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Brevis reprieve helps table-topping MICT to get out of sight in Qualifier 1

Firdose Moonda04-Feb-2025Mumbai Indians Cape Town will play in their first SA20 final after beating Paarl Royals by 39 runs in Qualifier 1 and turning around their fortunes from finishing last in both previous editions of the tournament. MICT have won five matches in a row and are running hot ahead of Saturday’s final at the Wanderers.Their yet-to-determined opposition will all be in action over the next two days with two-time defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape to play Joburg Super Kings in Wednesday’s Eliminator and the winner to take on Royals in Qualifier 2 on Thursday.While MICT’s win was comprehensive, and set up by them asking Royals to complete the highest successful chase at St George’s Park, it was not without controversy. They were 133 for 4 with a ball left in the 16th over when Dayyaan Galiem thought he had Dewald Brevis out for 16. Brevis pulled a full toss to deep backward square and an umpire review ruled the delivery a waist-high no-ball.Law 47.1 states that “any delivery, which passes or would have passed, without pitching, above waist height of the striker standing upright at the popping crease, is unfair. Whenever such a delivery is bowled, the umpire shall call and signal no ball.”Brevis’ front foot was outside the popping crease and he was not standing upright at the time of the shot but despite Paarl captain David Miller’s protests, the call stood. Brevis hit the next ball, a free-hit for six and Galiem was taken out of the attack in his next over after delivering another waist-high full toss which was judged a no-ball. That delivery also went for four. Mitch Owen completed the over, which ultimately cost 27 runs. MICT scored 60 runs in their last four overs and Brevis finished unbeaten on 44. After 15.5 overs in Paarl’s chase, their score was 136 for 6 which illustrates how impactful the no-ball and what followed was on the result.Miller was visibly upset on-field and when Galiem addressed at the post-match press conference, he confirmed that Royals did not feel the ball was high enough to be judged a no-ball. “That is obviously tight but that’s the match officials, they have to make the decisions,” he said. “it could have gone either way. We did feel like he was in a bent position and the shot was out in front of him as well, so potentially if that ball carried on going and it was in line with his body it perhaps could have been a touch lower. It was a touch and go and on another day that’s given and everything changes from there, but again I think we could have still been better in certain situations of the game.”One of those situations was Galiem’s no-ball in his next over, and he did not hesitate to acknowledge that. “I just misexecuted those two deliveries,” he said. “Such fine margins as well. I felt really confident after my first over as well and I just wanted to hit a yorker and I just didn’t want to miss on the short side. I misplaced the ball a little bit.”Rassie Van Der Dussen and Ryan Rickelton lifted MI Cape Town in the powerplay•SA20

He wasn’t the only one to misstep. Another tactical question arose when Galiem was taken out of the attack and Royals, despite having what Miller called “enough bowlers to pick from” in the post-match television interview chose not to use Andile Phehlulwayo. On the slower St George’s Park surface, his medium-pace may have been handy, but Phehlukwayo has not bowled at all in the tournament, even though two of his three appearances have come in the absence of Lungi Ngidi.All that suggests Royals have a few selection issues to deal with as they head into the Eliminator, including how they are going to find runs with Joe Root no longer part of the squad. Root left for national duty last week and though Owen is a promising replacement, he has done more with ball than bat so far. “He is obviously just adjusting to South African conditions but he’s an amazing player, we saw what he did in Australia and we know he’s got that about him, so it’s only a matter of time,” Galiem said.The team that has time now is MICT. Victory in the qualifier means they have three days to prepare for the final, albeit one of those will be a travel day, while the other team that qualifies will only have one. They recognise that as an obvious advantage. “It would have been first prize not to play another game heading into the final. We are glad that we ticked that off,” Kagiso Rabada said. “We are not taking anything for granted.”While Paarl have lost their last three games, MICT have not lost in seven matches, including a no-result, and are living up to their hype as the franchise with some of the biggest signings. “We have always had the players, but now I think we got together.” Rabada said. “The senior group had a lot to do with it in terms of pulling everyone together. There is also a familiarity between the players. That hunger is there. The hunger has always been there, but I think we just got together more as a team to put in those crucial performances at crucial times. I think that is what is getting us over the line.”Given the run of form they’ve had, they go into Saturday’s final as favourites, irrespective of who they play, and some would say the trophy looks like theirs to lose.

