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BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal says board confident of hosting IPL 2021 in India

PTI30-Jan-2021The BCCI doesn’t feel the need to look at a back-up overseas venue for hosting the 2021 edition of the IPL, treasurer Arun Singh Dhumal said on Saturday. Dhumal, who is also on the IPL Governing Council, told PTI that the board is confident that it would be able to host the league at home unlike the previous edition, which was held in the UAE due to the Covid-19 pandemic.”We are working on having the IPL in India and we are hopeful that we would be able to organise it. We are not even thinking of a back up at this point in time, we want to do it here. India is probably safer than UAE at this point. Hopefully, the situation remains stable and keep improving and we will have it here,” said Dhumal.The UAE is currently experiencing a spike in Covid-19 cases while there has been a decline in India. The seven-day average caseload in the UAE has inched towards 4000, up from 770 when the IPL 2020 began on September 19. India’s seven-day average was past 90,000 at the time, but is now under 14,000.Related

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After the boards of both countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during last year’s IPL, the UAE was considered a back-up option to host this season too, alongside being an option for the India-England series that begins in Chennai next week.The BCCI recently scrapped the Ranji Trophy from this season’s cricket for the first time in the tournament’s history, deciding instead to close the truncated season off with the Vijay Hazare Trophy, and 50-overs competitions for women and U-19 cricketers.”We took feedback from the players, selection committee, state associations. It was felt that 2020 is already gone and rather than having two Ranji events in the same calendar year, it is better to go for white-ball cricket. That way, we could have something for junior cricket and women considering the importance of of Women’s World Cup and U-19 World Cup next year. Rather than having one tournament, we thought of having events in different categories,” said Dhumal, adding that players will be duly compensated for not getting to play the Ranji Trophy this season.The resumption of domestic cricket happened with the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, with the final to be played in Ahmedabad on Sunday. With domestic cricket also being played in bio-secure bubbles, Dhumal said it is tough on the organisers as well as players, but that’s the requirement until the cricketers are vaccinated.”It is tough but at least this way we are getting to play. We are working on getting our players vaccinated. The government’s directive is that frontline workers and the most vulnerable will be the first to get vaccinated, but we are in touch with the government to get our players vaccinated.”On the possibility of having crowds for the upcoming India-England contest, the first international series in the country amid the pandemic, he said: “We are reviewing the situation on a regular basis. We want the roar to be back in the stadiums but we have to work in tandem with the state and cental government. We are very keen to have the crowds back. Surely, it won’t be 100 percent capacity given the challenges, but we are looking at anywhere between 25-50 percent.”However, the first two Tests of the England series will be played behind closed doors.The BCCI had approached its counterparts in Sri Lanka and South Africa for a bilateral series next month to resume international cricket for the women’s team but Dhumal claimed the pandemic situations in those countries were not viable. The women last played an international event in March 2020.”We are keen that women’s cricket flourishes. We were wanting to conduct some bilateral series but it fizzled out because the Covid situation is not safe in those countries. At the first available opportunity, we will conduct it.”

Ish Sodhi bagged four wickets but it was the damage done by the new ball that decided the match

