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Shubman Gill “has a bit of Rohit in him,” says India’s stand-in captain after the ODI series win in West Indies

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jul-20222:38

Dhawan: Gill has a ‘bit of Rohit touch’ in him

Shikhar Dhawan, India’s stand-in captain for the ODIs in the West Indies, has praised the maturity of his young squad which swept the series 3-0. With India resting Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah – and KL Rahul unavailable because of injury and Covid-19 – Dhawan was pleased with how the bench strength had handled pressure during the series.”The way the boys responded … They are young in age but quite mature and sensible, they can handle pressure quite nicely,” Dhawan said after India won the rain-interrupted third ODI by 119 runs in Trinidad.Related

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“Because of domestic cricket and the IPL … the transition to international cricket becomes quite easy for us. At the same time, hats off to all the boys – both the batting and bowling unit, the way they responded was amazing. They were quite disciplined and practical. They weren’t going with emotions but were using their sense out there. It’s a big, big tick for all of us.”Dhawan was pleased with the way almost every batter contributed in the series. Shubman Gill starred with 205 runs from three innings, Shreyas Iyer made 163 runs with two fifties, while Sanju Samson and Axar Patel also scored crucial half-centuries. Dhawan also said the plan to use allrounder Deepak Hooda with the ball worked so well that he opened the bowling with the offspinner in the third ODI.”If you talk about the batting unit, everyone has scored runs – Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Sanju, Axar … there couldn’t be a better sign for a batting unit,” Dhawan said. “And they all are youngsters. So to play in these conditions after the England tour, be it batting first or chasing, or to play with the same grit in the third game after you have won the first two, that’s a big thing in itself.”Before the series, we knew Deepak could play an allrounder’s role. The way he responded in the first match, that confidence just went up that instead of five overs, he could bowl seven-eight overs too. And not only against left-handers, but he also bowled well to their right-handers. After two games, we realised that their left-hander might struggle a bit against his offspin, we thought of giving him the new ball because there was not much swing for the fast bowlers. So given the wicket, we thought the offspinner might work, and today the first over was a maiden.”In the absence of regular openers Rohit and Rahul, India had to choose between Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan and Gill to partner Dhawan at the top. They chose Gill and he ended up being the Player of the Series, averaging 102.50 with three 40-plus scores and two century partnerships with his captain.Shubman Gill smashed his way to a second fifty of the series on Wednesday•AFP/Getty Images

“He [Gill] has got a very good technique and he is a classy player; you can see that the touch he’s got – I think he has got a bit of Rohit touch in him,” Dhawan said. “He has a lot of time in him. Good to see that he has scored 98 today. He knew how to convert his fifty to 90s. We both got two 100-run partnerships in three matches, that’s a very good sign. The way we handled the first ten overs and their bowling attack, it was really good.”Apart from having a successful series as a captain, Dhawan also made important contributions with the bat. His recent form had not been great: he averaged only 28 in his previous five ODIs before the tour of the Caribbean, and his last hundred was in June 2019. Dhawan finished as the second highest run-scorer in this series, with scores of 97, 13 and 58.”I am very pleased with my batting because the way the ball is hitting my bat and my shots are coming out … With the experience I have and the calmness I play with, I was not rushed at all while batting. I handle the pressure in an even better manner now, so that feels good.”India’s bowlers also played their part in the series win. In the absence of Bumrah and Shami, Yuzvendra Chahaland Shardul Thakur emerged as the top wicket-takers of the series with seven wickets each, while Axar Patel and Mohammed Siraj played supporting roles.”Mohammed Siraj is a quality bowler. After playing for so many years, his self-belief has also increased,” Dhawan said. “Even when I give him a field, he would say, ‘No, I want this field.’ So that pleases me because that shows his self-belief. So when he backs himself, as a captain, it becomes very easy for me. When you see boys know what to do, they know their responsibilities, it feels great as a captain.”Dhawan’s series win was India’s fourth consecutive overseas victory in limited-overs cricket since the tour of South Africa in January this year. He will now hand back the captaincy to Rohit, who returns for the five-match T20I series against West Indies beginning in Tarouba on Friday.

