Dasun Shanka to lead Sri Lanka against India in Perera's absence, fast bowler Lahiru Kumara returns

Playing against West Indies is daunting but so much fun: Adam Zampa

Australia leg-spinner Adam Zampa has said that bowling to West Indies batsmen is pretty “daunting” but at the same time it is fun to be up against them. "They haven't played [Kieron] Pollard, you have guys like Chris and Fabian Allen who can hit the ball out of the park too, so it is pretty daunting but that's what makes playing against West Indies so much fun. It's satisfying when you do well against them, but it can be daunting when they are coming at you. It's a good challenge,” he said. West Indies took an unassailable lead in the five-match T20Is series after winning the first three T20Is. But Australia gave their fans something to cheer about as the side etched a win in the penultimate clash by 4 runs while defending 189/6 in 20 overs at St Lucia. The hosts started off the chase well as Lendl Simmons and Evin Lewis stitched a stand of 62 for the first wicket. But the home side then lost some wickets at regular intervals to get reduced to 97/3 before Nicholas Pooran and Simmons steadied the ship for the side. But their efforts went in vain as West Indies failed to go over the line. Simmons notched up 72 off 48. Mitchell Marsh scalped a three-wicket haul while Zampa returned with figures of 2/20 in 4 overs. The two teams will lock horns in the final T20I on Saturday morning (IST) at the same venue.

Prithvi Shaw recalls off-field friendship with Shikhar Dhawan ahead of Sri Lanka series

It’s been two years since Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw have teamed up to become a deadly duo at the top for the Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League and now the journey is set to go international in the upcoming series against Sri Lanka. Shaw is returning to the Indian team after going out of favour due to lack of runs and brittle technique while Dhawan has been a force to reckon with for India in the ODI cricket. India are likely to field Shaw along with Dhawan, who has also been appointed as the captain of the side in absence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Opening about his chemistry with Dhawan, Shaw has said that they discuss a lot about the game of cricket both on and off the field and hence they understand each other’s game very well. Rating batting alongside him, Shaw said that he enjoys batting with the left-hander and all those off-field moments have strengthened the bond between them. “I and Shikhi bhai are opening for the Delhi Capitals, we were good friends before that as well, but after that our bonding has become better because off the field also we spent quite a lot of time with each other, whether it was dinner or chilling in his room," Shaw said to Star Sports. "We used to talk a lot and because of that, that bond was seen on the wicket as well. We used to speak a lot about cricket there as well, off the field or in between overs. It is enjoyable to bat alongside him. Shaw has been a part of the conversation in Indian cricket since he was dropped after the first Test of the series against Australia late last year. Since then, he has piled on the runs to earn a callback from the senior side. Albeit he has returned to just the white-ball sides, he was also sought by the senior team management on the tour of England as per various media reports.

No strict COVID protocols for ENG-IND series, players must start living with the virus says ECB chief

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief Tom Harrison has made it pretty clear on Thursday that there will be no strict bio-bubble protocols during the upcoming England-India five-match Test series slated to kick off on 4th August. Despite multiple COVID-19 cases being reported across both teams in the lead up to the Test series, Harrison is of the opinion that the players and the stakeholders need to start living with COVID-19. Indian wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant had tested positive for COVID-19 around a week ago and is currently under home isolation at a relative’s place. Meanwhile, another support staff also tested positive and has been put under quarantine. The cases of COVID-19 in the UK are on the rise yet again with more than 42,000 cases being reported on Wednesday. "We're in a different scenario to 12 months ago or even six months ago really with respect to how we cope with Covid. We're really trying to learn how we live with it and create safe environments for people as opposed to bio-secure environments," Harrison was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz. "There's a huge difference between the two. Players are just fed up with biosecurity and bubbles and that language we have become so used to using. It's had such a detrimental impact on mental health for players, time away from families. We are just not able to operate that kind of environment going forward. "We have to learn to cope with Covid. We're going to be living with it now for the foreseeable future so mitigation is the word as opposed to prevention. We think we've built in enough protocols now just to try and mitigate the impact of frankly inevitable infections,” Harrison added. Meanwhile, he also added that it is very important to make sure that the whole squad doesn’t need to get replaced which happened during the ODI series against Pakistan. ECB was forced to name a totally different team against Pakistan after three players and four support staff that were part of the team against Sri Lanka tested positive for COVID-19. "I think that is where we are trying to ensure that we don't have instances where entire squads are taken out of circulation because of one or two local infections. "So we're working very hard to make sure those protocols are in place for the remainder of the season. We've communicated these protocols to the various camps and various teams and also the international and county environment," said Harrison.

Aqib Javed lashes out at PCB, says current crop of players are like wrestlers than cricketers

Former Pakistan pacer Aaqib Javed has lashed out at the Pakistan team management for not having a proper policy or plans in place for the national team. He also took a direct dig at the national team players calling them wrestlers more than cricketers in the current T20 team. The former fast bowler had earlier worked with the Pakistan U 19 team as the head coach and the senior team as the bowling coach. He also raised question marks on the fitness levels of certain players and how they were making the squad. "They don't know what they are doing or what is their direction. I see more wrestlers than players in the T20 team. There are question marks over the fitness of Sharjeel Khan, Azam Khan, Sohaib Maqsood for international level," Aaqib was quoted as saying by the Geo news channel. Pakistan is currently in the UK preparing for a three-match T20I series. They were annihilated by a second-string England side 3-0 in the recently concluded ODI series. Aqib Javed criticised the team management’s decision to bring back Sohaib Maqsood to the national squad on the basis of his performance in the PSL without knowing his proper batting position and where he would feel comfortable playing. "If you look at the team they have several players of similar nature or for one position. Is this the way to move forward," he asked. Aqib Javed lavished praise on the England limited-overs side for having a set and clear vision about white-ball cricket.