Covid forces Windies skipper Taylor’s omission from first T20I against South Africa Women

Spinners will present the challenges in Bangladesh: Latham

New Zealand will be taking on Bangladesh in a five-match T20I series scheduled to begin on September 1 in Dhaka. Stand-in captain Tom Latham has said that its an honour to lead the national side but it won’t be an easy task either as he hasn’t played a T20I himself since 2017. "It is a really big honour to lead the side from a T20 point of view," he said. “From a leadership point of view, you are always looking to grow and improve. This format presents another opportunity. I have had captaincy experience in the past. This is a slightly younger group," he added. Talking about the difficulties that the side might face, Latham pointed out that Mustafizur’s slower deliveries and the spinners in the middle overs would present the challenges. "Mustafiz at the top of the innings, is renowned for his slower ball. We saw how he bowled against Australia. The spinners at the top and through the middle will present the challenges,” he said. The two sides locked horns with each other in a three-match T20I series in New Zealand earlier this year where Bangladesh were thumped to suffer a 3-0 clean sweep defeat. But the Bangladesh side is in some good form now especially after the way they fared against Australia in the five-match bilateral tie in T20Is where they defeated the Aussie team 4-1.

I feel a piece of me has left with him: Sachin Tendulkar on death of Mumbai great Vasudeo Paranjape

Indian cricket legend Sachi Tendulkar was all praise of his younger days’ coach Vasudeo Paranjape, who died on August 30 at the age of 82. Remembering his days with his coach, Tendulkar said that with his death it seems like a part of him has also left this world. Paranjape played 29 first-class matches for Mumbai and Baroda from 1956 to 1970, the era in which Mumbai won 12 titles and the rest two were won by Baroda. Remembering an incident from his childhood, Sachin said, “During our under 15 national camp in Indore, the caretaker had gone complaining to him (as Coach) about us boys playing with a tennis ball in the night, keenly expecting some support and stringent action.” “Vasu Sir in his inimitable style reacted, 'They are kids and will play. Why don't you also field for them,' leaving the caretaker stumped!” added Tendulkar. Tendulkar wasn’t the only one who received guidance from Paranjapae, he is credited for playing an instrumental part in the careers of great Indian players like Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar and Rohit Sharma, among others. The Master-Blaster a=remebered advice that he had received from Paranjpe very early in his career. “I remember him telling me in Marathi, 'You watch out for the first 15 minutes and the opposition will watch you for the rest of the day.' He was knowledgeable, lively and had a great sense of humour.” said Sachin before adding, “He has left us with many memories and moments to smile. I feel that a piece of me has left the world. RIP Vasu Sir."

Know there's been a lot of negativity in last few weeks, rang Langer to offer support: Ponting

The Australian side went through a tough phase recently after they suffered defeats in T20I against West Indies and were then thumped by Bangladesh away from home. But the former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has put his weight behind Justin Langer and also revealed that he did have a chat with the coach. "I have got no doubt. I know there's been a lot of negativity the last few weeks, I really felt for Justin, I rang Justin a few times," Ponting told 2GB Radio. "They just got back from that tough tour of the West Indies and then Bangladesh, and he was locked up in his hotel room in quarantine in Adelaide, and he was sort of copping it left, right and centre." "I and a lot of his close friends have reached out to him," Ponting added. Ponting also echoed what Langer had said earlier that a few months ago the Aussie team was the top-ranked side in T20Is and Tests. "If you wind the clock back not even 12 months ago, the Australian team were the number one ranked Test team and T20 team in the world, we know all the talent is there,” he said. Australia recently announced the squad for the World T20 scheduled to take place in UAE and Oman and some key players like David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith and Pat Cummins who had earlier missed the tour to the Caribbean islands and Bangladesh were included back in the side that would be led by Aaron Finch.

