The men's T20 World Cup final in Barbados in June marked the start of journeys in opposite directions for the teams involved. Including that match, South Africa have lost five of their last six games in the format. India have won 10 of their last dozen T20Is and tied another. Considering the gutsy cricket the South Africans played to reach their first final in a senior men's World Cup, why have they struggled from there? "I don't know what to put it down to," Reeza Hendricks told a press conference on Wednesday. "But we haven't had most of the players who played in that game. We gave opportunities to new players in the last couple of series. We didn't get the results we wanted, but there were a lot of learnings. Coming against India now is another opportunity. Hopefully we can correct that and get the results we're after." Hendricks spoke from Kingsmead, where South Africa and India will meet on Friday in the first of four T20Is. He has a point about the personnel changes. Or maybe half a point. Of the XI South Africa fielded in the final, only Hendricks, Aiden Markram and Tristan Stubbs played in the series against West Indies in Trinidad in August or against Ireland in Abu Dhabi in September. The South Africans' sole success in those matches was an eight-wicket win over the Irish. They played all of them without World Cup finalists Quinton de Kock, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Tabraiz Shamsi. But Hendricks's argument is less convincing when we consider India's post-World Cup T20Is. Of their XI in the final, just three played in a series in Zimbabwe in July. Seven were involved in a rubber in Sri Lanka in the same month, but only three featured in a home series against Bangladesh in October. And yet their only loss was to Zimbabwe by 13 runs. Significantly, perhaps, six of India's XI in Barbados have since appeared in T20Is. That's double the number of South Africans. Seven members of each squad in the series starting on Friday were in the World Cup final. Four of the South Africans who helped the Test team earn a 2-0 win in Bangladesh last month are in the T20I squad, but any expectation of the visitors arriving under the cloud of New Zealand completing a 3-0 Test whitewash at the Wankhede on Sunday are unfounded. None of the Indians who played in that Test series will be at Kingsmead on Friday, not least because all but one of them are in the squad for the five-Test series in Australia starting on November 22. How can India afford to spread themselves so thinly? There's a clue in a comparison of South Africa's and India's domestic competitions. In the 2023/24 Ranji Trophy, 623 players appeared for 32 teams. In CSA's 2023/24 first-class tournament, 15 teams fielded 268 players. So India have more than double the number of active first-class players than South Africa. That's hardly surprising considering South Africa's total population amounts to only 4.42% of India's. Put differently, there are 22.65 as many people in India than in South Africa. In GDP terms, India's economy is 9.8 times the size of South Africa's. The differences are stark and vast, and they tell us what real depth in everything, including cricket, looks like.

Veteran wicket-keeper batter Wriddhiman Saha has already announced that the 2024-25 Ranji season will be his last. On the sidelines of Bengal's game against Karnataka in Bengaluru, Saha revealed that his original plan was to walk away after last season, but was then persuaded by two people to carry on. "I wasn't going to play this year. But Sourav Ganguly and my wife pushed me to play in Bengal this year," Saha said. "I played in Tripura for two years and then came to Bengal, and I am pushing for the last year. But this season, due to my body condition and injuries, I won't be able to play for the full season. So I chose the most vital format. It will still be tough, but I will play." Saha also confirmed that he is not one of the 1165 Indian players to put their name up for the upcoming mega IPL auction, thus ending a 17-year association with the league that dates back to the inaugural season in 2008. His first-class bow came a year before. Yet, Saha revealed that the decision to bring down the curtains on his long career wasn't difficult at all. "It was very easy for me. I was already prepared that I won't even play this year. I'd been prepared from last year itself that I wasn't going to play this year, but I've been pushed [to play on]. So I couldn't refuse them [his wife, and Ganguly]. When I started from Bengal last year, I played there again and there was an emotional attachment," Saha said. The Siliguri-born cricketer had moved away to play two seasons for Tripura before returning to his home state this season. Reflecting on his international career that includes 40 Tests, Saha said that he was happy to always be a team man. "I could have played better. But I always thought about the team first. If I played a little for myself, which shouldn't happen, then the stats would have been better. "But I played 40 Tests. I played on and off. I had injuries. But I came back. I am happy. I represented India for 17 years. I played in the IPL. I played in Bengal. It was all a good experience," Saha said. "There were a lot of innings where we were going to declare. If I hadn't been out for 3-4 overs... my average is around 30 [29.41], but it could have been 35. But I don't look at the stats. I always played for the team. I did the job I was supposed to do. If I was told to go out there and hit, then I've done that. In that process if I get out, I get out. But I played for the team, always," he added. As for his most memorable moment in his domestic career, he hopes it will arrive this season in the form of qualification for the finals. "I've not been a [Ranji] champion. We won T20 and the one-dayers. We won the Duleep Trophy for two years. Those were good moments. But before I leave, if we qualify for the finals, it would be even better." While Saha has his eyes set on the finals, he admitted that he hasn't thought about life beyond it with respect to remaining associated with the sport. "If I get an offer from another state or Bengal, I will think about it. If some associations think about it, then [yes]. I have been playing cricket since childhood. I haven't done anything else. I want to share as much knowledge as I have in cricket. I already take training in a few academies in my off-time so that experience [is there]. So if I get a job with the Bengal team or offers from any other state, then I'll consider it," he said.

