India eves contingent reaches UAE
The top 30 women cricketers from India arrived in Dubai on Thursday to take part in the Women's T20 Challenge, which is also popularly known as ‘mini WIPL' and scheduled to be held in Sharjah from November 4-9. Seasoned Indian players such as T20 skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, batswomen Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues had a nine-day quarantine in Mumbai where they had undergone multiple RT-PCR tests. Just like their male counterparts, the women will also now undergo a six-day isolation before entering the ‘bio-bubble'. They will be tested on the first, third and fifth day before being allowed in the bio-secure environment created for them. The tournament will mark the beginning of the Indian women's cricket season.
destiny still in our hands: BAZZ
Disappointed with his team's “timid approach” with the bat , KKR head coach Brendon McCullum has admitted that the crushing defeat against RCB would definitely affect the morale of the side, but their destiny is still in their hands. He believes KKR can go all the way to the final, despite just hanging on to the fourth spot with 10 points from as many games. “This (loss) is going to affect a little bit in terms of our confidence. We need to work hard on ensuring our morale doesn't drop at the same time having those honest conversations around how we improve,” McCullum said after the eight-wicket loss. “But I still firmly believe that we have a side which can be there later on in the tournament, come finals. We just need to improve slightly. “We're still fourth in the tournament, which is very fortunate for us. Destiny is still very much in our hands. We have just got to tighten up some of those areas where we're deficient and make sure we improve on our performance,” he said.
Slow wicket allow to attack more
Mumbai Indians leg-spinner Rahul Chahar on Thursday said the pitches getting gradually slower in the UAE and bigger grounds than India has allowed him to attack the batsmen consistently in the IPL. Chahar has taken 11 wickets in nine games with a decent economy rate of 7.40. Asked to compare between the pitches here and the Wankhede in Mumbai, Chahar said, “In the starting matches, we felt that the wickets (here) were similar to the Wankhede stadium…easy for batsmen.” “Now gradually the wickets are getting slower, and hence I have to make adjustments in lengths. “Like at Wankhede a spinner had to bowl on a shorter side, like five meter length, but here we are bowling fuller, because the grounds are big and pitches are slightly slow, we can bowl fuller, and can attack batsmen,” said Chahar.
UAE pitches slow but helping seamers
In a tournament where playing surfaces have been getting slower and drier with every passing day, it remains a surprise that the most successful bowlers in the IPL so far have been the pacemen. According to Kagiso Rabada, the surfaces in the UAE have aided swing, helping pace bowlers get something out of the wickets. “The conditions here have been tricky. It is a little bit different. There is seam movement sometimes. In Abu Dhabi, the ball has been seaming around. All wickets have been slow like India but they have been different kind of slow. I feel there is some seam movement sometimes,” said Rabada.