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The fast bowler said it will be vital to be able to train while undergoing any isolation period on return home

Andrew McGlashan20-Jul-2020Josh Hazlewood is among Australia’s multi-format players who could face a difficult balancing act over the next few months as they negotiate the various challenges of touring in the current Covid-19 climate and how it may impact their preparation for the home international season.With the limited-overs tour of England looking increasingly likely to take place in September there is then the probability of an IPL filling the gap of the soon-to-be-postponed T20 World Cup which will overlap significantly with the start of the Australian summer.Under the current border restrictions players returning or coming to Australia would need to quarantine for two weeks. The Test summer is currently due to start with the one-off match against Afghanistan on November 21 in Perth, which would appear an unworkable time frame for any players involved until the latter stages of the IPL’s proposed period, ahead of the series against India from December 3.ALSO READ: Australians who could have IPL-state cricket clashHazlewood, who is part of the enlarged 26-man training squad that was named last week, has an IPL deal with Chennai Super Kings and will also be expected to be part of the Test attack. CA has previously recalled players from the IPL to prepare for international duty and among the Australians with deals Pat Cummins, Steven Smith and David Warner would also be Test certainties. Hazlewood is confident that he would be ready for Test cricket with as little as one Sheffield Shield outing, but said it would be vital for players, especially fast bowlers, to be able to train while undergoing quarantine.”As long as we can train during that period it will be okay, it’s if we come back and we can’t train during that two-week period,” he said. “We’ve built these loads up as fast bowlers then two weeks really hurts us coming into a summer of Test cricket.”As far as red-ball ball cricket goes I feel I only need one, maximum two games, to get ready for a Test. There have been summers where we’ve come from a white-ball tour and only played one [red-ball game] and it’s been fine. Everyone is a bit different, some guys need a bit more bowling and some less but we’ll try to get that balance right.”Hazlewood admitted the prospect of the IPL taking place creates some “tough” decisions for those with deals, but believes the benefits of the tournament outweigh the negatives of missing domestic cricket in Australia.Josh Hazlewood brings out the elbow bump after taking a wicket•Getty Images

“There are a few things to fall into place yet but the IPL is such a huge part of the year for a lot of players and probably the strongest T20 competition in the world, up there with the Big Bash, and you learn a lot about how to play your T20 cricket and how to play in those conditions,” he said. “You’ve seen guys come out of it much better players so there’s a lot of positives to it, so if that takes a few games off us playing for New South Wales in the build-up to the international summer that’s a tough call, [and] probably comes back to the individual.”ALSO READ: Australia’s limited-overs training squad: hopes of a recall, and an eye to the futureHazlewood has been back bowling at New South Wales’ pre-season for about five weeks and believes the enforced break has been a benefit for the quicks. With the England tour now on the cards he expects more restrictions to be placed on what players can do ahead of the trip to reduce the risk of catching Covid-19. Melbourne is currently under another lockdown, although Victoria-based players can still train, while cases are rising in New South Wales.The current England-West Indies series has provided the template for what biosecure cricket will look like, with the high-profile breach made by Jofra Archer showing how seriously protocols are being taken.”Jofra is one example and there’s been examples in the AFL and NRL, just by hugging a mate in the crowd you miss a week,” Hazlewood said. “Got to keep those strict lines in place to have the sport go ahead so we’ll learn from that mistake.”There was also the less serious mishap of Dom Sibley accidentally applying saliva to the ball during the fourth day’s play at Old Trafford in contravention of the new playing conditions. It led to the umpires cleaning the ball with a disinfectant wipe before play could continue. Hazlewood has been trying to train himself for the new processes but said it takes time to break habits.”It’s a pretty natural habit… it’s just such a reaction to see a spot on the ball that needs fixing and you go and put some saliva on. You’ve been doing it since five years old so it will take a while to break the habit but obviously conscious of it on the field.”

Their pace attack’s economy is the second-worst this season and Delhi’s dynamic batting won’t make it easy

The Preview by Sreshth Shah31-Mar-20193:08

Should Mujeeb Ur Rahman return for Kings XI?

