Hafeez’s 24-ball 33 was the closest a Qalandars player came to steering the chase as Kings had their first win in nine games

Danyal Rasool18-Feb-2022It wasn’t quite worth the wait, but if Karachi Kings are to win just one game this season, this one, away to arch-rivals Lahore, is the one they’d likely have opted for. An exquisite bowling spell from Mir Hamza – with wickets both at the top of the order and the death, saw the Kings close out a low-scoring game, beating Lahore Qalandars by 22 runs. It seemed at the halfway mark that 149 wouldn’t nearly be enough against this Qalandars side, but an off-colour home side never quite got into it, and Hamza’s 4 for 27, as well as Chris Jordan’s miserliness at the death, ensured the Kings had their first win in nine games.There appeared a lack of intensity to the Qalandars’ chase right from the outset, with Fakhar Zaman’s dismissal in the first over setting the tone for what would follow. A tepid, conservative innings saw Shaheen Afridi’s men manage just six boundaries and a six in the first 16 overs, as wickets fell at regular intervals to keep sending the asking rate up. Mohammad Hafeez’s 24-ball 33 was the closest a Qalandars player came to steering the chase, but there was little support from the other end and an uncharacteristically disciplined bowling effort from the Kings meant the Qalandars were being constricted out of the contest.Harry Brook and David Wiese put on 55 for the sixth wicket as they tried to pull off a late heist, but they had been left too much to do. It was Hamza who returned to kill the game off, removing both men inside three balls, and a forensically accurate final over from Jordan slammed the door shut in the Qalandars’ faces as they limped to 127.There was little to distinguish the Kings’ innings from several previous games. It was an uninspired, sloth-like effort from the top order that never really threatened to post a total that might normally be considered challenging. Babar Azam held the innings together without doing too much more than that, while Zaman Khan sliced through the top order to put the Qalandars on top. When Rashid Khan ripped through the lower order to leave the Kings tottering at 116 for eight, they looked set to slump to yet another chastening defeat.It was down to a crucial little cameo from Lewis Gregory, whose 16-ball 27 got the Kings to something resembling competitive, though even that could only be said with the benefit of hindsight. At the time, it merely seemed his carefree little knock was delaying the inevitable Qalandars’ win, with the home side dropping their guard, perhaps believing the bowlers had done their job. However, it meant Babar’s team took the momentum with them at the change of innings, and never quite let it go.It might not mean anything in the bigger picture, but Karachi beating Lahore always counts for something.

Jake Lehmann made 102 in the first innings and Liam Scott took 5 for 46 but South Australia opted not to chase 253 off 50 overs on the final day

AAP05-Mar-2022South Australia declined a potentially season-reviving run chase and settled for a draw in their penultimate-round Sheffield Shield match against Queensland in Brisbane.Set a challenging 253 off 50 overs at the Gabba, SA rarely showed interest in chasing down the target and, despite needing a win to stay in touch on the Shield ladder, were 3-115 when the match was called to an early end after 37 overs.Opener Jake Weatherald scored the bulk of the runs with a watchful 60 not out off 112 balls. SA were 38 off 11 overs when the second wicket fell – both scalps claimed by Xavier Bartlett (2-30). Opener and debutant captain Henry Hunt scored 15 at the top of the order and Jake Carder contributed 11 before the run-rate further slowed.Earlier in the day, Queensland scored at 4.5 run per over in compiling a second innings score of 191. Sam Truloff top-scored with a quickfire 64, while young bowler Liam Scott picked up career-best figures (5-46).SA only completed their first innings early on day four with Jake Lehmann hitting 102 in 9(d)-244.

Royals’ left-handers versus Washington Sundar’s offspin could be an interesting subplot

