Sports

New Delhi, May 12 (IANS) India will take on Mongolia on the opening day of the Intercontinental Cup, which kicks off at the Kalinga Stadium on June 9.

The other two teams in the competition, Lebanon and Vanuatu, will also face each other on the opening day of the tournament.

The tournament is part of India's preparations for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar. Immediately after the Intercontinental Cup, India will play the SAFF Championship 2023, to be held in Bengaluru from June 21–July 3, 2023.

The national team, under head coach Igor Stimac, will be camping in Bhubaneswar to prepare for the tournament from next week onward, May 15, 2023.

This will be the third edition of the Intercontinental Cup, with the previous two being held in Mumbai (2018) and Ahmedabad (2019). All four teams will play against each other once before the top two teams compete in the final slated to be held on June 18, 2023.

The Indian men's national team had previously never played against Mongolia and Vanuatu. Against Lebanon, the hosts hold a record of playing six matches.

Lebanon is the highest-ranked country in the tournament and are placed just two places above India in the FIFA rankings with Vanuatu and Mongolia being the two lower-ranked teams.

Fixtures:

June 9: Lebanon vs Vanuatu

June 9: India vs Mongolia

June 12: Mongolia vs Lebanon

June 12: Vanuatu vs India

June 15: Vanuatu vs Mongolia

June 15: India vs Lebanon

June 18: Final

--IANS

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Chennai, May 10 (IANS) Chennai Super Kings (CSK) won the toss and opted to bat first against Delhi Capitals (DC) in an IPL 2023 match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, here on Wednesday.

"We will bat first. We have played a few games on this wicket. There are chances of this wicket slowing down. We can't complain about this track. We try to keep it simple. We try to keep reiterating the same thing. Try to accomplish the plan. Try to execute the plans," CSK skipper MS Dhoni said at the toss.

Delhi Capitals made one change, bringing in Lalit Yadav for Manish Pandey.

DC skipper David Warner said: "A little bit dry. The boys have come out with the right attitude. We had to work on our power-play batting. Try and execute on this wicket as much as you can. Lalit comes in for Manish Pandey."

Playing XIs:

Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, Shivam Dube, Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w/c), Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana

Subs: Matheesha Pathirana, Subhranshu Senapati, Mitch Santner, Akash Singh, Shaik Rasheed

Delhi Capitals: David Warner(c), Philip Salt(w), Mitchell Marsh, Rilee Rossouw, Axar Patel, Aman Hakim Khan, Ripal Patel, Lalit Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed, Ishant Sharma

Subs: Mukesh Kumar, Manish Pandey, Praveen Dubey, Abishek Porel, Chetan Sakariya

--IANS

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Mumbai, May 10 (IANS) Royal Challengers Bangalore wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik was feeling unwell after getting out following a 17-ball 30 cameo against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede on Tuesday and therefore did not keep wickets during the Mumbai innings.

The 37-year old Karthik was seen bowing and coughing as he walked off the pitch after getting out. He nearly vomited in the field.

After the match, RCB head coach and former India batsman Sanjay Bangar said Karthik was not feeling well but still went out to bat. He said he vomited after coming back to the dugout as he was feeling sick.

"During the course of his innings, Dinesh started feeling unwell. He was a little bit dehydrated and he also vomited after he was dismissed. There is enough gap for us, maybe 3-4 days, and with medicines, he should be fine," said Bangar in the post-match press conference.

Bangar said Karthik was an important player for them and he has a big role to play if they had to go deeper into the tournament beyond the league matches and into playoffs.

Karthik had struck a 17-ball 30 after RCB skipper Faf du Plessis (65) and Glenn Maxwell (68) had shared a 120-run stand for the third wicket to help them post 199/6 in 20 overs.

However, their efforts went in vain as Mumbai Indians rode on a career-best 83 by Suryakumar Yadav (off 35 deliveries) and his 140-run partnership with Nehal Wadhera to overhaul the target and register a six-wicket victory.

--IANS

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Mumbai, May 10 (IANS) In a match of two third-wicket partnerships, the 140-run stand between Surykumar Yadav and Nehal Wadhera prevailed over the 120-run effort by Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell as Mumbai Indians defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets in Match No 54 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the Wankhede Stadium, here on Tuesday.

Yadav put on display a power-hitting masterclass to post his highest score in IPL -- a 35-ball 83 -- and with Nehal Wadhera blasting an unbeaten half-century, Mumbai Indians handed Royal Challengers Bangalore a six-wicket defeat in Match No 54 of India Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the Wankhede Stadium here on Tuesday.

