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Right-arm quick Matiullah, left-arm spinner Simranjeet are additions to the squad playing ongoing T20I tri-series

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Sep-2025Muhammad Waseem will lead UAE’s 17-member squad at the 2025 Asia Cup.Right-arm quick Matiullah Khan and left-arm spinner Simranjeet Singh are the two additions to UAE’s side from the ongoing T20I tri-series against Pakistan and Afghanistan, with the rest of the players retaining their places.Matiullah, 32, has played one ODI and five T20Is so far. The last of those T20Is came against Nigeria in the Pearl of Africa Series in July. Thirty-five-year-old Simranjeet has played five ODIs and 11 T20Is. He last represented UAE at the Gulf T20I Championship last December.UAE previous Asia Cup appearance was in 2016 in Bangladesh, when the tournament was played in the T20 format as well.Related

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UAE are part of Group A in this year’s Asia Cup, which starts on September 9, and will be held in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The other three teams in their group are India, Pakistan and Oman. UAE start their campaign on September 10, when they face India in Dubai. While they are yet to beat India or Pakistan in any format, they have beaten Oman in five T20Is.The top two teams from the group will progress to the Super Fours stage.

UAE squad for Asia Cup

Muhammad Waseem (capt), Alishan Sharafu, Aryansh Sharma (wk), Asif Khan, Dhruv Parashar, Ethan D’Souza, Haider Ali, Harshit Kaushik, Junaid Siddique, Matiullah Khan, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Zohaib, Rahul Chopra (wk), Rohid Khan, Simranjeet Singh and Saghir Khan

Jason Roy opted out of the tournament citing personal reasons

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Mar-2024Kolkata Knight Riders have brought in Phil Salt as a replacement for Jason Roy for IPL 2024 after Roy pulled out citing “personal reasons”. Having remained unsold in the latest auction after representing Delhi Capitals last year, this will be Salt’s second season in the IPL. He was acquired by KKR at his reserve auction price of INR 1.5 crore (approx $181,000).Salt’s most recent T20I appearances came in December 2023 in the Caribbean, where he recorded scores of 40, 25, 109 not out, 119 and 38, topping the run-scoring charts with his 331 runs, at a strike rate of 185.95. Unfortunately for him, the two centuries came on December 16 and 19, the latter the date of the auction. With Roy opting out, though, he became an option for KKR.His 48-ball century in the fourth T20I in the West Indies is the joint-fastest in the format for England, and Salt now has a stellar T20 record, with 5308 runs from 221 innings at a strike rate of 153.41 and an average of 25.89. And he has played around the world, too, including in the BBL, the Caribbean Premier League, the Pakistan Super League, and in leagues in Sri Lanka, the UAE and South Africa.Roy, for his part, hasn’t had a regular run at the IPL despite his reputation as a short-format champion, even though he has been around a bit, playing for the now-defunct Gujarat Lions in 2017, Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals) in 2018, and subsequently for Sunrisers Hyderabad and KKR.This, though, isn’t the first time he has opted out of the IPL. He had withdrawn in 2020 (Capitals) for personal reasons and then in 2022 (Gujarat Titans) when he took an “indefinite break” from the game.The swap doesn’t change the overseas/Indian balance of the KKR line-up. Salt becomes an option for the opening slot along with Rahmanullah Gurbaz, with Sherfane Rutherford the other specialist overseas batter in the mix. That aside, they have old regulars Andre Russell and Sunil Narine, as well as quick bowlers Mitchell Starc and Dushmantha Chameera, who had earlier replaced Gus Atkinson, and Mujeeb Ur Rahman, the fingerspinner.Shreyas Iyer is the designated captain of the side, which will play its IPL 2024 opener on the second day of the tournament, March 23, against Sunrisers at home in Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.