He also said that Bangladesh can afford to play with a maximum of 16-17 players for the next couple of series’

Mohammad Isam19-Jan-2020Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo has said that he wants Mahmudullah to lead Bangladesh in T20Is this year. Mahmudullah was handed the captaincy hastily, minutes after Shakib Al Hasan was banned by the ICC last October. Mahmudullah led Bangladesh well in his first assignment, a tightly contested T20I series in India and reprises the role for the three-match T20I series in Pakistan which begins on Friday.Domingo, in a recent interview to ESPNcricinfo, said that he did not want to try too many players ahead of the T20 World Cup in October, and now he has put his weight behind Mahmudullah to be the one to lead Bangladesh in the tournament.”I am hoping he leads us in the World Cup T20,” Domingo said. “He has my full support. I thought he did a great job in India. I have enjoyed working with him. I think he is a good professional. He has respect of the change room. He is a world-class player. He is my captain.”[Continuity with the players] depends on how they do. If a player is out of his depth, we can’t keep going with him. If a player has potential to develop, you have to run with those players. After this series, we have to keep our squad as small as possible. I think we can play with a maximum of 16 or 17 players in the next couple of series.”Domingo said that some batsmen may have to bat out of position as they are trying to figure out the middle-order in Mushfiqur Rahim’s absence. They have picked five openers – Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Mohammad Naim, Najmul Hossain Shanto and Soumya Sarkar – but he has said that the likes of Soumya and Liton may end up batting elsewhere for the sake of the team’s balance.”Guy like Soumya, who batted No 3 in India, may end up batting at No 6 in Pakistan. [Mahmudullah] Riyad may bat at No 5. Afif might come up to No 3 or 4.”The best players can play under any conditions, in any positions. If you bat [Eoin] Morgan at No 3 or 6, he is successful. If you bat KW [Kane Williamson] at No 3 or 5, he will find a way to do that role. It is a great opportunity for the young players to find new strings to their game.”I am excited by it. If a guy like Liton has to bat at No 4 for a game or two, that’s fine. If [Mohammad] Mithun has to bat at No 3, that’s okay. If Afif has to go from No 6 to opening, he has to learn to do those things,” he said.Domingo said they are yet to discuss whether Tamim will play the anchor role, similar to the one he played for Dhaka Platoon in the BPL, or play a more aggressive game. “It is my first tour with Tamim. I have to understand him a bit more. I know he had a role with his BPL team, and it is something that we need to discuss with our team.”At the moment, no decision is made. I will think about it. Depends on who he opens with. If he is playing with a dasher, he can play that role. If he is opening with someone inexperienced, he may have to play positively. The discussions will take place in the next couple of days,” he said.It will also be the first international tour for Hasan Mahmud, the 20-year old pacer who enjoyed some success in this season’s BPL. Domingo said that he has seen a bit of Mahmud, and players like him can stake a claim for a place in the T20 World Cup squad, which is not yet finalised.”It will be the first time I will be working with Hasan Mahmud. I have seen some of his performances in the matches and nets with Emerging Team. It is a young group of players. It shows the depth within our system. Hopefully some of these players can make a big play to get into the World Cup squad. It is not finalised yet,” he said.

“I think there will be a lot of cricket boards around the world that’d be pretty nervous about going back to India”

ESPNcricinfo staff19-May-2021Having just returned to Australia after recovering from Covid-19 that he picked up during his IPL coaching stint in India, former Australia batter Mike Hussey believes the UAE should be looked at as an alternative for the T20 World Cup later in the year.As things stand, India is slated to host the event in October-November this year across nine venues, but doubts have emerged ever since the country was gripped with a serious second wave of infections leading to the IPL being postponed earlier this month.Related

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“I think it’s going to be very difficult in my view to play that tournament in India,” Hussey told upon his return to Sydney, where he is currently at a quarantine facility. He spent two weeks in isolation in India, after being one of three members from the Chennai Super Kings contingent to test positive on May 4.”We’re talking about eight teams in the IPL. I think there are probably similar number, maybe more teams coming in from overseas [for the T20 World Cup], there’d be more venues. As I said earlier, if they’re playing in different cities, that is when the risk goes up.”I think they’ll have to look some pretty big contingency plans, perhaps looking at the UAE or somewhere like that that could host the World T20. I think there will be a lot of cricket boards around the world that’d be pretty nervous about going back to India for a cricket tournament.”While the ICC continues to monitor the situation in India, the UAE, which has been slotted in as a back-up venue, has become a more realistic contender to host the global tournament. The matter will be up for discussion when the ICC Board meets at its annual conference in July.

