Riding on T20 World Cup success, Shakib Al Hasan overtakes Nabi to become World number one all-rounder

T20 World Cup: Saifuddin ruled out of the tournament, Rubel Hossain comes in as replacement

Bangladesh pacer Mohammad Saifuddin has been ruled out of the T20 World Cup with back pain and has been replaced by Rubel Hossain. "We will understand the gravity of his injury after he returns back to Bangladesh but since he cannot make a comeback in the tournament we opted for a replacement," Rabeed Imam, senior manager media & communications of BCB, told Cricbuzz. Rubel’s inclusion in the squad has been approved by the Event Technical Committee of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2021. He was with the side as the reserve player. Hossain has featured in 28 T20Is and has as many scalps to his name. Saifuddin on the other side, played four matches for Bangladesh in the on-going competition and picked up 5 wickets before being ruled out. The Bangladesh side had a disappointing start to the Super 12 stage after they suffered a defeat against Sri Lanka. The Lankan lions chased down a target of 172 runs by five wickets and with more than an over to spare in Sharjah. While they lost to Sri Lanka in the first match, Bangladesh batting unit struggled against England in the second fixture. After a top-order collapse, the Bangladesh team could only manage to put 124/9 in 20 overs in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

Waqar Younis apologises for his 'namaz' remark after facing heat on social media

Former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis has apologised for his ‘namaz’ remarks that he made after the side’s win against India during the T20 World Cup fixture earlier this week. “In the heat of the moment, I said something which I did not mean which has hurt the sentiments of many. I apologise for this, this was not intended at all, a genuine mistake. Sports unite people regardless of race, colour or religion. #apologies,” he tweeted. Waqar who was a part of a discussion on Pakistan’s ARY News said that it was a “special” moment for him to see Mohammad Rizwan offering namaz in front of Hindus. The former right-arm bowler faced a lot of criticism for his words and later made apologies. Pakistan thumped India by 10 wickets, riding on some fine piece of batting from Rizwan and captain Babar Azam. Both the batsmen notched up individual fifties during the course of the match. Earlier, Shaheen Afridi rattled the Indian batting unit after scalping three important wickets in the innings that included the dismissals of KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and later skipper Virat Kohli. India were eventually restricted to 151/7 in 20 overs. The Babar Azam-led side has been in some good form as they continued the winning run against New Zealand in the second match, defeating them by 5 wickets.

WBBL 2021 | Jemimah Rodriguez, Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh shine with the bat

It was a day of Indian women in the Women’s Big Bash League 2021 as they played brilliantly with the bat for their respective teams. While Jemimah Rodriguez was the player of the match for Melbourne Renegades Women as they beat Sydney Thunder Women, Smriti Mandhana, playing for Thunder tried her best to get the defending champions off and running, but even after her brilliant 64 off 44 balls, the women in green remained nine runs behind the red brigade. Chasing a target of 143, Thunder had a slow start losing opener Tahlia Wilson early on. Mandhana along with Phoebe Litchfield got the team running but Litchfield was very slow to start with. In their 53 runs partnership off 43 balls, Litchfield played 19 balls but could make only 14 runs. This built pressure on Mandhana and no other batter than her and Deepti Sharma who made a quickfire 23 off just 10 balls. Mandhana was eventually out in the 16th over at the team score of 99 and her individual score of 64, giving a glimpse of how good her innings was on that wicket where every other Thunder batter struggled. Rodriguez who has not been in the form that she showed in The Hundred earlier, was top of her batting efforts as her unbeaten 75 off 56 balls and an opening partnership of 84 with Josephine Dooley was the main reason for Renegades to reach 142 as other batters hardly seem to be playing on a completely different wicket. In her 75 runs inning, the 21-year-old Indian hit nine fours. In another game, India’s wicketkeeper batter Richa Ghosh, who is plying her trade for Hobart Hurricanes Women, scored a quickfire 24 off 16 balls and guided her team to victory against Melbourne Stars after Mignon du Preez laid the foundation for a 145 run chase with her 62 off 45 balls. After today’s two games, Thunder remained winless while Renegades’ third win of the season meant that they are now heading to the top of the table, only one point behind Brisbane Heat Women. Hurricanes’ second win also meant that they are now in the top four.

Watch: Shoaib Akhtar resigns on Live TV in presence of Viv Richards after spat with anchor

In a curious set of events, former Pakistan fast bowler, Shoaib Akhtar decided to resign from PTV Sports, a state-owned channel of the Pakistan Television Corporation. The resignation came after an argument with a program host Dr Noman Niaz, who is said to be a great friend of Akhtar as well. The matter developed as Shoaib Akhtar decided to dodge a question from Niaz on whether Pakistan made a meal of the chase and instead started praising Haris Rauf, Lahore Qalalanders who have brought in Rauf and Akib Javed, the former Pakistan pacer and the pace mentor of Qalandars. Niaz did not look one bit comfortable with how Akhar handled his question and said, “You're being a little rude and I don't want to say this, but if you're being over smart, you can go. I am saying this on air.” First Akhar can be seen laughing as he thought that it was a joke and Niaz would curtail his words, but as Niaz moved forward to ask other guests without addressing the issue, the man to have delivered the fastest ball in the world is heard saying ‘excuse me’ before Niaz took a break on the show called ‘Game on hai’. The Rawalpindi Express in a video uploaded on Twitter explained how it all started with Nauman Niaz. In the video, Akhtar says, "Multiple clips are circulating on social media so I thought I should clarify. Dr Nauman was obnoxious (sic) and rude when he asked me to leave the show.” He then went on to explain that he wanted to sort out the matter with Niaz but wanted a public apology for his rude behaviour which he never got and thus decided to leave the show mid-way. "It was embarrassing especially when you have legends like sir Vivian Richards and David Gower sitting on the set with some of my contemporaries and seniors and millions watching. “I tried to save everyone from embarrassment by saying I was pulling Dr Noman’s leg with this mutual understanding that Dr noman will also politely apologise and we will move on with the show, which he refused to do. Then I had no other choice,” said Akhtar. The show includes greats like Sir Vivian Richards, David Gower, Rashid Latif, Umar Gul, Aaqib Javed and Pakistan women's team captain Sana Mir as guests and they were all taken aback by the incident. However, Akhtar, deciding to keep his composure apologised to them all before resigning on Live TV and leaving the studios. "My apologies for this but I am resigning immediately from PTV sports as I have been insulted and treated badly on live television in front of the nation," said Akhtar.