Big picture

Kings XI Punjab should’ve won all three so far. They’ve beaten two sides comprehensively, but have themselves (and Andre Russell) to blame for losing the other. But they like playing in Mohali, where their batsmen can trust the surface and their spinners have the ability to make full use of the wide-square boundaries. They’ll now chase their sixth-straight win at home.But they’ve been on this kind of high before. Last season, they won five of their first six games before their campaign came to a grinding halt. R Ashwin wants them to approach the tournament like a marathon. What that means in terms of their team combination is yet to be seen.Delhi will be boosted by their scrappy Super Over win against Knight Riders, though. Fine, it’s the kind of win that gives you an unparalleled rush but it also allows you to reflect on the weaknesses. They need to bowl smarter after reducing their opponents to scores like 61 for 5 and the team is not yet sure of their best XI.Their enviable Indian top-order, though, matches each Kings XI batsman player for player, so it’s likely that the contest will be decided by which team bowls better on a surface with the second-highest strike-rate for batsmen since IPL 2017.

Likely XIs

Kings XI Punjab: 1 Chris Gayle, 2 KL Rahul (wk), 3 Mayank Agarwal, 4 David Miller, 5 Sarfaraz Khan, 6 Mandeep Singh, 7 R Ashwin (capt), 8 Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman, 9 M Ashwin, 10 Ankit Rajpoot/Mohammed Shami 11 Andrew TyeDelhi Capitals: 1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Colin Ingram, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Hanuma Vihari, 7 Chris Morris, 8 Harshal Patel, 9 Amit Mishra/Axar Patel, 10 Sandeep Lamichhane, 11 Kagiso RabadaBCCI

Strategy Punt

• Kings XI should bowl more spin in the Powerplay. Before Shaw’s 99 against Knight Riders, he was out to spin in five of his last eight IPL games, scoring at a strike-rate of 130 and an average of only 14.60. But it’s a Catch-22 for Kings XI. Shaw’s been out to all kind of bowlers, but not right-arm offspin. Maybe legspinner Murugan should be the Ashwin who bowls to him.
• Ankit Rajpoot could solve Kings XI’s death-overs blues. In the 12 games that Kings XI have played without Rajpoot, their economy in between overs 15-20 has been 11.20. In the four games that Rajpoot has been part of the XI, their last five overs’ economy has been only 7.90.
• Don’t bowl Amit Mishra to the Kings XI opening pair. KL Rahul scores at a strike-rate of 276.50 against him, Chris Gayle goes at 186.70 and Mishra has never dismissed either batsmen. But it will be a conundrum for Iyer on how long Mishra can be held back. Gayle and Rahul have scored six of their eight fifty-plus stands at home, and average 53.8 runs per partnership in Mohali.

Stats that matter

• Kings XI Punjab win 70% of their games when R Ashwin’s economy is less than 8.50.
• Since IPL 2015, ten of the 14 games at Mohali have been won by teams batting first.
• Since IPL 2016, Shreyas Iyer has the second-biggest difference in strike-rates between his first 20 balls and the rest of his innings. His average-strike in the first 20 balls is 110.90, but after that, it’s a whopping 167.90. The strike-rate difference of 57 is more than Sunil Narine, Shane Watson, and even MS Dhoni.

Mohammad Azim’s six-for helped Mohammedan tie with Prime Doleshwar while Shykat Ali’s century helped Dhanmondi beat Gazi Group

Mohammad Isam02-Mar-2018Prime Bank brought Abahani Limited‘s six-match winning streak to an end in the Dhaka Premier League on Friday. It was Shoriful Islam’s timely breakthroughs that helped them prevail over the defending champions BKSP-3 Ground, with the medium pacer taking four wickets and setting up a nine-run victory.Chasing 247 to win, Abahani slipped to 17 for 3 in the sixth over, with Shoriful removing Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Mohammad Mithun. Saif Hassan and captain Nasir Hossain then added 127 runs for the fourth wicket, both batsmen reaching fifties.Nasir made 65 off 88 balls with five fours and a six while Saif lasted till the 42nd over, top scoring with 75. He struck five fours and a six in his 124-ball knock. Shorfiul then removed Nasir and Abahani’s Indian recruit Manpreet Gony, before Yusuf Pathan closed out the game with a tight final over, conceding only nine of the 19 runs required.Earlier, Al-Amin’s 84, and 62 by Zakir Hasan helped Prime Bank to 246 in 49.2 overs. Al-Amin struck seven fours and a six in his 98-ball knock while Zakir hit six fours. Mashrafe Mortaza took four wickets while Gony and Saqlain Sajib took two each.Getty Images

