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Preview of Third ODI match – England Vs Ireland

admin — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 12:20:23 +0000

This is the third match in a row to be played at Southampton in this tournament. We have seen an incredible series so far in which Moeen Ali is still wicketless, Jason Roy is yet to fire and Chris Campher yet to fail.

Team Preview

England:

Liam Livingstone’s debut appears to be on the cards. We are hoping that either of Banton or Vince will be playing. As England is keen to promote young talent, Banton has high chances to bat at Number three position. David Willey might be rested and replaced with Tom Curran.

Expected XI

1) Jason Roy
2) Jonny Bairstow (WK)
3) Tom Banton / James Vince
4) Liam Livingstone ( Bat + Off Spin)
5) Sam Billings
6) Eoin Morgan
7) Moeen Ali (Bat + Off Spin)
8) Adil Rashid (Leg Spin)
9) Tom Curran (Medium Pace)
10) Saqib Mahmood (Medium Pace)
11) Reece Topley (Medium Pace)

Ireland:

With experienced players in their squad, Ireland has their greatest chance to upset England by a win. Ireland might play an extra batsman as their two All-rounders, Delany and Kevin bats up the order. Ireland might or might not go with Potterfield. They are surely looking ahead of Potterfield who had not paid off. They would love to bring back Potterfield and Gary Wilson to increase their batting depth. Craig Young is expected to be replaced by Mark Adair (if fit) or Tyrone Kane.

Expected 11

1) Paul Stirling
2) Gareth Delany
3) Andrew Balbirnie (C)
4) William Potterfield / Harry Tector
5) Kevin O Brien
6) Lorcan Tucker / Gary Wilson
7) Chris Campher
8) Mark Adair /Tyrone Kane
9) Simi Singh / George Dockrell
10) Andy Mcbrine / George Dockrell
11) Joshua Little

Our Fantasy Cricket Team choice:

Batsmen

1) Jason Roy
2) Eoin Morgan
3) Andrew Balbrinie
4) Paul Stirling

All Rounder
1) Moeen Ali
2) Tom Curran
3) Curtis Campher

Bowlers
1) Reece Topley
2) Saqib Mahmood
3) Andy McBrine / George Dockrell

WK
1) Jonny Bairstow

For Dream 11, you can make a couple of changes. Replace Eoin Morgan with Delany and Saqib Mahmood with Joshua Little.

- Written by Harshit Aggarwal (@HarshitChesser)

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Preview of Third Test Match

admin — Sun, 19 Jul 2020 16:08:59 +0000

England Vs West Indies

Test Match 3

Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester

For the first time in the history of English Cricket, two consecutive Test matches will be played on the same ground.

Pitch Report

Since 2002, the Old Trafford has proved to be a batting paradise for the home team (England). Not just for English batsman, but even the bowlers have used their home condition to their best potential. Records England’s winning streak on this ground since 2002 was put on a hold by the mighty Australians last year. Since 2002, England had won 9 out of 13 matches with 2 draws and two ending as a losing side.

Team Preview

England: England will be keen to bring back their trio James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Jofra Archer. It will be the first time that these three pace attackers will play together. It will be interesting to see how they perform. We are expecting Jofra Archer to step up and become a key bowler to watch forward. Ben Stokes could have been rested if England had won 2 out of their 2 test matches. With series on stake, England is expected to play with their full-strength team.

Expected XI

1) Rory Burns

2) Dominic Sibly

3) Joe Denly / Zak Crawley

4) Joe Root

5) Ben Stokes (C)

6) Ollie Pope

7) Jos Buttler (WK)

8) Dominic Bess

9) Jofra Archer

10) Stuart Broad

11) James Anderson

West Indies: The West Indies team will again be depending on their bowling department. The team’s batting appears to be weak in front of the experienced England batsmen. A likely replacement for out of form Alzaari Joseph is Raymon Reifer. Shai Hope and John Campbell are yet to show their true colours. We are expecting them to fire in this match.

