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MELBOURNE : Australia named an unchanged XI for the Boxing Day test against Pakistan, but the touring side replaced veteran stumper Sarfaraz Ahmed with Mohammad Rizwan for the second match of the three-test series.
As the Indian cricket team embarks upon a challenge they have never managed to ace before, the spotlight will be on skipper Rohit Sharma who returns to international cricket for the first time since the conclusion of Cricket World Cup 2023. Rohit led the Indian team by example, taking them on a run of 10 consecutive wins before the loss against Australia in the final. As India gear up for the South Africa test, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar wants the Hitman to change his approach completely.
Melbourne's hometown star Scott Boland remains on the sidelines as Australia on Monday named an unchanged playing XI for the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan. Australia, a day before the clash, confirmed an unchanged Playing XI with skipper Pat Cummins admitting that Boland was unlucky to miss out. Boland announced himself to the world when he took 6-7 on his debut in the MCG against England in the 2021-22 Ashes. But he will remain on the sidelines as the pace-tiro of Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood are fit to take part in the second Test on Tuesday.
Australian cricket team all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has always been a hilarious figure on the field and his witty remarks have gone viral on several occasions in the past. Maxwell's quick wit was once again on display during the Big Bash League (BBL) match between Melbourne Stars and Sydney Thunder as his mic'd up moments have gone viral on social media. The Melbourne Stars skipper kept talking to the commentators during the match and his quips about former teammate Brett Lee and Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf left everyone in splits. Stars ended up losing the match against Thunder by five wickets.
Sanju Samson's talent, and potential if you could term it that at the age of 29, is beyond reproach. An elegant stroke player with the ability to take any bowling attack in the world to the cleaners, Samson has, deservedly, earned a cult following for himself, mostly based on his performances in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Having made his IPL debut back in 2013, the wicket-keeper batsman has aged like fine wine in the domestic franchisee-based cricket league, getting better and better with every passing season. So far, Samson has amassed 3,888 runs in 152 IPL outings with an average of close to 30 and a strike rate of 137.19.
India head coach Rahul Dravid confirmed that KL Rahul, who has not kept wickets in red-ball cricket much, will take up the role behind the stumps for the first red-ball contest against South Africa, starting December 26. Rahul wasn't India's designated wicket-keeper in any of the three formats during his early days in the team but made the transition quite well in white-ball cricket. He is now India's No. 1 choice behind the stumps in both T20Is and ODIs. Now, the team management wants to see how he does behind the stumps in Tests. But, former India wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel isn't in agreement.
Australian captain Pat Cummins on Monday came in support of his teammate Usman Khawaja, saying the opener's attempt to bring to the fore the humanitarian crisis in Gaza was "not offensive". Cricket's global governing body ICC has rejected Khawaja's application to have a sticker showing a black dove holding an olive branch on his bat and shoes during the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan. Cummins said he finds no difference between Khawaja displaying a dove logo on his shoe and bat to raise awareness of humanitarian issues and teammate Marnus Labuschagne displaying an eagle on his bat which signifies a personal religious message.
Pakistan on Monday announced their 12-man squad for the upcoming Boxing Day clash against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground with Mohammad Rizwan replacing experienced wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed. Sarfaraz has been sidelined from the Test squad after the nightmare he went through in the Peth Test. He scored just 7 runs in both innings with Mitchell Starc causing him all sorts of trouble.