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The Bangladesh captain explains why they named a 19-member squad for the Dhaka Test against Pakistan

Mohammad Isam03-Dec-2021Bangladesh Test captain Mominul Haque has put the size of their 19-member squad for the second Test against Pakistan down to unavailability of several senior players through injury and retirement rather than any experimentation tactics.Bangladesh will be without Tamim Iqbal because of a thumb injury, and Shakib Al Hasan missed most of the Tests this year, while Mahmudullah recently retired from the format. But though Taskin Ahmed was injured for the Chattogram Test, both he and Shakib are available for the Dhaka Test starting Saturday. So the make-up of the home side’s squad for the upcoming fixture had given the impression that their selection committee and team management were unsure of the combination to field after going down by eight wickets in the opening Test.”We are not really experimenting by just bringing in younger players,” Mominul said of having that large a squad. “We replaced Tamim who is injured. [Mohammad] Naim has come in as [a potential] back-up opener for New Zealand [considering the upcoming tour]. Rabbi [Yasir Ali] played the first Test in Shakib ‘s place. Riyad [Mahmudullah] has retired. We have had to take new players. We don’t have a lot of performing players. When the senior players will return, we will have these younger players around in the dressing room. If others are performing in domestic cricket, they will certainly be considered in the team.”Related

• Shakib fit for second Test; Saif Hassan out with typhoid

• Bangladesh batters bloom on better pitch, but questions remain

• Bouyed by Shakib's return, Bangladesh look to level Test series against red-hot Pakistan

The main talking point from the squad was Mohammad Naim’s inclusion. A T20 specialist, the left-hand opener played the last of his six first-class matches last year. He doesn’t have a great record in the longer formats as he has focused mostly on T20Is since his international debut two years ago. By contrast, Anamul Haque, who as an opener averages 63.15 in first-class cricket in the last three years with five centuries, was overlooked.Mominul explained that Naim, who has been a regular in the T20I set-up, has been picked as the back-up opener after Saif Hassan contracted typhoid fever, though he hinted that uncapped Mahmudul Hasan Joy is likely to fill the vacant opener’s spot.”We don’t have enough openers. Naim is someone who has been playing international cricket regularly,” he said. “He has played T20s recently, which is why he missed a lot of first-class cricket. We wanted an opener who has been playing international cricket. An opener from domestic cricket would have a tough time adjusting in this situation. We also have to consider the New Zealand tour.”Mominul said he was pleased to have a fit-again Shakib back in the side. The senior allrounder, who picked up a hamstring injury during the T20 World Cup match against West Indies which has forced him to miss six matches for his side since, passed a fitness test last week. And Shakib’s return means Bangladesh have the option of including five genuine bowlers as well as slot in an additional experienced batter in their top six.”Shakib makes it easy to make a team combination,” he said. “He is looking good. He has recovered from the injury. He makes life easier for any captain. He is important for team combination. His return is a positive thing for us.”But can Bangladesh, who have won only two out of their last 13 international matches stretching back to September, eke out a win against Pakistan in Dhaka? Mominul believes if they can bat for the best part of two days they stand a chance to level the series, but would also need to start well with the ball. They were down 49 for 4 and 25 for 4 in the Chattogram Test, where they also conceded opening partnerships worth 146 and 151.”The most important thing in the Test match is the first hour, regardless of who is batting,” he said. “If we can start well, things will be easier. Our strength is batting, so if we can bat for five or six sessions, we can certainly be in the game. We are going out there to win the Test.”