Expected XI

1) Kraigg Braithwaite

2) John Campbell

3) Shai Hope

4) Shamarh Brooks

5) Roston Chase

6) Jermaine Blackwood

7) Shane Dowrich (WK)

8) Jason Holder (C)

9) Kemar Roach

10) Raymon Reifer

11) Shanon Gabriel

Our Fantasy Cricket Team choice:

Batsmen

1) Shamarh Brooks

2) Ollie Pope

3) Joe Root

All Rounder

1) Ben Stokes (C)

2) Jason Holder

3) Roston Chase

Bowlers

1) Jofra Archer

2) Kemar Roach

3) Raymon Reifer

4) James Anderson

Wicket Keeper

1) Shai Hope

- Written by Harshit Aggarwal (@HarshitChesser)

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3TC Solidarity Cup Preview

admin — Sat, 18 Jul 2020 09:10:32 +0000

Venue: South Africa

For the first time in the history of Cricket, three teams will participate in a single match. Like everyone, we are also excited and here to help the Fantasy players with their teams and combinations.

Each of the three teams will play eight players in the match. We never knew that Gully Cricket Rule (last batsman bats alone) will apply in any recognized match. So, now it is the responsibility of every Gully Cricket player to watch and participate (through Fantasy League) in this match.

Teams Preview:

1) Quinys Kites

- Quinton De Cock (C) (WK) 

- David Miller 

- JJ Smuts 

- Temba Bavuma 

- Dwaine Pretorious 

- Anrich Nortje 

- Beuran Hendricks 

- Lutho Sipamla

2) Kagiso Rabadas Kingfishers

- Heinrich Klassen (WK)

- Faf Du Plessis (C)

- Reeza Hendricks

- Janeman Malan

- Gerald Coetzee

- G Stuurmaan

- Tabraiz Shamsi

- Thando Ntini

Kagiso Rabada is ruled out.
Chris Morris is ruled out.

3) AB Devilliers Eagles

- Kyle Verreyene (WK)
- AB Devilliers (C)
- Rassie Van

- Aiden Markram
- Andile Phehlukwayo
- Lungi Ngidi
- Junior Dala
- Bjorn Fortuin

Sisanda Magala is ruled out.



Fantasy Team

Wicket Keeper

1) Quinton De Cock (C)

Batsman

1) Faf Du Plessis
2) AB Devilliers (VC)
3) Aiden Markram


All Rounders

1) Andile Phehlukwayo
2) Dwaine Pretorious

Bowlers

1) Lungi Ngidi
2) Junior Dala
3) Lutho Sipamla
4) Glenton Stuurmaan
5) Thando Ntini

- Written by Harshit Aggarwal (@HarshitChesser)

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Preview of second Test Match

admin — Sun, 12 Jul 2020 10:16:58 +0000

England Vs West Indies

Test Match 2

Date: 16 July, 2020

Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester

One of the most beautiful places to play cricket in England is Old Trafford, Manchester.

Pitch Report

Since 2002, the Old Trafford has proved to be a batting paradise for the home team (England). Not just for English batsman, but even the bowlers have used their home condition to their best potential. Records England’s winning streak on this ground since 2002 was put on a hold by the mighty Australians last year. Since 2002, England had won 9 out of 12 matches with 2 draws and one ending as a losing side.

Team Preview

England: England will be keen to bring back their experienced Stuart Broad and leaving out Mark Wood will be an ideal option. If England bowls first, all the three pacers (Anderson, Broad and Archer) will be their key bowlers. However, there is a possibility that Archer would be more troublemaker for the West Indies squad as they surely would be better prepared against the duo of Anderson and Broad. Joe Root will be back and bat at number four position. Joe Denly must need to pull up his socks as there is a high possibility of him getting replaced soon.

Expected XI

1) Rory Burns

2) Dominic Sibly

3) Joe Denly / Zak Crawley

4) Joe Root

5) Ben Stokes (C)

6) Ollie Pope

7) Jos Buttler (WK)

8) Dominic Bess

9) Jofra Archer

10) Stuart Broad

11) James Anderson

West Indies: The West Indies team will again be depending on their bowling department. The team’s batting appears to be weak in front of the experienced England batsmen. Kemar Roach who was off-colour in the first test might be dangerous on this ground. We expect Roach to get Burns wicket early in both the innings. Alzaari Joseph would be crucial on this wicket. Overall, we are expecting the test match to end in a draw.

