Tag: T20 World Cup

Ind vs Eng 5th T20I: Focus on handling pressure in World Cup year as India, England play T20I series decider | Cricket News – Times of India

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The five-match T20I series against top-ranked England has given India a chance to assess their standing in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup in October this year. It has also given some players who are coming out of injuries a chance to test their battle-readiness.
India will be happy with the return of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and the death bowling of Shardul Thakur. It was Thakur and Hardik Pandya who, despite the dew, tilted the scales in India’s favour in the fourth T20I on Thursday.

For a while during the 65-run partnership between Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes, it looked like England would continue the trend of chasing down targets in this series, in which the toss has been a significant factor, but Thakur’s two wickets off successive balls to get rid of Stokes and skipper Eoin Morgan ensured India did not miss the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja.
With the series level at 2-2 ahead of the final one in Ahmedabad on Saturday, India will have all to play for. It’ll be the frenetic rush of the IPL after this series followed by the World Test Championship (WTC) and the tour of England.
Unless the proposed T20I series against South Africa and New Zealand happen, India will have to ride on the IPL wave going forward. The Indian team management too will be happy with the way in which the IPL heroes have grabbed their chances.

Ishan Kishan’s stunning counter-attack in the second T20I reflected the confidence that comes from taking on the best in the business in the IPL. A groin injury saw him miss the fourth game but Suryakumar Yadav proved an equal replacement. That he didn’t get a chance to prove his worth on debut didn’t matter as he launched into the England attack on Thursday.
Kohli, however, will be worried about India’s show in the Powerplay. India’s best was 50/1 in the second match, but they’ve also recorded two of their worst Powerplay performances, 22/3 in the first and 24/3 in the third match, in T20Is in this series.
Jofra Archer and Mark Wood have combined clever variations of pace and bounce to unsettle the Indians upfront. The visitors have lived up to their top billing in all departments and won the third match by eight wickets in a fitting tribute to Morgan, as he became the first player from England to make 100 T20I appearances.
The Englishmen seem to be relishing the “pressure of T20 final in a World Cup year,” as Stokes put it. It remains to be seen who will have the last laugh.

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India vs England: Getting under the pump before T20 World Cup is good for us, says Ben Stokes | Cricket News – Times of India

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AHMEDABAD: England star all-rounder Ben Stokes says losing a tight game like the fourth Twenty20 against India on Thursday and going into a ‘winners-take-all’ contest will only prepare them better for the World Cup as they will get used to pressure situations.
Eyeing an unassailable 3-1 lead, the Eoin Morgan-led side faltered in a tricky chase of 186 to go down to India by eight runs.
The fifth T20I, scheduled for Saturday, is now like a summit clash.
“Whoever wins that game wins the series so you know that’s great for us as a team, and especially with the T20 World Cup coming up, the more pressure situations we get into as a team, the more we will benefit from it,” Stokes told reporters during the post-match interaction on Thursday.

“The more pressure that we get under as a team, the more that’s going to do for us in that World Cup, because World Cups can end very quickly. Every game is a big game.”
Stokes nearly carried England home with his 46 off 23 balls but he and captain Morgan were dismissed off consecutive Shardul Thakur deliveries at the start of the 17th over from where it was tilted in home team’s favour.
“One of us have got to be there till the end. Leaving that many runs for our bottom order to have to deal with obviously is less than ideal. In that situation, one of our middle-order needs to be there till the end to get it over the line. It’s always more frustrating when you feel like you’ve got the game in your hands.”

01:184th T20I: India beat England by 8 runs to level series

4th T20I: India beat England by 8 runs to level series

“Rather than going away and being too down on myself you got to look at these things and assess them and learn from them. You know we’ve got a T20 World Cup coming up and there’s no doubt it will put in a similar situation at some point in that tournament so these are all great learning experiences for us as players,” he said.
Talking about Saturday’s game, he said: “It is a final because if we don’t win then we lose the series, and we don’t want to lose the series.”
“We want to make a habit of winning. As I said the more situations we get put into where we’ve got pressure on us and we keep prevailing, that’s just got to do with the world of good.”
The Morgan-led England have been in brilliant form in the white ball cricket since their ODI World Cup victory in 2019.

