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The offspinner took four wickets as West Indies were bundled out for 148

Hemant Brar22-Jan-2021Mehidy Hasan registered his best bowling figures as Bangladesh beat a depleted West Indies side by seven wickets in the second ODI in Mirpur to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.Mehidy bagged 4 for 25, and Mustafizur Rahman and Shakib Al Hasan chipped in with two wickets each as West Indies’ batting collapsed for the second successive game. At one stage, they were tottering at 71 for 7 but Rovman Powell, surprisingly batting at No. 8 even in this inexperienced line-up, resisted with the tail and struck a 66-ball 41. He was the last man out as West Indies were bowled out for 148 in 43.4 overs.Bangladesh faced little trouble during their chase, especially after Liton Das gave them a breezy start. Tamim Iqbal, meanwhile, looked happy to play the anchor’s role, scoring 50 off 76 balls, as the hosts chased down the target in 33.2 overs. They now have 20 points from two World Cup Super League games, while West Indies are yet to open their account.In the morning, Jason Mohammed opted to bat on a used pitch. After being bundled out for 122 in the first ODI, West Indies decided to strengthen their batting by bringing in debutant Kjorn Ottley, the left-hand opener, in place of the fast bowler Chemar Holder, but the gulf between the two sides was evident right from the start.Sunil Ambris fell in the fifth over when Mustafizur squared him up with the one that moved away off the seam. The batsman got an outside edge towards backward point where Mehidy took a sharp catch. Ottley and Joshua Da Silva looked solid for a while but failed to rotate the strike; there were 47 dots in the first ten overs.Once spin was introduced, it was the same story as the first ODI as 36 for 1 became 41 for 5 in the space of 28 balls. Ottley, who had moved to 24, tried to go over extra cover against Mehidy but failed to clear Tamim Iqbal. Three balls later, Mehidy had his second wicket when Da Silva was bowled playing for the turn against a straighter one.In the next over, Andre McCarthy tried to slog-sweep Shakib but, just like the first ODI, failed to pick the arm ball and was bowled. West Indies had added only two more to their tally when Kyle Mayers, who had scored an impressive 40 in the last outing, was run out for zero while responding to Mohammed’s call for a quick single.Mohammed and Nkrumah Bonner gave some semblance of stability during their 26-run stand for the sixth wicket before Shakib struck with yet another arm ball, this time sending back Mohammed. At the other end, Bonner chopped Hasan Mahmud onto his stumps and it looked like West Indies might be all out under 100.Powell then struck a couple of lusty blow and took the side past the three-figure mark during a 32-run stand with Alzarri Joseph for the ninth wicket. On the eve of the match, Joseph had expressed his desire to develop into an allrounder and he took a small, positive step in that direction today but Mustafizur’s cutters proved too good for him and he ended up edging one to gully.Powell and Akeal Hosein added 28 for the tenth wicket before Mehidy returned to dismiss Powell and wrap up the innings.Bangladesh started their chase positively even though Joseph found some swing with the new ball and kept Iqbal in check. But Das played some sublime drives through the off side, against both Joseph and Mayers, to ensure the score kept moving at a decent rate.Das’ innings was cut short on 22 when Hosein trapped him lbw with a quicker one. Hosein had picked up 3 for 26 in the first ODI and he impressed once again with his clever changes of pace. He found turn as well but both Iqbal and Najmul Hossain Shanto played him calmly and took the side past 50. Their 47-run stand was broken when Shanto hit Mohammed straight to short midwicket.Iqbal, though, kept dealing in ones and twos – with an occasional boundary in between – at the other end and brought up his 48th ODI half-century. He fell immediately after reaching the milestone but Shakib, alongside Mushfiqur Rahim, knocked off the remaining 40 runs without further hiccups.