Bangladesh's preparation for next year's Champions Trophy in Pakistan got off to a rocky start as they suffered a batting implosion. Afghanistan's 18-year-old offspinner Allah Ghazanfar picked six wickets, with Bangladesh going from 120 for 2 to 143 all-out in the space of 8.4 frenetic overs. Though Ghazanfar made an early incision with the wicket of opener Tanzid Hasan in the fourth over, Soumya Sarkar and captain Najmul Hossain Shanto quickly pushed ahead and put Bangladesh ahead of the asking rate. Medium-pacer Azmatullah Omarzai broke that 53-run partnership with the wicket of Sarkar, but Bangladesh responded with another innings-progressing stand, between Najmul and No.4 batter Mehidy Hasan Miraz. The duo carried the chase past the half-way mark and even reduced the asking rate along the way, until the tide-turning 26th over from Mohammad Nabi. The veteran made a smart field change by putting his deep square leg fielder to second slip, and luring Najmul to sweep against the turn. The left-hander fell for it and top-edged his attempt, with Shahidi catching it at short fine leg, not before juggling it a few times. Afghanistan used this small opening to carve open Bangladesh's line-up. Ghazanfar returned to the attack in the 31st over to wreak havoc, starting off with Mehidy's wicket. Bangladesh began to sink in his next, a triple-wicket over where he had Mushfiqur Rahim stumped off a carrom ball, trapped Rishad Hossain leg before and cleaned up Taskin with another carrom ball to complete his five-fer, and leave Bangladesh eight down for 138. In between these two overs, Rashid Khan added to Bangladesh's misery with a well-disguised googly that cleaned up Mahmudullah. Towhid Hridoy got a Rashid googly too, which he missed while attempting an expansive slog sweep. In the very next over - the 35th - Ghazanfar picked his sixth wicket - with yet another carrom ball that befuddled Shoriful Islam to give Afghanistan an incredible 92-run victory. Long before the batters fluffed their lines, Bangladesh found themselves in a better position at the halfway stage thanks to their bowlers. Taskin Ahmed (4 for 53) and Mustafizur Rahman (4 for 58) ran through the top-order and had Afghanistan struggling at 71 for 5 in 20 overs. Captain Shahidi and Nabi spent the next 20 overs in repair work, as they put on 104 for the sixth wicket before Mustafizur cleaned up the former. Shahidi walked off for 52 (92), but Nabi tried to push on in the company of the lower-order. It wasn't much, but he did enough to drag the team past the 200-run mark before becoming Taskin's third scalp, for an excellent 84 off 79 balls, that included four fours and three sixes. Nangeyalia Kharote's unbeaten 27 added valuable runs towards the end that allowed Afghanistan to push till 235, which proved to be more than sufficient to take a comfortable 1-0 lead in the three-match series. : Afghanistan 234 in 50 overs (Mohammad Nabi 84, Hashmatullah Shahidi 52; Taskin Ahmed 4-53, Mustafizur Rahman 4-58) beatBangladesh 143 in 34.3 overs (Najmul Hossain Shanto 47; Allah Ghazanfar 6-26) by 92 runs

Ellyse Perry led form the front with a 62-ball 86 as Sydney Sixers beat Hobart Hurricanes by six runs for their second win of the season. Perry's opening act helped Sixers to a strong 155/7 from their 20 overs and remained unmatched as the Hurricanes struggled to get partnerships going in the chase. Put in to bat first, Sixers lost Alyssa Healy in the second over and Sarah Bryce three balls later but Perry dropped anchor at one end to forge useful partnerships and guide Sixers to safety. She put on 37 with Ashleigh Gardner, who contributed a 16-ball 21 to the third-wicket stand. In their 61-run partnership for the fourth wicket, Hollie Armitage chipped in with a 25-ball 30 to up the ante after Sixers marched to 72/3 at the halfway mark. The two overs of the surge were productive too, with Armitage finding the boundary thrice before being dismissed on the last ball of the 15th over and Perry hitting two to the ropes to make it a 23-run phase. Having completed a 42-ball fifty, the opener truly only switched gears in the penultimate over where she smacked Chloe Tryon for 4, 4 and 6 to enter the 80s with that 16-run over. Heather Graham sent her packing last ball, keeping Sixers to 155. Struck for a four first ball, Lauren Cheatle came back strong to dismiss Lizelle Lee the very next ball. Dannielle Wyatt-Hodge helped Hurricanes quickly