Month: June 2023

Team India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin believes that Pakistan’s formidable seam attack will pose challenges for India in the upcoming ODI World Cup 2023. The clash between India and Pakistan is expected to be a ‘blockbuster’ match, scheduled to take place on October 15 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, with a packed crowd of over 1 lakh spectators.
Ashwin emphasizes that the World Cup encounter will be closely contested, drawing attention to the intense rivalry and past matches between the two neighboring nations.
He acknowledged Pakistan’s quality seam attack as a potential hurdle for India, leading to a balanced game.
“The last few games between India and Pakistan have been extraordinary,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel. “I believe we can expect another thrilling India-Pakistan match because Pakistan have a strong seam attack, the game will be evenly matched.”
India have never suffered a defeat against Pakistan in the history of the ODI World Cup. Ashwin also highlights Afghanistan as a potentially dangerous opponent, capable of challenging many teams in the tournament.
The seasoned bowler feels Afghanistan’s bowling attack has the potential to disturb established nations. “I believe Afghanistan might challenge a few teams this year,” he said. Ashwin even expressed his admiration for Afghanistan’s spin strength, with players like Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, and Zakir Khan.
India’s second match in the World Cup will be against Afghanistan on October 11 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. Prior to this, the Men in Blue will kick off their campaign against Australia on October 8.

ICC World Cup Qualifiers Scotland vs West Indies: Two times World Champions West Indies will lock horns against Scotland in the 3rd match of World Cup Qualifier 2023. The contest will be organized on July 1(Sat) at Harare Sports Club, Harare from 12:30 PM (IST) onwards. Down Below is ICC World Cup Qualifiers Scotland vs West Indies Dream11 Prediction, Playing11, Super Six Points Table, and Pitch Report.
Scotland reached the super six with 1 win and 1 loss, standing 3rd with an NRR of -0.060. Whereas West Indies are 5th in the table with -0.350. There are some chances still alive for Scotland but West Indies are almost out of the race for the top two spots.
Scottish skipper Richie Berrington and star batter Brandon McMullen are at the top of their forms and bowler Safyaan Sharif has risen up his game as well. This Scotland side was a strong contender but Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka have gone way ahead that it is almost next to impossible for Scotland to leave any one of them behind.
West Indies, on the other hand, defeated USA and Nepal in the group stage but lost to Zimbabwe and Netherlands which dealt them badly. Now West Indies is unofficially out of the race for ODI World Cup 2023.
Tournament: ICC World Cup Qualifiers Super Sixes
Match Details: Scotland vs West Indies, Match 3
Day/Date: Sunday/1st July
Venue: Harare Sports Club, Harare
Time: 12:30 PM IST
At the Harare Sports Club, the odds of winning are often stacked to the hitters’ advantage, while the bowlers occasionally get assistance at different points in the innings. With the fresh ball, the Pacers are probably going to get some nice bounce off the pitch, thus now could be the best moment for them to bowl.
The slower bowlers will enter the game when the pitch begins to slow down, bowling the majority of the overs during the middle phase. Even if they are unable to get much turn off the deck, the spinners may control the flow of runs by bowling tight lines.
Scotland: Christopher McBride, Matthew Cross (wk), Brandon McMullen, Richie Berrington (c), Tomas Mackintosh, Michael Leask, Chris Greaves, Mark Watt, Chris Sole, Jack Jarvis, Safyaan Sharif
West Indies: Brandon King, Johnson Charles, Shamarh Brooks, Shai Hope (c & wk), Nicholas Pooran, Roston Chase, Jason Holder, Romario Shepherd, Keemo Paul, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph
Wicket-keepers: Matthew Cross, Shai Hope(C)
Batters: Brandon McMullen(VC), Richie Berrington, Nicholas Pooran, Brandon King
All-rounders: Jason Holder, Michael Leask, Chris Greaves
Bowler: Keemo Paul, Safyaan Sharif

READ:
ICC World Cup 2023: Chris Gayle picks two key players for India in World Cup
For more details head to ICCs official 
website
.

