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MS Dhoni, the India captain, has said performing under pressure has become India’s strength and that will hold them in good stead for the World Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Feb-2011MS Dhoni, the India captain, has said performing under pressure has become India’s strength and that will hold them in good stead for the World Cup where he admitted expectations will be high.”What we have done in the last three years is that we have changed the meaning of pressure to responsibility and we take it as an added responsibility,” Dhoni said. “Cricket is the biggest sport in India and it is widely followed. Everybody wants us to do well and we take that in a positive way. We just stick to the basics, prepare well for the game and at the end of the day we know we have got the potential to do well on the field.”One of the questions facing the India team, who play their first match on February 19 against Bangladesh, is how they will deal with the pressure of being tournament hosts along with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. India have failed to get past the semi-final stage in previous World Cups played on home soil. But Dhoni said he was concentrating just on the preparation. “I am ready to prepare well for the World Cup and that is what is in my hands right now.”Dhoni dodged the question of whether India were favourites for the tournament by saying: “For a change we won’t be considered underdogs.” He stuck to what has become almost a mantra for him in his time as captain in saying “processes” would take precedence over results. “I never predict much when it comes to cricket. We believe in each of us, and the support staff members are also there to help us. We believe in doing the process, so I have no prediction about the World Cup and we will just give it our best shot.”A day after England batsman Kevin Pietersen termed his side’s hectic schedule leading up to the World Cup as ‘ridiculous’, Dhoni admitted arriving at a balanced schedule was difficult. “The biggest thing in cricket is that we do criticise a lot. When we lose a game, even I have said in the past that we play too much cricket. To get the perfect balance is a very difficult task because there is a very thin line and it is not like technology where we can be close to perfection. It is an issue that will always be raised that either it will be a cramped schedule or there is too long a gap between games.”India have selected seven batsmen, four seamers, three spinners and just one wicketkeeper in their 15-man squad for the World Cup, and Dhoni said there were always players bound to miss out when you have to pick just 15 players. “We have tried to keep the best squad but you can’t accommodate everyone. You can only select 15 players, so you may miss some players who are key in some areas like a left-arm spinner or maybe a legspinner. It will always be a point of discussion, but what is important is that the 15 players who are selected right now make an impact on the World Cup.”Dhoni said he wasn’t thinking about the disappointing loss to Bangladesh – who are India’s first opponents in the 2011 tournament – in the 2007 World Cup. “I am certainly thinking about the match [against Bangladesh] positively. We may have lost in 2007, but there are plenty of positives that we can look for like the 2003 World Cup and the entire tournament we played then.”As far as the gaps between the games are concerned, we all know that it is there so what is best for us is to make a good plan to utilise it in the best possible manner. Of course, we play throughout the year, which means that in between these tense games the players will get time to relax themselves and at the same time if there are some niggles you can get over it.”It is the biggest tournament and it is the biggest thing that happens in cricket, so it is very important that you play with the best XI that your team has. You don’t want to miss many players because of injuries.”