Sreshth Shah28-Mar-20222:16

Shastri and Lynn excited by Ashwin and Chahal combo

Big picture

And then there were two. By the time Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals take the field on Tuesday, all other sides would have had a taste of IPL 2022.Sunrisers will be without Rashid Khan for the first time since 2017, but unlike a batter, a bowler can have an impact for only 20% of a innings, which might give them some respite. If fit, Washington Sundar could do a holding role with the new ball or after the powerplay and there’s the seam trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, T Natarajan and Umran Malik who offer 12 very different kind of overs. Bhuvneshwar will search for swing at the top, Natarajan will aim for the yorkers at the death, and Malik will look to beat batters with his raw pace and trouble them with his short ball. Marco Jansen, the tall, left-arm seamer, could be a potent new-ball partner for Bhuvneshwar. The other option for that final overseas slot could be the destructive West Indies allrounder Romario Shepherd.For the last few seasons, Sunrisers opted to load up on a top-heavy batting line-up – often with two heavyweight overseas batters at the top, but this time they’re expected to open with domestic batters Rahul Tripathi and Abhishek Sharma. Then there’s Kane Williamson as a top-drawer anchor, albeit coming off a long-term injury, Aiden Markram who can bat anywhere in the top five, and Nicholas Pooran who is expected to bring in the fireworks. Abdul Samad, Sundar and possibly Shepherd close out the batting, and on paper, this is a side with plenty of potential even though the bench doesn’t inspire too much confidence.Related

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• Death bowling a worry for Royals

Royals have plenty of positives going into the competition apart perhaps from their death-bowling options. Trent Boult can do a job with the older ball, but he is most potent while swinging the new one into the right-hander. Prasidh Krishna will likely partner Boult in the powerplay, and if they can successfully build early pressure, R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal could capitalise on it to strangle the opposition in the middle overs. How they choose to approach the death overs could be the deciding factor in whether James Neesham plays as the allrounder or Nathan Coulter-Nile.As far as the top order is concerned, Royals have as good a unit as a team can hope for after an auction. They retained Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson, and now have Devdutt Padikkal set to bat at No. 3. Rassie van der Dussen, who has enjoyed a purple patch for South Africa in the last nine months or so, and Shimron Hetmyer, who is especially brutal against spin, are probably vying for one spot in the middle, though the decision for the first game has been taken out of Royals’ hands with the former unavailable for Tuesday’s game. With Samson likely to bat at No. 4, Royals have a potentially devastating top and middle order. Nos. 6 and 7 don’t look nearly as imposing, and a lot of hope resides in Riyan Parag, whom the franchise bought back after a dismal 2021 season.In summation, these are two sides that look vastly different from past seasons – each with obvious strengths and obvious weak spots. Both teams missed the playoffs in 2021, so they will be hungry to begin 2022 on the right note. It will also be the first match in Pune, and other teams will keep a keen eye on the action at the MCA Stadium.Devdutt Padikkal may need to up his post-powerplay scoring rate to fit into a middle-order role at Royals•BCCI

Possible XI

Rajasthan Royals: 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Jos Buttler, 3 Devdutt Padikkal, 4 Sanju Samson (capt, wk), 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 James Neesham/Nathan Coulter-Nile, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Prasidh KrishnaSunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Rahul Tripathi, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Nicholas Pooran (wk), 5 Aiden Markram, 6 Abdul Samad, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Marco Jansen/Romario Shepherd, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 T Natarajan, 11 Umran Malik

Strategy punt

Royals’ signing of Padikkal was an intriguing one, since two of their retained players were openers. Assuming Jaiswal and Buttler open, Royals might have an interesting call to make over who bats at No. 3, depending on which opener is dismissed first and when. If there’s an early wicket, Padikkal is a natural No. 3, given that he is best suited to batting in the powerplay, but if there’s a long opening stand, he might not necessarily be the best fit, with his strike rate outside the powerplay (120.89) significantly worse than that of Samson (156.67) since IPL 2019. If Buttler is dismissed first, Royals might look to push Samson to No. 3 anyway to maintain the right-left combination; in this particular game, they may not want two left-handers in the crease in Padikkal and Jaiswal, given the threat of Washington Sundar’s offspin.

Stats that matter

• Only five batters in the IPL have averaged 40-plus and scored at a strike-rate of 140-plus since 2020. Two of them are Sanju Samson (54.50, 145.33) and Jos Buttler (43.00, 159.25).
• Royals have both the most successful IPL seamer and spinner in the powerplay. Since IPL 2020, no seamer has taken more powerplay wickets than Boult (21) and no spinner has taken more wickets in the phase than Ashwin (eight).
• With Sunrisers retaining a similar fast-bowling unit to 2021, how Padikkal does against them will be interesting. In five innings against Sunrisers, Padikkal has scored at a strike-rate of only 94.21, the third-worst strike-rate for any batter against one IPL team (minimum 100 runs scored).

