Pant will be a talismanic leader: Raina after the wicket-keeper was named DC captain

WI vs SL | 2nd Test Day 2: Thirimanne's fifty keeps Lanka in game after Brathwaite's marathon ton

A fighting half-century from Lahiru Thirimanne kept Sri Lanka in the game on the second day of the Test after West Indies skipper Kraig Brathwaite led Windies’ batting efforts in the first innings with a marathon century. Brathwaite was the last man dismissed for the hosts at the score of 126. Replying to hosts’ fighting total of 354, Sri Lanka were jolted early on courtesy a one-handed catch by Nkrumah Bonner in the gully to send Dimuth Karunaratne back to the pavilion. The Sri Lankan skipper has been poor with the bat in the series and once again was guilty of playing so far away from his body and Alazarri Joseph tasted early success for the hosts. The next man in Oshado Fernando was tentative at the crease and after scoring streaky boundaries and surviving a close call by umpire’s call, he was found wanting against Kyle Mayers. At the other end of the pitch, Thirimanne was batting with a sublime touch and pulled out drives whenever Windies’ bowlers tried to tempt into driving. He took the bait but was better than the bowlers would have hoped and Sri Lanka’s innings were underway although wickets were falling. However, as soon as he brought up yet another milestone in the series, Thirimanne was castled by Kemar Roach to leave the coach Mickey Arthur anguished. The game could have gone away from Sri Lanka after the fall of Thirimanne but Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva got their acts together and stitched an unbeaten partnership to end the day with the game hanging in balance. Earlier at the start of the day, Windies skipper Brathwaite, who was unbeaten on 99 reached an elusive hundred after a long gap of three years. He had last scored a Test century in 2018 and this century will serve him well as he has embarked on the journey as the leader of the pack. At the other end, his unbeaten partner on the first day Rakheem Cornwall started from where he left on the last day and helped Windies go past the 33 run-mark quite seamlessly. The right-hander also reached his own fifty in the first session of the day to set things up for Windies. Brimming with confidence and having spent enough time in the middle, Cornwall started to take the game to bowlers after a relatively quiet morning with the bat. However, he perished in the pursuit of dominance as Lakmal came back to claim his fourth wicket. Kemar Roach survived for a long time at the crease and allowed Brathwaite to cash in on tiring Sri Lankan bowlers before Chameera came back to remove both him and the well-set Kraigg Brathwaite. Sri Lanka will be hopeful of a solid partnership between Chandimal and de Silva on the third day of the second Test if they have to get to a position of strength or close to Windies’ first innings total.

IPL 2021: Rishabh Pant to captain Delhi Capitals this IPL season

In a bid to win their maiden IPL trophy, Delhi Capitals have named Rishabh Pant as their captain for the upcoming edition after their regular skipper Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of the tournament owing to a shoulder injury which he sustained during the recently concluded India-England series. It was in the first ODI that Iyer dislocated his shoulder. The 23-year-old will be captaining in the IPL for the first time. The wicket-keeper batsman has earlier led his state side Delhi. He was the captain of Delhi during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2017. "Rishabh Pant will be our Captain for #IPL2021. @ShreyasIyer15 has been ruled out of the upcoming season following his injury in the #INDvENG series," Delhi Capitals tweeted. Rishabh Pant feels humbled after getting the opportunity to lead the Delhi Capitals. "Delhi is where I grew up, and where my IPL journey began six years ago. To lead this team one day is a dream I've always harboured. And today, as that dream comes true, I feel humbled. I am truly grateful, especially to our team owners, who considered me capable enough for this role. "With an amazing coaching staff, and a plethora of accomplished seniors around me, I can't wait to give my absolute best for Delhi Capitals," Rishabh Pant quipped after getting named as the DC skipper. Chairman of the Delhi Capitals and also their co-owner Mr Kiran Kumar Gandhi wished Shreyas Iyer a speedy recovery. “I would like to wish Shreyas a speedy recovery,” said Kiran Kumar Grandhi. “Under Shreyas’ captaincy, our team reached newer heights, and he is going to be missed immensely. In his absence, the franchise has collectively picked Rishabh to lead the team this year. While it has come under unfortunate circumstances, it is a tremendous opportunity for him to grow further. I wish him all the best in his new role.” “There is no doubt that Shreyas Iyer’s leadership and batting will be missed this year, and we hope to see him back on the field soon,” said team co-owner Mr Parth Jindal, “Delhi Capitals as a team plays a passionate and fearless brand of cricket, and Rishabh Pant embodies that best. The Delhi team has played an important role in his growth as a cricketer, just like he has played an equally important role in the growth of the Delhi team. I wish Rishabh and the team good luck.” Iyer will undergo shoulder surgery on 8th April and will atleast take 5 months to completely recover. In 2020, Iyer led the Delhi Capitals to their first IPL final only to lose to the Mumbai Indians in the final. Iyer said that he had no doubt in his mind that Pant will be the ideal man for the job. “When I sustained the shoulder injury, and Delhi Capitals needed a leader for this edition of the IPL, I had no doubt that Rishabh would be the best man for the job. "He has all my good wishes to make amazing things happen with our absolutely incredible team. I’m going to miss the team tremendously, and will be cheering for them throughout," Iyer said.

