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Play stopped due to bad light and Bangladesh are at 310/9. They have the psychological advantage with them that they didn't got bowled out today. But New Zealand came back strongly during the third session with a total of 5 wickets. Bangladesh was going strong at 184/3, but by the end of the day they finished at 310/9. Part-timer Glenn Phillips was the pick of the bowlers, while full-time spinners (Ajaz Patel and Ish Sodhi) picked up just 3 wickets after conceding a total of 147 runs. Mitchell Santner would have been a better choice IMO.
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Namibia vs Tanzania
T20 World Cup Qualifier match Namibia vs Tanzania, first innings of the match is over. Tanzania won the toss and elected to bowl. Namibia lost the toss and went into bat, losing 6 wickets in the allotted 20 overs and collecting 157 runs. JJ Smit batted brilliantly, scoring 40 off 25 balls to help the team reach the target of 157 runs. Tanzania has so far scored 62 runs in 14 overs with the loss of 5 wickets. Tanzania need 96 runs from 36 balls to win, very difficult for Tanzania to win the match today. Today, Namibia will win easily and qualify for the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Namibia has qualified for the T20 World Cup of 2024 from the African region, with 5 wins from 5 matches. Even if they lose their final match, they will finish as the top team from Africa. BTW, their final match is against Nigeria. Now it needs to be seen who will qualify as the second team from this tournament. Three teams have the chance to do so - Uganda, Kenya and Zimbabwe. Uganda and Kenya have 6 points each at this point, while Zimbabwe only has 4 points. It will be an uphill task for Zimbabwe. Not only they need to win both their remaining matches, but also they need to make sure that both Uganda and Kenya lose at least one of their matches. |
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This series started just 3 or 4 days after ODI world cup final and those who have participated in ODI world cup must be finding it difficult to play in this series. Today is a must win game for Australia, they are already 2 down in the series and losing today's game means losing the series. The way Indian team is playing I am very sure that they will win this series. After losing 2 initial games it will be a tough ask from Australia to win 3 consecutive games and that too against team like India.
Apart from Surya and Ishan, everyone else is fresh for the T20I series. However, Australia has a number of players who participated in the ODI World Cup, including Steven Smith, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis and Adam Zampa. If you look carefully, the batsmen haven't been changed, but apart from Zampa none of the bowlers who played in the world cup are there for the T20I series. And apart from Jason Behrendorff, none of their bowlers have been able to control the Indian batsmen. Nathan Ellis and Sean Abbott were leaking too many runs. |
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I am pretty sure that this series will be won by New Zealand. Bangladesh team will miss Shakib Al Hasan in tomorrow's match, we see a match after such a long time, where Shakib is not present in the match. We want to see him but sadly he is retired now, his time has been over now we never see him in any test match again.
Shakib Al Hasan has become a political figure at the moment. He has been selected as a candidate for three constituencies in the parliamentary elections of Bangladesh. I don't know why he became active in politics like this from cricket. Shakib Al Hasan should have been active in Bangladesh cricket for some more time and give more to Bangladesh. However, despite being a fan of Shakib Al Hasan, I don't think he should have been active in this politics. For now there was a need to keep cricket away from the politics of Bangladesh. Such decline of cricket has started after the inclusion of cricket in the politics of Bangladesh. I do not know how long this degradation will last? No surprise there. Politics and cricket is always intertwined in Bangladesh. Remember the case of Mashrafe Bin Mortaza? He was one of the top cricketers in Bangladesh (captained the team during 2015 ODI World Cup, and managed to reach the quarter-finals for the first time). But then he retired from active cricket and decided to join the ruling party. He was elected as the Member of Parliament of Narail-2 constituency back in 2018, when he was just 35 years old. Shakib has also decided to enter politics and hopefully he will be successful in his political career as well. |
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Yesterday game of big bash League of women and game was 56 th was quite exciting between Sixers-W team and Thunder-W team. Thunder-W team won toss first and decided batting in the pitch. This game of Women league was played in SCG Stadium. Only losing one wicket Sydney Thunder-W team won this game with 9 wickets and 15 balls. S.Bates dismissed when she scored 18 runs in 23 balls. But first Opener batsman E.Perry was not dismissed in entire game and she 82 run in 60 balls and she hitted ten 4s and three 6s. A.Gardner still not dismissed but she score low runs only 21 in 22 balls but in bowling side she took down 4 batsman Sixers-W team. These batsman performed very well in game and these Batsman struggle enough for win this game.