“When the right game comes, when the big game comes, if we have to bat first, we should know exactly how we have to go”

Sidharth Monga03-May-20222:54

Aakash Chopra: Gill and Hardik failing together a concern for Titans

When Mayank Agarwal lost the toss – the eighth Punjab Kings had lost in 10, making them the second-unluckiest team in the tournament – he must have felt distraught because they are pretty close to getting into must-win territory. However, seconds later, he was handed what he wanted: an opportunity to chase a total.After a fairly comprehensive defeat, Gujarat Titans’ captain Hardik Pandya confirmed that they didn’t make the decision to bat first based on conditions, but because they wanted to put themselves in difficult situations. On the first occasion they chose to bat first, it was an afternoon game so it was understandable, but when they made the call even in a night game, it was obvious people would wonder why they chose to do so.Related

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“I absolutely back our decision to bat first because we need to put ourselves in difficult situations as well where we come out of our comfort zone,” Hardik told Star Sports. “We have been doing pretty well in chasing, but we have always wanted to make sure we put our batters under the pressure when the right game comes, when the big game comes, if we have to bat first, we should know exactly how we have to go.”It is a little curious that Titans have got into this experiment so early in the tournament. They are the table leaders, but they have now won eight games out of 10, which doesn’t always guarantee qualification for the playoffs. Eight wins might eventually be enough to take them there but there is a big premium on finishing in the top two in the IPL.As it turned out, Titans had to bat in difficult conditions, and while the ball moved around initially for them too, once the dew set in, it became significantly easier for Kings to chase down 144.”It was an exercise that we wanted to try,” he said. “We knew the new ball might do something. But to be honest we kept losing wickets, and if you keep losing wickets, no matter how the conditions are, the batters are always going to be under pressure. We didn’t get the kind of rhythm or the start we wanted but it’s okay, this loss was a learning curve. But as I said, we need to be coming out of our comfort zone and try to bat first and put ourselves under that pressure.”B Sai Sudharsan hit 65* in 50 balls•PTI

What will he tell his side in the debriefing?”Even when we were winning, we were always talking about how to get better,” he said. “We definitely have a chat about where things didn’t go our way and focus on things which we can get better at in the next games. We play another game in a couple of days, we don’t have much time. We should regroup and we don’t need to worry about it. Winning and losing is part of the sport and more often than not we have ended up on the winning side.”Titans’ senior batter David Miller, though, felt that the main learning from the match was to decide to chase the next time they win the toss.”Ideally we would have liked to have bowled first,” Miller said in the post-match press conference. “I think [with] the conditions in the evening – there is a lot of dew – [we need to] look to bat second on winning the toss.”We have been pretty clinical in our last nine games. So just try to keep things pretty simple in all facets of the game. That’s what we have done in the last nine games prior to this where there have been close matches and we have managed to close them out. Due to doing the basics pretty well. Putting on great partnerships, running pretty hard between wickets, the bowlers have been executing plans really well.”

Record opening stand between James Vince and Ben McDermott sets platform for victory