move on with a boundary-filled powerplay that had them well placed at 36/1 after the first-four but it went south quickly thereafter. Gardner sent the busy opener packing on the first ball of the seventh over and teenaged Caoimhe Bray removed the other set batter, Nicola Carey, in the following over. Sophie Ecclestone too joined the party next, handing Graham a four-ball duck as the Hurricanes slipped to 62/4 in quick time. Elyse Villani tried to counterattack with four quick boundaries but Cheatle ended her cameo on 26 (17 balls) to lend Hurricanes' chase another massive blow. Bray then had a set Tryon caught on 20 (15 balls) and Molly Strano run out by Ecclestone in the 16th over to all but decide the fate of the game in their team's favour. Lauren Smith hit a few lusty blows until the end, but it proved too little too late for Hurricanes, who eventually fell six short. Sydney Sixers 155/7 in 20 overs (Ellyse Perry 86; Nicola Carey 2-27, Chloe Tryon 2-30) beat Hobart Hurricanes 149/9 in 20 overs (Danni Wyatt-Hodge 30, Elyse Villani 26; Caoimhe Bray 2-13, Lauren Cheatle 2-32) by 6 runs

Shreyas Iyer scored an unbeaten century on his Ranji return as Mumbai piled on the runs against Odisha on Day 1. Iyer had scored a ton against Maharashtra in October but missed the previous round fixture against Tripura as he needed a week's rest. He has now made a flying return. Iyer and Siddhesh Lad (116*) registered an unbroken partnership of 231 runs by stumps on Day 1. Angkrish Raghuvanshi was unfortunate to be bowled on 92 by Bipul Samantray while Rahane too fell for a first-ball duck off the same bowler. Mumbai ended the day at 385 for 3. Half centuries from Andre Siddarth C (94) and Vijay Shankar (76) were the standout batting performances for Tamil NAdu as they scored 299 for 7 on Day 1. Barring the two batters, Pradosh Ranjan Paul and Shahrukh Khan got starts but were unable to capitalise. Darshan Rajbongshi, Rahul Singh and Swarupam Purkayastha picked up two wickets each for Assam. Bengal skipper Anustup Majumdar's 100 (101) and half-centuries by Shahbaz Ahmed (54*) and Sudip Chatterjee (55) took the visitors to 249 for 5. Karnataka struck early through Vasuki Koushik who picked up three wickets but a 100-run partnership by Chatterjee and Majumdar brought Bengal back into the contest. Shubham Sharma (134*) and Venkatesh Iyer (118*) powered Madhya Pradesh to 381 for 4 on Day 1. MP were in a spot of bother at 147 for 4 but the two batters have put on 234 runs together so far against Bihar. Venkatesh hit four sixes en route to his 118 and is striking at over a run-a-ball in Patna. In Rohtak, Jassinder Singh (4-33) and Emanjot Singh Chahal (3-43) starred as Punjab bowled out Haryana for 114. In response, Punjab are currently 90 for 5 and would look to take the first innings lead on Day 2. It was a day out for the bowlers as 15 wickets fell during the day's play. Jalaj Saxena's five-wicket haul ensured UP were bowled out for a meagre 162 in Thiruvananthapuram. The other bowlers too chipped in with wickets for the hosts. Despite both of the openers being dismissed in the 20s for Kerala, they are currently 82 for 2 and trail by only 80 runs. Chandigarh's left-arm spinner Nishunk Birla picked up 6 for 72 to help bowl out Delhi for 276, despite Yash Dhull's 121. Apart from Dhull, none of the other Delhi batters could capitalise on their starts with the second highest score being 49 by Ayush Badoni. Things got even more dramatic as Delhi picked up Arslan Khan second ball but Chandigarh skipper Manan Vohra and Shivam Bhambri stabilised the innings with a 63-run partnership to take the hosts to 63 for 1 at Stumps. An opening partnership of 128 runs by Suraj Vashisht and Shubham Rohilla heralded Services to 239 for 4 at Stumps on Day 1. Ravi Chauhan too scored 59 before being dismissed close to the end of play on the first day. Goa continued to dominate the Plate Group as they registered 322 for 3, courtesy Snehal Kauthankar's unbeaten 135. There were also hefty contributions from Manthan Khutkar (95) and Deepraj Gaonkar (50*). KC Cariappa bowled 41 out of 92 overs on Day 1 and picked up two wickets in the process. Dip Borah's four-wicket haul (4-18) reduced the visitors to 157 for 7. Jagadeesha Suchith, Rongsen Jonathan, and Nagaho Chishi picked up a wicket each as well. Ashish Thapa's fighting 57 and some middle-order contributions relatively stabilised the innings after early wickets tumbled.