A round-up of the first day of the tenth round in Division One of the Quaid-E-Azam Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Dec-2010The seamers had a ball on the opening day of the contest between Habib Bank Limited and National Bank of Pakistan at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Eighteen wickets fell with NBP edging out the day, 74 runs ahead and with two wickets in hand. HBL, currently leading the Division One table, were skittled out for 116, with Hasan Raza, the captain, managing a top score of 24. Medium-pacer Uzair-ul-Haq led the wickets tally with four, and was supported by Wasim Khan and Mohammad Talha who took three each.The NBP reply began on a positive note with openers Nasir Jamshed and Rashid Riaz adding 50, but wickets then fell at a steady pace with only Qaiser Abbas, in the middle order, being able to measure up to the bowling. He counterattacked in his 34-ball 46, but seamer Sajid Shah picked up a five-for to limit NBP to 190 for 8 at stumps.Sialkot held a slight edge over Islamabad at the end of the first day at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad. Islamabad, being put in, began poorly, losing their openers for zeroes. But the middle order launched a recovery with Faizan Riaz and Rashid Amin adding 101, with more assistance down the order as Imad Wasim and captain Rauf Akbar put together an unbeaten 74 for the ninth wicket. Prince Abbas, the seamer, grabbed four wickets, and Asim Butt chipped in with three to leave Islamabad at 291 for 8 at stumps. However, they would rue not breaking the ninth-wicket stand which got together at 219 for 8.No surprises with Multan, as they were yet again bowled out for a score under 100 and appear to be on their way to a tenth straight defeat in the tournament. Karachi Blues ended the day at the National Stadium in Karachi in a dominant position, leading by 129 in the first innings with five wickets still in hand. The fast bowlers, again, made merry, with Tabish Khan and Babar Rehman taking five wickets each. Wicketkeeper Waqas Khan was the top-scorer for Multan, with 18, and it took only 24 overs for the Karachi bowlers to get the job done. Opener Asad Baig guided the Karachi reply with an unbeaten 82 and even though the Multan bowlers made inroads, taking five wickets, defeat still looms large for their side.Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited held the advantage over Pakistan International Airlines at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad. Shoaib Malik continued his good form in the tournament, top-scoring with 108 and rescuing the innings via an 89-run stand with Sheharyar Ghani, who chipped in with 70. At 221 for 5, PIA would have hoped for a substantial score but left-arm seamer Sohail Tanvir ran through the middle order to restrict PIA for 297, seize the initiative and put ZTBL in a good position going into the second day.Sadaf Hussain picked up a five-for to help skittle Faisalabad out for 153, but he was upstaged by Nasir Hayat, who also took five wickets as Rawalpindi limped to 94 for 8 by the close of play. Opener Farrukh Shehzad rattled along to 79 from 108 balls, with 15 fours, but the rest of the batsmen on both sides found it tough going at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, with no one else even reaching 20. Sadaf ran through the the top and middle orders, taking the first five wickets to fall, as Faisalabad slumped to 37 for 5, and it took a seventh-wicket stand of 56 between Shehzad and Hasan Mahmood to carry the visitors past the three-figure mark. Sadaf finished with figures of 5 for 64. The Rawalpindi batsmen then showed even greater ineptitude, with Nasir and Ahmaed Hayat running riot. Nasir picked up 5 for 32 from 11 overs, while Hayat had figures of 3 for 23, also from 11 overs.Asad Ali and Yasir Shah took four wickets apiece as Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited dismissed Water and Power Development Authority for 227 at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground . SNGPL chose to field and WAPDA’s openers added 43 before Adil Raza struck to remove Rafatullah Mohmand for 25. The next three wickets fell quickly, with Yasir taking two of them, to leave WAPDA struggling at 79 for 4. Sohaib Maqsood and Ali Azmat then came together to add 118, before Yasir prised out Maqsood for 69 and Asad had Azmat caught behind for 38 with the song on 197. Asad then ran through the tail as the last four wickets added just 30 runs. In reply, SNGPL limped to 25 for 2, with Kashif Raza picking up both wickets

South Africa will host the first ever ICC Women’s Cricket Challenge, with South Africa, West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Netherlands and Ireland to compete in a series of one-day and Twenty20 games

Cricinfo staff05-Aug-2010South Africa will host the first ever ICC Women’s Cricket Challenge, with South Africa, West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Netherlands and Ireland – ranked between fifth and tenth in the world – to compete in a series of one-day and Twenty20 games from October 6 to 16 in Potchefstroom.”This tournament is an ideal way for the women’s teams ranked outside of the top four to gain more match experience in both ODI and Twenty20 formats,” said Matthew Kennedy, ICC’s global development manager.”The tournament will also provide a good challenge to all the six competing teams as none of them have yet qualified for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup to be staged in India in 2013.”The European regional qualifiers for the World Cup Qualifier begin next week, while Africa will host the final regional qualifier in December. The World Cup Qualifiers will be staged in Bangladesh in November 2011, with ten teams taking part.Based on their finishing fifth and sixth at the World Cup in Australia in 2008, West Indies and Pakistan have an automatic spot at the qualifiers, and they will be joined by two regional qualifiers each from Africa, Asia and Europe and one each from the Americas and East-Asia Pacific regions.The only teams to have already qualified for the World Cup are England, New Zealand, India and Australia, who are ranked as the top four women’s ODI teams. The teams participating in Potchefstroom will fill the rest of the ODI team rankings table based on their standings at the conclusion of the ODI part of the tournament.