Shakib had hurt his left thigh during the first Test, which Bangladesh lost by three wickets

Mohammad Isam08-Feb-2021Shakib Al Hasan has been ruled out of the second Test against West Indies, beginning in Dhaka on February 11, because of the left-thigh injury that kept him away from large chunks of the action during the first Test in Chattogram. *Bangladesh have named Soumya Sarkar as his replacement.According to a BCB statement, the board’s medical team will continue to treat Shakib, who will, however, leave the team’s bio-security bubble for the time being. “After careful consideration it has been confirmed that he will not be available for the second Test,” it read.Related

• Nkrumah Bonner's 74* leads West Indies' fightback on a slow day

• Five reasons West Indies' Chattogram win is one of their greatest

• A bolt from the blue – Kyle Mayers takes Test cricket by storm

• At no point did I think we would lose the game – Mominul Haque

Shakib picked up the injury during the second day’s play in Chattogram, when he attempted to stop a ball off his own bowling with his foot. He continued to bowl for a while longer, but neither batted nor bowled after leaving the field later that afternoon. Bangladesh, who had a 171-run lead after the first-innings exchanges, eventually lost the Test by three wickets with debutant Kyle Mayers hitting a stunning 210* to take West Indies to victory. Shakib had scored 68 in nearly four hours’ batting in the first innings.Shakib had earlier suffered a groin niggle during the third ODI against West Indies, on January 25 in Chattogram. He had left the field on that occasion too, and joined the national team’s training a few days before the first Test, which began on February 3.Despite the injuries, Shakib’s return to international cricket following the one-year ICC ban has been a successful one. He was the Player of the Series in the ODIs, where he returned 4 for 8 in the first game and hit 43* and 51 in the next two games as Bangladesh won 3-0.No replacement has yet been announced by the Bangladesh selectors, who had earlier named an 18-man Test squad for the two matches.*This copy was updated on February 9 when the BCB announced Shakib Al Hasan’s replacement

Despite the long gap, Virat Kohli doesn’t expect Mitchell Starc to be any easier to face

Vishal Dikshit in Mumbai13-Jan-20201:20

Looks like Starc is back to swinging the ball like he used to – Kohli

When Ashton Turner turned up at the pre-match press conference on Monday, the first question was about his last India tour, highlighted by the Mohali ODI in which he clobbered an unbeaten 84 of 43 balls to help Australia chase down 359. Each time he recalled that innings on Monday, he let out a beaming smile.What would Mitchell Starc say if he was asked the same question? He’d have to jog back his memory a long way, because his last ODI in India was nearly 10 years ago. Starc made his ODI debut in India, back in October 2010, and hasn’t played an ODI in the country ever since. There are non-Asian players who are eager to tour India, who jump on the opportunities provided by the IPL, to not only play T20 cricket, but also familiarise themselves with the conditions so that it helps them for international tours later on. Not Starc.His last IPL game in India was in 2015 and his last international game in the country was during the Test series nearly three years ago. It’s still likely that because of his skills, Starc’s name will be among the first few on the team sheet on Tuesday. Don’t be surprised if he strikes with the new ball and then nails his yorkers in the death overs.Starc’s adroitness is such that he knows what to do in what kind of conditions. He has played 11 ODIs in Asia – the last one in Sri Lanka in 2016 – and taken 26 wickets at a phenomenal average of 18.65, which is bettered only by Rashid Khan and Mustafizur Rahman (minimum 100 overs bowled).In those five ODIs in Sri Lanka in 2016, Starc tormented the top order with his swing and pace – almost always striking with the new ball – and then occasionally deceived batsmen with his cutters and pace variations. One thing he did through the series was to target the stumps on the flat and slow pitches, taking nine of his 12 wickets either bowled or lbw. And he was the top wicket-taker that series. Which means that despite the long gap, Virat Kohli doesn’t expect Starc to be any easier to face.ESPNcricinfo

