WI vs PAK | 2nd Test | Day 4: Shaheen Afridi's six-for pushes hosts on backfoot

Taliban effect: Afghanistan- Pakistan ODI series rescheduled for 2022

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) have come to a mutual agreement to shift the bilateral ODI series between the two teams to 2022. Sri Lanka had to host the series earlier in Hambantota between September 1 to 8 but the ongoing situation in Afghanistan has forced the boards to postpone the fixtures. "The ACB had contacted the PCB on Monday evening, requesting to postpone the series for 2022 citing disruption of flight operations in Kabul, increased Covid-19 cases in Sri Lanka, mental health of their players and non-availability of broadcast equipment," PCB said in a release. PCB Director International Zakir Khan said that the two boards were keen to hold the series but had rescheduled it considering the current situation. "We have worked very closely with the Afghanistan Cricket Board to make this series happen and were keen to play them in the inaugural bilateral series, but we understand their challenges and have, therefore, agreed to reschedule the series for 2022,” he said. The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) was earlier forced to shift the series to Pakistan from Sri Lanka as there are no commercial flights taking off from Kabul at the moment. This meant that the team first had to travel to Pakistan by road, then take the flight to Dubai and travel to Sri Lanka from there.

Root feels bad for Azeem Rafiq, calls for more 'conversation' to bring 'diversity' into Cricket

England skipper Joe Root has said that it is hard for him to see his friend and former colleague in County Cricket, Azeem Rafiq going through a tumultuous phase. He recognised the need for improvement in the development of the game as a more inclusive sport in the light of a report by the Yorkshire County over allegations of racism by Rafiq. Prioritising the elephant in the room that is the issue of racism, Root said that there should be continuous “conversations” over it to make the game more “diverse” and create more “opportunities”. "As a former team-mate and friend, it's hard to see Azeem hurting as he is. More than anything, it just shows that there is a lot of work we have to do in the game. It's a societal issue in my opinion. We have seen it in other sports; we have seen it in other areas. As a sport, we have got to keep trying to find ways of making sure this isn't a conversation that keeps happening. We have got to find ways of creating more opportunities, making our game more diverse and educating better,” Root said. "I don't think that just comes from players and administrators: it's from everyone in the game. There has got to be a want and a will to do that. It is something we have to prioritise as a sport and make sure this isn't something that happens again further down the line." Earlier last week, the Yorkshire County had conceded that Rafiq was subjected to “inappropriate behaviour” while he was playing for the county and they also extended a “profound apology” for the same. Rafiq had first reported the allegations of racism late last year following which the county launched an independent investigation and its report was published last week after a lot of controversy over the delay.

Can’t commit to full-time coaching: Mahela Jayawardene after leading Southern Brave to The Hundred title

Having led Southern Brave to a title win in the inaugural season of The Hundred, their chief coach and former Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene were asked whether he would consider coaching national teams, now that he has three IPL titles with Mumbai Indians as a coach and one with Brave. Responding to it, the Sri Lankan categorically denied any such plans as of now because he wants to spend time with his family and doesn’t want to live out of a suitcase or on the road all the time. "Having done 18 years of international cricket as a player I don't want to live out of a suitcase for 12 months of the year,” said the man with more than 25,000 international runs in his kitty. Jayawardene however confirmed that his current structure of helping franchise teams as consultants would remain in place. "I'm happy to help out as a consultant here and there (with Sri Lanka) but not on a full-time basis because I would not enjoy that personally,” he said. "This is a good challenge for me and it's early days. I don't do too many tournaments so that I have my personal time to spend back home with the family,” he further added. Having spent a lot of time with Southern brave, Jayawardene feels that Tymal deserves a place in the England squad for the T20 World Cup for the hard work he has done and the kind of talent he possesses. Mills was instrumental in Brave's Eliminator win against Trent rickets and Final victory against Birmingham Phoenix. "I'd be disappointed if he's not on that plane for the World Cup. Throughout the competition, he's been fantastic. Tymal Mills is always going to be an asset. In the shorter format of the game, he knows his skills and it's a hard skill that he's executing,” said Jayawardene about the man who did not consider a single boundary in the knockout stage of the tournament and picked four wickets as well in two matches. With the remainder of the IPL to be played in September-October, the 44-year-old Sri Lankan would have his task cut out as he would be preparing to lead Mumbai Indians to title hattrick with the team having won the titles in 2019 and 2020 under his guidance.

ENG vs IND | Joe Root backs Dawid Malan and Saqib Mahmood to shine under pressure

Yorkshire man Dawid Malan was called to replace Dom Sibley in the third Test of ongoing England vs India five-match Test series. England captain Joe Root has shown confidence in the selection saying that the experience of Malan in under pressure situation would help the team. "Dawid would obviously offer us a lot of experience in that top three. Not necessarily… in Test cricket but he has played a huge amount of international cricket now and dealt with pressure situations,” Root said in the pre-match press conference at Headingley, Leeds. Sibley was removed from the squad after poor performances in back-to-back four Tests, two in this series and two against New Zealand. Although Malan has a modest average of around 27 in Tests, Root has backed him to do well seeing his pedigree of delivering under pressure. "He's played a lot of red-ball cricket over the course of his career and he's also had great success. He's played in a massive series in Australia away (2017 Ashes, where Malan also scored a hundred at Perth) and been our leading run-scorer out there, so we know that he's capable of big things in Test match cricket,” said Root, who is also a Yorkshire compatriot of Malan. The 33-year-old left-hander has a First-Class average of nearly 40 across 192 games and more than 11,000 runs playing in England and South Africa. His recent 199 vs Sussex in County Championship in the only long format game he played this season, brought him into consideration for the role at number three. "He's coming off the back - it's only one score in County Championship cricket but it's a big one (199 for Yorkshire vs Sussex) as well as some brilliant scores in high-pressure cricket in the shorter format too,” said the English skipper about Malan. Wood being ruled out from the third Test means that Saqib Mahmood is primed for a Test debut and Root has all his beliefs intact in him that the Lancashire man will exceed all expectations. "I feel like Saqib couldn't be in a better place to potentially play Test cricket. You look at how he's progressed over the last couple of years, across all the formats. The opportunities he's taken this year, when he's been given them, he's been exceptional,” said Root. The words of the captain have weight in them as the right-arm quick picked up 23 wickets in six games at 21 runs per wicket. After getting his chance in the limited-overs series against Pakistan, he was excellent with the ball and thus him getting the chance over Craig Overton shouldn’t be a big surprise. "It just shows how far he's come and it's great to see that strength in depth and him developing as he has done over a period of time now,” Root said about Saqib Mahmood. The third Test begins from August 25 in Leeds with India leading the series 1-0 so far.