ECB Reporters Network04-Jun-2022.James Vince and Ben McDermott captured a new club record as Hampshire Hawks beat Sussex Sharks by 22 runs to finally taste victory in this season’s Vitality Blast.Vince and McDermott, who smashed 65 and 60 respectively, put on 124 together to break Hawks’ best T20 opening stand and set up a mammoth total of 199 for 6. Tim Seifert hit a sublime 100 not out, and put on 69 with Delray Rawlins, in an otherwise slack Sharks chase as they never controlled the required rate.Hawks had lost their first four matches but jump off the bottom of the South Group, while Sussex remain fourth after three wins and three defeats.A switch appeared to have flicked with Hampshire after their poor start to the tournament, with aggression channeled into ground strikes rather than chasing sixes. Vince showcased this by beautifully caressing the first ball of the match through the covers, having been put in.It was just one of a range of classic Vince strokeplay which gave the hosts a rocket of a start. At the other end, McDermott got off the mark with a huge straight six with his more brutal style. That was the first of five maximums from the Australian, with a scoop the outlier from straight and midwicket hits.Vince, who moved up the order having batted at No. 3 previously in the Blast this year, reached his first half-century of the season off his 33rd delivery, before McDermott followed him four balls quicker.Their stand passed Hampshire’s previous best opening stand of 122 – set by Michael Carberry and Mitchell Stokes against Middlesex in 2006 – but two runs later it was ended when Henry Crocombe bowled Vince. It was the young fast bowler’s first of three wickets in an impressive outing.That started Sharks’ middle-order fightback as Hampshire lost four wickets for 23 runs. Sussex’s brilliant catching was a key reason for the momentum shift; a boundary juggle from Fynn Hudson-Prentice and Obed McCoy’s spectacular flying catch made up for some otherwise below-par ground fielding.Hampshire accelerated towards the end thanks to Toby Albert’s inventiveness and Liam Dawson’s late swinging to reach their highest Ageas Bowl total since they smashed 202 in 2013.Sussex’s chase never got going. Hawks were patient before they made their breakthrough in the fourth over when Luke Wright spliced to mid-on before Ali Orr skied to keeper McDermott in the following over.Hudson-Prentice laboured to eight from 14 balls before he top-edged James Fuller. As a point of comparison, Hampshire were 98 without loss at the 10 over stage, the Sharks were 59 for 3 and statistically given a 1% chance of winning.Ravi Bopara holed out but Seifert and Rawlins had fun with their 50-stand coming in 24 balls, with the New Zealander plundering a personal half-century in 36 deliveries. Rawlins was run out and Harrison Ward castled either side of a short rain delay. With the game already lost, Seifert plundered three straight sixes in the final over to collect his second T20 century off 55 balls.

Voting will be open for a two-week period, it will be done online and will close on July 22

Peter Della Penna06-Jul-2022The USA Cricket board general elections, which have been delayed by more than a year and a half due to ongoing governance issues, are scheduled to finally begin on July 8. Voting will be open for a two-week period, it will be done online and will close on July 22. Results will then be tabulated by an independent auditor before the winners are publicly announced.The elections were constitutionally mandated to take place by December 2020. However, they have been held up by a number of issues, most notably a lawsuit filed in March 2021 by board members Venu Pisike and Srini Salver contesting the eligibility of more than 12,000 newly registered voters. The lawsuit was finally settled in May 2022, after which board chairman Paraag Marathe announced he would soon be stepping down from his role.In the election for the club director position, the incumbent Ajith Bhaskar from New York is facing his biggest competition from Atul Rai, the southern California-based former USA Cricket Association president from the early 2000s who most recently held a USA Cricket board director position as the league director representative from 2018 to 2020. Nikhil Deshpande of Virginia and Susheel Bhat of Michigan are the other candidates in the running.A total of 558 clubs have been deemed eligible to vote for the club director position by the USA Cricket Nominating and Governance Committee. This is a rise from the 397 clubs that were initially deemed eligible by USA Cricket in February and also 16 more than the 542 clubs which were identified at the same time during an independent review of election lists conducted by ESPNcricinfo.The 558 clubs who have a vote represent leagues from 20 different states. This includes North Carolina’s Triangle Cricket League, which has the most voting eligible clubs (51) of any league in the country. However, some states with strong membership bases in the past have no league representation this time: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Pennsylvania. Separately, a number of the country’s biggest leagues in other states – Cricket League of New Jersey, Garden State Cricket League (NJ), and the New York Metropolitan & District Cricket Association – also have no representation in the election.For the individual director position, incumbent Suraj Viswanathan of northern California faces competition from four other challengers. Babu Venkatachalapathy and Kuljit-Singh Nijjar of Texas, Ganesh Sanap of northern California and Anand Patel of Maryland are the other candidates. A total of 12,381 individual members have been declared eligible to vote for this position. It is down from the 12,732 that was announced in February by USA Cricket, and far less than the approximately 20,000 members USA Cricket claimed to have registered in early 2021. However, it is a dramatic increase from the 723 members that were registered to vote in the previous election in February 2020.A third position – that of female elite athlete director held by Nadia Gruny – is also due for a vote in this cycle. However, Gruny is running uncontested and will automatically retain her position on the board following the election.

