T20 World Cup | Kieron Pollard pays cheeky tribute to Dwayne Bravo on eve of retirement

Famous coach Tarak Sinha, who trained Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, dies in Delhi

One of the most famous coaches in Delhi’s cricketing circle, Tarak Sinha died of prolonged illness in Delhi on November 06.He was coach for the famous Sonnet Cricket Club and has taken his last breath, aged 71. He is credited with unearthing and coaching some of the stars of the current generation such as Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan and Nitish Rana from the Sonnet club and was awarded with the lifetime Dronacharya Award in 2018. The club has also produced big players of the past such as Surinder Khanna, Sanjeev Sharma, Manoj Prabhakar, the late Raman Lamba, KP Bhaskar, Ajay Sharma, Atul Wassan, Aakash Chopra, Anjum Chopra, Rumeli Dhar, Ashish Nehra among others under his watch. "It is with heavy heart we have to share this tragic news of Shri Tarak Sinha, the founder of Sonnet Club, has left us for heavenly abode at 3 am on Saturday after a brave battle with lung cancer for two months," the Sonnet Cricket Club said in a statement. "He has been the soul of Sonnet Cricket Club which has given India and Delhi cricket so many gems. We want to thank each and everyone who has been by his side in these trying times and prayed for his recovery. We also want to appreciate the efforts put in by the doctors in Jaipur and Delhi who worked tirelessly to revive him. "Tarak sir's pride was his students, and his support through this period kept him going. He was only thinking about grooming young talent during this battle. Even at the age of 70, he was enthusiastic about getting to the field and working on young cricketers. He was in good spirits till his last breath, believing he could still get up on his feet!” Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra, who was one of Tarak Singh’s pupil in his young days, took to his Twitter account to pay him final tributes.

Scotland cherish 'priceless' visit by India players to dressing room after match

Scotland cricketers were greeted with the presence of India’s superstar players such as the skipper Virat Kohli and vice-captain Rohit Sharma, pacer Jasprit Bumrah and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin after their loss to India in their last game of the tournament. Scotland were very appreciative of their “priceless” gestures from the men in blue on its Twitter timeline. Cricket Scotland attracts a lot of attention for their social media posts and responses and it was evident both before and after the game against India. India won their first toss of the tournament and asked them to bat first at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. India’s bowlers got into the act quickly and never allowed the Scottish batsmen to get away with the game. After decimating them for 86 runs with the ball, India pulverized their bowling attack with the openers Rohit and KL Rahul taking the charge of boosting team’s run rate.

Shakib Al Hasan set to miss Pakistan T20 series, Nurul Hasan likely to come back

Bangladesh’s star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan is all set to miss the upcoming T20 series at home against Pakistan scheduled to take place right after the conclusion of the T20 World Cup. He had pulled his hamstring in the game against West Indies and did not take part in the team’s last two games against South Africa and Australia. He will take at least three weeks to recover from the grade 1 hamstring tear and that may make him available for the Test series against Pakistan that will follow the T20 series. "Shakib will take at least three weeks to recover and get back to the field. He might be able to play the Test series," BCB's chief physician. However, there is not only bad news for Bangladesh and they are likely to get back their preferred number one wicketkeeper batsman in Nurul Hasan, who has recovered from abdominal pain and could well be available for them in the T20 series. Pakistan are scheduled to play a three-match long T20 series against Bangladesh in Dhaka starting November 19 followed by a two-match long Test series starting November 26. The last game of the tour and the series will be played from December 04 in Mirpur.

ENG vs SA | Temba Bavuma urges Proteas to find 'extra five per cent' to sail through to semi-finals

South Africa were not among favorites to qualify for the semi-finals as they were stacked in a group that appeared tough to overcome from the outset. However, they were the side in form and their resilience and ability to soak pressure while delivering in crunch situations have driven them to the verge of qualifying for the final four. They started impressively against Australia but their in-form bowling attack could not limit the damage of batsmen’ failures and they suffered a defeat. Now, they face a big last game against the best team of the tournament—England and they are pushed against the wall to win the game while maintaining a steady run rate better than Australia. Considering what is at stake for the Proteas, their skipper Temba Bavuma wants his side to find ways to produce “extra five per cent in all our departments” in order to have their noses in front of the Australians. Australia are slated to play West Indies in the first game of the day and Bavuma emphasized that having the result of that game in front of them before turning up against England will be an advantage for the Proteas. He said that it will give them proper understanding of the situation and how should they go about it "We want to play our best cricket tomorrow. It's just to find a way to add an extra five per cent in all our departments. It'll just be us trying to find a way to improve in every department. I think the bowling has been really good. The fielding, as well, has been really good. The batting, as well. But let's just find a way to just improve in every department of our game," Bavuma said. "What's happening with Australia-West Indies, what helps us is that their game happens before our game, so we'll kind of get a better sense or understanding as to how we need to approach the England game," Bavuma said. "If Australia win, then it's going to come down to net run rate. We'll have an opportunity somewhere along our game to control our net run rate or alter our approach." South Africa have come this far in the tournament purely on the basis of team performance. They have found batting heroes in Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen and David Miller at different times while the bowling attack consisting of Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj have been in the batsmen’s mind repeatedly. Bavuma also highlighted that adapting to slower and lower conditions at Sharjah will be a key element that will pave the way for their success in the game. Proteas are coming in from Abu Dhabi having played their last game at the pitch that aided fast bowling and Rabada ripped through the Bangladesh batting order. The conditions at Sharjah is expected to be completely different and the Proteas will have to be at their best in adapting to the new conditions. "Every game we speak about going out and fighting it out as a team. We don't leave it to individuals," Bavuma said. "We don't rely on individual brilliance to bring it home for the team, but it's all about us as a team giving everything that we've got. Tomorrow it won't be any different. We'll still be showing the same character, the same fight that we've shown while in this tournament." "We've had guy like Rassie van der Dussen go in earlier because we know if he has the opportunity to face a considerable amount of balls, he's a guy that can really put a bowling attack under pressure. You have a guy like Reeza Hendricks, as well, who's come off good recent form at the top of the order. So trying to utilise that form at its best. For me it's just playing the conditions really. We know within our batting side we need someone to kind of hold things on one end to allow all our big hitters, if I could say, to get into the game. But that's what we've seen has worked at this World Cup. That's not to say going forward that's going to be our strategy, but for now, that's what we feel is best." "We knew that the wicket would be on the low side. With the batting, we did take it quite deep, and I guess the learning from that is I guess maybe we'll have to pull the trigger a bit earlier," he said.