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There is, however, substantial doubt if the tournament will go ahead as planned

Andrew Fidel Fernando and Umar Farooq12-Jun-2020If the men’s Asia Cup goes ahead this year, it will likely take place in Sri Lanka. The hope is that the tournament will be played in September.Although it is technically Pakistan’s turn to host the Asia Cup this year, the PCB offered SLC to swap hosting years at an Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting earlier this week, with SLC handing over hosting rights for the 2022 Asia Cup. With India-Pakistan relations being frosty at present, the PCB cannot feasibly host a tournament involving India. Additionally, Sri Lanka appears to have the Covid-19 pandemic under the most control out of the potential host nations.There is, however, substantial doubt if the tournament will go ahead as planned, largely due to the restrictions and logistical hurdles posed by the pandemic. Hosting a multi-team tournament would clearly require an exponentially greater level of medical arrangements, to say nothing of the travel restrictions that each team will face. At present, SLC has been trying desperately, but has been unable to even confirm bilateral home series against India and Bangladesh that had been slated for the middle of the year. An Asia Cup, which generally sees at least six teams competing, seems far off.Sri Lanka has not hosted an Asia Cup since 2010, but will relish the opportunity to showcase the country as a safe place to play, to a regional audience. The ACC’s executive council has not approved the swap of host nations yet, but is expected to confirm hosting plans before the end of the month.

Healy, McGrath fifties go in vain as Mumbai continue winning run with fourth win in four games

Zenia D'cunha12-Mar-20235:58

What was the ‘double review’ all about?

Who can stop Mumbai Indians in the WPL?At the halfway point of the league stage, the answer is: No one. Yet, at any rate.UP Warriorz were the only team not to have played, and therefore not to have lost, to Mumbai and the set was completed on Sunday at a packed Brabourne Stadium.Mumbai have now played four and won four with the following margins: 143 runs (Gujarat Giants), nine wickets (Royal Challengers Bangalore), eight wickets (Delhi Capitals), and eight wickets (Warriorz). Comprehensive, each of them.But don’t let this latest lopsided-looking result fool you. The win over Warriorz was not as straightforward as it might seem. Harmanpreet Kaur (53 off 33 balls) stood tall and produced a remarkable knock that made a tricky chase look easy, but it could well have been tougher. That it wasn’t, when Mumbai were finally tested, was down to their captain and their other trump card, the purple-cap holder Saika Ishaque.The match, and Mumbai’s prowess, might perhaps be best summed up with the tale of two overs. One bowled by Ishaque, one faced by Harmanpreet.Two overs. Two players who are on the opposite sides of the spectrum of Indian cricket. Two (more) reasons why Mumbai have been unstoppable.Saika Ishaque starred with three wickets•BCCI

Saika Ishaque takes out Alyssa Healy and Tahlia McGrath

In the first innings, Warriorz were cruising at 138 for 2 after 16 overs, and looking good for a big total, with Alyssa Healy past fifty and Tahlia McGrath almost there. Ishaque then came in for her last over, having been at the receiving end of Healy’s aggression a fair bit earlier.”Bowler , wicket (I am a bowler, I am here to take wickets),” she had famously said when she got the purple cap for the first time this season. It’s exactly what she did.
On the third ball, she dismissed Healy lbw for 58. Two balls later, she got McGrath stumped for 50. Cool as you please.She finished her spell with figures of 3 for 33, ensuring the purple cap remains firmly with her. Warriorz could only manage 159 in the end, a gettable target.Harmanpreet Kaur upped her scoring rate after a cautious start•BCCI