Expected XI

1) Kraigg Braithwaite

2) John Campbell

3) Shai Hope

4) Shamarh Brooks

5) Roston Chase

6) Jermaine Blackwood / Nkrumah Bonner

7) Shane Dowrich (WK)

8) Jason Holder (C)

9) Kemar Roach

10) Alzaari Joseph / Raymon Reifer

11) Shanon Gabriel

Our Fantasy Cricket Team choice:

Batsmen

1) Dominic Sibly

2) Shamarh Brooks

3) Joe Root

All Rounder

1) Ben Stokes

2) Jason Holder

3) Roston Chase

Bowlers

1) Jofra Archer

2) Kemar Roach

3) Alzaari Joseph / Raymon Reifer

4) Stuart Broad

Wicketkeeper

1) Shai Hope

- Written by Harshit Aggarwal (@HarshitChesser)

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What should Sports fans seek during the lockdown?

admin — Sun, 17 May 2020 17:04:06 +0000

With no sports around the corner due to the coronavirus lockdown, the Sports fans are finding it hard with no live match on TV and with no mobile apps used for checking the scores. So how can Sports fans pass their quarantine time?

Here are the few activities that we listed out and as a sports fan, you can indulge in-

1. What’s better than a daily exercise and meditation schedule to start your day. It’s very important to stay fit no matter what the situation is and if not gym, you can still watch fitness videos of your favourite celebrity or sportsperson and can follow their fitness regime.

2. Enjoy the live Instagram, Facebook or Twitter videos of your favourite sports personalities. These days, the Sportspeople are interacting with their fans, their fellow players and giving interviews online which are being broadcasted live on social media. This is a great platform to interact with the players and ask them queries to enhance your sports-related skills. We recently saw the Nadal and Federer broadcast video on Facebook, AB De Villiers and Virat Kohli’s live video on Instagram and many interviews of domestic cricketers and other sports personalities happening on the Sports channels, IPL teams’ pages, Sports website pages etc.

3. Watch the TikTok videos of your favourite sports player. We know that this might sound lame especially for those who don’t use this app. However, if you come across David Warner’s TikTok videos on Instagram, they are a treat to watch! Also, Chahal’s videos are going viral all over the internet and receiving enormous reviews.

4. Watch the Insta stories/videos of sportspeople while they are training hard at home, playing with their kids, cooking new recipes etc. A true fan would like to catch up and know what are their favourite players up to!

5. Watch the Test on Amazon Prime video which will give you a close insight of the Australian cricket team journey right from the Sandpaper gate to the Ashes 2019. As a sports fan, you would witness the struggle of the coaches, management and players during a difficult period.

6. Last but the most important one, watch the old matches and highlights on Hotstar and Youtube and revive the old memories

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Review of The Test

admin — Sun, 15 Mar 2020 17:13:16 +0000

It’s a difficult period which we are trying to survive not just as a cricket fan but as a human being. The coronavirus scare has put our world into a halt. All meetings, matches, shows, movies everything has been cancelled and suspended for future. As a cricket fan though we are still left with The Test that was released on Amazon Prime Video at just the right moment. Being an Australian cricket team fan, this was a big treat for me on a Saturday when I couldn’t go out due to shut down of literally everything.

It comprises of eight episodes summarizing the journey of Australian cricket team from the Sandpaper cheating scandal to retaining the Ashes. Every cricket fan who has been curious to know more about the cricket players, their management, coaches and support staff beyond the game of cricket would love to watch this show and will fulfil their childhood fantasy. You will know the Australian team beyond the cricket ground. You will move on from hating Tim Paine for just being lucky of getting the captaincy without deserving it to respecting this lad who led the team at a crucial time when Australian cricket was in crisis with no great players by his side.

You have always admired Justin Langer as a player who was a part of the best cricket team of the history but you will start respecting him more knowing and understanding his journey as a coach of an inexperienced squad. By looking at their emotions, hard work and growth in the game would make you relate with each player of the Australian team!

This is an honest show that displayed both the victories and defeats of the Australian team equally. It was a bit strange to see not so aggressive and emotional Australian team but you would connect with them easily. They appreciated Kohli, Stokes and every good cricketer that made this show completely unbiased. It has everything, right from the feeling of patriotism to loving this game of cricket, from bromance and bonding between Zampa and Stoinis, Steve and Marnus to the concussion episode that shook every cricket fan. Whether it was the nightmare at Headingly when Stokes and Jack Leach final wicket partnership ruined the chance of Australia to win the Ashes to becoming better in the game, it kept me glued to the show! It is for every cricket fan who is emotionally connected to the game of cricket and not just a show only for Australian fan!

