India fined for maintaining slow over-rate during fifth T20I against England

Asghar Afghan becomes most successful T20I skipper, overtakes MS Dhoni

Afghanistan T20I captain Asghar Afghan has become the most successful skipper in the shortest format of the game, winning 42 matches, the most by any skipper in the game’s history. With his latest win, the third T20I against Zimbabwe, he overtook arguably the greatest skipper in World cricket Mahendra Singh Dhoni of India in the category of ‘most wins as a T20I skipper’. Dhoni, 40, who retired from all forms of international cricket last year, had captained India in 72 matches and won 41 of them with a win percentage of 59.28. His last game as T20I skipper was the semi-final of the 2016 T20 World Cup, which took place in India. Afghan, on the other hand, has captained in 52 of the 72 T20Is that he has played for Afghanistan, winning 42 and losing just nine of them. The 33-year-old also has the highest win percentage among all captains from the Test-playing nations. His win percentage of 81.73 is second only to Spanish skipper Christian Munoz-Mills, among players who captained their national side more than or equal to 10 times. The Spaniard has a win percentage of 81.81, having lost just two of his 11 games as skipper. With the 47 runs win against Zimbabwe, Afghanistan also made a clean sweep of the three-match series, having won the previous two games comfortable as well.

As a Test team, we are on a great path: Kraigg Brathwaite

West Indies recently appointed Kraigg Brathwaite as the full-time skipper for the Test side after a 2-0 win over Bangladesh under his captaincy. The West Indies side will now be up against Sri Lanka in the two-match Test series Antigua. All-rounder Jason Holder and Darren Bravo are back in the side who had earlier opted out of the series against Bangladesh. Praising both the cricketers, Brathwaite said that both of them are quality players and have a lot to offer to the team. "The two of them are quality international cricketers and we know what they can give [to the side]," he said in a media interaction. Brathwaite further added that the side is pretty good and he wants the unit to play in the same way they did against Bangladesh. "We have a good group [of players] and as I said from [the] Bangladesh [squad], the team that went there was a good team," he said. "We have the same attitude [like what we had in Bangladesh], the same determination and the same fight, and we want to keep that discipline. As a Test team, we are on a great path with guys going and grabbing opportunities to score runs, and on a great path to play teams in the Test arena,” he added. The first Test between the two sides begins on Sunday. The home side tasted success in both the T20Is and the ODI series. West Indies defeated the Lankan Lions 2-1 in the T20Is while had clean sweep win the three-match ODI fixtures.

England announce ODI squad for India series; Jofra Archer to miss early part of IPL 2021

England have named a 14-men squad for the three-match ODI series against India starting March 23 in Pune. Three more players namely Jack Ball, Dawid Malan and Chris Jordan who were part of the squad for the T20 series concluded yesterday will also travel with the team. As the skipper Eoin Morgan had hinted yesterday that Jofra Archer’s injury has become too worse for him to be playing, the pacer has been excluded from the ODI series and will return to the UK for ‘investigation and management of his right elbow. “Archer's elbow issue has deteriorated over the course of the Twenty20 International series and made it increasingly challenging for him to maintain performance levels. He has been deemed unfit for selection for the ODI series that features matches on 23, 26 and 28 March.,” ECB said in its squad-announcing statement. The ECB gave a detailed explanation that Archer will return only after an assessment by the medical team and hence he will miss the initial stage of the Indian Premier League starting April 09. England Men’s ODI Squad Eoin Morgan(captain), Moeen Ali, Jonathan Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Liam Livingstone, Matt Parkinson, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, Mark Wood. Backups: Jake Ball, Chris Jordan, Dawid Malan.

Shakib Al Hasan speaks up on IPL vs Tests controversy; rues misinterpretation of letter

Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has lambasted the operational chairman of the Bangladesh Cricket Board Akram Khan for not reading his letter ‘properly’ and misinterpreting his decision to play the next edition of the IPL instead of a Test series against Sri Lanka. Shakib said that people talking about his decision to play the IPL have not read his letter properly and hence coming to a conclusion that he is not interested in playing the Test format for the country. "Continuously people are talking about this Test. The people who are saying that I will no longer play the Test or don't want to play the Test haven't read my letter properly and that is it," Shakib said in a live chat to Cricfrenzy. Shakib said that he had clearly mentioned that the move to prefer IPL was a one-time call to prepare for the World T20 while the Test series against Sri Lanka would not make any difference to Bangladesh’s rankings on the World Test Championship table. He added that he did not mention anything about his interest or lack of it towards Test cricket in his letter. "I did not mention anywhere in my letter that I do not want to play Tests. I mentioned in my letter that I want to play in the IPL to prepare myself properly for World Cup but despite that Akram Bhai (Akram Khan, BCB cricket operation chairman) has repeatedly said that I do not want to play Tests," he said. Shakib said that he would have walked away from any format other than the T20s as being with his IPL teams will allow him extra time on pitches where the World T20 matches have been scheduled to be played. He said that early exposure and being in rhythm before the big tournaments will start will be huge for the team and younger players. "Even if there were an ODI series at this time, I would have done the same. During the IPL season, I wanted time so that I can prepare myself better. The ground where I will play IPL now will be the ground where I will play the World Cup match after four months. The players with whom I will play the IPL will be the players against whom I will play in the World Cup. For this reason, I will get more advantages than anyone else from Bangladesh, and it will also help me to share my experiences with the team that I will gain by playing in the IPL," he said. At the same time, Shakib thanked BCB President Nazmul Hussian for coming to his rescue and allowing him to play in the IPL. Shakib said that when the administrators like Nazmul Hussain supports players it increases players’ confidence. "I want to thank Papon Bhai (Nazmul Hasan) as I believe he has made the right decision, and I think that a player should have the liberty. I believe the cricketer's confidence increases if the board or BCB president backs up a player like this. And when a player represents the national team, the responsibility to do something good for the team also increases. We have to thank Papon Bhai for making the right decision from his place. However, Akram Bhai repeatedly said that I do not want to play Tests, which I have not mentioned anywhere in my letter," he added. Shakib Al Hasan will go back to the Kolkata Knight Riders camp after missing the last campaign for the Sunrisers Hyderabad when he was serving a ban by the ICC for not reporting an approach made by bookies.