Harmanpreet Kaur amps it up

Then Mumbai were in a spot of bother at 72 for 2, after an uncharacteristically slow 17-ball 12 from Hayley Mathews and Yastika Bhatia falling after a good start (42 off 27). Warriorz’s spin, which had set up their previous win, was working well on a pitch that had started aiding turn, Harmanpreet and Nat Sciver-Brunt were yet to get off the mark, and the asking rate was climbing.It was still on Mumbai’s side at 88 needed from 60 balls, but Harmanpreet had taken six balls to get off the mark. She then got a stroke of luck when she was on seven. Anjali Sarvani bowled a slower one on leg stump, which seemed to graze the stumps, the bail lit up, but stayed put.Harmanpreet rode this luck to play a knock to remember.It was the 16th over, McGrath’s first. After the first ball, Sciver-Brunt was checked for concussion. One has to wonder what was discussed in the brief break because when Harmanpreet took strike again, she completely changed the game in just four balls with a four, six, four, four sequence, the six over cover such an effortlessly clean hit that it will go down as a shot-of-the-tournament contender.She took six balls to get off the mark, but got to her fifty is 31 balls. She scored 36 runs in the last 12 balls she faced. Sciver-Brunt (45 off 31) and Harmanpreet ensured that Mumbai had yet another big win in the bag, and one foot straight in the final.Just Harmanpreet things. Just Mumbai Indians things.

The 55-run defeat left Bismillah Khan’s team in fifth place on the six-team table

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Oct-2021Khyber Pakhtunkhwa rose to No. 2 on the six-team Pakistan National T20 Cup table, while Balochistan stayed at fifth, after Mohammad Rizwan’s side put in a dominant performance in their game in Rawalpindi on Saturday evening. The lower order did the job with the bat to take Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from what looked likely to be a good total, around 180, to a huge 202 for 5 after they were asked to bat. Asif Afridi and Arshad Iqbal then returned three-fors to script a 55-run win.It was Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s fourth win in five matches, and gave them eight points, leaving only Sindh ahead of them. As for Balochistan, there’s only the winless, and luckless, Southern Punjab below them.Rizwan, who scored a 34-ball 40, and Israrullah gave Khyber Pakhtunkhwa a decent but unspectacular start, getting to 43 midway into the sixth over before the latter was dismissed, and the scoring rate didn’t spike much as Rizwan and Sahibzada Farhan (43 in 31) added 37 for the second wicket. At the halfway stage, they were at 80.The real impetus came after that. Asif Afridi hit a four and two sixes in his four-ball 16 from No. 4, while Iftikhar Ahmed’s 36 came from 18 balls, Musadiq Ahmed hit an unbeaten 17 in nine balls, and Adil Amin hit 26 not out in 13 balls; 122 runs were added in the last ten overs.It would have been tough for any side to chase that down, and Balochistan have been in a bit of a hole anyway. On the day, they were 8 for 1 and then 16 for 2, with Shaheen Shah Afridi calling the shots, and the seventh wicket had fallen by the 14th over with the total just 83. By then, Asif and Arshad were in charge, and the game was as good as over.Balochistan batted through to the end, though, and that was mainly down to Sohail Akhtar, who scored an unbeaten 61 in 43 balls, with two fours and five sixes, to at least give Balochistan’s NRR a bit of a boost.

Head coach believes new regime shouldn’t carry the can for racism scandal

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jun-2023Ottis Gibson, Yorkshire’s head coach, has questioned the logic of punishing the club’s new regime for past failings, after the ECB recommended a £500,000 fine and points deductions at Tuesday’s hearing of the Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC).Gibson, the first Black head coach in Yorkshire’s history, was appointed in January 2022 following the sacking of 16 members of the club’s back-room staff, including his predecessor Andrew Gale and the director of cricket, Martyn Moxon.That decision was taken by the since-departed chairman, Lord Kamlesh Patel, whose own appointment had come in the wake of Azeem Rafiq’s explosive testimony before a parliamentary select committee in November 2021, at which he had laid out his experience of institutional racism at the club.The fall-out from the scandal left Yorkshire facing bankruptcy, with the ECB suspending their major-match hosting status (a move since reversed), while a swathe of leading sponsors also severed ties with the club – including Emerald, Headingley’s title sponsors, and Nike, the kit suppliers.And while Gibson acknowledged that some form of punishment was inevitable, he described the proposed sanctions as “harsh” – not least because the club, currently in the bottom three of the County Championship but in contention for a knock-out berth in the T20 Blast – has already played a significant portion of the season while knowing that their fate had yet to be decided.Given that promotion back to the top flight of the County Championship already seems unlikely, the ECB’s proposed hit of 48-72 points might not affect the club’s status much beyond prize money. However, the proposed 4-6 point deduction for the T20 Blast would almost certainly prove the difference in the race for the quarter-finals. Yorkshire are currently fifth on 13 points, just one point behind their arch-rivals Lancashire in second place, whom they play on Friday.Related