Former England offspinner will travel to UAE for first week of Lions training camp

Matt Roller04-Nov-2022Graeme Swann will spend the next week working with three of England’s best young spinners in the UAE after his success as Trent Rockets’ spin-bowling coach in the Hundred.Swann’s involvement with England has been limited since his sudden retirement from international cricket in 2013 and he has often expressed his frustration that he has not spent more time working with young spinners developing through the English system.Related

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But he was a popular member of support staff in the Hundred this year, working closely with Samit Patel, Matt Carter, Rashid Khan and Tabraiz Shamsi as the Rockets won the title, and ECB announced on Friday that Swann would spend a week working as a mentor during the Lions’ three-week training camp, which starts on Sunday.There are three frontline spin bowlers involved in the Lions training group in Rehan Ahmed, the Leicestershire legspinning allrounder, Sussex offspinner Jack Carson, and Nottinghamshire allrounder Liam Patterson-White, while Dan Lawrence is also an occasional offspinner with three Test wickets to his name.Ian Bell, Swann’s former England team-mate, is also part of the Lions coaching staff and will work with the training group’s batters, along with Surrey assistant coach Jim Troughton. Jon Lewis and Durham’s Neil Killeen will work with the seamers and Kent’s Min Patel will be the main spin-bowling coach.”In Ian Bell and Graeme Swann, we have two people with so much international experience,” Mo Bobat, the ECB’s performance director who will lead the tour, said. “It’s brilliant to have them as part of the group, and I know everyone will be looking forward to working with them.”It’s a really exciting staff team for a trip that I think will be of huge benefit to all of our players. There’s a wide range of experience to call upon, from across the game, and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone come together this weekend.”

Shadman’s maiden Test century in Bangladesh’s second innings helped them get into a winning position against Zimbabwe in Harare

Mohammad Isam13-Jul-2021According to Bangladesh batter Shadman Islam, the team was so moved by Mahmudullah’s retirement announcement during the Harare Test against Zimbabwe, that the players felt motivated to win the match and dedicate it to the 35-year old. The young opener who made his maiden century in the second innings, said that they were all taken aback by Mahmudullah’s decision.”When we heard from (Mahmudullah) Riyad bhai that this was to be his last Test, we got very motivated to do well in the Test. We were all upset. He has done a lot for this team. We wanted to win the match for him. We all decided to dedicate the win for Riyad , and thankfully that’s what happened,” said Shadman, shortly after arriving in Dhaka with the rest of the Test specialists.Shadman’s response on Mahmudullah’s retirement has, so far, been the most direct from any Bangladesh player. Other Bangladesh players have been glowing in their tribute of Mahmudullah in social media posts after the match. But they have not directly mentioned his retirement, conceivably not to draw the ire of BCB president Nazmul Hassan who criticised Mahmudullah for announcing it midway through a match.Captain Mominul Haque mumbled a reply when the traveling media asked him repeatedly about the retirement in the post-match post conference in Harare. But he did credit Mahmudullah for his unbeaten 150 that put Bangladesh on top after a difficult start to their batting innings.Shadman and Najmul Hossain Shanto took full advantage of the 192-run lead, reaching centuries during their 196-run second wicket stand in the second innings. Shanto made 117 while Shadman reached his first ton.”What makes me happy is that my century helped the team to a Test win. We always believed that we were the better team, even in their conditions. Riyad , Taskin and Mominul made things easier for us with their batting.”The wicket was slightly different in the second innings, so we believed that we could give Zimbabwe a tough total in the fourth innings,” he said.Shadman is one of eight cricketers who returned home after the one-off Test. Captain Haque, Shanto, Saif Hassan, Yasir Ali, Nayeem Hasan, Abu Jayed and Ebadot Hossain were the others. They will most likely sit out for the next three months when Bangladesh play plenty of white-ball cricket. The BCB hasn’t announced any red-ball competition.”One has to come to terms with how things are at the moment. The pandemic is not in anyone’s control,” Shadman said. “There’s no point getting disappointed [with lack of matches]. I will just keep training, and try to play well.”

For the last four seasons the Duke had been used for the second part of the tournament