I have a feeling that this year's Women's Big Bash League went on for too long. There were a total of 56 group stage matches, and we still have another 3 knockout matches remaining. It is quite strange that they shortened the Big Bash League to just 44 matches, but decided for a longer season with the WBBL. Anyway, from what I heard this time they had record attendance and TV viewership, despite the fact that the WBBL 2023 ran concurrently with the ODI World Cup. And WBBL will be followed by the Women's National Cricket League (Australian domestic 50-over competition), which will start from 12th December onwards. |
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Today's match will be played at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. Australians (at least those who were part of the ODI world cup squad) are showing signs of fatigue. On the other hand, Indians have only a few players who took part in the world cup such as Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan. So they are fresh and charged up. BTW, Australian media is praising Tanveer Sangha a lot. But I haven't seen anything special with his bowling so far. He was inconsistent and leaked plenty of runs during crucial occasions.
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Things are not looing good for New Zealand. They lost the toss and quite predictably Bangladesh chose to bat first. And this means that Kiwis need to bat during the 4th innings at the minefield in Sylhet International Cricket Stadium. And Bangladesh has included quite a few spinners for this match, including Nayeem Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Taijul Islam. If Bangladesh sets a total in excess of 350, then the first challenge for New Zealand would be to avoid follow on. And their batting track record in Bangladesh is not that great.
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Zimbabwe will have to overcome some difficult equation to play the 2024 T20 World Cup. Two teams from the African region will qualify for the World Cup. Namibia has played four matches and won four matches, is number one in the points table. In today's match, Namibia will play against Tanzania and the last match will play against Nigeria. Namibia will win today's match and these two matches against Nigeria easily. Namibia will easily qualify for the 2024 World Cup as the first team in the African region.
I think any team between Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe will qualify for the World Cup as the second team from the Africa region. Tomorrow will be played between Uganda and Kenya, if Uganda can win against Kenya, Uganda will go far ahead of qualifying for the world cup as the second team from Africa region. Because Uganda will play against Rwanda in the last match, I think Uganda has more chances to win. On the other hand, Kenya will play against Zimbabwe and Uganda, it will be difficult for Kenya to win both matches. Zimbabwe will have the opportunity to play two more matches, and Zimbabwe has a high chance of winning both matches. I think Uganda, Zimbabwe and Kenya can be equal points for all three teams. If the three teams are equal on points then Zimbabwe will lead in net run rate and Zimbabwe will qualify for the 2024 World Cup.
Which 2 teams do you think will qualify for the World Cup from Africa Region? In all probability it is going to be Namibia and Uganda. Zimbabwe, even if they win both of their remaining matches may not be able to qualify. At this point, Zimbabwe has 4 points from 4 matches, while Uganda has 6 points from 4 matches. And for Uganda, the remaining matches are against weak teams. Only if Uganda loses one of their matches, Zimbabwe has any chance of qualification to the T20 World Cup. But then, Kenya also have 6 points from 4 matches. They also have an outside chance of qualifying for the tournament. |
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Anyone following the Vijay Hazare Trophy? Almost half of the group phase matches are over by now, and at this point Mumbai, Vidarbha, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh are leading their respective groups. Yesterday Bengal was bowled out for just 84 runs, with Sandeep Warrier taking 4 wickets. Thangarasu Natarajan made a strong comeback, by taking 2 wickets (leaked plenty of runs in the first match against Goa). However, Madhya Pradesh is topping Group E with 12 points and Tamil Nadu is at 2nd place with 2 wins from 2 matches.
