BBL 2021-22: Josh Philippe ruled out of Challenger after testing positive for Covid-19

Rohit Sharma fit & available for fixtures against West Indies

India's new limited-overs skipper Rohit Sharma is likely to make a return back to the side after a hamstring injury ruled him out of the South Africa tour. Rohit will make a comeback in the home fixtures against the West Indies. "Rohit is fit and available for the series against the West Indies," a senior BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity. "By the time, the West Indies series starts, it will be more than seven and half weeks of rehabilitation and recuperation for Rohit." "He is already training in Mumbai and is expected to be in Bangalore for the fitness test and get a formal okay from the National Cricket Academy," the source further said. Sharma was handed over white-ball captaincy after Virat Kohli stepped down from the post in T20I format. The selectors wanted to have only one skipper in the limited-overs format and Sharma was then given the responsibility to lead the team in the ODIs as well. The right-handed batter though missed the three-match series against the Proteas and KL Rahul who was named his deputy earlier led the side in his absence. The Men in Blue didn't really have a great time as they suffered a 0-3 defeat in the three-match ODI series. The source further suggested that all-rounder Hardik Pandya might also find a place back in the Indian team setup. "You have to remember after the T20 World Cup, Hardik was dropped and not rested because of his fitness. The selectors wanted to send him a message after his underwhelming show at World T20 but he is too good a player to be kept out for long." "If not against West Indies, then he will surely be back against Sri Lanka," the source added.

It is time for us to get better & transform our white-ball cricket: KL Rahul

India had a dismal run in the three-match ODI series against South Africa away from home after they suffered a 0-3 defeat. Stand-in skipper KL Rahul is of the opinion that there were "massive learnings" and the side's major focus is on the World Cups. "There were massive learnings," Rahul told India Today. "We are at a stage right now where we have World Cups as the focus. We are working towards certain things. We are working towards getting better as a team and learning," he added. The right-handed batter further added that the team has played some good cricket in the past four-five years but there needs to be some transformation. "I feel like we've played some really good cricket over the last four or five years, but it is also time for a little bit of… for us to get better and transform our white-ball cricket. And that's been the chat. I don't use that an excuse for not winning, but we are a work in progress as a team." Rahul led the side in Rohit Sharma's absence who missed the tour due to injury.

Marco Jansen is going to be next big thing in international cricket: KL Rahul

India batter KL Rahul has lavished praise on South Africa pacer Marco Jansen and said that he is someone who will do really well in international cricket. "Marco Jansen played a few games for Mumbai Indians but he has come of his own now. He had a really good series with the red ball and that makes a little bit of a difference with how people see him. He is someone who will do really well in international cricket with the red ball,” Rahul told Sports Today. “We all spoke about it after the series as well that he is going to be the next big thing in international cricket," he added. The right-handed batsman who led India in the three-match ODI series against South Africa also lauded Kagiso Rabada and went on to add that the fast bowler bowls at some brilliant pace and is a smart cricketer. "We have seen Rabada being a key bowler for the Delhi Capitals and played a huge part in their success. Every team would want a player like Kagiso Rabada. Come on, he bowls over 145kph and is a very smart cricketer. Everyone would want someone like that," said Rahul. India suffered a 0-3 defeat against South Africa in the ODI series while they had also the Test series 1-2.

AFG vs NED | 3rd ODI: No respite for the Dutch as Zadran, Qais Ahmad shine in Afghan clean sweep

If perfect scripting were to happen in sports and most specifically cricket, then the Afghanistan team seem to have mastered it as far as its three-match ODI series against the Netherlands was concerned. In the third match in a row, it managed to bowl out the Dutch even as Scott Edwards hit third consecutive fifty. The Afghanistan team once again won the toss and like in the first two matches, chose to bat first. If there was an improvement in the second game from the first one as they reached 237 from 222, in the third game they improved a bit further and crossed the 250 run mark courtesy of some brilliant slog over hitting by Najibullah Zadran. It was Zadran’s 59 ball 71 coupled with debutant Riaz Hassan’s fifty and 48 from Rahmat Shah that took Afghanistan to a very tough total to chase. The Netherlands started off well in their chase with the openers Colin Ackermann and Edwards putting up a 103 runs stand for the first wicket. However, it once again became evident that the Dutch middle-order was in no way fit to fight the Afghan spin and soon after the partnership break, wickets started falling. While Edwards scored 54, Ackermann top-scored with 81 off 96 balls. Apart from those two, Saqib Zulfiqar was the only other batter to get into double figures from the Netherlands side. For Afghanistan, another ODI debutant Qais Ahmad picked three wickets while experienced Rashid Khan picked the crucial wicket of Ackermann alongside that of Philippe Boissevain. With the 3-0 clean sweep, Afghanistan reached the fifth position in the Cricket World Cup Super League 2023. They now have 60 points from six games, meaning that they have won all their possible matches.