could be free to host the matches between the end of the IPL and the start of the World Cup’s Super 12 stage, expected to begin on October 23.

    Seven players who participated in the initial stage of this year’s IPL — David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson and Daniel Sams — are now expected to return to the lucrative T20 league.

    Pat Cummins has said he will miss the IPL reboot due the impending birth of his first child but has committed to Australia’s T20 World Cup tilt.

    Josh Hazlewood, Riley Meredith, Dan Christian, Moises Henriques, Mitch Marsh, Jason Behrendorff, Adam Zampa, Andrew Tye, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Chris Lynn, Ben Cutting and Josh Philippe are the other players that hold IPL deals.

    Hazlewood, Marsh and Philippe had opted out of the first stage of the IPL tournament that was held in India, but are eligible to return to the reschedule closing stages.

    It will also be the second successive season in which top players will miss the opening rounds of Australia’s domestic competitions to participate in the IPL.

    Australia’s men’s domestic summer is due to begin with a Marsh One-Day Cup game on September 11, meaning any players heading to the IPL and subsequent T20 World Cup will not feature at home before the Test summer begins against Afghanistan from November 27.