PSL 2022 | Rashid Khan confirms his unavailability for final

Champion Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan has confirmed his unavailability for the upcoming final of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) between Multan Sultans and Lahore Qalandars.


Khan, who represented Shaheen Afridi’s Lahore Qalandars in PSL 07, took to his official Twitter account to confirm his unavailability as he is on national duty.


The Afghani spinner also extended his good wishes to Shaheen and the entire management.


He wrote, "It would’ve been great to be part of @lahoreqalandars and play alongside lads in @thePSLt20 final.


I won’t be able to make it for the finals due to National Duty which is always a first priority. I wish my captain @iShaheenAfridi  @sameenrana and team GOOD LUCK  INSHALLAH ❤️ 🤲🏻"


Rashid is currently with the Afghanistan national team, which is locked in a six-match bilateral series against hosts Bangladesh.


Bangladesh have already clinched the ODI series and will look to seal a whitewash when they take on Afghanistan in the final match on Monday (28 February 2022), before the three-match T20I series beginning on Thursday (3 March 2022).


Lahore Qalandars will miss the services of Rashid, who was phenomenal for them this season.


In nine games, he claimed 13 wickets at an average of 17.31 and an economy of less than seven. The leg-spinner was given a guard of honour by his teammates following his final appearance in the league against Islamabad United.


The 23-year old hasn't had a good time in the ongoing ODI series though, managing just 2 wickets in as many games at 42 apiece. The superstar spinner will look to make amends as Afghanistan seek 10 crucial ODI Super League points.


Meanwhile, in Lahore, the Shaheen Afridi-led unit Qalandars will look to clinch the coveted PSL title at the expense of defending champions, Multan Sultans.


The Qalandars remain the only side to beat Mohammad Rizwan's Multan but they went down to the latter in the first Qualifier following a poor batting performance.


They did manage to qualify for the summit clash courtesy of a thrilling win over Islamabad United on Friday evening. The win was spearheaded by the all-round skills of David Wiese, who smashed an unbeaten 8-ball 28 besides defending 7 in the last over.


In the absence of Rashid, a lot will depend on Qalandars skipper Shaheen, Haris Rauf and Zaman Khan against a power-packed batting line-up like Multan Sultans.

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IND vs SL | Sir Jadeja is back & India have won their 7th T20I home series in a row

India won their seventh T20I series at home after routing Sri Lanka in an incredible chase at Dharamshala on Saturday, 26 February. Returning Ravindra Jadeja and Shreyas Iyer joined hands to score 58* off just 26 balls to see India through the chase of 184 runs with 17 balls remaining. India gave an example of their pace hitting reserves with Iyer, Jadeja and even Sanju Samson making the boundary look incredibly small at the Himachal stadium - hitting 8 sixes between themselves. At the break, it looked like Sri Lanka had done enough to give India a run for their money and early wickets of Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan only went on to strengthen their belief. However, it lasted for very little time after the introduction of Shreyas Iyer in the batting line up - a player who does not find a regular place in the Indian starting XI, despite being the captain of an IPL franchise. Despite not finding support in Sanju Samson, who was given a shoe in, Iyer found his range early to make a compelling case for himself in the starting XI. Iyer was up at 64 off 36 in the 13th over of the game before Samson finally took off against Lahiru Kumara. Samson - struggling at 17 off 19 balls at that point went 4,6,6,0,6 to rip the Sri Lanka pacer a new one before getting out in the last ball of the over. By the time he got out, he had picked himself up to 39 off 25, but it is arguable that if it was enough to impress the Indian think tank to put himself in the final squad for the T20 World Cup in Australia. If 128/3 had not done the trick in the 13th over, the promotion of Ravindra Jadeja over Venkatesh Iyer turned out to be the final nail in the coffin for the Island nation. Returning from injury, Jadeja scored 45 off 18 balls to finish the game in 17.1 overs. Earlier in the day, Pathum Nissanka and Dasun Shanaka led the Sri Lankan fightback against the brilliance of Jasprit Bumrah. Sri Lanka - who have not been in the best of forms with the bat off late once again started off in a struggling manner. They were rescued by the brilliance of Nissanka who grew into the game and attacked the likes of Harshal Patel and Ravindra Jadeja. The last five overs of the first innings were exceptional for Sri Lanka as they scored 80 runs owing to Shanaka’s power hitting capabilities. But as it would turn out, the Indian batting line-up would end up being too strong for Sri Lanka to handle. Shreyas Iyer’s innings would take away the game from the visitors after they would fail to capitalise on their exceptional start in the powerplay. As things stand, India have won their 7th straight T20I series at home and are on course with their experiments in the run up to the T20 World Cup. They have already tested out the likes of Harshal Patel in powerplay overs, given Sanju Samson a shot in the top order and have seen the likes of Bumrah and Jadeja who are returning after their break. While everything has not been a success, India are no doubt trying to work out all possibilities for the team to be prepared in drastic situations. India will now move on to the final T20I with a few more experiments in mind while Sri Lanka will look to prevent a whitewash against their mighty neighbours.

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IND vs SL | Sri Lanka post competitive 183 despite Bumrah's brilliance

Jasprit Bumrah was back to his brilliant best against Sri Lanka in the second T20I of the three match series on Saturday, at Dharamshala. Bumrah rewarded captain Rohit Sharma’s call to bowl first with an exceptional opening spell making full use of the conditions that supported seam and swing in the first overs. Bumrah swung it both ways to the opening pair of Pathum Nissanka and Danushka Gunathilaka to make life difficult for them. Bumrah conceded just 5 runs from his first two overs. As India clamped down into the powerplay, Sri Lanka tried to find relief after surviving the first four overs, attacking the trio of Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja. While Chahal bowled short and wide on several occasions, Harshal, still adjusting with his new powerplay role, was inconsistent in his lengths. A see-sawing innings in terms of momentum, India struck back with back to back wickets of Gunathilaka, Charith Asalanka and Kamil Mishara to turn the momentum around between 9th and 11th over. As wickets kept falling, Nissanka on the other end, kept on progressing in his classical fashion, increasing his strike rate multifold while growing into the game. It was once again another Bumrah over that cut Sri Lanka’s momentum short in the 15th over, bringing his full repertoire of slower balls and crushing yorkers. He removed Dinesh Chandimal with a clever off cutter and effected Sri Lanka’s fourth dismissal in the game. But once again, Nissanka - who had been the bedrock for most of Sri Lanka’s runs, hit back with two big overs of Harshal Patel and Jasprit Bumrah - milking 33 runs of the 17th and 18th over alongside Dasun Shanaka. Despite getting hit for 14 in his last over, Bumrah completed his spell with figures of 4-0-24-1 in the cold evening at Dharamshala. The last two overs bore more carnage from Sri Lanka, Dasun Shanaka in particular who helped the visitors score 39 from the last two overs, blasting Harshal Patel and Bhuvneshwar Kumar all over the park. By the end of SL had scored 183/5 in their 20 overs with Shanaka remaining not out at 47 off just 19 balls. Nissanka still top scored the innings hitting 75 off just 53 balls. Barring Bumrah, India only fired in stages of the game, but entirely lost the plot in the final five overs. Harshal Patel once again conceded over 50 runs from his four overs while Jadeja and Bhuvi were hit for 37 and 36 off their four respectively.