BAN vs NZ | 1st T20I: Bangla Tigers trounce Kiwis for 60 on sluggish pitch

Bangladesh bowlers thoroughly dominated the New Zealand batting order to bundle them out for 60 runs in the first T20I of the five-match series in Dhaka.

This was the second instance when the Blackcaps were dismissed for a score of 60. They were once bowled out for the same score against Sri Lanka in Chattogram back in 2014.

The visitors had a terrible start to the proceedings on a track that looked slowish in nature as they lost debutant Rachin Ravindra for a golden duck on the third delivery of the match. The left-hander closed the face of the bat early while trying to work a length ball towards the on side and the bowler Mahedi Hasan caught him off his own bowling. The batsman

New Zealand then lost three more wickets in quick succession and were left tottering at 9/4 with experienced players such as Tom Blundell and Colin de Grandhomme back in the hut.

Captain Tom Latham and Henry Nichols tried to steady the ship for the side as the two batsmen played cautiously to put 34 runs for the fifth wicket. But their stay wasn’t a long one either as Latham departed for a 25-ball 18 after he miscued a pull shot and was caught by Nasum Ahmed off Saifuddin.

The skipper’s wicket broke the shackles and it took another 17 runs for the Bangladesh bowlers to wrap up the innings. Nicholls was the only second batsman to go past the double-figure mark as he scored 18 off 24 deliveries before getting out to Saifuddin.

For Bangladesh, it was Mustafizur Rahman who scalped a three-for while Ahmed, Shakib and Saifuddin picked up a couple of wickets each.

Discover more

Joe Root becomes number one batsman in Tests, Rohit displaces Kohli from top five rankings

England skipper Joe Root has surged to the top of the ICC Rankings for batsmen in Tests after a long period of six years. He has been red-hot form in the ongoing Test series against India and has scored three centuries in as many matches. Before the series against India at home, he was also in superb tough in India and Sri Lanka earlier this year where he plundered two double centuries. Before the start of the series, he was positioned fifth on the ICC Rankings behind Kane Williamson, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, and Virat Kohli, but the three centuries helped him dethrone the New Zealand skipper from the top of the table. India’s skipper Virat Kohli has had just one fifty across five innings against England and hence has slipped on the rankings to the sixth position. He has been replaced at the fifth position by his compatriot Rohit Sharma, who has brought his best game forward in the series against England. The ongoing Test series between England is wide open after the hosts achieved a remarkable series-levelling win at Headingley last week. The fourth Test of the five-match series is scheduled to begin on September 02 at the Oval.

Afghanistan Women's player Roya Samim criticises ICC, ACB for no help after Taliban advances into Kabul

Afghanistan female cricketer Roya Samim has expressed her disappointment after not receiving any response from the International Cricket Council (ICC). Samim said that she and her teammates are awaiting a response from the ICC as to how things stand for them considering the present situation in Afghanistan. “We all emailed the ICC but got no response from them,” says Samim. “Why do they not respond to us, why do they not consider us, even treat us that we don’t exist in the world? After the Taliban came into Kabul, we requested that [the ICC] please save all the girls, we are worried for our teammates. The Afghan Cricket Board [ACB] also said nothing, they said just: ‘Wait.’” Though, the ICC has said that it hasn’t received any mail. Samim is presently staying in Canada as a refugee with two of her sisters who are also cricketers in the Afghan women’s team. “Leaving Afghanistan, it was a sad day for me. I just cried,” she said. “I really love everything that I had: my job, my cricket, my teammates, my home town, my relatives. Everything that I have, I leave behind. Even now when I remember this day I will cry,” she told the Guardian.

Tamim Iqbal opts out T20 World Cup, but rules out retirement from format

Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal has made himself unavailable for selection for the upcoming World T20 slated to take place in UAE and Oman in October-November. ''As I did not play in the last 15 to 20 T20 matches, and whoever replaced me, I don't think it would be fair on them if I take their place," the southpaw said through a video message on Facebook. The left-handed batsman further added that he has also informed the board about the same. "I just called board president Papon bhai(Nazmul Hasan) and chief selector Nanno bhai(Minhajul Abedin) a few minutes back and said that I don't think I should be playing in the World Cup and I am not available for it,” he said. Though, Tamim made it clear that he is not planning to retire. He suffered a knee injury during the Test fixtures in April-May against Sri Lanka and had to miss the T20I series against Zimbabwe and the home series against the Australian side as well. The left-hander is not a part of the squad that will take on New Zealand in a five-match T20I series at home. Tamim has been capped 78 times in the T20Is so far and has notched up over 1700 runs at a strike-rate of 117.

CPL 2021 | JT vs BR: Despite early hiccups, Jamaica Tallawahs etch easy win against Barbados

Jamaica Tallawahs etched their second win in the on-going CPL 2021 after beating Barbados Royals by 6 wickets on Wednesday in St Kitts. Chasing 152 in 20 overs, the Jamaica side went over the line in the 18th over, courtesy a 53-ball 89 from Kennar Lewis and an unbeaten 47 off 26 balls from Shamarh Brooks during the course. Tallawahs suffered some early hiccups after they lost three wickets at a score of 50 runs in the 8th over but Lewis and Brooks provided the much-needed resistance to anchor the side to a win eventually. Joshua Bishop was the pick of the bowlers for Barbados after he returned with figures of 3/20 in 4 overs. Earlier, the Jamaica bowling attack pushed the Royals on the backfoot after picking up some early wickets to leave them tottering at 3-/4 which included the dismissals of Shai Hopes and captain Jason Holder as well. But Glenn Phillips and Azam Khan steadied the ship for the side and stitched a stand of 71 runs for the fifth wicket before Philips was sent back in the hut for 31 off 29 by Pretorious. Azam who notched up a half-century followed him soon as Barbados once again lost a couple of wickets in quick succession to get reduced to 105/6. But it was Bishop’s late surge that helped the Royals put 151/8 on the board. He remained not out for 18 off 8 deliveries. Pretorius scalped four wickets for Tallawahs while Edwards bagged a couple of them during the course. Barbados Royals captain Holder admitted that the side didn’t put much score on the board. “The dew played a major part. We didn't have enough runs on the board and we didn't field well too,” he said after the match. Tallawahs skipper Powell lauded the team’s efforts after the win but also admitted that there are certain areas that they need to work on. “I liked the catch where I ran in and then dived forward to take it, that's the one out of the three. There are still a lot of areas we need to work on, one is our fielding, we haven't fielded as well as we can,” he said. Jamaica Tallawahs will now play Patriots on Thursday while Barbados will be up against the same opposition on Friday.