Afghanistan will kickstart their World Cup preparations with the forthcoming three-match ODI series against Bangladesh, scheduled from July 5 at Chattogram. Ahead of the series, their Test and ODI skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi during an exclusive chat with Cricbuzz opened up about several issues that includes their present struggle in Tests, opting for a more aggressive brand of cricket in ODIs and a lot more. Here are the excerpts.
Your success in Tests is not similar to the other two formats. In such a scenario, is it difficult to inspire youngsters to take up red-ball cricket?
It’s true we play a lot of white ball cricket and it becomes difficult to adjust when we come to red-ball cricket. Look the more we play Tests the more we will improve and we need to play Tests quite regularly because if you are playing one Test in a year or two Tests in two years it is difficult to improve. I’m the Afghanistan Test captain for two years and this is the first time (against Bangladesh) I am leading as a captain in the format. Our cricketers are playing first-class cricket in Afghanistan but certainly there is a difference between Test cricket and domestic cricket and there is no doubt over it. Whoever is performing in first-class is getting one or two opportunities so naturally there is pressure.
You are not part of ICC Test Championship, do you miss it?
We have played six Tests in four years and the performance is not that bad. We beat Zimbabwe, Ireland and Bangladesh so if the ICC gives us lot of Tests we will improve as a team.
Going forward do you feel that you might miss the services of leading stars like Rashid considering they are all involved in different franchise leagues around the world?
Rashid is certainly the best bowler of Afghanistan across formats. He is like an one-man-army performing all the time. Look we miss the impact of Rashid and even against Bangladesh we missed him. We missed in the Sri Lanka ODIs as well before the Bangladesh Test. He is a wonderful bowler and anyone would like to have him all the time.
Yourself and Rahmat Shah do not play the typical attacking brand of cricket your team is known for in limited-overs. What’s the thought process?
Even before I was captaining, the responsibility lied on the shoulders of me and Rahmat from the captain and the coach and they used to say just play as long as possible. Especially in ODIs we were told not to worry about balls and just carry on and play the anchor role as others would take charge but if both of us get out then the team is under pressure and we don’t achieve in the end what we aimed. After I became captain I said that we will play according to the situation and if needed we will try to accelerate and even I told Rahmat that you play seeing the scoreboard and it is not a fact that all the responsibility lies in your shoulder. We have players like Ibrahim who is playing really well and there is Gurbaz who can have a rough time here and there but I firmly believe that he is a big match winner for us.
Did the approach change keeping the huge scores in mind in ODIs?
When we were playing ODIs three to four years back most of the games we played at home, like India was our home and Dubai, and in that case the wicket was prepared by us and it was natural that we would go for spin oriented wicket that is slow where 240 or 250 runs was enough. In the last two years we have played only one home series while we went to Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe and we are now in Bangladesh. Now ODIs template are different as 300 to 320 runs are scored and we would play according to the wicket like if it is a 300 wicket we need to play that way and if it’s a 200-run wicket we need play accordingly. We need to judge the situation and play unlike the past when we were following certain specific roles as the roles are changing with time.
Can you tell us the role of Ibrahim Zadran as he is expected to be a vital cog going forward given the way he is playing for the last one year?.
The day I was appointed captain Ibrahim was playing club cricket in England. The first thing I told him was that come over to Afghanistan and when we were talking at that point we were having a series against Netherlands in Qatar the following month. I was asking for him to the board and there were some visa issues but the board also wanted him. I just gave him the confidence because I had trust on his ability. I just assured him of my support regardless of his performances. Myself and the selection panel included him in the team for the following series against Bangladesh and he delivered. He fills the void that we were missing in the ODIs.
What were you missing?
Like someone who opens and play the anchor role as well as accelerates at times when required because he has shots in his possession and more importantly we wanted consistency. He is consistent and has good technique and hopefully will improve with passing days.
Do you feel the seniors are the biggest strengths of your side ahead of the Asia Cup and the World Cup as some of them are at the peak of their careers and can take Afghanistan cricket to the next level?
The team revolves around four to five players and the seniors are playing for a long time but the youngsters who arrived in the last two years even they are doing well and that is our strength because seniors know what to do in pressure situations but when youngsters compliment the seniors the team performance becomes good. But if only the four or five seniors perform eventually it will not help the team get result. Look, in the bowling department there is Farooqi who is doing well while there is Azmat and Omarzai who we feel can contribute both with bat and ball and along with them there is Ibrahim and Gurbaz so what I feel is that when we go to the World Cup our performances will be better than what we did in the previous occasions. We are going there to do something and it is not like we are going just to be a part of it.
Do you feel doing well in the Asia Cup will be the perfect confidence booster for the Afghans ahead of the World Cup?
Asia Cup is a big event and if we do well this will be a message for the world that we are coming for the World Cup. We have the confidence to do well in Asia Cup and take that confidence to the World Cup. We are also looking at the Bangladesh series because from now onwards every game will be crucial for us leading up to the World Cup.
In the last World Cup, ACB surprisingly appointed Gulbadin Naib as captain and following the tournament he lost his captaincy and there are several instances that prove captains are made the scapegoat. Do you feel if you perform badly you are going to have the same fate?
In countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh there are lot of criticism especially on social media. At times I see it and delete it because I know if you do well everyone will say good things and if not in these countries especially the captain is targeted so I have deleted everything. For me what is important are the discussions that we are having inside the team and outside people can give their opinion like this is not right or that is not right but I don’t give importance to those things. You just mentioned that whether I am insecure that I will lose captaincy if we perform badly. Look if I focus on these things than there will be more pressure on me. So as a player and a captain I focus on good preparation rather than anything else. If the leader is thinking negatively then the performance of the team is bound to suffer so I don’t give importance on these things.