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Jul-2020Cricket Australia will revert to using the Kookaburra ball through the Sheffield Shield season for 2020-21, partly in an attempt to bring spinners back into the game, following four years where the second half of the competition had used the Dukes although they would consider a return to two balls in the future.The split season was introduced in 2016-17 as a way to give Australian players more experience against the Duke which had caused them problems overseas, especially on Ashes tours of England. With the Ashes being retained 2-2 last year – the first time Australia had managed to do that in England since 2001 – there was some success behind that move.However, there has been considerable criticism from players in the domestic game about the Dukes, including that the extra help it gives the quick bowlers means less opportunity for spinners in the Shield. Last season spinners averaged 47.25 in the Shield with Steve O’Keefe, who retired earlier this year after not getting a new contract with New South Wales, the leading bowler at 21st in the overall standings with 16 wickets at 22.25.ALSO READ: Steve O’Keefe demands more help for Australian spin bowling“The introduction of the Dukes ball has been a worthwhile exercise, particularly in the lead up to overseas Ashes series where the Dukes is used so well by our English opponents,” Peter Roach, Cricket Australia’s head of cricket operations, said. “We have been happy with how the ball has performed when used in Australian conditions over the past four seasons.”We do, however, feel that reverting to one ball for 2020-21 will provide the consistent examination of our players over a full season that CA and the states are presently seeking. The Kookaburra is the ball used for international cricket in Australia and many parts of the world and we see benefits this season of maximising our use of it.”We have noted that spin bowlers in the Sheffield Shield have been playing less of a role in recent seasons, most notably in games when the Dukes ball is in use. We need spinners bowling in first-class cricket and we need our batters facing spin. We hope that the change to one ball with have a positive benefit here.”We see a definite opportunity to reintroduce the Dukes ball at some stage in the future.”Last season, a newer version of the Kookaburra was used in the first two rounds of the Sheffield Shield.”We have worked very hard over many years in conjunction with boards around the world to develop a cricket ball that brings out all the skills of players,” Brett Elliott, group managing director at Kookaburra Sport. “We will continue to work with the sport to finetune our processes to produce the best possible cricket ball for the different formats.”

Paul Collingwood promoted to join three-man team of assistant coaches to support Trevor Bayliss at World Cup

George Dobell21-Feb-2019England look “99.9%” certain to appoint one head coach to succeed Trevor Bayliss. While the director of England men’s cricket, Ashley Giles, had previously hinted he was open-minded about splitting the role into two, covering limited-overs and Tests, he has now decided that appointing one coach will provide the “stability in culture and voice” that the teams require.That head coach will be supported by three assistant coaches, however, who will all be capable of stepping up to take charge at certain times to ensure the head coach can be rested as required.Giles has already taken the first steps towards implementing that structure by confirming that Paul Collingwood will join Chris Silverwood, the bowling coach, and Graham Thorpe, the batting coach, as part of the three-man assistant panel that will support Bayliss until the end of the World Cup in July.”I’ll put my cards on the table,” Giles said in Barbados on Thursday. “My feeling’s now 99.9% that we should have one coach.”One coach gives us stability in culture as well as voice. But I see it as one guy in charge – and prepared for time off – and three assistant coaches, not just one, that work together and help share the burden. We’ll see the start of that shape going into World Cup.”Paul Collingwood will be involved in the World Cup, but he is not replacing Paul Farbrace [who leaves for Warwickshire next month]. I think having one assistant puts a lot of pressure on that person.”While Giles insisted that no appointment was imminent – he confirmed he may hold “conversations” in the coming weeks, but that a formal process would not start for some time to avoid distracting from the World Cup or Ashes campaigns – he did hint that he would, in a perfect world, prefer an English candidate and suggested that Silverwood was a strong contender.”Spoons [Silverwood] is a candidate, yes. Seeing what he did as head coach of Essex was remarkable. They were a bit of a shambles when he came and, in two years, he’d turned them round completely. And he’s got a nice way about him. He’s a tough bloke, with a fair amount of discipline, but he communicates really well. We know he’s capable.”Being a head coach is a very different role from being someone we often call connectors. Paul Collingwood is a really good example of someone who connects really well with the dressing room. Some guys are really strong at that but don’t naturally lead well because it takes a different set of skills. But I think Chris Silverwood could do it.”What we don’t want is this massive distraction of a process during the World Cup or the Ashes. Chris Silverwood, Paul Collingwood and Graham Thorpe are really highly thought of because they do their jobs really well and they’ve got to continue that. But the whole focus for the team has to be on this summer and my job is to remove some of that interference.”The nationality of the head coach doesn’t matter. We need the best bloke to do it. But it would be nice at some point for us to have an English head coach. We’ve had one absolute head – I was white-ball head – in 20 years and he [Peter Moores] has done it twice. That’s not great for our coach development. But the coach doesn’t have to be English. We’ve got to get the right man for the job.”Giles also admitted that, such had been England’s focus on white-ball cricket in recent years, there may have to be a recalibration to ensure Test cricket received the attention it deserves.”We’ve still got a long way to go as a Test team,” he said. “There’s been a lot of focus on our white-ball cricket and that’s been the right thing to do but, given the importance to Test cricket and the World Test Championship to us, we do need to swing that pendulum back nearer the middle.”

