My relationship with coach Ravi Shastri has been built on mutual respect & trust: Kohli

CPL 2021 Preview | SLK vs GAW: Riding high on confidence, Guyana look to continue winning streak vs depleted Kings

Saint Lucia Kings will be up against Guyana Amazon Warriors on Thursday in St Kitts. While the Kings are bottom-placed at the moment with only one win in three matches so far in the competition. On the other side, the Warriors have managed to win only two out of the four matches that they have played while suffering defeats in the other two. While Guyana would be coming into this game on the back of a win in a thrilling clash against the Trinbago Knight Riders after they etched victory in Super Over, the Kings lost their last respective match against the same opposition. But the Amazon Warriors do have some work to do as their batting line up that comprises Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Shimron Hetmyer and Nicholas Pooran failed to take the team over the line while chasing a target of 140. In the Super Over as well, Guyana rode on a fine piece of bowling from Romario Shepherd to win the match. The Warriors had scored only 6 runs in the six-ball over against the TKR that were eventually defended by Shepherd. Earlier, in the day, it was the Guyana bowlers who never let the Knight Riders take advantage in the middle and restricted them to a lesser total as they kept scalping wickets at regular intervals. The Kings, despite having an experienced captain in their ranks, are facing trouble to get any momentum in the tournament. In the last game against the TKR, Saint Lucia failed to chase down 159 runs in 20 overs and in fact lost the match by a comprehensive margin of 27 runs. With the way the Kings’ batsmen had fared in the last game barring Andre Fletcher, the team management will have some work to do before the team takes the field. Match Details Match: SLK vs GAW, 13th Match, Caribbean Premier League 2021 Date: Thursday, September 02, 2021 Time: 7:30 PM Venue: Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts TV: Star Sports Network Live Streaming: Fancode Pitch Report The pitch in St Kitts would have something on offer for the bowlers, especially spinners in the phase of the game. The batsmen might find it difficult to score runs in the middle overs.So, if you win the toss, elect to bowl first. Probable XI Saint Lucia Kings: Faf du Plessis (c), Rahkeem Cornwall, Andre Fletcher (wk), Roston Chase, Mark Deyal, Tim David, Keemo Paul, Samit Patel, Wahab Riaz, Kesrick Williams, Alzarri Joseph Guyana Amazon Warriors: Nicholas Pooran (c &wk), Chandrapaul Hemraj, Brandon King, Mohammad Hafeez, Shimron Hetmyer, Shoaib Malik, Romario Shepherd, Naveen-ul-Haq, Ashmead Nedd, Odean Smith, Imran Tahir Fantasy XI Nicolas Pooran, Andre Fletcher (VC), Brandon King, Shimron Hetmyer, Tim David, Mohammad Hafeez, Samit Patel, Roston Chase (C), Naveen-ul-Haq, Imran Tahir, Kesrick Williams

IRE vs ZIM | Paul Stirling’s hundred down Zimbabwe to give Ireland 2-1 lead in series

Paul Stirling became only the second Irishman to score a century in T20I cricket after he blasted unbeaten 115 off 75 balls to lead the team to a 40 run win over Zimbabwe and thereby take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series. Playing at his home ground of Bready, the 30-year-old started slow and managed to reach his fifty in 47 balls. But having crossed the fifty once, the right-hander didn’t look back and gathered the next fifty runs in only 23 balls. Riding on Stirling’s hundred, Ireland reached 178, which didn’t seem like a possibility in their innings. After the end of 16 overs, the Men in Green had scored only 112 runs and thus to get 66 in the last four was a tremendous achievement. Other than Stirling, skipper Andrew Balbirnie scored 31 off 24 balls while Shane Getkate remained unbeaten on 19 off 11 balls. The two Irish wickets to fall in the form of Kevin O’Brien and Balbirnie were picked by Luke Jongwe and Ryan Burls respectively. Chasing a huge target, Zimbabwe never looked like getting to it as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals to eventually getting bowled out for 138 in the 19th over. Skipper Craig Ervine scored 33 off 18 balls while all-rounder Burl made 26 off 23. For Ireland, Mark Adair was the pick of the bowlers as he finished with figures of 3-11 in his three-over spell. Joshua Little, Ben White and Getkate got two wickets each. The two teams will now collide with each other in the fourth match at the same venue on September 02. It would be a do or die situation for Zimbabwe as a loss in this game would also mean leaving behind the aspirations of winning the series.

BAN vs NZ | 1st T20I: We bowled in right areas, says Shakib Al Hasan

Bangladesh once again produced a clinical performance with the ball against New Zealand in the first T20I of the five-match series after they bundled out the Kiwis for 60 in Dhaka. All-rounder Shakib al Hasan has now said that the track during the first clash against the Blackcaps was a more difficult one in comparison to what they got during the series against Australia. "I think the wicket is more difficult than what we got in the series against Australia," Shakib pointed out. "Yet I think that we have bowled very well, bowled in the right areas. And as the New Zealand were not very experienced in such conditions, they struggled a lot,” he added. Shakib further said that rotating the strike was the key to score runs. "It is very important to pick as many singles as you can, one should focus on running between the wickets because hitting boundaries are very difficult here," he said. The home side went 1-0 up in the series after chasing a meagre target of 61 runs by 7 wickets and 5 overs to spare. Bangladesh did suffer a couple of early blows during the chase but Shakib and Mushfiqur Rahim steadied the ship for the side as the left-right batting duo put up a partnership of 30 runs for the third wicket which was enough to provide the resistance. Later, Rahim and Mahmudullah who came in at number five made sure that there were no further fall of wickets and took the team over the line.

CPL 2021 | Sherfane Rutherford, Fabian Allen combine to give Patriots fourth consecutive victory

Sherfane Rutheford doesn’t seem like stopping any soon as the left-hander looks in form of his life. He hit yet another fifty, third in four matches and once again remained unbeaten to guide his team to its fourth consecutive win in four matches of the Caribbean Premier League 2021. Along with Rutherford, Fabian Allen’s unbeaten 30 off just 12 balls was also instrumental in St Kitts and Nevis’ six-wicket win with 14 balls remaining. Chasing a target of 167, The openers gave yet another ideal start to the Patriots as they crossed the team crossed the 40 run mark in only four overs. However, two wickets fell in quick succession to worry the Patriots just a bit. But, Ravi Bopara, playing his first game of the season struck a 25 run stand with Evin Lewis, before the former was removed by Rovman Powell. Bopara though continued his ‘nudge and run’ tactics at one end as Rutherford teed off right from the start at the other. The duo went on to add 42 for the fourth wicket as Patriots inched closer to the win. Allen, who came after Bopara’s fall to Fidel Edwards was in all sorts of a hurry to finish the game as he struck two fours and three sixes and raced away to 30 off just 12 balls. Prior to this Allen show, Rutherford had already wrecked to his fifty after hammering Migael Pretorious for two sixes of the last two balls of the 17th over. Earlier in the evening, courtesy skipper Dwayne Bravo’s 3-25 and two wickets each by Paul van Meekeren and Dominic Drakes, Patriots were able to restrict Tallawahs for 166 in their 20 overs. None of the Jamaica batters were able to convert their starts. With this win, the Patriots remain at the top of the CPL points table with four wins from four matches. They next play Barbados Royals who are looking to find form. On the other hand, Tallawahs would lock hands with Trinbago Knight Riders on September 06.