Welsh Fire beaten for third game running after losing key moments against experienced visitors

ECB Reporters' Network06-Aug-2021A quickfire 46 from Samit Patel and a superb spell of death bowling from Wahab Riaz took Trent Rockets to the top of the Hundred table as they brushed aside the Welsh Fire in Cardiff.Fire had looked set for a very big total after a 72-run stand between Glenn Phillips and Leus du Plooy, but Wahab brought Rockets back into the game at the death.The early dismissal of D’Arcy Short and a cluster of wickets in the middle of Rockets’ innings had given the Fire hope of defending the 140-run target but Patel’s intelligent innings took the Rockets to a straightforward win. Victory takes Rockets to eight points, two points clear of the chasing pack with three group matches still to play.Fire lost two early wickets with Tom Banton and Ian Cockbain both falling inside the Powerplay. Phillips and Ben Duckett looked to rebuild after the loss of both openers, taking the fire to 53 before Duckett was the third wicket to fall when he skied a catch off Steven Mullaney to Riaz.That brought together du Plooy and Phillips who put on the biggest stand of the match. Phillips brought up his first half-century of the competition from just 34 balls. Unfortunately for the home team he could not go on from there, falling to the very next ball.With Phillips and du Plooy well set Fire were eyeing up a total 150 or more. That became 139 for 8 at the end of their 100 balls thanks to a superb final 10 from Wahab Riaz in which he conceded just 11 runs and claimed three wickets.Rockets looked to build a solid platform at the start of their innings, reaching 31 for 1 at the end of their Powerplay. Qais Ahmad removed Dawid Malan and Alex Hales while Mullaney fell to David Payne, giving Fire a chance of defending the total. But Patel and Lewis Gregory put on an undefeated stand of 69 from just 33 balls to take their side to victory.Gregory was bowed by Payne with 25 still needed but a no-ball was picked up by the third umpire and the Rockets pair quickly finished the job in Matt Milnes’ next set.Patel’s innings included five sixes, including a big shot over the bowler’s head to win the game. Rockets won by six wickets with 10 balls to spare and they are very well placed to claim one of the three spots in the latter stages of the tournament.

He looks set to miss the World Cup bus, having been out of India’s ODI side for nearly two years, but the offspinner isn’t ready to think of himself as Test-only player yet

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Mar-2019On June 30, when ODI cricket’s top two sides meet in one of the World Cup’s most anticipated clashes, India’s spin discussions will revolve around Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja. One man who almost certainly will not is R Ashwin.On that day, unless India’s selectors spring a major surprise with their World Cup squad, it will have been exactly two years since Ashwin last played an ODI.Since that game against West Indies in Antigua, Ashwin has found himself cast as a Test specialist, another fingerspinning casualty in the worldwide push for wristspin as a wicket-taking force in white-ball cricket. Kuldeep and Chahal have been India’s first-choice spinners in ODIs since then, and if Jadeja has re-entered the picture over recent months, it’s thanks in large part to his utility as a lower-order hitter and gun fielder.Ashwin hasn’t reconciled himself to being a Test-only player, however, and says his exclusion from limited-overs cricket is down to a “perception” that wristspin is a must in the shorter formats.”I am not looking at it like that because I am no slouch,” Ashwin said in an event in Mumbai on Saturday. “In the white-ball format, my records are not bad like what it is perceived to be. It is out of perception that wristspinners are required in the modern day one-day cricket format, that [is why] I am sitting out. The last one-day match that I played, I got 3 for 28.”I would always look back at my career and say it is not due to my effort that I am sitting out of the team, it is due to the supply and demand that the team requires.”I went and played in the Syed Mushtaq Ali [domestic T20 tournament] and I had a decent outing and that is how I look at it. I am playing cricket and it is not like I need to specialise in one particular format. It is the challenges of the modern-day game, I will be looking forward to do whatever I can do best.”Perception or not, the rise of wristspin in ODIs has coincided with Ashwin trying to reinvent himself as a limited-overs bowler; during last year’s IPL, he alternated between legspin and his usual offspin, and he’s set to do so again this season for Kings XI Punjab.Kuldeep Yadav practices at training as R Ashwin watches•Getty Images

“I have always maintained that you can spin the ball into the batsman or out of the batsman, you can’t do anything more than that,” Ashwin said when asked if he was working on any new variations. “I am just adding more ammunition to my own skill and try and add more strength to my game and that’s all it has always been.”I have never played for the galleries, never really played for the records, never really played for places. I just enjoy the sport, the sport has given me everything. When I picked up the bat and ball as a eight-year-old it gave me everything, I love it. Even today when I play a club game, when I play on the streets, I enjoy it. For me it is all about playing the game that I love and excelling in the best possible way I can.”Ashwin also weighed in on the discussion over whether India’s World Cup contenders should have their workloads monitored during the IPL. Virat Kohli recently said it was up to individual players to monitor their fitness requirements and arrive at the World Cup sharp and match-fit. Ashwin felt a clearer picture would develop as the IPL progresses, and that the bowlers might require rest at some point.”I don’t think as a cricketer you can look far ahead about what needs to be done and how you can manage it,” he said. “As a cricketer or as a sportsperson, you just concentrate on what happens today. The franchise has invested money on you. Obviously it is a massive tournament, everybody plays for pride, everybody wants to perform and excel. It definitely stays at the back of the head because it is being spoken about a lot more right now.”I am sure the players are responsible enough and more fitness-aware and able to handle it better than they ever were. I don’t think going into the tournament people will be thinking about it but as the tournament pans out and the way it goes for each and every franchise and for each and every player, they will take decisions wisely. Probably because of the number of injuries and the amount of premium players that are right now available for the country, and how important every spot is.”It is a dream for every cricketer to represent his country at the World Cup, it is a big stage. I think that is the point of view from where they are coming. Obviously, bowlers have more chances of succumbing to injuries because of the workload they go through, it is physically more hard on the body than the batters. Probably from that point of view, if you look at a [Jasprit] Bumrah or a Bhuvneshwar [Kumar], Bumrah has been fine but Bhuvneshwar has had a few concerns over the last year or so. I think from that point of view the bowlers need to be taken good care of.”

Jadeja, whose IPL season ended abruptly with a rib injury, is also part of the squad

ESPNcricinfo staff22-May-2022Cheteshwar Pujara, who had been recently dropped for the home Test series against Sri Lanka, has returned to the squad for the rescheduled fifth Test against England, which will be played in Edgbaston from July 1-5.Ravindra Jadeja, whose IPL season ended abruptly with a rib injury, is also part of the 17-man touring party.Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah, who were all rested for the home T20I series against South Africa next month, will be in Test action in Birmingham.Related

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However, Ajinkya Rahane will be out of action after sustaining a hamstring injury during his spell with Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. Along with Pujara, Rahane was also previously dropped for the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka.From the squad that took on Sri Lanka in the Test series, openers Mayank Agarwal and Priyank Panchal were left out. Agarwal could instead turn out for his state Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy knockouts, which start from June 6 in Bengaluru.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Pujara has worked his way back into the side after piling up 720 runs in eight innings for Sussex – including four centuries – at a stunning average of 120. Only Durham’s Sean Dickson and Derbyshire’s Shan Masood have scored more runs than Pujara in the County Championship Division Two, with both batters having played an extra game.Pujara’s 203 at Hove in April came against a Durham attack that included seamer Matthew Potts who was recently called up to England’s Test squad for their home series against New Zealand.Pujara was also among the runs in the Ranji Trophy, scoring two half-centuries in five innings for Saurashtra.Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna, who is uncapped in Test cricket, are part of the seam attack that will be led by Bumrah and Mohammed Shami. At 6′ 2″, Krishna was originally picked as a reserve bowler for the England Test series last year. He has since made rapid strides across formats.Krishna was the highest wicket-taker for Karnataka in the league phase of the Ranji Trophy, collecting 15 wickets in two games at an excellent average of 11.60, and then impressed with his hit-the-deck bustle for Rajasthan Royals in the ongoing IPL.Jadeja aside, R Ashwin was the only frontline spin option in the squad. Andhra’s KS Bharat was picked as the second wicketkeeper behind Rishabh Pant.India’s Test specialists are likely to leave for England on June 15. The Birmingham Test was pushed back following a Covid-19 outbreak in the Indian camp last year. India, who currently lead the series 2-1, will look to seal their first Test series win in the country since 2007.Head coach Rahul Dravid is set to join the tour party after the conclusion of India’s five-match T20I series against South Africa on June 19 in Bengaluru. There will be a clash of dates between India’s T20 warm-up games in England – against Northamptonshire and Derbyshire – and the Edgbaston Test, so there is a possibility of VVS Laxman filling in for Dravid during those T20s.

Amla returns for third season as Surrey line up their overseas players

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Mar-2022Kemar Roach, the West Indies fast bowler, has rejoined Surrey for the first five matches of the LV= Insurance County Championship season, where he will team up with his fellow overseas player, South Africa’s Hashim Amla.Roach, who will lead West Indies’ attack against England in the forthcoming Test series, impressed for Surrey in his first spell with the club in April & May 2021, taking 22 wickets in five matches before returning to international action.His efforts included a career-best innings haul of 8 for 40 against Hampshire, and a further nine-wicket match in the London Derby against Middlesex at the Kia Oval.Roach, 33, will be available from the start of the Championship campaign, against Warwickshire at Edgbaston in April, and will remain with the club until their home meeting with Northamptonshire, which gets underway on May 5. He will also be on hand for the home clashes with Hampshire and Somerset, and a further away fixture against Gloucestershire.”After my thoroughly enjoyable time at the Kia Oval last season I am thrilled to be heading back for another stint with Surrey CCC,” Roach said. “I finished last season well with ball in hand and hope to pick up where I left off. I would like to thank both Surrey and CWI for this opportunity and I can’t wait to get back to the UK.”Roach has taken 231 wickets in 68 Test matches for West Indies. In total, he has 432 first-class wickets to his name since making his debut in the format in 2008.Surrey’s Director of Cricket, Alec Stewart, said: “We’re very pleased Kemar will return to Surrey for the first five matches of the season. He had a real impact on the squad in the first part of 2021, not just as a bowler but as an experienced international player in the dressing room too.”He is a proven performer in all conditions and showed last year how he is perfectly suited to the early part of the English domestic season and we look forward to seeing him perform in a Surrey shirt again this year.”Amla will be back at Surrey for a third consecutive season as the club’s second overseas player. He was the club’s leading run-scorer in Championship in 2021, making 994 runs – and is expected to be available for the entirety of the first-class season.

According to the ICC rankings, it was the world’s best batsman vs the world’s best bowler in front of a sell-out Hove crowd – and the batsman came out on top

Matt Roller13-Jul-2018
ScorecardAaron Finch bludgeoned the fifth T20 hundred of his career against Sussex’s star-studded bowling attack to lift Surrey to a second win in as many days.Finch’s brutal 131* – which included several huge blows for six as he took advantage of a flat Hove wicket and a short leg-side boundary – was the dominant innings in Surrey’s total of 192 for 3, but it could all have been so different. On one, Finch chipped the simplest of return catches to Jofra Archer, but the chance was put down, and he lived another day.In response, Sussex were always behind the game. They slumped to 8 for 2 after three overs thanks to an impressive new-ball spell from Sam Curran, and despite Phil Salt’s enterprising 72, never managed to get near the required rate.Jason Gillespie, Sussex’s head coach, said: “There were a couple of missed opportunities in the field which went on to cost us which was disappointing, and I didn’t think our bowlers adapted quickly enough to the wicket which did a bit for the seamers.”Having said that it was a very good knock by Aaron Finch, he’s outstanding in this format but if you drop him when he’s barely got started the chances are he will punish you. But it’s only our first defeat after three wins so we’ll be fine.”Fresh from a typically destructive 58 at the Oval last night, Finch looked rusty at the start of his innings; on top of Archer’s mystifying drop, he was beaten outside the off stump twice in the first five balls of his innings. But after an uncharacteristically sedate start, the clash that defined the game began.Going into this fixture, Sussex were full of confidence. The first three games of their Blast campaign had produced three wins, and five cheap wickets for their star overseas player, Rashid Khan. Surrey, meanwhile, were hoping their campaign would get going. Two defeats in two were to be expected with a squad missing several star names, and last night’s win gave reason for cautious optimism.

