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“Security is the main challenge there, like teams have been attacked in the past, which is a concern,” India’s sports minister Anurag Thakur said

Nagraj Gollapudi17-Nov-2021Just one day after the ICC awarded the rights to the 2025 Champions Trophy to be played in Pakistan, the Indian government has expressed apprehensions about participation in the global tournament. Anurag Thakur, India’s sports minster and former BCCI president, on Wednesday, said that the Indian government will monitor the security situation at the time in Pakistan before taking a decision on whether the India team will travel for the eight-team global tournament.”The Indian government – the Home Ministry – has earlier also made its decision,” Thakur told reporters in Delhi on Wednesday. “When such global tournaments happen several factors are considered.”Even in the past, you would have seen many countries have pulled out to go there (Pakistan) and play because the situation there is not normal. Security is the main challenge there, like teams have been attacked in the past, which is a concern. So when the time comes, the Indian government will take a decision depending on the circumstances then.”The Champions Trophy is the first ICC tournament that will be hosted in Pakistan since the 1996 men’s ODI World Cup which was co-hosted by two other countries: India and Sri Lanka. No Indian team has played cricket in Pakistan since the 2008 Asia Cup.The two neighbours have not played any bilateral cricket in Pakistan since Rahul Dravid’s side travelled to Pakistan in 2005-06 for a full tour comprising three Tests and five ODIs. Pakistan toured India for a reciprocal tour in 2007-08 but the strained political equation between their governments since then has restricted ties to one white-ball bilateral series in 2012-13 in India and games between the two in ICC tournaments. Pakistan traveled to India to play in the 2011 ODI World Cup semi-final and later to participate in the 2016 T20 World Cup.

He will only fly to India as a travelling reserve, barring “something miraculous” in his recovery from injury

Matt Roller16-Aug-2023Jofra Archer has missed out on selection in England’s World Cup squad after running out of time to prove his fitness and will only fly to India as a travelling reserve, barring “something miraculous” in his recovery from injury.Archer was England’s leading wicket-taker when they won the tournament four years ago and closed out their triumph in the final with a nerveless Super Over, but has not played since the IPL this year due to an elbow stress fracture.Luke Wright, an England selector and Archer’s former Sussex team-mate, said that England were “desperate” for him to be fit but that they were reluctant to “force him into playing” ahead of schedule in his rehabilitation.”There has got to be a duty of care with Jof,” Wright said. “We know how desperate we all are to have him – there’s no doubt about that – but we’ve also got to get it right for him. He’s been very unfortunate with these injuries… regarding the World Cup, unfortunately, we’re just running out of time.”He’s not going to come round quite quick enough, especially for the first part of the World Cup. There is a duty of care with him. We have to make sure that long-term, we get it right because we see him as a huge asset for a long time. As much as the temptation is to try and rush him in and get him in for the start of this World Cup, unfortunately, we’re just going to run out of time.”Speaking while working on the BBC’s coverage of the Hundred, Archer said he would retained some hope of featuring in India: “I’m feeling alright, I’m a bit hopeful as well. Right now, I’m feeling OK and rehab and everything is going as planned. You just need a little bit of luck and a little bit of hope.”Jofra Archer struggled with injuries at the IPL•BCCI

England have picked six frontline seamers in their provisional 15-man squad – which can be tweaked until September 28 – and anticipate a gruelling workload for their seamers, with nine group games scheduled in 37 days and flights required between venues across India.Most of their first-choice fast bowlers have suffered injuries at some stage in the last two years and England hope that Archer will be available to play a part in the second half of the tournament in the event that one of them goes down again.”I don’t think we can, unfortunately, have him in the squad to start with,” Wright said. “Best-case scenario for Jof really at the moment would probably be [that he is] available for the back-end of the tournament. That’s best-case scenario, which obviously, in a squad of 15, is going to leave us quite light.Related

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“The last thing we want to do is really to put a massive time [limit] on him and try to push him and force him into playing before he does [feel ready]. We’ve got to get him right, first and foremost.”But is there an opportunity or a place where potentially he could play at the back-end of a tournament, if all things go well and there was an injury? Yes, there’s a potential chance. But obviously, a lot of things have still got to go right with this rehab before then.”When you look at that squad, you cannot have a bowler that might not be available for the second half and definitely not for the first half. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do it. If something miraculous happens with him, we have time to change things but I just don’t see it happening. It is just coming too soon and we can’t rush this decision on Jof this time.”

