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NZ vs AUS: Australia Secure Maiden T20 World Cup Title By Outclassing New Zealand In Final

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NZ vs AUS: Australia Secure Maiden T20 World Cup Title By Outclassing New Zealand In Final

On Sunday, Australia defeated New Zealand by eight wickets in the final at the Dubai International Stadium to win their first T20 World Cup championship. After being defeated by England in the final in Bridgetown, Barbados in 2010, the Australians cannot be denied this time because they performed well in the pursuit and completely surpassed New Zealand. Mitchell Marsh (77 not out) and David Warner are Australia’s stars, while Josh Hadswood is the best with the ball.

The Australian chased the rigid goal of 173 and completely changed New Zealand’s scoring with seven goals left. Australia started well, and Warner broke several boundaries. However, when Trent Boult sent him to pack only 5 people, Aaron Finch’s struggle at the top of the order continued. Mitchell Marsh came out to hit the ball, hit Vinci’s wicket, and immediately ran on the ground, hitting six consecutive four goals on the first three balls he faced.

The Australian all-rounder did not look back and continued to succumb to the New Zealand bowling lineup. If the swamp barrage is not enough, New Zealand bowlers must also contend with Warner, who is in good shape, who can also find boundaries at will. Warner was the first person to score in half a century. He defeated James Neesham’s 6 goals to reach this milestone.

Warner and Marsh added 92 times with just 59 balls, giving Australia complete control of the chase. Bolt returned to give New Zealand a much-needed breakthrough, knocking out dangerous Warner with 53 points, but did not stop Marsh. The lanky Australian all-around player continued to torture New Zealand bowlers and also scored for half a century. Glenn Maxwell (Glenn Maxwell) also joined his ranks, he sent a few express delivery to start, and then also tee off.

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Marsh and Maxwell have been looking for the border because New Zealand could not find a way to keep the Australian batsman quiet. In the end, Maxwell finished the game against the third man with a reverse slash, which made the team into ecstasy. Earlier, Martin Guptier and Darryl Mitchell put in the ball and gave New Zealand a solid start.

Mitchell was the hero of the New Zealand team in the semifinals against Pakistan, but failed to replicate his performance and was sent off by Josh Harzwood with 11 points. Guptill and captain Kane Williamson stabilized the number of games in New Zealand, but the price of doing so was run rate.

The progress of the duo was slow, and the Australian bowlers tied things tightly together. But when Williamson hit the ball on the 21st and was knocked deep down by Hadswood, everything changed. Williamson suddenly stepped on the accelerator and swept away the Australian offense. Despite the loss of Guptill, the New Zealand captain continued to attack the Australians.

News Source : NDTV

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Cricket

KL Rahul dangerously close to Laxman territory; to be perished for Sarfaraz Khan and Shubman Gill

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KL Rahul dangerously close to Laxman territory; to be perished for Sarfaraz Khan and Shubman Gill

To accommodate both Sarfaraz and Gill and stick with their five-bowler formula, a batter from the Bengaluru Test must make way. Ergo Rahul and the predicted axe

VVS Laxman went through the first half of his illustrious 15-and-a-half-year international career with the proverbial axe hanging over him. Despite his magical stroke-play and a well-founded reputation for rallying the lower order to bat above itself, he was forever the first name that sprang to the decision-makers’ minds when they had to drop someone to accommodate someone else. It wasn’t until the second half of his stint with the national team that he had ‘job security’, which automatically manifested itself in an array of glorious, match-turning knocks and earmarked him as one for a crisis.

KL Rahul is now dangerously close to approaching the Laxman territory, though at least in this instance, a case can be made out, perhaps, for why he often seems to be playing for his place. Almost a decade after his Test debut in Australia in December 2014, he has yet to nail down a permanent spot, a result of glaring inconsistency and repeated dalliances with injuries that have left him with a modest average of 33.87 from 53 Test appearances.

Unlike Laxman, who was thrust to the opener’s position for three years from 1997, successive team managements have worked overtime to create space for Rahul. He started off in the middle order in Melbourne against Australia, opened in the next Test in Sydney when he made a sparkling century, continued in that position for a good nine years – around the large pockets when either injuries or lack of form relegated him to the sidelines – and now seems to have found his calling in the middle order, where he was tried out in an almost last throw of the dice in South Africa last December.

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In his limited time at the No. 6 position, Rahul has been a revelation. On a spiteful surface in Centurion in his first innings back in the middle order, the classy right-hander made a marvellous 101 – Virat Kohli’s 38 was the next highest score – in India’s 245 all out. Two Tests later, against England in Hyderabad, he waltzed to 86 of the best until a hamstring strain kept him out of the last four Tests.

On his comeback last month against Bangladesh, Rahul showed why he is rated so highly, and therefore why he so frustrates when he chooses to shackle himself mentally, with uninhibited shot-making when India were pressing for a declaration (Chennai) and looking to make up for lost time with a frenetic batting approach (Kanpur) in the two Tests. Kanpur was especially mesmeric, 68 flowing off his bat in a mere 43 deliveries. It was the best of Rahul.

Axe hangs over Rahul’s head for India vs New Zealand 2nd Test

And yet here we are, two innings later, wondering whether he will, or should, feature in the playing XI in Pune, where India take on New Zealand in a must-win second Test from Thursday.

Shubman Gill, him of three centuries in his last six Tests, missed the Bengaluru defeat to the Kiwis with a stiff neck. Replacement batter Sarfaraz Khan made the most of own good fortune with a delectable 150, which makes it near impossible to drop him now that Gill is fully fit. To accommodate both Sarfaraz and Gill and stick with their five-bowler formula which has worked beautifully in the last few years, a batter from the Bengaluru Test must make way. Ergo Rahul and the predicted axe.

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One of the few men to have led India in all three formats internationally, Rahul didn’t help his cause with scores of 0 and 12 at his home ground, the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. In the first innings, he was strangled down leg-side by William O’Rourke while in the second, he received a peach from the same paceman operating with the second new ball and was again caught behind. Rahul was one of 11 failures in India’s first-innings 46 and one of seven wickets to fall in 93 deliveries to the second new cherry, but failures past and the logjam created by Gill’s availability have combined to identify him as the most susceptible to the axe.

It’s a cross impossible to bear, but also impossible to ignore just because it is so heavy, so overarching. Rahul is beyond gifted and makes batting appear oh-so-simple, but his struggles to embrace sustained run-making can’t be wished away. He is the eternal team man, much like his celebrated namesake also from Karnataka – both kept wickets admirably in 50-over World Cups 21 years apart, both made attractive and impactful runs during the tournament and both tasted bitter defeat at the hands of Australia in the final – but ‘eternal team man’ can sometimes be an euphemism for the ‘most dispensable’ and Rahul can be excused for thinking that those two lines have blurred beyond repair. Of course, if he is brutally honest to himself, he will acknowledge at least to himself that he too must bear culpability for the blurring of the lines.

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