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“If you remember when I came here in March last year and this whole investigation was going on, I said, ‘It would be nice of them to let us know before the start of the season what sanctions there were going to be’,” Gibson told the ECB Reporters Network.”We’re sat here the following June and we’re still not sure what it is or isn’t. It’s frustrating because a lot of change has taken place here at Yorkshire, including myself being here.”I feel like when this thing all started many years ago, long before I got here, the club was stripped of international cricket because of what had gone on.”Then the ECB said, ‘If you want international cricket back, you have to satisfy us that you’re doing these things’. They gave the club a list of things, and Lord Patel came in and made some tough and uncomfortable decisions I would imagine.”We got our international cricket back, which would seem to me to suggest that we’d satisfied the ECB and done the things they asked us to do in the first place.”So to sanction a group of people who are trying to move the club forward doesn’t seem to me to make sense. It would be naive to think that we’re not going to get some sort of punishment, but it does seem a bit harsh.”That’s my position as the coach of a fairly new group of players.”

A comprehensive all-round performance helped Pakistan clinch the low-scoring encounter

Danyal Rasool02-May-2024Pakistan secured their first win of the tour, beating West Indies by eight wickets after a comprehensive all-round performance. It came thanks to a clinical all-round performance after the visitors won the toss and batted first, with Sadia Iqbal and Nida Dar taking three wickets each to skittle West Indies out for 84. There were no real jitters in the chase despite the manner of Pakistan’s defeat in the third T20I, and, spearheaded by Ayesha Zafar, they eased to victory with 21 balls to spare.A day after Pakistan named a near-unchanged squad for the upcoming tour of England, the players repaid that faith with what was by far the most impressive performance of the tour. Despite the series having slipped out of Pakistan’s reach, they began with a sharpness and urgency that belied how little was truly on the line.Qina Joseph was caught out of her crease off Iqbal and stumped first ball to set the tone. But it was the wicket of Hayley Matthews, West Indies’ talismanic captain and the outstanding performer of the series, that gave Pakistan true belief. After an uncharacteristic struggle, she was caught off Fatima Sana’s bowling after managing just a run in nine balls.Shemaine Campbelle was the only batter who scored runs and pushed the run rate up but was run out at an inopportune time after a 20-ball 26. The dismissal opened the floodgates as Pakistan took complete control thereafter, with four wickets falling for as many runs towards the death overs as West Indies stuttered along to 84 for 9.Pakistan had made hard work of an eminently gettable target late on in the third T20I, but there appeared no such danger today right from the outset. A breezy cameo from Sidra Ameen set the tone early, and when she and Muneeba Ali fell in quick succession, Zafar and Gull Feroza took complete control. Zafar in particular was in great touch finding the gaps and the occasional boundary to keep the score ticking over. Some sloppiness leaked into West Indies’ game as two relatively simple catches were put down off Matthews’ bowling, but in truth, the game was a foregone conclusion by then.Appropriately, the game ended with one of the shots of the day from Zafar, who lofted a half-volley over mid-on for an elegant boundary to make the win official.

