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‘I’m sure a few New Zealand coaches there have got their eye on him’

Deivarayan Muthu07-Jan-2021Everyone wanted a piece of Kyle Jamieson in New Zealand’s international home summer, with the Bay Oval crowd even standing up to sing ‘Happy birthday’ to him when he turned 26. While he had a dream first year in Test cricket, Jamieson also made his T20I debut this home summer, taking three wickets in four matches at an economy rate of 7.75. So, do the IPL franchises want a piece of Jamieson as well?Gary Stead, who has overseen Jamieson’s progress from his domestic side Canterbury to the national team, reckoned that the presence of New Zealand coaches in the IPL might be “one of the advantages” for him. Brendon McCullum, the Kolkata Knight Riders head coach, and Stephen Fleming, the Chennai Super Kings head coach, have also commentated on the 6ft 8in quick for Spark Sport. Meanwhile, Mike Hesson, the former New Zealand coach, works with the Royal Challengers Bangalore as their team director.Related

• Finn Allen the breakout star in Super Smash as Wellington defend title

• 'They always look to get better' – Gary Stead reflects on New Zealand's 'special achievement'

• 'I'm a long way off the cricketer I want to be' – Jamieson

• Jamieson hits heights with absurdly brilliant beginning

• Ferguson bides his time even as Jamieson jumps Test queue

“See, I’m not sure. Maybe they [the franchises] will [come knocking at his door] and maybe they won’t. Sometimes, it’s a bit of the luck of the draw with the IPL and how you get in there,” Stead said of Jamieson’s IPL prospects. “I guess one of the advantages is a few New Zealand coaches that are head coaches there as well that I’m sure have got their eye on Kyle as well as other people in our set-up as well.”Earlier this season, Jamieson’s team-mate Tim Seifert, the wicketkeeper-opener, had also caught the attention of Fleming who told Spark Sport: “There’s a team in yellow [Chennai Super Kings] that might have a look at you as well. Not just Brendon’s [Brendon McCullum’s] team, there are other teams out there!”Even before Jamieson made his T20I debut, Shane Bond, who is part of the Sydney Thunder and the Mumbai Indians backroom, foresaw an IPL opportunity for him.”I’m looking forward to see how he goes in T20, and there’s always opportunities in the T20 game as well,” Bond had said. “With another IPL around the corner, who knows what can happen. Things in this game can change pretty quick, so looking forward to seeing what he can do.”Jamieson’s USP is his towering frame that enables him to bounce out batsmen, but he has shown that he can be just as threatening by pitching the ball up and swinging it both ways. In all T20 cricket, he holds the record for the fifth-best figures, having claimed 6 for 7 for Canterbury Kings against Auckland Aces in January 2019. All up, he has 49 wickets in 33 T20s at an average of 19.81 and economy rate of 7.96.Jamieson said after the Christchurch Test that he had honed his inswinger during the winter, and the day after that game, Stead delivered a glowing appraisal of him, saying “the world could be his oyster”.”I mean it’s just keeping him grounded as well. We all know he’s got some great attributes and some great skills and who knows the world could be oyster his with what’s ahead and what’s coming up,” Stead said. “But, at the end of the day, he’s still a cricketer and he’s one of our boys when he gets together with us and we treat him that way. He’s got everything there in front of him, but hopefully he stays fit and he will be a big part of New Zealand cricket I’m sure.”

After resigning, he alleged that ‘the current administration carries out their duties without transparency’

Andrew Fidel Fernando30-Jul-2020Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) vice-president K Mathivanan has quit his position with the board, as he and the remainder of the SLC executive committee made accusations of impropriety against each other. Jayantha Dharmadasa, a longtime administrator who failed in his bid to be elected SLC president in February 2019, has been appointed to Mathivanan’s vacated post.An SLC release stated that Mathivanan’s resignation had come “in the wake of the recent unanimous decision of the executive committee to hold an inquiry against Mr. Mathivanan for indulging in unethical practices in his capacity as an office bearer”.Mathivanan, the only office bearer elected from outside the Thilanga Sumathipala-backed faction at the most-recent SLC polls, was understood to have had a deteriorating relationship with several others at the board, over the past year. The ethics inquiry is believed to have been about leaks to media – allegations Mathivanan denies.Following his resignation, Mathivanan himself issued a release alleging that “the current administration carries out their duties without transparency and integrity in such a manner which makes it impossible for me to remain in such a set up”. Mathivanan said that the board had made “unsavoury decisions” despite his objections, and had also failed to provide him with “notice of meetings, with the agenda and board papers”.SLC is set to hold another election next year, at which Mathivanan is again expected to contest. As vice-president, he had been in charge of domestic cricket, which presently stands suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Misbah-ul-Haq says cricketers who have lost livelihoods shouldn’t be left “deserted” by the PCB and the government