He served as the Jharkhand State Cricket Association president for over a decade

Shashank Kishore16-Aug-2022Amitabh Choudhary, the former BCCI secretary and veteran Jharkhand cricket administrator, died of a heart attack in Ranchi on Tuesday morning. He was 62.Choudhary was BCCI’s acting secretary when the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators oversaw the functioning of the board from early 2017 to October 2019. He entered cricket administration in 2004, and served as the Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) president for over a decade. Choudhary was first appointed as team manager of the Indian team in 2005 on their tour of Zimbabwe, remembered for the acrimony between Sourav Ganguly and Greg Chappell. Choudhary also served as BCCI’s joint-secretary from 2013 to 2015 during Anurag Thakur’s reign as BCCI president.In subsequent years, Choudhary rose to become an important member of several BCCI committees, as a representative of East Zone.It was during his stint as president that JSCA constructed the state-of-the-art stadium in Ranchi, which hosted its first international fixture in January 2013, an ODI between India and England.In a statement, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said, “I am shocked and saddened to learn of the sad demise of Mr Amitabh Choudhary. I had a long association with him and have always cherished our meetings.”I got to know him first on the tour of Zimbabwe when I was leading India, and he was the Team Manager. Over the course of time, our interactions grew and his passion for the sport was evident. Today, we have a world-class stadium and complex in Ranchi and it is thanks to his vision and relentless efforts.”Jay Shah, the BCCI secretary, said, “As an administrator, he was very passionate and wanted to bring about a real change at the grassroots level. Cricket in Jharkhand was at a very nascent stage when he took over and we have witnessed a real transformation under his leadership.”There were a few acrimonious points during Choudhary’s stint under the CoA. For example, in early 2018, the CoA had said that most of the BCCI office-bearers were preventing changes, as prescribed by the Supreme Court of India, from being implemented. To that, Choudhary had replied by saying that the committee had “lost sight of the mandate” while trying to put in place the reforms.Among his tougher administrative challenges was the Anil Kumble-Virat Kohli clash that culminated in Kumble’s exit as India head coach in June 2017.A former IPS officer, Choudhary until recently served as chairman of the Jharkhand Public Service Commission. He retired last month following the completion of a two-year term.

Having rediscovered his mojo in the Asia Cup with back-to-back fifties, Kohli says “what happens in the change room is the only thing that matters”

Shashank Kishore05-Sep-20222:56

Uthappa: Kohli looked ominous from the first boundary he hit

Virat Kohli let his magical wrists take over, and a 150kph delivery from Mohammad Hasnain went sailing over deep midwicket. It was his half-century – his second in a row – off 36 balls, in the 18th over, and the Indian dressing room was on its feet.Only a week ago, in his 100th T20I, also against Pakistan, Kohli had been scratchy. A thick edge was dropped in the slips second ball he faced, inside-edges rolled past the stumps, lofted hits landed in no-man’s land, top edges flew to the boundary, and attempted drives ended up only being sliced. But this Sunday was different. The fluency was there, and the timing from the get-go was all there.Related

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The second delivery he faced, a short one from Shadab Khan in the seventh over of the innings, Kohli picked the length early and rocked back to hammer a pull between wide long-one and deep midwicket. In the 11th, he swivelled – head right over the ball, wrists on top of the bounce – to wallop Hasnain to the square-leg boundary. Naseem Shah wasn’t spared either. His first delivery to Kohli was slapped to the cover-point boundary after the batter made room by moving to leg and going down the pitch.Kohli was in his element. The fall of wickets wasn’t going to alter his tempo, especially since he had come to grips with the surface early. Prior to the match, head coach Rahul Dravid had touched upon the importance of assessing conditions quickly and aiming for above-par scores. It was clear this surface didn’t grip as much and with one boundary at just 62 metres, India had to give themselves the cushion of a big score.But from being ultra-aggressive, Kohli had to slow down in the second half of his innings because of the rush of wickets, which he later said was the difference between getting to 200 and stopping at 181. But he did give a peek into the team’s mindset when he said the loss of wickets in the middle overs in pushing for “20-25 extra” wasn’t a worry, because when it does come off, it will make a difference.”If you’ve seen the way we’ve been playing, it’s given us the results we need, and in our middle overs, the run rate has also improved,” Kohli said of India’s approach. “It’s something I, as a batsman, really took keen notice of, and I knew that is one area we need to keep improving on. We’ve spoken about this that sometimes it won’t come off, the way you want and today, we lost a few wickets in the middle phase which didn’t allow us to go towards the 200 target.”Because after [Deepak] Hooda and me, it was Bhuvi [Bhuvneshwar Kumar], so the bowlers were to follow. That makes a bit of a difference, but we do possess the skills to analyse the situation and play accordingly as well. But given the situation, if we had a couple of wickets in hand, we could’ve got more runs. We’re not disturbed by losing wickets through the middle overs, because that’s the way we want to play. We want to be able to get those 20-25 extra runs that can eventually make the difference in big games.”Kohli explained that much of his slowdown in the second half was dictated by the batting firepower left. He was forced to delay the big hits, since India were also faced with the danger of running out of recognised batters in the death overs.”Today I was making a conscious effort to strike at a higher pace,” he said. “When we lost wickets, there was communication and our plans changed, where I had to bat till the 18th with Hooda. If there were a couple of batters, I would’ve gone with the same tempo and tried to hit more boundaries or sixes. But again, I ended up being in a situation where I had to go deep.”I thought Haris Rauf bowled a great last over. He nailed those slower balls and yorkers, with that pace when you execute, it’s always difficult to get it away. I’m going to continue – especially batting first – to bat the [same] way, trying to take the game on and stay ahead of the asking rate, understanding the conditions and just bat freely. As long as I am in a good space and confident of my batting, I know I can bat in many ways. It’s just about getting back into the groove and getting confident with how you’re playing and once that happens then the situation dictates how you need to play.”4:13