The narrative heading into the summer was that Chelsea not only needed to trim a bloated first-team squad, but that we would look to move on several of our Academy-grown stars for maximum bottom-line impact.
However, so far, that hasnt happened, with the majority of our business involving older players and/or players who arrived for significant transfer fees in the not-so-distant past.
But in the last couple days, that trend has been broken and broken rather forcibly. And this isnt even a story about Mason Mount!
Today we say goodbye to Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Chelsea since the age of 8, and one of the trailblazers (despite various injuries and other obstacles over the years) for our renewed (if still quite overgrown) first-team pathways for the Academys best and brightest.
Ruben, now 27, will continue his career at AC Milan alongside fellow Academy grad Fikayo Tomori, as well as Olivier Giroud joining on a four-year deal in exchange for £15m plus some minor add-ons.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek has signed for AC Milan.
Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) June 30, 2023
So, Loftus-Cheek leaves after nearly two decades at Chelsea, completing every step up along the way and eventually collecting 155 first-team appearances which Im sure wouldve been a lot more were it not for that fateful May night in New England, when he tore his Achilles just prior to the Europa League final. That 2018-19 season showed a player who was ready to dominate at the highest level (including 10 of his 13 senior Chelsea goals), and even if he never reaches that ceiling now, hopefully he can find consistent success (and playing time) in Milan.
Best of luck, Ruben! Well be rooting for you!

