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Rahmanullah Gurbaz cracked his maiden T20I century, helping Afghanistan to 203 and eventually a 72-run win in the first T20I against UAE in Sharjah. The hosts were never quite in the chase after being reduced to 56 for 4 in the first ten overs.Gurbaz’s knock of 100 came off just 52 deliveries, with seven fours and as many sixes. He dominated a second-wicket stand of 137 off 77 balls with Ibrahim Zadran, who was appointed the stand-in captain for the series.The boundaries kept flowing regularly from the bat of Gurbaz, who got to his fifty off 24 balls with a six off Ali Naseer in the ninth over. He went 4, 6, 4 against Basil Hameed in the 16th, reaching his hundred off 50 balls – also with a six – in the following over. Afghanistan scored 62 in the last five overs, with the finishing touches provided by Azmatullah Omarzai’s unbeaten cameo of 19 from eight deliveries.Chasing a challenging score, UAE lost Khalid Shah in the first over. Fazalhaq Farooqi, back in Afghanistan’s squad along with Naveen-ul-Haq after being sanctioned by the ACB earlier this week for expressing a desire to be left out of the central contracts list for 2024, got Khalid and also Samal Udawaththa in the fifth over.In between, Naveen removed Muhammad Waseem, before Qais Ahmad got the fourth wicket to leave UAE needing another 148 in the last ten overs. Vriitya Aravind fought back with 70 not out but his effort only helped reduce the margin of defeat for the home team.The big win gave Afghanistan a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, with the second match also taking place in Sharjah on Sunday.

England batter Hamza Shaikh ensured his time at the Under-19 World Cup would not be forgotten when he was given out obstructed the field against Zimbabwe.In the 17th over, Shaikh defended a ball down by his feet and Zimbabwe wicketkeeper Ryan Kamwemba started to come from behind the stumps to collect it. Then, with the ball stationary in the crease, Shaikh bent down to pick it up to pass it back to the fielders, as is often seen from batters.Kamwemba and the bowler, Ryan Simbi, led the appeal and it was sent upstairs by on-field officials Donovan Koch and Masudur Rahman where third umpire Nigel Duguid gave it out.Previously it would have been handled the ball, but that mode of dismissal was combined with obstructed the field in 2017 with MCC saying they were effectively the same thing. The relevant Law, 37.4, reads: “Either batter is out Obstructing the field if, at any time while the ball is in play and, without the consent of a fielder, he/she uses the bat or any part of his/her person to return the ball to any fielder”.Unsurprisingly, there was reaction on social media. “Oh get a grip,” Stuart Broad posted on X. “He’s passing a stationary ball back to the fielder? Doing him a favour! Cant give that out.”Sam Billings retweeted a video of the dismissal, simply adding: “Wow.”Late last year Mushfiqur Rahim was given out obstructed the field in a Test against New Zealand when he punched a delivery away after defending it down into the crease.

With Western Australia just one wicket away from a hat-trick of Sheffield Shield titles after an electric passage of play late on day four, Joel Paris was in a reflective mood and turned to experienced teammates Sam Whiteman and Hilton Cartwright.”I reckon this means more than the other two [titles],” he told them.Moments later Paris sealed WA’s comprehensive victory over Tasmania with a blinder of a catch in the gully to trigger scenes of jubilation on-and-off the field at the WACA. “The boys reckon I put a little bit of mayo on it,” laughed Paris as he recalled to ESPNcricinfo his diving effort to his right.”I was just happy it stuck. We had to grind away, we haven’t had it all our way. We played unbelievably well in Victoria to get a home final and then we’ve probably played our best cricket this week.”This one probably sits right at the top for me. We haven’t had the quicks available this year that we normally have and we’ve just had to keep going. It’s very special.”Related