It is understood that his involvement is subject to visa clearance

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Aug-2022India batter Shubman Gill is set for his maiden stint in the County Championship after signing with Glamorgan for the remainder of the 2022 season, subject to visa clearance.If all goes to plan, Gill will be the seventh India player to be signed by a county team this season, after Cheteshwar Pujara (Sussex), Washington Sundar (Lancashire), Krunal Pandya, Mohammed Siraj (both Warwickshire), Umesh Yadav (Middlesex) and Navdeep Saini (Kent). He will be the third Indian to feature for Glamorgan in County Championship after Ravi Shastri (1987-91) and Sourav Ganguly (2005).The top-order batter is coming off a superb run in the ODI series against West Indies and Zimbabwe, where he scored 205 runs at 102.50 average and 245 runs at 122.50 average respectively. Gill has experience of playing 11 Test matches in which he has scored 579 runs at an average of 30.47. His last red-ball game was the fifth Test against England in Birmingham in July this year where he made scores of 17 and 4 in India’s defeat.Related

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• Glamorgan give Patel chance to bring consolation to quiet summer

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He has also featured in 12 first-class matches for his home team Punjab in the Ranji Trophy, India’s domestic red-ball tournament, where he has scored 1176 runs at an average of 65.33.Glamorgan are currently third in the Division Two table with five wins in 10 matches. They still have four more matches left and will resume the season against Worcestershire on September 5 in Cardiff.None of the three overseas players they have used in the Championship will be available in September, with Colin Ingram at the CPL and Marnus Labuschagne and Michael Neser back in Australia. The club previously announced that Ajaz Patel will play the final month of the season for them.

Security tight as team lands in Karachi for start of seven-match T20I series

Matt Roller15-Sep-2022England’s men arrived in Karachi on Thursday morning for their first tour to Pakistan in 17 years and were immediately escorted off the upper deck of their Emirates flight from Dubai into bulletproof buses to take them to the team hotel.The team have been granted VVIP (very, very important person) status throughout their three-week tour, comprising seven T20Is – the first four in Karachi, the last three in Lahore. The Shahrah-e-Faisal Road between Jinnah International Airport and the Movenpick Hotel was closed to the public, with armed guards flanking the convoy throughout the journey.When England last came to Pakistan in 2005, only one member of this squad (Moeen Ali) had made a professional appearance. In the years since, they have played three ‘away’ series at neutral venues in the UAE and their return for this tour marks a significant moment ahead of a three-match Test series in December, after the T20 World Cup.Related

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Their arrival was unobtrusive as they were escorted through the back entrance, past the outdoor pool and through the lobby with minimal fuss, but their status was underlined by what was not obviously visible: snipers stationed on nearby buildings, more than 300 additional security guards at the hotel, and at least 5000 additional police officers on duty across the city.”Visually, it seems a lot,” Jos Buttler, who has travelled as captain despite a calf injury which will rule him out of at least the first half of the series, told the touring media. “It seems over the top, but of course it is there to make sure everything runs smoothly.”That’s the initial challenge as players, just visually, it being very different. After a day or two you get used to that, focus on the cricket and look forward to playing.” They will train for the first time on Friday night at the National Stadium, ahead of the first T20I on Tuesday.Off-field preparations for this tour started around eight months ago, with England’s last-minute withdrawal from their scheduled two-match series last year still fresh in the memory. An ECB delegation travelled in July to review arrangements and the touring party were given a detailed briefing last week, led by security advisor Reg Dickason and Rob Lynch, the Professional Cricketers’ Association chief executive.Both men are with the team for the start of the series along with Rob Key, who worked on Australia’s tour in March as a broadcaster before becoming the ECB’s managing director of men’s cricket, writing in an column that he had been “blown away” and had encountered “the kindest, most welcoming and gracious hosts I’ve ever experienced”.The players know what to expect. Exactly half of England’s 20-man squad have played cricket in Pakistan before thanks to the PSL – Dawid Malan, now a senior player in the T20I set-up, was among the first, flying into Lahore for the 2017 final – while others experienced similar high-security operations on England’s tour to Bangladesh in 2016.”A few guys had some questions but it is great to have someone like Reg who can answer them,” Buttler said. “We have a number of players who have played in the PSL and been here recently as well, and that allayed some concerns. When you know people have been here recently and played… that seems to make things feel okay.”At his arrival press conference, Buttler was greeted by around 25 television cameras and a ballroom – featuring three chandeliers – filled with local reporters. “It’s great to be back as an England cricket team after a long time,” he said. “We’re delighted to be here.” At this stage of the tour, he is filling a diplomatic role as much as a sporting one.Buttler announced a donation – understood to be a five-figure pound-sterling sum – from the players to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s appeal, which will be matched by the ECB, amid the floods that have devastated parts of Pakistan and left millions of people in need of urgent help. “It won’t be enough, but any small part we can play is important,” he said.He drew a parallel with the curtailed IPL season in 2021, which started while India was experiencing the brutal effects of a second Covid-19 wave. “I played in that IPL… whether it was right or wrong, the narrative was the pleasure it was giving to people, and it being a bit of an escape, watching an IPL game every night. Sport can do that.”Sport has a great power to unite people: it has a great power to give a distraction at times of need; it has a great way of bringing people together to show respect. As human beings, we’re all just as conscious of what’s going on around the world as anyone else. Just because we play cricket, that doesn’t mean we don’t watch the news.”We know the tough times that the people of Pakistan are facing at the moment. We hope that us being here can shed light on that, and people can see that people need help. Hopefully, some exciting games of cricket will be a small tonic to raise some spirits as well.”

