The Hundred 2021: Warner, Stoinis pull out; India’s Shafali Verma replaces Kiwi Sophie Devine

PSL 2021 | KRK vs MS: Bizarre thinking from Babar, brilliant team effort give Sultans a winning start

When the most set, experienced and talented batsman on the pitch doesn’t take the strike in the last over when his team requires 23 runs to win the match, there could be no other explanation to it than calling it Bizzare! Kings needed 38 from the last two overs, having not been able to get on with the chase earlier on. But instead of taking the strike in the last over, Babar tried to run a double on the last ball, and run got Chadwick Walton, his partner for the last 77 runs, most importantly of just 45 balls. With that run out two things happened, Walton, a set man was out and Babar the other set man was off strike in the last over with the team requiring 23 to win. What happened next was even worse. Thisara Perera, the new man, slogged the second ball of the last over, after missing the first one, and was caught on the boundary, but Babar didn’t even bother to change ends. In fact, shocking as it might be, Babar didn’t play even a single ball in the last over. In the end, Babar’s 63 ball 85 could do no good to his Karachi Kings as they couldn’t get to the target of 177 set up by Multan Sultans in the first game of the doubleheaders day in the Abu Dhabi leg of Pakistan super League’s sixth edition. Even after a brilliant knock such as this, Babar cannot run away from the blame for not taking the responsibility of finishing the game. However, even after such dismal planning and execution by his senior pro, Babar, Imad Wasim, the Karachi skipper wasn’t ready to put the blame on him. “There was nothing wrong with the way we played, Babar is a class player and he usually does well for us,” he said in the post-match presentation. However, Babar must be credited for his instrumental knock in the sense that he was able to take the team close to the target even after a disastrous start to the chase. Chasing 177, Sharjeel Khan, supposed to be the go-getter of the two among him and Babar was run out at the team score of 14. After that Martin Guptill and Babar tried to get the team back, but it took a lot of time and a lot of balls for that. Just when Guptill started to get bat on the ball, he was tricked by a googly from Imran Tahir. The 40-year-old mad celebrator had another chance to dance wildly as he removed Afghan Najibullah Zadran to put Karachi in all sorts of trouble. But after that came Walton and he paired up with Babar to keep the Kings in the hunt. Earlier in the day, Multan Sultans, after being asked to bat first, got going from the very beginning. Even after Rahmunullah Gurbaz got out early, Sohaib Maqsood and Rilee Rossouw kept powering on with their big shots and skipper Mohammad Rizwan held one end up. The Sultans reached 100 in just the 10th over. The 33-year-old South African was awarded man of the match for his 24 ball 44. But soon after that, both Rizwan and Rossouw got out in the 11th over, putting the Sultans in a spot of bother. Shimron Hetmyer followed suit as well. From 107-2 in 10 overs, Sultans were suddenly 130 /5 after 15 with all-rounder Khushdil Shah and more bowler than batter Sohail Tanvir at the crease. Instead of getting bogged down by the pressure, the two rather counter attacked the opposition, gathering 45 from the last five, with 19 coming off a Mohammad Amir last over. Perera was the pick of the bowlers for Karachi with two wickets for 13 runs in his three overs. Surprisingly, the Sri Lankan didn’t bowl his full quota of overs. This was only the second win for the Sultans in six games and skipper Rizwan was chuffed about it. “We didn't think about the uncontrollable, so we just gave our best and ended up on the winning side. We tried deciding according to the conditions - 4 pacers, and 1 spinner, and we'll keep deciding according to the conditions in the future matches,” he said in the post-match interview. In their next game, the Sultans will be up against Peshawar Zalmi while Karachi Kings would have a three-day rest and would come back at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi to face Islamabad United on June 14.

ENG vs NZ | 2nd Test: Defiant Rory Burns-Dan Lawrence help hosts survive Boult, Henry's swing storm

