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Defending champions India beat Japan 3-0 in their final league match to remain unbeaten and qualify for the semifinals of the women's Asian Champions Trophy hockey on Sunday. The tournament's highest scorer Deepika (47th, 48th minutes) scored a brace, while vice-captain Navneet Kaur broke the deadlock for India in the 37th minute.
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.
Ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy starting in Perth on November 22, former Australian cricketer and head coach Justin Langer cautioned against underestimating the Indian team, saying one should never write off champions. India has won its previous two Test tours of Australia by identical 2-1 margins, but heads into the upcoming marquee series on the back of a 3-0 home series defeat at the hands of New Zealand earlier this month. "One thing you never do is write off champions, and that's in every sport, because they are a champion for a reason. In India, there are one and a half billion cricket-loving people, and then count all the rest around the world, they expect nothing but excellence, and the team will be under intense pressure, so how they fight back will be important.
India head coach Marquez Manolo has not notched up a win in three matches, and he admitted his team needs "to improve in everything" during the international friendly against familiar opponents Malaysia on Monday. Under Manolo, who was appointed head coach in July, India has so far lost once while drawing twice. India drew against Mauritius and lost 0-3 to Syria in the Intercontinental Cup in September. The team drew with Vietnam 1-1 in its last match on October 12. If the Indian team does not get a positive result on Monday, it will end the year without a win in 11 matches. Monday's match will also be India's last before the 2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers in March next year.
Indian cricket team skipper Rohit Sharma will not play in the first Test match against Australia starting November 22 and Jasprit Bumrah will serve as captain in his absence, according to a report by Indian Express. The report claimed that Rohit has already informed the BCCI that he will be spending more time with wife Ritika Sajdeh following the birth of their second child. While Bumrah will be captaining the team in the first Test, Rohit is expected to be back for the second match in Adelaide.
Australian batting talisman Steve Smith wants to adopt a proactive approach against Ravichandran Ashwin in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy to avoid his struggles against the Indian spinner during the 2020-21 series. Ashwin had nicked off Smith thrice during that rubber, and later in 2023 the Indian off-spinner dismissed the Aussie twice as he could only make 22 runs against his old foe. "I don't like getting out to off-spin in Australia. But he's also a very good bowler and he came in with some decent plans. There were a couple of occasions where he got on top of me," Smith told the Sydney Morning Herald.
In what comes as welcome news for India in their build-up to the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test starting on November 22, KL Rahul returned to batting during the team's training session at the WACA Stadium on Sunday. During India's intra-squad match simulation on Friday, Rahul retired hurt on 29 after taking a blow to his right elbow by a climbing delivery from tall pacer Prasidh Krishna, and was forced to go off the field with the physio. As he left grimacing in pain, Rahul didn't return to batting for the rest of the day and on Saturday as well.