Multan Sultans to lock horns with Karachi Kings in PSL 2022 opener

'Emotional' Mickey Arthur lauds Sri Lankan team as his coaching tenure concludes

The Sri Lankan team presented a perfect farewell gift for the outgoing coach Mickey Arthur as they clinched a two-match Test series against West Indies 2-0 at home. An emotional Arthur has said that the Sri Lankan team comprises some “remarkable” characters in the dressing room and he would miss being around them. "I'm going to get really emotional tonight, when we eventually say farewell, because the characters who are in that dressing room are remarkable. They're really a wonderful bunch of players and people," Arthur said. The coach also lavished praise on Ramesh Mendis and added that he has made an impression. "One thing Mendis does is he spins the ball really big. We've just had to work on him being really consistent with his lines and with his lengths,” Arthur said. “I was just sitting next to Grant Flower (batting coach) out there and we were watching the guys out in the field. And I was saying, which guys have really made an impression on you? For both of us it was Ramesh Mendis," he added. Talking about the series, the home side won the first match by 187 runs and then clinched a victory by 164 runs in the second to complete a whitewash win.

T10 League 2021-22: Deccan Gladiators register place in final with win over Delhi Bulls

Deccan Gladiators registered a place in the final of the T10 League after beating Delhi Bulls in Qualifier 1 in Abu Dhabi on Friday. Chasing 140 in 10 overs, the Delhi Bulls team was looking pretty steady in the run chase but a good piece of bowling at the end from Tymal Mills pushed them on the back foot. Openers Gurbaz and Chandrapaul Hemraj had put 36 on the board for the first wicket. The Bulls did lose wickets at regular intervals but the batsmen continued to put up runs on the board before the 8th over where they could only manage to get 6 runs and the asking rate jumped massively. Later, they needed 34 off the final over but could only score 16 to eventually be restricted to 122/5 and suffer a defeat by 17 runs. Earlier, riding on some brisk stroke play from Russell, David Wiese and Odean Smith, the Gladiators posted 139/4 in 10 overs. While Russell struck 39 off 14, Wiese remained unbeaten at 15-ball 31. Smith also returned not out for 30 off 11. For Delhi Bulls, it was once again Dominic Drakes who was the pick of the bowlers after he returned with figures of 3/15 in 2 overs. Delhi will now meet the winner of the Eliminator match in the second qualifier to fight it out for a place in the final.

Indian team faces backlash on social media as 'injured' Rahane carries drink to the ground

India Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane was ruled out of the second match against New Zealand in Mumbai after an apparent hamstring injury. But the fans were left wondering when Rahane was seen carrying drinks during the break on the field. The Indian team was called out by the netizens for the same on Friday, 3 December. Rahane's position in the Test team has been contentious for some time now, with critics stating that the Indian vice-captain has not done enough to get selected over the likes of KL Rahul in the middle order. With Shreyas Iyer scoring a century in the Kanpur Test, theories were flying as to who would get the sack once captain Virat Kohli comes back into the team. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) tweeted in the morning of Day 1 of the 2nd Test that Rahane had suffered a hamstring and would be unavailable for the game. Talking about the match, the hosts are in a decent position at the moment, courtesy, a century from opener Mayank Agarwal. India had begun the proceedings pretty well after Mayank and Shubman Gill put up 80 runs on the board for the first wicket before Ajaz Patel removed Gill for 44. The spinner then followed it with the scalps of Cheteshwar Pujara and captain Virat Kohli as the home side was reduced to 80/3. Agarwal was then joined by Shreyas Iyer in the middle and the two batters then steadied the ship for the team and chipped in with an 80-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Iyer was eventually sent back to the pavilion as Patel scalped his fourth wicket of the day. But Mayank along with Wriddhiman Saha made sure that there were no further fall of wickets as India ended the day’s play at 221/4. Agarwal was unbeaten at 120 while Saha was at 25* when the stumps were called. The first match of the two-match series ended in a draw in Kanpur earlier.

IND vs NZ | 2nd Test, Day 1: Centurion Mayank Agarwal outshines Ajaz Patel to keep India ahead