“I don’t think that not having played in India [recently] will be much of a factor for him, because he’s played a lot over here,” Kohli said on Monday. “And anyone who has pace, once they find their length they can adjust anywhere, so pace is always going to be an advantage. But having said that we have played against these guys a lot.”What India haven’t faced from Starc recently is his tweaked action, the result of working last year with New South Wales coach Andre Adams. Starc made the change after being picked for only one Ashes Test last year, and upon return to domestic cricket, returned career-best Sheffield Shield figures of 10 for 60 against Tasmania.Starc now bends his left elbow a little more in his delivery load up, so as to hold the ball closer to his left ear, and he looks more linear just before the release when his right arm is outstretched. Kohli has been keeping track of all this.”He is a very skillful bowler and he’s changed his action now, which we saw him getting more swing. Looks like he’s back to swinging the ball like he used to, and that makes him a lethal bowler all over again,” Kohli said. “When he gets to swing the ball like that – the new ball – and then he can tear it away with the old ball because he has got his action in a linear fashion. It is pretty interesting to come up against a guy like that.”Against India, he will have two duels: first against the robust top order and then against the lesser experienced middle and lower order. It could very well be that the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Kohli see Starc’s first spell off to target the other bowlers. Kohli has been dogged enough to not lose his wicket to Starc even once in ODIs, while scoring 56 off 57 balls, while Dhawan has been the poorest of the lot – Starc has dismissed him thrice in 41 balls, conceding 23 runsThe tougher test will be for India’s middle and lower order. If the more experienced batsmen are gone, and the pressure is to score quickly against Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, players like Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Kedar Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja will need to come up with answers to a variety of questions.”It is going to be a great challenge for them (middle order) to face someone like Mitchell,” Kohli said. “I’ve played with him, played against him a lot. We’ll definitely have to be up for it and especially the younger guys in the middle order. They should look for a challenge. Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood, if he plays, (Kane) Richardson is an experienced bowler. Adam Zampa. All these guys will challenge us throughout the game.”No matter who comes out on top in these contests, it’s likely Starc will look like he has been a regular on India tours.

Four wickets in nine balls for Sam Curran leaves Surrey needing victory in their final game and condemns Gloucestershire to a bottom-place finish

Vithushan Ehantharajah17-Aug-2017Sam Curran has given Surrey a potential route to the quarters•Getty Images

Fittingly, in a T20 Blast campaign that has seen Surrey stutter with every strut, a messy win has left them in control of their own destiny going into their final group match. Victory by two wickets over Gloucestershire, achieved with all the conviction of two dogs in a long coat applying for a mortgage, owed much to a bit of pluck as well as Gloucestershire’s own incompetence.Boy wonder Sam Curran gave Surrey the potential for a clear passage through to the last eight with one of the spells of the season, taking four wickets for no runs in the space of nine balls, which included three in his second over.Dangerman Michael Klinger was caught at mid off, before yorkers to Phil Mustard and Cameron Bancroft in successive balls, then Iain Cockbain chipping to mid on ripped the heart and soul out of Gloucestershire’s middle order.Late graft saw Gloucestershire post 130 for 9 and Surrey knew that a quick polishing off of the target would improve their net run rate, with a number of sides expect to finish on equal points when the South Group culiminates tomorrow. Aaron Finch hit the first ball of the innings for six and so the assault began.But Gloucestershire dug deep to reduce Surrey to 69 for 4 after 12 overs. Australian Moises Henriques, appreciating that a quick fix was out of the question, ran all bar 16 of his 45 runs before he was run out smartly by Cockbain, attempting to regain the strike. Rikki Clarke’s cool head found 13 from the 17th over against David Payne, which included a flicked six over midwicket, leaving 20 needed from the final 18 balls.Naturally, Surrey had a few more duff ups left. Clarke ran himself out on the second ball of the 18th over and then Sam Curran was bowled four balls later, attempting to ramp over the keeper. With the equation now 15 off 12, David Payne conceded seven from the first three balls, removed Stuart Meaker and then overstepped with the very next delivery. The free hit brought just two, the extra ball one and so three were needed off the final over. A couple of leg byes and a clip of Gareth Batty’s toes saw the hosts home, finally, with four balls to spare.South London nights have been good to Surrey and they owe it to the atmosphere they have cultivated at the Oval to be a serious player in T20 cricket.They have seen an increase of between five and 10% on last year’s ticket sales for the T20 Blast. Three games at the Oval have been sell-outs, while their match against Glamorgan last week was as good as. Across both their Sunday fixtures – the trickiest day to sell, with a very different clientelle more in tune with Fraggle Rock than the Fratellis – they welcomed more than 30,000 through their gates.They used this final home match of the group stage to try out a new Family Area up on the OCS balcony. Families are usually situated in the Peter May Stand, but feedback to the club has highlighted that rowdiness often spills over causing those with families a degree of discomfort. Surrey have been accused in the past for allowing raucousness in the stands to go too far, so this is very much a step in the right direction.But as much as T20 cricket is about drawing in crowds, and few do it better than Surrey, the club need something tangible on the field beyond the catwalk of big names that drop in and out as per their schedule. Victory over Kent on Friday will secure passage to the quarter-finals.Defeat in this manner sums up a Gloucestershire season that will see them claim bottom-place with a day still to go in the South Group. For a side so well-equipped at white ball cricket on paper, and with results in previous seasons to prove it, it marks the end of a sorry season in all three formats.Throughout this period, Michael Klinger has been their stand-out leader when it comes to runs, but his 281 this season represents his lowest return in English domestic T20 cricket, with 0, 9, 0 and today’s 11 making up his last four knocks. Unfortunately for the county, no one was able to pick up his slack: he finishes as Gloucestershire’s leading run scorer and the only player to make a score over 60 (101 in defeat to Hampshire).Benny Howell excelled once more. Possibly one of the most underrated bowler all-rounders in the country, his T20 season ended with a 2 for 18 from four overs that helped invoke panic in Surrey’s ranks. His 16 wickets this year have been achieved with an economy rate of less than six. None of the top 19 wicket-takers in the country match his frugality.