England made 125 runs and took two wickets in the morning session at Manchester

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jul-2025

Ben Stokes brought up his century on fourth morning•AFP via Getty Images

Ben Stokes added a century to the five-for he had already taken to cement his place among the greatest allrounders in Test cricket, and after all that he just had to sit back and watch as his bowling attack laid waste to India’s top-order. England had piled up 669, their fifth-highest total in this format. They kept India on the field for 157.1 overs and the fatigue that it caused was certainly on show. India, trailing by 311 runs, lost two wickets scoring any of their own.Stokes, who retired hurt on 66 with leg cramps, seemed back to his fighting best judging by the quick single he took in the very first over of play. Anshul Kamboj had hit the stumps direct at the bowlers end and Mohammed Siraj was so certain it was out that he had his forefinger raised to various corners of the ground. Replays showed a different picture and Stokes took to Siraj in the next over, dancing down the track and clattering him through cover for four.There were a few nervy moments as he approached his century, his first in 35 innings. A neat nudge off the hips brought it up. Stokes punched the air as he ran down the pitch and brought out the folded-finger salute – a tribute to his father Ged – while the trumpeter in the crowd added to the moment by belting out the Superman theme. Stokes joined Garry Sobers and Jacques Kallis as the only three allrounders with 7000 Test runs and 200 Test wickets. He became the fifth captain to score a century and pick up a five-for.India were already showing signs of wear. They gave away overthrows. They spread the field for the No. 10. In situations like this, the 15 minutes they had to endure until lunch become extremely dicey and Chris Woakes made it impossible. He started around the wicket immediately to make sure the left-handed Yashasvi Jaiwal would not have easy leaves. The angle forced the mistake as he tried to flick one off middle stump only for the ball to seam extremely sharply off the pitch to take his leading edge through to Joe Root, who fumbled initially before gathering it on the second attempt. Sai Sudharsan showed the clearest signs of fatigue among the Indian players when he was faced with a harmless short and wide delivery. He tried to play at it. Eventually he realised he didn’t need to. In the end, he was caught at second slip leaving the ball.Shubman Gill walked out to face the hat-trick delivery, surrounded by five slips and a leg slip and his team yet to score. They managed one run during the three-over barrage.

The hosts had control of the game, then they lost it, then they got it back, then they lost it… and so it went until the final overs

The Report by Alagappan Muthu08-Feb-20203:57

Five reasons why New Zealand won the Auckland ODI

Navdeep Saini!All the hype around him was that he could bowl fast.Only here he was staring down a bouncer with a glint in his eye and dispatching it over point for six. Not long after that, he hit boss mode, getting down on one knee and scooping the seam bowlers for four.Chasing 274, India were down and out at 153 for 7 in the 32nd over. And then their No. 9 had an identity crisis. Dude batted like he was ruddy Kevin Pietersen, making four times the runs his List A average of 12 suggests.It’s as if Eden Park just wouldn’t allow for a dead ODI to take place within its bordersKyle Jamieson roars after getting a wicket in his first over on debut•Getty Images

There were so many instances of players rising above the ruin to keep this game alive. Ross Taylor’s freakish, unbeaten 73 followed on from a collapse of 7 for 55. Ravindra Jadeja batted like he had been to the future and seen that he would score a half-century himself. Nothing he did, or said, gave even the slightest hint that he ever thought a match-winning hand was beyond him. This after a 10-over spell where he gave away only three boundaries.

New Zealand fined for slow over-rate

After India had earned over-rate fines for three matches in a row – the last two T20Is and the first ODI – it was New Zealand who were docked for bowling their overs too slowly in the second ODI. New Zealand were fined 60% of their match fee, with match referee Chris Broad ruling that Tom Latham’s side were three overs short of the required target with time allowances being considered.
Latham didn’t contest the charge so there was no need of a formal hearing. Players are fined 20% of their match fees for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time.

New Zealand’s ninth-wicket partnership scared up 76 runs in 51 balls. India’s eighth wicket-partnership – at the height of an impossible chase – made 76 off 86.Sheesh! Eden Park just cannot deal with even the idea of a boring cricket match. This one ended with New Zealand winning by the skin of their teeth and taking the series 2-0.The tension was unbelievable. And rather more apparent on the hosts, who may well have felt those twitches that a Super Over brings. They needed three wickets when India needed 121 off 113 balls. Plenty of time. Just stick to the plan.Jadeja kept pinching singles. Saini twisted his body into every which way to protect his stumps. The equation reduced to 85 off 60. By now, New Zealand had run out of fit players – Mitchell Santner and Scott Kuggeleijn were unwell and many of their first-choice picks including Kane Williamson, who was at the ground, and Trent Boult were still recovering from injury. So their assistant coach Luke Ronchi was yanked out of the dressing room and stuck on the field.Ravindra Jadeja kept Indian hopes alive for a while•Getty Images