It shows the journey of Steve Smith from being called a cheater to being applauded by the same English audience! His mindset dealing with the abuses from the English spectators taught everyone that he is completely focused towards his game and there is nothing that can break his talent and hard work. David Warner was a bit vulnerable in the starting during his return to the squad but he managed to excel once he started believing in himself and stopped fearing.

The most important character in the whole series is of Justin Langer. From Handling a fearful, vulnerable squad to making them better at their game, this man was the best choice for Australian’s coach. He is the hero of the show; his anger, emotions, determination, hunger for a win, everything was so real about him and not like actors who imitate!

Watch it to celebrate cricket, to celebrate hard work and to celebrate the growth of Australian cricket.

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The four days Test Match

admin — Sat, 25 Jan 2020 12:06:17 +0000

Is it to popularize or making space for more matches?

The huge popularity of the T20 format in cricket and the steady decline of the viewership of Test and ODI format when compared to T20 has started the talks of shortening the test format into four days. The supporters of a four-day test match consider this to be a pragmatic approach.

As the people these days no longer have the time and patience to wait and watch the end of a match, everyone is looking for an immediate result. Our faster life and automation in technology has already made the T20 format a huge success all over the world. There is a surge of the matches played in this format with a huge crowd at the stadiums. All of these have influenced the thought of modifying the oldest and purest format of cricket - Test cricket from five days to four days.

From past some time, the cricket boards are working on popularizing the Test cricket and they came up with World Test Championship series to raise the interest of cricket fans. Not only this, but we are also witnessing some very close and interesting test matches that are inevitably helping the format. The majority of the test matches are giving results and not ending into draws as it was the case 10 to 15 years earlier.

Truncating the test matches into four days might have an adverse impact as most of the matches would result in a draw. We already have experience of Ranji matches, the domestic tournament of India in which the matches are held for four days and they mostly end up in draws. It is difficult to get a result in such format and there is also a point given to the team leading in the first inning to keep the points table moving in this series.

Instead of looking at the option of reducing a day from the test match, the Cricket board can think of some innovative ideas to promote test cricket; it can be a five-day carnival or a fest so that people can enjoy the test match with their families where they have an option to not just watch cricket but to participate in other activities at the stadium. The trimming of this format would not only distort the oldest format but would also affect the temperament building development of a batsman i.e. to stay longer at the crease or of the bowler to bowl long hours with the same line and length.

While the Cricket Australia and England Cricket board are supporting the idea of the four-day test, the big players like Virat Kohli, Glenn McGrath, Nathan Lyon, Faf Du Plessis and Vernon Philander are completely against and want the test match to stay in its purest form.

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Alex Carey – The number 7 batsmen for Australia

admin — Sun, 07 Jul 2019 18:11:46 +0000

When will Australia change Alex Carey’s batting order?

From the past four years, Australia’s batting has been hugely dependent on David Warner, Aaron Finch and Steve Smith. The top order has been a backbone of Australian batting while the middle order is known for their early collapse in matches. Nothing has changed with Australian batting in this World Cup except the presence of Alex Carey that made a big difference. This player has restored the faith in Australian batting after the dismissal of the top order. In this World Cup, the Australian score is being dependent on this man.

In his 8 innings so far, Carey has scored 329 runs with an average of 65.8. He has so far scored three half-centuries batting at number 7. You can imagine the number of overs he usually gets to score runs and even in that, he managed to outperform.

When we see players like Khwaja and Stoinis struggling with the bat in this World Cup, this man is a ray of hope. He looks so confident even when the Australian scoreboard displays six down! He plays his shot well and technically more sound than other players in the team who bat higher in order.

With only a year of experience playing for the Australian cricket team, he is promising and confident in his game. Changing his batting order and bringing him higher would certainly help the Australian team to bring more runs on the scoreboard especially if the team loses either Finch, Warner or Smith early in the match.

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Is the New ICC Cricket World Cup format a hit or flop?

admin — Fri, 21 Jun 2019 04:48:45 +0000

This year’s ICC Cricket World Cup is a bit different. It’s not only about rains ruining the matches but also about the length of the tournament.

When the England team destroyed the Afghanistan bowling line up in the recently concluded match of the World Cup, I blamed this new format for this. The question here is for how long a new team like Afghanistan would be humiliated in 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup?

This tournament is played in a round robin format where every team has to play against nine other teams. Due to this, the relatively weak teams like Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have to play their matches against seven strong teams. If we think about the 4 or 5 cricket teams that are comparatively stronger than the rest, then they are also playing their matches against 5 or 6 weaker teams! That means, multiple records will be broken and we would be witnessing more boring matches in this Cricket World Cup. Also, thanks to non-ending English rains for that.