Mitchell Johnson is putting the lessons learned from his difficult tour of England last year to use in New Zealand

Cricinfo staff13-Mar-2010Mitchell Johnson is putting the lessons learned from his difficult tour of England last year to use in New Zealand. Johnson’s bowling potency disappeared during the Ashes and he was targeted by the crowds, an experience which has helped significantly after his bump of heads with Scott Styris.Johnson has been the leading wicket-taker in the current one-day series, showing he can cope with the extra attention caused by the crowds. After the first game in Napier Johnson was fined 60% of his match fee for the clash with Styris and he has since kissed his badge before bowling and kept smiling.”There’s obviously backlash but it doesn’t bother me at all,” Johnson said in the Sydney Morning Herald. ”I copped a fair bit over in England last year and I learnt a lot from that. To be copping it again doesn’t really get to me at all.”The important thing is how you deal with it mentally and I think I’m dealing with it pretty well. As long as their supporters understand when there’s good cricket being played and they support that, it’s all good. The banter out there is fine.”One thing that does concern Johnson is the labelling of his run-in with Styris as a “head-butt”. ”It was just me and him coming together and there was accidental contact,” he said. ”The only thing I’m quite annoyed about is that it has been classed as a head-butt. I’m not that silly. I’m not going to head-butt someone who has a helmet on.”However, he was happy that Brad Haddin ran in and pulled him away from the exchange. ”He pushed me out of the road,” he said. “But look, I know that physical contact in a sport like cricket isn’t on. I did cross the line just slightly, I can put my hand up and say that.”

Glamorgan extended the leadership team of captain Jamie Dalrymple and coach Matthew Maynard, handing them two-year contracts which will keep them at the club until the end of 2011.

Cricinfo staff07-Dec-2009Glamorgan extended the leadership team of captain Jamie Dalrymple and coach Matthew Maynard, giving them two-year contracts which will keep them at the club until the end of 2011.Glamorgan had an improved season in 2009, finishing fifth in Division Two of the Championship. Their two wins, two defeats and 12 draws was welcome progress after a difficult season in 2008 when they finished second from bottom, losing five matches.Maynard, who was England’s batting coach between 2004 and 2007, returned to his former county Glamorgan as head coach in 2008 and despite a challenging first season in charge is confident that the club is improving.”We made headway last summer and I am delighted that Jamie Dalrymple will continue his role of club captain. Jamie is a tremendous leader and will undoubtedly play a key role in helping us achieve our goals next summer.”Dalrymple, who took the captaincy reins at the beginning of the season, also feels the side is moving in the right direction. “Last season showed that we have become more difficult to beat in four-day cricket and from a poor start, our performances in one-day cricket improved. We still have some way to go, but I am confident that we now have the right team in place to help us reach our goals next year.”

Pakistan have their own top-order issues to iron out to bounce back

Danyal Rasool19-Aug-2021

Big picture

The agonisingly tense denouement to the first Test between these sides would be enough to inject life into any series, and the shot in the arm West Indies gained from that thrilling one-wicket win should serve them extremely well. Having struggled in the format over recent years, it felt like the sort of Test West Indies tend to end up on the wrong side of, and when Kemar Roach nudged one through the covers to send the Caribbean into raptures, you might be tempted to wonder if this was something of a new beginning.It helps that the victory was timed as sweetly as a Jason Holder extra-cover drive, coming as it does right at the start of this World Test Championship cycle. It catapults West Indies to second spot on the table, but against a dispirited Pakistan, the second Test represents an ideal opportunity for a perfect start to this two-year period.

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West Indies were by no means perfect, which of course indicates there’s room for improvement. But having outbowled Pakistan for significant periods of the Test, Phil Simmons’ side will be aware they have to keep up that quality when it comes to fast bowling, while working out how to put more runs on the board. The coach had been vocal about calling on his batters to improve, and after that first Test, it’s not hard to see why. There might not be too many changes in personnel, but with the home side’s top order capitulating in both innings, there remains the risk of a wounded Pakistan bowling unit looking to rip through an innings.There’s been an uneasy calm in the days that followed that Pakistan defeat, but likely little appetite for stomaching another one. Pakistan will feel disconsolate at the manner in which they let the game slip out of their grasp, given the multitude of opportunities they had to put distance between the sides on the first three days, and clear-cut opportunities to seal it on the last. Individual errors aside, Pakistan’s opening pair looks well short of the quality required at this level, with the extra burden that places on the middle order leaving the side looking unbalanced.The complete lack of influence spin bowling played in that first Test came as something of a surprise. With both sides opting to field a spinner, it’s clear that startled the teams, too, with all 39 wickets falling to the quick bowlers. With the second Test to be played at the same venue, under similar conditions, team selection around spin options might be something worth watching out for.

Form guide

West Indies WLLDD (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Pakistan LWWWW

In the spotlight

With all the drama around the climax of the first Test, Kemar Roach, Kraigg Brathwaite and Jayden Seales took the plaudits, but Jermaine Blackwood‘s role ended up being slightly underrated. On a treacherously difficult surface for batting, he came in on both occasions with his side in trouble, bravely looking to go after the bowlers. It translated into key partnerships, taking the pressure off his captain in the first innings by lifting the run rate. But it was the second innings where his contributions really shone, batting at perhaps the hardest time of the game. Shaheen Afridi was on fire and had just removed three top-order batters. Just before lunch, Blackwood lofted him for two leg-side fours, halting Pakistan’s momentum in a priceless 55-run knock. His role might have been overshadowed, but both sides recognise his quality, and importance to this side.Jermaine Blackwood scored a vital 55 in the second innings of the first Test•AFP/Getty Images

For much of his career, Yasir Shah was close to the first name on the Pakistan Test team sheet, but it’s difficult not to wonder whether those days might be gone for good. Returning from an injury that kept him out of the Zimbabwe Test series, the legspinner who took 10 more wickets than any other bowler the last time Pakistan toured the West Indies was conspicuous by his absence. He went wicketless through the game for just the third time in his career, struggling visibly with his length and failing to generate much spin. It was admittedly a game dominated by fast bowling, but in a low-scoring fourth-innings chase, Babar Azam turned to him for just three overs. With Nauman Ali in the squad, Shah might consider himself lucky to get picked for this game, and he certainly has a point to prove if he does.

Team news

Kieran Powell’s dual failure could bring Shai Hope into the picture, with Jomel Warrican’s place in the XI also under scrutiny. Chemar Holder, Alzarri Joseph, or even Rahkeem Cornwall are options should West Indies want a different kind of spinner.West Indies (probable): 1 Kraigg Brathwaite (capt), 2 Kieron Powell/Shai Hope, 3 Nkrumah Bonner, 4 Jermaine Blackwood, 5 Roston Chase, 6 Kyle Mayers, 7 Jason Holder, 8 Joshua Da Silva (wk), 9 Alzarri Joseph/Chemar Holder, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Jayden SealesPakistan must also wrestle with the Yasir Shah conundrum, and determine whether his ineffectiveness in the first Test was a function of the pitch or his own lack of form and confidence.Pakistan (probable): 1 Abid Ali, 2 Imran Butt, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Babar Azam (capt), 5 Fawad Alam, 6 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 7 Faheem Ashraf, 8 Hasan Ali, 9 Yasir Shah/Nauman Ali, 10 Mohammad Abbas, 11 Shaheen Afridi

Pitch and conditions

Rain is forecast for part of this Test, but the first day is completely clear. There should be enough good weather around not to seriously spoilt the contest.

