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Tag: ODI cricket

ICC Champions Trophy: Why India should be wary of New Zealand in the final
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ICC Champions Trophy: Why India should be wary of New Zealand in the final

In Sunday’s ICC Champions Trophy final, India will face New Zealand, a side that will give them a stiff challenge. Having already played India at the venue last Sunday, New Zealand know what to expect in terms of conditions, which South Africa wouldn’t have had, if they had made it. The Indian Express takes a look at the reasons that make New Zealand a strong side to overcome in the final. Spin in the tale If there is any team in the Champions Trophy that could match or come close to India in terms of spin bowling resources, it is the Kiwis. Led by left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner, they have three other spin bowling options in Michael Bracewell, Glenn Phillips and Rachin Ravindra. So in terms of variety in the spin department, they have their bases covered. In their group match, India cam...
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ICC Champions Trophy: Amidst speculation about his future, Virat Kohli shows what makes him a chase-master in ODIs
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ICC Champions Trophy: Amidst speculation about his future, Virat Kohli shows what makes him a chase-master in ODIs

Where would India be without Virat Kohli in this ICC Champions Trophy? As they got one step closer to becoming the most successful team in the tournament’s history, for the second time in this edition, Kohli mastered a chase.Unlike the game against Pakistan where he remained unbeaten on 100, there was no century to show against Australia in Tuesday’s semi-final. But his 84 was an innings that sent a strong reminder to the world that Kohli isn’t going anywhere for now. If anything, with such knocks under pressure in the most challenging of conditions, he seems to be indicating a second wind in his career. Truth be told, Kohli looked all over the place in the first game against Bangladesh, who were able to pin him to the crease. After that knock, he trained for extra hours at the nets, facin...
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Champions Trophy: How Shreyas Iyer, Rohit Sharma are the faces of India’s risk management
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Champions Trophy: How Shreyas Iyer, Rohit Sharma are the faces of India’s risk management

As pitches in Dubai seem to be getting slower with each outing, all eyes are on the Indian spinners. However, for India to go the distance a lot is riding on the batting unit, which so far has adapted exceptionally to the sort of tracks that have been their biggest undoing in recent times. With a century each to Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli, they have two in-form batsmen in the top three to go with Rohit Sharma to provide rapid starts. In the middle overs where they need to be flexible with their approach against spinners, they have a solid middle-order which includes an enforcer in Shreyas Iyer and two busy players in Axar Patel and KL Rahul before the finishing job is handed over to Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja. This is as good a top 8 as a team could get in these conditions where b...
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Champions Trophy: Pressure will be on both teams, says Rohit Sharma ahead of India’s semifinal clash vs Australia
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Champions Trophy: Pressure will be on both teams, says Rohit Sharma ahead of India’s semifinal clash vs Australia

India skipper Rohit Sharma on Monday said that they are going to approach the semifinal match against Australia just like they did in the last three matches in the Champions Trophy, dismissing that there’s any added pressure. India have a pretty dismal record against the Australians when it comes to ICC knockout encounters with the Men in Blue last defeating the Aussies in the 2011 World Cup quarterfinals. “Look, they are a great opposition to play against. All we had to do is what we have been thinking about the last three games and we have to approach that game in a similar fashion. We understand the opposition and how they play and stuff like that,” Rohit said in the pre-match press conference. “We will expect some nervy times as well in the middle. But that is how the game is being pla...
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From T20 World Cup to ICC Champions Trophy – Varun Chakravarthy’s career comes full circle at the same venue
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From T20 World Cup to ICC Champions Trophy – Varun Chakravarthy’s career comes full circle at the same venue

In November 2021, after a wicketless outing against Scotland in The T20 World Cup here, Varun Chakaravarthy walked away never to be seen in India colours, till October 2024.As he took the field at the venue again on Sunday, he felt nervous. He may have cemented his spot in India’s T20 side on the back of strong showings in the IPL, but in ODIs there have been a lot of doubts – whether he would be able to retain the same mystery, will he be able to bowl impactful spells when batsmen have time to see him off. Through the course of the evening, Varun will go about answering every single one of those questions and also vindicate his inclusion in the squad that came at the expense of a batting talent like Yashasvi Jaiswal. When India’s think tank assembled in January to pick the provisional ...
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IND vs NZ Rollercoaster: Varun slides into direct contention, Phillips takes a stunner & Rohit’s pull needs a rethink
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IND vs NZ Rollercoaster: Varun slides into direct contention, Phillips takes a stunner & Rohit’s pull needs a rethink

