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MALAGA, Spain : Slovakia knocked out Australia to move into the Billie Jean King Cup semi-finals for the first time since 2002 after singles victories by Viktoria Hruncakova and Rebecca Sramkova gave the them an unassailable 2-0 lead on Sunday.
Slovakia followed up its win over the United States with a 2-0 victory over Australia to reach the semifinals of the Billie Jean King Cup finals on Sunday in Malaga, Spain.
Former Australia batter Matthew Hayden has weighed in on India's shock 0-3 loss at home to New Zealand earlier this month. The loss was a huge blow to India's hopes of reaching the World Test Championship (WTC) final. The Rohit Sharma-led will be under significant pressure with a five-match Test series against Australia just around the corner. However, Hayden labelled the defeat against New Zealand, which was their first home Test series defeat in 12 years, as the reality check India needed.
Delhi speedster Harshit Rana could pose a strong challenge to senior teammate Prasidh Krishna as they battle it out for the third pacer's slot in the India playing XI for the opening Test against Australia in Perth, starting on November 22. Harshit, who is only 10 first-class matches old, has reportedly been brilliant with his consistent pace over 140 clicks and his ability to extract good bounce has also impressed the bigwigs. During the India nets at the WACA ground in Perth, Harshit hurried the batters with his raw pace on a number of occasions. On the other hand, India's bowling coach Morne Morkel spent considerable time with the Karnataka man, who was impressive during the recent A series against Australia at Mackay and Melbourne.
Current national selector and former pacer Aaqib Javed is likely to be appointed as the permanent head coach in white ball formats before Pakistan visit Zimbabwe for ODI and T20I series. Pakistan will travel to Zimbabwe between November 24 and December 5 for three ODIs and as many T20Is. A reliable source in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said Javed who was initially reluctant to take on the coaching assignment had now been convinced by chairman Mohsin Naqvi to handle the responsibility. “The Pakistan squad will fly to Harare straight from Australia after playing their final T20I on Monday so the new head coach will join them in Zimbabwe,” the source said.
Pakistan batter Babar Azam was confronted by fans amid his poor show with the bat during the T20I series loss to Australia. Australia took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series after beating Pakistan by 13 runs in the second T20I at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday. Babar scored 3 each in the 1st and 2nd T20Is, raising doubts over his place in the T20I side. During the match in Sydney, Babar was fielding near the boundary where a group of fans were yelling and insulting.
Shreyas Iyer was on Sunday named captain of the 17-member Mumbai squad which also features Prithvi Shaw for the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy to be played from November 23 to December 15. The squad also features Ajinkya Rahane who has been captaining Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy with the first half of the competition ending recently, and the comeback batter Siddhesh Lad, who has also been among runs. Iyer has been in red-hot form this Ranji Trophy season as he looks to make his way back into the Indian side, scoring 452 runs at 90.40 with two centuries.
In need of a much-needed confidence boost, India's talismanic Virat Kohli is coming into the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on the back of a woeful performance against New Zealand. India lost the home series against the Kiwis 0-3, incurring a never-seen-before whitewash in a 3-match assignment. One of the biggest factors behind India's poor show in the series was a string of poor shows by seniors like Kohli and skipper Rohit Sharma. As India prepare for the opening Test against Australia at Perth, Kohli's struggles against short deliveries have become public.