Meanwhile, Jadeja was doing the MS Dhoni thing, biding his time and mining twos from within the 30-yard circle. He didn’t seem to mind that the required rate was at 9.7 and the reason for that became immediately apparent when Saini tonked Colin de Grandhomme for three fours in the 44th over, and then sheepishly giggling when his partner would come up to punch gloves.But, just as it looked like the most improbable finish was on the cards – Saini scoring a fifty and simultaneously unlocking the secret to human flight – a rookie player comes up and knocks his stumps to the ground. Eden Park, man. It really can’t help flipping a script.That Kyle Jamieson strike paved the way to victory, and cemented his candidacy for Man of the Match award. Though honestly, his dismissal of Prithvi Shaw should have sealed it, an incoming delivery storming emphatically through the batsman’s defences to wreck his stumps.Tim Southee must have been pleased in the end. He was not at all well on Saturday. He was a doubt even to play but then it became apparent that New Zealand wouldn’t even have an XI to put on the park if he took the day off. So he put on his black cap and put in a truly big-hearted performance. He wasn’t on the pitch when it all ended, raising the possibility that he bowled out (2-41) well before he otherwise would have simply to go to the dressing room and rest. But, as he was leaving every single one of his team-mates raced up to him, from the captain Tom Latham to one of their best ever Taylor and even the debutant Jamieson, and patted his back.Southee is no longer the wicket-taking machine he once was, often swinging the ball in ways that made people question basic physics. But he stands up in adversity. He leads when no one wants to. He did that in Australia when New Zealand were robbed of Boult and Lockie Ferguson. He did it again in Auckland, clean bowling Virat Kohli at the start of the chase to provide his team the foothold they needed to win the game.It was beautiful to watch New Zealand execute their plan for the Indian captain. They had three slips to start and continued with at least two catchers through the first 20 balls he faced. Most experts would attest that is the period when every batter is at their most vulnerable. Also, they bowled one side of the wicket, the off side namely, and blocked out his cover drive. Kohli had made only nine runs in this time and was eventually forced to try and drag balls into the leg side if he wanted his score to move.This was where Southee wanted Kohli to be. He rolled out the cross-seamer. It cut in off the pitch. The batsman played around it and was bowled. However well India fought after that – and they did, with Shreyas Iyer scoring a fifty as well, that wicket, much as it did in the World Cup semi-final, was crucial.Ross Taylor is an expert at hitting the ball in the leg side•AFP

It meant New Zealand don’t have to look back so wistfully at their own batting collapse. Losing 7 for 55 had ripped away much of the tension from a game that was building up beautifully. Ha! As if such a thing could ever happen in Auckland.Taylor killed all possibility of a dull game by playing an absolute blinder. His ninth-wicket partnership with Jamieson – who scored a century while facing James Anderson and Stuart Broad in a tour game in 2018 – was entirely ridiculous.It came after New Zealand had lurched from 142 for 1 to 197 for 8 thanks to the pressure India exerted through the middle overs. To think that was the period where they won the game in Hamilton. Taylor and Tom Latham ransacked 117 runs in overs 30-40 without even looking like losing a wicket a few days ago. Here, New Zealand stopped and stumbled and crashed and burned to 32 for 4 in that phase.Taylor was 29 off 47 when the eighth wicket fell and his side didn’t look like it would last the remaining nine overs. He had already been part of two run-outs that stole all the momentum away from the innings, especially the one that cost Martin Guptill his wicket when he looked well set on 79. A straightforward chase was on the cards and Eden Park was all set to be marred by that most awful of things – a boring cricket match.But then that magic that surrounds this ground, which is home to the Grant Elliot miracle, the Marcus Stoinis heartbreak and the Kane Williamson fist pump, began to show itself.Taylor was completely infused with it. Sure, 14 years in the international arena does help a guy overcome such a hopeless situation but where’s the fun in that narrative? It’s much more compelling to imagine an otherworldly force enabling Taylor to the best fast bowler in the world nearly all the way for six, with the back of his bat. Jasprit Bumrah does not get treated like this. By anyone. Heck, even the new kid Jamieson was whacking fours off him at the death.Eden Park just cannot deal with even the idea of a boring cricket match.