Deserved to be treated in a better way: Mashrafe Mortaza

Former Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza has said that he deserved to be treated in a better way after serving the team for almost 20 years now. Mashrafe who last played for Bangladesh in 2020 expressed his disappointment and criticised the board for the management in a chat with Cricbuzz. “It's unfortunate. At least I deserved better after serving the nation for 20 years. A lot of media tried to speak to me after I was left out of the squad for the West Indies series. But I told the media that I took that very professionally. But since then many people have given many statements about why I was dropped,” the fast bowler said. “I don't think that the issue was handled professionally by any means,” Mortaza further added. Talking about the current coach Russell Domingo, the right-arm fast bowler pointed out that the Bangladesh Cricket Board works with people with “problems”. “He was fired in South Africa, right? We always tend to work with people with problems. There is a huge mismanagement from his end, as he is still confused to fix the batting order of the batsmen,” Mortaza said. The 38-year-old fast bowler further talked about making a comeback to the national side and said that the chances of his return are very meagre but he would continue to play domestic cricket. “When I was left out of the squad, I immediately knew that the chances of making a comeback are meagre. On top of that, I am 38 now. I said that I would continue to play domestic cricket as I love the game. I am just pointing out what professionalism is. The board hasn't shown it,” he said.

No Positions available says Justin Langer responding to Steve Smith's captaincy ambitions

One of the modern-day greats of the game, Steve Smith has come to the public for the first time since his return to international cricket and have spoken on his intentions of captaining the national side again. He stated that he is ready for another captaincy stint if he is bestowed upon the role again. However Australian head coach Justin Langer has clearly said that both the Test and the limited-overs side is in good hands and there is no captaincy position available in the near future. “We have two very good captains and two important competitions coming up – an Ashes and a T20 World Cup. Our future looks good,” Langer was quoted as saying by ABC. “Despite the media chatter there is no captaincy position available,” he further added. Smith who is one of the finest batsmen of the modern era was suspended from international cricket for a year and from leadership roles for two years due to his involvement in the sandpaper gate scandal which rocked the cricketing world in Cape Town back in March 2018. He was among the leadership group along with David Warner who instructed Cameron Bancroft to apply sandpaper on the ball to alter the condition of the ball. Following his confession, Smith along with Warner and Bancroft was sent back home and was subsequently suspended from international cricket. Tim Paine has taken over the captaincy duties in Test cricket and has done a good job so far despite losing a few series here and there. On Monday Smith finally made a comment on his captaincy ambitions when asked about the same during his conversation with News Corp. “I guess now I’ve got to a point where if the opportunity did come up again I would be keen. If it was what Cricket Australia wanted and it was what was best for the team at the time, it’s certainly something I would be interested in,” Smith said.