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Without frontliners Jhye Richardson, Lance Morris and Matthew Kelly for most of the season, WA had to rely on their fringe quicks. Cameron Gannon, who took eight wickets in the final, and Charlie Stobo stepped up at the backend of the season, but it was the reliable presence of left-armer Paris that held the attack together.Paris was unlucky to only take two wickets in the final as he again set the tone with menacing new ball bowling in both of Tasmania’s innings. He exploited the grassy surface superbly and consistently beat the bat with sharp seam movement.Paris finished the season with 39 wickets at a remarkable average of just 15.2. In 44 first-class matches since debuting in late 2015, he has taken 174 wickets at 20.05 and striking at 45.9.As can be gleaned from his relatively limited number of first-class appearances, Paris has endured a litany of injuries during his career forcing WA to be cautious with his workload.After a delayed start to the season due to a hamstring injury suffered playing for Australia A against New Zealand A in Brisbane, Paris’ durability impressed as he played five straight Shield matches – along with WA’s triumph in the Marsh Cup against New South Wales – culminating with the Shield final.”When you’re in a situation where you just have to keep going, I think your body senses that and just finds something,” Paris said. “I’m really proud of what I’ve been able to achieve this year. The amount of cricket I’ve been able to play…certainly haven’t been able to do it before.”We’ve probably been in a position in past seasons where I’ve been able to rest a little bit more than what I have this season. To get through was really special.”Paris, 31, played two ODIs against India in 2016, but his injuries and the depth of quicks in Australian cricket have kept him away from the international stage.Paris, however, remains on the radar of the Australian hierarchy. Along with playing for Australia A last year, Paris was in the frame for selection on the last Ashes tour.”That desire to play for Australia is always there. For me that will never go away until I put up the boots,” he said. “If an opportunity comes up, I’ll absolutely take it.”Paris is unsure of his offseason plans, with a stint in the UK a possibility but dependent on his body. Right now, however, he is eyeing a well-deserved breather.”I’ll be putting the feet up for a little bit,” he said. “I’m going to enjoy this one [title] as much as possible.”

England and Pakistan will head to the T20 World Cup short on match practice after persistent rain wiped out Tuesday night’s match between them in Cardiff without a ball being bowled. It is the second abandonment of the series after the weather ruined Wednesday’s series opener in Leeds, with only 39.2 of the 120 scheduled overs bowled so far.Jos Buttler, England’s captain, did not travel to Cardiff and Moeen Ali would have led their side in his place if the game had taken place. Buttler left the squad on Saturday night following England’s 23-run win in Birmingham and travelled to London to be with his wife Louise, with the couple expecting their third child imminently.Mark Wood was due to play his first match since early March for England, while Sam Curran would also have featured after being left out on Saturday at Edgbaston. ESPNcricinfo understands that Jofra Archer would have been rested, with England taking a cautious approach to his workload after such a long injury lay-off.Buttler is expected to travel to Barbados with the rest of the England squad on Friday, and could even return to the squad in time to play in the final match of the series at The Oval on Thursday night. As things stand, the weather forecast for south London is not hugely promising as both sides hope for a final run-out before they travel, though should at least allow for a shortened match.With neither side due to play an official warm-up match between Thursday and their respective opening group-stage fixtures, they will be relatively undercooked compared to some teams at the World Cup. Pakistan have at least played regularly in this format recently, drawing 2-2 with New Zealand in April and beating Ireland 2-1 earlier this month; Saturday’s match was England’s only T20I since December 21.There was heavy rain early on Tuesday morning in Cardiff, which continued for much of the day. It briefly stopped during the afternoon but returned at around 5.15pm, repeatedly delaying the toss until umpires Mike Burns and Russell Warren abandoned the match at 8.12pm, much to the disappointment of a sold-out crowd.

