SL vs WI | T20 World Cup hero for Sri Lanka, Charith Asalanka makes his Test debut

BAN vs PAK | 1st Test: Shaheen Afridi bags fifer to put Pakistan in front

Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi was on a roll in the second innings of the first Test against Bangladesh in Chattogram after he scalped a fifer as the hosts were bundled out for 157. After taking the first innings lead, Bangladesh had a dismal start to the proceedings after they were reduced to 25/4 as Shaheen went through the Bangladesh top order. The left-arm pacer’s scalps included the dismissals of Shadman Islam, Saif Hassan, Shanto, Liton Das and Abu Jayed. The hosts were on the back foot when Das and Yasir Ali tried to steady the ship. But Yasir was retired hurt after he was struck on his helmet and was substituted by Nurul Hasan. While Das went on to score a fifty, Yasir scored 36 before leaving the ground. Apart from Shaheen, Sajid Khan and Hasan Ali were also among the wickets. Sajid picked up three while Hasan bagged a couple of wickets for Pakistan. The visitors then had a steady start to the chase after the openers Abid Ali and Abdullah Shafique scored 38 runs without losing a wicket before the end of second session on Day 4.

Ravi Ashwin surpasses Harbhajan Singh to become third highest wicket-taker for India in Tests

India spinner R Ashwin surpassed Harbhajan Singh in the wickets tally in Test cricket during the second innings of the first clash against New Zealand in Kanpur. Ashwin achieved the feat after he removed Tom Latham during the second session of the final day. Latham played an outside off stump delivery on to the wood work behind him to get dismissed for a well-compiled 52. Harbhajan has bagged 417 wickets in 103 matches that he has played. Talking about the match, the home side handed a target of 284 runs to the Blackcaps on the penultimate day after the middle order chipped in with some valuable runs. The hots were struggling at 51/5 when Shreyas Iyer, R Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha and Axar Patel came in for the rescue with the bat. Iyer and Saha notched up individual fifties during the course as India put 234/7 on the board. The Indian team then scalped an early wicket in the final session of the play after Ashwin trapped Will Young in front of the stumps for 2 but the visitors resisted well in the morning session of Day 5 as William Somerville and Tom Latham made sure that there were no fall of wickets. Ashwin is now the third highest wicket-taker in Tests for India and is behind Anil Kumble (619) and Kapil Dev (434) in the list.

Tom Latham hits consecutive fifties in Kanpur Test, gets out in cruel fashion

New Zealand opener Tom Latham had become the biggest obstacle in India’s victory in the first Test of the two-match series between the two sides going on at Kanpur until he was dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin. The left-hander hit his second fifty of the match, the second one becoming even more crucial than the first one. Latham who opened the innings with Will Young in the last hour of the last session of the fourth day in the ongoing game has remained on the crease and held on to one end. He first put up a 76 run partnership with nightwatchman William Somerville. That partnership consumed 32 overs and the 29-year-old created yet another partnership with Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson. This partnership lasted 39 runs and 113 balls. Latham got played down on 52 off 146 balls, trying to cut a wide ball. In the first innings, he missed out on a hundred, getting dismissed agonisingly on 95, only five runs away from what would have been a great century. New Zealand are currently 166 runs away from the win if at all they are looking for a win. But crucially they have lost only three wickets and have 40 more overs to play out today to get a hard-earned draw.

Omicron forces CWC League 2 postponement as UAE and Oman leave Namibia in middle of tri-series

The new variant of the Covid-19, Omricon, said to have originated from South Africa has now wreaked havoc on the sporting events in the southern part of Africa with most of the events getting cancelled. The next event to get cancelled is the tri-series involving United Arab Emirates, Oman and hosts Namibia taking place in Windhoek, the capital city of the host nation. The decision was taken as UAE announced the suspension of inbound flights from Namibia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana or Mozambique. This follows similar restrictions imposed by the UK, the United States and the European Union. The tri-series, part of the Cricket World Cup League 2, was being held as part of the qualification process of the 2023 ODI World Cup. Among the 10 teams part of League 2, five will get a chance to compete with teams five unqualified teams from the Super League in the main Qualifier event in 2022. However, the league that started in 2019 was supposed to have 21 series up to 2022, but due to the Covid-19, only 7 series have been completed so far. Earlier, the Netherlands decided to return back from their tour of South Africa for three ODIs which were part of the CWC Super League. ICC also cancelled the Women’s World Cup Global Qualifier event in Zimbabwe owing to the Omicron. Now, it is being understood that the Omani and Emirati men’s teams are also returning on the same flight, chartered by the ICC, as the teams returning from the Women's Qualifier in Harare.