“There’s no point in saying let’s sweep it under the carpet and move on. I think we’ve got to reflect”

Alex Malcolm26-Oct-20222:12

Buttler: ‘We should let the loss hurt, to be honest’

Let it hurt. That was the message from England captain Jos Buttler to his team after their shock loss to Ireland at the MCG on Wednesday.The loss means England now face a cut-throat game against Australia on Friday at the MCG that has the potential to end the tournament for the loser.There were no excuses offered by the England captain for Wednesday’s loss to Ireland. They did not lament the rain, the ground conditions, or the decision to come off with England just five runs behind on DLS with 5.3 overs remaining.Related

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Buttler instead said that England needed to cop the loss square on the chin and made no attempt to sweep it aside as just an unlucky break.”I think you should let it hurt to be honest,” Buttler said. “I think days like today are really, really disappointing and you’ve got to feel that. There’s no point in saying let’s sweep it under the carpet and move on. I think we’ve got to reflect. We’ve got to do it quickly obviously with a game very soon after. But today should hurt.”Buttler even made the frank admission that the loss hurt more because it was to Ireland. Despite the fact Ireland have now beaten England three times in internationals, including twice at World Cups, the England captain said they expected to win the game.”There’s certainly the expectation on us to win the game today,” Buttler said. “I think we should be expecting to beat an Ireland team. We expected a tough challenge, but we should be expected to win that game. So of course, that adds extra disappointment. Whether you’d say we’re favourites or not going into an Australia game is more of a different conversation. So, I think that adds extra hurt especially.”Buttler admitted England had everything in their favour after winning the toss with rain almost guaranteed to impact the game.Jos Buttler – “We should be expecting to beat an Ireland team. We expected a tough challenge, but we should be expected to win that game”•Getty Images

But they bowled poorly in the first 10 overs to allow Ireland to get away to a flying start. Player of the match Andrew Balbirnie, Paul Stirling and Lorcan Tucker piled up 92 for 1 after 10 overs despite Balbirnie starting sluggishly.Chris Woakes erred badly with the new ball on a surface that offered plenty of swing and seam, missing both his lengths and lines consistently to concede 41 from three overs.”Especially in the first 10 overs with the ball, I thought we were a long way short of the standards we set ourselves in the game before,” Buttler said. “We let Ireland get away from us. I thought we dragged it back well in the second half, but that put a lot of pressure on us right from the start.”Ireland’s seamers then showed their England counterparts up on the same surface prizing out Buttler, Alex Hales and Ben Stokes cheaply in the powerplay to leave England well behind the DLS target as dark clouds loomed over the Ponsford stand.”I take full responsibility myself,” Buttler said. “To lose wickets like that puts the pressure on. I thought Ireland showed us how to bowl on that wicket. They found movement and created problems. That’s just a really disappointing day.”England nearly hauled it in thanks to some excellent late hitting from Moeen Ali as the rain began to fall. They were just five runs shy on DLS when the game was called off. Buttler had no issue with the umpires’ decision to take the players off and stated that with the benefit of hindsight they could have used Ali and Liam Livingstone earlier to get ahead of the rate.England have just 48 hours to turn it around. There is little margin for error now for Australia or England on Friday night at the MCG. But England have experienced this position before in the 2019 50-over World Cup.”That’s what World Cup cricket is about,” Buttler said. “Of course, we wanted to be going into that game having won two games from two. But at some point in this tournament, the way it’s set up, you’re in must-win games the majority of the time.”Friday’s already a big occasion playing Australia at the MCG and it takes on that extra bit now with both teams having lost one game.”