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In Pics: India survive final-over scare to level series against England

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India survived final-over drama to beat England by eight runs in the fourth Twenty20 International and level the five-match series 2-2 in Ahmedabad on Thursday. (Getty Images)

“Getting into any of our white ball teams now is a huge honour, purely because of how well we have played over the last four-five years.
“Even the guys who are in the XI know that there’s guys on the bench, knocking that door down, so competition for places in this team is real, real healthy and it really drives everybody to get better and better every day,” Stokes said.
In the first three T20Is the team that has won the toss, has chosen to bat second and won but the latest match bucked that trend.
“This is the best wicket we’ve had in this series. We knew that straightaway after the first couple of overs with Jofra and Woody. The wicket didn’t have that sort of up and down, bounce where it did the first couple of games. The bowl skidded on nicely.
“You got to give credit to India and the way they bowled. They realised quite early that taking the pace off the ball and digging into the wicket was actually quite tough,” he concluded.

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BCCI plans T20I series against South Africa, New Zealand before T20 World Cup | Cricket News – Times of India

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NEW DELHI: The Indian cricket board (BCCI) will be squeezing in a couple of bilateral T20I series in October to help the Indian team prepare for the T20 World Cup. TOI has learnt that the board is in talks with South Africa and New Zealand in this regard.
“South Africa and New Zealand are scheduled to come to India to play a couple of T20I series before the World Cup. The modalities are to be finalized. The board is aware that the team needs to be in touch with the format before the Cup starts,” a senior BCCI official said.
India and South Africa already have an agreement to play a series in India to compensate for the cancelled series in March last year. India don’t have any T20Is scheduled after the ongoing series against England.
They are slated to travel to England for the World Test Championship final and a five-Test series after the IPL. India come back from England in mid-September. There are doubts over the the Asia Cup too as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will host the remainder of the Pakistan Super League.
India will also host New Zealand for a Test series after the T20 World Cup. The Indian team will then travel to South Africa for a full tour in December-January

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BCCI keeps option of having crowd for IPL’s later stages open | Cricket News – Times of India

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NEW DELHI: With the Indian cricket board (BCCI) and the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) deciding to hold the last three T20 Internationals against England behind closed doors in the wake of rising Covid-19 cases, it looks clear that whatever chances the Indian Premier League (IPL) had of attracting crowds in the later stages are dissipating fast. Even then, the BCCI is keeping its options open.
While the BCCI had said in an official statement on March 7 earlier that the tournament will be held behind closed doors to begin with, it had said a decision to allow crowds for the later stages would be taken later.
On Monday, BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal reiterated to IANS that crowds will not attend IPL games but added that the BCCI has still kept the option of having crowds for the later stages of the tournament.

“The initial phase of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was without crowds only, it was already decided,” said Dhumal while speaking to IANS.
Asked if there are chances of any crowds in the later stages of the tournament, he said, “It will depend on the situation”, and said that the board is yet to take a final call thus keeping the option open.

The IPL games are going to be held at six venues and no team will play at home. The first phase of league games comprising 20 matches will be held in Chennai and Mumbai while the action for the next batch of league games 16 in number will be held in Ahmedabad and Delhi.
The league action will then move to Bengaluru and Kolkata for the last 20 league matches.
The playoffs will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The massive crowd in the T20 International series, especially in the second T20I, caused a bit of concern in the wake of a rise in Covid-19 cases.
“India is due to host the T20 World Cup later this year. There is a lot at stake. Anything untoward now, even if a few cases crop up, it can have an impact on the tournament. It can create some problems,” said an official in the know of things.
The Indian board had earlier said in statement, “The fixtures of the tournament have been mapped in a way that every team will travel only three times during the league stage, thus reducing commute and minimising risk. The VIVO IPL this year at home will be played behind closed doors to begin with and a call on allowing spectators will be taken at a later stage of the tournament.”