Has Varun Chakravarthy powered himself to earning a spot In the semifinal and maybe beyond? Ravi Shastri roared: “What he’s done is that he has put his hand up now for a spot in the semifinal in the playing XI, because the pitches will be the same, he has been outstanding tonight. Well more headaches for the think-tank and selectors.” With his figures of 5/42, Varun has almost definitely sealed his spot to take on the Aussies in Dubai on Tuesday.Earlier though amidst his flipper and top spinner variations, while aiming at the stumps, there was a tiny slice of luck. And he had Michael Gough to thank. When the English umpire gives a decision on field, rarely has it been overturned in recent times. But he made a rare mistake on Sunday in Dubai when he gave Michael Bracewell out LBW against Va...
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Champions Trophy controversy: Why ‘advantage India’ criticism from Pat Cummins and Michael Atherton about Dubai pitches is valid
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Champions Trophy controversy: Why ‘advantage India’ criticism from Pat Cummins and Michael Atherton about Dubai pitches is valid

These are still early days of the Champions Trophy, but the prefix ‘neutral venue’ before Dubai for India’s matches is already inviting chuckles. In a tournament hosted by Pakistan, it is India — thanks to the conditions in Dubai — which is feeling more at home, with teams in Group B already sweating at the prospect of playing their semi-finals here on March 4. It’s somewhat akin to suddenly land up in Chennai to play on carefully-curated sluggish tracks that abet Chennai Super Kings. What’s more, here India don’t have any ‘away’ game. With the match between Australia and South Africa washed out at Rawalpindi on Tuesday, the Group B is now wide open with Wednesday’s fixture between England and Afghanistan at Lahore being a knockout clash. Once that happens, the calculators would be out of ...
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Champions Trophy | ‘Virat Kohli’s engine room is ODI cricket and it could be his second innings’: R Ashwin on batter’s 51st ODI ton
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Champions Trophy | ‘Virat Kohli’s engine room is ODI cricket and it could be his second innings’: R Ashwin on batter’s 51st ODI ton

With his 51st ODI hundred against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy match at Dubai on Sunday, Virat Kohli hit his first International hundred since the hundred against Australia in the Perth Test match during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. Kohli, who had only amassed 190 runs in nine Test innings in Australia in the Border-Gavaskar trophy, had got out six times to off side deliveries followed by a half-century in three ODI matches against England last month. Former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has shared how he did not see those dismissals in red ball cricket as any ‘doubts’ and ODI cricket being Kohli’s engine room. “I never had any doubt about Virat’s quality. When we were playing in Australia, people were criticizing that he was nicking the ball in the slips. People shou...
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IND vs PAK ICC Champions Trophy: Five key pointers that signified the gulf in class between the teams
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IND vs PAK ICC Champions Trophy: Five key pointers that signified the gulf in class between the teams

– Pakistan were off to a decent start, but lost two wickets just before the end of the first Powerplay. Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel immediately went into a shell. On the other hand, India, despite losing Rohit Sharma relatively early, didn’t hit the brakes too hard. Between overs 11-20, Pakistan scored just 27 runs and faced 36 dots (60%) while India scored 45 runs and played 25 dots (41.7%) – While Pakistan were able to gradually build in the middle overs, India triggered a collapse soon after. Set batters Rizwan and Shakeel were dismissed in back-to-back overs, just after the second drinks break. Pakistan went from 151/2 in the 34th over to 200/7 in the 43rd over. India, after Rohit’s cameo, had two match-defining partnerships that never allowed Pakistan a footing in the game. – Axa...
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Ind vs Pak Emotional Rollercoaster: Dot balls impede Pakistan, Hardik entraps Saud Shakeel & Axar direct throws apply brakes as Pak reach 241
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Ind vs Pak Emotional Rollercoaster: Dot balls impede Pakistan, Hardik entraps Saud Shakeel & Axar direct throws apply brakes as Pak reach 241

Mohammed Shami, at his best, is at it from the word go. When he is in rhythm, he hardly wastes any time in hitting the right lines and lengths. But it wasn’t the case on Sunday as he struggled to get his radar right. In an over that would have given flashbacks to 90s kids of the stat to the 2003 World Cup final, Shami had to bowl 11 deliveries to complete a legal 6-ball over. It wasn’t quite like the 15 runs that Zaheer Khan conceded that forgettable day in Johannesburg, but it was the first sign that something was off with Shami in Dubai. He then went off the field, pointing to his shoes. By the time he got close to finishing his third over, the physio was out, massaging his right calf. Shami then slow-walked into the dressing room. A couple of days after his 5-for, it was a worrying star...
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It’s beyond a game, that’s the beauty of India-Pakistan cricket, says Pakistan coach Aaqib Javed
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It’s beyond a game, that’s the beauty of India-Pakistan cricket, says Pakistan coach Aaqib Javed