Sunrisers too look a more cohesive unit after starting the season with two losses

Sruthi Ravindranath13-Apr-2023

Big Picture – KKR and SRH both on the rise

Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad were both thrashed in their first games of the season and there was no single noteworthy performer for either team. But brighter days are already here.Knight Riders have found some unlikely heroes. First, it was Shardul Thakur who did something sensational – with the bat – and in the next match, Rinku Singh took it to another level and did something beyond sensational. The cricketing world has still not recovered from Rinku’s five sixes in the last over against Gujarat Titans. Even MS Dhoni doing MS Dhoni things hasn’t been enough to completely upstage Rinku.It’s been three days since that miracle innings but Knight Riders will still be on a high. Two 200-plus scores – one defended and one chased – will have done their confidence a world of good.Sunrisers, too, look a more cohesive unit with the arrival of the South Africans after they’d struggled in the first two games. Against Punjab Kings, Marco Jansen bowled a superb spell and picked up two wickets with the new ball while captain Aiden Markram played a supporting role to Rahul Tripathi in the chase with a 21-ball 37. Legspinner Mayank Markande, who bowled an impressive spell of 4 for 15 in the match against Punjab Kings, will be key in the middle overs.

Team News – Roy and Litton arrive

Knight Riders are yet to settle on an opening combination. Rahmanullah Gurbaz has had three different partners in each of the three games so far and further change may yet be on the cards with Jason Roy and Litton Das having joined the team, and trained with them, in Kolkata.For Sunrisers, Abhishek Sharma is unavailable due to an injury. “Abhi is certainly an important player for us, and the message I’ve been told is he is still coming back from an injury and they feel he needs a bit more time,” captain Markram said during a press conference a few days ago.Harry Brook’s shift to the top of the order didn’t bring him a change in fortunes in the last game•BCCI

Toss and Impact Player strategy

Kolkata Knight RidersKnight Riders brought in N Jagadeesan and Lockie Ferguson for Mandeep Singh and Tim Southee respectively in the last game. When they bowl, they are likely to pick Suyash Sharma in the starting XI, and might sub him out for Venkatesh or Jagadeesan, depending on which of the two does not make the XI when they bat.Probable bat-first XI: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk) 2 N Jagadeesan, 3 Venkatesh Iyer, 4 Nitish Rana (capt), 5 Andre Russell, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Shardul Thakur, 8 Sunil Narine, 9 Lockie Ferguson, 10 Umesh Yadav, 11 Varun Chakravarthy.Probable bowl-first XI: 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Venkatesh Iyer, 3 Nitish Rana (capt), 4 Andre Russell, 5 Rinku Singh, 6 Shardul Thakur, 7 Sunil Narine, 8 Lockie Ferguson, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Suyash SharmaSunrisers HyderabadHarry Brook replaced Anmolpreet Singh at the top of the order and Sunrisers brought in Heinrich Klaasen to keep gloves in the last match against Kings. They might look to get Abdul Samad in when they bat – especially if it’s a chase – for one of the bowlers to strengthen their line-up.Probable bat-first XI: 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Harry Brook, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Heinrich Klaasen, 6 Abdul Samad, 7 Washington Sundar, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Mayank Markande, 10 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 11 Umran Malik/ T NatrajanProbable bowl-first XI: 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Harry Brook, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Aiden Markram (capt.), 5 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 6 Washington Sundar, 7 Marco Jansen, 8 Mayank Markande, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Umran Malik, 11 T Natarajan.

Stats that matter – Sunrisers’ spin issues

• In 11 matches in IPL 2022, Varun Chakravarthy took just six wickets. He has already taken five wickets in three matches this season.
• Sunrisers have hit only 15 sixes in powerplay in IPL since 2022, the least for a team in this period.
• Sunrisers have struggled against spinners in IPL 2023. They have lost 12 wickets to spin so far, the second-most for a team behind Delhi Capitals. They also have the lowest strike rate (101) and average (13.7) against spinners this season.

