UAE's Mohammad Naveed, Shaiman Anwar proven guilty of corruption by ICC

Match Report: Christian, Silk lead Sixers to the top as Stars fail to qualify for the Finals

Jordan Silk and Dan Christian, the two experienced men from the Pink unit took their team home at the Melbourne Cricket Ground as the Sixers beat Stars in the final game of the league round to finish at the top of the points table with 36 points from 14 games. Chasing a total of 178, the Sixers were looking for just the Bash Boost initially to make sure that they finish on top of the table as the Boost would have ensured one point which would have pushed them ahead of the Scorchers as the two teams were tied on the points table before this game. The Stars too were looking to defend the Boost as they needed to win with the Boost point to make sure that they make it to the third consecutive BBL Finals. The sixers, even after losing two quick wickets got the boost thanks to some inspiring batting by their skipper Moises Henriques and opener James Vince who together added 73 runs off 51 balls for the fourth wicket. However, in a matter of 19 runs, three quick wickets fell and Stars came back into the game with the help of their bowlers. However Christian and Silk had other ideas as they went on to achieve the total with ease, putting on an unbeaten 77 run stand of 41 balls to seal the deal for the Sixers. With the last match finished the BBL 2020-21 has its five finalists- Sydney Sixers, Perth Scorchers, Sydney Thunder, Brisbane Heat, and Adelaide Strikers. Ben Dwarshius, who was adjudged Man of the Match for his decisive spell of 3-27 said it was crucial for the Sixers to get Stoinis out early. “I could improve in a few stages, but I'm happy with the 19 wickets I've got through the tournament. We'll have a couple of days to celebrate, and then get ready for the Scorchers,” he added while explaining the strategy of the team going forward.

Pak Spinners roll South Africa over for 220 in first Test

The Pakistan spin duo of Yasir Shah and Nauman Ali picked five wickets amongst them as they ripped through the South African batting order to bundle them out for 220 in the first innings of the first Test between the two teams at the National Stadium in Karachi. At one point in time, the Proteas were poised to get a decent total with a score of 108-2 in 28 overs and a set Dean Elgar batting with experienced Faf du Plessis. But then things started changing from there on as du Plessis was removed by the veteran leggie Yasir Shah at 23. Right after the du Plessis wicket, the Rainbow nation’s downfall started as wickets fell at regular intervals with both debutant Nouman and Yasir utilizing the pressure situation to rattle the inexperienced batting lineup. Quinton de Kock, the South African skipper became 34-year-old Nauman’S first scalp. All-rounder George Linde tried to fight a lone battle with his 63 balls 35, but that was not enough as fast bowlers also chipped in to make a light work of tHE proteas tail and finished the innings at 220. Apart from Yasir and Nouman, Hasan Ali, making his comeback in international cricket after a long injury hiatus, also picked up two wickets. Batting in their first innings, Pakistan too have lost their both openers in Abid Ali and Imran Butt and at the time of writing this news, they were 16-2 with their two most experienced and reliable batters i.e. skipper Babar Azam and Azhar Ali at the crease.

Sri Lanka coach Mickey Arthur lambasts batsmen for horrible series loss against England

Sri Lanka head coach Mickey Arthur has lamented the poor shot selection by batsmen and their wrong approach as reasons behind the second and final match of the series that went horribly wrong for the hosts. Arthur said that an all-out approach that the batsmen took on the fourth day of the Test was not discussed and rather the team had charted a strategy to bat time. "We fought and fought and fought for three days and got ourselves in a really good position, and in two hours we proceeded to throw it away. It was poor batting. It's something I'm going to sit and talk with the players about now. When we lead the game, we've got to be able to put our foot on the neck of the opposition and we didn't do that. That today just wasn't good enough. We've got to learn to be ruthless,” Arthur said. "That was nowhere near our gameplan. Our gameplan this morning was to absorb pressure, grind away, and grind out a couple of sessions to make sure that we got ourselves into a very good position to push for the win tomorrow. That was our strategy. We had a long chat about that this morning. We used the blueprint of our second innings in the first Test match as something that we wanted to base our innings on. Somewhere it's gone horribly wrong. That's something I'm going to dig up and find tonight." Arthur acknowledged that these collapses are occurring very frequently and the series against England was not the first instance when Sri Lanka had wasted all the good efforts made by the bowlers. He added that there will be a round of discussions between him and the team and that the team must find a way to avoid losing games in one session. "This isn't the first time that it's happened, and it's something I need to look into with the team. We let it slip in one disastrous session. Much like in the first Test when we let slip in the first innings again. We can't afford as a team to have those poor sessions. We've got to get our good and our bad closer together. The game was there for us to take and we didn't take it. Extremely disappointed with that,” Arthur added in his review of the series that ended disastrous for the home side in the form of 0-2 sweep.

Gill has talent but he needs to keep his head down: Gambhir

Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has said that Shubman Gill needs to keep his head down because international cricket can be tough. “He (Gill) should be opening with Rohit Sharma, no doubt about it. But let's not jump the gun. We just can't put someone really high up there. Yes, he has got the talent but he needs to keep his head down because international cricket can be tough,” Gambhir said while speaking on Star Sports’ show Game Plan. The former left-arm batsman further added that Gill did have a good start to his career. “Yes, you have had a honeymoon start to your international career - it can't be better than this. Playing in Australia, winning the series with a young side - you have done really well,” Gambhir said on Star Sports. Gill scored 45 and 35 in his debut match while scored a fighting 91 in the second innings of the Brisbane Test to give a steady start to a difficult chase. Talking about his performance, Gambhir said that he did batted “beautifully”. “You have batted beautifully, no doubt about it, but let's give him time as well and let him develop on his own rather than putting too much of pressure and too much expectations on him,” Gambhir added. India won the four-match series 2-1 after losing the first Test. They were bundled out for 36 in the second innings of the first Test but made a strong comeback to win the second and fourth game while the third match ended in a draw.