Pace bowler Mohammad Azim defended six runs in the last over to help Mohammedan Sporting Club tie with Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club at the KSOA Stadium in Fatullah. Azim took his fifth and sixth wickets off the first two balls of the over before restricting Arafat Sunny and Mamun Hossain to five runs off the last four as both sides ended up with a total of 286.Azim’s 6 for 67 trumped Liton Das’ second century in this year’s tournament. Liton made 129 off 122 balls with eight fours and two sixes while Azim broke every crucial partnership. He removed Marshall Ayub after he put on 63 for the third wicket with Liton. Then Azim took the wicket of Farhad Hossain, ending his 124-run fourth wicket stand with Liton. Farhad Reza, the captain, who was looking dangerous hitting two sixes in his 10-ball 18, also perished to the pace bowler. Mohammad Arafat and Zohaib Khan were the last two wickets that fell to Azim.Earlier, Shamsur Rahman, Raqibul Hasan and Bipul Sharma struck fifties and added important partnerships to take Mohammedan to 286 in 49.5 overs. Shamsur top scored with 75 off 93 balls while Raqibul made 72, and the pair added 108 runs for the fifth wicket. Sharma struck three sixes and as many fours in his 31-ball 53. Farhad Reza returned figures of 3 for 66.Raton Gomes/BCB

Shykat Ali’s century and a well-rounded bowling effort gave Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club a 95-run win over Gazi Group Cricketers at the Shere Bangla National Stadium.Left-arm pace bowlers Sajedul Islam and Kazi Kamrul Islam, offspinner Sohag Gazi and left-arm spinner Elias Sunny took two wickets each while offspinner Jalal Saxena and medium-pacer Robiul Haque took the other two as Gazi Group were bowled out for 170 runs in 42.4 overs.
Gurkeerat Singh top-scored with 67 off 77 balls, peppered with seven fours.Dhanmondi Club had earlier made 265 for 8 in 50 overs, centered around Shykat’s 115. He had retired hurt in the 43rd over, after having struck six fours and five sixes off 118 balls. He added 86 runs for the first wicket with Hasanuzzaman, and another 72 runs for the fourth wicket with Gazi after they had suffered a mini-collapse. Shykat also put together 59 runs for the fifth wicket with captain Elias Sunny before he left the ground with cramps.

The BCCI-Lodha Committee hearing in the Supreme Court has been put off for the second time in a week

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Dec-2016The BCCI-Lodha Committee hearing in the Supreme Court has been put off for the second time in a week; after adjournments on December 5 and December 9, the issue of the Indian board not implementing the Lodha Committee’s recommendations in total will now be heard on December 14.The adjournment was because another case that the Supreme Court was hearing on Friday took too long.The Supreme Court had last heard the BCCI-Lodha Committee case on October 21, when it passed an interim order asking the board to stop disbursing funds to state associations until the association gave a written resolution that it would adopt the Lodha Committee’s recommendations. BCCI president Anurag Thakur and secretary Ajay Shirke were also required to submit an affidavit of compliance in the court by December 3, elaborating on the recommendations already implemented by the board and the steps taken to persuade the state associations to adopt the recommendations in total.Since the previous hearing, the Lodha Committee submitted its third status report in the Supreme Court and once again recommended that the BCCI and state office bearers who did not meet the eligibility criteria laid out in the recommendations be removed immediately. It also recommended that GK Pillai, the former home secretary in the federal government, be appointed an “observer” of the BCCI and that he oversee the board’s financial transactions. The BCCI rejected the suggestion and also said that the Lodha Committee’s inaction had “tremendously hurt” the image of Indian cricket.The BCCI had remained firm in its stance that it could not force the Lodha Committee’s recommendations on its state associations, and that a majority vote was needed to pass them. At several board meetings, the states had voiced opposition to most of the Lodha Committee’s recommendations: in particular, the one-state-one-vote policy, the age cap for office bearers, and the limits on tenure.The Lodha Committee – comprising former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha and retired Supreme Court judges Ashok Bhan and R Raveendran – was formed in January 2015 to determine appropriate punishments for some of the officials involved in the 2013 IPL corruption scandal, and also to propose changes to streamline the BCCI, reform its functioning, prevent sporting fraud and conflict of interest.In January 2016, the committee released its report, which recommended an exhaustive overhaul of the BCCI’s governance and administrative structures. On July 18, the Supreme Court approved the majority of the recommendations and directed the Lodha Committee to supervise the BCCI’s implementations of the same. However, despite the Lodha Committee laying out timelines and other directives, the board has not cooperated because its state associations objected to the recommendations.

