Bilateral series between Ban & SL to go ahead as scheduled: BCB president

Mustafizur Rahman makes fine return after limping off the ground

Bangladesh suffered a huge blow during the first ODI against Sri Lanka in Dhaka after left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman had to leave the field during the 39th over. Mustafizur fell down during his followthrough on the sixth delivery of the over that eventually went for a wide. With the visuals, it looked as it was his calf that was troubling and the fast bowler was taken off the field. He later came back on the field and picked up a crucial wicket of Isuru Udana who was dismissed for 21 off 23. Earlier, in the day, after batting first, Bangladesh compiled a total of 257/6 in 50 overs. The hosts lost opener Liton Das early in the innings but Tamim Iqbal and Shakib steadied the ship for the side to put up a partnership of 38 runs for the second wicket. Shakib though departed for 15 while Tamim continued with his form and notched up a half-century. But a couple of wickets on the trot pushed the home side on the backfoot. Bangladesh were 99/4 when Mushfiqur Rahim was joined by Mahmudullah and the two batsmen then stitched a stand of 109 runs for the fifth wicket. Mahmudullah scored 54 while Rahim notched up 84 during the course. Dhananjaya de Silva was the pick of the bowlers for Sri Lanka as he scalped a three-for and eventually returned with figures of 3/45 in 10 overs. The remaining two matches of the three-match series will take place on Tuesday and Friday respectively at the same venue. The ODI series between the two teams was under dark clouds after three members of the Sri Lankan contingent and Bangladesh team’s bus driver had tested positive for Covid-19. The three members included Shiran Fernando, Chaminda Vaas and Isuru Udana. Vaas and Udana had returned with positive tests on Saturday and then with negative tests on Sunday while Fernando returned with positive results on both the instances and has been put into isolation.

CAB starts verification process for divisional tournaments, age frauds to be dealt with sternly

The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has begun their verification process of identifying all the documents submitted by the players for plying their trade in the first and second division tournaments for the 2020-21 season. CAB had earlier vouched for the fact that it had a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to any corrupt and fraudulent practices. They have formed a verification cell very recently to make sure that there is complete transparency in the system. “We have decided to utilise this Lockdown Period productively as we have already started the verification of the documents submitted to us to ascertain its genuineness,” CAB President Avishek Dalmiya was quoted as saying in an official release. “This is a part of the cleansing process since we are determined to put the entire system in order at the earliest and in a time-specific manner,” Dalmiya added. CAB’s reputation has come under scrutiny in the past for age frauds among players. Back in October 2010, three players who were selected in the Bengal U-19 team for the Vinoo Mankad Trophy namely Balkesh Yadav, Rahul Singh and Sk. Ajharuddin were found ineligible by BCCI for producing false documents. There was further embarrassment for CAB when Ajharuddin the player replaced was also found ineligible and was sent back home by BCCI. The current CAB president has expressed his desire to impose more stringent checks to prevent such frauds in the future. “Once the verification is completed, the outcome would be placed before the verification cell for further course of action including laying down of more stringent checks and policies to prevent any such fraud in future,” added Dalmiya. Speaking about the possibility of age frauds, Snehasish Ganguly clarified the fact that there could be players who could come with forged documents but the verification exercise will mean that such incidents will be dealt with very sternly. “There could be possibilities that some of the documents submitted to us being forged or tampered with. However, this verification exercise being done by the agency that manages our database would help us find out such incidents, if any, so that it may be dealt with sternly,” the senior Ganguly said. “This would also enable us to screen out and scrutinise all the doubtful cases prior to the commencement of the next season to make it a cleaner one,” he added.

Women's team to receive World T20 prize money by end of this week: Reports

The Indian women’s team that ended as the runners-up in last edition of the World T20 will receive the prize money worth USD 500,000 by the end of this week. "The members of the Indian women's cricket team will be getting the share of their prize money by the end of this week. The transactions have been processed and I am expecting that they will receive their share very soon," the senior board functionary told PTI. The source associated with the board has put the onus on the present condition for the delay in the payment. "It's not just one payment for women. Whether it's the central contract of the men's team, international match fees, domestic fees of men and women, everything is taking a bit of time because of the prevailing situation," a former BCCI office-bearer, still associated with a state unit, said.

Monty Panesar feels conditions will have a major say in deciding outcome of WTC final

Former England left-arm orthodox spinner Monty Panesar is hoping to see a good battle between bat and ball in the upcoming ICC World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand. While he feels that New Zealand might be the favourites if the conditions suit seam and swing bowling, Panesar is of the opinion that the situation can change drastically if the weather is clear and the pitch is dry. At the moment, the conditions in England are cold with showers expected every now and then. If it continues the same way New Zealand will have an advantage feels Panesar. “At the moment there is a lot of rain around. If the weather stays like this then it will be an interesting battle between the Indian and New Zealand seamers. The New Zealand batsman also play the moving ball better than Indian batsmen,” Panesar was quoted as saying by PTI. “So, that, that would be quite interesting to see if the ball is swinging and moving at some stage during the Test match, how the Indian batsmen, stand up to it compared to New Zealand,” Panesar added during his telephonic interview with PTI. With two frontline spinners in their ranks, it will be a headache for the coach and the captain to pick the spinner for the all-important final. If the condition is dry and the weather is clear, India might well be tempted to go with both Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Speaking on the same, Panesar said that the conditions will play a big part in deciding the winner of the inaugural WTC. “They have got a great draining system at the Ageas Bowl. Normally you see nice good hot weather. Hopefully, the game will go on for the whole four to five days,” he said. “On that basis, you are looking at two spinners (Ashwin and Jadeja) from India and three seamers. If the weather is clear then India becomes favourites. So it depends a lot on the conditions,” Panesar further added. The left-arm spinner who played a pivotal role in England’s last series win in India back in 2012 feels that if the match was to be played in a week’s time he would have definitely picked India as the favourites as they seem to have all their bases covered and have played the hardest cricket in the recent past. They managed to script a historic series win in Australia before thrashing England 3-1 at home after going down 0-1. “If you said the WTC final is in a week’s time, I would pick India as they have played much more hard cricket. The team is probably believing that it can win from any situation, while New Zealand have played good cricket, but they haven’t really had the hard victories like India,” Panesar said. “What really makes a top team is when you win from really difficult, tough situations,” he concluded. Meanwhile, Panesar had also backed India to whitewash England in their own den when they lock horns against the hosts in a five-match Test series starting from August.