Suryakumar started on a sedate note after Ishan Kishan had given Mumbai Indians a whirlwind start with a 21-ball 42, and raced to his half-century in 26 balls. He raised 140 runs for the third wicket partnership with Wadhera (52 not out off 34 balls) in just 66 deliveries as Mumbai raced to 200/4 in 16.3 overs, chasing Royal Challengers Bangalore's 199/6 in 20 overs built around blazing half-centuries by Faf du Plessis (65) and Glenn Maxwell (68).

Thanks to Suryakumar Yadav's 83 and an unbeaten 52 by Wadhera, Mumbai twice survived double-strike overs by Wanindu Hasaranga and Vijaykumar Vyshak to race to their sixth win of the season and zoomed to the third spot in the points table with 12 points, behind Gujarat Titans (16) and Chennai Super Kings (13) and in a superb position to seal a place in the Playoffs if they win their next three matches.

Mumbai Indians started in whirlwind fashion thanks to Ishan Kishan who blasted a 21-ball 42 to give them a dream start. As his skipper Rohit Sharma, who returned to his opening slot after batting down the order against CSK, and watched from the other end, Ishan Kishan went hammer and tongs at the Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling, hitting four boundaries and four maximums during his superb knock.

He started the Mumbai Indians' reply with a four off the first delivery when Mohammed Siraj strayed down the legside and whipped through midwicket and lofted to long-on Josh Hazlewood for fours off successive deliveries in the second over. Siraj came under attack in his next over too as Ishan Kishan, who was on Monday included in the India Test squad for the World Test Championship (WTC) Final, hammered back-to-back sixes over the long-on and deep backward square leg boundary.

A monster hit off Hazlewood into the top tier in deep square-leg area was the pick of the shots in his brief knock and he celebrated it by smashing a four and a six off Sri Lankan spinner Wanindu Hasaranga. But the leg-break bowler had the last laugh as he got Ishan Kishan on the next delivery after the six by cramping the Mumbai Indians batter for space with a quicker one as thin-edged it to Anuj Rawat.

Hasaranga struck again in the same over, sending back Rohit Sharma for seven, trapping him lbw with a superb delivery, and getting three reds from ball tracking on a fine DRS review by RCB skipper Faf du Plessis.

From 50 for no loss, Mumbai slumped to 52/2 in the fifth over after Hasaranga's double strike but they recovered thanks to the vital partnership between Yadav and Wadhera.

They reached the 100 of their partnership in 53 deliveries as they put the Mumbai innings back on track. Wadhera, who was dropped by Hasaranga off his own bowling, pulled Vijaykumar Vyshak for a six off the second delivery he faced before French cutting and driving Harshal Patel for two fours. He slog-swept Hasaranga for his second six in the 11th over.

Suryakumar Yadav, on the other hand, had to dive to survive a run-out attempt in the sixth over before Virat Kohli came up with a poor effort, off Harshal Patel, at the deep midwicket giving him his first four. The Mumbai batter guided Vyshak to the boundary in the eighth over and then survived a DRS review for ball tracking confirming the impact is outside off. He exploded into action in the 12th over by hammering Hazlewood for back-to-back fours and then struck Harshal Patel for another four through the gap behind point.

Suryakumar treated Siraj on his return for his second spell with a four and six off successive deliveries and the slog-swept Hasaranga into the crowd at deep backward square leg and followed it up by launching the Sri Lankan spinner over deep square leg boundary for another big six.

Earlier, RCB suffered a wobble after Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell struck blazing half-centuries to raise 120 runs for the third wicket partnership.

Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma had won the toss and elected to field first and left-arm pacer Jason Behrendorff justified his decision by getting Virat Kohli to nick one behind to Ishan Kishan on the fifth ball of his first over. Kohli tried to give the Aussie pacer the charge to heave it into the stands but only managed a thick edge behind for 1-- DRS giving the former India captain out.

From 2/1, Royal Challengers Bangalore slumped into further trouble when Anuj Rawat, who slapped Behrendorff for a boundary over cover, attempted to scoop a wide one but top-edged it and Cameron Green pouched the skier, running behind from slips. RCB were down to 16/2 and looking in trouble.

However, skipper Faf du Plessis and the experienced Glenn Maxwell rescued Royal Challengers Bangalore with both hitting superb fifties in the process.