Fighting half-centuries from Rory Burns and Daniel Lawrence saved the day for England on the first day of the second Test at Edgbaston after even a New Zealand attack without Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson put the hosts under enormous pressure. The new-ball pair of Matt Henry and a returning man Trent Boult found a considerable amount of swing in the first session after Joe Root won the toss and elected to bat first. The swing was on offer due to overcast conditions but both the English openers Rory Burns and Dominic Sibley bated with immense control to defy all the Blackcaps bowlers in the first session. The tourists, however, never went away and came back strongly right after the lunch interval when Henry got Sibley to edge on behind the wicket for Tom Blundell with the gloves. There was no let-up for the hosts since then as a skilful Neil Wagner played with the mind of an out-of-knick Zak Crawley and sent him back to the pavilion edging to third slip. England hopes were on the shoulders of skipper Root and an in-form batsman in the form of Rory Burns. Henry was getting a lot of movement in the air and an indecisive Joe Root was sent before he could get his eyes in. With three down under 100, Burns and Ollie Pope started batting freely and put the balls into gaps to keep the scoreboard going. Pope, in particular, was very proactive in his strokes and got England on a roll. However, his eagerness to go for runs cost him his wicket when he attempted to hit a short delivery off Aizaj Patel a little too hard. Rory Burns and Lawrence took England to the tea interval but Trent Boult was hungry for success and he got the biggest scalp for his side by luring Burns into a drive on the up. Burns was caught intelligently by skipper Tom Latham but Boult had in him something extra and he repeated the modus operandi to send James Bracey for another duck in his two-match long Test career. Both those dismissals have been the hallmark of the New Zealand bowling attack over the years and Latham was lucky to have at least Boult while Southee was rested for the bigger clash of the World Test Championship final against India. Lawrence, too, was tested on all accounts by all New Zealand pacers but after a stuttering start, he settled into his role perfectly. He led the England fight back, first in the company of Olly Stone and followed it up with another unbeaten partnership with Mark Wood to prevent England from getting bundled out at a sub-par score. For New Zealand, it was a near-perfect day apart from the first session where bowlers were a bit short and wide that allowed English openers to leave alone a lot of deliveries. However, they more than made up for it in the afternoon session. However, they would be a tad disappointed letting England off the hook once again and back the bowlers to wrap up things quickly on the second morning of the Test.

SL vs IND: Sakariya, Gaikwad, Rana, Padikkal earn maiden call-ups; Dhawan to lead

The Indian Premier League performers have been rewarded as the All-India Senior Selection Committee announced the Indian squad for the 3-match ODI series and the 3-match T20I series against Sri Lanka. Shikhar Dhawan will lead the side in absence of all senior players, who are on a tour of England. Fast bowler Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has been named his deputy. Rajasthan Royals’ Chetan Skariya, who impressed with his brilliant bowling in the curtailed season of the cash-rich league has received his maiden call up. Along with him, RCB’s Devdutt Padikkal, Kolkata Knight Rider’s Nitish Rana, Chennai Super Kings’ Krishnappa Gowtham and KKR’s Varun Chakravarthy, who earlier missed being part of an Indian squad due to his injury before the Australian tour in 2019, have also been named in the Blue brigade for the first time ever in their careers. Making a comeback in India’s ODI squad are Manish Pandey, Sanju Samson and Navdeep Saini, all of whom missed out in the recent England series. Along with the team, the BCCI also announced the schedule for the series which will begin with the first ODI on July 13th at the R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, Colombo. All matches will be played over there only. The T20I series would begin on July 21. India’s squad: Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (Wicket-keeper), Sanju Samson (Wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Vice-captain), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya Net Bowlers: Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, Sai Kishore, Simarjeet Singh

Kyle Jamieson signs up deal with Surrey for Vitality Blast, County championship

New Zealand seamer Kyle Jamieson has signed an all-format deal with the Surrey County side and is likely to debut in the England domestic cricket this summer. He is likely to join the side after the conclusion of the World Test Championship against India on June 23. His first appearance for Surrey is likely to be on June 25 in a Vitality Blast game against Middlesex at The Kia Oval. He will be available for selection till mid-July and most likely will walk into the playing XI for the county championship games against Hampshire at The Ageas Bowl from July 4-7 and against Somerset at The Oval from July 11-14. Jamieson said that he did not expect to get the opportunity to play in county cricket this year but expressed excitement at the opportunity of playing both the first-class and T20 tournament in England, which he always wanted to do in his career. "I'm really excited to get the chance to play some county cricket after the Black Caps tour. Originally I didn't think this opportunity would be possible with the schedule this year, but with how things have unfolded it's great to be able to join Surrey and experience both T20 and first-class cricket,” Jamieson said. "Playing county cricket is something I've always wanted to do in my career, so to have the chance to do so now is awesome. I've heard a lot of great things about county cricket, particularly T20 Blast nights at The Kia Oval, and can't wait to take up the opportunity with Surrey to continue to learn and grow whilst trying my best to contribute to the teams' success." Jamieson has been rested from the second Test of the series against England currently underway at Edgbaston, Birmingham but will certainly form the four-man pronged pace attack for the Blackcaps in the WTC final against India.