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This much was evident as Rashid came into the attack. Before tonight, Rashid had bowled eight balls to Finch in his T20 career, and dismissed him twice. But Finch has improved his game against spin no end over the course of eight IPL seasons, and now has a better strike-rate against slow bowlers than any batsman in the world. At least according to the ICC’s rankings, this was the world’s best bowler against the world’s best batsman, in front of a packed Hove crowd.Rashid won the first battle. Twice, Finch tried to crunch him through the off side; twice, he failed to connect properly, and Rashid started with two dots. Then, his lap sweep only narrowly beat David Wiese at short fine leg, before he knocked a single in a desperate attempt to get down the other end.But Finch landed the next punch: two firm, hard sweeps in the next over brought a single and a boundary, and Luke Wright withdrew his trump card from the attack in anticipation of a further battle.In the interlude, Finch started to put his foot down: Chris Jordan was dispatched for a one-bounce four over extra cover, and Danny Briggs was hit out of the attack.When Rashid returned to bowl the 15th over, Surrey were 117-3 and threatening an explosion. It soon came: Finch crunched a huge six over the hospitality tents at long-on, and milked all the singles he wanted.The next over, from Wiese, brought two more sixes, before Rashid’s return saw another mammoth blow over long-on for six. Rashid and Sussex’s confidence was dented; Surrey and Finch were strutting their stuff.Finch soon had a ton, as some uncharacteristically poor death bowling from Archer and Chris Jordan allowed Surrey to add 47 in the final three overs, and their imposing 192 always looked well above par.Sussex’s reply never got going. Before this evening, Luke Wright and Laurie Evans had made 361 runs between them in six innings; here, they made 0 and 3 respectively. Sam Curran swung the new ball with all the skill and control of the international bowler that he is, and his first two overs were maidens.Salt played a mature innings in his vain attempts to keep Sussex’s hopes alive, but some poor shots by the top order and a failure to build any meaningful partnerships meant that his was a lone hand in a poor showing.Sussex will not be too concerned by defeat – they still sit top of the South Group – but their efforts with the bat did expose a reliance on their top order. Fine all-rounders though they are, Wiese and Jordan are not top-class number six and seven batsmen respectively, and Jason Gillespie will surely ponder the balance of his side before their next challenge.

Should Rohit miss the Test, Jasprit Bumrah will captain the team for the first time