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Sep-2020Umar Gul and Misbah-ul-Haq have added their voices to the motion to revive department cricket in Pakistan. A year after the entire structure was revamped, there are now voices from within the Pakistan Cricket Board seeking a re-evaluation, with Gul being a PCB cricket committee member and Misbah the head coach and chief selector of the senior men’s team.The PCB has been criticised for the move to abolish departmental cricket, with the move having rendered hundreds of cricketers jobless at a stroke, and both Gul and Misbah have urged the board and the government to set up a plan for players whose livelihoods have been affected. In its new structure, the PCB had constituted six associations from each province in Pakistan, with 192 cricketers given an annual contract. Replacing the old structure with the new one was a decision driven by the current prime minister Imran Khan, who is also the patron-in-chief of the PCB, and who had rejected an earlier domestic model the board proposed that included departments.”The salary I used to receive from the department was sufficient to cover my monthly expenses. But now, honestly speaking, what we are earning from domestic matches, which includes match fees and a monthly retainer, is not enough to cover the needs of my family,” Gul told .”The players felt secured in departmental cricket but that is no longer the case. We need departmental cricket back, even if it is in grade two, and I will continue to raise my voice in this regard as a member of the cricket committee.”Elaborating on the shape department cricket could take, Gul said, “Even if it’s a grade two tournament, it can be with three-day cricket for 10 to 12 departments. In previous meetings, we talked about finding a window for it so that players who lost their livelihoods can get back to their lives.”There had been a possibility of departmental teams returning to Pakistan’s domestic circuit earlier this year when the Iqbal Qasim-led PCB cricket committee tasked the then director of cricket, Haroon Rasheed, to try and find a window to potentially squeeze in a new tournament. But the idea never materialised, leading Qasim to resign from his post in protest and calling the committee toothless.Most departments have already suspended contracts they had with cricketers. Those who were permanent employees were asked to pick desk jobs, effectively ending their cricketing aspirations. These were players hired mainly for their cricketing skills, and given their lack of qualifications for other jobs, they have had to pick non-executive jobs with lesser pay.Earlier this week, after the national side’s return from England, Misbah had also stressed on the livelihoods that had been affected.”The cricket board is trying to have an alternative for the players,” Misbah said. “You obviously don’t want cricketers playing in the system to have their livelihoods fully abolished, or have a shortage of players, or that they face financial losses. We have spoken about this, but unfortunately, this issue hasn’t progressed properly. One of the reasons are circumstances around Covid-19 when everything was shut down and it took over three months [to normalise]. And now the season is upon us and the board didn’t get time to do much about it. But in my opinion, I think they should think about this. I did tell the PCB and the government and they should make a thorough plan on how to involve these cricketers and not leave them deserted.”Domestic cricket in Pakistan has been played among departments and regions since the early 1970s, when Abdul Hafeez Kardar, Pakistan’s first Test captain and later the PCB chairman, encouraged organisations like HBL, Sui Southern Gas Corporation, WAPDA and others to provide employment opportunities for players. Since then, top players have been contracted by the departments in question and been given full-time jobs. The role of these departments in helping Pakistan cricket and cricketers has been significant, but it also ended up depriving regional sides of their top players.