Quotes

“T20’s a fantastic game. The game can be won or lost in the last ball, and throughout every IPL that I’ve been a part of, it seems like every game comes right down to the last over which is why it’s such a great product”

Opener produces vital half-century to help revive England from another wobbly start

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Dec-2025After their combined tally of eight runs in four innings at Perth, it proved to be a day of revived fortunes at the Gabba for two of the most scrutinised batters in England’s ranks. While Joe Root secured the plaudits for his magnificent maiden century on Australian soil, Zak Crawley’s bounce-back from a first-Test pair proved a similarly cathartic display.Though he fell when well set, gloving a pull off Michael Neser shortly after the first interval, his 76 from 93 balls was nonetheless a crucial contribution, coming as it did after his first-Test nemesis Mitchell Starc had again struck hard with the new ball, dismissing Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope for ducks in his first two overs.Crawley, by then, had already driven Starc through the covers for four, to bring up his first runs of the series, and he carried on in a similar vein, picking off a total of 11 boundaries, the majority coming when Australia’s bowlers strayed into his arc.”I did feel good, to be honest,” Crawley told TNT Sports at the close of the first day’s play. “I felt much better than Perth. I was just trying to keep it simple, just trying to score straight on the leg side, and then if it was really full, maybe on the off side. Yeah, I was happy with my knock.”Crawley’s relative watchfulness outside off was the key feature of his innings, and a tribute to the hours in the nets that England have put in (in between some notable moments of downtime) since their two-day defeat in the series opener.”I think it’d have felt a long break if I’d have got two hundreds, to be honest,” he said. “It was big old gap after a two-day game. But yeah, it’s a good chance to get some practice in. And I felt comfortable. I felt calm today, and managed to settle the nerves. So I was pleased with how I played.”I had a clear plan and I stuck to it. There were still a couple of loose shots in there, as I tend to do, but got away with them, and I played nicely down the ground as well. By trying to score on the leg side, that made me leave a bit better outside off with the extra bounce today, and then when I got in, the ball started doing a bit less.”England’s close-of-play score of 325 for 9 looked significantly more healthy thanks to an unbeaten tenth-wicket stand of 61 between Root, who finished unbeaten on 135, and Jofra Archer, whose 32 not out was his highest Test score, in just his second innings at No.11.Until Australia have batted, it will be hard to tell how good that score actually is, but after the groundstaff had given the pitch a final trim to 3mm of grass before the match, Crawley knew it had been a good toss for England to win, notwithstanding their early collapse to 5 for 2.Related

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“The last few days, it’s been really green here. So we all thought it’s going to be a green nipper again. And they obviously shaved it this morning, so it looked like a great wicket to bat on, with the overheads as well.”I was gutted to get out when I did, the pitch was just getting a bit flatter there,” he added. “But obviously we finished the day well with Rooty and Jof at the end there. So it’s good day.”At 264 for 9 with approximately half an hour of the day remaining, there had been some speculation that England might declare to insert Australia under the lights, much as they had done in their previous pink-ball Test against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui two years ago. But with Root going strong, and with memories of England’s infamous declaration at Edgbaston in 2023, Crawley said a repeat scenario had not been on the cards.”No talk of declaring,” he said. “We were talking about boys going really hard, and if they got out, then it was kind of a win-win situation. So they went hard, and they came off, and there’s a valuable 50 runs there for us.”Root will be on strike when day two gets underway, and will have the chance to extend England’s innings into the morning session, with six overs to come until the new ball is due. For now, though, he will have a chance to savour a significant landmark in his career, and one that may just confirm his credentials as England’s greatest Test batter.”I’m chuffed for him,” Crawley said, after Root’s 40th Test hundred and his first in Australia. “He hasn’t been speaking about it at all to us, that’s just the outside noise. He’s just very focused on just getting whatever score is needed on the day, and proved to be a hundred today.”But he’s the best player I’ve ever played with, or probably against as well. And he’s a champion bloke. I’m chuffed to bits for him.”