Essex earn first win of tournament to keep slim knock-out hopes alive

Matt Roller14-Sep-2020Essex 197 for 5 (Lawrence 81) beat Sussex 185 for 8 (Thomason 47) by 12 runs
Dan Lawrence’s best outing of the summer inspired Essex to a tight 12-run victory at Hove, giving them their first T20 win of the season to take them off the foot of the South Group table.Lawrence’s flamboyant 44-ball 81 included six fours and as many sixes as he led the Essex charge on a good batting pitch, before he took two crucial wickets in his only over just as Sussex had started to find a foothold in their run-chase.Defeat sees Sussex squeezed out of top spot by Kent, and they now face a battle to qualify with a resurgent Surrey finding form as the group stage enters its final week. Essex’s first win keeps their title defence alive mathematically, but they will need to string together a series of wins while hoping results elsewhere go their way.In truth, this has not been the breakthrough summer that Lawrence had hoped for after his stellar form for England Lions in Australia in the spring, where he made 493 runs including 125 against Australia A at the MCG.When he left that tour, it seemed like the only question surrounding his impending international debut was the format it would come in, but with Covid-19 disrupting England’s plans, he has largely been relegated to bench duties this summer. After weeks locked in hotels and carrying drinks, he left the bubble early following the death of his mother, and has struggled for runs back in county cricket, with only 57 runs in five Blast innings before today.And there was no sign from Lawrence’s first few balls of what was to come, as he played and missed, then offered a half-chance for a caught-and-bowled in the second over, a wicket maiden by Ollie Robinson which accounted for Cameron Delport. With Adam Wheater absent due to family reasons, the emphasis was on him to make a worthwhile contribution.But he was soon up and running, shimmying down the pitch and over to the off side to cart the first ball of Robinson’s second over through wide mid-on for six before skipping down to whip him over the pavilion at midwicket four balls later.Luke Wright threw the ball to his left-arm spinner Danny Briggs after that onslaught, hoping he could turn it away from the bat and beat the edge, but Lawrence was not in the mood to push and prod. Instead, he gave himself room to chip over extra cover, before hitting three towering sixes over mid-on.Two further boundaries off Tymal Mills – a wristy cut and a straight drive – took him to 47 off 18 balls by the time the Powerplay was over. In fact, by the time he had chipped Mills’ slower ball to mid-off in the 13th to finish with 81 off 44 balls, his scoring had started to slow down.Lawrence was ably supported by Tom Westley, whose 39 was characteristically attractive, while Michael Pepper and Simon Harmer’s late flurry – they added 45 for the sixth wicket in the final four overs – was vital to a total of 195 after Delray Rawlins’ tight spell had tightened things up in the middle.Sussex were hampered by a blow to Ollie Robinson diving in the field – he recovered sufficiently to bowl one over at the death – and a knock to Mills, who went off at the end of the 18th as a precaution after feeling pain in his back. They were also left to rue the absence of Chris Jordan, who has flown to the UAE ahead of the IPL after playing their last two matches, while Phil Salt – in the England bubble – was a big miss in the run-chase.In Salt’s place, Aaron Thomason came in as a makeshift opener, and struggled for timing in an innings of 47. One of the oddities of behind-closed-doors cricket is that players become commentators, and his innings was punctuated by regular shouts of “rate’s going up, boys”, “top edge coming, straight up here” and “15 off 17 in the Powerplay” from Westley.With Thomason out of sorts, Sussex relied on Rawlins – who has quietly thrived on additional responsibility this season in the middle order – to provide the impetus on his 23rd birthday as the rate climbed. He made his intentions clear by nailing a sweep through wide long-on off Aron Nijjar’s left-arm spin, before lofting Harmer down the ground for six and chipping two more just out of boundary riders’ reach in the 13th.But Lawrence immediately delivered a breakthrough with the first ball he bowled, as Rawlins attempted to reverse-lap over the keeper’s head but only managed to find short third man. Thomason holed out when cramped for room from round the wicket in the third over, and crucially, Sussex had two new batsmen at the crease.One of those was Ravi Bopara, playing against Essex for the first time after 415 matches for them. Bopara’s Sussex career is yet to take off, with a top score of just 18 to date. In fact, head coach Jason Gillespie found himself defending his new signing on Twitter this week after criticism from a vicar; he will have to hope that the reverend keeps the faith, after Bopara holed out to long-on for 7.David Wiese has regularly delivered wins from unlikely situations this season, but the equation proved beyond him as the rate climbed: he found Harmer at long-off from a Sam Cook full toss with 30 needed off the last two overs, and took any residual hope with him.

From coaching badges to Steve Smith bunny memes, seamer reflects on how far he’s come

Matt Roller24-Jul-2023Josh Tongue would have spent the 2023 summer coaching but for a specialist diagnosing a nerve problem in his shoulder last year. Instead, he has made his England debut, played an Ashes Test and been sent memes depicting Steven Smith as his bunny.”I don’t think it’s really sunk in at the minute,” Tongue said. “Being out for so long with my shoulder, having two operations on it, not knowing what I was going to be doing and maybe retiring, then getting that call-up for the Ireland Test, words can’t really describe how I felt. Now, being in the Ashes squad, it just feels so surreal.”Tongue qualified as a Level 2 coach early in his career and, if the shoulder issue which kept him out of the game for 14 months between June 2021 and August 2022 had not been resolved, he would have quit the professional game and followed a different career path.Related