Stats and trivia

• The three overs Shah bowled in the fourth innings were the fewest he has ever bowled for Pakistan in the final innings of a Test other than Cape Town 2020. On that occasion, South Africa needed 41 for victory, and Shah didn’t bowl.
• Roston Chase needs 14 runs to reach 2000 in Test cricket.
• The last two two-match series between the two sides – in 2011 and 2005 – ended 1-1. On both occasions, West Indies won the first Test, with Pakistan rebounding to level things up.

Quotes

“Me and Monty [Desai] have been putting a lot of work in the nets behind the scenes. He’s just told me to be a little more patient, but he doesn’t want me to take away my aggression, but to choose the right shots and not lose focus.”

There was speculation the enclosure would be renamed due to the political dynamics in the country

ESPNcricinfo staff31-Jan-2025The PCB has dismissed speculation that former captain and politician Imran Khan’s name would be removed from an enclosure at the recently-renovated Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore owing to his imprisonment on charges of corruption.Speculation was doing the rounds that PCB had removed Imran’s name due to the current political situation in Pakistan. The Gaddafi stadium has been renovated for the Champions Trophy that starts on February 19.The Imran Khan enclosure, which is one of the VIP stands in the stadium, has been a permanent fixture at the venue since 1992, when he led Pakistan to victory in the ODI World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Tickets for Champions Trophy games in Lahore are being sold online under the ‘Imran Khan Enclosure’.Imran is presently in Adiala jail in Rawalpindi and has denied allegations of corruption, insisting he is a victim of a political vendetta. However, a court recently convicted him and his wife Bushra Bibi in a corruption case, sentencing them to 14 and seven years respectively in prison.Imran, who leads the Tehreek-e-Insaaf party, is currently in opposition to the ruling coalition government of Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pakistan Peoples Party. The Punjab province is governed by a PML (N) government led by Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of former premier, Nawaz Sharif.

India’s pace attack played a starring role in bowling NZ out for 273 despite Mitchell’s ton

Karthik Krishnaswamy22-Oct-20231:29

Pujara: Shami is ‘always mentally ready’ for games

They were without their most irreplaceable player in a top-of-the-table clash against a New Zealand side that’s had the wood over them in recent global-tournament meetings, and this New Zealand side put them under severe pressure on multiple occasions. But in the end, India continued to typify the 2023 World Cup equivalent of Gary Lineker’s famous quote on a superteam from a different sport: “Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and in the end, the Germans always win.”We’re still only halfway through the league stage, and knockouts are knockouts, but India have looked so hard to beat that even this game, their most intense tussle yet in this tournament, ended with Virat Kohli trying to repeat what he did against Bangladesh on Thursday, and refuse singles with India in sight of victory in order to try and reach his hundred.It didn’t quite happen this time, with the attempted winning six on 95 ending up as a catch on the midwicket boundary, but India sauntered home nonetheless, with Ravindra Jadeja pulling Matt Henry for four to complete the job with two overs to spare. Jadeja made an unbeaten 39, a vital innings given that he came in at No. 7 with India still 83 away from victory.With Hardik Pandya out injured, India replaced him with two players, a specialist batter in Suryakumar Yadav and a specialist fast bowler in Mohammed Shami, which meant India’s batting effectively ended with Jadeja at No. 7.The lack of batting depth was counterbalanced, however, by the increased menace of India’s pace attack, who played a starring role in bowling New Zealand out for 273 after they had been 178 for 2 at one stage. Shami, playing his first game of the tournament, led the way with his second five-wicket haul in World Cups, his bullying of New Zealand’s lower order the centerpiece of a superlative effort by India in the last 10 overs, where they took six wickets while conceding just 54.Particularly impressive was India’s shackling of Daryl Mitchell, New Zealand’s top scorer. Mitchell had put on 159 for the third wicket with Rachin Ravindra, and reached an exactly run-a-ball hundred in the 41st over, but India kept him to just 30 off his last 27 balls. He was ninth out in the final over, caught on the wide long-on boundary to give Shami his fifth wicket.Daryl Mitchell brought up ODI century No. 5•ICC/Getty Images