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India vs England: India a very difficult side to beat in India, says Eoin Morgan | Cricket News – Times of India

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AHMEDABAD: England could get an idea of where they stand heading into this year’s World Cup at the end of their limited overs engagements against formidable India, captain Eoin Morgan said on Thursday.
Hosts India and England will be engaged in a T20 series, starting here on Friday, and that will be followed by a three-game ODI rubber.
“It is going to be from our point of view a learning process, going through what positions we might find ourselves in seven month’s time at the World Cup, with a perfect case scenario that we are playing against one of the best sides in the world, in their backyard and we know they are very difficult to beat,” Morgan said.

He was addressing a pre-match press conference here.
Morgan said the Virat Kohli-led India are a very difficult side to beat in their backyard and the limited overs matches will be a challenge for his team.

“I do, I probably replicate the answer. India are the team to beat given we are playing them away from home. They are a very difficult side to beat in India,” Morgan said ahead of the series opener at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
“Given that the World Cup is here, I do think they will enter the World Cup as favourites, so this is going to be a great test for us and a great challenge and throughout the whole tour and not just for T20s,” added the 34-year-old Dublin-born batsman.

According to the captain, all his players are fit and available for selection. And that includes pacer Jofra Archer, too.
“Yeah, everybody is fit to play and Jofra is available for the series,” he said.
Morgan, however, refused to speak about the team composition.

“No, I am not giving you a head’s up,” quipped the English skipper when asked about the opening combination.
He was also asked about Archer’s workload management and Morgan said the 25-year-old pacer will be rested before the T20 World Cup.
“I think it’s with the three-format players that we have, they are a handful of guys. They are managed really well, you look back at the backend of December and also January, Jofra had off and there would be different pockets throughout.

“… After the IPL, towards summer and before the World Cup, where Jofra will be rested and will be really well looked after both physically and mentally,” Morgan signed off.
The upcoming T20 World Cup will be held in India later this year.

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I prefer India as favourites for T20 World Cup: Jos Buttler | Cricket News – Times of India

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AHMEDABAD: England star batsman Jos Buttler feels the Virat Kohli-led side stands favourite for the ICC T20 World Cup scheduled to be played later this year in India.
The T20 World Cup is slated to be hosted in India this year in October-November. The venues for the tournament are yet to be revealed. Buttler feels as a host nation, Team India will have an advantage in the showpiece event.
“Going into World Cups, you probably look at hosts nations as strong as India who are gonna be favourites for that tournament. So it’s a great exposure for us to play against one of the best teams in the tournament in these conditions,” said Buttler in a virtual press conference shared by ECB.
“There are many excellent teams, in the last few World Cups hosts nations have performed very well. India is of course strong in every format and T20 is no different and especially playing at home I see India as the favourites,” he added.
India and England will face each other in the first T20I on Friday at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad and Buttler feels it’s a perfect opportunity for the visitors to get into the groove ahead of the World Cup.
“It’s vital for us to play and hopefully you wanna win that series and take that confidence and gel together as a group has that clarity ahead of the World Cup. So it’s a fantastic opportunity for us as a side to be playing against India in World Cup conditions,” said Buttler.
All the five T20Is will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium and Buttler sees this as a major advantage for the English side to learn the conditions before the T20 World Cup.
“This is a great benefit for us. Being here and to play in Ahmedabad in the brand new stadium which may play a big part in the World Cup and no one has played here before. So it’s a big advantage for us to learn about conditions,” said Buttler.
“We don’t know how the wickets are gonna play in this stadium but to play five matches on the same ground, the pitch might slow up and it may spin so that can be good exposure for us before the World Cup,” he added.

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