CricTalk

Krunal Pandya Strives To Attain Consistency Like Virat Kohli Against West Indies  All-rounder Krunal Pandya has earned a call-up for the upcoming three-match T20I series against West Indies starting from August 3. The young cricketer hopes to attain consistency like his skipper Virat Kohli in the forthcoming tour. Krunal eager to learn Kohli Pandya, who has played 11 T20I matches for India has been in stellar form in the recently concluded series between India A, and West Indies A. He has been among the wickets and has also scored runs with the bat which will strengthen India’s batting. Since making his debut for Mumbai Indians in the IPL, Krunal Pandya has taken rapid strides making his international debut in the T20Is. So far, the Baroda all-rounder has claimed 11 wickets and scored 70 runs so far in his international career. Krunal Pandya will aim to cement his playing in the playing XI and be in the good books of the management for a place in the ODI set up.

MS Dhoni Not To Retire Until Rishabh Pant Gets Well Groomed – Reports  It is reported that MS Dhoni is asked not to retire by the team management until rookie wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant gets well trained. Pant is still a novice at the International level and he still needs to learn a lot. On the other hand, it was earlier speculated that Dhoni would soon hang his boots from the white ball format. However, Dhoni has himself put his retirement on hold and he made himself unavailable for selection for the West Indies tour. In fact, Dhoni has taken a two months break to join the paramilitary force. Dhoni’s future? On the other hand, Rishabh Pant has grabbed his opportunities with both hands in the Test format. However, he is yet to deliver the goods in the white-ball format. In fact, Pant’s temperament to bat with patience is yet to be tested as the southpaw can throw away his wicket despite a good start. “Dhoni knows what his role and position is. All the

MS Dhoni Should Continue If He Is 100 Percent Fit, Says Mohammad Azharuddin  There has been a lot of speculations going around with the retirements of former India skipper MS Dhoni following the ICC World Cup 2019. The speculations are on an all-time high after the veteran cricketer made himself unavailable for the upcoming series against West Indies. But Mohammad Azharuddin feels Dhoni should continue to play if he is 100 percent fit and has the drive within himself to play. Dhoni should play if he is fit: Azharuddin MS Dhoni has struggled throughout the World Cup failing to lead the middle-order. He has been slow scoring at a strike-rate of below 100 putting pressure on the non-strikers which has hurt India badly. Moreover, reports emerged that the selectors are not considering him as the first choice anymore and if he doesn’t bow out gracefully, the selection panel might axe him. Recently, the cricketer from Jharkhand made himself unavailable for the West Indies

Watch: Ravichandran Ashwin Comes Up With Another Bizarre Action  Ravichandran Ashwin’s knack of coming up with variations in order to do well in T20s, is fast getting out of hands. At first, he just tried his hands at bowling different variations just like others do. However, he is now coming up with different actions to get the work done on the field. In the first game of the ongoing Tamil Nadu Premier League, the Dindigul Dragons skipper came up with a bizarre piece of bowling action. And while many thought it was just a one-off, he left everyone mighty amused with even more bizarre piece of action against Madurai Panthers on Monday. Just like the last game, Ashwin tried it in the very final over of the innings. But unlike the last time when the result was a wide, he managed to pick up a wicket this time. On the second last-ball of the match, Ashwin made Kiran Akash  his victim. The India off-spinner had the ball right behind his back, completely hiding it from th

West Indies vs India: West Indies Include Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard For The T20Is  West Indies have included veteran Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard in their 14-member squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series against India. The team led by Carlos Brathwaite has also seen the return of injured Andre Russell, who bowed out of the ICC World Cup 2019. However, Chris Gayle has made himself unavailable for the series and will play in the Global T20 Canada. Narine, Pollard return to West Indies squad Sunil Narine, who last featured for West Indies in 2016 in a T20I has played only match for his country since then. On the other hand, veteran all-rounder Kieron Pollard has also made a return to the side that take on India in the T20Is starting from August 1 in Florida. The star all-rounder Andre Russell, although has found himself in the squad, but will have to clear fitness test to make it to the playing XI. Young wicket-keeper batsman Anthony Bramble has earned a

Lasith Malinga To Retire After First ODI Against Bangladesh  Veteran Sri Lanka bowler Lasith Malinga is set to hang his boots in international cricket after the first ODI of the upcoming three-match series against Bangladesh at home. The ODI would take place in Colombo on July 26. Sri Lanka captain Dimuth Karunaratne confirmed the news in a press conference on July 22. Lasith Malinga’s retirement was very much on the cards. During the tour of South Africa earlier this year, he had hinted that he would retire at the end of the World Cup. But perhaps the temptation of bowing out in front of the home crowd made him delay his retirement for a while. “He is going to play the first match. After that he is retiring. That’s what he said to me. I don’t know what he said for the selectors but for me he said he is playing only one match,”  Karunaratne said. If Malinga retires after the first ODI, he will bow out as the third-highest wicket taker in the format for Sri Lanka.