Board chief upset at not being able to dictate team decisions during series

Mohammad Isam14-Feb-2021Mominul Haque knows that winning and losing a game for Bangladesh produces two very different types of reactions. It was all very calm when Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe last year, but after West Indies blanked them 2-0 in their backyard, he knew “a lot of things won’t be in your favour and a lot of things will come out”.One of those is a public tongue-lashing from Nazmul Hassan, the BCB president, shortly after the 17-run defeat against West Indies in Dhaka. Previous captains have endured such dressing downs, in both public and private, and this was no different. Hassan slammed the captain and coach for the decisions they took, one of which was the selection of Soumya Sarkar from outside the squad, to replace the injured Shakib Al Hasan.Hassan, who often gets involved in the minutiae of running the Bangladesh team, said that Sarkar was his fourth choice.”When Shakib was injured, I had [board directors] Akram [Khan], [Khaled Mahmud] Sujon, [Ismail Haider] Mallick, [chief selector Minhajul Abedin] Nannu and [selector Habibul Bashar] Sumon in front of me,” Hassan said. “I gave them four or five options. My first choice was Mahmudullah Riyad, and then Mosaddek [Hossain], Mahedi [Hasan] and the fourth option was Soumya [Sarkar]. They [captain Haque and coach Russell Domingo] selected Soumya.”I still went ahead and personally called Mahmudullah, who told me he had back pain. Mosaddek was in Abu Dhabi. We tried, but they [Haque and Domingo] had only one choice. They didn’t mention any other names.”Haque said they needed an allrounder in place of Shakib. “Shakib ‘s absence threw off our combination. I needed a batsman who could bowl medium-pace.”I went with Soumya because he is an experienced player, and has been playing ODIs recently too. These things come up when you lose a game, and it would have been a different story if we had won.”Hassan slammed Russell Domingo and Mominul Haque for making all the decisions by themselves•AFP via Getty Images

Sarkar’s selection was just one of many topics that Hassan criticised the Bangladesh team for. He also took offence about Taijul Islam saying after the third day of the first Test that a lead of 250 was good enough on that pitch. Bangladesh, though, set West Indies a target of 395, which they chased down with three wickets in hand.”We are not going to make abrupt changes but we can’t let this happen,” Hassan said. “Definitely it is time to look into these things. Look, we can lose a Test but we cannot just declare that a 250-lead is enough to beat a visiting side.”We couldn’t defend 395, and a batsman went on to score a double-hundred on the fifth day. These are unacceptable. We bowled poorly, no doubt.”Hassan sounded ticked off by the spin strategy as well, and said the team management should have picked a second seamer for the Dhaka Test.”Since the Afghanistan Test [in 2019], all I have heard is spinning wicket. Recently our pacers did well in the domestic tournament. We have a number of pacers. But we didn’t play the pacers. We took five pacers, closed down any room for an allrounder but we played only one pacer. Why did we then take these pacers?”Hassan said that there is a detachment between the Bangladesh team and him due to their bio-secure bubble. He took exception to the fact that Haque and Domingo, the captain and coach, had taken all the team decisions during this series. Pre Covid-19 and bio bubbles, Hassan and some of the board directors typically stayed with the team management during home and away series.”The decision-makers are the captain and the coach. We are not part of it. We will seek answers from all of them, not just the captain and the coach. I must know whether they [Bangladesh’s team management] had a team meeting before today’s play. My hands are tied due to the bio-secure bubble. I am totally handicapped.”After a game, I am usually entering their dressing room at this time, or sit in their team hotel. I haven’t been able to interact with them. We only had one Zoom meeting with the full team but that’s not enough to know what’s going on. I asked Akram what the plan is. He says he doesn’t know. The selectors don’t know. We are not inside the bubble. We have to know what happened before I can tell you anything.”He called the lack of access he had “intolerable” and warned about a “message” being given to the team.”I cannot give you any more details but I want to tell you that we tried. Now we have to know what’s happening, as it is becoming intolerable. There’s however very little time since we are heading to New Zealand, and then a week after New Zealand we are going to Sri Lanka. We cannot make a lot of tumult in this short time but the message will be given.”

Australia batsman to be available for first seven matches in County Championship

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Dec-2019Australia batsman Matthew Wade has signed for the first half of Somerset’s 2020 Championship campaign. Wade broke back into the Test team as a batsman earlier this year, scoring two hundreds during the Ashes, and will return to England for the start of the county season in April.”When you’re signing an overseas player, there are a number of criteria that you need to think about,” Somerset’s director of cricket, Andy Hurry, said. “You want your overseas to be a world-class performer, but you also need to look at what they will bring off the field. You want someone who is a leader on the pitch and someone who buys in to the Club ethos. Matthew Wade will tick every single box.”He is a world-class performer, he is extremely driven and he is a leader. He has vast experience and has captained Tasmania as well as leading Victoria to two Sheffield Shields.”He was outstanding for Australia this summer with the bat and his record speaks for itself. We are delighted to have secured a player of his calibre for our opening seven County Championship matches of 2020.”Wade’s first game for Somerset is expected to be the Championship opener against Warwickshire – for whom he played T20 as an overseas signing in 2016 – and he will conclude his spell with the return fixture at Edgbaston before the start of the Vitality Blast at the end of May.Wade said: “It’s an exciting challenge and one that I’m looking forward to. I got a good taste of English conditions last summer and it’ll be good to come back over and to hopefully contribute to Somerset winning matches in the County Championship.”Somerset have got a excellent squad and I’m looking forward to meeting up with the guys and to getting out on the pitch with them. I’m told that Somerset have a bit of a history of Australian players doing well for the club, so hopefully I can add my name to that list.”