Daniel Brettig22-Feb-20211:41

Highlights – Devon Conway hits unbeaten 99

New Zealand utterly humiliated Australia’s BBL XI in the opening T20I on the 10th anniversary of the Christchurch earthquake, hammering the tourists by 53 runs at Hagley Oval, the biggest ever margin of victory for them over their rivals across the Tasman in the shortest format of the international game.Devon Conway was calmness and poise personified to maintain his outstanding start to representing New Zealand, compiling an unbeaten 99 to lift his side to 184 for 5 after the Australians had made the swifter start to claim three wickets inside the first four overs. Australia’s early success gave way to rather more pedestrian bowling and fielding during the back half of the innings.Chasing at least 20 runs more than they should have been, Aaron Finch’s team were never a chance after being left completely bereft by the swinging new ball in the hands of Tim Southee and Trent Boult. Together, they reduced the Australians to 19 for 4, leaving the wrist spinner Ish Sodhi with a mop-up operation that handed him his best figures in T20Is. The crowd of 9093 cannot have expected quite as much of a mis-match, as the gulf between the BBL and true international quality was underlined.Sams, Jhye Richardson nail the PowerplayFewer than 24 hours after emerging from two weeks of quarantine with limited training, the Australia pace attack might have been expected to start uncertainly and then build into their work. Instead, Daniel Sams and Jhye Richardson – in his first T20I since early 2019 – produced strong opening spells to put the hosts in early trouble. With Adam Zampa handed the second over of the innings to keep New Zealand from getting consistent pace on the ball, Sams coaxed Martin Guptill into slicing behind point in the opening over of the series.When Richardson angled and swung a yorker right into the base of Tim Seifert’s off stump, and then Kane Williamson was pouched behind the stumps when trying to pull a ball from Sam that was tight to his body, the tourists appeared to have put together the sort of Powerplay that would decide the contest. T20I history suggested that Australia almost never lose when claiming three wickets in the opening six overs, on this occasion the product of tight bowling that did well to jam the New Zealand top order bats with very little room to free their arms.Conway gem holds hosts togetherOut of a tally of 34 for 3 from the opening six overs, Conway had already looked a class apart in fashioning 16 from 12 balls with a boundary and a six. What followed as the early threat of the new ball wore off and the Australians’ early discipline was replaced by something not a million miles from complacency was the strongest indication yet that Conway would, like so many of his other relocated former South African countrymen, likely make a significant mark on the international game.In terms of shot production, selection and concentration he was more than a match for an attack that was at the top end of BBL standard, and with help from Glenn Phillips, Jimmy Neesham and Mitchell Santner, Conway built stands worth 74 (50 balls), 47 (27) and finally 44 from 19 balls at the death. New Zealand’s final 13 overs tallied 146, a superb recovery that Conway had helmed as though already a seasoned international performer. He resembled, among others, a latter-day Mike Hussey.The game was decided when New Zealand took four early wickets•Getty Images

Southee, Boult swing through AustraliaVery seldom in the BBL is the swinging ball a factor for any more than an over or two at most: Brisbane Heat’s Xavier Bartlett, one of the better exponents of the skill in Australian domestic ranks, was a specialist first-over bowler then subbed out for most of the tournament. So for a touring top order thinking mostly in terms of big hitting, the sight of Southee and Boult curling the ball around corners was about as foreign to their mindsets and techniques as Pete Sampras at Roland Garros.It was not entirely surprising, if no less galling for Australia’s planners, to see the touring top order fold with alarming speed. Finch, still out of sorts, sliced his first ball to gully; debutant Josh Philippe miscued a pull shot; Matthew Wade showed scant respect to Boult’s away swing with predictable consequences, and Glenn Maxwell’s flat feet left him virtually guaranteed to edge Southee into a well-stocked New Zealand slips cordon. Mitchell Marsh and Marcus Stoinis tried to remember how best to leave the ball outside off stump, but at 19 for 4, the remainder of the innings was more or less academic.Sodhi finishes the tourists offWhen Sodhi entered the attack, after Marsh and Stoinis had made some semblance of a recovery via some loose stuff from Kyle Jamieson, Mark Waugh suggested on the Fox Cricket commentary that now was a chance to accelerate. If Waugh’s attitude was anything like that of the Australians, then the outcome was the most likely of a team underestimating Sodhi, who has long proven his value to New Zealand’s T20I lineup.Gaining plenty of bounce and just enough turn with subtle variation, Sodhi was gifted his first wicket when Stoinis shovelled a short ball straight back to him. But the remainder of his spell was much too beguiling for an Australia lower order facing a required rate well above 11 per over and straining for the boundary: figures of 4 for 28 were a new international best, punctuated too by 13 dot balls. The final overs were those desultory passages of a contest long since decided in favour of New Zealand.