Kohli on answering his critics: I’ve never paid attention to these things

Having made two half-centuries in a row and a 35 earlier, Kohli is now the second-highest run-scorer in the tournament so far – 154 runs in three innings at a strike rate of 126.22 – behind Mohammad Rizwan. It was inevitable that he’d be asked about his form and silencing critics. Kohli underlined the importance of finding excitement and joy in batting as a big factor.”I’ve never paid attention to these things [external criticism], to be honest,” he said. “I’ve played for 14 years; it doesn’t happen by chance. My job is to work hard on my game, something I’m always keen to do. Keen to improve my game for the team. That’s something I’m going to continue to do so.”Everyone’s doing their job eventually. Our job is to play the game, work hard, give our 120%, and I’ve said it in the past that as long as I am doing that and the team has faith in that, what happens in the change room is the only thing that matters to us and to me as well personally.”People have their opinions and that’s absolutely fine, that doesn’t change my happiness as a person. I’ve taken some time away, put things into perspective, it’s given me the relaxation that this isn’t the be-all-and-end-all of life, I need to enjoy the game. I can’t put myself under so much pressure of expectation that I’m not able to express myself. That is not why I started playing this game. I was able to find that excitement back, when I came here, the environment was very welcoming. The camaraderie with the boys is amazing. The environment within the team is amazing, so I’m absolutely loving playing at the moment all over again and feeling good the way I’m batting.”

A similar injury had ruled the allrounder out of the ODI series in the West Indies in July

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Sep-2022A right knee injury has ended Ravindra Jadeja’s Asia Cup campaign. Axar Patel, who was initially named as a stand-by player, will join India’s main squad as a like-for-like replacement.This is not the first time Jadeja has been troubled by his right knee. An injury to the same joint had forced him to miss the ODI leg of India’s tour of the West Indies in July. The BCCI press statement that announced the latest injury did not specify its severity or estimate a recovery window.Related

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• Jadeja at No. 4 forced Pakistan to change plans

India will hope Jadeja can recover quickly, with the men’s T20 World Cup in Australia less than two months away. Before that, they will complete the Asia Cup and play bilateral home series against Australia and South Africa.Jadeja was a key performer in both of India’s matches at the Asia Cup so far. Against Pakistan, he bowled two economical overs before being promoted to No. 4 in India’s chase of 148, specifically since he was the only left-hand batter in India’s top seven. He steered India towards victory with a 29-ball 35, and ensured that Pakistan held back left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz’s fourth over until the final over of the match. Against Hong Kong, he dismissed top-scorer Babar Hayat and only gave away 15 runs in his four overs.Axar is a similar player to Jadeja, batting left-handed and bowling economical left-arm spin, and has filled in for the senior allrounder on many occasions. But given the importance of Jadeja’s role, how well Axar slots into it could be key to India’s progress through the Super 4s stage of the Asia Cup and beyond.Among the three stand-by players – Shreyas Iyer and Deepak Chahar are the others – only Chahar has been in Dubai, training with the team. Axar will fly in on Friday night to join the team.Hardik Pandya was Player of the Match against Pakistan before being rested for the Hong Kong game•AFP/Getty Images