Sri Lanka Cricket announced their ODI and T20I squads for the upcoming series against New Zealand with former captain Dasun Shanaka continuing to be overlooked. Charith Asalanka will lead the team again, with Dushmantha Chameera still missing in action ever since he was ruled out of the series against India in July due to bronchitis and a respiratory infection. Left-handed batter Kusal Perera made it back to the ODI squad, having last played a 50-over game for Sri Lanka against New Zealand in the 2023 World Cup. Perera recently scored 55 not out in a match-winning cause for Sri Lanka in the third T20I against West Indies. The ODI squad also includes pacer Mohamed Shiraz, who made his debut against India in the first ODI but hasn't played since then. Meanwhile, the T20I squad is the same as the one Sri Lanka named for the three-match series against West Indies which they won 2-1. The T20I series kicks off New Zealand's white-ball tour of Sri Lanka. Dambulla will host the T20I matches, which will be played on November 9 and 10, as well as the first ODI on November 13. The last two ODIs will be played in Pallekele on November 17 and 19. Charith Asalanka (c), Avishka Fernando, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Janith Perera, Kusal Mendis, Kamindu Mendis, Janith Liyanage, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Nishan Madushka, Dunith Wellalage, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Chamidu Wickramasinghe, Asitha Fernando, Dilshan Madushanka, Mohamed Shiraz Charith Asalanka (c), Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, Kusal Janith Perera, Kamindu Mendis, Dinesh Chandimal, Avishka Fernando, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Dunith Wellalage, Jeffrey Vandersay, Chamidu Wickramasinghe, Nuwan Thushara, Matheesha Pathirana, Binura Fernando, Asitha Fernando

Josh Inglis will lead Australia for the first time after being named skipper for the three-match T20I series against Pakistan. Australia's selectors had announced the T20I squad last week without naming the captain for the T20I side. The 29-year old wicketkeeper-batter will also captain the team in the final ODI against Pakistan as regular captain Pat Cummins, along with Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith, will miss the 50-over game in order to prepare for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Inglis takes over the T20I captaincy duties with regular captain Mitchell Marsh, along with Travis Head, being unavailable for the series as they are on paternity leave. Inglis will become Australia's 14th T20I captain and the 30th to lead the national team in the ODI format. "Josh is an integral member of the ODI and T20I teams and a highly respected player on and off the field," George Bailey, the national selection panel chairman, said. "He has led Australia A previously and will bring strong tactical nous and a positive approach to the role. Josh will receive great support from the likes of Matt Short and Adam Zampa, along with senior players including Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis." Meanwhile, pacers Xavier Bartlett and Spencer Johnson, and wicketkeeper-batter Josh Philippe have been added to Australia's squad for the ODI against Pakistan in Perth with the senior players set to take a break.

Close on the heels of his , David Warner has been announced as the captain of Sydney Thunder for the upcoming edition of the Big Bash League. The veteran left-hander replaces Chris Green as the skipper, although the latter remains part of the team as a player. It has been less than two weeks since Warner became eligible for captaincy, with a three-member independent panel expressing satisfaction that he met all the criteria to have the ban lifted effective immediately. "Captaining the Thunder again this season means a lot to me. I was part of the team from the start, and now to be back with that 'C' next to my name feels fantastic. I'm looking forward to leading from the front and sharing my experience with the young talent coming through," said Warner. "Leadership off the field is just as crucial. I want to create an environment where we can all take a break from the game, bond, and enjoy ourselves. Whether it's over a team meal, out on the golf course or engaging with our fans in Western Sydney, it's all about building camaraderie and staying grounded. "I want to compliment the way Greeny (Chris Green) led from the front. He's an exceptional talent with fantastic leadership qualities. Jason Sangha, too, before his injury. I gained great insight from both, and I know they're guys I can lean on this season," he added. Thunder will be hoping Warner's captaincy inspires them towards success, having finished at the bottom spot in the previous season. The BBL|14 gets underway on December 15. Thunder's first game will be against Adelaide Strikers in Canberra on December 17. David Warner (c), Wes Agar, Cameron Bancroft, Sam Billings, Oliver Davies, Lockie Ferguson, Matt Gilkes, Chris Green, Liam Hatcher, Sam Konstas, Nic Maddinson, Nathan McAndrew, Sherfane Rutherford, William Salzmann, Daniel Sams, Jason Sangha, Tanveer Sangha.

