TRENDING

India will take on Pakistan in the Asia Cup opener in Dubai later on Sunday, with the former keen to avenge the 10-wicket loss against the arch-rivals during the ICC T20 World Cup at the same venue last year. Pant is a left hander and is used more as a floater in the side because of his adaptability, while Karthik is known for his role as a finisher.

With Virat Kohli and KL Rahul set to return to India's playing eleven ahead of their Asia Cup campaign opener against Pakistan on Sunday, it means that there is only one batting slot left for the wicketkeeper, implying a toss-up between Pant and Karthik.

Kohli returns to the Indian team for the Asia Cup in T20I format, having last featured for the national team during the tour of England in July. He was then rested for white-ball tour of West Indies and ODIs against Zimbabwe. Kohli has been in a prolonged lean patch, having not scored a century in international cricket since November 2019.

Kohli, who became full-time Test captain in 2015 after MS Dhoni announced his retirement from the format, led India to 40 wins out of 68 Tests as skipper while losing 17 and drawing 11 matches. He stepped down from Test captaincy as India lost 2-1 in South Africa in January, with a win percentage of 58.82 while registering memorable wins in overseas and home conditions.

Chahar was out of cricketing action since the T20I series against the West Indies in February due to left quadriceps injury and then picked a back injury, which ruled him out of IPL 2022 for Chennai Super Kings. He is currently in the reserves for the Asia Cup, starting from August 27 in the UAE.

In five matches, Pujara has made 367 runs at an average of 91.75 and strike-rate of 120.72, becoming the second-highest run-scorer in the competition. Moreover, two of his centuries have arrived in successive matches. Pujara scored a 79-ball 107 against Warwickshire on Friday. He also hit 22 runs off the 45th over, but he was unable to take his side over the line. On Sunday, as Sussex's captain, Pujara smashed a fantastic 174 off 131 balls against Surrey. Pujara also brought up his highest ever score in List A cricket, going past the unbeaten 158 he made while representing India B in Rajkot way back in 2012.

The 2.5-1.5 win in the first-round encounter on Sunday night in Miami, the first offline event of the tour, put Praggnanandhaa in the top spot along with World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Poland and Kevin Aronian in the eight-player all-play-all field. With USD7,500 at stake for each match win at the Eden Roc Miami Beach Hotel, the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour Major started with plenty of fire and fighting chess.

"Even though I was not able to bring home a medal, I am satisfied with my performance as an athlete," Hima told mediapersons in Guwahati. She said it was her first big international tournament after the injury. Hima sustained a hamstring injury while running 100m heats during the National Inter-State Athletics Championships in June last year.

In his autobiography titled 'Ross Taylor Black & White', Taylor described that cricket in New Zealand was "a pretty white sport" and he experienced racism inside dressing rooms which was termed "banter". "Cricket in New Zealand is a pretty white sport. For much of my career I've been an anomaly, a brown face in a vanilla line-up. That has its challenges, many of which aren't readily apparent to your teammates or the cricketing public."

India reportedly will have time till mid-September to announce their provisional squad for the T20 World Cup. So, the team management and selectors will certainly keep an eye on players' performance in the six-team Asian tournament.