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“I would have gone into coaching,” he said. “I’d have kept doing my badges.” He suggested he would have tapped into “a few contacts” at his old school, King’s Worcester, or worked with the former Worcestershire batter Gavin Haynes, whose son Jack has played alongside Tongue at the county and for England Lions.”It’s a bit different: doing a bit of coaching or playing for England in an Ashes series. It’s very weird. I don’t think it’s really sunk in at the minute. It’s just crazy: where I was two years ago to now. Obviously as a young kid, I dreamed of being in an Ashes series. Now I’m in one, it’s just an amazing feeling.”Tongue grew up watching James Anderson and Stuart Broad bowling; now, he is in contention to replace one of them in the fifth Test at The Kia Oval, starting on Thursday. “It’s just amazing to be in the training, training with them and learning from them,” he said, speaking before the fourth Test at a #Funds4Runs session organised by LV= Insurance at Stockport Georgians Cricket Club.”The first couple of weeks in the squad, I was trying to find my feet, not asking too many questions as the new kid on the block. I feel like now I’m getting to know everyone, getting a bit more confidence with everyone in the squad, I can ask those questions.”It’s different when you’re in competition. There’s not much training between each Test match, so I try and take as much out of it as I can. Being on the pitch with Jimmy and Broady at Lord’s, them being at mid-on and mid-off, [I tried to] just tap into anything they can offer.”Josh Tongue at a #Funds4Runs session at Stockport Georgians Cricket Club•LV= Insurance/#Funds4Runs

Tongue finished the Lord’s Test with figures of 5 for 151 in the match, bowling a prolonged spell of bouncers on the fourth day and dismissing David Warner and Steven Smith in both innings. “I didn’t think I’d play at Lord’s and that first day, coming through the Long Room and hearing the national anthem, I thought, ‘Wow! I’m actually playing in the Ashes.'”Having earlier trapped him lbw in a County Championship game, Tongue has dismissed Smith in three innings out of three this summer. “I did see a little picture of him in the corner, me, and then a rabbit – something like that,” he said, laughing. “I have seen some funny stuff on Twitter.”The one at Worcester, I did a bit of analyst work against him and tried to mix up the angles. He does draw you in and goes off his stumps. I tried not to play to his strengths which is obviously when you try to bowl straight, he’ll clip you through the leg side.”I feel like bowling that fourth or fifth stump and trying to bore him and force him to do something wrong [is the way to go] and obviously that happened in the first innings. Then, in the second, he was bumped out. It’s just so good to bowl against him, really.”Tongue generally bowls in the mid-80s mph but has touched 90mph/145kph at times this summer, and has enjoyed the novelty of looking up at his speeds on big screens. “I was trying not to look too much but you naturally look sometimes and it was great to get up to that sort of speed,” he said.”It’s a nice feeling. Growing up as a kid, you want to bowl as fast as you can so getting up to 90mph is a nice little achievement. I’m a big rhythm bowler: when I’m bowling at my best, I don’t try too hard. My skills, my height, my bounce, my pace… when I don’t try to bowl too quick, and my attributes kind of sink in.”He has only played at The Oval once before, in a high-scoring draw in 2018, but fresh from a five-wicket haul in Worcestershire’s win against Leicestershire, Tongue is confident that he can make an impact there if selected this week. “From Lord’s, knowing I bowled nicely there, I’ll take confidence for maybe playing at The Oval.”Josh Tongue was speaking on behalf of LV= Insurance, title sponsors of this summer’s LV= Insurance Ashes Series. Head to https://www.lv.com/gi/cricket to find out more