On a day dominated by the bowlers, with helpful conditions throughout, Usman Khawaja’s unbeaten half-century stood out as Australia stretched their lead to 221 before rain forced an early close on Friday (June 30). Having bowled England out for 325 to gain a 91-run lead, Australia kept the home team pacers at an arm’s length for more than 45 overs, thanks mainly to Khawaja’s 58 not out, as they ended the rain-hit Day 3 at 130/2.
James Anderson and Stuart Broad were a bit wayward with their lines at the start of the third session, with boundaries coming via extras as well as off the bat. Khawaja helped himself to a four off a full-toss from Broad, bringing up his fifty in the process. Labuschagne played his shots but wasn’t in full control when executing a few of them, and was even lucky when England decided not to review a leg-before shout off Broad – replays revealing it would have crashed onto the stumps. But he couldn’t capitalise as he hit a short ball straight to point to depart for 30, ending a stand worth 60.
Steve Smith had a jittery start as he edged an Anderson delivery for a boundary, was beaten outside off and also missed a flick off Broad. Taking a cue from the Australian bowlers, England too tried the short ball multiple times and even had Khawaja and Smith in uncomfortable positions. It got quite dark into the session and rain arrived, forcing the players off the field. The umpires later decided to call off the day’s play with 25-plus overs still remaining to be played.
Earlier, England lost six wickets for the addition of only 47 runs on an overcast morning as they were bowled out for 325. Ben Stokes fell in the opening over as he got a leading edge to Cameron Green at wide gully off Mitchell Starc. Harry Brook, who got to fifty, was troubled by short deliveries from the Australian pacers and eventually fell to one from Starc. Jonny Bairstow showed better application but his attempt to go over the top off Josh Hazlewood brought about his downfall. With Travis Head bagging a couple of wickets and Cummins pocketing one, England’s innings came to an early close as Australia picked up a 91-run lead. Khawaja and Warner then survived a challenging six-over period before Lunch.
With the cloud cover still helping the bowlers, Australia’s openers endured further challenge from the England pacers after Lunch. Warner survived a leg-before shout by Anderson and England ended up losing a review. Khawaja was finding the boundaries but a couple of them were streaky, and he scored most of the runs with Warner being cautious at the other end. Ollie Pope, meanwhile, landed awkwardly again while fielding and was off the field. It wasn’t a fluent innings from Warner who, after contributing only 17 in a 63-run opening stand, was out lbw to Josh Tongue. Labuschagne got a lbw decision overturned in Tongue’s next over and was unbeaten at Tea along with Khawaja, who collected two successive fours off Broad.
Brief scores:Australia416 & 130/2 (Usman Khawaja 58*; Josh Tongue 1-21) lead England 325 (Ben Duckett 98, Harry Brook 50; Mitchell Starc 3-88, Travis Head 2-17) by 221 runs.

Yashasvi Jaiswal, the highly anticipated young cricketer in India, is poised to make his debut in the upcoming Test series against the West Indies.
Since his first-class debut in January 2019, Jaiswal has impressed with his remarkable performances. With an average of 80.21 in 15 matches, he has scored 1845 runs, including nine centuries and two half-centuries. Notably, he holds the record for the youngest double centurion in List A cricket, achieved at the age of 17.
In the recently concluded IPL season, Jaiswal displayed his prowess in T20 matches by scoring 625 runs in just 14 matches, with a strike rate of 163.61. Although he fell agonizingly short of a century, his unbeaten 98 off 47 balls was a standout performance. During this innings, he broke the record for the fastest IPL half-century and came close to breaking the overall record as well.
While Jaiswal has earned praise for his temperament, there was one incident in a Ranji Trophy match where he lost his cool. Playing for West Zone in the Duleep Trophy in 2022, he was sent off by his captain, Ajinkya Rahane, for sledging an opponent. Jaiswal acknowledged his occasional outbursts of aggression but downplayed the severity of his remarks.
He preferred not to dwell on the past and believed there was no value in discussing it further.
Looking ahead, Jaiswal expressed his intention to handle sledging differently in high-profile Test matches against teams like England and Australia. He stated that he would prefer to remain silent for as long as possible, absorbing the sledging like a sponge. When the time comes, he will respond in his own way.
Jaiswal acknowledged that sledging is common in cricket, regardless of the level of play. Although it may be less apparent in tournaments like the IPL, he emphasized that everyone experiences it to some extent. However, he drew a line when it came to disrespectful comments about his family. He firmly stated that he would not tolerate anyone speaking ill of his mother or sister.
Ajinkya Rahane, India’s vice-captain for the West Indies Tests, previously addressed Jaiswal’s send-off incident. He emphasized the importance of adhering to rules and respecting the game, opponents, and match officials. Rahane firmly stated that those who fail to meet these standards have no place on the field.

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