After 3 days in office, Chaminda Vaas resigns as Sri Lanka bowling coach

Professor Hafeez’ blitzkrieg & Zaman’s composure guide Lahore past Quetta frontier

If ever Mohammad Hafeez had to show why he is known as the 'Professor' in cricket, this innings of his would do him a lot of favour. Calculating and eliminating all risks to perfection the professor's blitzkrieg of an innings made sure that opposition skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed was left huffing, puffing and fuming at his bowlers for not executing the plans at the death. Hafeez’s 73 off 33 at a strike rate of 221 almost stole the show from opener Fakhar Zaman who made a composed 82 off 52 himself to take away the Man of the Match award. In the process, Hafeez also hit the fastest fifty off his T20 career, getting to the milestone in just 24 balls. Zaman, 30, carried the bat having opened the innings with skipper Sohail Akhtar, who was the lone wicket to fall for the Qalandars in the entire innings. At 64-1 in 8.4 overs, Lahore looked starved of momentum when 40-year-old Hafeez joined Zaman at the crease. He then started taking the attack to the opposition right from the word go. However the game-changing over was the 14th, bowled by Usman Shinwari. Requiring 78 off the last seven Hafeez got into the act and hit Shinwari for a four on the very first ball of the over. With Lady Luck not on their side, Hafeez was dropped on the very next ball by young Saim Ayub at square leg boundary. Given a life, Hafeez was further helped by some very rash bowling from Shinwari. After bowling four good deliveries, he not only bowled a juicy no-ball outside the off stump which got put over extra cover for a six, he also conceded a boundary on the free hit to give away a total of 19 runs of that crucial over. That changed the course of the game as men from Quetta saw their captain frustrated to the core, shouting at the bowlers and getting livid with the fielders for dropping catches. From that moment onwards, the match slipped away from them and Lahore batsmen hit the remaining 59 runs in just 20 balls to wrap up the game with 10 balls still remaining. Earlier, Quetta were put to bat first after losing the toss. The start wasn’t ideal for Sarfaraz’s men as they lost Ayub and Banton, the two openers for just 12 runs on the board. But then the two experienced men of the Purple, Chris Gayle and Sarfaraz got together, adding 101 runs for the fourth wicket. Sarafraz was then removed for 40 by Haris Rauf. Rashid Khan did in Chris Gayle with a flipper for 68. It then got difficult for Quetta to capitalise on the previous partnership as they kept on losing wickets at regular interval. Finally, a dash from Mohammad Nawaz at the end, where he hit 33 off 2 deliveries saw the team representing the Balochistan region get to 178 at the end of their 20 overs. Rauf was the pick of the bowlers for Lahore, finishing with 3/38 in his four overs. With this win at the National Stadium in Karachi, the Qalandars have now reached the top of the PSL points table after the completion of the first four games.

Fit Umesh Yadav drafted in India squad for last two Tests, Shardul released

Fast bowler Umesh Yadav is back into the Team India squad after regaining full fitness. He had got injured during the second Test in Melbourne in the Australia series and had come back home. Shardul Thakur, his replacement in the squad has been released to represent Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. “Team India fast bowler Umesh Yadav appeared for a fitness test on Sunday, 21st February at Motera. He has cleared his fitness test and has been added to the squad for the last two Tests of the ongoing Paytm India-England Test series,” a BCCI press release read. “Shardul Thakur has been released from the squad to take part in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.” Umesh Yadav has so far played 48 Tests for India and in them, he has taken 148 wickets at an average of 30.55. The 33-year-old has taken 42 wickets in the last 10 innings and would most certainly start in the XI in the Pink Ball Test at Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera against England. India squad for the last two Tests: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper), R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Md. Siraj, Umesh Yadav

CA releases advisory for Australian cricketers involved in IPL

Not being part of any advertisement involving alcohol, fast food and/or fast-food restaurants, tobacco and betting are some of the many restrictions that Cricket Australia has imposed on its players involved in the Indian Premier League. A guideline conveyed to all franchises by the Board of Control for Cricket in India and released by Cricket Australia carries all the information about the restrictions imposed on Aussie players, playing in the IPL. "A full team photo - for use only by the sponsors of the relevant IPL team in print media in India and any such photo should not involve or include the name or branding of a company primarily engaged in the business of alcohol, fast food/fast-food restaurants, tobacco or betting," said the BCCI’ letter to the franchises as quoted by Cricbuzz. The CA also made it clear that not more than one Australian cricketer on a contract by CA, or any other State Board or a BBL team can be part of any advertisement in any media outlet. "In any specific advertising or promotional activity featuring any Australian player (in any medium including TV, radio, press, outdoor, internet, point of sales or on-pack advertising), each Franchisee may only use: (a) no more than 1 Player who has a Central Contract with Cricket Australia; and/or; (b) no more than 1 Australian Player from the same Australian State; and (c) no more than 1 Australian Player from the same Big Bash team," the letter said. The mail further reads, "By way of example: A Franchisee may, subject to compliance with the remainder of these Player Regulations, the Player ID guidelines and the Player Contract, use three Australian players in any advertising material as long as no more than one has a Central Contract and all three are from different States and Big Bash teams." More specifically, a team cannot use two New South Wales (an Australian State) or Sydney Sixers (a BBL side) players in one campaign. This ploy has been adopted by CA mainly to make sure that their own advertisement policies and their contracts with prime sponsors are not ambushed by a rival board. For example, KFC, a fast-food chain that is the principal sponsor of Big Bash League the primary T20 tournament of Australia, would not want the same Australian players to be seen endorsing in any other similar brand.

Vijay Hazare Trophy: Vishnu Solanki continues form as Baroda thump Tripura

Just four days after the IPL 2021 snub, Vishnu Solanki followed his hundred with a fine 97 off 108 balls for Baroda against Tripura in Surat during the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Chasing 303, Baroda went over the line by 6 wickets with one over to spare. While Solanki scored 97, captain Krunal Pandya notched up an unbeaten 127 in 97 balls. Baroda lost a couple of early wickets and were later reduced to 66/3 before Solanki and Pandya struck a partnership of 168 runs for the fourth wicket. Solanki eventually departed after he was cleaned up by Pratyush Singh. Earlier, Tripura complied 302/7 in 50 overs. Udiyan Bose and Bishal Ghosh scored individual half-centuries during the course. Solanki had scored 108 against Goa in the first match in a winning cause. Sreesanth scalps fifer Fast bowler S Sreesanth returned to 50-over format with the Vijay Hazare Trophy playing for Kerala. The right-arm pacer has now bagged a fifer against Uttar Pradesh. He scalped the wickets of Abhishek Goswami, Aksh Deep Nath, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohsin Khan and Shivam Sharma. UP who batted first were bowled out for 283 in 49.4 overs. Later, Kerala rode on Robin and Sachin Baby’s batting to go over the line by 3 wickets. In other clashes of the day, Hyderabad defeated Chhattisgarh by 7 wickets, Gujarat won by 8 wickets against Goa, Jharkhand beat punjab by 2 runs, Andhra beat Tamil Nadu by 7 wickets, Vidarbha won by 4 wickets against MP, Karnataka beat Bihar by 267 runs and Railways beat Odisha by 8 wickets.