Nigar, Marufa show pluck for Bangladesh but champions demonstrate all-round strength

S Sudarshanan14-Feb-2023Bangladesh showed spark in parts but it was the return of legspinner Georgia Wareham that stole the headlines as Australia continued their winning run at the Women’s T20 World Cup.Wareham picked up three wickets – including two in her last over – to restrict Bangladesh to 107 despite a feisty half-century from their captain Nigar Sultana. With a batting line-up as enviable as Australia’s, it was a walk in the park as Alyssa Healy and Meg Lanning made light work of the chase to notch up a win in the first-ever women’s international at St. George’s Park in Gqeberha.

Healy, Lanning douse Marufa fire

Young Marufa Akter starred in Bangladesh’s Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup campaign and continued her good run. She began the 107-run defence with a fiery opening spell, bowling five dots on the trot to Healy, who was seemingly troubled by her seam movement. However, Marufa strayed on her pads on the last ball to get her going.However, the 18-year-old fast bowler from Saidpur, a small town to the North of Dhaka, struck in her next over. She lured Beth Mooney into an uncertain poke at an away-swinger to give slip a low catch. She believed. Bangladesh believed. But Healy and Lanning did, too.Nigar introduced spin after Marufa’s second over and it was all downhill thereon for Bangladesh. Healy welcomed the left-arm spin of Nahida Akter with a huge hit back over her head before Lanning played a square drive for four. In the penultimate over of the powerplay, Healy hit Salma Khatun for back-to-back fours and Lanning then hit Nahida for another in the next over. By the time the powerplay came to a close, Australia had raced to 45 for 1.Coming in for Jahanara Alam in the XI, legspinner Fahima Khatun’s first over saw Marufa fail to hang on to a tough catch running to her left from long-off. Boundaries then dried up as Australia managed just one four between overs eight and twelve. In a bid to hit another, Healy mishit one to short cover to give leggie Shorna Akter her maiden international wicket.Australia slowed down in the middle overs and it was not until the 19th over that they crossed the line. Lanning finished unbeaten on 48 off 49 balls with Ashleigh Gardner ending 19 not out.Nigar Sultana swipes one through square leg•ICC/Getty Images

A welcome return for Wareham

Seeing a track aiding spin in Gqeberha, Australia opted to add another wristspinner in Wareham instead of left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen. She had last played an international game in October 2021. And perhaps the nerves were on show as her first delivery was a full-toss duly dispatched to the ropes by Shobana Mostary. But, call it a legspinner’s trait or luck, an innocuous delivery fetched her her first wicket of the night.Mostary looked to turn a shortish ball to the on side, only to hit it via the leading edge to midwicket. Wareham was on the board. She then found her flight and also the lengths, almost trapping Shorna lbw in the same over. She stifled a set Nigar and Shorna as Australia successfully applied the squeeze in the middle overs. She conceded only one four in her first three overs – when Nigar successfully sliced one between backward point and short third.Frustration got the better of Shorna in Wareham’s last over. She tried to give her the charge, only to be deceived by the flight and dip to be bowled through the gate. Three balls later, Wareham made the experienced Rumana Ahmed look pedestrian after she missed her sweep and was bowled. Wareham signed off with a sharp ripper – turning away and just missing the outside edge of Ritu Moni’s bat and the off pole by a hair’s breadth – to signal a successful return to the big stage a day after she was picked up by Gujarat Giants at the Women’s Premier League auction.Nigar Sultana, the lone star with the batAfter Bangladesh opted to bat, their captain Nigar found herself in the middle in as early as the fourth over. Speedster Darcie Brown had managed to send back both the openers with only 11 on the board. Unfazed, Nigar drove Brown for successive fours to get off the blocks quickly.In what could be a strong contender for one of the shots of the tournament, Nigar shimmied down and had a free swing of her arms to deposit legspinner Alana King over the long-on ropes. This was a delivery after she cut the same bowler through cover-point using the depth of the crease. While runs were not easy to come by – something she confirmed during the mid-innings chat with the on-air broadcasters – she hardly stalled. She almost seemed to have extra time to play her strokes, be it the drive or the pulls and the cuts.Nigar became the first woman from Bangladesh to score a half-century in T20 World Cups when she pushed Gardner towards cover off her 41st ball. She fell a couple of overs later for 56 off 46, having helped Bangladesh cross 100 but it was not a total that would have challenged the mighty Australians.