Independent analysis confirms all members of touring party are Covid-negative

Matt Roller08-Dec-2020England have announced that the two suspected cases of Covid-19 within their touring party were false positives, following independent ratification of the tests.The ECB revealed on Sunday that a full round of tests had returned “unconfirmed positive” results for two members of the touring group, understood to be a player and a member of support staff.Neither displayed any symptoms, raising the possibility that they had received false positives, and after further analysis of the results in both Cape Town and London, Professor Nick Peirce, the ECB’s chief medical officer, issued a statement to say that neither individual was Covid-positive.ALSO READ: England blame ‘unacceptable’ nets after claims of Covid protocols breach“Following the independent ratification of the two unconfirmed positive Covid-19 tests from the England camp in South Africa, the England and Wales Cricket Board can confirm that, following further testing and analysis, in the opinion of the independent virologists based in Cape Town and London, the two individuals are not infected, and do not pose any risk of passing on the infection to the rest of the party,” the statement said.”As such, the advice is they are now free to join the rest of the group and are no longer self-isolating.”Ashley Giles, the ECB director of men’s cricket, and medical staff would have been among those to stay behind in South Africa until December 15 if the individuals had been confirmed as positive. Instead, they will be free to fly home on Thursday on the team’s chartered flight.Sam Billings, Lewis Gregory, Liam Livingstone and Jason Roy will all travel to Australia to begin a 14-day quarantine period ahead of the Big Bash League, while it is understood that Jake Ball may join them after being sounded out as a possible replacement for Tom Curran at the Sydney Sixers.The Vineyard Hotel in Cape Town, where England and South Africa’s squads have been staying•Getty Images

Meanwhile, the South African player who tested positive before the ODI series – understood to be Heinrich Klaasen, who also missed the third T20I – has returned home to Johannesburg after returning a negative test on Monday.Confirmation that the players were not infected with Covid-19 came less than 24 hours after the tour’s abandonment, with the chief executives of both CSA and ECB citing player welfare in the decision to postpone the three-match ODI series indefinitely.Giles told British newspapers in Cape Town last night that the call had been taken in recognition of the fact that the squad felt distracted and had been unsettled by news of the initial positive results.”These guys have been living in bubbles for long periods of time and their mental health and wellbeing is the absolute priority for us,” he said. “I think we felt ultimately focusing on a game of cricket, and trying to squeeze two games into two days when this had been going on in the background, was going to be particularly difficult and we were better off calling it and looking to re-arrange these fixtures at a better time.”Giles had also confirmed the England camp’s doubts about the efficacy of CSA’s Covid protocols, though news that nobody in the touring party was infected with the virus will be reassuring for the home board ahead of scheduled series against Sri Lanka, Australia and Pakistan later this season.”I think the thing that really raised the levels of anxiety and nervousness were that we were coming into a biosecure environment and from very early on it appeared that it wasn’t biosecure,” Giles said. “I think the South African [team] doctor has said he could understand our nervousness because of that.”In future, perhaps we can never guarantee a place is biosecure. Maybe we have to adapt but that is the environment we expected when we came here.”

Rohit Sharma slotted in at No. 4, while, from the other side, Sam Konstas impressed with a century at the top for PM’s XI

Alagappan Muthu01-Dec-2024
India got what they wanted out of their only pink-ball tour game ahead of the day-night Test in Adelaide and maybe something they didn’t. Yashasvi Jaiswal spent the time leading up to his wicket worried by his lower back, repeatedly stretching it and receiving some attention to it from the physio. He did bat through for 10 more balls after requiring help from the dugout, and looked comfortable enough, until he fell attempting a big shot. At that point, the focus that was on him shifted back to two team-mates who seem likely to take back their place in the XI.Rohit Sharma, back from paternity leave, began the day getting used to the rhythms of cricket again in Canberra. At the fall of the first Prime Minister’s XI’s wicket, he leapt up in delight. In between balls, he was catching up with a bit of chit chat. Occasionally he had to swat a fly, and Sarfaraz Khan, who took over wicketkeeping duties and fumbled his first take. At the change of the innings, Rohit had a pretty big thing to get used to. Sitting around. India stuck with the opening combination that worked for them in the first Test, and Rohit slotted in at No. 4.Related