Chasing 181, Sri Lanka crumbled to 87 all out as India’s bowlers mastered dew-sodden conditions at the Barabati Stadium

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy20-Dec-20174:21

Dasgupta – Dhoni at his best when he has 10 overs to bat

Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsDew was always going to play a role in the first T20I at the Barabati Stadium, and both teams knew it. Sri Lanka picked just one specialist spinner, packed their side with seam options, and gave themselves the early advantage by winning the toss.Unlike a lot of T20 games in India, however, there was dew all the way through this one, and not just in the second innings, and one set of bowlers handled it far, far better than the other. Sri Lanka’s quicks struggled: Nuwan Pradeep and Thisara Perera sent down five full-tosses in the last two overs of India’s innings, and MS Dhoni and Manish Pandey clattered two of them for four and two for six. In all, India scored 61 in their last four overs.India, unlike their opponents, trusted their spinners to deal with the dew and ran away to their biggest win in T20Is. Both their wristspinners prospered, and Yuzvendra Chahal finished with figures of 4 for 23. Chasing 181, Sri Lanka crumbled against pressure from India’s bowlers and pressure from the scoreboard, and crashed to 87 all out, their innings lasting just 16 overs, featuring only six boundaries.If the bowlers were able to control the slippery ball and land it on a decent area, there was help to be had from a two-paced surface. Sri Lanka did this patchily in the early part of India’s innings. Pradeep and Angelo Mathews extracted unexpected bounce to send back Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer, but not before they had put on useful stands of 38 and 63 with KL Rahul.There were plenty of freebies from Sri Lanka’s bowlers, and Rahul was particularly ruthless on anything short or on his pads, a pulled six off
Mathews and a pick-up flick to long leg off Pradeep the standout shots among his eight boundaries. When he was bowled by a Thisara slower ball for 61, India were 112 for 3 in the 15th over.India were in a good position, but they weren’t yet running away with the game. It was here that Sri Lanka’s bowling really lost control. Dhoni and Pandey added to the pressure on them by manufacturing boundaries out of nowhere. In the 18th over, Dhoni guessed correctly that Thisara would send down a slower offcutter, and he walked across his stumps, waited, and paddled him away to the right of short fine leg. Then, bowling what was meant to be the last ball of the 19th, Pradeep sent down a chest-high full-toss outside off stump. Pandey ramped it away for six over fine third-man, and put away the resultant free-hit as well – another full-toss – slapping it to the cover boundary.Sri Lanka lost Niroshan Dickwella in the second over of their chase, a clever slower ball from Jaydev Unadkat foiling his plans to hit him inside-out. But they still had something going for them when Upul Tharanga was at the crease – he launched Hardik Pandya for a big six over midwicket in the third over, and then, messing with India’s calculations of where to place their two deep fielders, swept and shovelled Chahal for a four and a six off successive balls in the fifth over.Chahal was under pressure, and Sri Lanka weren’t badly placed at all at 39 for 1. But another attempted sweep from Tharanga resulted in a bottom-edge onto pad and then into Dhoni’s gloves, and just like that Sri Lanka’s momentum stalled.Kusal Perera, playing his first international game – and only his second match – since going home injured from the Champions Trophy in June, struggled for rhythm. Angelo Mathews, new to the crease, soaked up a few dot balls and by the time he popped a return catch back to Chahal in the eighth over, the required rate had climbed past 10.There was no release from Chahal or Kuldeep Yadav, no soft full-tosses or long-hops. Sri Lanka didn’t hit a boundary between the fifth and 15th overs, and in that time they lost 7 for 37 in 60 balls.Asela Gunaratne walked past one fired down the leg side, and Dhoni completed a fortunate stumping, fumbling the ball onto the stumps. Dasun Shanaka, having looked all at sea against Chahal’s googly, holed out off Kuldeep. Chahal then spun his wrong’un past Thisara, and Dhoni completed a more convincing stumping. Kusal, having hacked and slashed ineffectually for 27 balls, finally fell in the 13th over when he miscued a big heave off Kuldeep. Sri Lanka were 70 for 7, and the end was near.

