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It has been a disappointing year for India in the shortest format but they have a positive record against in-form West Indies

Sruthi Ravindranath14-Dec-20242:52

Harmanpreet: Australia series was learning experience for young bowlers

Can India end their gloomy T20 year on a high?

Despite winning 13 out of 20 T20Is they’ve played so far this year, it’s been a disappointing year for India in the format. After starting the year with a series loss to Australia in Navi Mumbai, India bounced back with a dominating 5-0 win against Bangladesh away. In July, they went unbeaten into the final of the Asia Cup but suffered a heartbreaking loss to Sri Lanka. The heartbreak continued in the T20 World Cup in October when they were knocked out in the group stage after losses against New Zealand and Australia. The next World Cup, in the ODI format, is set to take place next year in India, but this T20I series is not without context, especially for the hosts. It is a chance for them to rethink their approach in T20Is, especially in crunch games, and also start building their squad for the 2026 T20 World Cup in England.Related

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• Harmanpreet points to players' 'mindset' for India losing big games

WI’s chance to improve their record vs India

While West Indies arrived in Navi Mumbai a week early to acclimatise, India have been dealt with a rough schedule. They have barely had time to prepare after finishing the ODI series in Australia, which finished on December 11, and took a day off on Friday to rest it out. That they lost 3-0 to Australia in that series also doesn’t help their case. West Indies will want to use this opportunity to improve their record against India.The results between these two sides have been one-sided, with West Indies losing 13 out of the 21 matches they have played against India. In fact, West Indies have lost their last eight games against India. But an overall improved form this year, where they have won six out of their last eight T20Is and also made the semi-final of the T20 World Cup, will add to their confidence.”We’ve been working really hard and been really focused on our game and what we can improve,” West Indies captain Hayley Matthews said on the eve of the first T20I. “Coming up against a team like India, we know it is going to be a tough assignment. But we have been playing some really positive cricket over the last year and back ourselves to hopefully go out there and be able to change things around a bit.”Harmanpreet Kaur keeps an eye on proceedings•PTI

Are India too dependent on their Big Two?

Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur are among the top three for most T20I runs in India this year. That Mandhana and Harmanpreet were the top run-scorers in the Asia Cup final and the T20 World Cup match against Australia, respectively, highlights India’s dependence on the duo. India have also lacked firepower in the middle order, with the likes of Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma and D Hemalatha (dropped for this series) struggling to score consistently. Rodrigues, Deepti, Mandhana, Yastika and Hemalatha also played in the recently concluded WBBL but none of them had great returns.

Selection questions

India have dropped Arundhati Reddy and Shafali Verma from both ODI and T20I squads. When asked about the reason behind it, Harmanpreet said the question should be directed to the “right people”.Reddy was the joint-highest wicket-taker for India at the T20 World Cup. Shafali, who was dropped for the Australia ODIs as well, has been racking up the runs in the domestic one-day tournament where she’s currently the highest run-scorer for Haryana and second-highest overall with 330 runs in six games with one century and two fifties. She even took three wickets with her offspin in Saturday’s match against Vidarbha to go with her 68 off 39 with the bat.There’s also been plenty of chopping and changing. Hemalatha, who played eight matches, has been dropped from this series. Amanjot Kaur, who last played in the Australia T20Is earlier this year, has not found a spot since. Uma Chetry has been travelling with the team since her call-up for the South Africa series in July but has played just four T20Is so far.The likes of Priya Mishra, Saima Thakor, Minnu Mani and Titas Sadhu have also been named in the T20I squad as well, but whether they will get their chance to play remains a question. Seamer Thakor, who had a breakthrough WPL 2024, may earn her T20I cap and take Reddy’s place having already played six ODIs. India have also handed maiden call-ups to Uttarakhand batters Nandini Kashyap and Raghvi Bist. Both players are known for their big-hitting abilities and are coming off good domestic seasons, and India might want to try them out as they look for fresh faces to build for the next T20 World Cup.Deandra Dottin has been a key figure for West Indies since her international return•Getty Images