Pant vs Karthik is India’s major selection debate in a contest full of star-studded match-ups

Vithushan Ehantharajah09-Nov-20226:53

Key match-ups: Kumble feels Suryakumar will put Curran under pressure

Big picture

The self-anointed big boys of world cricket are going at it at the Adelaide Oval. The neutrals may struggle to pick a side, but one thing is certain – it will be a blockbuster occasion.Familiarity will breed competition in this instance, given what’s at stake. Just a few months ago these two sides spent a concentrated fortnight at one another’s throats, with India taking the T20I leg with a pretty convincing 2-1 series win. But things are different now, very much in a good way. Jos Buttler is a more accomplished captain, settled in the rigmarole of the job and his tactics. Meanwhile, Virat Kohli has rediscovered his mojo.England will feel they have an edge of sorts, what with two must-win games ticked off against New Zealand and Sri Lanka to get them out of Group 1. There is a renewed confidence about them as setters having long been chasers, to the extent that the toss may be academic provided evening dew is minimal.Related

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• India vs England at World Cups: From Amarnath's heroics to an Adelaide cakewalk

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• Tactics Board: Bhuvneshwar vs Buttler, Wood vs Suryakumar

• Hardik Pandya: the gold standard for a T20 allrounder

As for India, the only team to have won four matches in the Super 12 stage, the pressure to go on to a reunion with Pakistan at the MCG in Sunday’s final will be great, though no greater than what their players usually contend with. Quite apart from their obvious strength is a cerebral approach to their T20 work that gives them a unique edge over opponents before they have set foot on the park. Much of England’s public preparation has been on bigging that up while privately racking their brains to take them down a few pegs.The shorter square boundaries in Adelaide, as detailed in our Tactics Board, will play to the strengths of both batting line-ups. That no Englishman other than openers Buttler and Alex Hales have hit more than one six in the tournament speaks of a middle order that hasn’t quite come to the party. And while it’s tempting to say they are “due”, India will no doubt be focussing on keeping them quiet. One expects Sam Curran’s emergence as Buttler’s go-to death bowler will also face its sternest test against a side who are striking at 11.90 at the death.Wherever you look, there are match-ups that could be regarded as game-changing bouts. Don’t miss any of them.1:14

Watch: India tune up for the semi-final

Form guide

India WWLWW (last five completed T20Is, most recent first)
England WWLWW

In the spotlight

In a team of superstars, Suryakumar Yadav strides above them all as the man of this World Cup. No one has had a more profound effect on his team – and opponents – quite like this 32-year-old phenom equipped with more scoring options than Erling Haaland. The numbers he’s posted so far – 225 at a strike rate of 193.96 – are remarkable, the strokeplay drawing admiration from all quarters, even AB de Villiers who is the only one that springs to mind when it comes to the consistent destruction this man is serving up. Can he be stopped?Reliable with the ball, the usual excellence in the field and, against Sri Lanka, finally a score of note with the bat. Picking Ben Stokes in this section is as clear as the blue’s SKY. But in Dawid Malan’s likely absence, the allrounder is the only batter likely to hold the innings together and take things deep in the event of early losses. They say the big moments find him, and few come bigger than this.

Team news

The only debate for India is whether to play Rishabh Pant or Dinesh Karthik. Pant can upset Adil Rashid being a left-hand batter but Karthik is the finisher who can hit from ball one. Also Pant will have Moeen Ali’s offspin to deal with. Going by India’s training session, it looks like Karthik will play, having engaged in keeping drills while Pant did not. It is touch and go.India (possible): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 KL Rahul, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Dinesh Karthik/Rishabh Pant (wk), 7 Axar Patel, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Arshdeep Singh.Neither Mark Wood nor Dawid Malan were fully fit at the time of the captain’s press conferences but England are willing to give them as much time as possible. Malan batted for a bit with one pad on, while Wood bowled about two overs max – with England understood to be ready to play Chris Jordan in his stead. It was notable that Phil Salt batted for a long period in the nets. Those changes in themselves will bring a degree of uncertainty given England have named unchanged XIs for their World Cup games so far.England (possible): 1 Jos Buttler (capt & wk), 2 Alex Hales, 3 Dawid Malan/Phil Salt, 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Liam Livingstone, 7 Moeen Ali, 8 Sam Curran, 9 Chris Woakes, 10 Chris Jordan, 11 Adil Rashid.In the possible absence of Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes could play a key role in holding England’s batting together•AFP/Getty Images

Pitch and conditions

Yes, this will be a used pitch, but it was last used on November 4 for the match between Australia and Afghanistan. The groundsman has assured Jos Buttler that he has had enough time to prepare what should not behave like a tired pitch. Buttler said: “I think having talked to the groundsman, his team is really confident that he’s had a lot of time to get some really good work into the wicket. He seems very comfortable that it’s going to be a really good surface and a consistent surface. At the moment I have no worries about the pitch.”For what it’s worth, the pitch for Australia vs Afghanistan started off slow and inconsistent in bounce, but it skidded on nicely at night. Afghanistan came close to chasing down 168. Chasing upon winning the toss might be a good idea, though much of the week leading up to this match has been quite hot so there might be more pace in this pitch. The forecast is fine, albeit with a morning shower predicted. Nevertheless, this should be an uninterrupted match.