Wife Lynn undergoing treatment for cancer, Elworthy takes over as interim Director of Cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jan-2023Alec Stewart, Surrey’s director of cricket, has been granted a temporary leave of absence from the club due to a family illness.Stewart’s wife Lynn has been fighting cancer since 2013 and, as she begins a new course of treatment, he has decided to temporarily step away from his day-to-day duties at Surrey to care for his wife and family.In a statement issued on his behalf by the club, Stewart asked for privacy as he takes a break from cricket. Steve Elworthy, the club chief executive, will assume his duties on an interim basis.Elworthy said: “All of our thoughts are with Alec, Lynn and the family and we wish them the very best. The club will fully support Alec and the family through this leave of absence and ask everyone to please respect his request for privacy.”Stewart, 59, has been in his role at Surrey since 2014, and last season helped guide the club to the County Championship, having also won the title in 2018.In the aftermath of last winter’s Ashes loss, Stewart had been among the favourites to take over from Ashley Giles as England’s director of cricket – a role that subsequently went to Rob Key – but he pulled out of the running for both that job and the national selector role due to his family commitments.

It might have been the England captain’s day after three early lives, but he encountered a familiar nemesis, and a familiar ball

Alan Gardner at The Oval12-Sep-2019How’s your luck, Joe Root? Fighting for pride and, ahem, World Test Championship points at the end of a gruelling Ashes series and a summer flushed with emotional highs and lows, Root must have felt things were going his way as he went to tea on 57, his side reasonably placed on 169 for 3. Then Pat Cummins strolls in, rips the old ball past his outside edge and rattles the top of off with a stonking delivery that might as well have been a laser-guided replica of his dismissal at Old Trafford.Two innings, two dismissals, two unplayable deliveries. Well, maybe only unplayable if you are not coming forward as much as you should be – a minor quibble but they are fine margins at this level. Root had in fact looked much better with his footwork in compiling a fourth half-century of the series, but after benefiting from three drops earlier in the day, he finally saw his luck desert him as Australia tightened up after tea.Plenty has been said about the role of luck in sport, and life in general. England’s head selector, Ed Smith, wrote a book about it: . ESPN has the Luck Index, to try and fully quantify its effects. Some people prefer to imagine you make your own luck, falling back on a phrase often attributed to Gary Player: “The harder I practise, the luckier I get.”In cricket, the very first action is a game of chance. One captain tosses the coin, the other calls “heads” or “tails”. Sometimes, it’s a game you’d rather not win, and there was a hint of that uncertainty on a crisp, clear morning at The Oval. This is a ground on which it is possible to construct scores with the imposing solidity of the famous gas holders that squat behind its north side, as well as one given to spinning later in the game, but there was just a hint of mottled grass and a forecast for cloud cover throughout the day.As it turned out, Root lost the toss, but was still handed the chance to bat by his opposite number, Tim Paine, who wanted to extract any possible early advantage for his seamers. England’s openers then diced with danger during a testing new-ball spell from Cummins and Josh Hazlewood to post the highest first-wicket stand of the series (albeit a modest 27). Burns was given out lbw on 3, Hazlewood snaking the ball back to strike him on the back thigh – but Burns is a Surrey man, knows there’s a bit of bounce on this ground, and reviewed straight away.If that was more judgment than luck, Root was soon to benefit from a few helping prods from Dame Fortune. Coming in during the ninth over, after Joe Denly had finally run out of lives in his game of pin the tail on the donkey, Root attempted to strike the carefree notes that characterise the best of his batting, latching on to some unexpected width from Peter Siddle to squire his fifth and eighth balls for fours through backward point.Ground down through the series by the tight lines Australia have bowled to him, Root may well have resolved to play his shots and be damned. He dabbed and missed, inside-edged into his pads and generally threw some shapes before twice surviving presentable chances in the space of four balls delivered by – that man again – Cummins.The first, an airy pull on 24 that flew straight to deep backward square, was butchered by Siddle, who received a tongue-in-cheek ovation from the crowd when he walked back out towards the OCS Stand a couple of deliveries later. Cummins then induced a thick outside edge in his following over, only for Paine to do Root another favour by palming it over David Warner at first slip.A third gift was bestowed shortly after lunch, Steven Smith this time the man to prove that incessant practise can’t completely overrule the whims of the sporting gods. Root, on 30 at the time, drove Hazlewood authoritatively through cover a couple of overs later, bringing up his 7000th Test run and it looked like he might be on his way. He duly jinked past 50 for the 16th time in Ashes contests, only for Cummins to prolong his conversion issues. If captaincy, as Richie Benaud said, is 90% luck and 10% skill, then the delivery to dismiss Root flipped those numbers around.So it goes. Fourteen years ago to the day, Kevin Pietersen memorably rode his luck to a hundred on this ground that not only sealed the return of the Ashes but brimmed with the showmanship worthy of a series almost without parallel. They came hoping to see something similarly uplifting from an England team rallying around their captain, even with the urn already gone, but the 2019 Ashes have turned into a contest that threatens to slink away quietly, from an English perspective, just as Root did from the crease during mid-afternoon. And luck hasn’t had much to do with that.

