Virat Kohli is ICC cricketer of the decade; Dhoni wins Spirit of Cricket award

What have you done Faf! Twitter reacts to du Plessis getting out on 199

Just after the sheer happiness of the South African and Faf du Plessis fans when he crossed 150 for the first time in his international career, his dismissal caught them unaware, shocking and saddening them to the core as the South African got out on 199, just one short of what could have been his first double hundred in international cricket. Twitter reacted to this dismissal of his in a sad way as nobody expected du Plessis who had been on the crease for more than 270 balls to get out in such a fashion. The delivery that got his wicket was not at all deserving of a wicket and it was rather the lack of concentration, or just that one lapse in it, once in a day that caused the 34-year-old his wicket. The man from Pretoria lofted a straight one from Wanindu Hasaranga, the bat twisted in his hands and a leading-edge was gulped easily by the opposition captain Dimuth Karunaratne at mid-on. This was the 10th Test century for Faf in his 66th Test for the Proteas. With the help of this marathon knock, the South African posted a mammoth 621 in the first innings, that too while scoring at a healthy run rate of 4.37 Trailing by 225 runs, Sri Lanka started their second innings on a poor note, losing captain Karunaratne at the score of 10. At the time of writing this news, Kusal Mendis had also lost his wicket and Kusal Perera and Dinesh Chadimal were braving a fiery spell from Lungi Ngidi. The islanders were trailing by 191 runs.

Rohit Sharma to fly to Melbourne, third Test likely to be shifted from Sydney

Indian opener Rohit Sharma is all set to be flown to Melbourne for the third Test, also an indicator that the third Test would most likely be shifted from Sydney, where Rohit had been stationed in quarantine to join the team before the third Test. "Yes, he will be flown to Melbourne by CA on Wednesday as the third game is almost set to take place at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) with an eye on the coronavirus outbreak," ANI quoted a source from Cricket Australia as saying. Nick Hockley, the interim CEO of the CA also confirmed that the governing body was looking at various options to host the third Test. "Should the public health situation in NSW render playing in Sydney untenable, CA's preferred contingency plan is to work with the Victorian Government to play the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground followed by the fourth Test at the Gabba," he said. Saying that Australian Board has always maintained that scheduling a full summer of cricket during a global pandemic would require agility, problem-solving, and teamwork like never before, Hockley added that they would continue to place the safety and wellbeing of everyone involved as our number one priority. However, the chances of Sydney hosting the New Year Test couldn’t be counted out as of yet as ‘the record testing numbers and the drop in new community transmissions in NSW have provided cause for optimism’. “If the situation in Sydney deteriorates, we have strong contingency plans in place," Hockley said.