After a historic day of batting records in Multan, Joe Root said that the motivation behind his England-record fourth-wicket stand of 454 with Harry Brook had been to drive their team into a winning position on another unforgiving Pakistan deck. And by the close of the fourth day, that goal was almost close enough to touch, as their opponents crumbled to 152 for 6 in their second innings, still needing 115 more runs to avoid an innings defeat.Regardless of the final result, it has already been an extraordinary turnaround from England, who were made to toil in the Multan heat and dust for 149 overs across the first two days of the match, as Pakistan racked up an imposing 556, with Shan Masood’s 151 the most imposing of his side’s three centuries.In reply, however, England batted for just one over longer, but by the time Ollie Pope declared at the end of the 150th over, they had amassed 267 more runs – their eventual 823 for 7 being the fourth-highest total in all of Test history. By batting once and going huge, England had bought themselves enough time to turn the screw across a possible 127 overs in Pakistan’s second innings, and as soon as Chris Woakes bowled Abdullah Shafique with the first ball of their reply, the full impact of that time in the field was brought to bear on the hosts.”That last session there, the way that we bowled was fantastic,” Root told Sky Sports at the close of play. “You’ve obviously got to play on the fact that they’ve been out there for long periods of time, the mental disintegration that you can sometimes go through when you’ve been waiting to bat for so long. It feels so flat, and then you see one scoot low first ball of the innings, and all of a sudden, it looks like a very different pitch, and a very different game.”After Woakes’ early incision, Gus Atkinson struck twice to dislodge the key pair of Masood and Babar Azam, whose desperate form now extends to 18 innings without a half-century, before Brydon Carse continued his quietly impressive Test debut with two more breakthroughs, including a hard length to bowl the dangerous Mohammad Rizwan for 10. Jack Leach then capped a superb evening session for England by extracting a fluent Saud Shakeel for 29.”It’d be a hell of an achievement [to win this Test],” Root added. “We worked really hard to get into this position and, tonight, I thought that was equally as phenomenal as the way that we played with the bat.”You’ve got to try and play on that and understand that, as a bowling group, if you hit the right areas and you create those opportunities, then you could really cause some havoc. And for us to be here now six-down is brilliant going into the last day.Highest team scores in men’s Tests•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“To exploit the little that was there on offer for us, to get ahead of [the game] and get their bowling allrounders out there batting, is a great achievement for us. With another day’s wear into the wicket, I’m sure we’re going to create some opportunities tomorrow. If we can open the door early, things will hopefully fall in our favour, and we can enjoy what’s been a really good week.”The manner of England’s batting hardly needed vindication, but Root in particular has played in enough Tests in the subcontinent – including a not-dissimilar contest against India in Chennai in 2016, when Karun Nair’s triple-century made England’s first-innings 477 look inadequate – to know quite how quickly teams can crumble when the pressure is unrelenting.”When you’ve got that position of strength in these conditions, you know things can happen quickly, late on in the game. But you’ve got to really work hard to earn the right to do that, and to have that chance of winning. So it’s all about trying to get to that position where you can put your foot down and dictate terms a little bit.”As a consequence, Root and Brook were able to resume at the start of day four knowing that they not only had licence to turn their then-imposing stand of 243 into something truly historic, but that the higher and harder they went, the better their team’s match situation would be.”It was all about getting a position where we can have a real shot at trying to do something special,” Root said. “It was challenging, obviously it was very hot and quite tiring, but that’s part of the fun of it. When you’re sore and tired, you just remember what it feels like being on the other end of it, fielding out there. You know that things are in your favour, so you just got to try and make the most of it.”Related

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Though he eventually fell for a career-best 262, Root did have one huge life on 186, when Babar spilled a sitter at midwicket. It wasn’t a moment he was about to dwell on, however.”You know what it’s like in this game,” he added. “There are periods where you’re really struggling, and every little mistake [gets you out], and all of a sudden you’re not in good nick. And you get days out today, where you’re dropped at midwicket in the first half an hour of the game. You’ve got to make the most of it. It’s that mentality that Goochy [Graham Gooch] used to say to us when he was batting coach, ‘you’ve never got enough’.”Brook, whose career-best 317 was just the sixth triple-hundred in England’s Test history, and the first since Gooch’s 333 in 1990, said that Root’s presence and stature at the other end of the pitch had kept him hungry for more throughout their huge stand.”He’s obviously one of the best players, and England’s greatest-ever batter,” Brook told Sky Sports. “What comforts you the most when you’re out there is watching how easy makes it look, and how hard it is for the bowlers to get him out. He’s playing the ball so late, you bowl your best ball, and he’s scoring runs off it.”It feels pretty good,” he said of his record knock. “We had a lot of fun out there. we didn’t say much to each other, but we had a lot of fun. It was hot and it was hard work, but we enjoyed it. I’m just glad that the team’s in a strong position now to win the game tomorrow.”