Stats and trivia

• India have won their last four bilateral T20I series against England – two in England, two in India, all four by one-match margins.
• The two teams have not met at a T20 World Cup in this period, though. The last of their three meetings came in 2012, when a Rohit Sharma half-century and a four-wicket haul from Harbhajan Singh led India to a 90-run win in Colombo. In all, India have a 2-1 lead in T20 World Cup meetings.
• Virat Kohli needs 42 runs to become the first batter to 4000 in T20Is. Alex Hales, meanwhile, is 13 short of the 2000 mark.

Quotes

“These guys are quite dangerous. They’ve played some really good cricket in the tournament as well, which is why they’re here. So we’ve got to be at our best to win the game.”
“Well, we certainly don’t want to see an India-Pakistan final, so we’ll be trying all we can do to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“There are no grudges” as Australia and South Africa prepare for first Test face-off since sandpaper saga

Andrew McGlashan16-Dec-2022Dean Elgar believes there could be moments where the contest between Australia and South Africa over the next three weeks becomes “feisty” but both he and his opposite number Pat Cummins are confident it won’t come near the levels of the ugly 2018 series.Although the two sides have met in ODIs and T20Is since that controversial encounter more than four years ago, this is the first Test match battle – a format of the game that allows contests, both good and bad, more time to build and stew. This series will also have a significant bearing on who reaches the World Test Championship final in June.Related

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Both captains and their teams have insisted in the build-up that in the changing rooms 2018 has not warranted a mention, but its fallout lives on, particularly in Australia with David Warner’s recent leadership ban saga bringing it back to the forefront over the last week and also in the recent books published by Tim Paine and Faf du Plessis.”There will be moments, no doubt, where there will be a few feisty encounters but hopefully it doesn’t reach the stage that we experienced in 2018,” Elgar said. “What’s happened in the past happened. There are no grudges. We know they want to win and we want to win. There will always be a moment where egos and the heat of the moment gets to the guys but think it will be better controlled this time.”If they’ve got added issues with regards to [what happened] then that’s their thing, but with regards my team we haven’t spoken about it once. It’s history for us.”Cummins, who was part of the 2018 bowling unit and has played through Australia’s rebuilding and is now leading the team, followed a similar theme. There has been less turnover in their side meaning that along with him, five other players remain from Cape Town: Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon. Josh Hazlewood would also have been here but for injury.”We’ve all moved on,” Cummins said. “I don’t think we’re probably as abrasive as we’ve been in the past. It’s working for us. How we are off the field is pretty similar to what we play on the field I think – calm, very chill, just enjoying it out there, really competitive. And we’ve done that really well over the last 12 months.”Speaking on Thursday, Khawaja provided a perspective of someone who was in the team at Newlands, then spent time out of the side, before his recall earlier this year.”Honestly [it] hasn’t been [discussed] and I’m being genuine,” he said. “It’s because time heals all wounds. We’ve just come so far from there that we’ve got a bigger picture. I think that actually gave guys a lot of perspective. Australian cricket, both as a whole and as individual as players we were probably at rock bottom right there too.”It gives you a lot of time to reflect and look back on things. I genuinely look and I see where the guys were four years ago to where they are now. There’s been a lot of growing up and there’s been a lot of maturity. I probably got to see it better than most because I was in the team, then I went away and then I came back in so it’s been a nice change.”No one is willing to say what it would take for the good behaviour code to be broken; for their part South Africa, who have won their last three series in Australia, have intimated they would need to be provoked to respond – “it doesn’t take much for our guys to step up when needs be,” coach Malibongwe Maketa said – while Cummins insisted Australia would not be goaded.”We’re really strong on who we are as a team, how we want to go about it,” he said. “The last 12 months have been a great example on that. We’re pretty firm on how we want to act and conduct ourselves. Whatever gets thrown at us, won’t change that.”

