Heena Sharma Blog

  India have not named their playing XI for the fourth Test against Australia and will be announcing it on Friday before the match starts at The Gabba as they are monitoring the injuries of the players. This was informed by batting coach Vikram Rathour on Thursday. Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is suffering from an abdominal strain and is a doubtful starter for the series decider. If he doesn't play, the visitors can bring in Shardul Thakur to join Mohammed Siraj and Navdeep Saini in the pace department. With KL Rahul returning home due to a wrist injury and Mayank Agarwal hit on the hand at the nets, India also face a dilemma as they look to bring in someone to replace Hanuma Vihari, who injured his hamstring during the drawn third Test and is unlikely to play as the No. 6 batsman. There are also concerns over Ravichandran Ashwin's fitness as he woke up with a back tweak on the final day of the Sydney Test and then suffered a hit on his ribs by a short delivery from P

  Cricket Australia on Friday asserted that the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India is not threatened by a fresh COVID-19 outbreak in Sydney even though the situation is being closely monitored. Australian cricket officials were put on alert after the number of cases in the northern beaches outbreak in Sydney reached 28 on Friday. The third Test between India and Australia at the SCG is scheduled to get underway on January 7. "There's been lots of discussion and meetings of our medical experts, but this is the reason why throughout the summer we've had our players in bubbles in the hub," CA's interim chief executive Nick Hockley told SEN Radio. Read More

  Australian cricket team has pushed India to the second spot in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) points table after the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday effected changes to the WTC rules. The changes in ICC WTC points system has be made as several bilateral series could not be played due to Covid-19 pandemic. Changes to the rules were made to determine the nine teams' standings on the points table. ICC World Test Championship new rules Although India (360 points) still has 64 more points than Australia (296) and more series wins, the Aussies have gone atop after the ICC Board approved that the matches played and the matches lost won't be treated as drawn and points would be split. Australia now has 0.822 percentage points (82.2 per cent), which propelled them to the No.1 spot, while India has 0.750 (75 per cent). Read More

Former Pakistan captain Mohammed Hafeez has tested negative for Covid-19 , a day after the PCB found him positive for the deadly virus. Hafeez and Wahab Riaz are among the 10 England-bound Pakistan players, who tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday. The team is due to leave for England on Sunday for a Test and T20 series in August. On Wednesday, Hafeez took to twitter and clarified that he and his family members have tested negative and also posted the medical report to back his claim. "After Tested positive Covid-19 acc to PCB testing Report yesterday,as 2nd opinion & for satisfaction I personally went to Test it again along with my family and here I along with my all family members are reported Negetive (sic) Alham du Lillah. May Allah keep us all safe," Hafeez tweeted. Read More

The International Cricket Council (ICC) launched the inaugural World Test Championship on Monday, setting the stage for a long tournament in red-ball cricket to determine the World Test Champion. The two-year affair comprises top nine Test teams-- Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies -- who will compete in 71 matches in 27 series. Each team will play three home and three away series. The top two teams at the end will compete in the ICC World Test Championship Final in the UK in June 2021. The first Ashes Test between England and Australia at Edgbaston will mark as the inaugural game of the event. India will not play against Pakistan because each team has picked six opponents by mutual agreement, within the existing framework of the Members rights agreements. Also, the teams can play matches outside the World Test Championship during this period. Accordingly, The Indian team would be playing against Wes