If one thought Pakistan coming to Dubai could ease the pressure of them playing in front of home fans, in a must-win contest against India, their head coach Aaqib Javed seemed more intent on treating Sunday’s clash as ‘beyond a game’. He wouldn’t stop there, and even claimed: ‘If you remove this pressure, what’s left in the Pakistan-India game? Passion and pressure is what is needed to show a player his performance.” Already facing pressure of expectations of doing well in the first ICC event they are hosting in 29 years, they go into the game against India with the added pressure of this being a must-win fixture. “There is no game you can say you play without pressure. The first game we lost, okay. New Zealand is a very strong team. They have good balance… After losing a game there is ano...
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Shubman Gill, Mohammed Shami, and spinners star as India beat Bangladesh in spin-friendly conditions
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Shubman Gill, Mohammed Shami, and spinners star as India beat Bangladesh in spin-friendly conditions

It was the start that India needed to kick off their Champions Trophy campaign. Despite having all the arsenal that makes them a formidable white-ball outfit, there were a few doubts coming into the tournament especially against a spin-heavy attack. And through the course of their six-wicket win against Bangladesh, India went about ticking all the boxes, showing their blueprint could after all be foolproof in these conditions in Dubai where other teams are likely to struggle to get used to the nature of the surfaces. More importantly, in the afternoon Mohammed Shami rediscovered his rhythm and their spin formula showed it would work wonders in these slow conditions, more so if they get a chance to bowl first. In the evening, a fluent Shubman Gill scored his second successive century in as ...
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What lies behind Mohammed Shami’s march to 200 ODI wickets? A romantic heart with a sadist’s skill
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What lies behind Mohammed Shami’s march to 200 ODI wickets? A romantic heart with a sadist’s skill

The eyes of television cameras searched for Mohammed Shami. When they located him, he wore a shy, warm smile. He soon broke from the crowd and ambled to the run-up point, the trajectory of the next ball playing in his mind, the off-cutter that marked his two hundredth ODI wicket now a mere time-stamp on his remarkable cricketing journey. The moment suitably captured the essence of Shami the man— un-theatrical and un-obsessed with the statistical peaks, a superstar with an everyman’s persona, seam-scientist with a common man’s air. He wouldn’t have burned the midnight oil digging numbers or spent sleepless nights dreaming about his No 200, or evaluated his spot in the pantheon of India’s great fast bowlers. Such trivialities don’t fuss him. He is, at the heart, a pure romantic. The bowlin...
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Champions Trophy: Pakistan’s bewildering naivety leads to morale-crushing defeat against New Zealand
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Champions Trophy: Pakistan’s bewildering naivety leads to morale-crushing defeat against New Zealand

The thousands that thronged Karachi’s National Stadium returned home heartbroken as New Zealand inflicted a crushing blow on the hosts in the Champions Trophy opener. It was not so about the margin of defeat (60 runs when hunting 320) as it was about the manner of the surrender. The lingering feeling would be that they lost not because they were the inferior side, but because New Zealand exuded a streak of clarity and purpose, as they always do, that the hosts couldn’t fathom.There was a bewildering naivety about the defeat, in their inability to seize the moments and deliver the knockout blows, in their shuddering strategies, in their lack of exigency plans, or in their sheer stage fright. The enormity of the occasion, big-ticket cricket returning to the country after nearly three decades...
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PAK vs NZ: Is Kiwis’ score of 320 further proof that Champions Trophy will be dominated by batters?
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PAK vs NZ: Is Kiwis’ score of 320 further proof that Champions Trophy will be dominated by batters?

If the 2025 Champions Trophy had been expected to be won by the batters, a reminder of why that may be the case was served on the opening day itself. Put into bat first after Pakistan won the toss, New Zealand’s total reached 320 for 5, after a well-paced first innings, led by centuries from Will Young and Tom Latham, in Karachi on Wednesday. It was the sixth 300+ score in the last nine ODI innings played on Pakistani soil after the recent tri-series between these two teams and South Africa. Across those four matches, there had been five hundreds and 15 50+ scores. Story continues below this ad That trend is not new either. Since 2021, according to ESPNCricinfo, Pakistan has been home to the highest batting average in ODIs (35.53) in the world. “Although the totals might s...
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New Zealand beat Pakistan to win tri-nation title
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New Zealand beat Pakistan to win tri-nation title

New Zealand clinched the tri-nation title by beating hosts Pakistan by five wickets in the final in Karachi on Friday to give them a major boost ahead of next week’s Champions Trophy. Seamer Will O’Rourke (4-43) led New Zealand’s tidy bowling as they bundled out the hosts for 242 with three deliveries still left in their innings. Daryl Mitchell (57) and Tom Latham (56) struck fifties as New Zealand romped home with 28 balls to spare, finishing unbeaten in the tournament that also involved South Africa. Story continues below this ad Electing to bat, Pakistan kept losing wickets every time a partnership promised to bloom. Skipper Mohammad Rizwan (46) and Salman Agha (45) forged an 88-run partnership for the fourth wicket but boundaries were not easy to come by. Tayyab Tahir ...
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