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Yeah, the qualifiers just started, heaps of matches to go.
And more importantly, a lot of time to change their mindset.
That's the key, they need to change how they perceive their team. They are now playing with a losing mentality. They need to change it, but that requires time.
Well.. I have to say that the CONMEBOL qualifiers have a very shitty format this time around. After the 6th round in November 2023, the next round is scheduled for September 2024. There is a 10 month gap between the 6th and 7th rounds. It is very difficult to follow the tournament, given the lengthy gaps between matches. And now coming to Brazil, this means that they have sufficient time for self-introspection and regrouping. If they still can't win their matches, then they will miss the ticket to 2026 World Cup. |
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Glenn Maxwell wanted to keep Virat's jersey as a memento of scoring the most individual runs in the World Cup. The friendship between Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell will be immortalized in cricket history. Maxwell taught us that it is more important to share a friend's sorrow than to celebrate one's own happiness. And our low-taste communal audience has gone to Facebook to take revenge! Some people are still scratching their heads! Being an Indian, sometimes I feel ashamed after going through the social media posts from my fellow countrymen. They need to accept the fact that India is not going to win everytime they play. Attacking Travis Head and Glen Maxwell just because they won the match for Australia is peak of shamelessness. And they don't behave in a sane manner when India wins. When India wins, they go on to abuse players of the opposing team. I guess this has to do a lot with the manner in which Virat Kohli and his team members behave on and off the field. MSD was such a gentleman and he used to behave nicely to everyone. But the current team members doesn't have that quality. |
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Al hilal is now having 60% chance to win the title. Having savic and mitrovic in the club are enough to change everything.
Too early to say all this. I agree that they are on top of the points table with 38 points (and has a healthy lead over second placed Al Nassr, who have 34 points). But a lot of matches remain for this season and fortunes can change quickly. Their biggest challenge is Al Nassr, but you can't discount other teams such as Al Ahli and even Al Ittihad and Al Taawoun. They way they destroyed (9-0) Al Hazm was unbelievable. I guess this is the biggest margin of victory in a SPL match so far. But their next match is against Al Nassr, and it is going to be very tough. |
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The team's mentioned above are favorites but I'm sticking with Portugal because I'm acquainted with the team's pattern of game, their style is exceptionally different from the rest. Portugal remain the only team that happens to be my favorite when it comes to game pattern during international major tournaments. They have all the high quality players anyone could think of and sometimes I wonder how they don't go far when it comes to major tournaments. Imagine a team that has Cristiano Ronaldo in the frontline and Bruno Fernandes in the midfield, we expects the firing squad to win any game without having to experience any difficulties.
Portugal is still dependent to a great degree on Cristiano Ronaldo. If he is not playing, they struggle to win against even second tier teams. And we saw this during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Portugal do have some promising young players. But they are inconsistent and crack under pressure. My guess is that they will not be ready by the time of the 2024 Euro Cup, although 2026 FIFA World Cup looks like a fair target. And now Ronaldo's fitness comes in to question. He looks 100% fit now, but let's not forget the fact that he is 38 years old. Given all this, I would not consider Portugal as one of the favorites. |
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Even with the win yesterday, Zimbabwe is still in a precarious position. They have 2 wins from 4 matches and are currently 4th in points table behind Namibia, Uganda and Kenya. Even if they win both their remaining matches, there is no guarantee that they will be able to qualify. BTW, their remaining matches are against weak teams (Kenya and Nigeria). On the other hand, Uganda needs to win both their remaining matches to make sure that they qualify. Their remaining matches are against Kenya and Rwanda.
Today there is the Namibia vs Tanzania match. If Namibia wins, they will qualify for the 2024 T20I World Cup.
