Cricket
T20 WC 2024: Rohit brigade eyeing a winning start

Ray Sportz News Desk: Rohit Sharma led Indian Cricket Team is eyeing a good start in the ongoing 2024 T20 World Cup, when they will take on Ireland on Wednesday. It would be a great practice as well for all the Indian cricketers, before they face arch rivals Pakistan on June 9.
The team knows that it is a touch undercooked with a lot of confusion still persisting about what could be the best combination on a drop-in virgin strip. As is clear from the games so far, scoring won’t be a walk in the park like it was during the Indian Premier League the last couple of months.
But the bigger concern is the baggage of being favourites who don’t really make it count in the end.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have individually laid their hands on global silverware but an assortment of some other ‘once in generation’ cricketers, including Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja, have not and they would be eager to finally lift one.
This Indian cricket team wouldn’t want to be the Brazil football team of 1982 and 86 when global stars like Socrates, Zico, Careca, Falcao and Alemao couldn’t win the FIFA trophy.
The most poignant sight of last year’s ODI World Cup was a forlorn Rohit, after the final, desperately trying to hide his welled-up eyes from the TV cameras as he quietly climbed the steps of the Narendra Modi Stadium dressing room.
There was also Kohli, who after scoring those 765 invaluable runs, could only get a fleeting blank gaze towards the podium where the trophy was kept.
The best players sometimes don’t add up to become the best team and while India have put faith in their most experienced lot, it can’t be simply wished away that this current batch has faltered at the final two hurdles way too many times.
At 37, this could safely be termed as Rohit’s last World Cup in the white-ball format as one doesn’t have to be Nostradamus to predict that he won’t be around for the next T20 World Cup in India and the 50-over World Cup in South Africa in 2027.
A very gutsy Irish team with some quality T20 players like Paul Stirling, Josh Little, Harry Tector, Andy Balbirnie, awaits India in the lung-opener.
On a slow track and a sub-standard outfield at the Nassau County ground, how India plays against Irish left-arm spinner George Dockrell will be interesting.
Where India hold the advantage is their spinners who are way better compared to what the Irish team have though the pace attack, aside from Bumrah, looks a bit weak in absence of the redoubtable Mohammed Shami.
Often having too many options isn’t the best option just like Indians have at the top. To fit in skipper Rohit and team’s most elite batter in Kohli, they have to probably sacrifice Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Rishabh Pant’s batting at No.3 in the practice game was like a breath of fresh air and Hardik Pandya’s bowling form will indicate how India fares in this competition.
At the Cantiague Park nets on Monday, Pandya spent considerable time bowling to Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav and Rohit.
If he can bowl at least three overs every day, the Indian team can also look to play Shivam Dube and include an extra spinner in the line-up.
Like earlier days, Ireland isn’t exactly a minnow in this format and very recently, they have beaten Pakistan in their own den in the run-up to the World Cup.
Little has more than little experience of playing IPL for Gujarat Titans and the troika of Balbirnie, Stirling and Tector can more than chance their arms.
The ‘Green Shirts’ will be the banana peel that Rohit and his men can ill-afford to slip on before they meet the more famous ‘Green Jerseys’ at the weekend.
Cricket
India beat England to clinch the series

Ray Sportz Web Desk: India beat England by 15 runs in the fourth T20I at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Friday to clinch the series 3-1. Concussion substitute Harshit Rana (3/33) was the pick of the bowlers for India with three wickets.
England started the match on a high – with Saqib Mahmood scalping three India batters in his first over – second of the match – also a maiden. England also finished the innings on a high, with India losing three wickets in the last over. For most of the 17 overs in between, however, the allrounder duo of Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya ruled the roost to ensure India set England a respectable target.
Earlier, fifties from Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube powered India to 181/9. Sent in to bat, India lost three wickets in the second over to be 12/3 at one stage before a remarkable stand 87 runs between Pandya (53 off 30 balls) and Dube (52 off 33 balls) pulled the hosts up. At the end England were bundled up for 166. Spinner Ravi Bishnoi (3/28) and concussion substitute Harshit Rana (3/33) then shared six wickets between them after Varun Chakravarthy’s 2-28.
Border-Gavaskar Trophy
AUS vs IND: Mitchell Starc reveals his plan for his Day 1 outstanding bowling performance

Ray Sportz Web Desk: After day 1 in the second test of the border gavaskar trophy, Australia is in very good condition. With help of Nathan McSweeney and Marnus Labushagne, Australia at 86 for losing just 1 wicket at the end of day 1. Australia star performer Mitchell Starc delivered an absolute class delivery with the very first ball of the match to dismiss Yashasvi Jaiswal. After day 1, Mitchell Starc revealed his plan behind the dismissal.
At the day 1 game, Mitchell Starc got 6 wickets for just 48 runs. It is his best figures in Tests. For this spell, India were bundled out for just 180 runs. Mitchell Starc revealed his plan that he ensure to hit the pads of Jaiswal. Starc also gave his plan while bowling the first over. He said, “We know how important it is to make early blows for India. So it’s my role for a while to attack the stumps and try to make early inroads”.
Starc also praise Nathan McSweeney and Marnus Labuschagne for their tough 3rd session with the pink ball and appreciate them to ensuring Australia to lost only one wicket on day 1. Starc says, “A good day all out. It’s a good way to finish the day. But the hardest time to bat is that third session with the new pink ball. On the other hand Marnus and McSweeney to fight through sustained to finish the day one down. We have a chance to go on tomorrow, it was fantastic from them. Obviously, a fair bit of outside noise. Very pleased for them”.
Border-Gavaskar Trophy
AUS vs IND: Gambhir Flies Back Home Over ‘Family Emergency’

Sourav Roy, Perth: India head coach Gautam Gambhir has flown back home with his family due to a “personal emergency” and is unlikely to rejoin the squad before the second Test against Australia beginning December 6 in Adelaide.
The Delhi-based Gambhir will skip India’s two-day pink ball warm-up game against Prime Minister’s in Canberra starting November 30.
“He left with his family on early Tuesday morning for India. It is an unavoidable personal emergency. He will be back in Adelaide before the start of the second Test match,” a BCCI official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
-
Cricket8 months ago
ICC T20 WC 2024: USA thump Canada in a high voltage opener
-
Football8 months ago
Germany outplayed Scotland in the Euro cup opener
-
Cricket8 months ago
T20 WC 2024: India starts its campaign with easy win
-
Cricket8 months ago
ICC T20 WC 2024: Rinku Singh hogs limelight during practice
-
East Bengal6 months ago
Packed gallery is not a concern for Altyn Asyr coach
-
Cricket8 months ago
ICC T20 WC 2024: Rohit Sharma wants this from his side
-
Cricket8 months ago
India’s squad for T20I series against Zimbabwe:
-
Football8 months ago
Stimac announce 23-men squad for Qatar match