The ICC Cricket World Cup is supposed to be an interesting tournament where every match must be crucial for each team. Every game must be played as a knock-out match for cricket teams.

In the previous seasons, the competition had been quite intense where many weak teams like Kenya, Bangladesh knocked out strong teams from the tournament. This all happened due to the pool playing format where the competition was extremely tough. Every team in each match had the capability to knock out the other based on their day’s performance. This no longer will happen in this format. This Cricket World Cup, each team will continue to play until everyone becomes sure that they are better or weaker than then rest nine teams of the tournament. That sounds boring, Isn’t it?

Such a format (Round robin) works well in a T20 tournament where every game is unpredictable until the last ball is bowled. However, that doesn’t happen in 50 over matches. Here, few games are enough to decide which one is a better team and consistent to perform well. Then why there is a need to keep proving it again for n number of times? Also, the team which is weak, why they have to keep getting humiliated until everyone knows that they are actually the weakest in the tournament.

Below are the advantages and disadvantages of the round-robin format of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019:

Disadvantages:
1. Long and boring tournament.
2. No unpredictability in the tournament. All matches are not interesting and the tournament is becoming quite straight forward.
3. Humiliating to the weaker teams to keep losing.

Advantages:
1. Opportunity for cricket teams to play against every other team and gain exposure.
2. Only the best teams are moved to the semifinals. No scope of others.
3. Opportunity for teams to break more records.

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Interesting cricket facts about MS Dhoni

admin — Sat, 02 Feb 2019 11:26:56 +0000

MS Dhoni has created and broken multiple records as a batsman, wicketkeeper and the captain of the Indian cricket team. Out of those, there are certain cricket facts related to him that are unique and amazes us a lot. Let’s have a quick look at such interesting facts of MS Dhoni as the captain of the Indian team.

We can call it a beginner’s luck or his leadership capabilities, MS Dhoni as a captain in his every first series has never disappointed us with the result.

1st T20 World Cup series- Won

He led India to the ICC World Twenty 20 in South Africa, with a victory over arch-rivals Pakistan in an intensely fought final in September 2007, and became the second Indian captain to have won a World Cup in any form of cricket, after Kapil Dev.

1st ODI World Cup series - Won

Under Dhoni's captaincy, India won the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. India played their final against Sri Lanka, chasing 275 runs. Dhoni scored 91 not out off 79 balls handing India the victory for which he was awarded the Man of the Match.

1st Asia Cup - Won

The 2010 Asia Cup was the tenth edition of the Asia Cup cricket tournament, which was held in Sri Lanka in June 2010. India defeated Sri Lanka by 81 runs in the final to win a record 5th Asia Cup title.

1st Triangular Series - Won

The 2007–08 edition of the Commonwealth Bank Series was a One Day International cricket tournament held in Australia. It involves the national teams of Australia, India and Sri Lanka. India under the leadership of Dhoni won the series with a 2–0 sweep of the hosts in the final series.

1st Test series - Won

After taking up the Test captaincy in 2008, he led the Indian team to series wins in New Zealand by 1-0 in three-match test series in 2009. 1st Bilateral series - Won He took over the ODI captaincy from Rahul Dravid in 2007 and led the team to its first-ever bilateral ODI series wins in Sri Lanka. India won the 5-match series by 3–2 and Dhoni was awarded the Player of the series award.

1st Champions League - Won

The 2010 Champions League Twenty20 was the second edition of the Champions League Twenty20, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament. The tournament, which was held from 10 to 26 September 2010 in South Africa, featured 10 domestic Twenty20 teams from India, Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, the West Indies and South Africa. The Chennai Super Kings led by Dhoni, emerged the winners of the tournament, defeating the Warriors in the final.

2nd Champions Trophy - Won

Under his captaincy, in June 2013, when India defeated England in the final of the Champions Trophy in England, Dhoni became the first captain to win all three ICC limited-overs trophies (World Cup, Champions Trophy and the World Twenty20).

India Vs Sri Lanka Test Series 2017 in India

The first time it happened in a cricket match in India that the first 19 wickets taken by Indian bowlers involved no spinner. It included the 1st Test and the 1st inning of the 2nd Test.

- Written by Harshit Aggarwal

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