Even the very best of naysayers wouldn't have seen India going down three Tests to none against a touring New Zealand side at home. Rohit Sharma's side did enter the series with some their famed invincibility slightly fraying at the edges; they had after all lost two home Tests in the last two years - the same number they'd dropped in the previous ten years on home soil. Even so, it required a perfect storm of luck, tactical shrewdness, and tenacity to rock India's boat, one that that cruised past 18 previous challenges. In New Zealand, they found a perfect foil. If India's in 2012/13 saw a change of guard to the current generation, this season might well have shown further evidence that the time for another baton change is not far away. India have completed their home leg in the third iteration of the World Test Championship (WTC) with a mixed record of six wins and four defeats and their qualification hopes of a making a third straight final hangs by a thread. With the dust slowly settling down on this stunning reversal, here's a look at the little nuances of India's Test game that will need an introspection the next time they play a Test at home. The one major change in outlook that WTC has brought about is teams looking to maximise points from their home games. As a result, teams have embraced result oriented pitches. Only 12.6% of Tests under WTC have ended in draws and this figure further drops to 5.5% if we exclude the weather affected matches (only considering draws where at least 400 overs of play possible, or roughly 80 overs X 5 days). The corresponding proportion of stalemates in the five preceding years to the inception of WTC is 7.9% and if we go even further back to the start of the millennium, draws accounted for 10% of the games, clearly underlining the impact of WTC on result oriented pitches. Remarkably, India kick-started their first cycle (2019-21) of the WTC with pitches that were more seam friendly, and spinners played a supporting cast in series against South Africa and Bangladesh in 2019. But with Covid throwing spanner into the work, India were forced to resort to turners when they played England at home in 2021 - a series that they had to win to book a spot in the finals after a change in the qualification criteria midway. As Joe Root took full toll of winning the toss and buried India under a mountain of runs in the opening Test of the series, India were forced to prepare tracks that would take turn from the onset to nullify the toss advantage. The modus operandi kind of stuck with India and every time they needed a favourable result they turned to tracks that offered appreciable turn even with the risk of it backfiring on their own ageing batters. After New Zealand hung on to a narrow draw in Kanpur in 2021, India dished out a turner at Wankhede in the following Test that saw spinners taking 33 of the 36 wickets. After India dropped the series in South Africa in 2021/22, India rolled out another turner in Bengaluru to the visiting Sri Lankans in a bid to maximize WTC points. The series against Australia last year witnessed pitches that assisted spinners significantly in the first three Tests before a flatbed was rolled out for the final Test in Ahmedabad after India only needed a draw to confirm their spot in the finals. In this recent series, after Bengaluru's weather affected the way the pitch behaved on the opening day, the riposte to the defeat saw India dish out turners at Pune and Mumbai. The common factor among India's home defeats since 2021, with the notable exception of Bengaluru Test, has been visiting team's spin attack out bowling that of India's. The pitches that often veer towards the extreme narrowed the gap in quality between that of India's experienced spinners to the relatively less skilled operators of the touring teams. In 24 Tests in India between 2016 and 2019, Indian spinners averaged 25.37 while their visiting counterparts averaged more than the double at 52.68 (take out the Pune Test of 2017, the visitors average further falls to 58.33). Since 2021, the home spinners have improved the average by five points to 20.20 while the visitors have it down by 20 points to 32.42. Further, visiting spinners strike every 55.2 balls in the period since 2021 - almost at a similar rate Indian spinners picked a wicket in the 2016-19 period (56.0). India's last three series defeats at home witnessed some of the greatest ever bowlers in the opposition ranks - Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock in 2000, Jason Gillespie alongside Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne in 2004 and Graeme Swann and James Anderson in 2012. The last three years have witnessed several visiting spinners, with otherwise modest Test records to show for and in some cases even inferior record in first class cricket, reaping rewards. Joe Root, Todd Murphy, Matthew Kunhemann, Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir, and Micthell Santner all took their maiden five-fers in India in this period with the hauls of Kunhemann, Hartley, and Santher paving way for India's defeats while Bashir's nearly conspired for another one in Ranchi. Compared to the class of Warne in 2004 and Swann in 2012, the troika of Ajaz Patel, Mitchell Santner, and Glenn Phillips had a combined tally of 146 wickets from 55 Tests at the start of the series. Left-arm spinners have been a scourge for India's right heavy top order on these turners and oppositions XIs fielded at least one of the ilk in all but one Test in India since 2021. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Shubman Gill have batted in the top four in most of these games have struggled against this style of bowling consistently, resulting in crippled returns from the top order that necessitated rescue acts from the lower middle order on more regular basis. 