It’s a high-stakes match, especially for Sarfaraz Ahmed’s side, as another defeat will significantly diminish their chances of qualifying for the semi-final

The Preview by Danyal Rasool25-Jun-20193:11

Vettori all praise for ‘reliable’ Williamson and Taylor

Big Picture

The action shifts to Birmingham next, with New Zealand and Pakistan facing off in a game of very high stakes. It’s the seventh game for both sides. New Zealand have 11 points, and Pakistan five. That might feel like two ends of a spectrum, but New Zealand aren’t quite in the final four yet, and Pakistan aren’t out of the race either.Few things better illustrate the inexorable march of modernity in cricket and the benefits of embracing it – or the cost of falling behind – as a fixture between New Zealand and Pakistan. Little New Zealand, tucked away in a pretty little corner of the earth, the teacher’s pet; they were to the Spirit of Cricket award what Daniel Day Lewis is to the Oscars. Up against devious and more naturally gifted Pakistan throughout the last quarter of the last century, they would come up short. They did things by the book, understood their limitations, respected the opposition and won admirers. Pakistan managed none of those things, but time and again, they made sure they put it past New Zealand.Points tableBut New Zealand, among the first to embrace the possibilities that attacking, positive cricket held for their natural style of play, have seen the foundations they set turn that tide. Remember the experiment of moving Brendon McCullum to open the batting just before the 2007 World Cup? It resulted in a whitewash of Australia in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy in February that year, still the only time they have pulled off a clean sweep. They made the semi-finals of that World Cup and at least that stage in each edition since. They have won 18 off their last 20 group stage games at World Cups, spanning four competitions. They have beaten Pakistan in 12 of their last 13 ODIs. There was a time when Pakistan were the bullies; now, when New Zealand show up, it’s Pakistan who have to look for a place to hide; they are running out of those too.In the time New Zealand have made these strides, Pakistan have stayed largely motionless, though the current coaching team have made some headway in trying to change that. Fitness is no longer the joke it was before Mickey Arthur and Steve Rixon got together, though it’s worth noting that New Zealand’s yo-yo test is the most challenging, while Pakistan’s ranks among the more forgiving ones. Fielding, an area which had seen standards soar in 2018, has slumped significantly once more; Pakistan have dropped more catches this tournament than any other side, including half a dozen in the game against South Africa.ALSO READ: The World Cup of Mohammad Amir, the nerdFor Pakistan, the old tales still hold sway. After every game, WhatsApp conversations and email threads circulate like digital clutter, cherry-picking numbers to show how spookily similar this World Cup is to the one in 1992 (uncannily so, in case you’re wondering). The ‘unpredictable’ tag still holds romance, as does the idea of squeezing into the semi-finals almost like the breathless dash after the train has left the station, rather than marching into it. Pakistan’s fans have acquired a taste of living in the brink, and this World Cup, they’re getting a full dose of that drug.The win against South Africa might have buoyed both fanbase and players alike; the demands for wholesome institutional and domestic reform have been shelved for one late push, with the belief that the dice is starting to roll in their favour. With games against Bangladesh and Afghanistan to close out the tournament, this remains Pakistan’s obstacle to a proper crack at the most unlikely semi-final berth. It is unlikely, it is low-percentage, it is perhaps even undeserved. Pakistan wouldn’t have it any other way.4:06