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For the Prime Minister’s XI, the brightest performer was Sam Konstas. The 19-year-old scored a century that several will take note of, given, for a little while, he seemed to be the frontrunner to open the batting for Australia in this Border-Gavaskar Trophy.Several would have also been taking notes on Rohit. There was a time when he was at peace with the possibility of his red-ball career never really taking off. Then, after nearly a year out of the team, he was called up for a home series against South Africa in 2019, opened the batting, scored two centuries and a double as well in his first four innings back and a corner had been turned. His excellence against England, particularly on tour in 2021, highlighted how well he had strengthened his defensive game and over the 11 balls that he played at Manuka Oval, he was searching for something resembling that form.Rohit began his innings with a leave. He protected his stumps well. He was even watchful when the PM’s XI banged the ball in short. But then, after resisting the urge to drive one sucker ball outside off stump, he went driving at another and got caught at first slip for 3. Rohit has opened the batting ever since his comeback five years ago (so long as he was available). In the home season before India flew to Australia, he seemed preoccupied with trying to get all the runs he could before the ball with his name on it came on series that were largely played on bowler-friendly pitches. The season yielded him only one score over 25 in ten innings. Here, in Canberra, he was slightly more circumspect.Shubman Gill, who looked ready to play this game when he trained for it two days ago, got a good hit out in the middle and he remains an absolute menace whenever he is able to go on the back foot. That trademark short-arm pull in front of midwicket, against Mahli Beardman in the 18th over, got his innings going. But there were other moments, when he was driving on the up and away from the body, that he looked a little vulnerable. In the 23rd over, against Charlie Anderson – who picked up two wickets – he got an edge that went for four. Gill made a 62-ball fifty and retired.India chose to bowl in a game curtailed to 46 overs each by rain, presumably because they wanted to bat during twilight, and both KL Rahul and Jaiswal enjoyed a first-hand account of a period that is often lethal for batters, even in the hands of Jack Nisbet, a 21-year-old who is at present the joint-48th highest-wicket taker in the Sheffield Shield this season. Jaiswal got 12 of his first 14 runs with his outside edge. Each time – even if the pink ball went to the boundary – he was unprepared for the amount of movement it was capable of.KL Rahul has his eyes on the ball – from the opening slot•AFP/Getty Images

Rahul did not attempt any of the extravagant shots that his partner was trying, but he too had moments where he came off second best, particularly in the third over against Scott Boland, whose habit of never giving up the stumps along with getting just enough nip off the seam makes him the ideal candidate for these conditions. He got one to leap past the closed face of Rahul’s bat as he attempted to play the angle into him and was beaten on the leading edge.This was the kind of prep India were looking for; the situation that they were hoping to be in at the start of the day, and they tightened up. Jaiswal left four successive deliveries in the eighth over, and got behind the other two. Rahul continues to be impressive at reading the line of the ball, which informs his decision to play the ball or not, and that technique where he brings the bat down but takes great pains never to follow the ball worked for him once again. He played some crisp shots, always waiting for the ball until it was right under his eyes, the best of them a perfectly balanced, back-foot punch through cover. This was reward for him getting through that initial tough period with the pink ball around sunset. Soon after, the movement died down. He’d cleared the danger and with others needing game time retired out.Washington Sundar remained not out on 42•AFP/Getty Images

India’s win in Perth – which was built partly on Rahul and Jaiswal at Nos. 1 and 2 exceeding all expectations – and the anticipation that the new pink ball will present a serious challenge must be part of the discussions as they prepare for the Adelaide Test on Friday. Is the preservation of their partnership a sign? This was only a practice match, with absolutely no stakes, and the head coach Gautam Gambhir isn’t with the team just yet, so the decisions taken here may not be what will be taken in a week’s time. India land in Adelaide on Monday and begin their prep work again on Tuesday.On the other side, Konstas offered a reminder that he has a lot of shot-making ability, a reverse-ramp off Akash Deep in the 14th over making that perfectly clear. And the experience of facing an international bowling attack will only help his growth as he looks to back up his achievements at the Under-19 level.Konstas made 107 off just 97 balls and, though some of those runs did come with slogs, there was plenty of evidence that there is a player in there. He was able to step out to Mohammed Siraj and slap him down the ground. He tried the same to Harshit Rana and was sent ducking for cover, but later, when Rana dug it in short again, Konstas shifted his weight back beautifully and hooked him for six, the ball almost threatening the pristineness of the Jack Fingleton scoreboard. He didn’t back down.Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah and R Ashwin played no part in the game, which played a part in some of the 5234 people at Manuka Oval leaving a little early.