Javeria Khan’s 131-ball 90 guided Pakistan Women to a comfortable six-wicket win against West Indies Women in the first ODI in St Lucia

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Oct-2015
ScorecardJaveria Khan struck seven fours in her 90•WICB Media/Brooks LaTouche Photography Ltd

Javeria Khan’s 131-ball 90 guided Pakistan Women to a comfortable six-wicket win against West Indies Women in the first ODI in St Lucia. Chasing 223, Javeria combined with three top-order batsmen to form substantial partnerships, as Pakistan gained a 1-0 series lead.West Indies got off to a solid start after being asked to bat first, but lost both their openers – Kycia Knight and Hayley Matthews – in quick succession. A 37-run third-wicket stand between captain Stafanie Taylor (27) and Deandra Dottin (19) stabilised the innings, before the hosts lost another clump of wickets as they were quickly reduced to 96 for 5.However, wicketkeeper Merissa Aguilleira brought West Indies back into the match with a patient 67, and in the company of Britney Cooper, took the score past 150. The hosts managed to score 66 off the last 75 balls to end with 222 for 9. Four Pakistan bowlers contributed with two wickets apiece.The visitors began the chase smoothly, as Javeria and Marina Iqbal put on a 54-run opening stand in 83 balls before Marina was bowled for 23. However, Javeria stayed firm and put up stands of 49 and 79 for the second and third wickets with Bismah Maroof (21) and Nain Abidi (31) to guide her team closer to the target. Javeria was eventually caught off the bowling of Stacy-Ann King in the 41st over, but Nida Dar and captain Sana Mir sealed the victory with 11 deliveries to spare.

Yorkshire’s bid for another successful T20 campaign looks set to be hampered by visa rules with their chance to sign South African batsman David Miller disrupted by the regulations.

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Apr-2013Yorkshire’s bid for another successful Friends Life t20 campaign looks set to be hampered by visa rules with their chance to sign South African batsman David Miller disrupted by the regulations.A deal to sign Miller, a powerful left-hander, has already been agreed but he currently does not meet the visa criteria for an overseas player.Without an EU passport, overseas players need to have played a minimum of one Test match or 15 one-day internationals and/or Twenty20 internationals in the two years prior to the visa application. But Miller, yet to make his Test debut, has played only 13 times for South Africa in the past two years.South Africa’s next fixtures are not until the Champions Trophy in June, with a warm-up ODI against Netherlands before three matches in the group stage of the tournament.Two appearances in those four matches – and potentially two more if South Africa reach the final – would make Miller eligible to play for Yorkshire. But he could then travel to Sri Lanka on South Africa’s ODI tour, which is scheduled for July and clashes with the Flt20.Miller is Yorkshire’s premier target having scored 390 runs at 48.75 for them in last year’s tournament, including 72 in the final against Hampshire. They are likely to only make one overseas signing all season due to financial constraints.Martyn Moxon, Yorkshire director of professional cricket, said at the club’s AGM that they would hold out to try and sign Miller after admitting there was very little chance of Australian fast-bowler Mitchell Starc being available.”With an Ashes tour, the Champions Trophy and an ODI series, Starc’s just not going to be available,” Moxon said. “David Miller’s is not a straightforward situation. He’s agreed to come back and we want him back. But he’s two matches short.”If he plays in the Champions Trophy, he could conceivably fulfil those two games to make him available. But we’ve recently been told that there’s a South Africa tour in July now.”If he doesn’t play for South Africa in the Champions Trophy, he can’t play for us because he has not played enough games. If he does play in the Champions Trophy, he’s likely to be picked for Sri Lanka. Having said that, there is still a chance that the tour could be cancelled.”