Nagraj Gollapudi29-Jun-20224:04

Rohit has not yet been ruled out – Dravid

India captain Rohit Sharma is battling against the deadline to be available for the Edgbaston Test against England after testing positive for Covid-19 once again on Wednesday morning. ESPNcricinfo has learned that Rohit will undergo two further tests – one this evening and another on Thursday – before the Indian team management takes a final decision on his availability for the Test, which starts on Friday. Should Rohit miss the Test, Jasprit Bumrah will captain the side.Rohit, who tested positive on the second day of the warm-up match in Leicester last week, has been serving the five-day isolation as recommended by the UK government. Today was the fifth day, but Rohit was absent from India’s training session.”Rohit is being monitored by our medical team, he is not yet been ruled out,” head coach Rahul Dravid said. “Obviously, he needs to get the negative test to be available. So we will keep monitoring that, we’ve still got close to 36 hours to go. He will have a test later tonight and maybe one tomorrow morning as well. And then we’ll see.”Obviously, he’ll have to come out of that, and it’s really up to the medical team and sports science team to decide on that. We haven’t had a chance to see him, since he is in isolation. But we will keep monitoring the situation.”While there has been no official update from the BCCI on who will lead India in case Rohit doesn’t play in the Test, it is understood that Bumrah will take up the role. India didn’t nominate a vice-captain after KL Rahul, who was named Rohit’s deputy when the squad was picked in May, was ruled out having picked up a groin injury earlier this month.Bumrah was the vice-captain during India’s previous Test series, against Sri Lanka at home. He incidentally has never led in any form of cricket, so this will be his maiden captaincy stint. He will also become the first fast bowler to captain India since Kapil Dev.Speaking at a press conference ahead of the Sri Lanka series, Bumrah had said he would never “shy away” if he was given the opportunity to lead India. “If given an opportunity at any scenario, it would be an honour and I would never ever shy away from that, but it is something that I don’t go looking for,” Bumrah had said. Despite the lack of captaincy experience, Bumrah had said he remained confident of performing the leadership duties as he had grown in his role as a strike bowler both for India and at Mumbai Indians in the IPL.”Whatever role is asked of me, I would do it with the best ability. You are always a leader when you are a senior member of the team, so it’s just a post that comes with you. Basically, you try to help all the people in whatever capacity you can. Even in Mumbai Indians, you have got a lot of senior players but now I am one of the senior players as well, so you help the captain, you help everyone, you play the leadership role even when you are not asked to.”That’s how I look at it. I never want to [be the captain] just for personal satisfaction. It’s just a post, it’s just a name, you have to do your job and you have to help people in the best way you can.”‘We have got contingency plans’ – Dravid on captaincy scenario
If Bumrah walks out for the toss on Friday, he will be the eighth man to lead India since 2021. While Dravid agreed that is not the desired scenario, he felt that the coaching staff and players were well-equipped to handle that challenge.”It is what it is,” Dravid said. “When I took the job even I wouldn’t have predicted that there would have so many captains in the last six-seven months. That happens, right? In the times that we are living in, with Covid, there have been some unfortunate injuries to people. Even here, it is quite unfortunate what has happened to Rahul and Rohit in the last three weeks for us. And sometimes we’ve had to balance out the workloads of people. So it happens.”Of course, it is not something you envisage when you first start off, but if a situation arises then you react to that, you deal with that. And in spite of the number of captains we have had, we have played very good cricket over the last six to eight months. Yes, obviously the South Africa Test series was probably the one I would have liked to have won after going one-up. But even there I thought we were not outplayed, we were very close in a lot of those games. We had a few unfortunate injuries and some of our main players were probably not available for that Test series.”We are keeping our fingers crossed and hoping that we don’t have to deal with these situations, but they seem to come up and we have to react. We are not fazed by it. We are clear about our communication with people. We know what is going to happen over the next few days. If something happens, we have got contingency plans and, within our group, within our team, we know what’s happening. That’s really important for us.”

UAE legspinner becomes just the fifth bowler to pick up a hat-trick in a men’s T20 World Cup game

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Oct-2022Sri Lanka were going well. They were 117 for 2 in the 15th over, with Pathum Nissanka playing beautifully and Bhanuka Rajapaksa at the other end. Enter Karthik Meiyappan, a 22-year-old legspinner playing just his 13th T20I, in his third over. And, yes, we got a hat-trick, Rajapaksa, Charith Asalanka and Dasun Shanaka were gone in a flash. Here’s how Andrew Miller recorded it – just the fifth hat-trick in a men’s T20 World Cup game in our ball-by-ball commentary for the match.14.4: Karthik Meiyappan to Rajapaksa, OUT
Hacked out to deep cover! Another breakthrough for UAE, who aren’t done yet. Outside off, opened the angles to hoist it into the off side, but scuffed the stroke straight down Kashif’s throat
Bhanuka Rajapaksa c Kashif Daud b Meiyappan 5 (8b 0x4 0x6) SR: 62.514.5: Karthik Meiyappan to Asalanka, OUT
Nibbles the edge and Asalanka has a first-baller! Googly with extra bounce, wide of off but the angle across the left-hander lured him in, and Meiyappan is on a hat-trick!
Charith Asalanka c †Aravind b Meiyappan 0 (1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 014.6: Karthik Meiyappan to Shanaka, OUT
Hat-trick! Clean through the gate! Oh my! What a stunning way to seal the deal! Sri Lanka’s captain propped forward to the googly, perfectly flighted, biting and bouncing past the inside-edge, clobbering the top of the timbers! What an incredible World Cup moment!
Dasun Shanaka b Meiyappan 0 (1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0Here’s the updated list of hat-tricks in men’s T20Is.And here’s where the previous ones were recorded in men’s T20 World Cup games.Brett Lee vs Bangladesh, 2007Curtis Campher vs Netherlands, 2021Wanindu Hasaranga vs South Africa, 2021Kagiso Rabada vs England, 2021