4 exciting series to look forward to in the first half of 2018

2017 is about to come to an end and the year has witnessed many exciting encounters on the field.

The year turned out to be an eventful one for Team India, who continued to dominate visiting teams at home and remained unbeaten in all their bilateral series. Pakistan surprised one and all by winning the Champions Trophy in June 2017, defeating India in the finals. Bangladesh sprung up a surprise by reaching the semis finals of the Champions Trophy in 2017.

The Indian women's team, against all odds, were the runners up of the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup. After a disappointing start to 2017 by losing the Test series against India, failing to qualify for the top 4 in the Champions Trophy, being thrashed by India in the ODI series, Australia by their impressive all round performance, regained the Ashes at the end of 2017.

The year 2018 too promises to be an action packed one for all cricket lovers. Here is a preview of 4 exciting series to be played in the first half of 2018:

#4. India's tour of South Africa:

2018 will kickstart with the Indian team touring the rainbow nation for 3 Tests, 6 ODIs and 3 T 20s. The first Test, will commence from 5th January, 2018 in Cape Town. The series promises to be an exciting one as the top two ranked teams in Tests and ODIs will battle it out for being the number one team across both the formats.

India have, till date, not won a single series in South Africa, be it a Test series or a bilateral ODI series.

The current Indian team in familiar home conditions have beaten South Africa, Australia, England, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and New Zealand in the last couple of years. It will be interesting to see how the confident Indian team will take on the professional South African outfit in conditions which are alien to them.

All in all, it should be an exciting encounter and team India will look to extend their unbeaten run in Tests and ODIs in the series against the South Africans too.

#3. Australia tour of South Africa:

South Africa will battle it with Australia in a 4 match Test series in South Africa

After competing with the Indians, South Africa will compete with Australia in an intense 4-match Test series. The Australians, high on their success of regaining the Ashes, will look to settle scores with the South Africans, who beat them in their own den last summer by a margin of 2-1 in the 3 match Test series. The rivalry between Australia and South Africa has intensified in the past two decades.

Since South Africa were readmitted to Test cricket in 1991, Australia have toured them on 7 occasions and have beaten them in 5 series, with 2 series ending in draws. It is really hard to believe that South Africa have not beaten Australia at home in a Test series since re admission. South Africa would like to set the record straight and create history by defeating the Australians.

The first Test will commence on the 1st March 2018 in Durban, followed by a Test in Port Elizabeth from 9th March, 2018. The third and the fourth Tests will be played from 22nd March, 2018 and 30th March, 2018 in Cape Town and Johannesburg respectively.

#2. Triangular T 20 series:

The T 20 triangular series will be played between Australia, England and New Zealand

In the first ever series of its kind Down Under, the T20 triangular series featuring Australia, New Zealand and England promises to be an exciting one with three top teams battling it out for the T20 trophy. The first leg of the T20 series will be played in Australia, followed by the second leg in New Zealand, with New Zealand hosting the finals. Here is the schedule of the T20 series:

1st T20- Australia Vs New Zealand at Sydney on 3rd February, 2018.

2nd T20- Australia Vs England at Hobart on 7th February, 2018.

3rd T20- Australia Vs England at Melbourne on 10th February, 2018.

4th T20- New Zealand Vs England at Wellington on 13th February, 2018.

5th T20- Australia Vs New Zealand at Auckland on 16th February, 2018.

6th T20- Australia Vs New Zealand at Hamilton on 18th February, 2018.

The finals will be played at Auckland on 21st February, 2018.

#1. The Under 19 World Cup:

Prithvi Shaw will lead the U19 team

The 12th edition of the U-19 World Cup will take place in New Zealand from 13th January to 3rd February, 2018. 16 nations will battle it out for the trophy and there will be four groups of 4 teams each.

Group A comprises Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland and Afghanistan. Group B comprises England, Bangladesh, Namibia and Canada. India will battle it out with Australia, Zimbabwe and Papua New Guinea in Group C while hosts New Zealand will battle it out with West Indies, Kenya and South Africa in Group D.

The top two teams from each group will progress to the next round and will battle it out for the ultimate prize. The 11 editions have witnessed India and Australia winning the U 19 World Cup on 3 occasions. Pakistan have won the trophy twice with England, South Africa and the defending champions West Indies having won the tournament once.

The Indian team under captain Prithvi Shaw and coached by Rahul Dravid will look to capture the trophy and start 2018 on a positive note for Indian cricket.

The U-19 World Cup is a perfect platform for young cricketers to showcase their talent on the big stage and by performing well in the World Cup, their chances of making it to the national team are not far.