Each of Shami’s wickets seemed to come with a question attached to it: “You’re keeping on the bench?” He struck first ball after coming on as first change, getting Will Young to play on with a typically upright-seamed inducker. Then he broke the Mitchell-Ravindra stand with an offcutter into the pitch. And he ended New Zealand’s hopes of getting near or past 300, effectively, by splattering the stumps of Mitchell Santner and Henry with consecutive balls in the 48th over.Chasing a significantly smaller target than they may have envisaged at one stage, India began in typically ominous fashion, with Rohit Sharma hitting four sixes in a 40-ball 46 that dominated an opening stand of 71 with Shubman Gill. During this partnership, India extracted a strange sort of revenge for the Old Trafford semi-final of 2019, where their fast bowlers had caused as much trouble with the new ball as New Zealand’s quicks but ended up with significantly fewer early wickets. This time Henry beat both openers’ bats repeatedly – including Gill three times in a row – and Trent Boult saw an edge from Rohit fall short of slip, but there were no wickets in the first powerplay.Thereafter it was all about Kohli, even though he typically did most of his work in the shadows – literally for a while when a spectral fog enveloped the ground, eventually stopping play for around 15 minutes. Kohli was the less-dominant partner in half-century stands for the third and fourth wickets, but where Shreyas Iyer fell to another short ball and KL Rahul played down the wrong line against Santner to be dismissed for the first time in the tournament, he endured, as he always does in run-chases.Ever so often, Kohli imposed himself on the game with an incandescent shot: an on-the-up square drive off Lockie Ferguson to get off the mark; a charging, flourishing extra-cover drive off Henry to get to 40; and in between an inside-out loft for six off Ravindra to release whatever pressure New Zealand had put on him by keeping him to 28 off his first 47 balls.From that point, Kohli scored 67 off 57 balls. A significant hiccup arrived when he got into a mix-up that sent back Suryakumar Yadav, but once Jadeja eased India’s fears over their lack of batting depth, the result became a formality.Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja operated at full intensity•Associated Press

New Zealand would have been disappointed at this because they had put themselves in a commanding position at one stage after India had sent them in. Ravindra and Mitchell had fought extremely hard to get them into that position, coming together after Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Shami had combined to reduce them to 19 for 2 in the ninth over.Along the way, the two of them demonstrated to all other sides a method to combat India’s attack. Mitchell exemplified this with his calculated risk-taking, particularly at the start of overs. He mixed up his pre-ball movements against the fast bowlers, sometimes shuffling across his stumps and out of his crease, at other times stepping back towards his off stump, and manipulating line and length in this manner. Most telling, though, was his calculated assault on Kuldeep Yadav, to whom he used his feet multiple times to launch him down the ground. In all, he scored 43 runs off Kuldeep – the most any batter has scored against the left-arm wristspinner in an ODI innings – off just 28 balls.Kuldeep conceded 48 in his first five overs, which would have worried India considerably, given that they didn’t have a sixth bowler. But the measure of Kuldeep’s skill and self-confidence came over his next five overs, in which he had Mitchell dropped at long-off, took two vital wickets – Tom Latham deceived by a flatter skidder and trapped plumb in front, Glenn Phillips caught off a miscue against the wrong’un – and conceded just 25.Kuldeep’s display was an encapsulation of India’s day. They were put under intense pressure by a formidable opponent, but they trusted their methods and came out unscathed. This India side can be rattled, but for any side to beat them over the next four weeks will likely take a special effort of sustained excellence.

India’s captain also conceded that his players were “a little poor in the field” and “gave too many chances”

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Oct-2022South Africa needed 25 from 18 balls with six wickets in hand when India captain Rohit Sharma decided to bring R Ashwin on for his final over.The Perth surface had assisted fast bowlers throughout the game, but India had one over of spin left to squeeze in. David Miller took advantage of that and hit Ashwin’s first two balls for two sixes to all but seal the game.Related