David Miller, Dawid Malan and Manvinder Bisla are the other three players to have withdrawn

Andrew Fidel Fernando26-Oct-2020Five foreign players, including Andre Russell, Faf du Plessis and David Miller have withdrawn from the Lanka Premier League (LPL) less than a week after they were drafted into franchise teams.Miller, du Plessis and Dawid Malan have become unavailable because of the limited-overs series between South Africa and England, set to begin on November 27. Russell, meanwhile, has pulled out due to injury, according to Sri Lanka Cricket. Manvinder Bisla, the fifth player to exit the tournament, is not believed to have provided a reason though. The LPL is scheduled to start on November 21 and run until December 13.”The franchises that had these players will have to negotiate with other players to take their place,” LPL director Ravin Wickramaratne told ESPNcricinfo. Russell, Miller, du Plessis and Malan had all been selected as marquee players, which means the franchises are not bound by the constraints of the draft payment structure when they seek new players.Although it was suspected that the players from South Africa and England would withdraw once England’s tour of South Africa was confirmed, Russell’s exit is more of a surprise. He has not played for the Kolkata Knight Riders since the game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on October 18 owing to a knee injury but hasn’t yet pulled out of the IPL entirely either. No update has been given on his further involvement in the ongoing tournament, although Wickramaratne cited injury as the cause of his withdrawal from the LPL.While these withdrawals are a significant blow to the tournament, they are not a death knell just yet. The hardest hit franchise is the Colombo Kings, who had all three of Russell, du Plessis and Bisla on their roster. The Jaffna Stallions had Malan.With less than four weeks to go until the scheduled start of the LPL, there are still substantial logistical hurdles to surmount before the tournament can get off the ground. A major sticking point remains the quarantine – Sri Lanka’s health ministry has insisted it must be 14 days of confinement in a hotel room, which some players have expressed dissatisfaction with.However, SLC remains optimistic that the tournament will go ahead.

