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Hope Hazelwood is adequately rested & returns directly for the Champions Trophy (if it happens)!:cool: Boland is also a fantastic bowler but Hazelwood is a class act. Certainly the long duration of time spent on the field had a small part to play in this injury! Going ahead that should be the main aim of the top 3 batters.

Hazlewood's replacement - Scot Boland - is equally lethal (if not more) with the pink ball in hand.

WTC Final : Wins each team required after England and SA wins their first matches.

Credit goes to X handle @KrishnaKRM



New Zealand is not completely out, but they need a miracle with others results.

This is the biggest drawback of WTC and killed it in it's tracks. It is very confusing unless you spend some time and even then it is difficult to follow. Qualification scenarios should make sense for audience to root for the team.

With different teams playing different number of matches, they had to introduce points percentage instead of actual points to consider the top 2. There would be points deduction for slow over rate.

But this is the only way to calculate points when it’s not played over a single series like limited overs World Cup

In other news, India’s practice match revealed few things. It was supposed to be a 2 days match but curtailed to 46 overs a side due to rains. It was Jaiswal and KL opened the innings and Rohit came to bat at 4. Gill seems to be fit and played at 3.

Sharma sahib failed again, good to see Gill scoring runs.

Sharma should step down atleast in batting order if not as captain, he will just be a walking wicket. So seems Jurel and Devdutt will sit out. Hopefully Rohit plays at #6 and let rest of batting order play at there usual place. Reddy batted well, so he should hold his position.

I agree with you as to why we have points percentage in place. I am referring to that feeling of not knowing who will be qualifying and why certain teams are even in conversation. Maybe it is just me but I can't remember which major series Sri Lanka has won or even South Africa who sent C grade team to NZ.

ICC should think of revamping the way it is organised. Have teams play similar number of games. As a fan I don't sense any progression or nervousness we usually feel in tournaments or leagues.

But that's the good thing, right? I love the fact that we still don't know who will play in the final. Because of WTC points at stake, teams are pushing for victories with aggressive batting and declarations, where previously they would play out a draw. Has made Test cricket exciting again.

I know the point was about percentage points, but I'm happy that teams like SL are still in contention. While I love Ind-Aus series, I'm not in favour of even more important matches involving just the big three.

How can Australia make it 3 wins and 2 draws when they’ve lost the first test already?

They have a 2 match away series against SL, so total 6 tests.

The other thing about WTC that makes no sense is that the finals are pretty much always in England. Doesn't make any sense considering the English haven't qualified for the finals till now and will not do so this year as well. The finals should be held in one of the countries that are playing in the finals, and preferably the top ranking teams gets to choose.

It would be good if we too understood everything properly. Maybe I am the one still confused rl:

Teams like SL haven't defated any big teams, so we are in situation where India can win 2-1 in Australia but still not qualify where as SL and SA played less number of games and get to qualify playing easy games.

Regarding teams pushing for results, I think draws have become a rarity even before WTC which can be attributed to teams not looking to survive and play the long game apart from few exceptions.

Rahul retains his spot as opener, while Rohit shifts himself to the middle order, replacing Padikkal. Gill comes in for Jurel, and Washington keeps his place.
Though feel for Ashwin and Jadeja missing out but team looks solid.

Thank goodness a little sense prevailed to come in the middle order. In my previous post, I had already said, if he plays, the best suited position is 5/6/7 (between 30-80 overs mark). Although I would have liked him to warm the bench and play Jurel instead. In a solid team he’s looking as the weakest chain link. I hope he proves me wrong.

Day-night match, pink ball, batting/bowling during twilight period, too many unknowns. Would be a spicy match to watch. One thing is almost for sure, won’t last 5 days.

So much would have loved to see Akashdeep replacing Rana in playing XI.

With SA playing all their remaining matches at home it looks like they are most likely to qualify.