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Only one week time is allotted for the Indian team to travel to South Africa and get acclimatized. After the three match T20I series, they will be playing a 3-match ODI series against South Africa. It will be interesting to see who will be included in the squad. There are rumors that KL Rahul will be named as the captain and senior players such as Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will be rested for this series. I find it regressive. Why stick with KL Rahul again and again? I would have rather preferred someone like Shreyas Iyer as the captain this time.
I think if Pandaya is fit and available for the white ball series (T-20 +ODI) then he'll surely lead the team in T-20, then there is a possibility of him leading in the ODI as well. Fitness is a big issue for Iyer, The dude has a habit of picking injuries out of nowhere so he's a risky bet. I am not sure about ODI leadership but I don't want to see Rahul becoming the captain of the T-20 and Test team. In fact, selectors should keep him away from the T-20 setup. Even Hardick is not injury-free. Anyway I don't have an issue with Hardick as the captain, as he is still young and has 6-7 years of prime cricket with him. Test team, IMO should be still under the control of Rohit Sharma. In fact I would say that oldies such as Virat and Rohit should rather concentrate on the longer format, and leave the shorter format to younger players such as Hardick, Shreyas, Rituraj and Shubman. Anyway, the series is just a few days away and the selectors will make the team selection announcement within the next 2-3 days. |
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Only one week time is allotted for the Indian team to travel to South Africa and get acclimatized. After the three match T20I series, they will be playing a 3-match ODI series against South Africa. It will be interesting to see who will be included in the squad. There are rumors that KL Rahul will be named as the captain and senior players such as Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will be rested for this series. I find it regressive. Why stick with KL Rahul again and again? I would have rather preferred someone like Shreyas Iyer as the captain this time.
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LOL.. the ICC has gone ballistic, after learning that Zimbabwe may not qualify for the T20I World Cup to be held in West Indies and United States next year. So far Zimbabwe has played 3 matches, and they won only one match (against Tanzania). In the very first match, they suffered a heavy defeat against Namibia and in the third match they went down against Uganda. Even if they win all the remaining matches, they are not guaranteed of a slot in the world cup. Namibia is almost confirmed of a slot, while Uganda and Kenya are in hot pursuit for the second slot.
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Namibia easily won the target of 115 runs given by Uganda. A target of 115 runs in T20 is not very difficult for any team to win but if Uganda could have bowled well they might have contested the match. Uganda batsmen should have scored some more runs then they could have won the match against Namibia. If Namibia could have been given a target of 140 runs, the match might have been within Uganda's reach. Namibia is a level ahead of the rest. The cricket board is not very dependent on ICC for funds (they have a small business community who supports the game with sponsorships and donations), and then they have players such as David Wiese and Ruben Trumpelmann who are active in franchise T20 cricket leagues around the world. The infrastructure facilities are good, and this means that whenever there is a major ICC tournament in the African continent, Namibia is by default selected as the host (which gives them the additional home advantage). |
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The way Rohit Sharma started the 2023 World Cup final. Gill could have accompanied him then maybe India could have scored a good run in the final. India's all out for 240 runs in the final match in the race for the title was really disappointing for the Indian cricket fans. In 2003, India also failed to win the championship after losing to Australia. The same thing happened in the 2023 World Cup final. 2023 World Cup may be the former cricketers of India wanted to avenge the 203 bone by defeating Australia in the final. But who knew Australia would win the toss and bowl brilliantly. Bowling will bowl strong batsmen like India all out for 240 runs.
For India, it is time to move on. ODI cricket will be in low priority for some time now. At least until the T20I World Cup of 2024 gets completed, all the attention is going to be on the shorter format. Both Virat and Rohit will be remembered as great players who put up exceptional individual performances, but never able to win a major ICC trophy. For them, the time is running out. Virat is 35 years old, while Rohit is one year elder to him. They have another 2 years of international cricket left at the most. And this means that the 2024 tournament is going to be their last chance. |
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