The Dottin impact for WI

West Indies have hugely benefited from Deandra Dottin’s return to internationals. She was their top run-scorer at the T20 World Cup, scoring at a strike rate of 162.16 and hitting most sixes (9) in the tournament. She singlehandedly threatened to take the semi-final away from New Zealand, first taking four wickets and then scoring 33 off 22 in the chase. Her wicket was the turning point in the game as West Indies lost by eight runs.She has also had success with the ball, highlighted by her recent performances in the WBBL, where she finished with ten wickets in Melbourne Renegades’ title run. Matthews has been excellent as an opener, but West Indies rely on Dottin’s power game for quick runs in the middle and death overs.”She is an impact player on the whole,” Matthews said of Dottin. “She is obviously a very dangerous player out on the field. When you speak about something in T20 cricket, what’s very important is boundary-hitting and six-hitting and there are probably not many people in the world that can strike a cricket ball like her. So it’s just been great to have her back. She has really enjoyed being back in the group, and I think everyone is taking her in well again. It has just been good to have it back on and off the field.”

West Indian sits atop the run charts and his team occupies the same place on the points table

Aadam Patel30-Nov-2022T10 is brutal. On Tuesday night, Jason Roy played well for an unbeaten 57 off 33 balls but his knock ultimately lacked in short-form cricket’s most important measure. There were zero sixes to his name.Roy’s Deccan Gladiators side put up a total of 108 for 3 that was then chased down by Chennai Brave. He scored more than anyone else in the game but the Player-of-the-Match award instead went to Dan Lawrence for his 40 off 18.In pretty much every form of the game, Roy’s knock would be praised but as it was, he was left out for Wednesday evening’s clash against Bangla Tigers. He may have scored runs but to take up more than half of the innings and not clear the ropes once proved crucial. This is the one format that demands the batter to hit sixes.Against the Tigers, the Gladiators were asked to chase and incidentally their target was exactly the same as they had set the previous night. That was largely thanks to another onslaught from Pakistan’s Iftikhar Ahmed, who carried on from his unbeaten 83 off 30 deliveries on Tuesday, to finish not out on 54 off 21 deliveries.But this time around, the Gladiators won with 23 balls to spare. Half-centuries for both Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Nicholas Pooran helped the reigning champions breeze to a total of 109 in just 37 deliveries.They scored at nearly three runs a ball in what was a statement run-chase by Mushtaq Ahmed’s side. A chase reminiscent of the ruthless manner in which they blasted 159 in last year’s final and ahead of the final this Sunday, they again look like the side to be feared.The chase wasn’t meant to be that simple but Kohler-Cadmore and Pooran put on a show with 11 sixes between them. Pooran was on 20 off 10 before he took on Shakib Al Hasan and hit five sixes in an over to bring up a 16-ball half-century. And Kohler-Cadmore decided he wasn’t missing out either. The next over, he hit Rohan Mustafa for 17 and brought up his half-century off 21 deliveries with then the winning runs too.It was a stunning exhibition of hitting between the two men who stand clear at the top of the Abu Dhabi T10 run charts. Pooran’s 19 fours and 21 sixes across six games puts him at No. 1 with 249 runs at an average of 62.25. Kohler-Cadmore isn’t far behind with 217 runs at an average of 72.33. But perhaps most importantly, the pair are striking at well over 200.”We had a poor game last time so a lot of the talk in the pre-match meeting was just about enjoying ourselves again,” Pooran said post-match. And boy did he enjoy himself. Since stepping down from West Indies captaincy, he has somewhat rediscovered his joy for the game.And you only had to look at the earlier game of Wednesday’s triple-header to appreciate his six-hitting talent. It saw the lowest score of the tournament with Chennai Brave struggling to 71 for 6 against Team Abu Dhabi after losing their entire top order in the first over to Naveen-ul-Haq. The Afghanistan paceman removed Dan Lawrence and Sikandar Raza with his first two deliveries and finished his over by getting David Malan.Remarkably, Team Abu Dhabi got off to a similar start as Alex Hales and James Vince were dismissed in the first over by Patrick Dooley before Sam Cook got Brandon King. But, from 1 for 3, Chris Lynn and Fabian Allen combined to take their side to their target and a third successive win.With two days left in the league phase of the Abu Dhabi T10, the Gladiators sit top of the standings with Team Abu Dhabi one point behind them. And based on current form, they are both set to extend their stay till the weekend for the finals.

