Amicable resolution leads to Chaminda Vaas withdrawing his resignation as bowling consultant

South Africa's IPL-bound players to leave series against Pakistan mid way

South Africa’s IPL-bound players will be allowed to leave the bilateral tie against Pakistan and fly to India according to a report in ESPNCricinfo. The players will leave after the second ODI slated to take place on April 4 while the IPL starts on April 9 with defending champions Mumbai Indians taking on RCB in Chennai in the opener. According to the BCCI guidelines, the team members don’t need to go under a seven-day quarantine in their hotel rooms if they are moving from one biosecure team bubble to another via chartered flights. Some of the South African players who might have to leave the series against Pakistan include Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje (both Delhi Capitals), wicketkeeper batsman Quinton de Kock (Mumbai Indians), batsman David Miller (Rajasthan Royals) and pacer Lungi Ngidi (Chennai Super Kings). The three-match ODI series between South Africa and Pakistan begins on April 2 which will be followed by four-match T20I series scheduled to take place between April 10 to April 16. Coach Misbah ul Haq had earlier stated that Pakistan have had a decent run in limited-overs cricket in South Africa. “We always put up a decent show in white-ball cricket in South Africa. It is the Test cricket where we struggled. We won the ODI series there and even stretched the last series to the fifth ODI. We always found good conditions for white-ball cricket in South Africa. We have got a good balance this time,” he said.

Bairstow hits back at Gavaskar on questioning his intent in Test cricket

England batsman Jonny Bairstow has hit back at former India captain Sunil Gavaskar for questioning his intent in the Test series. England suffered a 1-3 defeat in the longer format against India where Bairstow scored 0,0,0 and 28 in four innings. "Yeah, he's more than welcome to give me a ring and ask me about my will to do well in Test cricket and my enjoyment in Test cricket," Bairstow said. Gavaskar had criticised Bairstow during the Test series stating that the batsman looked “uninterested” while being out in the middle. "You have not scored a run, and just come in and pushed at it, as if there was no fielder at backward short leg. It looked to me as if it was the shot of a person uninterested," Gavaskar said. Bairstow hammered the Indian bowlers all around the park during the second ODI in Pune as he went on to score 124 off 112 deliveries during England’s thrashing win over the home side. Chasing a mammoth 337, England were off to a flying start with Jason Roy and Bairstow putting up 110 in just 16.3 overs before Roy departed for 55. Bairstow was joined by Ben Stokes and the left-right batting duo stitched a stand of 175 runs for the second wicket. Stokes missed out on a century by just one run to get dismissed for 99 by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The visitors chased down the target by 6 wickets and over six overs to spare. The three-match ODI series is now levelled at 1-1 with the third and final encounter to take place at the same venue on Sunday.

Mohammed Shami fit to play for us: Punjab Kings coach Anil Kumble

The Punjab Kings coach Anil Kumble has cleared the air on Mohammed Shami’s availability for the upcoming IPL 2021 scheduled to begin on April 9. Shami suffered a wrist injury during the Adelaide Test against Australia and has been out of action since then. "He is fine as far as I know," Kumble told Sportstar. Kumble further said that the right-arm fast bowler hasn’t played any matches for quite some time but is good to go to take the field. The former India captain also said that Shami will play a few practice matches to get preparation for the tournament. "He is coming to the bio-bubble for the quarantine and he will be out in a few days," Kumble said. "I know he hasn't played any matches since his injury but he is good to go. We are really looking forward to him playing a few practice games and then getting ready for the first game." Punjab Kings will begin the IPL 2021 campaign against Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai on April 12. The Punjab-based franchise brought as many 9 players in the mini auctions held in Chennai in February. Few prominent names in the list included Dawid Malan, Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith, Moises Henriques and aggressive uncapped batsman Shahrukh Khan. Full Squad: KL Rahul, Arshdeep Singh, Chris Gayle, Darshan Nalkande, Harpreet Brar, Mandeep Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammad Shami, Murugan Ashwin, Nicholas Pooran, Sarfaraz Khan, Deepak Hooda, Ishan Porel, Ravi Bishnoi, Chris Jordan, Prabhsimran Singh, Jhye Richardson, Riley Meredith, Shahrukh Khan, Moises Henriques, Dawid Malan, Fabian Allen, Jalaj Saxena, Saurabh Kumar and Utkarsh Singh.

IND vs ENG | 3rd ODI: Firebrand England look to end tour on high as India garrisons its defence

It was expected that England would come strong at the Indian team right from the word go. For quite some time now, it has been the way England play and they continued to do so. Losing the tosses did cost India, but not as much as seeing its spinners being flabbergasted by the might and sheer aggression of the English batters. The shock didn’t sit well with them as both Krunal Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav were taken to cleaners in both the games by the Englishmen. In the first game, India managed to win it, only after England decided to commit a harakiri as when even less than run a ball was required, none of the players settled down and played sensibly. In the second game though, it wasn’t even needed as Jonny Bairstow, who is probably going through the form of his life in ODI cricket made sure that even when the collapse struck, the match was done and dusted by then. English batting: The real danger for Team India In this final game, Bairstow and his opening partnership with Jason Roy remain the major concern for team India. Even Ben Stokes is going through a pink patch and thus Indian bowlers would once again have to be on their toes to make sure that the match doesn’t get out of their hands pretty early in the contest. It has been a proven fact that the ball that goes away from the right-hander troubles the English openers and thus after Kuldeep and Pandya both being smacked, the Indian skipper might just want to test Yuzvendra Chahal on this pitch as well. Scoring big is the only way out Although captain Virat Kohli might say as much as he wants that the team is good at defending totals. But he can say that only after losing the toss, just to boost up the morale. But the fact remains that Team India’s strength is batting. If given a chance, Kohli too would have chased in the last two games. As toss is not in anybody’s hands thus the Indian batters need to make sure that even if they bat first, they post imposing totals above 350. Maybe take a cue from their opponents on how to attack from the word go. India vs England: Match Details Match No.-03 Date and Time: March 28, 01:30 PM IST, 08:00 AM GMT Venue: Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune Broadcast: Star Sports and Hotstar Pitch Conditions In the last game, a fresh pitch was used. In this game, however, the pitch might just remain the same s the gap between the two matches has been just one day. Anyways, the pitch at Pune is going to be batting friendly as it has always been and thus the team batting first need to be aggressive and get something above 350 to challenge the chasers. There have been no help at all for spinners in the night, although Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali have been on the favourable side of the economy graph, getting the advantage of bowling n the day when the pitch is still dry. Team News India The only change that looks evident in the Indian side is the exclusion of Kuldeep and Chahal coming in his place. Res al the players who have been given a chance have performed extremely well and disturbing the combinations is not how Kohli operates anyways. Strongest XI Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul (WK) Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal England The English team, even after having their two main players (Eoin Morgana and Sam Billings) out of the squad due to injury and resting Mark Wood managed to win a game with much ease. Thus in the next game too, the team might remain unchanged. The one change that England could and should do is to bring in either Mark Wood or test Matt Parkisnosn in place of Tom Curran as he has been very expensive. Strongest XI Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes, Dawid Malan, Jos Buttler(wk), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Mark Wood/ Matt Parkinson, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley