Jemimah Rodrigues to play for Northern Superchargers in The Hundred

It's actually the batsmen at fault: Tabraiz Shamsi backs Mankading

South African left-arm chinaman bowler Tabraiz Shamsi has come in support of ‘Mankading’ and has stated that it is well within the rules of cricket and the bowler shouldn’t be held responsible for running out a batman in that manner and rather a batsman should be held responsible for not upholding the spirit of the game. Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin who has always been vocal about this particular form of dismissal had demanded free balls whenever the non-striker tries to steal an extra yard. Like when a bowler is penalised for bowling a no-ball, Ashwin feels that a free ball would ensure that the non-striker remains at the crease until the bowler completes his action. Former Indian cricketer and currently one of the leading commentators, Sanjay Manjrekar had earlier written a column in Hindustan Times and had asked fans and cricket followers to come up with more suggestions of the rule changes in the game which they look forward to. In response, Ashwin had recommended a free ball to a bowler. In the particular Twitter thread shared by Manjrekar, Ashwin indulged in a conversation with a Twitter user where he mentioned why bowlers tend to refrain from running out a batsman in that manner. “The mental trauma that the bowlers may go through stops them from doing it,” Ashwin had tweeted. Replying to that particular response, Tabraiz Shamsi said that he fails to understand the reason why bowlers are held accountable for running out a batsman when actually the batsman is at fault. Quite often we have seen the non-striker batsman strolling out of his crease. Until recent times, most of the bowlers have refrained from Mankading the batsman as it is considered against the spirit of the game. "@ashwinravi99 I think all the bowlers should do it without any fear… it’s within the rules of the game. Why must the bowlers get abused about the “spirit of cricket” when it’s actually the batsmen that are stealing yards and THAT is against the spirit of cricket. That’s the real truth,” Shami tweeted. Ashwin received criticism from all quarters when he ran out Jos Buttler in a group game during the 2019 edition of the Indian Premier League. The off-spinner recently mentioned an incident when his Punjab Kings (then Kings XI Punjab) teammate Ankit Rajpoot had refused to Mankad a batsman when the match was firmly on the line and could have resulted in a win for his team. Rajpoot told his skipper Ashwin that he will be made the villain if he runs out the batsmen in that manner.

Tamim Iqbal 'disappointed' at losing 10 ODI Super League points even Bangladesh clinch ODI series

Bangladesh won their first bilateral series against Sri Lanka but skipper Tamim Iqbal has chosen to not overlook the flaws in his side after the loss in the third and final ODI of the series. He expressed disappointment although his side won the series and pointed out that the Bangladesh ODI side has a lot to do in near future irrespective of a win in the series against Sri Lanka. "I am disappointed. If we forget everything just because we won the series, it is the same thing when we come and say after a series loss that we have a lot of work to do. I will say the same thing after this series win: we have a lot to improve on,” Tamim said in the post-match press conference. Apart from the improvement and flaws, Tamim was also unhappy at letting go of 10 points which he said can come back to hurt his side in future as the ICC ODI super League has made every series relevant. Every game of the series accounted for 10 points each and while Bangladesh pocketed 20 points on the back of wins in the first two games, Sri Lanka bounced back strongly to claim 10 in the last game of the series. He emphasized the need for improvement in the fielding department after lapses in the last ODI while also lamented the underuse of the potential in the bowling department. "You never know, these ten points could bother us later. The ICC ODI Super League is not like a typical bilateral series. When we had the opportunity, we should have finished it properly. We won the series, but I don't think we played really well. We bowled well, but we have more potential in our batting unit. Fielding was okay in the first two matches, but it was the same-old fielding today. We [dropped] important catches at important times,” Tamim reckoned. However, in the face of disappointment and urge for improvements, Tamim did not criticise players by their names and instead backed them to come good with time which he said will make Bangladesh a ‘stronger’ team.’ "Criticising them is easy, but I don't like to criticise my players. I know how hard they are working. They haven't performed up to their expectations. I am sure they will put up a good performance soon. When they will perform, we become a stronger team,” Tamim backed his players. Tamim himself had a disappointing end of the series with both the on-field umpire and the third umpire adjudging him out caught behind when he was ‘100 per cent sure’ of not edging the ball. "It was very disappointing. I was 100 percent sure that I never nicked it. It was very unfortunate that when it went to review, it was almost impossible for the umpire to overturn the decision. If the on-field umpire didn't give that out, it would have been a different thing,” Tamim asserted. There was a lot riding on Tamim’s shoulder after the fall of quick wickets at the top of the order and when he was sent back to the pavilion, there was no short of emotions and disagreements from his side to the umpires.

Need to play consistent and better cricket: Dean Elgar

South Africa’s new Test captain Dean Elgar has said that the side is “frustrated” after not being able to play much of cricket in longer format and are looking forward to taking on the field against West Indies in the two-match series. "It’s been such an up and down time for all of us, as players we have been frustrated by having limited access to international cricket. We are excited and keen to get going," Elgar told reporters on Saturday. The left-handed batsman also emphasised that the South African team needs to play more consistent and regular cricket. "We need to play more cricket and better cricket, we are very conscious that over the last period we haven’t been consistent. Our skill level hasn’t been where it should be," Elgar said. Elgar admitted that it is a challenging task to compete in a Test championship but the players should focus on improving their performances and rise in the rankings. "We want to compete and play in a final of a test championship, but I understand that there is a process that you have to follow,” he said. "We must start to climb the rankings again,” Elgar added. The Proteas will begin the Test series on June 10 and both the matches will take place in St. Lucia.

No end in sight for India Women players as BCCI doesn't discuss payment issue in SGM

India’s Women cricketers may well have a lot of reasons to be disappointed with the BCCI not discussing any sort of discussion over the payment issues that have been flagged by various media reports in the past few days. It was believed that the BCCI would take cognisance of the controversies rising around the non-payment of the Women’s cricketers in the Special General Meeting but the BCCI did not mention any of those issues in the press release published on the outcome and discussion held in the meeting. A report in The Daily Telegraph started the talks around players not getting their paycheck from the BCCI which led to highlighting the plight of domestic players and associates such as scorers and groundsmen who have not received their salaries for the last two years. The BCCI has been alleged of overlooking the Women’s game in the country and not giving them enough financial assistance on par with the mens. The contract system released earlier this month also attracted serious attention from its critics as the payment disparity between men’s and women’s players were rampantly evident. The board has also received criticism for what was believed to be preferential discrimination of women cricketers. Some media reports had suggested that while the BCCI arranged a chartered flight for the men to assemble in Mumbai before flying to the UK, women were left to scramble for options by themselves. However, pictures shared by many women players on board with men players squashed the rumours.