Mitchell Starc has not quite found his radar in the series so far and has fallen away in ODI performance since last year’s World Cup

Daniel Brettig01-Dec-2020Though India are the team with a host of bowling problems right now, Australia are not without their own concerns. Chief among these is Mitchell Starc, who has taken 1 for 147 from 18 overs across the opening two ODI games as India’s batsmen found him somewhat easier to line up than his pace counterparts Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.With Cummins being rested from the remainder of the white-ball games, Starc’s role may need to change according to the tactical requirements of the captain Aaron Finch, but for the most part the captain is understanding of a fast bowler who has been among the world’s pre-eminent white ball merchants for most of the past decade.This is not to say Starc has not fallen away in ODI performance in a similar manner to India’s new ball ace Jasprit Bumrah in the 18 months since last year’s World Cup, because he has. In that period since the Cup, Starc has claimed just 12 wickets at 54.25 in 11 matches, while costing 6.28 runs an over across series against India, South Africa, New Zealand and England.”I think he’s going okay. He hasn’t been at his very best,” Finch said. “You have to understand his standards are a lot higher than what you expect from most other people because of how dominant he’s been over the last 8-9 years, especially in the white-ball formats. He’s been super.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“So he’d love to be swinging the ball and getting it right early on but the reality is when you’re defending big totals and you’re playing against good players, they are coming hard at you. So, there’ll be conversations had today about what we can do slightly different. Whether it’s a tactical thing or when we’re using him through the innings. We’ll chat about that today. Definitely no panic stations here from my point of view.”The flipside, however, is Starc’s evolution as a Test bowler, for he has over a similar timeframe enjoyed the most fruitful passage of his long-form career. In eight Tests since late January 2019, he has scooped no fewer than 45 wickets at 18.42, with a stunning strike rate of 34.8 balls per wicket. Finch acknowledged that it was easier for Cummins and Hazlewood to flip from the IPL to white-ball duty at home, whereas Starc prepared by loading up on overs in the Sheffield Shield for New South Wales ahead of the Test schedule.”At times it can be easier to go from T20 back to 50-over cricket just because you’ve almost got the intent and then you can just rein it in a little bit more. He’s still bowled really well in the Shield in the first couple of rounds,” Finch said.”From my point of view, and chatting to other guys about his technique, and little things that his fellow bowlers and the fast bowling cartel really monitor, they seem to think he’s going really well. So it’s just a matter of time. There’s nowhere to hide in ODI cricket when you’re playing on some really flat wickets with quality opposition.”More broadly, Finch reckoned Australia’s bowling and fielding had improved from game one to game two, noting the outstanding catches from Steven Smith ad Moises Henriques. He was equally happy with Henriques’ canny overs of medium pace through the middle of the Indian innings on Sunday night.”Our fielding definitely wasn’t up to scratch in the first game,” he said. “A few chances went down. In the second game, I thought it was a lot better. I thought our energy and our intent was great. Moises and Smudge took a couple of absolute hangers that turned the game really. Virat [Kohli] goes on and gets 130-140-150 or Shreyas [Iyer] goes on and gets a big score and they’re probably cantering towards 390. So, I think the way that we’ve bowled through the middle overs has been very impressive.”India have come ultra-hard at the start. Obviously, like you’d expect chasing big totals and probably we’ve gone a little bit defensive really early. That happens. The way that [Adam] Zampa has bowled has been outstanding. Moises bowled seven overs the other night. They were brilliant overs to get out of him through that middle period. It was a really simple game plan and we adapted really well to that wicket as well. So, yeah all in all they’ve been pretty good performances.”As for the replacement of David Warner, Finch said he would weigh up the balance between promoting a current member of the side like Marnus Labuschagne and also leaving the middle order untouched, after it functioned so well given a strong platform in each of the opening two games.ALSO READ: Labuschagne puts hand up to open in Warner’s absence“The middle order’s been functioning really well the last little while, I think it played well in England. And it’s done a really good job in this series as well,” Finch said. “There’s a kind of not wanting to do that. Marnus is a class player. If we go that way great. Alex Carey the role of him and Maxy [Glenn Maxwell] at six and seven has been really crucial and provides a bit more freedom for that middle order to go about their business and be ultra-aggressive as well. They’re a few reasons why I wouldn’t like to do it but there’s still a lot of good players there we can choose to do that role.”Left-hand, right-hand combinations are among the issues that Finch is pondering. “It definitely has its advantages at times,” he said. “With Davey and I in particular we’re so different styles of play. Whether LH-RH it doesn’t make too much of a difference. As an example, if you use [Justin] Langer and [Matthew] Hayden as an opening combination.”They played so differently that you had to bowl totally different to each of them anyway, regardless of whether they’re both left-handed, both right or left-right. I think that’s what complements opening partnerships than just that left-right combo.”

