“Akash Deep is out with a back issue,” India coach Gautam Gambhir confirmed during the pre-match press conference.

The 28-year-old right-arm pacer bowled a total of 87.5 overs in the series so far, and the injury could be attributed to the heavier-than-usual workload he has endured. 

Akash is likely to be replaced by either Harshit Rana or Prasidh Krishna for India’s final Test of the Australia tour. While Harshit did feature in the first 2 Tests of the series that were held in Perth and Adelaide respectively, Krishna is yet to feature for the Men in Blue in the tour.

The Indian team heads into the final Test, trailing the series by 2-1. Only a win in Sydney will keep their hopes of reaching the World Test Championship (WTC) final alive.

In such a dire situation, the team will be counting on senior players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to step up and help the team in levelling the series.

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Siraj has not been at his best in the series so far, picking up 13 wickets in 7 innings. His poor performances have only ended up giving extra burden on Jasprit Bumrah’s shoulders.

Gavaskar believes the right-arm quick needs to be told he is being dropped rather than being rested. 

“I think Siraj, perhaps, needs a little bit of a break. In the sense, I am not saying a break, he needs to be told that he is left out of the team for non-performance. There has to be a situation where you can’t beat around the bush,” Gavaskar told Star Sports.

“You need to be brutally upfront and say ‘look, your performance has not been up to scratch, and therefore you are being dropped.’ When you start talking about ‘rest,’ players get wrong ideas. They feel they don’t need to up their game,” Gavaskar added.

Gavaskar believes that Siraj should either be replaced by Harshit Rana or Prasidh Krishna in the fifth Test which will be held in Sydney. While Rana did feature in the first 2 Tests, Krishna hasn’t featured in the series at all.

“But I think Siraj needs to be told ‘Look, you are not bowling as well as we expected you to on pitches that have been helpful’. That is something that needs to be told. If you want to make two changes. Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana to support Jasprit Bumrah. By all means, do that,” Gavaskar said.

The post ‘He needs a little break…’: Sunil Gavaskar wants THIS India star to be dropped from the team appeared first on Cricket Country.

There is also a possibility that the Men in Blue may lineup with 4 pacers as the pitch at The Gabba is expected to provide a lot of help for the seamers.

Rana did impress in the Perth Test by picking up 4 scalps, however he went wicketless across both innings in Adelaide. Akash Deep was also seen bowling proactively in the nets in Brisbane which means that there is a possibility that he can make a return to the playing XI.

Meanwhile, Australia announced 1 change in their side that triumphed over India by 10 wickets at the Adelaide Oval. They have replaced Scott Boland and brought back experienced pacer Josh Hazlewood into the lineup. The latter had missed the second Test due to a side strain.

India’s likely XI for 3rd Test: KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma (C), Rishabh Pant (WK), Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy Reddy, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

The post Rohit Sharma to make several changes in the team for Brisbane Test? Report gives HUGE update appeared first on Cricket Country.

Jasprit Bumrah is the only Indian bowler who stood out with a four-wicket haul in the Day-Night Pink-Ball Test against Australia.

“Jasprit Bumrah cannot alone take responsibility. You don’t expect him to bowl from both ends. The other guys also needs to step in and share the responsibility. There will be days when Bumrah won’t get wickets,” Rohit said

Youngster Harshit Rana was hit for 86 in just 16 overs, but the skipper was not in favour of making Harshit being the fall guy for the defeat in Adelaide.

“It is not the right thing to judge Harshit Rana based one Test match. I don’t feel he has done anything wrong and dropping him without a reason doesn’t look good. He got a good player (Travis Head) who put pressure on him. He has got heart and guts to play,” Rohit said as he defended Harshit.

Australia has equaled the series 1-1 as they won against India, and now both the teams will be facing each other for the third Test of the five-match series. The third match is going to begin December 14 and will take place at Gabba.

The post ‘There will be days when…’: Rohit Sharma requests Other bowlers to share Pressure with Jasprit Bumrah appeared first on Cricket Country.

It was an absolute peach of a delivery which would have cleaned up even the best batters in the world. Starc’s last fifer in the format came back in 2023 against England at Headingley.

The 34-year-old gave the hosts a fantastic start by dismissing Yashasvi Jaiswal on the very first ball of the match, completing his revenge over the batter, who called him “too slow’ in the previous Test in Perth.

He then went on to break the developing partnership between KL Rahul and Shubman Gill by dismissing the former on 37. Starc’s third wicket was a big one as h dismissed Virat Kohli for only 7 runs right before lunch.

Starc then went on to dismiss Ravichandran Ashwin for 22 before cleaning up Harshit for a duck to complete a really impressive fifer.

The post WATCH: Mitchell Starc dismisses THIS India batter with an absolute ripper, claims 15th Test fifer appeared first on Cricket Country.