“I’ve played four Tests matches here and this is easily the most special Test match”

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Feb-2021R Ashwin said he felt like a “hero” whenever he bowled – or just removed his cap for that matter – in front of his home crowd during the second Test against England at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.Ashwin, who starred in India’s win – eight wickets and a century in very challenging conditions in the second innings – dedicated his “most special” Test performance to the crowd: the stadium had allowed spectators at 50% capacity for the game.”When I was young I’ve wondered if I would ever play on this ground and if people would turn out and clap for me,” Ashwin told the host broadcaster after India’s series-levelling win. “I’ve played here as an eight-nine year-old. I’ve watched matches from these stands, my dad would get me here for most of the games.”I’m speechless right now. I’ve played four Tests matches here and this is easily the most special Test match. It gave me a hero feeling.Related

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“Every time I bowled or removed my cap there was a different feeling [because of the cheers]. During Covid times when there’s hardly any cricket, the knowledgeable Chennai crowd came in large numbers without worrying. I dedicate this win to the Chennai crowd. We went one-up after they allowed the crowd, hopefully we continue to do well [in the presence of crowds] in Ahmedabad as well.”After picking up a five-for to restrict England to 134, Ashwin hit a 148-ball 106 in the second innings, stretching India’s lead to a challenging 482, and then returned 3 for 53 in the final innings to help bowl England out for 164. In the process, Ashwin moved to second on the list of players to have scored a century and take a five-for in the same Test, having done it for the third time, and is only behind Ian Botham, who achieved it five times in his career. The latest five-for also took Ashwin past James Anderson to No. 4 on the list of players with most five-wicket hauls at home.While the spinning Chennai pitch earned criticism from former players such as Michael Vaughan and Mark Waugh, Ashwin, while admitting that the surface behaved very different to how it did during the first Test – also played in Chennai – said that it was the Indian spinners’ mental ability that gave them the edge this time, and not just the pitch.”This wicket is very different to what we played in the first game,” he acknowledged. “That [in the first Test] was a red soil wicket and this is a clay wicket. As much as it looked bad from the top, many people were predicting a lot of things – those balls weren’t the one that got the wicket.”It was the mind that was actually getting the wickets. We had to play in the minds of the batsmen to get the wicket. It’s easier to say ‘go out there, bowl and get wickets’ but it’s not as easy as it looks because I’ve been playing here for years now. It takes a certain amount of pace and guile to be able to do it.”

Legspinner enjoys successful day after Leicestershire made to follow on

ECB Reporters' Network10-Apr-2021Hampshire took 14 wickets in the day as they closed in on a comprehensive innings victory in their opening LV=Insurance County Championship match against Leicestershire.It took the visitors only 80 minutes to wrap up the Leicestershire first innings after the Foxes resumed on 151 for 4. The rout started with the second ball of the day, when non-striker Colin Ackermann, who had shared a partnership of 68 for the fourth wicket with Harry Swindells, was called through for a quick single and was well short of his ground when James Vince’s throw hit the stumps.Swindells went on to make a career-best 59 but fell to legspinner Mason Crane, who found good turn to pick up 3 for 11 in his spell.”We’d have taken 14 wickets at the start of the day and to be only two wickets away from victory is a nice feeling,” Crane said. “We stuck at it well. Any day you take six wickets is a good one and there was a bit of spin and bounce at times, though it was quite slow – I’d always settle for that in April. We’ve got the new ball now so hopefully we can get the job done.”Leicestershire’s second innings followed a similar pattern, though Harry Dearden hit some fine off-side drives in going to 62 and Lewis Hill battled hard in making 65. But there was controversy in the dismissal of Hassan Azad, the opener being given out stumped off Liam Dawson when wicketkeeper Lewis McManus knocked off the bails with his left hand while the ball was in his right hand, which was raised in the air as he appealed for a catch.Crane was again amongst the wickets, dismissing Dearden, Swindells and Ben Mike, but Leicestershire’s stubborn late resistance ensured play would go into a fourth day.Swindells said: “We tried to battle but 50s and 60s don’t win you games, once you get in you’ve got to go big, like James Vince and Liam Dawson did for Hampshire, and that’s a lesson we have to learn. I feel comfortable batting in the top six, but you’ve got to get big runs to keep justifying that trust. Getting 200 in our first innings on that track was way below par, it’s a 350-400 track.”