Sydney Thunder survived a wobbly chase to secure a BBL finals berth after a tense three-wicket victory over Melbourne Stars at the MCG.The finals positioning came down to the last match of this riveting regular season with Thunder needing a win to leapfrog Hobart Hurricanes, who had pushed into the top five after a remarkable two-run victory over Brisbane Heat earlier in the day.Eerily similar to that game in Launceston, it went down to the wire after a nervy Thunder almost botched their chase of 120.But Thunder, who have been up and down all season, did enough in a see-saw of a contest to claim fourth place and will host an elimination final on Friday against fifth-placed Heat.It ended another underachieving season for Stars, who finished bottom of the ladder with just three wins.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Thunder stumble over the line

Chasing a low target, Thunder had early wobbles with David Warner’s run of low scores continuing after being undone by extra bounce from quick Luke Wood.Warner lasted just three deliveries and has made just 63 runs from five innings since his long-awaited return to the BBL. He is likely to have one more chance to better those returns at elimination final.Thunder were boosted by the return of batter Jason Sangha, who was out for five weeks due to a broken collarbone. But Sangha couldn’t get going and was stumped off a sharp delivery from spinner Adam Zampa.Thunder kept losing wickets and appeared to be headed for the same fate of Heat earlier in the day. But a hard-hitting 28 off 18 balls from Daniel Sams and composed batting from skipper Chris Green and Nathan McAndrew got Thunder over the line and into the finals.

Zampa gives it his all

Zampa has had a rough season after taking the Stars’ captaincy reins from injured Glenn Maxwell. But he remains their talisman and did his very best to thwart Thunder’s finals hopes. He enjoyed a spinning MCG surface and turned the match by outfoxing Alex Ross and Sams to leave the contest in the balance. It wasn’t a flawless effort with Zampa dropping a sitter to reprieve Green on 1 in what proved a costly missed chance. The Stars did what they could to fight all the way to the finish and perhaps in that respect they made it a reasonable send off for coach David Hussey.Adam Zampa celebrates dismissing Jason Sangha with Marcus Stoinis and Joe Clarke•Getty Images

Qadir shines, Sandhu injured

Thunder vindicated Green’s decision to bowl after a disciplined performance from the attack. They bowled well in partnerships from the get go to shackle last-placed Stars, who appeared to be going through the motions in what was a dead rubber for them.Legspinner Usman Qadir, the son of legendary Pakistan spinner Abdul Qadir, stole the show with a three-wicket haul. He bamboozled Stars’ struggling batters with flighted deliveries and combined well with Green, who was typically miserly to finish with 2 for 19 off four overs. Qadir has proven a reliable part of Thunder’s attack after being drafted into the squad for injured spinner Tanveer Sangha.The team’s hierarchy will be well pleased with the performance of the attack after seamer Gurinder Sandhu limped off the ground with a suspected calf injury having bowled two overs. He appears in major doubt for Friday’s final.

Stoinis’ struggles caps tough season

Marcus Stoinis’ season might have been doomed from the start when he fell first ball in the opening game against Thunder shortly after contracting Covid-19. He made just 14 runs in his next three innings before finally rediscovering his belligerent best with a couple of powerful half-centuries. But a hamstring injury derailed his momentum and Stars’ season was basically shot when he returned.Stoinis was hoping to at least end things on a high and find some form before he heads to the UAE’s ILT20. He targeted Qadir in the sixth over and clobbered a six down the ground but couldn’t repeat the dose later in the over to hole out. It summed up a disappointing season for Stoinis, where nothing seemingly went right and he finished with just 190 runs at 23.75 from nine matches.