The visitors made steady headway on the second day, first through Rajitha and later through their openers, after Mushfiqur’s unbeaten 175

Andrew Fidel Fernando24-May-2022StumpsSri Lanka made steady headway on day two of the second Test in Mirpur, first through Kasun Rajitha, who completed a five-wicket haul, in the first hour, then later through Dimuth Karunaratne and Oshada Fernando, who hit half-centuries in response to Bangladesh’s 365.By stumps, Sri Lanka were 222 runs behind, eight wickets in hand, and Karunaratne still going strong on 70 not out. Although Bangladesh could yet take control of the Test, Sri Lanka perhaps ended the second day in a stronger position than they had begun it. They conceded only 90 further runs as their seamers hunted down the last five Bangladesh wickets. And, they now have a base for their own first innings, with in-form batters still to come.There were times in the morning in which Bangladesh frustrated Sri Lanka, however, and this was largely down to Mushfiqur Rahim. Having lost overnight partner Litton Das early, Mushfiqur doggedly pressed his team’s total forward in the company of the tail, himself striding to an unbeaten 175. He was especially effective in a 49-run eighth-wicket stand with Taijul Islam, in which Mushfiqur scored 34 off 42 deliveries. He crossed 150 during the course of that partnership – the fifth occasion he had passed that mark, out of nine trips to triple figures.Related

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As had been the case on the first day, it was Rajitha who set the major events in motion, when he dismissed Litton in the seventh over of the morning. The seamers having conceded only two boundaries in the first six overs, Rajitha delivered a length ball in the channel outside off, which Litton prodded at and sent off the outside edge to second slip. Kusal Mendis, who had recovered from the chest pains that saw him hospitalised on day one, took an excellent catch diving forward to end Litton’s innings on 141.Three balls later, Rajitha struck again, shaping the second new ball away from left-hander Mosaddek Hossain to have him caught behind. Rajitha had easily been Sri Lanka’s best bowler in the innings, probing the channel consistently. Mosaddek’s wicket completed a much-deserved five-for.With his last recognised batting partner now out, Mushfiqur kicked into a busier gear. He searched proactively for scoring opportunities, resorting even to the reverse sweep he had shunned for much of his innings. The first 127 runs of his innings had come off 277 balls; the last 48 off 78.Mushfiqur Rahim remained unbeaten on 175 as Bangladesh were bowled out for 365•AFP via Getty Images

Asitha Fernando struck twice with bouncers to take two tail-end wickets, before last man Ebadot Hossain frustrated Sri Lanka for the extra half-an-hour the umpires granted the visitors beyond the scheduled lunch. But Bangladesh could only add four further runs after the break before Ebadot was run out at the non-striker’s end, attempting a second run to keep Mushfiqur on strike early in a Rajitha over.In response, Sri Lanka’s openers began confidently enough. Oshada survived a review for caught behind down the legside in the first over, but got early boundaries away to get himself into the innings. Karunaratne was more assured at the other end, both batters progressing busily against the new ball. Oshada survived another review – this time for lbw – on 39, but Taijul’s excellent, straightening delivery was projected only to hit the outside of off stump, resulting in umpire’s call. Soon after, he came down the track and smashed one back at Shakib Al Hasan, who got both hands to the tough chance to his right, but could not hold on. Oshada charged Shakib again shortly before the tea break, this time to launch him for a straight six that took him to his fifth Test half-century.Karunaratne was content for Oshada to have the majority of the strike early on, but took more control once his opening partner had edged Ebadot to slip for 57. As usual, he rarely went after the big boundary shots, but did not miss out on the chance to pick up singles square of the wicket on either side.He had some fortune too. On 36, a full Ebadot delivery hit him on the boot as he missed a clip to the legside, and although the lbw appeal was turned down, it would have been overturned had Bangladesh reviewed. Shortly after, he was dropped at short leg off Taijul’s bowling on 37, although this was a ball that travelled rapidly to the fielder, off the middle of the bat as Karunaratne whipped square.The rest of his innings was uneventful, however, as he made his way to his 29th half-century and onwards. Through the late stages of the day, he watched Kusal’s laboured 11 off 49, before Shakib trapped Kusal in front. Karunaratne went to stumps in the company of nightwatchman Rajitha, who had faced 11 balls and not scored a run.