2AJzGqlVRw " " remarked a pensive Rohit Sharma in his post-series press conference after a tough home season with the bat in which he scored just 133 runs across ten innings. India came to the New Zealand series after a heist against Bangladesh in Kanpur where there aggressive batting fetched them a win out of nowhere after two entire days of play were lost to rain. On tracks that offer significant purchase for spinners, the general perception is that a ball with your name on it will arrive sooner than later and a rational approach would be to maximise your time in the middle collecting as many runs as possible, putting the pressure back on the bowler to force him out of his optimal lengths. While it holds true of the most extreme tracks such as Pune 2017 or Ahmedabad 2021, the level of jeopardy in some of the wickets that were in play against New Zealand didn't always merit that approach. Will Young, Player of the Series, struck at only 53.04 in the series and batted out 238 balls across two innings in testing conditions against a high quality attack at the Wankhede Stadium. Sarfaraz Khan, who made his way to the side after grinding out tough runs in domestic cricket, was another player who chose to find a way out by going all out attack. He tried to hit his way out of trouble in the first innings of the first two Tests but holed out and in the final morning of the third game, he hit a low full toss to deep square leg when India were reeling in at 29/4 chasing 147. His aggressive batting found success in the second innings in Bengaluru when the pitch was less spiteful, but it seemed like he didn't back his defence to hold fort when he needed to weather the storm in the middle. There isn't enough evidence to suggest this is an approach backed by the whole team, like it is for England under Stokes and McCullum, but how Indian batters can put the pressure back on opposition spinners on spiteful wickets is something the think tank appears to be still figuring out. Skipper Rohit even spoke about Indian batters needing to use the sweep shots better after the defeat in Pune, but the results of them using it in the middle at the Wankhede were mixed at best. The toss is a significant factor on turners as tracks tend to get worse for batting and provide more assistance to spin as the game progresses. Tom Latham won crucial tosses in Pune and Mumbai and got the best use of the pitch when they were at their optimal best for batting. They raced to 197/3 in the first innings in Pune and 159/3 in Mumbai which in hindsight proved to be the clincher as India were always playing catching up from there on. Both Pune and Mumbai pitches took turn right from the first session and runs were at a premium, especially as the game progressed. India resorted to defensive fields very early on as every run scored in the opposition's first innings added to their target in the fourth innings where they had to endure even more challenging conditions. India played into New Zealand's hands here as they used an array of sweeps and were fleet flooded to throw Indian spinners off their lengths that helped them to open up gaps to milk singles. India bowled only 11 maidens across 128.5 overs in Pune and just seven out 95.3 in Mumbai, underlining how New Zealand batters kept rotating the strike and not let Indian spinners to bowl at one batter on an end. India did use in-out fields earlier in the year to good effect against an England side that used boundaries as its primary scoring currency. India often had boundary riders covering deep pockets square off the wicket either side to counter the sweeps and reverse sweeps against English batters, to cut off their boundary options and meddled with the tempo of their batting. New Zealand, on the other hand, played it smarter by taking singles on offer with the occasional boundary. Against spin, the English batters hit 24.3% of balls for singles and doubles on more conducive tracks for batting, while New Zealand managed to rotate strike 27.4% of the balls in far less favourable batting circumstances in the last two games underscoring the difference in approach which ought to force a re-think in strategy before the next home assignment.

Liam Livingstone's ODI revival has been the story of the series so far. Just a few weeks ago, the maverick batting allrounder was left out of the ODI squad owing to poor returns with the bat. However, an injury to regular skipper Jos Buttler gave him an opportunity to return to the set-up immediately. Not only was he back, but he was also asked to lead the ODI squad in West Indies for the three-match series which is now tied at 1-1. England were poor in the opening game but Livingstone stood tall with a brisk 48. However, it was in the second game where he really unleashed himself to register his best score in the format. With England chasing 329, Livingstone walked out to bat in a tricky scenario to hammer a maiden ODI ton. He showed game awareness during the chase by taking 60 deliveries for his first fifty before getting the next fifty off just 17 deliveries as he ended up clearing the ropes nine times. Now all that's left is to complete this turnaround by leading England to another win in the final ODI that will give them a series win in the format in over a year. Post the ODI World Cup last year, England have lost a series to West Indies and Australia so far with their last win in the format coming against Ireland in September 2023. With the Champions Trophy coming up in a few months' time, a series win here will give England a lot of confidence to hunt for the only trophy they haven't won in white-ball cricket. West Indies on the other hand will not be present in the Champions Trophy, like how they weren't present in the World Cup last year for the first time in their history. They are on their own path of renaissance and successive series wins over England at home in the last one year will be a massive boost indeed. We have had two contrasting games so far in Antigua but the caravan now moves to Barbados for this final ODI and for the first two games of the T20I series. Ironically, it was the venue of the series decider between these two teams last year as well with the hosts prevailing. November 6, 2024 at 2 PM local time, 11.30 PM IST : Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados The last international fixture at this venue was the T20 World Cup final between India and South Africa in June. In the 50-over format though, the most recent fixture was the series decider between England and West Indies last December. Pacers had a huge role to play in the low-scoring fixture. There could be a minor disruption due to rain but not enough to ruin play completely. Alzarri Joseph was rested for the second ODI as a precautionary measure. If he is good to go, he should slot straight back in place of Shamar Joseph who was expensive. Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Keacy Carty, Shai Hope(w/c), Shimron Hetmyer, Sherfane Rutherford, Roston Chase, Gudakesh Motie, Matthew Forde, Jayden Seales, Shamar Joseph/Alzarri Joseph The visitors wouldn't want to change a winning combination but Reece Topley could be in consideration in place of Saqib Mahmood. Philip Salt (wk), Will Jacks, Jordan Cox, Jacob Bethell , Liam Livingstone (c), Sam Curran, Dan Mousley, Adil Rashid, Jofra Archer, Saqib Mahmood, John Turner

Bangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain called for a smooth sailing of the off-field issues at least in the future as they prepare to take on Afghanistan in the three-match ODI series, scheduled to start at Sharjah from November 6. Cricbuzz earlier that uncapped pace bowler Nahid Rana and left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed could join the opening practice session due to visa complications but the duo are yet to arrive in the UAE and are almost ruled out of the opening ODI even though Najmul remains hopeful. "I think that Nasum and Rana are coming, it's what I still believe in and the cricket board is taking care of the issue. Since there are is still time till the match begins, I am hoping," Najmul told reporters in Sharjah on Tuesday. "Would have been better had they been able to arrive sooner but it's not in our control," he said. "They have more right-handed batters and although we don't have a left-arm spinner, Rishad is there and the way he is bowling in the T20 format, I think he will be a very good option for us. Had everything been smooth, it would have been good for the team. But as I said, it's not in our control. As a player, rather than focusing on these, we have to ensure how we can make our abilities and our resources work as that is more important. If the outside issues are smooth in the future series, then it would be good for our team," he added. Najmul pointed out that they are not worried about facing Fazalhaq Farooqi even though the left-arm pacer has been a thorn in their flesh in recent times, picking 15 wickets in eight matches he played so far with an economy rate of 4.84. He also averages 19.33 against them - his best against an opposition he played at least three times. "Yes obviously. He (Farooqi) is a superb bowler but I feel that we have played a lot of matches against this team. So we have that idea and those batting at the top order will have to take the responsibility of how to handle the new ball," said Najmul. "The preparation is very good and happy how we practiced. Everyone prepared themselves very well. Yes some of the senior players are not here but we can't think about those who are not here. We can only think about what we have now and I believe we have the players who are able to perform here. So I believe all 15 players can perform here. "In any format, the top-order start is very important. But I don't want the top-order to take too much pressure. I want them to enjoy the game and play according to the abilities they have for the team. I believe we will do well in this format. We have done well in the past and of course Afghanistan are good in these conditions but if we can play to our strengths, we can do very well against them," he said. "We have three matches here and three in West Indies. I won't call it preparation since all six matches are important and we will play to win all six. If we can take confidence from here then it will be easier for us in the Champions Trophy. What combination we want to play in, we would get those ideas from here," he concluded.

Mohammad Salahuddin has been appointed as the senior assistant coach of the national men's cricket team with his contract set to run until March 15, 2025, the Bangladesh Cricket Board confirmed on Tuesday (November 5). BCB president Faruque Ahmed said that Salahuddin's inclusion in the national set-up will pave ways for other local coaches to come into the system in the coming days. "When I took over as BCB President, I made a commitment to provide opportunities for deserving candidates to contribute to the national team set-up and Salahuddin brings with him a wealth of experience, pedigree, and knowledge, making him the ideal candidate for this role. I firmly believe it is time to integrate more capable Bangladeshi coaches into the system," Faruque said in a statement on Tuesday. With a coaching career spanning two decades, Salahiddin has previously served as Assistant Coach and Fielding Coach for the National Team from 2006 to 2010. He also worked as a specialist coach at the BCB National Cricket Academy from 2010 to 2011. In 2014, he was appointed Head Coach of Singapore and led the team in the ICC World Cricket League Division 4. Salahuddin holds an ACC-Cricket Australia Level 3 accreditation and is one of the most successful local coaches, having won multiple Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League titles with the teams he has coached. Salahuddin is expected to travel with the Bangladesh team on November 10 when the leave Dhaka for West Indies to play two Tests, three ODIs and three T20Is.

The IPL 2025 Player Auction will be held overseas for the second successive year after Jeddah in Saudi Arabia was chosen as the venue for the event scheduled to be held on November 24 and 25. The BCCI confirmed the dates and the venue while also revealing that 1574 players have registered for the auction. Of the registered players, 1165 are Indians with the other 409 making up the overseas players. These include 30 from Associate nations. South Africa and Australia lead the list with 91 and 76 registrations respectively. The mega auction will clash with the opening Test of India's tour of Australia for the Border Gavaskar Trophy. The Perth Test will kick off on November 22 and as a result, the auction will clash with Day 3 and 4 of the Test match. Following the retentions that were confirmed on October 31, a total of 204 slots (70 overseas) are available for the ten teams to fill during the auction with each franchise allowed to have a maximum of 25 players in their squad. Having retained just two uncapped players, Punjab Kings will enter the auction with the biggest purse (110.5 Cr). Rajasthan Royals will have the smallest purse (41 Cr) after they opted to retain six players with five of them being capped. j7wRGV8nWj

