IPL 2021: Australian Damien Wright joins Punjab Kings as bowling coach

Lizelle Lee takes South Africa past Indian eves in rain-marred game

South Africa veteran Lizelle Lee turned on her A-game as she scored only her third hundred in ODI cricket to take South Africa home through a Duckworth-Lewis and Stern method. Lee carried her bat, scoring a brilliant 132 off 131 ball in a chase of 249. Along with Lee, another experienced campaigner Mignon du Preez also played an important cameo, scoring a quickfire 37 to give the team the desired pull during the chase. The chase started in a positive manner for the rainbow nation’s eves as Laura Wolvaardt, making her captaincy debut, added 41 runs with Lee. However, once she was removed for 12, Lara Goodall couldn’t make much of an impact either, getting out for 16, after a 49 that she had scored in the previous game. Lee though remained unperturbed by these dismissals and continued building upon her momentum. Joined by du Preez, she started taking on the Indian bowlers as the two added 97 in 90 balls. However, just after du Preez’s dismissal of Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Jhulan Goswami removed Marizanne Kapp to put South African women in a spot of bother, as they could only get 10 runs in the next three overs. But just when the required rate started climbing, Lee pulled up her socks and started scoring briskly, even as her partner Anne Bosch found it difficult to even rotate the strike. Lee’s last 23 runs came in just 15 balls. Just before the start of the rain came in, South Africa women hit 10 runs in the previous over to get ahead of the par score of 217 by six runs. Earlier in the day, Wolvaardt won the toss and put India to bat first. It was a third failure in the row for Jemimah Rodriguez as she was removed by Shambnim Ismail for nought. Smriti Mandhana too couldn’t get a big score in this game and India were 64-2 when skipper Mithali Raj joined Punam Raut in the middle. Mithali, after getting to the milestone 10,000 international runs got out, but Raut continued scoring 77 off 108 balls. With Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma’s 36 each, India was able to make it to 248 in their 50 overs. With this win at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium in Lucknow, South Africa w lead the five-match series 2-1. Lee was awarded Man of the Match for her brilliant innings.

IND vs ENG 1st T20: Rishabh Pant does it again; now reverse scoops Archer for six

Rishabh Pant pulled yet another outrageous shot against pacer in the first T20I of the series against Engkand when he reverse scopped Jofra Archer over the wicketkeeepr and slip’s head for a six. India were rattled early when KL Rahul and Virat Kohli dismissed early by Jofra Archer and Adil Rashid before Pant started his onslaught against Archer.

Shahnawaz Dahani, Sharjeel Khan named in Pakistan squad; Imad Wasim shockingly excluded

Sharjeel Khan, the tainted Pakistan batsman has been named in the Pakistan squad for the upcoming limited-overs tour of South Africa. The Pakistan Cricket Board named him to the T20I squad after a great showing in the last two Pakistan Super League finals. Sharjeel, 31, was banned for five-years in August 2017 by the Anti-Corruption Tribunal of the Pakistan Cricket Board for his involvement in spot-fixing during the 2017 PSL. Later on, after several appeals, half his sentence was suspended. Apart from Sharjeel, the selection committee has rewarded young fast bowlers Shahnawaz Dahani, Muhammad Wasim Jr. and Arshad Iqbal for showing great form during the PSL6. While Dahani is the T20 squads travelling to South Africa, Dahani is in the test squad and will only travel to Zimbabwe. Fakhar Zaman has made comeback in the ODI squad as an opener. The major exclusions include Shoaib Malik, Imad Wasim, Hussain Talat and Iftikhar Ahmed. Experienced leg spinner Yasir Shah has been kept out of the squad due to injury. Shahab Khan would be the lead leg spinner in the white ball squad while Quetta Gladiators’ Zahid Mahmood has been named in the Test squad. While the white ball squad will leave for Johannesburg on March 26 on a chartered flight, the Test specialists will land in Zimbabwe on April 12. Pakistan squads: T20: Babar Azam (Capt), Sharjeel Khan, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Muhammad Hafeez, Danish Aziz, Faheem Ashraf, Muhammad Nawaz, Muhammad Wasim jr, Shadab Khan (VC), Muhammad Rizwan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Arshad Iqbal, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Muhammad Hasnain, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Qadir. ODI: Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam (Capt), Danish Aziz, Imam ul Haq, Saud Shakeel, Haider Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Muhammad Nawaz, Muhammad Wasim jr, Shadab Khan (VC), Muhammad Rizwan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Muhammad Hasnain, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Qadir. Test: Abid Ali, Abdullah Shafique, Imran Butt Babar Azam (Capt), Fawad Alam, Azhar Ali, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Faheem Ashraf, Muhammad Nawaz, Muhammad Rizwan (VC), Sarfaraz Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Tabish Khan, Zahid Mahmood, Sajid Khan and Nauman Ali.

Ind-Eng T20I series to have 50% crowd at the Narendra Modi Stadium

The T20I series involving India and England at the Narendra Modi Stadium would have 50% audiences allowed for the entire five-match series. “We are going to allow only 50% of the seating capacity to be used for the T20 series against England at the Narendra Modi Stadium due to the Covid-19,” Gujarat Cricket Association vice president Dhanraj Nathwani was quoted as saying to TOI. All the games of the five-match series which begins tonight, 12th March would be played at the same venue before both the teams move to Pune for the three-match ODI series. “Considering #COVID19 pandemic, @GCAMotera has decided to use only 50% capacity of #NarendraModiStadium in #Ahmedabad for the 5 #INDvENG T20 matches to be played from 12th-20th Mar'21,” Nathwani tweeted. Nathwani also maintained that all precautions related to Covid-19 have been taken care of. “All COVID-19 precautions&SOPs are being taken to ensure the safety of spectators @BCCI @JayShah.” India won the preceding Test series 3-1 and qualified for the World Test Championship.