Greg Chappell, India’s former coach, has said that India “weren’t really in Test cricket” on their tour to Australia, and that “Test cricket is pretty tough for them”

Sidharth Monga in Adelaide07-Mar-2012Greg Chappell, India’s former coach, has said that India “weren’t really interested in Test cricket” on their tour to Australia, and that “Test cricket is pretty tough for them”. Chappell was speaking at a promotional event for his book, , at Adelaide Writers Week. It was an interaction full of endearing anecdotes about his playing days until a member of the audience – which might have been close to 200-strong – asked him about India’s apparent disinterest in Test cricket, and how it might adversely affect Test cricket overall, considering how the BCCI controls cricket today.”It was obvious from the start of the tour that the Indians weren’t really interested in Test cricket,” Chappell said. “After the Australians showed that they were going to be a formidable foe, I was very disappointed with the Indians. And having worked with many of them and having been in the dressing room with them, Test cricket was too hard for most of them. They can only make a lot of money playing 20-over cricket. Fifty-over cricket they can sort of put up with.”Test cricket for a lot of, not only India, a lot of subcontinent teams, I think it’s pretty tough. And the challenge for Test cricket is, without the sort of grounding that we [Australians] had as kids, Test cricket is too hard. It’s very demanding mentally, physically and emotionally.”Malcolm Knox, Chappell’s co-writer, then brought the discussion back to the book, and pointed out how Chappell had marked out Virender Sehwag’s fitness and attitude and Zaheer Khan’s fitness as key issues for India. “You can throw in attitude for Zaheer as well,” Chappell interjected.Chappell then spoke about what was wrong with the Indian culture. “The culture is very different, it’s not a team culture,” Chappell said. “They lack leaders in the team because they are not trained to be leaders. From an early age, their parents make all the decisions, their schoolteachers make their decisions, their cricket coaches make the decisions.”The culture of India is such that, if you put your head above the parapet someone will shoot it. Knock your head off. So they learn to keep their head down and not take responsibility. The Poms (British) taught them really well to keep their head down. For if someone was deemed to be responsible, they’d get punished. So the Indians have learned to avoid responsibility. So before taking responsibility for any decisions, they prefer not to.”Chappell said MS Dhoni the Indian captain, was one exception to that rule, but even he seems to have lost to the system. When asked if any Indian captain, when on 329 not out himself, would have declared the innings, Chappell said: “If MS Dhoni would have ever got to 329 in a Test match, he probably would. Look, Dhoni is one of the most impressive young men that I have ever worked with. When he came into that Indian team, you just knew that he was a leader in the making. He was definitely someone who could make decisions, and he didn’t mind putting his head above the parapet, and didn’t mind putting the bigger players in their place. I think he is the best thing to have happened to Indian cricket in recent times.”But looking at him on this tour – I didn’t meet or speak to him at all – but just watching the body language and just watching him on the field, it wasn’t the MS Dhoni that I knew. I think Indian cricket has worn him down as well. Especially captaining all three formats, and India plays about 50% more cricket than Australia does. And Dhoni played four years, captaining three years while being wicketkeeper and their key batsman – one of the best chasers of a target that I’ve ever seen. Very confident, very un-Indian in that regard. There was no false modesty about him. If he thought he could do something, he would take responsibility and say ‘I can do that.'”Chappell also felt Sehwag’s captaincy ambition hurt the Indian team. “Sehwag thought he should be captain after [Anil] Kumble, so there is a bit of a collision there,” he said. “I think Dhoni is getting to a point where Test cricket is getting too hard for him, and the undercurrent around the dressing room cannot help.”Chappell said that Test cricket needed a strong India. “I think Australia and England will always look at Test cricket and try and preserve it,” Chappell said. “South Africa to a lesser degree. Up until this summer I thought India as well. We probably had four major Test-playing countries, and the others would play Test cricket spasmodically.”Because firstly most countries haven’t got the critical mass of players to develop Test cricketers and most of them don’t have the money. Cricket Australia probably spends in excess of 20 million dollars a year in development programmes, which includes first-class cricket – huge investment to develop a Test team. I am not sure many other countries have the will to do that. If the financial circumstances change for Australian cricket, it will be very tough for Australian cricket too.”If of the three formats, one of them is under pressure, it’s Test cricket. In ten years’ time, it might look very different from the way it looks today. And for those who have grown up with Test cricket and hold it in high stead, we are going to probably be a little bit disappointed with the way it goes in the next few years.”Edited by Kanishkaa Balachandran