Under-suspension Zimbabwe look to kick off Hamilton Masakadza’s farewell series on a high as hosts Bangladesh aim to recover from their Test defeat to Afghanistan

The preview by Liam Brickhill12-Sep-2019

Big Picture

Zimbabwe are a cricket team in desperate need of context; Bangladesh, one that is aching for a return to normalcy and stability. Bangladesh’s first T20I match of the year, against an opponent they have dominated at home in recent years, should give them just the sort of soft landing they need in this tri-series ahead of what will likely be sterner challenges against Afghanistan, who are probably the favourites at this stage.Hot on the heels of the Test defeat to Afghanistan, further ructions are at play in Bangladesh’s cricket system, with the Bangladesh Cricket Board set to take charge of the next edition of the BPL after a fallout with the team owners. Shakib Al Hasan has grown increasingly frustrated in his captaincy tenure, and the T20 World Cup is just a year away. A win over Zimbabwe will go some way towards calming everything down a little bit for Bangladesh.Zimbabwe, of course, do not have any global tournament on the horizon to look forward to. They are still under suspension, and both the men’s and women’s sides lost their places at the T20 World Cup Qualifiers as a result. The suspension opened up divisions in their squad that are yet to fully heal.Zimbabwe enter the series without one of their most accomplished players as Sikandar Raza has been left out for ‘disciplinary reasons’ – a curious catch-all phrase that is yet to be fully explained. Their head coach, Lalchand Rajput, admitted that Raza will undoubtedly be missed, but he also underscored that Zimbabwe are a team in transition, with their eyes on the future. What that means for Raza’s future remains to be seen. And with only three members of the squad aged 25 or under, and nine aged 30 or above, Zimbabwe do not appear to be in a huge rush to usher in a new era.And first, they will say goodbye to the past. This series will be Hamilton Masakadza’s last in national colours. A long-time servant of the game, Masakadza has struggled a little of late, amid tumultuous times, and will be desperate for his last games as captain to be happy ones. So, surely, will Shakib.

Form guide

(Last five completed matches, most recent first)
Bangladesh: LWLWWZimbabwe: WLTLL

In the spotlight

Since his teenage Test hundred on debut 18 years ago, Hamilton Masakadza has summited several statistical peaks for his team, and he will go out playing a format in which he blazed a trail for his country, holding several Zimbabwean records. But the last year has been a lean one in all formats: he has passed fifty only once in internationals – during the Sylhet Test the last time Zimbabwe visited Bangladesh. Runs at the top of the order will provide a fitting finale, as well as vastly improving his team’s chances of success.Shakib Al Hasan is Bangladesh’s leading wicket-taker in this format over the last year, and is only narrowly behind Liton Das as their leading T20I run-scorer over the same time period. Indeed, he is central to Bangladesh’s fortunes no matter the format, and in a sense the spotlight is always on him. Perhaps that is why he has become an increasingly reluctant captain. But there will be no let-up for him just yet, and Bangladesh will continue to look to Shakib as a leader with bat and ball, even if he doesn’t have the captain’s hat on.AFP

Team news

Tamim Iqbal is still on R & R leave, so Bangladesh will have to cobble together a new opening pair for this series. But plenty of experience remains in the core of the middle order. There could be some new faces lower down, however, and Afif Hossain’s three quick wickets for the BCB XI on Wednesday could see him picked ahead of Mosaddek Hossain, while pace bowler Yeasin Arafat may be in line for a T20I debut.Bangladesh (probable): 1 Liton Das, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Sabbir Rahman, 4 Shakib Al Hasan (capt), 5 Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), 6 Mahmudullah, 7 Mohammad Saifuddin, 8 Afif Hossain, 9 Taijul Islam, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Yeasin ArafatBrendan Taylor kept wicket in Zimbabwe’s warm-up match, and will likely take the gloves again, despite Zimbabwe having, somewhat bizarrely, two specialist wicketkeepers in the squad in Regis Chakabva and Richmond Mutumbami. The absence of Raza leaves a hole in the middle order but Timycen Maruma’s outing against the BCB XI in the tour opener means he should fill the vacant slot ahead of either of the wicketkeepers. Chris Mpofu, Zimbabwe’s leading wicket-taker in T20Is over the last year, didn’t get a bowl in the warm-up, so he may well be left out of the series opener.Zimbabwe (probable): 1 Hamilton Masakadza (capt), 2 Brendan Taylor (wk), 3 Craig Ervine, 4 Sean Williams, 5 Timycen Maruma, 6 Ryan Burl, 7 Tino Mutombodzi, 8 Neville Madziva, 9 Kyle Jarvis, 10 Ainsley Ndlovu, 11 Tendai Chatara