Misbah feels Birmingham conditions will suit Pakistan well

Form guide

New Zealand WWWWW (Last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan WLLWL

In the spotlight

It all went according to plan in the first game with a 137-run stand, but since then, New Zealand’s opening pair of Martin Guptill and Colin Munro hasn’t done the job their role demands. Guptill, who was the highest scorer at the 2015 World Cup, has scored 25, 0, 35 and 0 in the four innings that have followed. Against South Africa, the only game he appeared to have rediscovered his mojo, he found a way of swivelling on the crease for a pull shot, and then, like an ice skater who attempted one pirouette too many, lost his balance and trod on his stumps. Munro has been found similarly wanting, with 55 runs in four matches. Kane Williamson’s superlative form and Ross Taylor’s reliability have helped, particularly against West Indies where both openers were dismissed for golden ducks, but runs from the top two is a more sustainable way to a competitive batting score.After one senior player was dropped, probably for good, in Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez may feel the hot breath of Asif Ali on his neck when he next comes out to bat. With Pakistan having found a way of squeezing Imad Wasim into their side, Hafeez’s role as a bowler is somewhat diminished, so it is with the bat that he must continue to make a case for inclusion in the XI. With 175 runs in five innings, he hasn’t exactly been out of form, but the manner of his dismissals, and the frequency with which he throws away starts, can exasperate. Against Australia, he holed out to deep midwicket at a crucial moment in the chase off a knee-high Aaron Finch full toss, while Aiden Markram snared Hafeez in the last game. With Pakistan playing without the power-hitting that Asif can offer and Hafeez occupying the crucial No. 4 slot, the onus is on him to prove it is a responsibility he is the right man for.A semi-final spot looks unlikely for Pakistan; they wouldn’t have it any other way•Getty Images

Team news

New Zealand have not made a single change in the tournament so far, and Kane Williamson said after the thriller against West Indies that they had no plans to rest players. The only question hangs around Matt Henry, who endured a difficult day with the ball in the last game. Tim Southee will be itching for some game time.New Zealand (probable): 1 Colin Munro, 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Kane Williamson
(capt), 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Tom Latham (wk), 6 Colin de Grandhomme, 7 Jimmy Neesham, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Matt Henry/Tim Southee, 10 Lockie Ferguson, 11 Trent BoultPakistan have found success with Haris Sohail at No. 5, and appear to have finally found a way of accommodating six genuine batsmen with five proper bowlers. It is unlikely, after their best ODI performance since January, that they will make changes to that combination.Pakistan (probable): 1 Imam-ul-Haq, 2 Fakhar Zaman, 3 Babar Azam, 4 Mohammad Hafeez, 5 Haris Sohail, 6 Sarfaraz Ahmed (capt & wk), 7 Imad Wasim, 8 Shadab Khan, 9 Mohammad Amir, 10 Wahab Riaz, 11 Shaheen Afridi

Strategy punts

• Pakistan should bring on Shadab Khan when Colin de Grandhomme comes in to bat. He averages 53 against Pakistan, but has scored 0 and 3 in his last two innings against them. Both of those dismissals were effected by Shadab, against whom the allrounder averages a mere 7.
• Target Shaheen Afridi. While Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir and Imad Wasim have all kept things tight, Afridi’s diminishing form represents an opportunity for New Zealand. In his first ten ODI innings, he took 19 wickets at 19.4 and an economy rate of 4.6. In his last five innings, his average is 46.1 and his economy rate 7.7.

