Six Pakistan Women players test Covid positive ahead of series against West Indies

T20 World Cup | AUS vs BAN: Adam Zampa picks five-wicket haul as Bangladesh fall like pack of cards

Bangladesh, who have been struggling in the entire Super 12 stage apart from two games against Sri Lanka and West Indies, which also they lost, are once again in all sorts of trouble against Australia. The Tigers folded for 73, which is now their lowest total in this World Cup and second-lowest ever in any T20 World Cup. They lost their first five wickets in just 6.1 overs with all their top batsmen apart from skipper Mahmudullah back in the hut. A 29 run partnership ensued between Mahmudullah and Shamim Hossain Patwari. But just as things started getting better, Shamim, in his hurriedness of playing a cut short without their being much of a room, edged a googly by Adam Zampa which was caught by wicketkeeper Matthew Wade. On the very next ball, Mahedi Hasan was found napping and played all over yet another googly and was adjudged leg before wicket on Umpire’s call. Earlier after being asked to bat first, the Bangladeshi side has the worst possible start with Liton das getting played down on the third ball of the innings. Soon after Somya Sarkar was removed by Josh Hazlewood. Surprisingly, Mushfiqur Rahim was trapped leg before wicket by Glenn Maxwell. Mohammad Naim was the next to go as he was caught at short square leg trying to pull a climbing ball by Hazlewood. Afif Hossain, who has been harped about a lot was miserable, to say the least as he was caught by Australian skipper Aaron Finch off the bowling of Zampa. Mahmudullah was the last man to go as he nicked a wide outside leg delivery and unfortunately, it directly went into the hands of the wicketkeeper. Adam Zampa missed his hattrick as Wade dropped a tough chance on the very first ball of the 15th over of the innings and fourth over of the bowler's. However, he overcame that disappointment and picked two wickets in that very over to finish with the career-best figures of 5-19.

James Pattinson concedes he couldn't push his body to carry on despite Pat Cummins' persuasion

When the Australian pacer James Pattinson announced retirement from Test cricket earlier last month, there was a sense of disappointment among his fans and people who have tracked his journey since his debut in 2011. However, the Victorian has a different perspective to his life as a Test career and instead of ruing not having a prolonged career, he is cherishing the fact that he played the longest format for his country and is thankful for the opportunity. Pattinson made his Test debut against New Zealand in 2011 at the Gabba and promised a long and successful career for Australia. However, recurrent injuries derailed his journey more often than not and he spent more time outside of the Test squad than playing the game, and hence he knew his time was up before quitting the longest format. He said that Pat Cummins, whom he rated as one of “closest mates” in the Australian team tried to persuade him to take back the retirement decision but he was aware of the fact that the “point where you try and push and you can't push anymore” has arrived for him. "I'm pretty close with Pat Cummins, probably one of my closest mates in the team, and I rang him before I did it and he said 'is there any way I can convince you to stay?'," Pattinson said. "I said, 'to be honest I've made the decision and I'm relieved, then he was just supportive of it and everyone else was as well. It's nice people want you around, but it's a decision I made with my family. It's nice to feel like you'll be missed,” Pattinson said. "You can say I should probably have played more Tests but I'm thankful to just have the opportunity to represent my country and I'd like to think every time I went out that I gave everything," he said. "I've broken my back about seven times to try and play for Australia so that's the toll it takes and there comes a point where you try and push and you can't push anymore. I probably wouldn't change a thing, it's been an amazing journey and now I can move on to the next stage and enjoy that as well.” Pattinson, along with Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins made their Test debut around the same time in the year 2011. Pattinson played his debut Test after only nine first-class matches while Cummins played his debut Test against South Africa in Johannesburg as an 18-year-old before not playing the format for a six-year-long gap. Pattinson conceded that he was pushed at the highest level before his body was matured for the workload it had to deal with and it could well have contributed to his back not strengthening enough to take the load with experience. He said that the Australian team have better management of pace bowlers now than they had at his time and called the handling of the fitness and workload of his mate Cummins as a “blueprint” on how to handle pacers. "I was put in the position where I was probably a little ahead of my body, being thrown into the Test arena and doing well. Went from not playing to being the lead bowler in four or five Tests. That was the hardest thing, obviously, my body wasn't ready for that. It has probably contributed to my back being the way it is,” Pattinson asserted. "They've changed the way they manage players a bit now," Pattinson said. "The way they've handled Pat Cummins is probably the blueprint for how you handle your bowlers. What they did for him is fantastic."