Pitch and conditions

The T20 strip at the Shere Bangla Stadium has built a reputation for big scores in recent times: Bangladesh breached 200 here for the first time during West Indies’ visit in December last year. This should be a good track to bat on, while probably offering a little more to the spinners than it will the quicks.While the track might be conducive to exciting cricket, the weather may not. Rain is forecast in Dhaka in the morning and the evening. This being an evening game, wet weather is likely to be around.

Stats that matter

• Hamilton Masakadza’s 1529 runs in this format are the most by a Zimbabwean, and almost twice as many as the man below him on the list, Elton Chigumbura. He also holds the record for most fifties (10), and most runs in a series – the 222 he scored over four games in Bangladesh in 2015/16.
• Craig Ervine is Zimbabwe’s leading run-scorer in this format over the last year, with 211 runs at an average of 70.33
• The last time these two teams met in a T20 here, allrounder Neville Madziva inspired Zimbabwe to a win when Bangladesh seemingly had the match in the bag, spanking two sixes and a four in the final over to pull off a memorable heist
• Bangladesh have won five of the nine T20Is between these two sides
• Shakib Al Hasan is Bangladesh’s leading run-scorer and wicket-taker against Zimbabwe in this format, with 185 runs at 37.00 and 12 wickets at 17.50 against them

India’s chief selector said the wicketkeeper-batsman, a ‘champion in the making’, wasn’t part of the Australia ODIs because he needed rest

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Jan-2019Rishabh Pant is “very much” part of India’s World Cup plans and his absence from the ODI squad currently taking on Australia is because he needed rest, according to MSK Prasad, the chairman of selectors.”Rishabh Pant played three T20Is and four Test matches in Australia and that had an impact on his body,” Prasad told PTI. “He needed complete rest for two weeks and then we will take a call on how many matches he will play against England Lions. Let me put it straight, he is very much in our World Cup plans. He is a champion player in the making and even he is not fully aware the kind of potential he has.”The England Lions team will tour India for five one-dayers and two unofficial Tests in January-February, and, as per Prasad, Pant is likely to feature in some of the one-dayers. Prasad also felt his selection committee was vindicated after picking Pant for the Test series in England in August, given his run with the bat and his glove work since then.”Ravi (Shastri) and Virat (Kohli) had advised him to put his head down and respect the match situation, and he did exactly that,” Prasad said, referring to the 21-year-old’s century in the fourth Test in Sydney. “He proved that he can switch gears seamlessly. When we picked him for Tests, experts were sceptical about his keeping but 11 catches in a Test, record dismissals in Australia series proves that selection committee is vindicated.”The latest young player Prasad’s panel has picked is Punjab’s Shubman Gill, who will join the team for their limited-overs tour of New Zealand. Prasad said that Gill had been picked as a reserve opener.”Shubman is comfortable both opening the innings as well as playing in the middle-order. For the New Zealand series, we are looking at him as the reserve opener behind Shikhar (Dhawan) and Rohit (Sharma),” Prasad said. “I won’t comment if he will make it to World Cup but he was phenomenal as an opener for India A in New Zealand.”We have discussed with Rahul (Dravid, the A-team coach) that Shubman is ready for international cricket. The best part is the clutch of A tours which has made all these players battle ready for the biggest challenge. Look at Hanuma Vihari and Mayank Agarwal… they don’t look intimidated when thrown into the deep end of the pool.”Prasad’s panel had rested Jasprit Bumrah from the home Test series against West Indies that preceded the Australia tour, and he held that if Bumrah had played that series, the bowler wouldn’t have managed to play all four Tests in Australia, where he played a leading role in securing a series win for India.”Trust me, had Jasprit played those two Tests against West Indies, he wouldn’t have played all four Tests against Australia,” Prasad said. “The support staff has really monitored him well. He is now fitter and stronger, and with [bowling coach] Bharat Arun continuously working with him, he has improved as a bowler.”But a lot of credit should go to Jasprit because Arun gave him a plan but it was up to him to make the effort to implement the plan. He has really worked hard. When we first picked him, so many were sceptical whether it was prudent to pick a white-ball specialist but at the end of the year, we can all see the results.”

