Australian captain Tim Paine predicts who will win World Test Championship "comfortably"; Read here
Sydney: Australian Test team Captain Tim Paine on Monday predicted who will win the World Test Championship (WTC) Finals that will be played between India and New Zealand at the Lords Cricket Ground in England.
In a video posted on Cricket Australia’s official Twitter handle, Paine is seen speaking about what the recently concluded England vs New Zealand Test series mean for his team ahead of the Ashes.
Paine said he has been keeping an eye on England’s form ahead of the Ashes summers. He added that the England did not field their best XI for the matches against New Zealand in the absence of players like Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer and that he is expecting them to get better when these players come back into the squad.
When asked who he thinks will win the WTC final that will be played between June 18-22 between India and New Zealand, Paine said India will win the championship “pretty comfortably” if it plays anywhere near their best.
Tim Paine has been keeping an eye on England's form ahead of the #Ashes summer - and the Aussie Test skipper also shares his prediction for the #WTC21 Final... pic.twitter.com/zGO3hZbYxv
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) June 14, 2021
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Champions Trophy opening on Feb 16 or 17; PCB hopeful Rohit Sharma will be there
Lahore, Jan 15 (PTI): The opening ceremony of the Champions Trophy will be held either on February 16 or 17 and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is confident that India captain Rohit Sharma will be in attendance at the event.
The PCB source also said that it is awaiting communication from the ICC on the schedule of the customary captains' photo-shoot and the pre-event press conference.
The eight-team tournament will get underway on February 19 in Karachi. However, India will play all their matches in Dubai, starting with the clash against Bangladesh on February 20, after refusing to travel to Pakistan owing to security concerns.
The source said PCB has procured all relevant clearances from its government to promptly issue visas to all captains, players and team officials who will come here for pre-tournament events.
"This obviously includes Rohit or any other Indian team player or official or board official," he added.
Another source confirmed to PTI that the PCB has made it clear to the ICC that the opening ceremony, featuring all teams and their captains, will take place in Pakistan.
"This is in line with the usual protocols and since the opening match is on 19th the opening ceremony can be expected either on the 16th or 17th," the source added.
He said the schedule of the opening ceremony would depend on the warm-up matches list.
The source said that recently three Indian nationals, who were a part of the ICC delegation which came to Pakistan, were promptly issued visas once the world body sent their names to the PCB.