Financially-stricken Durham have secured a financial rescue package from Durham County Council which will further help to secure their future

David Hopps19-Oct-2016Financially-stricken Durham have secured a financial rescue package from Durham County Council which will further help to secure the future of professional cricket in England’s most northerly outpost.Durham County Council has agreed to convert loans of £3.74m into shares, so freeing the county from interest payments on long-standing debts.Under the ECB-brokered settlement, Durham County Council has agreed to convert its debts into redeemable preference shares. The ECB has restructured Durham as a community interest company, which enables it to distribute up to 35% of profits – should they become available – to shareholders.The council has received interest payments of around £700,000 on their loans since 2009 – variously charging 4.7% and 7% annually on the loans. The council’s own calculations state that with interest rates at record lows they would only have made £140,000 interest in the same period by conventional investments.

Durham’s pre-rescue debt spiral

Durham County Council: £3,740,000
ECB: £2,986,000
CR Financial Solutions: £788,000
North East Local Enterprise Partnership: £771,000
Outgoing directors: £415,000
Total: £8,700,000

The agreement follows the ECB’s own £3.8m rescue package, which included writing off nearly £2m of its own loans to the county.That bailout came with punitive measures: the sacking of the Durham board, relegation from Division One of the Championship and penalty points in all three competitions at the start of next season.But Durham can stage ODIs and T20Is and it is here, combined with stringent cost cutting and a growth in their mediocre T20 attendances, where it is hoped future profitability lies.The terms of the ECB rescue package were enforced by the ECB after Durham’s long-standing failures to attract investment into the club brought their financial problems to a head this year. Payments to service debt interest were running at nearly £1m a year.The ECB told the council that only one party – unnamed – had showed interest, but the approach was rejected because of their “fit and proper person” guidelines, which are designed to prevent clubs being bled dry by investors without its best interests at heart.Council representatives were told if they also failed to agree to the rescue there was “a significant risk” that the club would enter administration, leaving the bulk of their loan lost. Durham County Council already owns the land the club’s Riverside ground is built on, and leases it to the club.A cursory Durham statement said: “The club’s difficult financial position was brought to a head earlier in the year by the unexpected calling in of a long term loan and the challenge of securing, in time, private development investment.”The club is pleased that this has been achieved without the need for significant public debt write off as has been the case elsewhere in cricket.”Durham’s secrecy has long been illustrated by their refusal to reveal the identity of two long-term financial backers in the Middle East who are no longer involved with the club.Durham County Council has shown rather more detailed commitment to local democracy than the cricket club it has now helped to save.A council report available here states: “DCCC had hoped that commercial and residential developments on the site could have provided much needed financial security but it was unlikely that these benefits could be realised quickly enough.”Over the last three years the council has worked with DCCC to significantly reduce their costs with circa £1million in costs taken out of the business – mainly from a significant reduction on player costs.”Similarly, the council has worked closely with the club to drive forward commercial development of the site including a hotel and conference centre which would help derive additional income for the club.”Without additional financial support from the ECB via an ‘all creditor’ agreement and a restructuring of loans or a significant injection of capital from an alternate source, the club could not continue to run on a solvent basis and across the summer appointed an insolvency practitioner to advise the Board on options available to it.”The appointed insolvency practitioner (RSM UK) undertook soft market testing to gauge interest in purchasing the club across the summer, although they were unable to find suitable buyers.”There has been less support so far in writing off or converting debts into equity from other creditors.Both CR Financial Solutions, a London-based company which focuses on real estate, bought out Durham’s outstanding bank debt of £788,000, and the North East Local Enterprise Partnership, is owed £771,000. Both have been unresponsive. The club’s outgoing directors depart with collective debts of £415,000 still owed to them.The ECB is expected to take on the bank debt from CR Financial Solutions, so protecting the future of the ground, and further increasing its own indebtedness.It has already agreed to write off nearly £2m of loans and, as part of the deal, has withdrawn Durham’s Test match status, a convenient solution to the recognition that the dash for growth over the past decade or so has left more grounds seeking Test fixtures than are sustainable.