A brutal display of Big Bash batting from West Indian Chris Gayle has lifted the Warriors to an easy 32-run win over Queensland at the Gabba – eliminating the Bulls from the competition

The Bulletin by Andrew Fuss25-Jan-2011
ScorecardChris Gayle was at his brutal best, pasting the Queensland attack for eight sixes and seven fours•Getty Images

A brutal display of Big Bash batting from West Indian Chris Gayle has lifted the Warriors to an easy 32-run win over Queensland at the Gabba – eliminating the Bulls from the competition.On a night where the focus of the crowd was on how much would be raised for the Queensland Flood Appeal – a local brewery pledged $500 for each four and $1000 for each six – Gayle stepped up to the plate with a sensational 92 off just 40 balls, raising $11,500 along the way off his own bat with seven boundaries and eight sixes, including the biggest of the summer at 120 metres.It was an innings of sheer brutality as he punished short, length and full deliveries, peppering the long on boundary with his powerful drives.He was well supported by pocket rocket Liam Davis (53 off 46) with the pair putting on 144 for the opening partnership off just 12.5 overs. Despite the middle order stumbling, the visitors still managed to crack 200, with Luke Ronchi (22 off 17) and Tom Beaton (21 off 10) finding the boundaries late.The total looked too big for Queensland, a side that lacks the sheer brutality with the bat that other states possess. It proved to be so as they fell well behind the required rate in the middle overs, despite the best efforts of Michael Lumb (42 off 33) and Nathan Reardon (56 off 45).The game was in stark contrast to the one the previous night at the same venue, with bat dominating ball on a more tame Gabba pitch – noticeably flatter the second time around.Western Australia will now face Tasmania on Thursday at Bellerive – the winner will go into the preliminary final with the possibility of hosting it should the Bulls pull off an unlikely win over the Blues on Saturday night.

Deccan Chargers survived a late Irfan Pathan assault to seal their first win against Kings XI Punjab in IPL history

The Bulletin by Sriram Veera19-Mar-2010<brScorecard and ball-by-ball details
Andrew Symonds scored 53, took one wicket and three catches to help Deccan Chargers to a first home win•Indian Premier League