Hardik trains alone after sitting out Hong Kong match
Hardik Pandya was the only India player to undergo a training session at the ICC Academy on Thursday, even as the rest of the team enjoyed a day off. Hardik was accompanied by Soham Desai, the trainer, and Paras Mhambrey, the bowling coach.Hardik began by doing light sprints and stretching exercises that were monitored by Desai, before he went through a short bowling session. Hardik’s workload is being monitored closely by the team management. His bowling sessions, especially, have tended be short and sharp.He was Player of the Match in India’s win over Pakistan, before being rested for the game against Hong Kong. He also opted to rest from training before the game along with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.India’s next match is on Sunday, against the winner of Friday night’s match between Pakistan and Hong Kong.

Karthik Meiyappan’s hat-trick in vain as UAE fold for 73 in 153 chase

Andrew Fidel Fernando18-Oct-2022
Sri Lanka dominated the first 14 overs with the bat, stumbled dramatically against legspinner Karthik Meiyappan, who bagged a hat-trick, and then recovered sufficiently to post 152 for 8. This was thanks largely to Pathum Nissanka’s 74 off 60 balls.Although Sri Lanka’s was merely a competitive rather than commanding total, their bowlers defended the total zealously, the quicks eviscerating UAE’s top order, before the spinners scythed through the middle. UAE never seemed to have the measure of the chase, going from 21 for 4 to 42 for 7, and eventually 73 all out.The victory gave Sri Lanka a major run-rate boost (they are now up to +0.6), which could become significant if three teams end up on four points, on Thursday. The loss all but put UAE out of contention for a place in the main draw, as they would need to beat Namibia by a substantial margin on Thursday to enter the main draw.Sri Lanka’s victory was soured, however, by an injury to fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera, late in the game. Running in to bowl his final delivery of the match, Chameera pulled up lame, and immediately left the field, limping. From his reactions, it appeared as if the injury was more than a niggle.Karthik Meiyappan’s hat-trick
Karthik had been good in his first two overs, conceding just 14. But in the third, he upended Sri Lanka’s innings. To Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who was desperate to find his first boundary, Karthik bowled it flat and wide, the batter reaching for the ball, hitting over extra cover, and finding the fielder in the deep.Then came two stunning googlies. The first was to left-hander Charith Asalanka, who prodded forward and sent an outside edge to the keeper. The second to Dasun Shanaka, who did not pick the variation at all, and in his attempt to block the hat-trick ball, left a gap between bat and pad, which Karthik’s delivery wriggled through, to hit the stumps.Having been 117 for 2, Sri Lanka dived to 117 for 5, then 120 for 6 when Wanindu Hasaranga holed out to long-off.Nissanka’s slow burn
Nissanka started steadily, hitting three fours to get to 25 off 17 in the powerplay. He was the only batter to hit a boundary off Karthik, in the middle overs, pounding him over cow corner for six (though he top-edged Karthik in the next over, only for the ball to fall in between three fielders).He reached his half century only off the 45th ball he faced, but was excellent through the late overs, when Sri Lanka desperately needed fireworks. His six over midwicket and four through long-off in the 19th over, off Junaid Siddique, helped inject some energy into a flagging innings. In the end, he holed out off the penultimate ball, having held Sri Lanka’s innings together with his 74 off 64 balls.UAE’s capitulation
It was essentially a rolling collapse that started in Chameera’s first over (the third of the innings), when he bowled Muhammad Waseem and Aryan Lakra, uprooting three stumps across those two dismissals. He then had captain CP Rizwan caught at mid-off, before Sri Lanka’s other seamer, Pramod Madushan, dismissed Chirag Suri – another stumps-flying dismissal.UAE were 30 for 4 after seven overs, when Hasaranga imposed himself on the game. He started with a maiden, then had Vriitya Aravind out lbw on review the next over. He claimed two more wickets, while Maheesh Theekshana took two for himself.Sri Lanka could have wrapped the match up earlier if they had held all their catches, but finished it off with the first ball of the 18th over nonetheless.