SRH’s Shreevats Goswami surprised at only Wriddhiman Saha testing positive for Covid-19

He is just unlucky: Khaled Mahmud defends Bangladesh coach Russel Domingo

Former Bangladesh skipper Khaled Mahmud has backed coach Russell Domingo to do well in future as he thinks that there is no lack in the sincerity of his efforts towards making the team better. Mahmud, who was given the responsibility of Team leader for the Tigers on their tour to Sri Lanka has submitted s report to the board regarding the workings of the coach with the team. Prior to this duty of his, 49-year-old Mahmud was Game Development chairman of the Bangladesh Cricket Board. "We should not make Russell a 'scapegoat'. We should not make the coach fully responsible for any good and bad,” Mahmud was quoted as saying to Cricbuzz. “He was also a coach of a big team (South Africa). There was no blunder in his effort, perhaps he was unlucky. It happens many times. It is too early to say anything now. I just worked with him in a series and all I can say is that he is trying," said Mahmud about Domingo, who never played cricket professionally but has coached various clubs, provincial teams and the National team in South Africa. Differentiating between the working styles of top teams and Bangladesh, Mahmud, who represented the Tigers in 12 Tests and 77 ODIs said, "We need to explain to the boys about our planning and later we have to tell them constantly what needs to be done and Domingo needs to understand it.' “'He (Domingo) is not working in South Africa. In Bangladesh, things work differently and our boys need to be reminded about their responsibility from the dressing room time and again and our cricket culture,” added the former fast-bowling all-rounder who took 70 international wickets and scored 1257 runs in his career. Domingo, 46, was appointed Bangladesh coach in August 2019 and since then the team has played five T20I series, six Test series and four ODI series, and have been able to win just one T20I series and one Test series against Zimbabwe and two ODI series, clean sweeping Zimbabwe and a second-string West Indies side. More importantly, they have won just one Test out of 10 that they have played under his coaching, losing seven of them, including a 0-2 clean sweep by a second-string Windies team at home. All these results have built pressure on Domingo as a coach, but Mahmud believes that the BCB is in no mood to cut short the South African’s two-year contract. "I don't think there is any such discussion (sacking Domingo). We have to understand that you can't hire a coach just by wishing it as there are a lot of things that need to be taken into consideration," said Mahmud. Domingo, who led South Africa to the 2014 T20 World Cup and 2015 ODI World cup semi-finals, himself feels that he has more to give to Bangladesh National team, especially now that he is building a connection with the players after all. "I'm enjoying working with the players. I'm enjoying the set-up. There's of course work to be done. Of course, there have been tough results. But I have started to connect with the team well and I am confident going forward,” Domingo told reporters on return from Sri Lanka where the team lost the two-match Test series 1-0.

We are most likely to go ahead with same XI for second Test: Babar Azam

Pakistan lead the two-match Test series against Zimbabwe 1-0 after beating the hosts convincingly by an innings and 116 runs in Harare. Captain Babar Azam hailed his team’s efforts in the last clash and isn’t looking to tweak the winning combination in the second game. "We won the first Test convincingly in three days, so we are most likely to go ahead with the winning combination (for the second Test),'' said Babar Azam addressing the media. Talking about the all-round performance, Babar further said that the openers did their job with precision while the middle-order and the bowling attack dominated well. "Our openers set the tone (in the first Test) and the middle order took forward the momentum, especially Fawad Alam whose experience was very important for us in Tests," said Azam. "Hasan Ali was outstanding and Shaheen Afridi bowled well, in fact, our bowlers dominated the first Test." Riding on Shaheen Afridi and Hasan Ali’s brilliant bowling performance in the first innings, the visitors bundled out Zimbabwe for 176 and then posted 426, courtesy another hundred from Fawad Alam and some magnificent efforts from Imran Butt with the bat. Zimbabwe were then bowled out for 134 in the second innings. Hasan rattled the Zimbabwean batting line up and returned with a five-wicket haul during the course. The two teams will now begin the second Test on Friday in Harare. Pakistan earlier won the three-match T20I series 2-1.

CSA's director of Cricket Graeme Smith empathises with BCCI after IPL 2021 controversy

Former South Africa captain and now the Cricket South Africa Director, Graeme Smith has empathised with the BCCI after episodes of covid-19 outbreaks in biosecure bubbles of teams leading to an abrupt end of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League. He, however, stressed that South African players he had words with confirmed that the biosecure environment they were in were quite safe, but that the nature of Covid-19 does not leave them to as full proof as it appears from the outside. "In no way would we judge. Having spoken to the players, they felt safe. They felt the BSE [Bio-Secure Environment] was a really good experience in India. They never felt at risk. But that's the nature of what Covid brings,” Smith said in an online press conference. “Sometimes you can do whatever you want but the BSE - as we've said to everyone - is never foolproof. When Covid is raging in your country there's always a risk. Unfortunately, once it gets inside it's very difficult to predict what's going to happen." Notably, CSA too had to deal with the issues of biosecure bubble breach when England were touring South Africa last year which led to the abandonment of the tour and then Cricket Australia cancelling a complete tour to South Africa altogether.

Learnt things I didn't know about me from Kumar Sangakkara: Riyan Parag

The Indian Premier League has worked as a medium for young cricketers to show their talent and skills and Rajasthan Royals player Riyan Parag is one of them. Parag has made a good name for himself in a short period of time. The aggressive batsman recently posted a picture with RR’s Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara that said, “Spent just a few weeks with him, but had sooo much fun and learnt things I didn't know about me! See ya soon @KumarSanga2 you're a LEGEND.” The IPL 2021 was suspended with immediate effect earlier this week after few players had tested positive for COVID-19. SRH’s Wriddhiman Saha, KKR’s Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrior, DC’s Amit Mishra and CSK’s bowling coach L. Balaji were few names in the list to be tested positive. Former Sri Lanka captain Sangakkara supported BCCI’s decision. “It has been a good decision by the BCCI, and of course, the governing council of the IPL to postpone the tournament. Hopefully, we will all be back together soon when the tournament does restart. I wish everyone well," said Sangakkara. RR had a disappointing tournament so far having won only three matches out of the 7 they had played. Parag has played 26 matches in the IPL and has scored 324 runs so far at a strike rate of over 126.