She describes captaining South Africa in a home World Cup as a “massive, massive honour”

Valkerie Baynes09-Feb-2023Sune Luus doesn’t mind admitting that captaincy is a role she has grown, and continues to grow, into.On the eve of the Women’s T20 World Cup, where she will lead hosts South Africa in the opening game against Sri Lanka at Newlands, Luus felt firmly ensconced in a job she has held on and off since 2017 and ready to take on the world.”It’s always difficult being a stand-in captain, you’re always one foot in and one foot out,” Luus said. “But as I grew up I was always a leader at some stage in whatever team I played, so those leadership qualities came natural to me and it’s a role I would really like to grow into.”Every game you play, you get more accustomed to your team-mates next to you and what they want and what they need. Every game you play you grow into that role.”Luus cut a different figure on Thursday to the one standing in when Dane van Niekerk missed South Africa’s tour of England last year with a broken ankle. During that time, her team was facing the controversial retirement of Lizelle Lee, lost star player Marizanne Kapp for a portion of the trip and won just one match in the multi-format series after drawing the Test.Related

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Now, with a global event on her doorstep, Luus seemed understandably more upbeat and was positively inspiring, despite her side again being without van Niekerk, who failed the 2km run segment of her fitness test to qualify for selection. But Luus was willing to embrace the noise around her team leading up to this tournament as part of the job.”It’s just a reality, but at the moment I’m an official captain so it makes my job easier to take control and kind of stamp my authority on things and how I would like to go about things,” Luus said. “It comes with a new dimension. It brings new challenges and difficulties but it’s a challenge I’m willing to take on and accept and grow in that role. The focus is on cricket and that’s where we’d like it to be.”Luus has captained South Africa in 28 T20Is, winning half of them, while van Niekerk has a similar record with 15 wins from 30 matches as captain. South Africa have also won 19 of Luus’ 34 ODIs as captain, compared to 29 of 50 under van Niekerk.In a sign of the calmness she prides herself on as a captain, Luus was able to laugh off a minor hiccup to her latest preparations for leading her country after her proud parents’ arrival from Johannesburg to watch her was delayed.12:25

Why this feels like a special edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup

“My parents just missed their flight,” Luus said. “Hopefully they make it for the first game to be here and supporting me. The moment I phoned my dad and I told him this is how it’s going to be, he started crying and he was just so proud. It’s a massive, massive honour to lead a country, not just in any series but at a home World Cup, I think that makes it even more special.”I would like to think I’m very calm and collected on the field. Some people might say I’m too calm and too chilled but in difficult times that’s what a team needs, you don’t want someone that’s also going a bit frantic.”South Africa split their official warm-up matches with a win and a loss. They comfortably defeated Pakistan by six wickets, a win built largely on a century opening stand between Laura Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits, and posted 229 chasing 247 against England when middle-order batters Chloe Tryon and Nadine de Klerk both scored fifties.Prior to that, they had defeated India in the final of their tri-series, also involving West Indies, with an unbeaten half-century from Tryon and some solid bowling by left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba, who has surged ahead of Deepti Sharma to sit second on the ICC’s T20 bowlers’ rankings behind Sophie Ecclestone. With slow wickets expected at this tournament, it could play into Mlaba’s hands.”She’s been fantastic in our team,” Luus said. “She started at a very young age and she’s grown in leaps and bounds over the last couple of years in terms of her bowling and every game she’s playing she’s just getting more confidence. She’s going to be vital for us being our main spinner and controlling the game.”First game aside, Luus also has her eyes on the big picture in terms of what the tournament could mean for women’s cricket in South Africa as a whole.”It’s quite massive,” Luus said. “I don’t think we quite realise what we’ve really achieved without playing a game. It’s going to be awesome tomorrow seeing everyone coming out and apart from the cricketing things and apart from being successful and winning games, it’s the responsibility of inspiring a nation as well and inspiring young girls to get out of their comfort zones and to imagine a career that they can do anything in.”That’s one of our biggest roles as a team that we would like to play, not just winning games but also inspiring a nation to give them that opportunity to know that they can be anything they want.”There’s always going to be pressure and you’re always going to feel it whether you play at home or not but we’ve spoken a lot about it and how we want to go about this World Cup. We just need to embrace the moment and embrace the pressure and take it on and run with it.”

The final will be played on March 26, at the Brabourne Stadium

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Feb-20237:15

‘Alyssa Healy an absolute steal at INR 70 lakh’

Gujarat Giants and Mumbai Indians will kick off the inaugural Women’s Premier League (WPL) at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on March 4. This was confirmed as the BCCI announced the fixtures for the WPL. The final will be at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on March 26, following 20 league games and an Eliminator. As expected, the tournament will be played in and around Mumbai only, split between these two stadiums.The games will be played at 3.30pm and 7.30pm IST, with four double-headers lined up in all. Each team plays the other four twice, before the league topper goes into the final, with teams finishing second and third on the points table facing off in the Eliminator for the other spot in the final.Once the tournament begins, during the league phase there are no matches lined up only on March 17 and 19, till the phase ends on March 21 with UP Warriorz taking on Delhi Capitals. The Eliminator is three days later at the DY Patil Stadium, before a day’s break and then the final.In all, 11 matches each will be held at the DY Patil Stadium and Brabourne Stadium.Related

