Team India is starting its West Indies tour with a two-day practice match in St. Kitts. Result wise, the game is less significant, but it will surely give the newly-appointed coach Anil Kumble a good look at his squad. Kumble would be hoping to use this series to lay a solid foundation for tougher series coming ahead, and inject his philosophy into the team.

The team management will be keeping a close eye on players like Mohammad Shami, Shikhar Dhawan, and KL Rahul. Shami is coming back from an injury, while Dhawan and Thakur will be aiming to gain confidence of the management. Dhawan, in particular, has plenty at stake, seeing his dismal form, as Rahul is knocking on the door for a regular spot in the playing XI.

More or less, India’s playing XI for the series opener in Antigua is final, but the management will get a chance of testing reserve players in practice matches. Shardul Thakur, Stuart Binny, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rohit Sharma will be looking forward to cash in the opportunities.

Batting, again, India’s strong point

The Indian team has the likes of Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan in the batting line-up, and players like KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma waiting for their turn. India’s batting lineup currently looks solid, if not more. The sub-continent-like conditions of the Caribbean are for them to exploit. It won’t be a surprise if they end by pilling huge runs in the series.

Indian team is unlikely to make any change in the batting-order, Murali Vijay, Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara and Kohli, followed by Rahane. Rahul, who is in sublime touch at the moment, and Rohit Sharma will be fighting for a place if the Indian captain decided to field six specialist batsmen, which is very unlikely of him. It will put pressure on Dhawan to perform, and if he does, Pujara’s performance will be under scrutiny.

Finding the right bowling combination

This is the most challenging job both Kumble and Kohli have in their hands. Kohli’s style of play is fielding five regular bowlers, but when Kumble used to play he was a part of a four-bowler attack. It will be interesting to see the bowling combination India will be heading against the Windies. Going by Kohli’s style of play, India will be playing with Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami.

Shami’s fitness will be under scrutiny, while Ishant will be a little rusty, after spending some time away from the field. Amit Mishra, Bhuvneshwar, Thakur and Binny will be aiming to use the practice matches to stamp themselves as able replacements. Kohli is likely to field two spinners – Jadeja and Ashwin – seeing lately the conditions have favored spinners in the Caribbean Islands.

For players, the practice matches will be vital to know the conditions and get used to the playing surfaces of the Caribbean. But for Kohli and Kumble, it will be important to know his players, and get the combination right, from the first match itself. They both know that there is plenty at stake, including the Test rankings, in this series, and they will be targeting nothing less than a series win.

It’s Australia versus West Indies in the Caribbean tri-series final. In a virtual semifinal South Africa meekly surrendered to the hosts by 100 runs in Barbados. After their World T20 triumph in India the hosts have shown incredible resilience to reach another final and the Australian captain acknowledged the challenge in the final.

Smith agreed that Marlon Samuels is the batsman in form and he’s especially played really well against them. George Bailey spoke about the Australian’s exciting batting line up with Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh again amongst runs. Smith admitted that Starc might have been inconsistent in the series as he is coming back from an injury layoff but he’s getting better with every match.

West Indies beat Australia by by four wickets with 26 balls to spare at Warner Park, St Kitts. Put into bat, Australia scored 265 for 7 with Usman Khawaja (98), Steve Smith (74) and George Bailey (55) all scoring half-centuries.

In reply, the hosts knocked off the runs for the loss of six wickets with Marlon Samuels scoring a handsome 92.

Australia still head the table with two wins from four matches plus a bonus point. The West Indies also have two wins but from three games. And South Africa have one win from three matches, that came with a bonus point.

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Australia’s 36-run win against South Africa was marred by news of David Warner’s injury. The Australian opener has suffered a fracture to his left index finger while fielding during the tri-series match in St Kitts.

Australian captain Steve Smith said that David’s injury will keep him out of the rest of the tournament that is due to conclude with the final in Barbados on 26th June. But he sounded confident that Warner will be fit for the Qantas tour of Sri Lanka that gets underway next month.

Before the confirmation to the fracture the Australia batsman spoke with the media after collecting the player of the match award for his innings of 109 that helped his side in winning the match against South Africa. Warner spoke about his injury and also how spending less time at the nets is the secret to his batting success.

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Australia begin the tri-series as clear favourites as the top-ranked ODI side with many superstars in their ranks. But many of them are returning from injury. Fast bowler Mitchell Starc’s expected comeback is the main talking point. Starc has just recovered from an ankle injury that kept him out of the game for six months. Captain Steven Smith, Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh had pulled out of the IPL but are back in the squad.

The Australian side begins their campaign against the hosts on Sunday. West Indies after their win over South Africa are looking for another upset victory.

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As the Australian cricket team gets ready to begin their tri-series campaign in West Indies, opening batsman Aaron Finch sounded the warning bells to their opponents. Ahead of their first match against the hosts, Finch had no qualms in declaring themselves as firm favourites for the tournament. South Africa are the third team in the tournament. The Aussie hard hitting batsman also showered praises on the team’s vice captain David Warner for his stupendous show at the recently concluded Indian Premier League.

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Australian captain Steve Smith celebrated his 27th birthday in Guyana ahead of the tri-series in in West Indies. South Africa is the other team in the tournament. Team members of all three countries attended a welcome ceremony in Guyana where birthday boy Steve Smith cuts a cake to celebrate the occasion. In the first match in the tournament hosts West Indies taken on South Africa on 3rd June.

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Legendary West Indies all rounder Sir Gary addresses topics ranging from the free falls ofWest Indian cricket to the teams that he lauds. He also slams the shortest version of the game!
Have a look!