Top Stories: Things that made news in the cricket world today

12 West Indies players refuse to tour Bangladesh for bilateral series due to COVID-19 fears and other reasons

• 12 West Indies cricketers, including Test skipper Jason Holder and Kieron Pollard, the ODI and T20I captain, have declined to tour Bangladesh due to COVID-19 fears.
• The Caribbean team is scheduled to play three ODIs and two Tests in Dhaka and Chattogram.
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  Reports: T Natarajan in line for Test debut in Sydney; KL Rahul to return

• Team India is set to again make a few changes to their playing eleven despite their morale-boosting eight-wicket victory over Australia in the Boxing Day Test.
• Prior to the game, India didn’t have Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami for various reasons.
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  Here’s how World Test Championship points table looks after NZ vs PAK Test

• New Zealand defeated Pakistan in the first Test of the two-match series on Wednesday.
• The visitors resisted the day well with Fawad Alam scoring a stunning century and skipper Mohammad Rizwan also hanging around with him.
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  Australia vs India: Sunil Gavaskar’s words of wisdom for Cheteshwar Pujara ahead of Sydney Test

• Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar reckons that Cheteshwar Pujara should go and have a chat with batting coach Vikram Rathour ahead of the third Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
• Pujara has scored 63 runs in two Tests at an average of 15.75 with a top score of 43 and is yet to hit his straps.
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  Sourav Ganguly hails India’s classic show at MCG with special mention to skipper Ajinkya Rahane

• India defeated Australia in the Melbourne Test by eight wickets and bagged a memorable win to level the series 1-1.
• The Ajinkya Rahane led team outclassed the hosts in both the departments as they came up as real warriors in the crucial hours.
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  New Zealand vs Pakistan: Fawad Alam scores his second Test century 4,188 days after his maiden ton

• Fawad Alam, the Pakistan left-handed batsman, scored his second Test century against New Zealand at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui.
• Chasing 373 runs, the visitors were in dire straits, losing their openers Shan Masood and Abid Ali without a run on the board.
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  Australia announce squad for the third Test against India; Joe Burns dropped

• Australia has announced the squad for the upcoming third Test of the four-match series against India to be played in Sydney from January 7, 2021.
• The opener Joe Burns has been finally dropped after his twin failures in Melbourne.
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  Former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin survives an accident in Rajasthan

• Former Indian cricketer and the president of Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA), Mohammad Azharuddin met with an accident while he was traveling to Ranthambore with his family for New Year’s celebration.
• The accident took place at the Kota Mega Highway near Soorwal in Rajasthan.
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  S. Sreesanth to be part of Kerala team in Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Tournament 2021

• Former Indian pacer S Sreesanth is all set to ply his trade in the domestic circuit as he has been named in Kerala’s team for Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 trophy 2021.
• The high profile domestic tournament will commence from January 10, and Sreesanth’s presence in the tournament will mark an end to his seven-year-long ban on charges of match-fixing.
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  ‘People have a problem with the way Virat Kohli expresses himself’ – Deep Dasgupta amid talks of promoting Ajinkya Rahane as full-time Test skipper

• India defeated Australia by eight wickets at MCG in utmost style to level the Border Gavaskar series.
• Since then, people can’t stop lauding the collective efforts of the team and India’s stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane.
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