David Warner is ruled out, Will Pucovski has concussion and Joe Burns is badly short of runs

Andrew McGlashan11-Dec-20202:11

Smith on Pucovski’s concussion: ‘Everyone deals with injuries differently’

Hold the line, don’t panicThis would still appear the likely route, where Burns retains his place – he has been backed from the start by selectors, coach, captain and team-mates – with fingers crossed that he gets runs at the SCG or lifts for the occasion in Adelaide. He would be partnered by Marcus Harris, who last played a Test during the 2019 Ashes and has since tweaked his technique working alongside Chris Rogers, with 355 Sheffield Shield runs in three innings under his belt including a 239. Harris has nine Tests to his name, including four against India two years where he made 258 runs at 36.85, and in the following series against Sri Lanka he opened with Burns so it would not be an entirely unknown pairing.Joe Burns is bowled•Getty ImagesThe senior prosThe ship appears to have sailed on this one, but if you glance at social media (which, of course, is where all the proper selection debate happens) then you may notice a few mentions of Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja. The former had a prolific start to the Shield season, just as everyone, including Marsh himself, was moving on from his Test career. Speaking to , Justin Langer did not slam the door shut for Marsh: “You never discriminate against age. He’s doing everything possible,” he said. Khawaja, meanwhile, holds an average of 96.80 when opening the batting including 145 in the 2016-17 day-night Test against South Africa in Adelaide.Mission for MarnusThis is perhaps gaining a little momentum, a promotion one spot up for Marnus Labuschagne to plug the gap – most likely alongside Burns, but potentially even Harris if the selectors really get spooked by Burns’ form. As Steven Smith said yesterday, the No. 3 can be in to face the second ball of the match anyway so is there a massive difference if he goes in straight away? And if you can be thrust into an Ashes Test as a concussion sub, and never look back, you can probably handle this. Labuschagne has opened nine times in his first-class career, although not since 2016, and also did it in the recent ODI series after Warner’s injury although was dismissed for 7. The other byproduct of this move would be the middle-order batsman moving up a slot each which creates room for Cameron Green at No. 6. Green has done enough to suggest he could command a spot on batting alone, regardless of the bowling workload he is capable of.Marnus Labuschagne looks on during practice•Getty ImagesFrom left fieldThis one involves another batting-order reshuffle and is a bit more out-of-the-box: shift Matthew Wade up from No. 6. If it was alongside Burns it would retain the left-right combination and, as a punchy left-hander, Wade is not too dissimilar to Warner even though not the same pedigree. It would be a leap of faith given that Wade has never opened in first-class cricket (he does have an average of 57.25 from five innings at No. 3) although he has done it a lot in white-ball cricket, including a handful of ODIs, and on the Australia A tour of England in 2019 before the Ashes made one-day scores of 117 and 155 at the top of the order. This move would actually lead to fewer batsmen moving from their current positions but, like the Labuschagne option, would also open up the spot for Green.

Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe committed two defensive errors during the team's 7-5 win over the Rays on Tuesday. Volpe has now made 15 errors this season, which is tied for the most in MLB.

Though Volpe's home run and two hits were crucial in the Yankees' win, he gave the Rays another chance with a poor throw to first base during the ninth inning. The 2023 Gold Glove winner has not played up to his previous defensive standard, and been a key part of the Yankees' overall struggles this season, a major concern as the team looks to return to the World Series in October.

Despite Volpe's woes, Yankees manager Aaron Boone is not planning to bench Volpe or sit him as a mental reset.

"Clearly, he's gone through some struggles here and in some key moments not made some plays," Boone said Wednesday. "I think Anthony's super tough, and I think he's wired for this. We think of slumps or struggles more offensively, it happens with even really good players on that side of the ball."

Boone continued, "My message to him is, 'You're really good at this.' And that's reality. He's a Gold Glove player, he makes plays that people can't make. He's a playmaker out there. He's made some mistakes on some balls that he needs to nail down, but it happens to guys at different points of their career. I believe his mental toughness and his wiring will get him through this, and we'lI all work right there with him to get through it too. I believe his best days are in front of him this year and beyond."

Volpe remains determined as well to turn around his performance defensively. “I’ve never really experienced something like this,” Volpe said Tuesday. “But I’ve got really good guys around me. I know what I’m capable of. It’s obviously frustrating, but it’s not discouraging. I know the standard I have for myself. I’m going to keep pushing until I prove it to myself every day."