• Ngidi, Parnell, Markram, Miller lead South Africa past India

While Ashwin trapped Tristan Stubbs lbw with his fourth ball, his over left South Africa needing a run-a-ball 12 off the last two overs, which Miller and Wayne Parnell knocked off with two balls to spare.After the game, Rohit said his decision to give Ashwin the 18th over was influenced by how spinners had fared in the final over at the 2022 T20 World Cup. In India’s opening game, Pakistan left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz had failed to stop India from scoring the 16 runs they required to win.”I have seen what happens in the last over with spinners, so I just wanted to go the other way and see if I could finish Ash and not keep him for the last over,” Rohit said at the post-match presentation. “I just wanted to make sure that the seamers were bowling the right overs but honestly, when you have options like that, you have to use them at some point. I thought given the new batter [Stubbs] came in, it was a perfect time for him to bowl. But things like that can happen. Miller played some good shots as well.”Ashwin finished with figures of 1 for 43 from his four overs, at an economy rate of 10.75. He was hit for four sixes and was the most expensive bowler on either side. After the match, Aiden Markram was asked if South Africa had pre-decided to attack Ashwin.”I think naturally that’s how our game would pan out when the seamers are all that difficult to get away,” Markram said. “We expected them to take on Keshav [Maharaj]. I’m sure they expected us to take on Ashwin as well, just because of the nature of the wicket, because the seamers were so difficult to get away.Rohit: “We gave too many chances on the field and we were not quite clinical”•Getty Images

“It almost got to a stage where we had to target someone because they bowled so well initially in the first ten overs up until the drinks break. It got to the stage where we had to pick someone. It could be anyone on any night. And sometimes you execute, sometimes you don’t.”You pick those match-ups according to who you’re most comfortable against on the night. You get to different conditions and those match-ups would change completely. Yeah, it was a discussion we had at the drinks break to pick one of the bowlers and commit to that, and if it comes off, then it might give us a chance.”Earlier, India scored 133 for 9 on a fast, bouncy surface before having South Africa 40 for 3 after ten overs. They had a couple of opportunities to press home the advantage but Virat Kohli put down Markram in the 12th over. In the next over, Rohit missed a run-out chance that could have sent Miller back. Markram and Miller made India pay for their mistakes, adding 76 off 60 balls to shift the momentum.”Honestly, when you see that score [40 for 3], you will always think you are in the game because the pitch is such that a wicket can come at any time for the seamers,” Rohit said. “But I felt that was a match-winning partnership from their perspective from Markram and Miller.”We were a little poor in the field as well. We gave too many chances on the field and we were not quite clinical. We have played in such [cold] conditions before so that was not an excuse at all. We were not just good enough.”The last two games we played, we were pretty good in the field and we want to continue to be consistent in that department. But unfortunately we couldn’t hold our chances, a few run-outs we missed, including myself. But we need to keep our heads high and think about what’s coming for us and take learnings from this game, what we need to do in games like that.”

On Thursday, the country recorded the highest single-day Covid-19 numbers

Mohammad Isam02-Apr-2021The third round matches of the National Cricket League (NCL) have been postponed, as Bangladesh deals with a surge in Covid-19 cases, the numbers going up over the last two weeks.On Thursday, the country’s health authority confirmed that a record 6469 had tested positive for the virus – the highest single-day figure yet in the country – while 59 people have died, which is the most in the last nine months.Two of the NCL’s four matches from the previous round, completed on Thursday, were held in Cox’s Bazar, the seaside town, which is now regarded as a Covid-19 hotspot. The government has ordered closure of all tourist spots in Cox’s Bazar, something that will affect movement in the region.The BCB had earlier announced that it would hold the NCL’s third round matches in Cox’s Bazar and Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Prothisthan, the sports institute 40 kilometres north of Dhaka, although matches were also held in Khulna, Barisal and Rangpur in the first two rounds.There has also been a rise in Covid-19 cases among players taking part in the NCL. In their previous round match against Dhaka Division, Sylhet Division struggled to put an XI in the field after six of their players – including captain Alok Kapali and Khaled Ahmed – tested positive. There have also been reports of cases in the Rangpur Division team.The delay in the NCL may affect the schedule of the Dhaka Premier League, which is scheduled to start on May 6.