Gritty resistance by skipper Rizwan and Faheem saves Pakistan from follow-on

Pakistan was able to avoid the follow-on on day 3 of their first Test against New Zealand taking place at Mount Maunganui. But that would hardly compensate for the terrible collapse their batting order suffered in the morning session. At the start of play, hopes were high from Abid Ali and other batsmen of a fightback. But the New Zealand bowling attack showed why they have been so good in the last few years. On the same pitch where Pakistan's bowlers couldn't dislodge the masterful Kane Williamson and later, the gritty BJ Watling, the Kiwi pace attack ran riot. First, Kyle Jamieson ended Abid Ali's promising innings with a delivery that jagged back in and hit the stumps. The extra bounce generated by the tall bowler prevented Abid from coming forward and the ball went through his defences. Mohammad Abbas, the night-watchman, went soon after, edging a delivery from Trent Boult. Then, Tim Southee, on the brink of 300 Test wickets, got into the act. Azhar Ali, the mainstay of Pakistan's batting, was done in by a wonderful delivery that swung away just a little bit to take the edge of Ali's bat. Southee got his 298th scalp soon after when Haris Sohail sliced a delivery to gully. Pakistan were now tottering at 5/52. The new captain Mohammad Rizwan and Fawad Alam got together and showed some resistance. They put together 28 runs but then, Neil Wagner made an impact in his usual way. A short delivery got Fawad to attempt a pull. He only managed a faint top edge that was gleefully accepted by the wicketkeeper BJ Watling. At 80/6, Pakistan seemed set to follow on. But then Rizwan showed the same determined batting that has led him to the captaincy position. He teamed up with Faheem Ashraf who batted with such authority that he could easily have been mistaken for a top-order batsman. Ashraf was especially impressive with his pull shots, which were played in a most clinical manner. Rizwan, at the other end, also showed a solid technique and composure to keep his team from further harm. The conditions had become easier for batting and now, the New Zealand bowlers seemed much less menacing. There were a couple of chances. An aerial drive by Faheem was dropped at short cover, a difficult chance. An edge of Rizwan's bat went through the gap between slips and gully. Rizwan reached his fifty in 106 balls. Faheem also got to the milestone, in 87 balls. The two batsmen batted with much more application than was expected of them. They even dealt with the second new ball well. Eventually, what ended this brilliant partnership was some fielding brilliance. An attempted second run ended in disaster for the Pakistan captain as Mitchell Santner, who hardly bowled, sent a slingy, low arm throw from the deep that hit the stumps at non-striker end as Rizwan dived to make it to the crease, but was found short. The skipper departed for a well-made and fighting 71. This opened the door for New Zealand to wrap up Pakistan's innings before they could avoid the follow-on. Boult got a ball to swing back into right-hander Yasir Shah and smash the stumps. Shaheen Afridi parried an awkward bouncer to short-leg fielder Tom Latham. Meanwhile, Faheem saw an opportunity to get to his hundred. He had managed to take Pakistan past the follow-on mark. The lower order batsman seemed intent on getting his hundred before the close of the day's play. In the final over, he hit a boundary to move to 91, but Jamieson got a delivery outside off stump to just climb a little and take the edge. It was taken by Watling to end Pakistan's innings at 239, trailing the hosts by 192 runs. Jamieson finished with 3/35 off 23.2 overs in another impressive performance. Boult, Wagner, and Southee picked up two wickets each.

BBL10 | Strikers vs Scorchers: All-rounder Rashid Khan shines as Adelaide humble Perth

Rashid Khan would be on cloud nine today as apart from getting the T20i player of the decade award from the International Cricket Council, he also led his BBL side Adelaide Strikers to a huge 71 run win over the Perth Scorchers at the Adelaide Oval. The spin twin strike hard Although the last two wickets were picked up by pacers Peter Siddle and Daniel Worral, it was the spinners that did all the damage before that, rendering Scorchers helpless in the middle. Between leg spinner Rashid Khan and left-arm orthodox Danny Briggs, the strikers had four important scalps of the Scorchers lineup. While Briggs, 29, picked up dangerous Mitchell Marsh and lower-order hitter Jhye Richardson very cheaply, the man from Afghanistan was instrumental in dismissing overseas star Colin Munro and all-rounder Aaron Hardie. The two of them gave away just 26 runs in six overs to account for the four wickets. Briggs, the man from England was simply unplayable as he conceded just eight runs in his three-over spell. Perth and the art of failing miserably In the three matches so far this season, the Scorchers have always given up the game before it was over. Even in this game, after doing well in the bowling department to being 40-1 in four overs, the Scorchers just let it go, and that was the biggest mistake with no batsman hanging around or trying to build a partnership. From 40-1 in four overs while chasing 166 on a decent wicket to getting all out for 94 tells that the issue at hand is deeper and requires a transformative change to be dealt with. Rashid Khan the basher with the bat Earlier in the day, Scorchers after winning the toss had sent in Strikers to bat first. The opening pair of Jake Weatherald and Phil Salt made good use of the short of length bowling by the Scorchers at the start. But soon, the introduction of Mitchell Marsh changed things a bit for the team. The all-rounder started bowling a bit fuller and thereby forcing batsmen to commit mistakes. As a result, he got the wicket of Weatherald. Inspired by him, the others too started bowling a little fuller of the short of a length. From 57 for none, the Strikers were reduced to 95-4 and then to 110-5. It was at this moment that Rashid Khan, full of excitement after him being announced the T20I cricketer of the decade, started teeing off the ball, scoring a quickfire 13 ball 29 with the help of three sixes, taking the team total past the 160 mark. Phil Salt was the only other batsman that looked solid as the opener scored 51 off 31 balls. Rashid’s knock involved three sixes and just one four. Khan,22, was adjudged Man of the Match for his all-round abilities. What's next? A repeat of this encounter will be witnessed on 31st December where the Scorchers would like to get a win to start their campaign in a true sense as well as to avenge this humiliating loss. Strikers on the other hand would be looking to consolidate their position in the top half of the table.