ICC Test Championship 2019-21- Full Schedule  The first of its kind, ICC Test Championship will get underway when arch-rivals England and Australia go up against each other in the first Test of the Ashes series starting from August 1 at Edgbaston. The tournament, initiated by International Cricket Council (ICC) to revive Test cricket will run for two years till June 2021. ICC Test Championship to kickoff with Ashes With the bilateral series losing its craze among the fans, ICC introduced the championship to make it more engaging for the fans. The apex body felt that the introduction of a tournament will also give meaning to the bilateral series as the points accumulated from those matches will help them secure a place in the final at the end of two years. Moreover, it will also give a World champions much like the other two formats. The nine top-ranked Test team will play six series each — three at home and three away — against mutually chosen opponents over t

Top 10 Teams With Most Sixes In T20 Internationals  The shortest format of the game requires the team to hit the ground running and hit a good number of boundaries and sixes. In fact, the T20 format is the most unpredictable form of the game and the match can change in a matter of deliveries. Thus, the teams which deal more in boundaries in the shortest version always has its wood on the other team. We have seen that the batsmen have become innovative in finding different ways of scoring sixes. The bats have become better and even the edges sometimes carry all the way over the fence. We at Cricket Addictor takes a look at top ten teams with most sixes in the T20 Internationals. Here are the top ten teams with most sixes in T20 Internationals: 10. Bangladesh – 345 Bangladesh has done well in the shortest format of the game. The Tigers have scored 345 sixes in the 85 T20I matches. The Men in Green have come up with consistent performances in the shortest

Harbhajan Singh Brutally Taunts Pakistan After Chandrayaan-2 Launch Veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh could not resist taking a sly dig at Pakistan after India’s moon mission Chandrayaan 2 lifted off from its launch pad on Monday. India’s space scientists had a narrow one-minute window for their second attempt at launching the moon mission today, a week after the mission was aborted 56 minutes before lift-off. But history was made as everything went according to plan. Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) heavy lift rocket – the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark III (GSLV-Markk 3) – carried the 3,850 kg Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft. The GSLV Mark 3 – ISRO’s largest and most powerful rocket – is 44 metres long or as tall as a 15-storey building. The 20-hour countdown for the launch of the Rs. 1,000-crore mission began Sunday evening at 6.43 pm. “I am extremely happy to announce that GSLV Mark 3 successfully injected the Chandrayaan 2 into orbit… It is the be

Rishabh Pant Was Picked As A Left-hander, Says MSK Prasad  The selection of Rishabh Pant in place of injured Shikhar Dhawan in the ICC World Cup 2019 squad created a lot of stir among the fans and former cricketers. However, chairman of the selection committee, MSK Prasad has clarified that Pant came into the team solely as a left-handed batsman and not as an opener or a middle-order batter. MSK Prasad clarifies on Pant’s selection India bowed out of the semifinals of the ICC World Cup 2019 losing to New Zealand by 18 runs. Despite their premature outing, Rishabh Pant impressed in whatever limited opportunities came his way. He batted at four. The young wicket-keeper batsman scored 116 runs from four games with the highest score of 48 runs against Bangladesh. Meanwhile, Pant came into the playing XI against England after coming into the squad in place of Shikhar Dhawan who copped up a finger blow against Australia. The selection of Rishabh Pant in place of an

End Of Road For MS Dhoni? MSK Prasad Says Rishabh Pant Will Get Maximum Opportunity  India’s chief selector MSK Prasad has insisted the team-management has a plan in place for MS Dhoni and the next World Cup. Just a few days ago, speculations were rife that the former India skipper would retire from international cricket in the wake of the latest criticism at the World Cup. However, the World Cup-winning skipper decided against it. But at the same time, he made things easier for the selectors by making himself unavailable for the limited-overs matches against West Indies. Instead of touring West Indies, MS Dhoni decided to serve his paramilitary regiment for a couple of months. Thus, he did not feature in the ODI and the T20I squad for the upcoming tour. The selectors, on Sunday, announced the squad for the full-fledged series and Rishabh Pant was the main wicketkeeper across all the squads. MSK Prasad made it clear that MS Dhoni was unavailable. He also said that