Ireland will host India for three T20Is in August, but have arranged to play their final ODI Super League series against Bangladesh at Chelmsford in May, in a bid to maximise their chances of automatic qualification for the 50-over World Cup.If other results go Ireland’s way, a 3-0 series win over Bangladesh could be sufficient for them to clinch eighth spot in the Super League, and therefore make the cut for the World Cup in India in October without having to play the qualifier in Zimbabwe in June-July.And therefore, as revealed by ESPNcricinfo, Cricket Ireland has reasoned there is better chance of good weather in early-season England than in either Dublin or Belfast, where they are reliant on temporary facilities that could further undermine their chances of three completed games. Therefore, Ireland have outsourced the three fixtures, on May 9, 12 and 14, to Chelmsford.”We need to play and win the three games to qualify,” Warren Deutrom, Cricket Ireland’s chief executive, said. “After in-depth consideration, it was decided that this approach gave us the best chance of securing automatic qualification, particularly given the fact that the matches have to be played before the World Cup Super League cut-off in mid-May.””We need a venue where the weather patterns and playing facilities give us the best chance of mitigating any rain impact. Unfortunately, it is likely too early in the Irish season to prepare pitches to ODI standard unless we have a remarkably dry April. This only underscores our determination to accelerate the development of our permanent venue infrastructure, an objective which remains among my most pressing.”John Stephenson, Essex’s chief executive, said: “We are incredibly excited to host Ireland and Bangladesh for this series of Men’s ODI matches.”The Cloud County Ground has a long-standing history of staging international sides, and we are proud to have been chosen as the host venue in an important series for both sides.”We look forward to welcoming supporters to Chelmsford and engaging with our local communities to put on a memorable experience for everyone involved.”The prospect of being involved in qualifiers for both the 50 and 20-over World Cups has further complicated Ireland’s home season, with no fixtures scheduled during the window for those tournaments in Zimbabwe and Scotland in June and July. However, India will be returning for three T20Is between August 18 and 23, their second consecutive visit after a two-match stop-over in 2022.”Summer 2023 will be a feast of men’s cricket but will look very different to normal for fans,” Deutrom said. “We can today confirm India visiting Ireland for a second consecutive year and confirm the World Cup Super League series against Bangladesh will proceed in early May. This is on top of the already announced Test match at Lord’s in June and the three-match ODI series in September against England.”Making our summer slightly unusual is that we have not been able to look at organising any bilateral cricket between mid-June and mid-July given the potential of our participation in the 50-over Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier. It won’t be until after the Bangladesh series that we will learn whether we are heading to the Qualifier in Zimbabwe.”Also, in late July we have the ICC T20 World Cup European Qualifier – which is another set of away fixtures. Given the rather different shape to this summer, fans are encouraged to buy their tickets early for home matches given the anticipated interest and demand it will generate. Even if the series against India is half as dramatic as last year’s, it will be more than worth the price of admission.”We extend our grateful thanks to the Bangladesh Cricket Board for fitting in matches rescheduled during the Covid era, as well as to the BCCI and Cricket West Indies for being so flexible given the uncertainties of World Cup Qualifier participation. It certainly hasn’t been an easy task to schedule these fixtures, but we have achieved it and are delighted to confirm them today.”