Agarwal’s 99 on IPL captaincy debut in vain as Kings slump to fifth loss in eight matches

Sidharth Monga02-May-2021On his IPL captaincy debut, Mayank Agarwal scored 60% of Punjab Kings’ runs in fewer than half the balls but his unbeaten 99 was not enough to push his side to a total that would challenge Delhi Capitals in the chase. Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan broke the back of the chase in the Powerplay, and Dhawan went on to seal the win, reclaiming the orange cap as he did so. A sixth win in eight matches took capitals to the top of the table.Replacing KL Rahul, who had to be pulled out because of appendicitis, Agarwal found himself in a Rahul-like predicament. Losing wickets at the other end added extra slowness to his apparent role of batting through the innings, but a Rahul-like finishing kick took him from 40 off 34 to 99 off 58. However, as with Rahul, you need at least one quick contribution from the other end to make the strategy work. Agarwal found none, with IPL debutant Dawid Malan’s run-a-ball 26 being the only other contribution to talk of.Ishant circles the prey, Rabada swoops inIshant Sharma, an under-rated part of Capitals’ success, began the match with a maiden to Prabhsimran Singh, moving the ball either way to tie up the batter. With just 15 off the first three overs, Capitals knew there was an opportunity around. On came Kagiso Rabada and for the first time in the IPL took two wickets in the Powerplay. The under-pressure Prabhsimran found mid-off, and Gayle missed a swinging full toss that hit the top of off. Kings 39 for 2 at the end of the Powerplay.Two men drop anchorAgainst two fingerspinners, Lalit Yadav and Axar Patel, Agarwal and Malan failed to transfer the pressure back on to the bowlers. Only one boundary came in the next five overs. The spinners denied them the rank bad ball, and the batsmen weren’t too keen to take risks on good balls.Malan began the 12th over at 11 off 17, but a bowling change to pace brought some freedom for him. The freedom was short-lived as Axar came back to knock his leg stump over. The run-out of Deepak Hooda followed to make it 88 for 2 in the 14th over.Agarwal takes offAt this point, Agarwal had faced only 29 of the 81 legal deliveries bowled for a debate-inducing 35. Not only did he turn around the share of strike in the remaining innings, Agarwal corrected the strike-rate too. He faced 29 of the remaining 39 balls, sending nine of them past the fence and scoring 64 additional runs. The remaining 10 balls brought two wickets and 10 runs. The hitting was breathtaking but it was also evidence that the pitch was easy enough to hit through the line of the ball.Dhawan, Shaw carry on the fireworksAnd the Capitals batting is built to hit through the line. Before this match, three of the top four Powerplay scores in this IPL belonged to Capitals. They duly made a fourth entry in the top five with an unbeaten 63 in the first six overs. Believe it or not, it came after Riley Meredith troubled both Dhawan and Shaw in his first two overs. Against other bowlers, though, Shaw ran riot and Dhawan followed suit. Shaw hit three sixes and three fours in the Powerplay, and Dhawan managed four fours. It included a first-ball six off Kings’ key bowler in the middle overs, Ravi Bishnoi.Dhawan carries onShaw perished trying to dominate everyone, bowled first ball by left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar, but he left the job to a man in the T20 form of his life. Dhawan might not be brightest star while Shaw is around, but what a side won’t do to have a second fiddle who is averaging xx and striking at xx per 100 balls.The start gave Dhawan and Steven Smith some breathing space as they added just 34 in the first five overs of their partnership. Dhawan, though, settled any nerves in the dugout by unleashing his slog sweep against Bishnoi. It didn’t matter which way Bishnoi turned it; Dhawan took 25 off the 12th and 14th overs, making it 41 required off the last six even though he lost Smith in between.If there was any doubt this was a done deal, Shimron Hetmyer removed it with two sixes and a four to end it in the 18th over.

