IND vs NZ | 2nd Test, Day 4: Jayant Yadav demolishes Kiwis lower order to propel India to series win

Injured Kieron Pollard ruled out of Pakistan tour, Windies promote Hope, Pooran to leadership roles

West Indies have suffered a setback in the form of their skipper Kieron Pollard being ruled out of the upcoming tour of Pakistan. Pollard failed to recover from the hamstring injury he picked up during the T20 World Cup and will not travel to the country for the three-match long ODI and T20I series. West Indies have elevated Shai Hope and Nicholas Pooran to the leadership roles of the ODI and T20I sides. Hope has been appointed the ODI skipper and Pooran will be his deputy in the ODI series while there is a role reversal in the T20 series and Pooran will take over the reins in the shortest format with Hope as his deputy. West Indies were already without the experienced quartet of Jason Holder, Andre Russell, Evin Lewis and Shimron Hetmyer for the Pakistan series and Pollard’s absence will dent their experience further. The entire tour will be played in Karachi and it will commence on December 13 with T20I and conclude with the final ODI on December 22. West Indies ODI squad Shai Hope (C), Nicholas Pooran (VC), Darren Bravo, Shamarh Brooks, Roston Chase, Justin Greaves, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Gudakesh Motie, Anderson Phillip, Raymon Reifer, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Hayden Walsh Jr, Devon Thomas West Indies T20I squad Nicholas Pooran (C), Shai Hope (VC), Darren Bravo, Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell, Dominic Drakes, Akeal Hosein, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Gudakesh Motie, Romario Shepherd, Odean Smith, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jr, Rovman Powell

LPL 2021 | Galle Gladiators begin in winning fashion, decimate Jaffna Kings by 54 runs

Last season’s runners up took revenge for their final’s loss of the last year with a victory in the inaugural game of the Lankan Premier League this year as they defeated defending champions Jaffna kIngs by a huge margin of 54 runs to get the ball rolling in Sri Lanka’s premier domestic T20 tournament. Samit Patel, the English import was the hero of the game for the Gladiators as he not only scored crucial 43 runs but also picked three wickets to break the back of the Kings’ chase at the very start of it. Chasing 165, the Kings had a decent start, making 28 in the first three overs. However, once they were jolted by Mohammad Hafeez who picked up Upul Tharanga for a score of 17, the road to 165 kept on becoming difficult with each passing ball. After Tharanga, Afghan import of the Kings, Rahmanullah Gurbaz was dismissed with the team score at 39. Avishka Fernando and Tom Kohler-Cadmore followed suit and the Kings were 52-4 in 9th over, all of a sudden. Skipper Thisara Perera tried hard to put up a rescue act with Sammu Ashan. But Lahiru Madushanka had other ideas as he removed him with the last ball of his first and only over in the game. Wanindu Hasaranga couldn’t even open his account and became Afghani Noor Ahmad’s first scalp. In the end, Wahab Riaz and Suranga Lakmal hit a few lusty blows to get Kings past the 100 run mark, but it was never going to be enough. Pulina Tharanga removed both of them with his leg-spin in the 18th over and then Nuwan Thushara came back to get the last wicket of Maheesh Theekshana, thereby bowling out Kings for 110 and winning the game for his team 54 runs.

Super Smash | Josh Clarkson, Doug Bracewell shine in Central Stags win over Wellington

Central Stags registered their second win in the Super Smash 2021, the premier domestic T20 competition of this year’s finalists at the T20 World Cup, New Zealand. Josh Clarkson with the bat and Doug Bracewell, who has represented the Kiwis at the highest level was the hero with the ball for the team from the Central Districts. Stags defeated Wellington Firebirds. Both Stags and Firebirds had won their first games of the season respectively. However, in this game, the Firebirds’ batting was not up to the mark and they were reduced to 72-6 at one stage while chasing down 191. If it wasn’t for their Dutch import Logan van Beek’s unbeaten 61 off 33, which he scored, while playing a supporting role to Troy Jhonson who himself scored a laboured 54 off 46 balls, the Wellington side were headed for a heavy defeat. The start of the chase was the worst possible for the men in black and yellow as they lost their premier batter Fin Allen on the very first ball of the innings. Bracewell, who got Allen’s wicket got another as he removed Luke Georgeson for another golden duck. Soon enough Nick Greenwood departed as well. It was then that all-rounder Nathan Smith and Jhonson started to build a partnership. However, Ben Wheeler struck twice in two balls to remove Smith and new man Jamie Gibson to make the situation worse for the Firebirds. Spinner Jayden Lennox’ lone wicket in the form of Tim Robinson meant that van Beek was on the crease with Jhonson. Earlier in the day, Josh Clarkson played the perfect role of late order messiah for the Stags as he hit 32 ball 71 which was laced with three fours and six sixes to power the men in green and black to 190. Clarkson came at number six when Stags were struggling at 81-4 in the first 10 overs of their innings. He then partnered skipper Tom Bruce who was already in the middle and the duo added an unbeaten 109 off just 59 balls. Bruce remained unbeaten on 69 off 48 balls.

IND vs NZ | 2nd Test: Rachin Ravindra wants to keep his intent high to fight the impossible battle

New Zealand are on the brink of a loss, a loss that is likely to come because of a poor showing with the bat from them in their first innings where they were bowled out for 62, their lowest ever Test score against India in the history of the game. Recognising that the battle to draw the game where without any weather interruptions, the Kiwis would have to play out 180 overs or score 400 runs from here on (They are currently at 140-5) is almost impossible to achieve Rachin Ravindra said, “It’s always tough being bowled out for 60, a lot of things went wrong.” “We all strive to be better. We tried to put that sort of stuff behind. It was not our best performance but we knew we have got a second innings and we’ll keep fighting from there,” the left-hander, who was batting unbeaten on two runs said in a press conference at the end of third day’s play in Mumbai. Asked whether he will take in anything from his bowling performance and try and convert those learnings while he bats at the vicious turner in Wankhede, Ravindra, who has taken three wickets in the game and is batting with Henry Nicholls in an 11 run partnership which has taken up 49 balls, said that keeping the intent high would be his and his team’s main motto at the crease on day four. Shubman Gill became Ravindra's maiden Test scalp and he also poached Virat Kohli, getting him played down. “I think I carried an understanding of the surface and what I was doing from when I was bowling to adopting a game plan. It’s important, we keep our intent high. Get into good positions and smother the ball nicely,” said the 22-year-old. He further said that his resistance in the first game which gave New Zealand the famous draw in Kanpur will surely boost his confidence. “Yes, I will take confidence from it but we still have a very, very long way to go. Two days, 180 overs, there’s a lot of cricket to be played.”