Only India have tools to beat Australia Down Under: Vaughan
LONDON: Australia thrashed Pakistan in both T20IS and Tests as the Green Brigade looked helpless against a lethal pace attack.
Speaking on their convincing show at home, former England captain Michael Vaughan felt it is only the Virat Kohli-led Indian team which can defeat the Australian unit in their own backyard.
Australia had defeated the Green Brigade 2-0 in the three-match T20I rubber before whitewashing them 2-0 in the Test series.
After the result, Vaughan took to Twitter and wrote: “This Australian Team in these conditions are going to take some beating... Only India have the tools to do so at this stage... #AUSVPAK.”
Meanwhile, Ian Chappell has accused Steve Smith of undermining the present Australia skipper, saying that he was making changes in field placements set by captain Tim Paine in the just concluded second Test against Pakistan at the Adelaide Oval.
“I tell you what I don’t like to see, Steve Smith is moving a few fieldsmen around,” Chappell was quoted as saying by Macquarie Sports Radio.
“He did have a chat with Tim Paine, trying to talk Paine into moving a fielder on the off-side, but I’m not sure Paine moved him as far as Steve Smith wanted. Smith started moving him, and I hate to see that.”
Elsewhere, Nepal’s Anjali Chand scripted history on Monday as she registered bowling figures of 6/0 in a match against the Maldives.
Batting first, Maldives could only manage 16 runs and the hosts overhauled the target in just 0.5 overs. Anjali struck thrice in the 7th over and twice in the 9th over before wrapping up the Maldives innings in the 11th over. The medium pacer bowled just 13 balls in the entire match.
With the extraordinary feat, Anjali broke the record for the best figures in Women’s T20I. Before her, Mas Elysa of Maldives had held the record with figures of 6/3 against China in 2019.
Nepal are competing with the Maldives, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the 4-team tournament.
In the men’s category, India pacer Deepak Chahar holds the record for the best bowling figures 6/7 in 3.2 overs against Bangladesh in Nagpur on Nov.10.
Meanwhile, 971 players have registered for the upcoming auction for the 2020 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the league said in a release on Monday. 73 spots are up for grabs and the franchises have until 5pm, Dec.9 to submit their shortlist of players that will make the final auction list.
The league provided a breakdown of the registered players. 634 of the 971 are uncapped Indian players while 60 are uncapped Indian players who have played at least one IPL match. 60 more players are uncapped international players while there are 196 capped international players in the fray. 19 capped Indian players are in the list while two players are from associate nations.
Among the foreign players, the most have come from Australia (55) while South Africa (54) comes a close second. There are 39 Sri Lankan players, 34 West Indies players, 24 players from New Zealand, 22 England players and 19 players from Afghanistan. There are only six players from Bangladesh, three from Zimbabwe and one from the US.