Worcestershire 83 (Wright 5-32, Davey 3-26) and 26 for 2 (Haynes 17*, Davey 2-19) need 245 runs to beat Leicestershire 173 and 180 (Hill 49, Leach 5-41, Waite 4-21)Leicestershire picked up two early wickets after setting Worcestershire a challenging 271 target on a still-bowler friendly pitch on day two of the LV=Insurance County Championship match at New Road.Loan signing Josh Davey from Somerset made the double breakthrough in dismissing openers Azhar Ali – for a pair – and Ed Pollock in his first over.Gareth Roderick and Jack Haynes managed to survive to the close at 26 for 2 but the untrustworthy nature of the pitch means the Foxes will be favourites tomorrow to complete a second win of the campaign.Leicestershire had earlier been bowled out for 180 after Joe Leach’s impressive five-wicket return and Matthew Waite’s Championship-best figures of 4 for 21.It was the 16th five-for of Leach’s distinguished career and Waite eclipsed his previous best of 4 for 35 in the corresponding fixture last season.Captain Lewis Hill’s patient 49 was largely responsible for the visitors being able to set a daunting target on a wicket of uneven bounce.After the dramas of day one, when 22 wickets fell, the game proceeded at a more sedate pace for the first half of the day as Leicestershire looked to capitalise on their first-innings lead of 90.There were two nightwatchers occupying the crease when play resumed – but both soon fell to Leach.Davey could only help a delivery which bounced on him to Pollock at first slip and Will Davis went lbw working to leg.There was more joy for Leach when Colin Ackerman fenced at a delivery outside the off stump and Pollock did the rest.Leach’s morning spell brought the excellent figures of 7-4-15-3 but then Hill and Peter Handscomb entrenched themselves during a partnership of 71 in 30 overs.The pair batted sensibly and took few risks in ensuring Leicestershire built a substantial lead on a pitch where the occasional ball still misbehaved.Handscomb, on 11, had to survive a delivery from Adam Finch which spat up off a length and flew onto the off side and then a confident appeal for lbw from Waite to the last ball before lunch.Play progressed at a serene pace but then Waite instigated a collapse which saw five wickets tumble for 20 runs.His first over back into the attack brought about the downfall of Hill, one short of a deserved half-century, when he inside edged onto his stumps.Waite then struck three times in an over and ended the resistance of Handscomb who battled away for 26 off 98 balls but then aimed a blow on the leg side and was caught off a leading edge by Brett D’Oliveira running back to deep mid off.Wiaan Mulder attempted to force Waite off the back foot and was taken at second slip by Haynes who then pulled off a fine low one-handed effort to the next delivery to dismiss Tom Scriven.Leach wrapped up the innings when Rehan Ahmed went for a big blow and was stumped.Worcestershire needed a solid start if they were to harbour realistic ambitions of chasing down their target but Azhar and Pollock quickly perished to undistinguished shots against Davey.Azhar completed a pair when he took a stride forward, tried to work the ball through midwicket and instead edged low to first slip. Pollock also aimed a blow on the leg side but instead the ball lobbed a gentle catch to cover at 2 for 2.Roderick and Haynes got their heads down but there were signs of the heavy roller wearing off and batting becoming more difficult before the premature close due to bad light and rain with 14 overs remaining.

At 37, Saxena continues the good habit

Jalaj Saxena, the Kerala allrounder, continues to push the bar. Last season’s highest-wicket-taker, Saxena picked up a match haul of 13 wickets, including 9 for 68 in the first innings, to bowl Kerala to their first win of the season.The win against Bengal, however, may not be enough to fire them into the knockouts as the gulf between them and second-placed Andhra [in Group B] is a massive 11 points that they can’t bridge even if they secure a bonus-point win in their final group-stage fixture.Saxena also contributed handy runs with the bat, notching up 40 and 37 in the two innings as Kerala won by 109 runs. After fast bowler MD Nidheesh picked up the first wicket, Saxena picked up the remaining nine wickets as he wheeled away unchanged for 21.1 overs. Bengal were bowled out for 180 to concede a lead of 183. Kerala then powered to 265 for 6 declared to set Bengal a target of 449, which proved way too many.Abhimanyu Easwaran, who led India A during the unofficial Tests against England Lions, was the lone Bengal top-order batter to offer solidity. He ended the game with scores of 72 and 65 to end a string of inconsistent scores against the Lions. Shahbaz Ahmed, the Bengal allrounder, made 80 in the second innings.Like Kerala, Bengal too are out of the running for a knockouts. It’s increasingly looking like toppers Mumbai, who scraped out a draw after clinching a thrilling one-run lead over Chhattisgarh, and Andhra will be the two qualifiers from Group B.Like Saxena, Railways’ left-arm-spinner Akash Pandey also picked up nine wickets in an innings as Goa lost by 63 runs in Surat. Chasing 306, Goa were handily placed at 142 for 3 before Pandey hastened their collapse. Suyash Prabhudessai, who has already struck three hundreds this season, resisted with 67, but there was little support from the rest of the batting group.The win takes Railways to fourth in Group C, and keeps them in the hunt for an unlikely knockout berth as Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, who played out a thriller in Chepauk, are the front-runners to qualify from this pool.