Who should replace Virat Kohli? Incoming coach Dravid picks Rohit Sharma, BCCI keen on KL Rahul

As Virat Kohli’s days as India’s T20 captain is numbered and he is set to leave the leadership role after the conclusion of the ongoing T20 World Cup, there are growing apprehensions about his captaincy in the ODI format as well. Team India will definitely have a new full-time captain the T20Is but there are chances that Virat Kohli will be relieved of his responsibilities from the fifty-over format as well. There will also be a new regime in place with former Indian skipper Rahul Dravid taking the position of the head coach of the side starting the home series against New Zealand. As per a report in The Indian Express, Rahul Dravid was asked in his interview that who all are the contenders to replace Kohli as India’s captain, and he put his money on Rohit Sharma while preferring KL Rahul after the opener. The report suggests, if Drvaid will have his way, Rohit Sharma will be the captain in white-ball formats. However, in a different report in Cricket.com, the BCCI is looking to elevate KL Rahul as the leader of the white-ball formats to ensure “long term” prospects while also keeping in mind the two world cups scheduled in the next year. The report suggested that the board is not looking towards Rohit Sharma as captain considering his age. There could be a difference in the school of thought between the two parties i.e Rahul Dravid and the BCCI on who should lead India going forward in the shorter formats.

Gary Ballance comes forward admitting he hurled 'racial slur' against Azeem Rafiq

Days after reports hiding the name of the Yorkshire player who hurled racist slurs such as “P**i” on his teammate Azim Rafiq, Garry Ballance has come forward to admit that he was the one who was the culprit although maintaining that he had no intentions to offending and instead unaware of the impact it was having on the leg spinner’s feelings. Ballance has regretted his language to Rafiq in his “younger years” at the Yorkshire county and said that he is saddened to see the situation come to this point having an “incredibly close relationship” with him. He said that the words that have now emerged as “racial slurs” were used by him with Rafiq in private conversations and that a lot of words can be deemed “inappropriate” if used out of context. He said that Rafiq and he shared a special relationship where they sued to spend time together going out and drinking together and he was absolutely unaware of Rafiq being in “distress” over his words. He also hunted that Rafiq too has said a few things in those conversations but he is not revealing those to not discredit Rafiq’s words. “To be clear – I deeply regret some of the language I used in my younger years. The independent enquiry, having heard all of the evidence, accepted that the context of some of the language used was in a ‘friendly verbal attack’ between friends which was not intended to offend or hurt and that no malice was intended. Given my incredibly close relationship with Rafa over the years I am saddened that it has come to this,” Ballance said in a statement. “Because we were such good friends and spent a lot of time together drinking and on nights out we both said things privately to each other which were not acceptable. It has been reported that I used a racial slur and, as I told the independent enquiry, I accept that I did so and I regret doing so. I do not wish to discredit Rafa by repeating the words and statements that he made about me and others but I have to be clear that this was a situation where best friends said offensive things to each other which, outside of that context, would be considered wholly inappropriate. “I regret that these exchanges took place but at no time did I believe or understand that it had caused Rafa distress. If I had believed that then I would have stopped immediately. He was my best mate in cricket and I cared deeply for him.” Azeem Rafiq’s allegations of “institutional racism” has raked a massive controversy in the England cricket circles and the Yorkshire County Cricket Club too has concluded that he was “offended, degraded or humiliated and that this amounted to harassment under the Equality Act and the Club's Equal Opportunities policy".