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The schedule means the WPL kicks off following a five-day gap after the Women’s T20 World Cup concludes in Cape Town in South Africa on February 26 – it could be a gap of only four days, should the T20 World Cup final go into a reserve day. As ESPNcricinfo had reported earlier, it is understood that the first season has been limited to Mumbai to reduce the logistical challenges for players and coaches travelling from South Africa to India.The schedule was announced a day after the inaugural WPL auction, which was also held in Mumbai. In all 87 players were bought at the auction by the five teams, with INR 59.5 crore (USD 7.25 million approx.) spent. The biggest earners on the night were Smriti Mandhana (INR 3.4 crore or USD 415,000 approx to Royal Challengers Bangalore), Ashleigh Gardner (INR 3.2 crore or USD 390,000 approx to Giants) and Nat Sciver-Brunt (INR 3.2 crore or USD 390,000 approx to Mumbai).

In the absence of Aditya Shrivastava, wicketkeeper-batter Himanshu Mantri will captain Madhya Pradesh

Shashank Kishore26-Feb-2023Mayank Agarwal, the highest run-getter of the recently-concluded Ranji Trophy season, is set to lead Rest of India in the Irani Cup fixture against Madhya Pradesh starting on March 1 in Gwalior. The match was initially set to be played in Indore, but had to be shifted to Gwalior after the third India-Australia Test was allotted to the Holkar Stadium. The Irani Cup game will be the first first-class game in Gwalior in more than six years.The most notable absentee in the 16-member squad, which is yet to officially be announced by the BCCI, is Mumbai’s Sarfaraz Khan. ESPNcricinfo understands Sarfaraz, a prolific run-getter for the last three seasons, has been advised eight to ten days of rest for a finger injury he sustained while playing in the DY Patil T20 Cup in Mumbai. Sarfaraz is currently nursing the injury at a fitness camp organised by Delhi Capitals in Kolkata.Agarwal, who is looking to reclaim his Test spot after falling out of favour in June last year, is likely to be partnered by Bengal opener Abhimanyu Easwaran. Abhimanyu is also looking to earn a breakthrough after having been part of the Test squad in Bangladesh in December. Prior to that, he was India A captain on the shadow tour to Bangladesh, where he hit two back-to-back hundreds.Sudip Kumar Gharami, Yashasvi Jaiswal, B Indrajith and Yash Dhull are among the other top-order batters in the Rest of India squad. Gharami and Abhimanyu were sixth and seventh in the Ranji top-run-getters list with 803 and 798 runs respectively in Bengal’s runners-up finish.Only two members of the title-winning Saurashtra team have been picked: wicketkeeper-opener Harvik Desai and left-arm seamer Chetan Sakariya. It’s likely Desai will be the second stumper behind Uttar Pradesh’s Upendra Yadav, who has already been part of several India A tours over the last two years.The fast-bowling unit is well-rounded with Bengal’s pace duo of Mukesh Kumar and Akash Deep joining Sakariya and Delhi’s Navdeep Saini in a four-man attack. Saini will be making a return from an abdominal muscle strain he picked up on the India A tour of Bangladesh. Baroda’s Atith Sheth is the lone seam-bowling allrounder in the mix.Two of the season’s top wicket-takers, Jalaj Saxena (Kerala allrounder) and Shams Mulani (Mumbai allrounder), find themselves missing the bus despite picking up 50 and 46 wickets respectively. The selection panel of SS Das, S Sharath, Salil Ankola and Subroto Bannerjee, instead, picked Uttar Pradesh left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar. Punjab legspinner Mayank Markande, too, was originally named in the squad, but was ruled out of the tournament after injuring his right index finger during training. Markande was replaced in the squad by allrounder Shams Mulani.Madhya Pradesh, meanwhile, will be led by wicketkeeper-batter Himanshu Mantri in the absence of regular captain Aditya Shrivastava. Much of the core group that won the Ranji Trophy in June last year has been retained, with Rajat Patidar, Venkatesh Iyer, Avesh Khan, Shubham Sharma and Yash Dubey all in the mix.Madhya Pradesh, the champions of the 2021-22 season, were initially slated to play their Irani Cup game at the start of the 2022-23 season. However, the match was later allotted to Saurashtra, the winners in 2019-20, as they were denied the opportunity to host the Irani Cup because of the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic a week after their maiden triumph in March 2020.Rest of India squad: Mayank Agarwal (capt), Sudip Kumar Gharami, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Harvik Desai, Mukesh Kumar, Atit Sheth, Chetan Sakariya, Navdeep Saini, Upendra Yadav (wk), Shams Mulani, Saurabh Kumar, Akash Deep, B Indrajith, Pulkit Narang, Yash DhullMadhya Pradesh squad: Himanshu Mantri (capt & wk), Rajat Patidar, Yash Dubey, Harsh Gawli, Shubham Sharma, Venkatesh Iyer, Akshat Raghuwanshi, Aman Solanki, Kumar Kartikeya, Saransh Jain, Avesh Khan, Ankit Kushwah, Gaurav Yadav, Anubhav Agarwal, Mihir Hirwani