Sam Curran stars with four wickets on return to action as Middlesex go down

ECB Reporters Network10-Jun-2021Surrey 223 for 7 (Jacks 70) beat Middlesex 169 for 9 (Stirling 58, S Curran 4-29) by 54 runsWill Jacks’ blistering half-century saw Surrey beat London rivals Middlesex by 54 runs at Lord’s in their first game of the 2021 Vitality Blast campaign.Jacks sent the hosts’ bowling to all parts as he plundered 70 in 24 balls with five sixes and nine fours in Surrey’s total of 223 for 7. Jacks’ half-century, in 15 balls, was English cricket’s third fastest in history. Surrey’s total was the highest ever achieved in a domestic T20 magtch at Lord’s.Paul Stirling, fresh from international duty with Ireland hit a spirited 58 in reply, but Sam Curran claimed 4 for 29 as Middlesex could only muster 169 for 9Faced with a Middlesex new-ball pairing of Ethan Bamber and Blake Cullen, with only one previous Blast appearance between them, Jacks wasted no time powering three boundaries from the former’s opening over.Bamber’s next saw Jacks hit him for six behind square, before launching a second blow into the Grandstand.The 50-stand with Jason Roy came up in the fourth over, Jacks celebrating by clubbing Cullen for a huge six. His fifty came in just 15 balls with three sixes and eight fours and two more massive shots into the stands followed.A century looked a certainty but a comedic mix-up caused him to be run out by Chris Green’s underarm throw.Roy went on to make 45 before being bowled by Nathan Sowter but Middlesex compounded their misery when Cullen bowled two head-high no-balls which Tom Curran despatched for six. The youngster was immediately removed from the attack by the umpires.Only Green with 1 for 25 and Sowter, 3 for 40, emerged from the carnage with credit.Tasked with chasing a target of 224, the hosts were looking to Stirling for inspiration and he soon responded with a huge straight six off Matt Dunn.Opening partner Stevie Eskinazi caught the mood taking three fours from one Sam Curran over as 50 came up in 26 balls.Stirling despatched Jordan Clark into the Mound Stand before striking Dunn for successive maximums to reach his fifty in 22 balls. But on 58 he suffered the same fate that befell Jacks earlier when he was run out by Tom Curran’s sharp return.Curran was in the action again when his stunning one-handed catch off the bowling of Dan Moriarty saw the end of Eskinazi for 36.As the required rate climbed, Eoin Morgan struck successive sixes, but when he holed out in the deep for 32 Middlesex’s hopes of victory fizzled out.

The 30-year old seamer last played for Zimbabwe in November 2020 but has been an active participant in domestic cricket this year

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Jul-2021Tendai Chatara, the Zimbabwe fast bowler who has been absent from the Test arena for nearly three years, has found his way back into the team for the one-off match against Bangladesh starting July 7 in Harare.The 30-year old seamer last played for Zimbabwe in November 2020 but he has been an active participant in domestic cricket this year and even led the bowling attack in an A team series against South Africa last month.Zimbabwe have chosen an expanded squad of 20 members and, although they lost their last Test series, to Pakistan 2-0, the bulk of those players have been retained. There are four uncapped cricketers also in the mix – opener Takudzwanashe Kaitano and fast bowler Tanaka Chivanga, who were part of the last Test squad but did not get to play, batter Joylord Gumbie, who was among the reserves, and 19-year old Dion Myers, who forced himself into the reckoning with a half-century against South Africa A.Zimbabwe will look to seniors like the captain Sean Williams, Craig Ervine and Brendan Taylor to bring their batting some backbone while their bowling features exciting talents like Blessing Muzarabani and Richard Ngarava.Zimbabwe squad for one-off Test against Bangladesh: Regis Chakabva (wk), Tendai Chatara, Tendai Chisoro, Tanaka Chivanga, Craig Ervine, Joylord Gumbie, Luke Jongwe, Roy Kaia, Takudzwanashe Kaitano, Kevin Kasuza, Timycen Maruma, Wellington Masakadza, Blessing Muzarabani, Dion Myers, Richard Ngarava, Victor Nyauchi, Milton Shumba, Brendan Taylor, Donald Tiripano, Sean Williams (capt)

