AUS W vs IND W | Day-Night Test, Day-1: Smriti Mandhana the silver lining in rain-marred day

It was not an ideal start for the historic maiden day-night Test for India as the rain played spoilsport in what was a great start by the Indian batters. Smriti Mandhana was literally silver lining as the clouds kept hovering over the Carrara Oval, known as Metricon Stadium for Sponsorship reasons. She has so far been amazing in her knock of unbeaten 80 off 144 balls.

Due to the rain, only 44.1 overs could be bowled in the entire day which was supposed to have 90 overs of play. The Indian team got off to a superb start courtesy of a brilliant opening partnership between Mandhana and Shafali Verma.

The duo added 93 for the first wicket before Verma got out trying to hit left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux across the line and eventually getting caught at mid-on for 31 off 64 balls. Mandhan then partnered Punam Raut as the two made sure that no other wicket fell even as they added only 39 runs in 114 balls.

Mandhana, who started in a very quick fashion, reaching his second Test fifty in just 51 balls, slowed down after that as the Aussie bowlers got hold of their line and length. The 25-year-old Indan batter has thus scored her last 29 runs in 93 balls.

The two teams will come out to take the field on the second day, which is also considered as the moving day in the Women’s Test which lasts only four days as compared to Men’s five day Tests. The forecast for Friday, 01st October is not really uplifting either as 7.2mm of rainfall is expected in the afternoon with thunderstorms and heavy showers.

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Mohammad Hafeez ruled out of National T20, doubtful for World Cup after contracting dengue

Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez had contracted dengue and was ruled out of the on-going National T20 domestic tournament. The right-hander is also doubtful for the upcoming World T20 slated to take place in October-November in UAE and Oman. “It depends on the severity of the dengue virus that one has contracted but yes it is an illness that leaves one pretty weak and it takes around a month to regenerate platelets and make a full recovery,” a local doctor said. Hafeez had initially complained of food poisoning while he was in Rawalpindi during the first leg of the National T20 tournament but the all-rounder then went to Lahore after his condition didn’t improve where he was diagnosed to have contracted dengue. He is one of the senior players in the Pakistan squad for the World T20 at present. The teams can make the changes in the World Cup squad till October 10, 2021. The Pakistan team is expected to take the flight to UAE on October 14 while they will begin the World T20 campaign against India on October 24 in Dubai. In 113 T20Is that Hafeez has played, he has notched up over 2400 runs at a strike-rate of 120.96 and also has picked up a total of 60 wickets at a healthy economy of 6.54.

England to tour Netherland for three CWC Super League games in June 2022

Netherlands Cricket Association announced that the England Men’s team will be travelling to their country for a three-match ODI series as part of the ICC Men’s CWC Super League. The games will be played on 17, 19 and 22 June in 2022 and all of the matches will be held at cricket club VRA in Amstelveen. The tour was originally supposed to take place in 2020 but was postponed due to Covid-19. To facilitate more fans to watch this historic event, the KNCB has decided to erect extra stands especially for these games, thus increasing the total capacity of visitors to 8000. Speaking on this occasion, CEO KNCB, Milena van Not said, “It is great to be able to be host country for these games. In June we have shown in Utrecht at the CWC Super League series against Ireland, that we are able to organize such an event besides achieving excellent sports performances.” “It is a magnificent opportunity to be able to organize such an event again next year, the difference being thousands of cricket fans from both home and abroad having the opportunity to be present this time. I can’t think of a more beautiful cricket event,” she further added. So far, The Netherlands have played three matches in the Super League and have won two of them against Ireland. They would have a go at seven more Test-playing nations as part of them having qualified in December 2017 for this Super League, which is also the qualifying tournament for ODI World Cup 2023 to be held in India. Apart from England, the Dutch will also host Pakistan and the West Indies in 2022.

Chris Morris hasn't been able to replicate what he did in the first leg of IPL 2021: Sangakkara

Rajasthan Royals director of cricket Kumar Sangakkara has said that Chris Morris hasn’t been able to replicate the kind of performance he has had during the first half of the IPL 2021. "Morris has done brilliantly in the first half and he hasn't done as well as he or we would've liked him to in the second half," Sangakkara said in the post-match presser. Morris returned with expensive figures of 0/50 in 4 overs against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Dubai on Wednesday night. "He knows it and we know it. 50 runs off 4 overs... the last over to me was a throw of the dice to try and get a wicket here or there. We were well out of the game at that point. But he's done well for us in certain parts." The Royals suffered a thumping defeat against RCB after the Bangalore side chased down a target of 150 runs by 7 wickets and in the 18th over. While captain Virat Kohli and opener Devdutt Padikkal provided a steady start and put up a partnership of 48 runs for the first wicket, Striker Bharat and Glenn Maxwell took on the onus on themselves and stitched a stand of 69 runs for the third wicket to help RCB clinch an easy win. Bharat scored 44 off 35 while Maxwell remained unbeaten at 50 in 30 deliveries.

IPL 2021 | RR vs RCB: We have struggled with our batting, admits Kumar Sangakkara

Rajasthan Royals suffered a batting collapse despite getting a brisk start against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Dubai on Wednesday night. While openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Lewis were on a roll and the two batsmen put 77 on the board for the first wicket, none of the other batters got into the groove and the Royals were eventually restricted to 149/9 in 20 overs. Expressing his disappointment on the way the batting unit has fared, RR RR's director of cricket Kumar Sangakkara pointed out that the side was struggling in the Power Plays during the first leg while it has been a vice versa scenario during the second phase. "In the first-half of the tournament in India we were struggling in the power plays and the middle and late-middle order was getting us back into the games. In the second phase we've gone the opposite way," said Sangakkara during the post-match conference. "We're winning the power plays quite comfortably, except in the Delhi game, in the sense we're getting the runs that we need. And then we're not really understanding how to manage the middle and the death. When we get the platform like we did today, 100 runs for 1 after 11 overs, how to kick on from there, get to 180-185 we need to figure,” he added. RCB later rode on some fine piece of batting from the top and middle-order to chase down the target by 7 wickets and in the 18th over. While captain Virat Kohli and opener Devdutt Padikkal provided them with a decent start, a partnership of 69 runs for the third wicket between Striker Bharat and Glenn Maxwell anchored the side to an easy win. Bharat struck 44 off 35 while Maxwell remained unbeaten at 50 off 30 during the course.