The former cricketer was among eight sportspersons who were picked on Friday to receive the country’s fourth-highest civilian award

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Jan-2019Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir was among eight sportspersons who were picked on Friday to receive the prestigious Padma Shri, the country’s fourth-highest civilian award.Besides Gambhir, the seven other sportspersons named for the award were football player Sunil Chhetri, chess grandmaster Harika Dronavalli, table tennis player Sharath Kamal, archer Bombayla Devi Laishram, wrestler Bajrang Punia, basketball player Prashanti Singh and Kabaddi player Ajay Thakur.The eight sportspersons were among 94 Padma Shri awardees announced by the government on the eve of the Republic Day, while mountaineer Bachendri Pal was among those chosen for the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award.

It was the fourth time that Pakistan completed a 3-0 whitewash in T20I contests

The Report by Danyal Rasool28-Oct-20180:57

The short story of an Aussie whitewash

It shaped up as the most competitive match of the series, but in the end, Australia couldn’t keep up with Pakistan. A 93-run opening stand between Sahibzada Farhan and Babar Azam – who top-scored for Pakistan yet again with 50 – took Pakistan to a total in a region that’s been too good for Australia all series. This time they reached a square 150, and even though the visitors started brightly – Imad Wasim was dispatched for 20 in the first over – the pressure of Pakistan’s bowling took its toll on Australia. Aaron Finch’s men ended up comfortably second best, bowled out for 117. That’s what they’ve been in comparison to Pakistan all tour, and that’s how they go home.In their own way, these three T20Is have been uncannily similar. Particularly so the first innings, where a big partnership up top for Pakistan (inevitably involving Babar) has set Pakistan on their way to a total that, with the right finish, would see them post in excess of 170. This time Farhan, playing just his second T20I, was his partner in crime. His first T20I had also come against Australia, in the final of the tri-series in Harare, where he had been run out for 0. This was a far more memorable game for him, as he took responsibility for assuming the Fakhar Zaman role, smashing three sixes and two fours on his way to 39. His stand of 93 with Babar, which was the biggest partnership all series, set Pakistan on their way to a score Australia would find too steep.Yet again, though, Australia hit back in the death overs with regular wickets to prevent Pakistan running away with it. Adam Zampa, who has been excellent all series, kept a leash on Sarfraz Ahmed’s men in the middle overs, and there was time for vice-captain Mitchell Marsh to bowl the penultimate over which removed both Shoaib Malik and Faheem Ashraf. Only 11 came off the last two overs, and it seemed Australia had carried the momentum with them into the chase.It showed in the way Alex Carey, promoted to open the batting for Australia, played Imad. In the first two games, Imad was the man who built the pressure for the bowlers that followed , but here Carey dismantled him spectacularly, smashing two fours and two sixes in the first over as the asking rate came sliding down to under seven with just six balls bowled. But Australia couldn’t get a partnership going, and when Finch and Carey fell within three balls of each other, Pakistan had already climbed their way back into the ascendancy.Shadab Khan choked Australia’s middle order to pick up three wickets•Getty Images

Australia finished the Powerplay with exactly as many runs as Pakistan had managed in that passage of play – 54 – but the eighth over was the one that really killed them off. Shadab Khan broke through with his first delivery, with Lynn holing the ball to deep midwicket as he tried to play against the turn. But the gut punch was to follow four balls later.Ben McDermott had been playing adroitly in a cameo that might, with more luck, have become a match-winning innings. But a nasty mix-up with Glenn Maxwell at the other end saw him race through for a single even though Maxwell had stopped after no more than two steps. He was well past the point of no return before he became alert to the danger, and for the third time in three matches, McDermott had been run out. It is the only way he has ever been dismissed in international cricket; the only other game he played he ended his innings unbeaten. Even the most ardent Pakistan fan might have been able to spare some sympathy for him as he dragged himself off, seething.From there on, Pakistan’s fielding was on a different planet altogether. More precisely, it was simply the Shoaib Malik Show. The bowlers began to circle as they smelt blood, and the 36-year old Malik was just as watchful of the moment. The first, to dismiss Maxwell off Shadab, was simple enough, but as they got harder, Malik rose to the challenge. Mitchell Marsh holed out with a half-hearted shot to long on, and Malik had to scamper across to take a smart, diving catch.The third one was best of all, driving the final nail into an already fairly secure Australian coffin. D’Arcy Short pulled a back of a length Usman Khan ball to the midwicket boundary, and while it didn’t have enough to clear the ropes, it seemed he might get a couple. Malik was in no mood to allow that, though, as he sprinted left from long-on at speeds 36-year old legs didn’t seem capable of sustaining. He got there with the ball inches from the ground, sliding to complete a remarkable catch that had Mickey Arthur purring in the pavilion.From that point on, Hasan Ali toyed with the Australian tail as Australia’s miserable tour began to draw to an equally bleak conclusion. Sarfraz showed impressive reflexes himself to take a diving catch to his left off Hasan, and off the first ball off the final over, Zampa holed out to extra cover. 33 runs was the final margin of victory as Pakistan whitewashed Australia in a three-match series for the first time. It completed 26 wins in 30 matches under Sarfraz’s captaincy in the format, while Australia were left to ponder over numbers that will not look remotely as impressive in Justin Langer’s post-mortem.

The team was en route to the Al Noor mosque for Friday prayers at the time of the attack but escaped to the nearby Hagley Oval

Mohammad Isam in Christchurch15-Mar-2019Bangladesh’s tour of New Zealand has been called off following a terrorist attack on two Christchurch mosques, in which at least 40 people have been killed. The players and other members of the touring party are safe, in lockdown at their hotel; some of them were on their way to one of the mosques for Friday prayers at the time of the attack but escaped to the nearby Hagley Oval.

Timeline of the Christchurch attack

1.40pm (local time): A man enters a Christchurch city mosque and opens fire on the people inside. Witnesses hear multiple gunshots.
1.52pm: Senior Bangladesh batsman Tamim Iqbal calls travelling ESPNcricinfo journalist Mohammad Isam for help. He asks Isam to call the police and inform them about the “shooting” at the mosque they were about to enter.
2.45pm: The team, after consultation with NZC and BCB, heads to the hotel on Cathedral Street.
2.54pm: New Zealand police commissioner Mike Bush says the situation involves an “active shooter”.
4.15pm: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks publicly, calling it “one of New Zealand’s darkest days.” Later, calls it a “terrorist attack”.
5pm: The third and the final Test of the tour is called off by NZC, after consultation with the BCB and ICC.

New Zealand police commissioner Mike Bush said police had made four arrests in connection with the attack, which included multiple improvised explosive devices attached to vehicles.Prime minister Jacinda Ardern called it a terrorist attack. “There is no place in New Zealand for such acts of extreme and unprecedented violence, which it is clear this act was,” Arden said. “This is and will be one of New Zealand’s darkest days. I would describe it as an unprecedented act of violence, an act that has absolutely no place in New Zealand. This is not who we are.”The attack took place just after 1.30 pm local time. The players and some support staffers were on their way to the Al Noor Mosque, less than a mile from Hagley Oval, when they saw signs of the unfolding carnage. They initially stayed in the bus and made phone calls, including one to this reporter, who was at the ground. Several journalists then came over to where the bus was and accompanied the players to the ground.ALSO READ: ‘There’s shooting here, please save us’Much of the coaching staff were back in the team hotel while the head coach Steve Rhodes was at the ground. Later, the players went back to their hotel.Team manager Khaled Mashud said the players had had a lucky escape. “We must have been about 50 yards from the mosque. I would say we were really lucky. Had we reached even three or four minutes earlier, we probably would have been inside the mosque. This could then have been a massive incident.”He said arrangements were being made to fly the team back to Bangladesh as soon as possible.Within a couple of hours the two boards had decided on the fate of the tour. “We are shocked and appalled as I am sure all New Zealanders are,” NZC CEO David White said. “We are offering support to all those within the teams affected by the situation and are continuing to take advice from authorities on the ground.”The Bangladesh team will take off from Christchurch at midday on Saturday and arrive in Dhaka in the evening.

