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Preview: India vs South Africa, 1st Test
The India vs South Africa Test series will be starting from today.
Both teams have set their eyes on some crucial WTC points by winning the series.
The first match will be played in Centurion at the SuperSport Park.
Both teams have some major players missing out in this series but still, both the teams are well balanced.
South Africa will be playing their first WTC series while it will be the 3rd series of Team India in this Championship.
Team India has a poor record in South Africa as they have never won a Test series against South Africa at their home.
India has played 20 away Tests against South Africa out of which they were able to win only 3 Test matches.
On the other hand, South Africa won 10 matches while 7 matches ended as a draw.
India has played 6 Test matches in the two-Test series they have played in the WTC so far, winning three Tests, losing one while 2 games ended as a draw.
Team India will look to win their first-ever away series victory against South Africa.
South Africa has never lost a Test match in Centurion since 2014 while India has lost both of their matches here.
Team India
The biggest question is whether team India will go with 5 bowlers or should they strengthen their batting lineup by adding an extra batter instead of the 5th bowler.
The batting has always struggled in South Africa so, strengthening the batting lineup will be a good move but Team India will probably don’t take this risk and will go with 5 bowlers.
It will be tough to choose between Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer but according to the current form, Shreyas Iyer will most probably play the first Test match instead of Rahane.
Predicted playing XI
Mayank Agarwal KL Rahul (vc) Chateshwar Pujara Virat Kohli (c) Shreyas Iyer/ Ajinkya Rahane Rishabh Pant (wk) Shardul Thakur Ravichandran Ashwin Mohammed Shami Mohammed Siraj/ Ishant Sharma Jasprit Bumrah
Team South Africa
Despite the absence of some of the main players, the home side will enter as favorites in this series because of their ruthless home record in Tests against the Asian sides.
If South Africa wins this series then they will reach the top position on the ICC World Test Championship points table.
South Africa played their last Test series against West Indies where they won both the Test matches convincingly.
Dean Elger will lead the South African side in this series.
South Africa suffered a huge blow before the start of this series as one of their main fast bowlers, Anrich Nortje was ruled out of the series due to an injury.
South Africa will most probably give Mulder a chance to prove himself both as a bowler and a lower middle-order batter in this match.
He will be playing at no 7 position.
Kagiso Rabada will lead the fast bowling section in this series for his side.
Predicted playing XI
Dean Elgar (c) Aiden Markram Keegan Petersen Rassie van der Dussen Temba Bavuma Quinton de Kock (wk) Wiaan Mulder Keshav Maharaj Kagiso Rabada Lungi Ngidi Duanne Olivier
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Smriti Mandhana and Ellyse Perry star in RCB women’s comeback win against UP Warriorz in WPL 2024
RCB women overcame UP Warriorz by 23 runs to clinch their third win of the season. The home side outperformed Warriorz in all the facets of the game and emerged victorious. A collective team effort, particularly with the bat, helped RCB women to beat Warriorz for the second time in the season. They now have three wins in their five matches in the WPL 2024.
Alyssa Healy won the toss and opted to field first. Given how things have panned out in the league so far, it needed a great batting performance from RCB to challenge the chasing side. The home side did exactly that. They were full of intent which was lacking in the last few games. Right from the start, S Meghana and Smriti Mandhana smashed the bowlers.
It was the night of the RCB skipper. The Southpaw scored 80(50) in her stay. S Meghana perished after a valuable 28(21). Ellyse Perry batted well and registered her first fifty of the WPL 2024. She was aided well towards the end by Richa Ghosh whose 21(10) propelled RCB to a score of 198 on the board. It was the highest team total in the WPL 2024.
Alyssa Healy’s efforts go in vain
Chasing the daunting total, UP Warriorz were off to a flier. The opening duo of Healy and Kiran Navgire gave a fiery start to the visiting side. When the two were batting in the PP overs, it seemed like the Warriorz could pull off an insane chase. However, Sophie Devine brought RCB back into the game with crucial wickets. At Bengaluru, the home crowd was literally behind the RCB women.