Having set Tim Paine’s men 462 to win, Pakistan’s Mohammad Abbas landed three body blows to the Australian aspiration of seeing out the 137 overs they need to survive

The Report by Danyal Rasool10-Oct-2018Pakistan put themselves seven wickets away from a third straight Test victory over Australia in the UAE, after taking three wickets after tea on the fourth day of the first Test. Having set Tim Paine’s men 462 to win, they landed three body blows to Australian aspirations of seeing out the 137 overs they need to survive. All three wickets were claimed by the unstylish brilliance of Mohammad Abbas within 12 balls of each other when the score reached 87 – Australia’s version of the unlucky number 13. Usman Khawaja once again displayed his desire and commitment to be an integral part of the Australian Test squad looking ahead, finishing the day unbeaten on a steely half-century.As was the chase in the first innings, Australia’s openers continue to lead the resistance against a Pakistan surge. Khawaja and Aaron Finch picked up where they left off after their 142-run stand was broken yesterday, adding 87 for the first wicket. Aside from four overs at the top by Abbas, who was his consistent, probing self, the spinners operated for almost the entirety of the session before tea. But the Australian openers were wise to their wile, picking Bilal Asif early – perhaps even out of the hand – and their footwork did not let them down.If someone had told Australia they would bat 50 overs today without losing a single wicket to spin, they would have snapped your hand off. But Abbas, always unsung but perpetually impressive, ensured the day would still firmly be Pakistan’s, with a spell of fast bowling so unerringly accurate even the Dubai surface could not help but reward him with wickets. Finch, who he had worked over with phenomenal forbearance in the first innings, once again succumbed to a similar delivery. Straight and tailing in, this one clattered into his pads a little quicker and sharper than the opener had been expecting. It trapped him dead in front.Two balls later, Shaun Marsh poked at one that seamed away, giving Sarfraz Ahmed an easy catch, while his brother Mitchell was trapped in front in much the same way as Finch. Both failed to trouble the scorers, but Travis Head stepped up to the occasion and put together an unbeaten 61-run partnership with Khawaja, showing the sort of mettle Justin Langer would’ve wished was more on display in this Test match.There was plenty to suggest Yasir Shah and Asif will continue to grow in stature as the match progresses. The odd ball spun sharply enough to worry the batsmen, and Yasir occasionally found the inside edge to keep the short leg interested. Pakistan set an unnecessarily negative field, before lunch, though; there were a number of fielders on the boundary in what were not conventional catching positions. Against a team that still required more than 400 runs to win, there was little need of such conservatism.Mohammad Abbas traps Aaron Finch in front and gets the decision in his favour•Getty Images

For Australia, though, the work is less than half done. They must bat out at least 90 overs if they are to avoid defeat here. Pakistan’s declaration came eight overs after lunch, when Shafiq holed out with Pakistan’s lead at 461, attempting to launch Nathan Lyon over the midwicket boundary.Any hopes Australia may have had of running through Pakistan this morning were dashed by a sedate, sensible partnership between Imam-ul-Haq and Haris Sohail. The pair guided their team out of the slightly uncomfortable overnight score of 45 for 3 with a 65-run partnership. It was hard to say whether the pitch had flattened out considerably since the last two sessions on Tuesday, or if it was just a case of Haris and Imam applying themselves better. They waited for Lyon’s turn while going after Jon Holland.The first hour took the lead entirely out of the territory Australia were hoping for. But they did hit back with Holland and Marnus Labaschugne dismissing the Imam-Haris pair in quick succession, but with the lead having surpassed 450, Pakistan were well on their way.The fall of the overnight batsman brought Shafiq and Babar together, and the pair maintained the tempo the left-handers had set. A six – off Holland, predictably – from Babar set the partnership rolling, and Australia began to leak runs thereafter. The pair rotated the strike regularly, finding boundaries almost every over, speeding towards the imminent declaration. Forty-one came off the last eight overs before lunch, and by the end, even Australia looked to be going through the motions.By the end, though, Khawaja and Head were certainly fully focused, and will need to remain that way for a final day that will surely test their character, endurance and abilities to the fullest.