Maxwell was the more aggressive of the two, completing his half-century in 25 balls, hitting three sixes and six boundaries in the process. He struck Behrendorff for two boundaries in the fifth over, belting one down the ground and playing the second to the fine-leg boundary. In the next over, he first reverse-swept and then punched Piyush Chawla for back-to-back boundaries.

Maxwell continued his tirade against the Mumbai Indians bowlers, smacking Chris Jordan, who made his Mumbai Indians debut coming in as a replacement for Jofra Archer, for two sixes in the seventh over, hoisting him square-leg and then pulling the English bowler over the boundary in front of square. He then walked down the pitch to deposit a Chawla delivery into the second tier over long-on. A boundary off a full-toss by Akash Madhwal and a single took him to fifty off 25 balls.

At the other end, Du Plessis played a well-controlled innings as he struck Chawla for successive fours in the second over and despatched Green for two boundaries in the fourth over, picking up the length with ease. In the fifth over, he thumped Behrendorff for a big six over long-on and meted out the same treatment to Madhwal off a full-toss in the 10th over as RCB crossed the 100-run mark. He struck a six off Chawla and hit Jordan for a boundary, completing his fifty off 30 deliveries. The 100 off their partnership for the third wicket came off just 52 balls as RCB went on the rampage.

Behrendorff provided Mumbai Indians the much-needed breakthrough when he sent back Maxwell for 68, as he slogged a knuckleball and Nehal Wadhera pouched a straight-forward catch, falling backward. The third-wicket partnership fetched RCB 120 runs in quick fashion.

Dinesh Karthik played a cameo 30 off 17 balls, smacking Kumar Kartikeya for three boundaries, and hammering a full-toss from the spinner for a six over deep midwicket. However, 136/3 in the 13th over, RCB slumped to 146/5 in the 15th over and eventually ended with 199/6 in 20 overs. But the way Suryakumar Yadav batted on Tuesday, anything more than that too could have proved insufficient.

Brief scores:

Royal Challengers Bangalore 199/6 in 20 overs (Glenn Maxwell 68, Faf du Plessis 65, Dinesh Karthik 30; Jason Behrendorff 3-36) lost to Mumbai Indians 200/4 in 16.3 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 83, Nehal Wadhera 52 not out, Ishan Kishan 42; Wanindu Hasaranga 2-53, Vijaykumar Vyshak 2-37) by six wickets.

--IANS

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New Delhi, May 9 (IANS) India opener KL Rahul has undergone a successful surgery on his right thigh, the right-handed batter confirmed on Tuesday. 

Rahul, the captain of Lucknow Super Giants, who has been ruled out from rest of the IPL and the WTC final with a thigh injury, took to social media to give an update about his surgery.

"Hi everyone, I just got done with my surgery - it was successful," his Instagram post read.

A big thank you to the doctors and medical staff for making sure I was comfortable and everything went smoothly. I'm officially on the road to recovery now. I'm determined to get back to my best and get back on the field. Onwards and upwards!, it added.

The 31-year old Rahul picked up the injury while fielding during an IPL 2023 match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Ekana Cricket Stadium. He abruptly stopped while chasing the ball and eventually had to be helped off the field by the team's support staff.

After consultations with specialists, it was decided that Rahul will undergo surgery and it will be followed by rehab at the National Cricket Academy.

The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Ishan Kishan as Rahul's replacement in the WTC final squad.

--IANS

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Mumbai, May 9 (IANS) Suryakumar Yadav put on display a power-hitting masterclass to post his highest score in IPL -- a 35-ball 83 -- and with Nehal Wadhera blasting an unbeaten half-century, Mumbai Indians handed Royal Challengers Bangalore a six-wicket defeat in Match No 54 of India Premier League (IPL) 2023 at Wankhede Stadium, here on Tuesday.

Suryakumar started on a sedate note after Ishan Kishan had given Mumbai Indians a whirlwind start with a 21-ball 42, and raced to his half-century in 26 balls. He raised 140 runs for the third wicket partnership with Wadhera (52 not out off 34 balls) in just 66 deliveries as Mumbai raced to 200/4 in 16.3 overs, chasing Royal Challengers Bangalore's 199/6 in 20 overs built around blazing half-centuries by Faf du Plessis (65) and Glenn Maxwell (68).

Thanks to Suryakumar Yadav's 83 and an unbeaten 52 by Wadhera, Mumbai twice survived double-strike overs by Wanindu Hasaranga and Vijaykumar Vyshak to race to their sixth win of the season and zoomed to the third spot in the points table.