It helped the home side to stay calm and do their job with ease. Sophie Molineux and Asha Sobhana were the pick of the bowlers, who claimed 2/29 each in their spell of four overs. While Healy scored a fifty and Deepti tried her best in the death overs, ten daunting targets could not be chased down. Despite the early hiccups, RCB managed to restrict UP Warriorz to a score of 175 and won by 23 runs.
Ellyse Perry smashed a six in the match against UP Warriorz in the WPL 2024. It was an interesting six as the ball travelled towards the boundary ropes and fell exactly on the window of the car. As a result, the glass of the window was broken. The car is set to be provided as a reward for the player of the tournament.
It was the over of Deepti Sharma towards the last few moments of RCB’s innings. Before Perry struck, the home side was in a great position in the match, thanks to a great start provided by Smriti Mandhana. The star batter scored 80 (50) and shined in front of the home crowd. Her form helped RCB to have a good momentum towards the death overs.
Watch the viral video here –
ELLYSE PERRY HAS BROKE THE GLASS OF THE CAR…!!! 🤯
– The reaction of Perry was priceless!! pic.twitter.com/zaxiQLLN1r
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) March 4, 2024
Perry, who was struggling till that point, opened up and smashed the bowlers for fun. She went hard against the spinners like Rajeshwari Gayakwad and Deepti Sharma who were asked to bowl at the death. The right-handed batter smashed back-to-back sixes in the over of Sharma. One of those travelled towards the mid-wicket region where the car was stationed. The video of her shot has gone viral on X.
RCB teammates laugh, Ellyse Perry in disbelief
As the ball fell on the car and damaged the window, the fans erupted. There was no end to the joy of the fans who started chanting “Perry.. Perry..” and lit the atmosphere of the stadium. However, Perry was in disbelief. As she saw the impact of the ball damaging the car’s window, the Australian batter could not believe her eyes and thought about what she had just done.
On the other hand, the RCB teammates of Perry were in awe of the shot. They looked at the replays and appreciated the shot of Perry. At the same time, players like Sophie Molineux and Sophie Devine had a laugh about the car’s window getting damaged. Ellyse scored a fifty and helped her team score 198 runs with her batting in front of the home crowd.
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Praveen Kumar addresses Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer’s negligence of taking part in Ranji Trophy
Praveen Kumar has given his opinion on the preferences of Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer in recent times. The duo did not take part in the Ranji Trophy matches for their respective teams despite being fit. It did not go well with the Indian Cricket Board which landed the duo without a ventral contract which was announced a few days back.
Praveen Kumar has reacted to the issue recently. The former India pacer claimed that he has been of an opinion on the issue for a long time. Praveen felt that one should definitely earn money but not at the cost of neglecting to play for domestic and national teams. The right-arm pacer felt that players today are having a certain mentality which is not good.
The former pacer claimed that the players have a mindset that they can rest for a month before taking part in the IPL, thereby bypassing playing for their national team or the domestic teams. Praveen felt that the players could not resist letting go of money which they could earn by taking part in the IPL and other T20 leagues (For foreign players).
‘Ye mentally hota hai, ki mai itne paise kaise chodun’ – Praveen Kumar
“This thing is now firmly in the mind of players. Mai ek mahine pehle rest kar lunga, fir IPL khel lunga. Ye mentally hota hai, ki mai itne paise kaise chodun,” said Praveen in the interview. He claimed that youngsters these days are spoilt and are behind money. The former RCB pacer felt that it is not fair on the part of the young players to neglect the country over the IPL.
Kumar felt that a player needs to maintain a balance between playing for the IPL team and for the country. He felt that money is an important factor, but not at the cost of playing for the national team. “But this is not fair at all. A player needs to balance things. Money is important, but this (giving franchise cricket the priority) is wrong,” said the former Indian bowler in the interview.
Smriti Mandhana and Ellyse Perry star in RCB women’s comeback win against UP Warriorz in WPL 2024
WATCH: Ellyse Perry in disbelief as her six breaks car’s window
Praveen Kumar addresses Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer’s negligence of taking part in Ranji Trophy
Salaries of all skippers in IPL 2024
‘The sledging came from two guys’ – Naveen-ul-Haq talks about infamous LSG vs RCB IPL 2023 match which saw fight between him, Virat Kohli, and Gautam Gambhir
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