Despite the punishment, the batter has been included in the training squad ahead of the India series

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jul-2021Sri Lanka batter Bhanuka Rajapaksa has been fined $5000 for a breach of contract and is essentially on probation for two years, having been handed a one-year ban as a suspended sentence. SLC dealt out these punishments for breaching “the obligations of Player Contract 2019-2020 while appearing in social and other media interviews”, according to an official release.Rajapaksa has been publicly protesting his continued omission from Sri Lanka’s major teams, most recently suggesting he should have been part of Sri Lanka’s squad for the tour of England. This even prompted a response from head coach Mickey Arthur, who told the newspaper that although Rajapaksa had “superb hitting ability”, he had been omitted because of substandard fielding, and poor fitness and weight management.”Bhanuka failed the skinfold test and went home without doing the rest of the tests. This just shows me the attitude and the shortcuts he is looking to take,” Arthur said. “We are building a culture of pushing the players to be the best they can be. We want our best players on the field. He would be in our T20 squad. However, at the moment, his skinfold numbers have gone up and he has got to work on it.”Despite the punishments, Rajapaksa has been included in the biosecure bubble training squad that may be picked from, for the forthcoming series against India.

Mohammad Rizwan made 46 before Mohammad Hafeez helped seal a seven-run victory with 4-1-6-1 against West Indies

Sreshth Shah31-Jul-2021Nicholas Pooran made his highest T20I score of 62 runs off 33 balls, but with no other West Indian striking at a rate above 107, the hosts, chasing 158, went down by seven runs against Pakistan in the second T20I in Guyana.West Indies were strangled by Mohammad Hafeez’s accurate offbreaks and Shadab Khan’s mix of legbreaks and googlies, and the loss of regular wickets kept them behind in the chase. Hafeez’s four-over spell at an economy of 1.50 earned him the Player-of-the-Match award, though Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, too, made strong claims to that prize.

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Azam, the only other half-centurion on the day, scored a 40-ball 51 that helped Pakistan cruise through the middle overs. With Rizwan, who made a 36-ball 46, Azam put on a 67-run second-wicket partnership. It set the tone for Pakistan to post a total well beyond the 157 they eventually achieved, but Jason Holder – who picked a four-wicket haul – and Dwayne Bravo kept taking wickets in the death overs to keep the visitors’ hard-hitting middle and lower order quiet.Rizwan, Babar show their class
With Sharjeel Khan falling for a promising 16-ball 20, it was well inside the powerplay that Pakistan’s two most prolific batters of the last year got together. Initially, Azam was the slower one between the two as Rizwan punished Akeal Hosein for two sixes and followed it up with a four off Bravo.Azam then found two boundaries off Romario Shepherd – playing instead of Andre Russell – through the leg side to get his day going, and despite accumulating a few dots thereafter, he found a way to break the rut. Hayden Walsh’s googly was pulled for six, his half-tracker was cut for four, and in the space of a few overs, Azam had raced away to 41 in 33 balls.All this while, Rizwan was content dabbing the ball for ones and twos while Azam changed gears. But, in the 15th over, Rizwan fell victim to a direct-hit four runs short of a ninth T20I fifty. Azam had tapped a ball to the vacant midwicket and called early for the two, but a top effort from Evin Lewis to hit the non-striker’s stumps while the batters scurried for the second sent Rizwan back. However, Rizwan’s 46 was enough for him to earn the distinction of being the most prolific T20I batter in any calendar year with five months still to go in 2021. In the following over, Azam hit Shepherd for six to reach his fifty in 38 balls. A rain interruption followed soon after.Pakistan collapse after rain
The rain break was short, and when Pakistan returned with four overs to go with the score 134 for 2, there was a genuine chance for them to aim for over 180. But Azam fell right then, out caught behind in a contentious decision where it appeared the bat may have hit the ground – and not the ball – but the umpire deemed it fair.Bravo then picked up Hafeez and Fakhar Zaman in quick succession, followed by Holder removing Hasan Ali and Sohaib Maqsood, with Shepherd taking a one-handed stunner by the boundary line. Eventually, Pakistan added just 23 in their last 24 balls to reach 157.A lesson from the professorWith right-hander Andre Fletcher taking strike in the chase, it was Hafeez’s spin that kicked off the proceedings. He struck second ball when Fletcher looked to defend a delivery that he had expected would turn in, leaving the channel outside off vacant. The ball zipped through, and knocked the off stump back, making his return to the XI – in place of the injured Lendl Simmons – somewhat underwhelming.That spin would be a dominant factor in the chase, and Hafeez would continue to bowl in the powerplay against the two left-handers Evin Lewis and No. 3 Chris Gayle. Hafeez was mostly full on off and middle stump, and with the assistance of some sharp work from the infielders, he eked out 13 dot balls in his first spell of three overs where he conceded just five runs, including one maiden.Later, when Pooran came in as the new batter in the 12th over, Hafeez was brought back against the left-hander, where he kept the pressure up with five dots and one single. In all, his four-over spell went for only six runs and earned him a wicket – his most economical T20I spell ever.Lewis cramps up at a crucial time
Having seen Fletcher and Gayle fall without making much impact in a 31-run powerplay, Lewis took the conservative route early on. When Usman Qadir tossed it up early in his spell, Lewis went for the slog sweep for six that helped break his shackles. Soon after, Lewis had deposited fast bowler Mohammad Wasim’s slower ball for six over long off, and in Shimron Hetmyer’s company it seemed that the asking rate – that was starting to touch ten – would be brought down.Related