Mumbai Indians were tied with four other teams at 10 points before the match but are now at 12 points from 11 matches and are placed behind Gujarat Titans (16) and Chennai Super Kings (13) and in a superb position to seal a place in the Playoffs if they win their next three matches.

Mumbai Indians started in whirlwind fashion thanks to Ishan Kishan who blasted a 21-ball 42 to give them a dream start. As his skipper Rohit Sharma, who returned to his opening slot after batting down the order against CSK, and watched from the other end, Ishan Kishan went hammer and tongs at the Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling, hitting four boundaries and four maximums during his superb knock.

He started the Mumbai Indians' reply with a four off the first delivery when Mohammed Siraj strayed down the legside and whipped through midwicket and lofted to long-on Josh Hazlewood for fours off successive deliveries in the second over. Siraj came under attack in his next over too as Ishan Kishan, who was on Monday included in the India Test squad for the World Test Championship (WTC) Final, hammered back-to-back sixes over the long-on and deep backward square leg boundary.

A monster hit off Hazlewood into the top tier in deep square-leg area was the pick of the shots in his brief knock and he celebrated it by smashing a four and a six off Sri Lankan spinner Wanindu Hasaranga. But the leg-break bowler had the last laugh as he got Ishan Kishan on the next delivery after the six by cramping the Mumbai Indians batsman for space with a quicker one as thin-edges it to Anuj Rawat.

Hasaranga struck again in the same over, sending back Rohit Sharma for seven, trapping him lbw with a superb delivery, and getting three reds from ball tracking on a fine DRS review by RCB skipper Faf du Plessis.

From 50 for no loss, Mumbai slumped to 52/2 in the fifth over after Hasaranga's double strike and though Rohit Sharma's side recovered from the slump thanks to a timely partnership between Suryakumar Yadav and Nehal Wadhera.

They shared a 100-run partnership in 53 deliveries as they put the Mumbai innings back on track. Wadhera, who was dropped by Hasaranga off his own bowling, pulled Vijaykumar Vyshak for a six off the second delivery he faced before French cutting and driving Harshal Patel for two fours. He slog-swept Hasaranga for his second six in the 11th over.

Suryakumar Yadav, on the other hand, had to dive to survive a run-out attempt in the sixth over before Virat Kohli came up with a poor effort, off Harshal Patel, at the deep midwicket giving him his first four. The Mumbai batter guided Vyshak to the boundary in the eighth over and then survived a DRS review for ball tracking confirming the impact is outside off. He exploded into action in the 12th over by hammering Hazlewood for back-to-back fours and then struck Harshal Patel for another four through the gap behind point.

Suryakumar treated Siraj on his return for his second spell with a four and six off successive deliveries and the slog-swept Hasaranga into the crowd at deep backward square leg and followed it up by launching the Sri Lankan spinner over deep square leg boundary for another big six.

He raced to his half-century off 26 balls and welcomed Vyshak's return to the attack with a six off a no-ball, followed it up with a four off the free hit, and planted a full-toss into the second tier over deep backward square. However, the bowler had the last laugh as he got Suryakumar Yadav caught by Kedar Jadhav with a slower one that the batter swung to legside. Yadav got out for a brilliant 83 off 35 deliveries, his highest score in IPL so far, which put Mumbai on course to victory.

Though Vyshak struck another blow on his next delivery, as Tim David chipped straight to long off for a golden duck in the 16h over. But with Mumbai Indians needing only eight runs to win, they managed to cross the line when Wadhera hammered Harshal over the cover boundary to seal victory with six wickets remaining and 21 balls to spare. Wadhera remained unbeaten on 52 off 34 deliveries.

Brief scores:

Royal Challengers Bangalore 199/6 in 20 overs (Glenn Maxwell 68, Faf du Plessis 65, Dinesh Karthik 30; Jason Behrendorff 3-36) lost to Mumbai Indians 200/4 in 16.3 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 83, Nehal Wadhera 52 not out, Ishan Kishan 42; Wanindu Hasaranga 2-53, Vijaykumar Vyshak 2-37) by six wickets.

--IANS

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Panaji, May 9 (IANS) Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Tuesday that the preparations for 37th National Games is almost complete, as he urged parents to encourage their children to watch the games so that they can get inspired.

"Preparations to host the National Games in October are almost done. The dates will be finalised soon. Our efforts are on to encourage youth in sports. But parents also should encourage their children to watch games, so that they get inspiration," Sawant said during a sports event held in North Goa.