Pitch and conditions

Rain on Tuesday has meant the pitch remained under covers all day, so what it looks like on matchday is a bit of an uncertainty. No precipitation is expected tomorrow, though a significant cloud cover should give swing bowlers an added layer of potency.

Stats and trivia

• New Zealand’s Nos. 3 and 4 – Williamson and Taylor – have amassed a combined 573 runs between them, while their top two have scored just 246.
• Guptill is 58 runs away from becoming the second New Zealander to score 1000 runs in World Cup matches after Stephen Fleming.
• Mohammad Amir has taken two or more wickets in all five matches so far. Never before in his ODI career has he managed multiple wickets in more than three consecutive games.

“I felt very bad and weird because I had played for the franchise for eight years”

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Jul-2023Yuzvendra Chahal has revealed his anger and disappointment at the manner of his parting with Royal Challengers Bangalore ahead of the IPL 2022 season, saying he did not even “receive any phone call” from the franchise.Ahead of that auction, Chahal had said, “Obviously, I want to go to RCB again” in an interview with R Ashwin, but as it transpired they did not even bid for him. He was eventually bought by Rajasthan Royals for INR 6.5 crore, with Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad being the other participants in the bid.”When I put my name up for the auction, they promised me that they will go all out for me,” Chahal told Ranveer Allahbadia’s YouTube channel. “I said okay, but then I was not picked, I was very angry for two-three days. When I played my first match for RR against RCB, I did not speak to anyone from RCB, not even the coaches.”After beginning his IPL career with Mumbai Indians in 2011, Chahal was bought by RCB at the 2014 auction and played eight seasons for them. Over the course of 113 matches, Chahal went on to become – and still is – RCB’s highest wicket-taker, but the franchise chose not to retain him ahead of the 2022 mega-auction.”Definitely, I felt very bad. My main journey started in 2014. I also felt very weird because I played for the franchise for eight years,” he said. “I would also say that I got the India cap because of my performances for RCB because they gave me a chance to perform. From the very first match, Virat bhai showed trust in me.”In that interview with Ashwin before the 2022 auction, Chahal had spoken of what he would like to get at the auction: “I don’t want to say I want [INR] 15 crore or something, eight crore is enough for me.” Now, he reiterated that he had not made a demand for an exorbitant sum of money.”I heard things like, ‘Yuzi ne bahut paise maang liye honge’ [Yuzi must have asked for a lot of money]. Lot of such stuff was coming out,” he said. “That’s why I clarified in an interview that I had not asked for any specific amount. I know what I deserve. The worst thing, which I felt very bad about, was that I did not receive any phone call. No one even spoke to me. I think I played around 114 games for them. I couldn’t understand what happened suddenly.”Since joining Royals, Chahal has taken 48 wickets in two IPL seasons. He won the Purple Cap during Royals’ run to the final in IPL 2022.”Anything can happen in the auction, and then I realised that it’s okay, whatever happens, happens for good. The one plus point is that after coming to Rajasthan, I became a death bowler. At RCB, my overs were finished by the 16th or 17th over. Here, my cricket growth has improved 5-10 percent. That attachment is definitely there for RCB, but coming to Rajasthan has helped my cricket a lot.”