Beth Mooney contributed more than half of Perth Scorchers' total of 142 before Alana King ran through Brisbane Heat's lower middle-order with a five-fer and bowled her side to a comprehensive 28-run victory at the WACA Stadium in Perth. Scorchers' second win of the WBBL 2024 season was set up by Mooney's 52-ball 77 with the experienced Australia batter holding fort at one end even as her partners struggled. The hosts, who were asked to bat first, got off to a decent start with Mooney and captain Sophie Devine adding 40 before the latter fell to the last ball of the sixth over for a 22-ball 25. Even as Nicola Hancock triggered a string of single-digit scores, Mooney kept the scoreboard ticking over, hitting as many as nine boundaries before being dismissed by de Klerk to the last ball of the innings. Her knock ensured that the Scorchers had enough to apply scoreboard pressure on their opposition. Heat's chase never got going despite Grace Harris getting the innings underway with three boundaries in a short and breezy nine-ball stay. The middle-order pair of Jemimah Rodrigues and Jess Jonassen attempted to rebuild but just as they appeared to have weathered the early storm then they were dismissed. Heat were already four down for 62 inside 10 overs before King unleashed mayhem in the opposition rank. The legspinner took five of the final six wickets to fall, finishing with figures of 5 for 16 as Heat's innings fizzled out of life in the 18th over. Perth Scorchers 142/8 in 20 overs (Beth Mooney 77; Nicola Hancock 3-23) beat Brisbane Heat 114 in 18 overs (Laura Harris 40; Alana King 5-16) by 28 runs

New Zealand's historic 3-0 whitewash of India saw the side conquering different types of challenges. The major hurdle among them was the nature of the pitches, with varied conditions greeting the teams in Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai. The weather had a major role in the pitch for the first Test and New Zealand made the most of the pace friendly conditions to run through India in the first innings, which essentially sealed the game in their favour. The Pune wicket, although it assisted spin, was a slow one and needed recalibration from the slower bowlers. Again, the visiting side read the conditions better and their spinners, led by Mitchell Santner, set up New Zealand's maiden series win against India. Then came Mumbai and this time it was Ajaz Patel, bowling in familiar climes, as he helped New Zealand overcome the Rishabh Pant challenge and become the first team to achieve a whitewash in India (minimum 3 Tests). Speaking to the media in a Zoom conference, Ajaz highlighted the different conditions that New Zealand encountered and the preparations they had in place to rise up to the challenge. "It's been three different surfaces and three different games, and I guess we're well aware that one of the challenges of going to Asia is that the conditions are going to change all the time and you have to be adaptable and even within the game the conditions change very quickly. I mean even in this Mumbai Test I was bowling...I think in the first innings and I felt like I was bowling really well but the wicket wasn't really turning and then I came back after Lunch and all of a sudden everything started happening. "So I guess when you come to the subcontinent it's about having that skill set and that range of being able to whether it be bowl in the high 90s or bowl in the low 80s and being able to be adaptable in those ranges I guess from the outset. It's also reading the surface quickly because the conditions like I say do change at a constant (rate). Sometimes the conditions in the morning can be very different to the conditions in that middle session and so as a spinner it's about knowing how to get the most out of that, how to change your pace, how to go up and down while still having the ball shape," said Ajaz, who added that New Zealand had prepared well back home to counter the different pitches in the subcontinent. "If I'm honest with you, we had a great winter back home where we prepared on turning wickets and we made sure we had different surfaces that we tried and practiced on so we were, I guess, conditioned to bowling on different surfaces as well. So yeah it's a lot to do with preparation but then it's also about backing your skills and kind of I guess you know going out there and doing it really," he said. Before the Test series against India, New Zealand lost out on crucial preparation time with the Test match against Afghanistan in Greater Noida being abandoned without a single ball being bowled. In the subsequent two-match series against Sri Lanka, they were blanked 2-0 by the hosts, with New Zealand losing the toss in both games and having had to bat second. In India, however, they had the best of batting conditions and New Zealand ensured they capitalised on it. Speaking about how crucial the toss factor is in Asian conditions, Ajaz said: "I guess, from Sri Lanka to here, I don't think we were too much different, to be honest with you. I think we played some really good cricket in Sri Lanka, but unfortunately (we lost the series). When you come to the subcontinent, the toss is so important and bowling in the last innings in comparison to bowling in the third innings, especially on a turning wicket, can sometimes be the difference as spinners. "While the results didn't go our way in Sri Lanka, I don't feel like we played too poorly or anything like that. Even from a batting department, we still put runs on the board. It was just a matter of, I guess, you know, having a bit of luck our way as well in the series." Ajaz credited spin consultant Rangana Herath for his contributions and strategic insights that helped the New Zealand spinners come out on top against the Indian batters. He also spoke about the importance of the straighter delivery for a spinner and how it makes life difficult for batters on turning tracks, and also how the New Zealand batters were well-prepared in that regard. "Obviously he's got a wealth of experience in the subcontinent, and his record kind of speaks for itself, really, in terms of left-arm spin bowling. So I mean, for me, it was great to have him because we're quite similar, I guess, in terms of the style of bowling that we both bowl. But I think the biggest thing was, he gave us a really good idea around the kind of fields to set in terms of Asian conditions, and still be attacking, but also at the same time, have our options to limit the boundaries as well. "It's an art," said Ajaz about the straighter delivery. "Every spinner should have it. Especially if you come to Asia or the subcontinent, the most difficult thing is to bowl a straight ball. Because on a lot of wickets, if you want to turn the ball, you can, but the challenge is to keep the ball straight. Rangana has helped a lot in that. He's taught us some new techniques, some action techniques. So, the batsmen don't get cues quickly. We've practiced all of that. And we knew that in batting as well, for our batsmen, the straight ball is dangerous. So, we've taken care of that in batting as well as in bowling."