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Rashid Khan Becomes MI Captain, Duckett’s Screamer And MCA Rebuttal – December 20 Cricket Highlights

Aakash Saini

Rashid Khan and Ben Duckett [Source: @rashidkhan_19, @BBL/x]Rashid Khan and Ben Duckett [Source: @rashidkhan_19, @BBL/x]

Mumbai Indians announced Afghanistan legend Rashid Khan as MI Cape Town captain for the impending SA20 2025 season. In Australia, Ben Duckett snared a sensational catch in yet another exhilarating BBL 2024-25 evening while an MCA official gave a strong rebuttal to brash young opener Prithvi Shaw.

Capping an eventful day in the world of cricket, here we take a look at five of the biggest news that emerged out of Friday, December 20.

Ben Duckett’s Screamer The Highlight Of BBL Match 6

Adelaide Strikers consigned Melbourne Stars to their third straight defeat on December 20. Batting first at the Adelaide Oval, the Strikers hauled 165-6 from 20 overs. D'Arcy Short at number three top-scored with a calculated 60 from 42 balls to counter Adam Milne and Peter Siddle’s two-wicket burst. Remarkably, it took a sensational one-handed blinder from Ben Duckett to get rid of a rampaging Short in the 15th over of the innings.

In response, the Melbourne Stars accrued just 150-9 to fall 15 runs short of their target. Sam Harper top-scored with a cautious 48 while Duckett was trapped by Matthew Short for a first-ball duck. Lloyd Pope hogged the limelight with the ball by picking up three key wickets in his four-over spell to steer Strikers to their first win of the BBL 2024-25 season.

Mumbai Indians Appoint Rashid Khan As SA20 Captain

The Mumbai Indians franchise appointed legendary Afghanistan all-rounder Rashid Khan as the captain of its SA20 team, the MI Cape Town. Rashid will be leading the MI Cape Town group in the upcoming SA20 2025 season, scheduled to commence from January 9 onwards next month.

The franchise features the likes of local South African talents Ryan Rickelton and Dewald Brevis as well as overseas superstars like Ben Stokes and Trent Boult. The MI Cape Town finished at the bottom of the SA20 points table in each of the preceding two editions of the tournament, thus prompting the team management to appoint Afghanistan T20I skipper as Kieron Pollard’s replacement.

MCA Responds To Prithvi Shaw After Vijay Hazare Snub

The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has responded to Prithvi Shaw’s emotional outburst after the young batter expressed his displeasure over not getting selected in Mumbai’s squad for the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25 season. While talking to PTI, a senior MCA official questioned Shaw’s fitness and disciplinary issues, and even went on to claim that the cricketer is his ‘own enemy’.

As per reports, Prithvi Shaw regularly missed Mumbai’s training sessions during the recently-concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024 season. The youngster managed to tally just 197 runs from nine innings of the tournament at a substandard batting average of 21.88.

Smriti Mandhana Topples Mithali Raj With Series-Winning Knock

Interim captain Smriti Mandhana unleased 77 regal runs from just 47 balls to orchestrate India Women’s 60-run win over the visiting West Indies in the series-deciding third T20I at Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium. The innings marked her third successive T20I half-century as she finished the series with 193 runs at a prolific average of 64.33.

As it turned out, Mandhana’s series tally helped her surpass Mithali Raj’s long-standing 192-run collection from India’s five-match series against South Africa back in 2018. In doing so, the legendary left-handed opener toppled Raj to become India’s highest run-maker in a single bilateral T20I series.

Smriti Mandhana’s teammate Richa Ghosh also clobbered an 18-ball 50 in the same game to record the joint-fastest half-century in women’s T20Is. India mounted their highest-ever total in the format by piling up 217-4 before sealing the series 2-1.

Babar Azam Inches Closer To Virat Kohli Record After Pakistan Win

Pakistan middle-order batter Babar Azam charted a fluent 73 against South Africa at the Newlands Cricket Ground in the second ODI of their three-match series. The innings turned out to be a match-defining one for the ‘Men in Green’, as Mohammad Rizwan and co. won the contest by 81 runs to seal the series with a game to spare.

On an individual note, Babar moved to 5,905 runs in ODIs after 119 innings, and can now surpass the likes of Hashim Amla (123 innings) and Virat Kohli (136 innings) to become the fastest-ever cricketer in ODI history to scale 6,000 runs. Given his current form, the legendary Pakistani batter might well attain the feat in his team’s impending dead-rubber against South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium on December 22.