Shamim Hossain’s enterprising half-century gave Bangladesh a chance in the dead rubber, but they fell well short in the end

Mohammad Isam31-Mar-2023Ireland finally notched a win on their tour of Bangladesh by scoring a seven-wicket win in the final T20I in Chattogram on Friday. Mark Adair led the bowling charge with three wickets as Bangladesh were bowled out for 124, and Paul Stirling, later named Player of the Match, was at his inventive best as he struck a 41-ball 77 to headline the chase. It was Ireland’s first T20I win over Bangladesh since 2009 and their first win in any format in the country.Bangladesh had already taken the series after winning the first two games earlier in the week, and made two changes, perhaps to try out alternatives. Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Mustafizur Rahman went out; Rishad Hossain was handed a debut and Shoriful Islam made a comeback. It was the batting that came unstuck, though.After opting to bat, Bangladesh were 61 for 7 in nine-and-a-half overs. Shamim Hossain, however, scored his first international half-century, making 51 off 42 balls with five fours and two sixes to give them a competitive 124. One of those sixes was a particularly eye-catching shot, when he reverse-whipped Curtis Campher hit over backward point for six.But with Stirling in blistering form, and playing a few inventive shots of his own, the chase was done and dusted in 14 overs.Big hitting gone awry
Bangladesh’s slide started in the second over. Litton Das’ slash towards deep point against a wide Adair delivery landed in George Dockrell’s lap. It was the first time Bangladesh had lost a wicket in the powerplay after three matches.Najmul Hossain Shanto was next to go, hitting a slog-sweep off Harry Tector straight to deep midwicket. Campher juggled the catch but clung on. In the next over, Campher himself got a wicket, when Rony Talukdar holed out at deep midwicket.Towhid Hridoy and Shakib Al Hasan, however, went for their shots in keeping with Bangladesh’s new approach, and hit a couple of big ones, but both were gone in the space of three balls. Shakib was caught at short midwicket mistiming a pull off Adair, while Hridoy holed out off Ben White in the seventh over.Humphreys starts with a bang
Matthew Humphreys had two wicketless ODIs in Sylhet, but the left-arm spinner had a better start to his T20I career. He took a wicket off his first ball when he yorked Rishad for 8.That made him the first Ireland bowler to take a wicket with his first ball in T20Is. This was, however, not the first time a debutant had done this against Bangladesh. Previously, Rory Kleinveldt, Pragyan Ojha, Lockie Ferguson and Cole McConchie have all achieved the feat.Humphreys added his second off his third ball, when Taskin Ahmed was caught at deep midwicket for a duck.Shamim and Nasum Ahmed added 33 runs for the eighth wicket before Nasum was caught in the covers off Gareth Delany’s legspin. Adair took his third when he removed Shoriful, before Fionn Hand took Shamim’s wicket in the final over.Stirling turns chase into a canter
Stirling didn’t get going at the start, as there were two early wickets, of Ross Adair and Lorcan Tucker, but once he was set, there was no stopping him. He cut and swept Shakib for fours to kickstart the chase, and then deposited Hasan Mahmud’s half-tracker for his first six next over. No bowler escaped his wrath, or his inventiveness, as he hit ten fours and four sixes in his 41-ball innings.Many of those came in one Shoriful over, the 11th of the innings, when he pulled a six and hit three fours to take 20 runs. Rishad put an end to the mayhem when he had Stirling caught at long-on in the 13th over – it was Stirling’s 22nd half-century in T20Is and Rishad’s first international wicket – but Campher closed out the chase with a four and a six off Taskin.

Garth has already linked up with Giants after Dottin was “recovering from a medical situation”

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Mar-2023Gujarat Giants have suffered a blow ahead of the inaugural WPL, with Deandra Dottin, the star West Indian allrounder, ruled out of the tournament because she is “recovering from a medical situation”. Giants have named Kim Garth, the Australia allrounder, as replacement.Giants had bought Dottin at the auction for INR 60 lakh (US$ 73,000 approx. at the time) after bidding started for her at a base price of INR 50 lakh.Garth had gone unsold at the auction last month. At the time of the auction, she was with the Australia squad that won the T20 World Cup in South Africa. Garth only played two warm-up matches before the main World Cup, including one against her former side Ireland. She recently shifted to Australia after completing the necessary formalities and has even signed a three-year deal with Melbourne Stars in the WBBL. She joined the Giants squad on Friday.