“In the slips, the ball hits your hand so hard it almost felt like a heavy hockey ball.”

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Nov-2019Fielding, rather than batting, could be the biggest challenge faced with the pink ball, according to Virat Kohli. The India captain spoke about adjusting to how quickly the ball travelled, and getting used to its feel on the eve of India’s first day-night Test, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.ALSO READ: ‘Wanted to play in our own conditions first’ – Kohli on pink-ball change of heart“Catching the ball, we felt like how you feel like with the white ball in the afternoon,” Kohli said of India’s fielding session on Thursday. “You don’t know how far the ball is and then it hits your hand very quickly. In the slips, the ball hits your hand so hard it almost felt like a heavy hockey ball, or those synthetic balls we’ve played with when we were younger. It really felt like that on the hand, and it’s definitely because of the extra glaze of the ball.”It’s definitely much harder, and it felt a little heavier. Obviously, it can’t be a difference of weight, but for some reason it felt heavier. Even the throws took a lot more effort than the red ball to reach the keeper. And again, the dip perception was very difficult when the ball went up in the air. During the day, high catches will be very difficult. We had to watch the balls straight into our palms more often than not. With red ball and white ball, you catch with the idea of how fast the ball is coming down, but this time if you don’t look down at the ball in your palms, it’s gone. So, I think the fielding session for me was far more challenging than batting. People are going to be surprised by how challenging fielding with this ball can be.”ALSO READ – Fashionably late, India and Bangladesh join the pink parade
As for batting, Kohli said earlier practice sessions had helped tune up the batsmen, and the ploy against the pink ball was merely to keep things tight.”I think in general, if you haven’t played with the pink ball before, it’s going to be challenging throughout the game,” Kohli said. “It’ll require more concentration, more solid technique. A more compact game compared to the red ball, purely because anyway in the longer format, the ball does a lot more than the white ball. Add not having great visibility or the ability to pick that colour, and it makes it even more difficult. As you can imagine, decision-making will have to be very precise. Your idea of off stump… I think that’s going to be the most crucial thing. Because even yesterday when we practiced, we felt that the ball could be closer to you but it’s not actually that close to the off stump. So I think that channel, one will have to be careful.”Batting is something we were focussing on. As a batsman, invariably you end up thinking a lot more about cutting down those errors when you’re playing with a different coloured ball. As batsmen, we were in the mindset of solidifying our games and our techniques. It’s going be a challenge, it’s going to be something which should excite everyone. Sometimes you need to change the template and be excited for new things and new challenges that you’re going to try out. I think we’ll have to be very precise and our skills will be tested.”Kohli also said that India were particularly excited about playing in front of a packed Eden Gardens and described their first pink-ball Test as a “landmark occasion”.”It’s a nice occasion. We were already excited about this Test, like I said, it’s a challenge for us,” he said. “I think before this, we had this much excitement and buzz in Eden when we played against Pakistan in the T20 World Cup. Even then there had been big names and there was a felicitation ceremony and there was a packed stadium. So, I think that type it’ll be that kind of atmosphere. It can be daunting or intimidating, but it’s also very exciting.”When a batsman goes out, he’ll have a lot of support. When a bowler is standing at his mark and 80,000 people are cheering for him with the new ball, which is not easy to play with, he will be boosted. The first session, the first hour, I think will be very exciting, because the energy will be high. And the people will enjoy it a lot. So, obviously this is a landmark occasion and like I said before, we’re lucky that we’re starting this new trend. It’s a matter of honour.”