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However, Hetmyer was struggling with his timing, and scoring at a strike rate of just around 100. He had to join Lewis in finding those big shots, and lost his middle stump trying to hit Wasim over cow corner, out for an 18-ball 17.With Pooran, the new batter at No. 5, only starting to get his eyes in, West Indies suffered another setback as Lewis was grounded by a stomach cramp on 35, and had to leave the field retired hurt with the equation reading 82 required off 36.Pooran power
Pollard walked in as Lewis walked out, and the first thing he did with Pooran was to see Shadab Khan’s final over out. After that, Pollard observed from the non-striker’s end as Pooran tore into a wayward 16th over that exposed the teenager’s inexperience.More such overs were needed if West Indies were to swing the result in their favour. However, only one of the batters could make adequate contact between bat and ball. While Pooran smashed Hasan for three sixes in the 17th and 19th overs, and Shaheen Shah Afridi for back-to-back fours in the 18th, Pollard kept finding the fielders.The last of those sixes off Hasan brought up Pooran’s fifty, in 28 balls, but only 11 from Pollard’s first 12 balls meant West Indies needed 20 off the final six deliveries. Shaheen conceded just two off the first four, and took Pollard’s wicket, and that meant he had done enough to seal Pakistan’s victory, though he got hit by Pooran for four and six off the game’s last two deliveries.

The Delhi seamer has started training with the squad after completing the mandatory quarantine

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Sep-2021Mumbai Indians have drafted in Delhi seamer Simarjeet Singh as a replacement for the injured Arjun Tendulkar in the ongoing UAE leg of the IPL. According to a media release from the franchise, the 23-year old has started training with the squad after completing the mandatory quarantine.Most recently, Simarjeet had also travelled with the India white-ball squad to Sri Lanka as a net bowler. In all, Simarjeet has played 15 T20s, taking 18 wickets at an average of 20.50 and economy rate of 7.76. During the 2020-21 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy, he emerged as Delhi’s joint-second-highest wicket-taker, with 11 strikes at an economy rate of 5.65.Both Arjun and Simarjeet are uncapped in the IPL. Arjun was picked up by the franchise at the 2021 auction for his base price of INR 20 lakh.Mumbai Indians, the defending champions, are currently fifth on the points table, with five wins from 11 games. Mumbai will look to break away from the mid-table logjam when they face the Delhi Capitals in Sharjah on October 2.