Bumper domestic schedule announced with Ranji Trophy Knockouts at Kolkata and SMAT at Delhi

The Board of Control for Cricket in India intimated to the state associations about the upcoming domestic season and stated that the premier tournament, Ranji Trophy would be played from January 13 at six centres with one centre allocated for each of the six groups. As per reports, the Ranji Trophy centres selected are Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Trivandrum and Chennai. Kolkata has been selected to host the Knockouts which comprise four quarterfinals, two semis and a final slated to begin on March 16. All the knockout games would be five-day affairs. The interesting thing about this time’s grouping is that no team gets to play its matches at its home turf until and unless Bengla makes it to the Knockouts. Ranji Trophy Groupings Elite A: Gujarat, Punjab, Himachal, Madhya Pradesh, Services and Assam (in Mumbai) Elite B: Bengal, Vidarbha, Rajasthan, Kerala, Haryana and Tripura (in Bangalore) Elite C: Karnataka, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand (in Kolkata) Elite D: Saurashtra, Tamil Nadu, Railways, J & K, Jharkhand and Goa (in Ahmedabad) Elite E: Andhra, Uttar Pradesh, Baroda, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Pondicherry (in Trivandrum) Plate: Chandigarh, Meghalaya, Bihar, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim, Arunachal (in Chennai) The board also informed states that the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the regional T20 tournament will be played between November 04 and 22 with the Knockouts being hosted in Delhi. The six centres chosen for its group stage games are Lucknow, Guwahati, Baroda, Delhi, Haryana and Vijayawada. There is no intimation about the formation of groups for the SMAT thus far. Vijay Hazare Trophy, the third premium tournament of the Indian domestic calendar will be held from December 8 to 27. The vines and groups of this tournament are yet to be announced. The newly developed Men’s State A one-day competition, remodelled from its previous version of the U-23 ODI tournament will begin from November 20 and will go on until December 10 with the Knockouts played in Bangalore. The group stage matches of this tournament will be played in Rajkot, Pondicherry, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mohali and Guwahati. Men's Under-25 four-day championship for the CK Nayudu Trophy, another remodelled competition from the Men’s U-23 four day is scheduled to begin from January 28 and will be played till March 31 with the Knockouts being held in Vijaywada. The group stage matches of this competition will be held in Nagpur, Hyderabad, Vijaywada, Mohali, Jaipur and Ranchi. While these are the major competitions, the domestic season kicks off with the Women’s U-19 ODI Championship and Men’s U-19 Vinoo Mankad Trophy. While Rajkot, Nagpur, Vizag, Surat, Jaipur and Bhubaneswar are being considered for the women's competition, Men’s competition is likely to be played in Mohali, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Indore and Ranchi. Surat and Ahmedabad are being considered as the hots for the Knockouts of both women's and men's under-19 respectively. The tournaments will start from September 20 and will be played for 29 days to end on October 18. The grouping for this tournament is different as only 36 teams take part in it and each group plate or elite will have six teams each with the five plate teams directly making it to the quarterfinal and the second-placed teams from each Elite Group and the winners of the Plate Group playing three pre-quarter-finals to decide the Quarter-Finals lineup. Men's Under-19 groupings Elite A: Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Andhra, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Odisha (in Mohali) Elite B: MP, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh (in Delhi) Elite C: Mumbai, Hyderabad, Team Rajasthan, Tripura, Assam and Goa (in Ahmedabad) Elite D: Haryana, Punjab, Bengal, Baroda, Kerala and Uttarakhand (in Hyderabad) Elite E: Karnataka, Jharkhand, Vidarbha, Saurashtra, J& K and Pondicherry (in Indore) Plate: Nagaland, Arunachal, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Manipur (in Ranchi) Women's Under-19 groupings Elite A: UP, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Assam, Gujarat and Vidarbha (in Rajkot) Elite B: Delhi, Goa, Bengal, Pondicherry, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu (in Nagpur) Elite C: MP, Kerala, Baroda, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Bihar (in Vizag) Elite D: Andhra, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Saurashtra and Chandigarh (in Surat) Elite E: Punjab, Odisha, Himachal, Karnataka, Tripura and Mizoram (in Jaipur) Plate: Nagaland, Manipur, Sikkim, Meghalaya, J & K and Arunachal Pradesh (in Bhubaneswar)