It was a perfect day of Test cricket on the first day of the second Test between India and New Zealand in Mumbai, except for the non-cricket parts of the day where a whole session was lost due to wet outfield. The new ball swung for some half an hour although the game started at noon and New Zealand pacers Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson asked Indian openers Mayank Agarwal and Shubman Gill comprehensive questions around off stump. Both of them had learnt their lessons from the last game in Kanpur and hence they were watchful to not poke at deliveries and instead waited for the Kiwi bowlers to become desperate. Both of them punished Kiwis pacers as they produced half volleys in search of magic deliveries and India were on a roll past the 50-run mark very quickly. Gill missed out on a big score yet again and was loose against the left-arm spin of Ajaz Patel to lose his wicket after a well compiled 44. Ajaz Patel celebrates his homecoming Patel was full of emotions and nostalgia coming into Mumbai for the first time as a New Zealand Test player. He was born in the maximum city and there was not a single over in the day when he appeared not to belong to the city and the bowling conditions at the Wankhede Stadium. He took a couple of overs to assess the line and length he had to bowl on the surface which was offering assistance from the straighter line of the stumps and he was quick to gauge that the surface demanded him to stay around the stump line. He lured Gill into playing a nervous prod outside off stump by setting him up with the arm ball and as soon as the right-hander walked out, it was complete chaos in the middle with only him roaring in celebration and leaving India in almost a shamble. He dismissed both Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli in the same over and brought the Blackcaps right back in the game. Both the batsmen would be furious at their dismissal but Patel purchased those wickets with immaculate accuracies. Pujara’s “intent” and Kohli’s anticlimatic return Cheteshwar Pujara has been known for his intent against spin and he feeds on spinners by jumping down the track against him. However, when the tide is turning against you, even a low tide can shake off your feet and knock you down on the ground. Pujara has been a brilliant and decisive player of spin bowling but having failed on multiple occasions against Jack Leach earlier this year has crept in seeds of doubt in his brain. Obvious, lack of form also complicates the issue. He tried to play Patel from the crease and was given the same scare as Leach did to him but the ball did not turn enough and went straight on. Being aware of the challenge of playing left-arm spin from the crease and big LBW shout on the last ball compelled Pujara to dance down the track on the next ball but the bowler was wiser than him and he bowled a delivery that almost yorked the right-hander. A muddled Pujara walked out of the ground fighting to make sense of what among his form in the recent past or judgement on the wicket ball was more wrong. His wicket brought Virat Kohli to the crease after a rare break he had gifted to himself where he appeared to work on his batting. He had gone through rigorous sessions with Sanjay Bangar in Mumbai and the time to show the result of that hard work was now. India had lost both Gill and Pujara after a strong opening partnership and hence he and Mayank Agarwal had to lay out of course correction to lead India to a big score. He looked busy from the outset and went deep inside the crease to cut Patel when he offered width on the third ball he faced. Patel provided him with a rare opportunity in that spell and he could not pierce the infield. He was on the front foot next to the ball but the ball also hit the pad along with his bat. The umpire Anil Choudhary was of the view that the ball struck the pad first before he hit the ball and hence found him LBW out. He did not accept the decision and went for DRS but only to find the third umpire upholding the decision in favour of the on-field umpire in absence of “conclusive evidence”. He did not accept the decision even while going back and it showed he was not convinced of the idea that it hit the pad first before hitting the bat. It’s been more than two years since he hit his last century against Bangladesh and the script is similar for batsmen who bat around him in the middle order. He was saved from a precarious situation as Rahane got injured, but Kohli will have to do some soul searching and start producing runs off his bat before his bullish calls and aggressive approach starts to appear hollow. Mayank Agarwal makes it count, finally Mayank Agarwal went into oblivion after the Australian trio of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood ripped open the flaws in his stance and technique at the same time last year. He was dropped and his replacement Gill took centre stage with swashbuckling innings against the same set of bowlers. Then, right on the eve of the Test series against England where he was set to get a lucky break due to injury to Gill, he too got injured and once again, his replacement went on to make a name for himself and he was left to celebrate other’s success in the team. The time turned on its head when Rahul suffered the same fate before the New Zealand series and he got the opportunity to come back at the top of the order. He missed out in the first Test largely due to vulnerability around off-stump which was a clear sign of not having enough time in the middle playing the longer version of the game. However, he was focused and disciplined for the second round of the bout against New Zealand pacers. He was threatened around the same line of attack but he was up to the task and played with soft hands and cautions. He never played away from the body and avoided booming drive for the most part of the first 20-30 balls. He has never shown weakness against spinners and he continued his dream run against New Zealand spinners, including Ajaz Patel, who was getting others out for fun. He accepted all his challenges gleefully and never allowed his other spin partners such as Rachin Ravindra and William Somerville to settle into a rhythm. The fourth Test hundred tasted much sweeter to him and the big roar and leap he took in celebration of the hundred emphasized how much he missed going through the ebbs and flows of Test cricket batting at the top of the order for India. Looking ahead to the second day India have weathered the storm thanks to the partnerships between Mayank Agarwal, Shreyas Iyer and Wriddhiman Saha but they are not out of woods yet. Quick wickets early on in the second innings can complicate their matters just like it did on the second day of the first Test and the opener Agarwal will have to ensure India don’t lose the plot. Balls are turning and bouncing from straighter lines and Indian spinners would be sleeping with an immense sense of excitement on the prospect of bowling on such surface after the hard work in Kanpur. However, New Zealand batsmen are unlikely to be a pushover by any stretch of the imagination and hence India have to get as many runs as they can pile on in the first innings to gain an advantage and to be in a situation to be able to keep close-in fielders all the time.