England’s determination to maintain their recent upturn in fortunes in one-day cricket has been reflected today with the awarding of a full ECB central contract for Eoin Morgan, the limited-overs captain

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Sep-2015England’s determination to maintain their recent upturn in fortunes in one-day cricket has been reflected with the awarding of a full ECB central contract for Eoin Morgan, the limited-overs captain.Morgan, who played the last of his 16 Tests in February 2012 and faced a total of 129 balls in first-class cricket for Middlesex this season, is one of 11 recipients on the list, having cemented his status as the one-day leader with 600 ODI runs at 66.67 in England’s summer campaigns against New Zealand and Australia, as well as a matchwinning 74 from 39 balls in the one-off Twenty20 against Australia at Cardiff.Mark Wood, the Durham fast bowler who has been named in all three squads for England’s forthcoming tour of the UAE, is the other newcomer to the list. He and Morgan replace the allrounders Chris Woakes and Chris Jordan, whose opportunities were limited by injury throughout the the 2015 season.Gary Ballance, England’s Test No. 3 until being dropped during the Ashes, has also missed out on a central contract this year.Andrew Strauss, the ECB director, knows that a successful showing from England at the 2019 World Cup on home soil is one of the board’s priorities in the coming years, especially in light of their dismal showing at the 2015 tournament in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year, when they failed to qualify for the knock-outs.”Eoin Morgan’s award reflects his status as captain of our limited-overs teams,” said Strauss, “and the wider importance we place on white-ball cricket as we prepare for a busy period of T20 and one-day international cricket over the next twelve months, including the World T20 tournament in India next year.””We congratulate Mark Wood on winning a central contract for the first time,” Strauss added. “This award reflects his excellent performances for England this summer and our expectation that he will have a role to play in all three formats of the international game over the next twelve months.”A further eight players have been awarded incremental contracts, including the Yorkshire quartet of Ballance, Jonny Bairstow, Liam Plunkett and Adil Rashid. There is no award, however, for Adam Lyth, whose place as Test opener for the UAE has been taken by Nottinghamshire’s Alex Hales.ECB central contracts: Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Alastair Cook (Essex), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Mark Wood (Durham)Incremental contracts: Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Gary Ballance (Yorkshire), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Liam Plunkett (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), James Taylor (Nottinghamshire)

Rest of India tightened their hold over the Irani Cup, a trophy they’ve won for seven straight seasons, by consolidating the dominant position they had reached after gaining a 117-run lead in the first innings

The Report by Siddhartha Talya in Mumbai10-Feb-2013
Rest of India take the Irani Cup on first-innings lead
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
File photo: Wasim Jaffer topped his first innings half-century with an unbeaten hundred•Fotocorp

Rest of India won the Irani Cup for the eighth consecutive time, based on a first-innings lead after any hopes of an outright result were erased when their two overnight batsmen came out to bat on the final morning. Suresh Raina struck a half-century to follow up on his ton in the first innings, Ambati Rayudu was unbeaten on 156 before Rest of India declared, and Wasim Jaffer completed his prolific first-class season on a high. Neither featured in India’s squad for the first two Tests against Australia, which was picked today.However, Harbhajan Singh returned to the India squad and picked up two wickets, including Ajinkya Rahane, who has been retained. Mumbai were given 63 overs to chase 507, and Rest of India would have been crying for them to self-destruct if they seriously hoped of winning outright. Both Aditya Tare and Ajinkya Rahane were caught at short leg off Harbhajan, but Jaffer was calm and comfortable at the other end, smoothly moving to another century, his 48th in first-class cricket, and going past 1000 runs in the Irani Cup. Jaffer was a strong contender for an opening role in the Indian squad after averaging 76 in the Ranji Trophy but Murali Vijay and a surprise pick, Shikhar Dhawan, were preferred over him.Sreesanth, Ishwar Pandey, and Abhimanyu Mithun, aspirants for a place in India’s attack, bowled just 11 overs between them without any success, but they didn’t have a game as disappointing as another Test hopeful, Rohit Sharma. He had thrown his wicket away in the first innings, top-edging a slog-sweep when on zero, and fell for 1 today, going after India’s spin regular Pragyan Ojha but only getting as far as long-off to offer an easy catch. Neither of his dismissals in the game would have sat well with selectors.The captains called off the game with nine mandatory overs remaining. It was only the second time in the last 14 years that the winner of the Irani Cup has been decided by a first-innings lead.