T20 World Cup | Watch Lahiru Kumara, Liton Das exchange heated words, Twitter faults the bowler

T20 World Cup | IND vs PAK: Kohli, Rohit focus on getting basics right, Rahul sees 'huge' opportunity

As the euphoria among fans of both sides is set to reach its peak ahead of tonight’s game, Indian top players are keener to downplay the magnanimity of the occasion and focused on getting the “basics” right. Captain Virat Kohli has reiterated that the game doesn’t understand emotions flowing from the fans of either side and it just comes down to hard work and who gets the fundamentals of the game right. His deputy Rohit Sharma accepted Pakistan as a big challenge to face in the first game of the tournament but he also highlighted that the game will be decided only on the basis of the quality of cricket they play. His partner at the top, KL Rahul saw the game as “another big opportunity” for him and the tournament “a huge opportunity” for the men in blue to win the global tournament after coming so close and missing out on numerous occasions in the recent past. The trio of Rahul, Rohit and Kohli will determine the dominance or struggle of India in the tournament. Of all three, Rahul has been in the most devastating form with the bat and the team would bank on him to come in top gear with the bat against an impressive Pakistan bowling lineup in Dubai on a Sunday night.

T20 World Cup | SL vs BAN: Pacer Binura Fernando in for Theekshana, Bangladesh play spinner Nasum for Taskin

It was a totally contrasting approach by Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as they revealed their playing XI in their first-ever Super 12 game at Sharjah. Dasun Shanaka, the skipper of Sri Lanka after winning the toss, chose to bowl first and said that Maheesh Theekshana, the mystery spinner was out of the playing XI due to a side niggle. In place of Theekshana, the Sri Lankan side played a tall left-arm pacer Binusra Fernando, who would be playing his first game in the World Cup. While Sri Lanka have previously played at the venue, but on the other hand, Bangladesh, who are coming in from Oman, which had lively wickets and helped their pacers, decided to omit their prime pacer Taskin Ahmed for a left-arm spinner Nasum Ahmed, who would be playing his first World Cup game. The decisions show that both the teams have gone into the game with totally different approaches as Bangladesh are banking on their spin to come good and were happy to bat first, Sri Lanka chose to bat second, meaning they are trusting their pace bowlers to restrict Bangladesh under a low total. This game is also a heavy clash because two South African coaches in Sri Lanka’s Micky Arthur and Bangladesh’s Russell Domingo are up against each other in a tactical battle.

SL vs BAN | Sharjah similar to Dhaka: Bangladesh coach banks on skilful bowlers and dangerous batters

Bangladesh, who managed to get to the Super 12 stage as the second-best team from their Round 1 after a humiliating defeat against Associate nation Scotland. It brought in heavy criticisms from the fans and critics alike for the Tigers and coach Russell Domingo didn’t like it one bit. His team played to potential in the next two games and qualified for the Super 12. However, ahead of their first Suoer 12 against another Round 1 qualified side Sri Lanka, Domingo believes that the venue of Sharjah could be a great starting point for his side as it is similar to their home ground of Dhaka. "These types of conditions can suit us. Sharjah is similar to the wickets in Dhaka. Hopefully, that can assist us in tomorrow's game,” Domingo said in a pre-match press conference. “We are happy with the 2 pm starts - it suits us big time. It takes dew out of the equation. I think our spinners will come very much into the competition. We know a lot of the other teams are focused on the dew,” he added. Talking about the team, Domingo said that they have the right balance and having played against the Lankans recently, he believes that his team is well balanced. “We have a well-balanced side with skilful bowlers and some dangerous batters. We have a world-class allrounder in Shakib [Al Hasan],” he said. One thing that the coach was very clear about was the mental strength of the team against an outburst of criticism. "When you are playing for Bangladesh, there's always going to be critical analysis when things don't go well - it is part of international sport. As soon as we worry about those types of things, it takes our focus away from what we need to focus on,” said the coach. “We have talked long and hard about what we need to focus on. A big part of coaching is for the team to focus on what they can control. There's nothing we can do about what people are writing and saying,” he added indicating that Bangladesh has shut down its ears to the critics as far as negativity is concerned.

WBBL 2021 | Sophie Devine lights up the tournament, becomes second Kiwi to hit a century

Sophie Devine became the second New Zealand woman after Rachel Priest to score a century in the 2021 edition of the Women’s Big Bash League. The Kiwi women lit up the Sunday after a gloomy Saturday ruined the first day of a bumper weekend. Devine’s 101 off 59 balls was the reason that Perth Scorchers Women got to 186-2 in their 20 overs. Devine, who has scored two WBBL centuries already in previous editions of the league has now become only the second woman after Australian Alyssa Healy to score three or more centuries in the Australian domestic women’s T20 league. Healy has four to her name. Winning the toss, Sydney Thunder skipper Hannah Darlington decided to field first at Aurora Stadium in Launceston, Tasmania and would go on to regret it massively as the Scorchers Women pair of skipper Devine and experienced Beth Mooney added 173 for the first wicket, the second-highest partnership in the history of the tournament and the highest for Perth Scorchers Women. Devine, who started thunderously went on to play like that as she hit her fifty in 32 balls. But instead of resting, the 32-year-old kept marching and brought up her second fifty in just 26 balls, and thereby got to her third hundred in just 58 balls. While Mooney got out in the 19th over at the score of 62 from 54 balls, Devine too perished on the second ball of the 20th over. But with help of Sri Lanka’s Chamari Athapaththu’s 12 off six balls, the team eventually got to 186-2 in its 20 overs. In reply to that, Sydney Thunder Women were struggling at 60-4 in the 13th over at the time of writing this. Earlier in the day, in another game where Brisbane Heat were up against Adelaide strikers, Darcie Brown of the strikers picked up the first hattrick of the season as she dismissed Georgia Redmayne, Ellie Johnston and Laura May Kimmince on the fourth, fifth and sixth deliveries of the sixth over. However, that come to nothing as Heat eventually win the 11 overs a side game by five runs.