This friendly exchange turned out to be a response to Starc’s earlier comment to Harshit Rana, where he had stated that the Indian bowler bowls too slow for him. Today, on the eve of the second Test, Starc has stated that he did not actually hear Jaiswal say that he bowled too slow.

“I didn’t actually hear him say I bowled too slow. I don’t say too much to people these days. I may have been back in the day, but now I just sort of get on with it. Played that flick shot and I think I bowled pretty much the same ball, and he defended it. I said where the flick shot is, and he laughed at me, and we just left it at that,” Starc said.

Jaiswal was in his complete form in the second inning of the Test, where he had scored a brilliant century. Starc had collected lot of praise on Jaiswal, whose 161-run knock played a massive role in India’s 295-run victory in the series opener.

The post ‘Bowled too slow…’: Mitchell Starc finally reacts to Yashasvi Jaiswal’s ‘bowling too slow’ troll during Perth Test appeared first on Cricket Country.

Jaiswal hit Nisbet for consecutive boundaries before the 2 exchanged some unpleasant words on the crease. Nisbet was seen saying a few words to Jaiswal, who asked the bowler to go back and ball.

The duo went back and forth during the over, but Jaiswal seemingly won he battle as Nisbet ended the match wicketless.

Coming to the match, the Prime Minster’s XI put up a fighting total of 240 before getting bowled out in 43.2 overs. Sam Konstas was the star of the show for PM XI with his superb century while Harshit Rana’s 4-wicket haul proved to be crucial in bowling out the opposition.

Shubman Gill, who returned from a thumb injury was the top-scorer for India with 50 and Jaiswal also played a gritty knock f 45 to guide India to the target of 241 with 3 overs to spare.

The post WATCH: Yashasvi Jaiswal involved in heated exchange with Australia pacer in practice match appeared first on Cricket Country.

The 22-year-old picked up his maiden international wicket on Friday when he dismissed Travis Head for 11 runs. On Saturday, Harshit bagged Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon’s wickets to help India bundle out the Aussies for 104.

Speaking at the press conference after the end of the second day’s play, Rana said that Gambhir is someone who always backs players.

“Gautam Gambhir is someone who always backs you. He just told me that whenever you get a chance to play, just remember that you are representing the people back home. So, put in the best effort. He always asked me to be patient,” Rana said.

The Indian team dominated against Australia on the second day of the Test match as after taking a 46-run lead, the opening pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul put up a magnificent partnership of 172 runs. Jaiswal remained unbeaten on 90 while Rahul finished unbeaten on 62.

The Men in Blue’s main objective now will be to survive the uneven bounce on the pitch at Optus Stadium and post a massive target for the hosts to chase in Perth.

The post “Gautam Gambhir is someone…”: India youngster reveals head coach’s inspirational words appeared first on Cricket Country.

Jaiswal even went on to make a funny troll and called out the bowling of Aussie left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc as ‘too slow’.

This happened when Jaiswal defended a back of the length delivery from Starc in the 19th over of the innings. As Jaiswal faced his delivery, Starc did not say anything and just smiled and walked back.

As Starc was going back for the runup, Jaiswal tried to mock him for his remark on Harshit Rana, as the Aussie pacer claimed that he can bowl faster than the Indian test debutant. Jaiswal did not say much, but to keep the healthy rivalry alive, he said “It’s coming too slow.”

Starc somewhat understood that Jaiswal was poking him for his earlier remark, hence he did not say anything and walked back to bowl the next ball with a smile on his face.

#YashasviJaiswal didn't hesitate! 😁

"It’s coming too slow!" – words no fast bowler ever wants to hear! 👀

📺 #AUSvINDOnStar 👉 1st Test, Day 2, LIVE NOW! #AUSvIND #ToughestRivalry pic.twitter.com/8eFvxunGGv

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) November 23, 2024

The post WATCH: Yashasvi Jaiswal trolled Mitchell Starc for his ‘I bowl faster than you’ remark on Harshit Rana, said “It’s coming too slow” appeared first on Cricket Country.

The Australian team was aiming to keep their foot on the pitch for long as Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood were defending the last wicked, but the former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) teammate of Starc got the upper hand on him. India has entered their second inning with a lead of 46 runs.

As they continued on an overnight score of 67/7, Alex Carey was greeted by debutant Harshit Rana in the first over. Second over was bowled by Bumrah who dismissed Alex Carey. This came out as the first wicket of the day.

Make that FIVE!

There's the first five-wicket haul of the series #MilestoneMoment #AUSvIND @nrmainsurance pic.twitter.com/t4KIdyMTLI

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 23, 2024

Bumrah continued his on slaughter going as he bowled a short one to Nathan Lyon and finished his time on the pitch as well. Mitchell was the player who tried to keep the team’s inning going for a long time with Hazlewood, but he got taken down by his own former KKR teammate.

The post Australia post out second-lowest Total on Perth stadium: Jasprit Bumrah shines with his fifer, with debutant Harshit Rana who took 3 wi appeared first on Cricket Country.