The openers made light work of a stiff target by knocking down 110 within the first ten overs

The Report by Andrew Fidel Fernando29-Mar-20191:45

Five reasons why Sunrisers beat Royals

Rajasthan Royals may wonder how they lost this one. Their No. 3 Sanju Samson struck a sublime 102 not out off 55 balls. During the course of that knock, he had also shared a 119-run partnership off 75 balls, with captain Ajinkya Rahane. With the ball, legspinner Shreyas Gopal even took 3 for 27 – by a distance the best figures of the match. And yet, despite having had the best innings of the game, the biggest partnership, and the best bowler, Royals lost by a distance – Sunrisers Hyderabad having an entire over and five wickets to spare when the winning runs were hit.Where Royals had star individual performances, Sunrisers made better use of their resources across the board. Royals only had four batsmen take strike, but Sunrisers were better able to use their depth, because their top order batsmen took more chances. David Warner, for instance, had bludgeoned 67 off 36 balls and had motored his team to a position where they were well ahead of the required rate, and yet, continued to take chances, perhaps knowing there was plenty of firepower to come. He caught on the fine leg boundary off the 37th ball he faced.Jonny Bairstow, who was involved in a 110-run opening stand off 58 deliveries with Warner, and Vijay Shankar – who made 35 off 15 – were similarly adventurous, despite having propelled their team to positions of strength. They trusted the batsmen below them.Royals, meanwhile, had slow-ish periods of their innings. The Powerplay brought them only 35 runs, perhaps a consequence of Jos Buttler having lost his wicket in that period. Even the next three overs yielded modest returns – Royals sitting at 62 for 1 after 9 overs.Sunrisers still had to orchestrate their highest successful chase ever, beating the 188 they had made against Delhi Daredevils last year, but had Royals taken more risks at the top of their innings, Sunrisers may have had to chase even more than 199.Key innings for SunrisersWarner set the tone for the chase, hitting the first ball of the innings for four past fine leg, and the fourth ball for six over midwicket. In fact, each of the first eight boundaries of the innings – seven fours and that six – came off Warner’s bat. Opening partner Bairstow did soon find his own rhythm as well, and even though the two were dismissed in successive overs – the 10th and 11th of the innings – they had put Sunrisers on track.Vijay Shankar, coming in at No. 4 ensured they stayed on that track, hitting three sixes and a four in his 15-ball stay, in which he made 35.Even a serious middle-overs stutter, during which three Sunrisers batsmen were out for three runs, could not derail the good work these batsmen had done.Rashid Khan watchArguably the best T20 cricketer on the planet made sure to impose himself on this game as well. First, he bowled the imperious Jos Buttler behind his legs in the fourth over. He then completed an outstanding spell, conceding only a run-a-ball.When Sunrisers had their middle-order batting stutter, Rashid showed he could hold his nerve with the bat as well. Coming in at No. 7, Rashid struck vital boundaries to kill the game. With eight runs needed off eight deliveries, Rashid drilled an attempted Jofra Archer yorker for four through cover, then struck him high into the stands beyond deep square leg to seal the match. Rashid made 15 off 8 balls with the bat.Sanju Samson pulls powerfully•BCCI

The batting highlightWrists. Every batsman has them. Almost no one weaponises them to the extent that Sanju Samson did in the most spectacular over of the match – the 18th of Royals’ innings, bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The serenely-struck six over long off first ball was glorious enough, but it was Samson’s four fours square on the offside that were the gems that studded his innings. Bhuvneshwar didn’t do a lot wrong, really. All four of those deliveries were very nearly yorker length, and they weren’t too far wide of off stump. Samson, though, kept getting low and carving them majestically, either side of point. So graceful was he, the shots brought to mind the artistry of a VVS Laxman or Mahela Jayawardene.The fours came two at a time during a stretch of five deliveries. With a legside two breaking up that sequence, Samson reaped 24 from the over, and although Royals seemed destined for a score of about 180 for the majority of their innings, that over put something closer to 200 in their sights.Samson was outstanding, striking at over 185. Perhaps it was Rahane, who made 70 off 49 (a strike rate of 143), who needed to take more risks earlier on.