Three wickets in an over from Taskin killed Ireland’s revised chase of 104 in eight overs

Mohammad Isam27-Mar-2023Rony Talukdar, Litton Das and excellent death bowling form Taskin Ahmed helped Bangladesh beat Ireland and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match T20I series in Chattogram. The home side won the rain-interrupted game by 22 runs.Talukdar made a rapid 67, adding 91 runs for the opening stand with Litton, who struck 47. The Ireland bowlers struggled to stop the boundary flow on a flat pitch.The play was, however, stopped between 3:37 pm and 5:40 pm local time due to the drizzle. It left the visitors with a revised target of 104 runs to chase in eight overs. They made a fist of it at the start, but Taskin, Hasan Mahmud and Shakib Al Hasan made sure Bangladesh did not let this game slip away from them.Taskin’s triple blowChasing at 13 runs an over, stand-in captain Paul Stirling and Ross Adair got Ireland off to a quick start. They scored 32 runs off the first two overs bowled by Nasum Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman. But Bangladesh worked back into the game quickly.Mahmud shot back with three dot balls before yorking Adair for 13. Taskin then doubled down on Bangladesh’s momentum with three wickets in his first over. He cleaned up Lorcan Tucker off the first ball before bowling out Stirling for 17 in the fourth ball. George Dockrell was then caught at third-man for a duck the next ball.Shakib pull things back for BangladeshIreland fought back with 16 runs off Hasan Mahmud in the fifth over. Harry Tector struck three fours in the over, top-edging one delivery and hitting the other two for four cleanly. Shakib followed it up with a superb sixth over, giving away just five runs to bring Bangladesh back into the game.Mustafizur Rahman then bowled a seven-run penultimate over, mixing his cutters with full-length balls that Tector and Gareth Delany couldn’t quite hit. The equation came down to 31 off the last over. Taskin dismissed Tector in the first delivery to complete his four-wicket haul and conceded just nine runs off the final over.Rony Talukdar reached fifty off only 24 balls•AFP/Getty Images

Bangladesh’s rapid startLitton signalled his intent in the first over, hitting Tector for a six over long-on in an 11-run over. Talukdar hit Adair for his first six in the 14-run second over, before Graham Hume pulled things back slightly in the third over. Craig Young went for 16 runs in his first over since returning to international cricket after last year’s groin injury. Litton hammered him for a six over midwicket, before picking him over wide long-off for a four.Legspinner Delany conceded just one six in the fifth over, before Adair got hit for 20 runs in the sixth over. After Litton nearly got caught at cover, Talukdar smashed Adair for a six over long-off and three more fours.The big over took Bangladesh to 81 for no loss, their highest score in a powerplay in T20Is. It beat their previous best of 76-4 against New Zealand in Dhaka in 2013. Young removed Litton in the eighth over, when he was caught at mid-off after mistiming a drive, having made 47 off 23 balls with seven boundaries including three sixes. The 91-run partnership is now Bangladesh’s highest first wicket stand.Talukdar hits maiden T20I fiftyLitton’s departure, however, didn’t help Ireland stem the flow of runs for Bangladesh. Talukdar reached his maiden T20I fifty in the ninth over. He took 24 balls with a nicely-timed four through cover-point. Najmul Hossain Shanto struck a six in his 13-ball 14 before Tector had him stumped in the 11th over. Shamim Hossain, promoted to No. 4, smashed Ben White for one of two sixes in the 12th over, which went for 18.Talukdar struck the other six, a massive hit over midwicket. He fell shortly afterwards missing a slog against Hume, having struck three sixes and seven fours in his 38-ball stay. Shamim was caught in the covers for a 20-ball 30 before Tohwid Hridoy was the fifth man out in the penultimate over.The win was largely set up by Bangladesh’s batters, who put up their third-highest total in T20Is.