Khejroliya hat-trick floors Baroda

Kulwant Khejroliya, the left-arm fast bowler, became only the third bowler in Ranji Trophy history to pick up four wickets in four balls as Madhya Pradesh secured a bonus-point win over Baroda to all but secure a berth in the knockouts. Delhi’s Shankar Saini and Jammu & Kashmir’s Mohammed Mudhasir have previously achieved this feat.Khejroliya, who moved before the season from Delhi, ended with match figures of 7 for 57. Five of those, including the hat trick, came in the second innings after Baroda were made to follow on. Having gone wicketless in 11 overs, Khejroliya struck in his 12th to remove Shashwat Rawat, Mahesh Pithiya, Bhargav Bhatt and Akash Singh. Khejroliya dismissed Atit Sheth three overs later to pick up his fifth as MP secured victory.

Ranji Trophy 2023-24

Fixtures and results | Points table | Stats

Despite the defeat, Baroda are still placed second in Group D and are only three points adrift of toppers Madhya Pradesh. Jammu & Kashmir, unbeaten after six games, are still in with a slim chance at third after they beat Puducherry by 19 runs in defence of a modest 86.File photo: Cheteshwar Pujara’s century helped Saurashtra climb up the Group A table•PTI

Jayant, Tewatia impress; Pujara scores big for Saurashtra

Vidarbha fortified their position at the top of Group A with a bonus-point victory over Maharashtra. At the same time, Saurashtra strengthened their position by jumping to third, following a 218-run win over Rajasthan.Cheteshwar Pujara and Sheldon Jackson hit hundreds to help open up a big first-innings score, before Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, the left-arm-spinner, came into his own to pick up a 12-for in the match. Seven of those came in the second innings as Saurashtra defended 306 in style; Rajasthan were bundled out for 87.The win takes Saurashtra within two points of second-placed Haryana with one match to play. Incidentally, Haryana didn’t do their chances any harm as they crushed Jharkhand by an innings and 205 runs, with Rahul Tewatia making 144. With the ball, offspinner Jayant Yadav picked up five wickets in each innings to seal victory.Elsewhere, Hyderabad and Meghalaya earned a promotion to the Elite pool for the next season after securing an entry into the final of the Plate League. Hyderabad are unbeaten after five games, while Meghalaya have three wins and two losses.

Ruturaj Gaikwad has been unveiled as the new captain of Chennai Super Kings a day before the opening game of IPL 2024, where defending champions CSK take on the visiting Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Chepauk. This brings to an end MS Dhoni’s long stint as captain of CSK – which began in the tournament’s first season back in 2008 – though he had stepped away from the position in 2022 too, when Ravindra Jadeja was made captain. But Jadeja stepped down after eight matches and Dhoni took back the reins, continuing in 2023 when CSK won the trophy for the fifth time and drew level with Mumbai Indians at the top of the title leaderboard.Related

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That triumph was widely expected to be Dhoni’s IPL farewell – he had retired from international cricket following the 2019 World Cup – but he vowed to return for at least one more season if his body allowed it. Troubled by a knee issue right through the 2023 season, Dhoni underwent surgery days after the final. The 42-year-old joined CSK’s pre-season camp in Chennai earlier this month.