Earlier, Sawant had said that the National Games will be held in October 2023, which will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Sports associations of Goa are being taken into confidence to create a sports environment here," Sawant had said.

"Sports tourism is our next activity in the tourism space. We will help organise sports events at the national level in the future as we will have the infrastructure ready after the National Games," Sawant had said.

--IANS
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Tashkent (Uzbekistan), May 9 (IANS) India's Deepak Bhoria (51kg) and Nishant Dev (71kg) continued their scintillating forms at the ongoing IBA Men's World Boxing Championships as they stormed into the quarter-finals of the tournament with dominating victories, here on Tuesday.

However, Akash Sangwan (67 kg) and Sachin Siwach (54kg) bowed out of the tournament after facing defeats in their respective pre-quarterfinal matches.

Akash went down 0-5 against Kazakhstan's Dulat Bekbauov. The Indian pugilist had a slow start and grew into the game with every round but in the end, it wasn't enough for the judges to give decisions in his favour as Bekbauov registered a unanimous 5-0 win.

On the other hand, Sachin also suffered a 0-5 defeat in his round of 16 bout. Going against top seed Kazakhstan's Makhmud Sabyrkhan, Sachin started brightly as he landed heavy punches on his opponent in the first round. After an even second round, the bout went down to the wire in the last round where Sabyrkhan showed his experience to get the better of the Indian boxer and won the bout.

Earlier, playing against Jiamao Zhang of China in the pre-quarterfinal, Deepak controlled the bout right from the start and ended up winning it by a 5-0 unanimous decision.

Deepak had a measure of his opponent and called the shots in the first round with his Swift movement and accurate punches. He went into defensive mode at the start of the second round and used his counter-attacking game to strike some heavy left hooks on his opponent.

In the third round, Deepak was on his toes as Zhang tried to be more aggressive with a combination of punches. However, the Indian pugilist was too quick for his rival and comfortably won the bout.

"My strategy was to use my strongest weapon in the match which is my left hook and everything went according to our plan in the match. I tried to get the momentum early in the bout and lure my opponent before striking some accurate punches. My focus is on the next bout now and I will give my 100 percent in it to ensure a medal for India," said Deepak after the victory.

He will now play his next bout against Diushebaev Nurzhigit of Kyrgyzstan and will look to confirm a medal for India.

On the other hand, Nishant Dev registered a win by RSC in the first round against Nidal Foqahaa of Palestine. Foqahaa used his height advantage to put Nishant Dev in the corner before the Indian pugilist used a combination of heavy punches on his opponent which forced the referee to stop the contest.

Nishant Dev will face Jorge Cuellar Of Cuba in the quarter-finals on Wednesday. The third Indian to play in the quarter-finals is Hussamuddin, who will go up against J. Diaz Ibanez of Bulgaria.

The ongoing tournament is witnessing the participation of 538 boxers, including several Olympic medallists, from 107 countries.

--IANS

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Kolkata, May 9 (IANS) Kolkata Knight Riders' all-rounder Andre Russell expressed that the fearless batting displayed by Rinku Singh has helped alleviate the pressure as the duo sealed a thrilling victory against Punjab Kings (PBKS) at Eden Gardens.

Chasing 180, Kolkata needed 26 needed in two overs, Russell delivered big time smashing Sam Curran for 3 sixes in the 19th over to bring down the equation to just 7 of the last 6 balls.

PBKS pacer Arshdeep Singh held his nerves and created immense pressure as Russell was run out in the penultimate ball trying to sneak in a cheeky signal. With 2 needed off the final ball, Rinku found the fine-leg boundary and pulled off the nail-biter with a five-wicket victory.

"I wanted to finish the game off, but we have a finisher this year in Rinku. He had told me what if the ball beats you, should we go for the run? I said for sure, I have faith in him to finish it off the last ball," Russell said after collecting the Player of the Match award.

"I get goosebumps seeing him doing what he's been doing. I have company at the back end, he soaks the pressure off and he's been here for years now, a really hard-working guy. He's very funny outside the field, I try to stay as close to him while we are training," he added.

With the win, the KKR go fifth in the table to keep their chances for a playoff spot in their own hands. KKR will next host Rajasthan Royals on Thursday and will be looking to keep the winning momentum going as the league stage of the IPL nears its conclusion.

--IANS
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By Niharika Raina
New Delhi, May 9 (IANS) The wide-spread talent pool in India has always brought up a sense of envy amongst other cricketing nations. But in the 2022 Men's T20 World Cup in Australia, the lack of a left-handed batter in the top as well as the middle-order was a huge talking point.



