Okay guys, leave IPL discussion for one moment and concentrate on current T-20 Series (Aus vs Eng)

Australia won the toss and opted to ball first, Keep in mind this contest is between No 1 and 2 team in T-20 so finger cross for close contest.

Tom Banton had such a good series against Pakistan, but he failed today. Tail has almost started for England, with Moeen Ali at the crease. If England want to get to a score around 180-200, then Dawid Malan needs to make sure that he stays there till the end. Ali is not in great form with the bat, and the same can be said about Tom Curran as well. And after Curran, we have four tail-end batsmen.

Edit: Moeen Ali is gone. England in deep trouble.

A Worldcup tournament played behind closed doors would definitely be not that interesting to watch with empty stands. So IMO it's good that the T20 WorldCup was postponed. But I didn't want the IPL to happen too because of the pandemic conditions. But here we are waiting for the IPL to start in 2 weeks time.

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ENG 152/7. Only Butler and Malan did good with the bat for England. Aussies have been playing brilliantly today with some exceptional fielding. Expecting a target less than 170 for the Aussies, now that Malan has got out.  

Edit: 163 runs to win for the Aussies. I think ENG did OK considering that we are missing out Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Jason Roy.

Can't agree more. But I don't think England could turn the match now because Aussies only need 72 runs in 10 overs with 10 wickets in hand. The opening partnership is going really well and solid. And I don't see much pressure from any of the English bowlers either. I think Aussies are going to win this match  very easily by 10 or maybe 8 wickets

Last 15 balls completely change momentum of this match as 4 wickets down and now England feeling much better then Australia Even Stonies on crease but now 20 balls and 29 runs is really entertaining end of this match Now if Australia lost one more wicket then surely they are going out of this match.

Cannot believe that England actually managed to win by 2 runs against such a strong Australian side. Australia seriously botched this one. Carey messed up along with other middle order batsmen. The Australians must be pretty pissed right now.

Warner and Finch were awesome as usual, but the rest were disappointing.

CSK will manage somehow since they have many popular backup players. They probably prepared for these issues sometime back due to the pandemic.

Today Australia was really on fire in all departments but sadly at the end they lost by just 2 runs I have just one question why was Lubuschagne out because if you are going Maxwell as bowler then surely you must have one more batsman instead of going with bowler which was not helpful hopefully now they will think about this and bring him in which could be very helpful in batting.

@Indymoney Australia paid the price for being overconfident as they believed that they could easily beat England, but hopefully this loss will serve as a wake up call for them, and now I believe that they’ll be more focused in the next two games. Furthermore the IPL situation doesn’t look too good because even Malinga has withdrawn himself from the league, and if more star player’s continue to withdraw from IPL then the league will loose it’s competitive edge.

Sources:

https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/sports-news-ipl-2020-in-uae-list-of-cricketers-who-have-pulled-out-of-indian-premier-league-13/359810

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/29813813/aaron-finch-david-warner-accept-blame-failed-chase-australia-middle-order-exposed

CSK squad is perhaps the most elderly out of all the eight sides in the IPL. Almost half of their squad is aged 30 or above. This can give them an advantage when experience is considered. But at the same time, it makes them more vulnerable to injuries and other player issues. Raina and Harbhajan used to be integral parts of CSK for so many years. Their absence will be felt.