The match was hurtling towards a dull climax when Irfan Pathan tried to pull off the improbable with an audacious innings, but eventually Deccan Chargers prevailed and sealed their first win against Kings XI Punjab in IPL history. Set 171 to win, Punjab were dawdling along at 104 for 7 in the 17th over when Irfan exploded to create some excitement.Irfan hit two sixes and two fours in that 17th over bowled by an errant RP Singh, and suddenly the equation read 46 from 18 balls. RP returned in the 19th over to give away 14 runs, which included a six over long-on and a cover-driven four from Irfan, and the equation came to 19 from the final over. Jaskaran Singh, who was unused until then, pleaded with Adam Gilchrist that he be given a bowl and he struck with his first ball, getting Irfan to hole out to deep midwicket. Game over.Irfan might have succeeded in reducing the margin, but it couldn’t mask an otherwise lacklustre performance from Punjab. They are yet to click together as a unit in this IPL, and nothing changed tonight. Their bowling was good in the first game, their batting better in the second, and tonight it was only the bowlers who turned up. All Deccan had to do today to register their first home win was to ensure they reached a competitive total, and they managed it courtesy a fiery cameo from Gilchrist and a responsible hand from Andrew Symonds.When Deccan batted, it was as if there were two games out there: Deccan against pace and Deccan against spin. They looted runs against the seamers and struggled against the spinners to reach a competitive score.Whenever Deccan required some quick runs to get some momentum going, Sreesanth seemed ready to gift them some easy runs. His first largesse came in the second over when he went for 24 runs with Adam Gilchrist plundering two fours and two sixes. A stunning six hit on the up to straight boundary was the highlight.Gilchrist’s 17-minute manic knock charged Deccan to 43 in 3 overs. Although they lost VVS Laxman almost immediately – he was forced to retire hurt after being hit on his wrist by a wayward throw from Shalabh Srivastava – Gilchrist’s effort allowed them to reach 84 for 1 in nine overs. This is where Sreesanth entered the picture to give his second offering to Deccan. This time around he leaked 16 runs, with Symonds hitting a typically muscled six over long-on, and two fours.At this point things could have gone horribly wrong for Punjab, but Yuvraj Singh slipped in a tidy spell that read 4-0-21-2 to peg back Deccan. It was the typical bag of tricks from him – variation in pace and the alteration in trajectory – but it was enough to slow down proceedings on this slow track. In the 11th over, he removed Herschelle Gibbs with an arm-ball and saw a slow-off-the-blocks Rohit Sharma run himself out. Bipul Sharma and Piyush Chawla slipped in a couple of relatively quiet overs, and when Yuvraj induced Symonds to hole out to long-on, Deccan had reached 144 for 5 in 17 overs.If Gilchrist’s was an adrenalin-charged innings, Symonds’, barring that explosion against Sreesanth, was more measured. He played the spinners with relative caution, often checking his drives, and making sure he didn’t throw his wicket away.Punjab didn’t find either a Gilchrist or a Symonds when they chased. Only Ravi Bopara offered some fight with a 32-ball 38, but the rest succumbed meekly. The seniors were the main culprits – none of Kumar Sangakkara, Yuvraj and Mahela Jayawardene could get going. Chaminda Vaas took care of Sangakkara with a slower one and induced Yuvraj to slice an intended big drive to cover. When Symonds bowled Jayawardene, who went for a fatal paddle sweep, the game was all but over. Or so one thought. Irfan threatened to pull off an improbable heist but it proved too much for him in the end.

Bangladesh made three other changes to the side that played Sri Lanka while India went in unchanged

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Sep-2025Toss Jaker Ali, Bangladesh’s 12th T20I captain, won his first toss and chose to bowl in the Asia Cup Super Fours match against India in Dubai. Jaker stepped into the role – and also took over the wicketkeeping gloves – with Litton Das ruled out with a side strain.With Litton out, Parvez Hossain Emon came back into the side and is expected to open alongside Tanzid Hasan, with Saif Hasan moving down to No. 3. Bangladesh made three other changes from the XI that beat Sri Lanka on Saturday, all to their bowling attack. Out went the offspinner Mahedi Hasan and seamers Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful Islam, and in came legspinner Rishad Hossain, fast bowler Tanzim Hasan Sakib, and the seam-bowling allrounder Mohammad Saifuddin, who plays his first match of the tournament.India were unchanged as expected.India: 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Shubman Gill, 3 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Sanju Samson (wk), 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Axar Patel, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Jasprit BumrahBangladesh: 1 Tanzid Hasan, 2 Parvez Hossain Emon, 3 Saif Hasan, 4 Towhid Hridoy, 5 Jaker Ali (capt & wk), 6 Shamim Hossain, 7 Mohammad Saifuddin, 8 Rishad Hossain, 9 Nasum Ahmed, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Tanzim Hasan Sakib