Former India U19 skipper Unmukt Chand likely to make BBL debut for Melbourne Renegades

Joe Root to skip IPL in ultimate sacrifice for Test team

England Test captain Joe Root has all but confirmed that he will not be a part of the Indian Premier League mega-auctions. One of the best batters of the modern generation, Root has not been a part of the cash-rich league even once in his career. In all probability, what could be the final mega auction of the league, this could have been Root’s best chance to enter a franchise. However, the chances look grim with Root stating that he will be sacrificing as much as he can to rebuild the English Test team. His comments come after England’s drubbing of four-nil in the Ashes series where England were bested in all departments. “I’ll keep sacrificing as much as I can because I care so much about Test cricket in our country and trying to get us to where we want to be,” Root said, effectively turning down the proposition to join IPL. Massive amounts of criticism have been chucked towards the national team for their impatience in the middle and Root has had to face some chin music from the Australian media about his meek captaincy. “There’s a lot that we need to do for this team, which deserves all of my energy,” Root told the media in the post-match press conference.

WI vs IRE | 3rd ODI: Ireland etch name in record books, clinch series 2-1

Ireland created history in Jamaica after beating West Indies in the third ODI to clinch the three-match series 2-1. Chasing 213, the visitors lost a wicket on the very first ball of the innings after William Porterfield was dismissed for a golden duck by Alzarri Joseph. But a fine piece of batting from Paul Stirling, Andy McBrine and Harry Tector got the Irish team back in the hunt. Stirling and McBrine first steadied the ship with a 73-run stand for the second wicket before Stirling was trapped in front of the stumps by Akeal Hosein for 44 off 38. McBrine was then joined by Tector in the middle and the two batters stitched a partnership of 79 runs for the third wicket. McBrine eventually departed for 59 off 100 deliveries and his dismissal certainly broke the shackles as Ireland began to lose wickets at regular intervals and were reduced to 197/6 with Tector also back in the hut. But Gareth Delany chipped in with 10 off 5 that helped the visiting team inch closer to target before Craig Young and Mark Adair took the team over the line without losing any further wickets. Ireland won the match by 2 wickets in the 45th over. Hosein and Roston Chase picked up three wickets each for the side. Earlier, West Indies were off to a flying start, courtesy an aggressive knock of 53 off 39 deliveries from Shai Hope. But Hope’s departure pushed the West Indies batting unit on back foot as they lost wickets quickly and were left tottering at 119/7. Jason Holder then took the onus on himself and added runs to the tally before he was run out for 44 off 60 leaving the Caribbean side at 182/8 in the 41st over. Apart from him, Hosein (23 off 36) and Odean Smith (20* off 10) also made some contributions that helped the side to go past the 200-run mark before getting bundled out for 212. McBrine scalped a four-wicket haul for Ireland while Young had three wickets to his name eventually. Stirling later expressed delight and noted that it was a good comeback from the side especially after losing the first game. “Delighted and very proud of the lads, To comeback from 0-1 was amazing. He (Balbirnie) will be absolutely chuffed for all us and he will be watching every ball and supporting us from the hotel. He (Tector) has been really consistent and he is really hungry to score runs, He (McBrine) epitomizes what an Irish cricket should be and the commitment and the passion he shows on the field is outstanding,” he said in the post-match presentation.

Perceptions are changing about this South African team: Bavuma confident ahead of ODI series

South Africa white-ball captain Temba Bavuma sounded confident ahead of the ODI series against India. Speaking to South Africa news publication Daily Maverick, Bavuma said that a win against the Indian team will build a lot of confidence and will help them to in the games to follow. "An ODI series win against India would give us a helluva lot of confidence, and some momentum ahead of the games to follow," Bavuma was quoted as saying by 'Daily Maverick'. South Africa’s latest white ball outing was in the T20 World Cup at the UAE where the underdogs put on a good show despite a lot of off-field on-field controversies. Bavuma said that South Africa are looking to establish their own playing style and implement their own strategies to good effect. "Perceptions are changing about this South African white-ball team. In the past, it was said that we lacked the ability to take on spin and that we struggled in overseas conditions. I feel like we proved a lot of people wrong at the T20 World Cup.”

IPL | Shreyas Iyer to enter mega-auction after failed agreement talks with new franchises

Indian middle order batsman and former capital of the Delhi Capitals, Shreyas Iyer, will be entering the mega-auction. If reports are to be believed then Iyer failed to reach an agreement with the two new franchises in the Indian Premier League over a captaincy position and now will be entering the mega auction to try his luck. It has long been reported that the Sanjeev Goenka owned Lucknow franchise have agreed terms with KL Rahul, while the Ahmedabad based team will likely pick up Hardik Pandya as their captaincy candidate. There are several IPL teams that are in need of a captaincy candidate at the moment with the top two being - Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Punjab Kings would likely be in the fray as well, given they have not yet announced Mayank Agarwal as their captain yet. Iyer could potentially go for big money in auction with several teams in the tournament needing to add Indian middle order players.