Left-handedness of Axar Patel was used as either at number six or seven in the absence of Ravindra Jadeja, till India brought Rishabh Pant, who was not a guaranteed starter, in place of Dinesh Karthik in the middle-order. But it was too late an addition as Pant didn't leave the desired impact as an explosive left-handed batter against Zimbabwe, as well as in the semi-final against England.

In IPL 2023, it has been witnessed that a younger crop of uncapped left-handed batters have emerged to be mainstays for their respective teams in middle as well as lower order. For Suresh Raina, a former left-handed batter for India and Chennai Super Kings, Rinku Singh and Tilak Varma are promising left-handed batting prospects for the national team in middle-order.

"Rinku Singh and Tilak Varma impressed me the most because these two play in the middle-order. Sometimes it becomes very important to see the situation and how the game is going and understanding the demand of the game, which I have really loved about Rinku Singh and Tilak Varma. Rinku hit those five sixes and is batting at another level," said Raina, an IPL expert for JioCinema, in a select virtual interaction.

Rinku, who slammed a four off the final ball against Punjab Kings to keep Kolkata Knight Riders' playoffs hopes alive on Monday, is the highest run-scorer among lower-order batters from overs 16-20 in IPL 2023, amassing 214 runs in nine innings at a strike-rate of 187.72, while averaging 53.5.

Tilak, on the other hand, has been in scintillating touch for Mumbai Indians, mixing conventional shots with T20 innovations like reverse-heave. He has been the glue for the five-time champions in middle-order and death-overs, combining big-hitting and consistency.

His middle-order numbers of 149 runs in seven innings at an average of 49.67 and strike-rate of 128.45 look impressive. But it is death overs numbers in IPL 2023 which make for a jaw-dropping look: - 118 runs in six innings at an average of 39.33 and strike-rate of 218.52.

Apart from T20Is, Raina also sees potential in Varma to succeed in the middle-order role in ODIs. "Tilak Varma, what a talented player he is - coming in the middle-order and showing what a class player, he is and can play for India very soon. He can take the game forward, which is what is needed when you are looking at number five, six, seven in 50-overs cricket, and the ODI World Cups."

"He also has the ability to finish games for the country. He has a bright future and if he plays the way he's doing right now in the middle order. We all know what amount of time it will take for Rishabh Pant (to come back to competitive cricket) and moreover, we don't have a left-handed batter in middle-order. So, we can really use him in middle-order."

Apart from the duo, opener Yashasvi Jaiswal isn't far off. After hitting six centuries, including two double-hundreds, in the 2022/23 domestic season, Yashasvi has been the aggressor at the top for Rajasthan Royals, scoring 477 runs in 11 innings, averaging 43.36 at a strike-rate of 160.6, including a fantastic 124 against Mumbai Indians.

His numbers make for a glowing look in power-play: - 276 runs in 11 innings at an average of 55.2 and strike-rate of 166.27. "Yashasvi has been putting up Yashasvi (successful) performances in IPL 2023. With the amount of runs he's scored in domestic cricket; he is ready to play for India in white-ball cricket."

"With the World Cup coming up, he can be opener India are searching for after Shikhar Dhawan, he has that special quality, self-belief and intent, as well as the innate desire to perform in a pressure situation, which has also impressed me a lot," added Raina.

Amidst left-handed batters like Rinku, Varma and Jaiswal ruling the roost, Jitesh Sharma has emerged as a critical right-handed batting option in the last five overs of the competition, seen from his strike-rate of 193.10. One big plus with Jitesh is he is consistently aggressive in hitting against pacers and spinners, an example of which was his unbeaten 49 against Mumbai.

"The way Jitesh Sharma has been batting in the middle-order, he has been playing aggressive cameos consistently and was part of the Indian team before (in T20I series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand this year)."

"He can be a great addition to the middle-order, with his keeping skills also being really good. With more matches coming up, you will see more of his hitting skills. He is impressing everyone with the way he's batting and selectors will surely think of him as he has a bright future," stated Raina.

The emergence of young left-handed batters as well as the finishers, who can score quick runs consistently across different phases of the game along with big-hitting skills, augurs well for the Indian team, who suddenly have a lot of options to choose from once the international cricket cycle returns.

But making the most out of a plethora of resources in hand will be the key for the national think-tank if they are keen to avoid the confusion seen in the 2022 Men's T20 World Cup.

--IANS
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