The swap – because Asha picked up an injury while warming up – needed Australia’s nod since the playing XIs had already been announced

Shashank Kishore13-Oct-2024In a late swap that needed Australia’s consent, India brought in left-arm spinner Radha Yadav in place of legspinner Asha Sobhana into the playing XI for their final group fixture in Sharjah on Sunday.Asha was seen hobbling in the middle of a warm-up session just after the toss and was quickly taken out of the playing area for treatment by the support staff. She also didn’t subsequently line-up for the national anthems. Since Asha had already been named in the playing XI, India needed Australia’s nod to make the change, which came through.Australia themselves had a big blow in the lead up with Alyssa Healy, their captain, ruled out with a leg injury. Healy, who had injured her right foot in Australia’s previous game, had to use crutches to walk. In another injury update, fast bowler Tayla Vlaeminck was ruled out of the remainder of the World Cup after dislocating her right shoulder in the same match.”Asha Sobhana is unable to participate in the today’s game against Australia after she suffered a knee injury during the warm-up on the sidelines of toss,” a BCCI statement said. “The ICC Match Referee requested the Australian captain [Tahlia McGrath] who agreed to the request for a replacement in India’s Playing XI. The BCCI Medical Team is monitoring Asha’s progress.”Radha’s addition offers India not just a bowling option but also some lower-order batting depth. Radha didn’t start in the first three games but made a massive impact in their win over Sri Lanka by taking arguably one of the catches of the tournament at extra cover when she had come in as a substitute fielder.On match-eve, Radha was one of the bowlers who had a long one-on-one bowling session on a side net with head coach Amol Muzumdar.

Poor fielding display condemns holders to third straight loss in round-robin stage

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Mar-2022Lisa Keightley, England’s head coach, says that she shoulders the blame for the collapse in form that has left her team’s defence of the World Cup hanging by a thread, following their third straight loss of the tournament, and their sixth ODI defeat in a row.After opening their campaign with narrow defeats to Australia and West Indies, England batted first in Mount Maunganui and posted 235 for 9 in their 50 overs, with half-centuries from Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones and five wickets for South Africa’s Marizanne Kapp.In reply, however, England missed a number of key opportunities in the field – most notably against Laura Wolvaardt, who anchored South Africa’s chase with 77 from 101 balls. Sune Luus and Kapp backed up their earlier efforts with the ball with a pair of important 30s, before Shabnim Ismail and Trisha Chetty sealed a three-wicket win with four balls to spare.England, who beat South Africa by two wickets in a similarly tense semi-final of the 2017 World Cup, now face four must-win contests in a row, starting with Wednesday’s clash with India in Mount Maunganui. Even that, however, might not now be enough for qualification with Australia, New Zealand and West Indies already better placed to push for a spot for the semi-final berths.”As a coach, I take a huge amount of responsibility,” Keightley said. “It’s up to me to drive the team and get the wins on the board, that’s the job of the coach. And we’re trying really hard, the coaching staff and myself, to get the players up and about and we don’t have to do too much.”The players are pretty gutted,” she added. “They were pretty gutted after the last match and they wanted to bounce back. They were unable to do it, so the responsibility and the buck lies with me and I’m happy to cop that.”Moving forward, do I feel the pressure? I don’t feel any more pressure than what the players feel and I’m no more disappointed than the players. We came into this World Cup wanting to play better than we have and we haven’t, and it’s been frustrating.”After an arduous winter campaign, which featured the disappointment of England’s Ashes defeat in Australia, the weariness of England’s fielding performance will raise inevitable questions about the fitness levels of the squad, with the veteran new-ball pairing of Anya Shrubsole and Katherine Brunt likely to come under particular scrutiny.Keightley, however, hinted that England would once again be relying on their experience of their proven matchwinners in the India game, rather than rotate them out, despite the likes of Freya Davies and Tash Farrant waiting in the wings as new-ball options.”We will have to have a look, see how they pull up, and make those decisions,” Keightley said. “They’ve done a great job for England over a number of years and they’re working really hard to do their job for the team. I think we’re on a new [pitch for the India match]. So it probably makes sense to play some senior bowlers.”Related

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One bowler who did once again emerge with credit was the spinner Sophie Ecclestone, whose ten overs went for just 23 runs, including the key wicket of Mignon du Preez for 8.”Sophie has been amazing,” Keightley said. “She bowled well again today, and in the last games she has been fantastic. If we’d taken our chances in the Powerplay, we would have put pressure through the middle with Charlie [Dean] coming infor her first World Cup game. We tried really hard and created chances, we’re just not taking them.”We haven’t really put our finger on it really, we have fielded pretty well throughout the Ashes and took a lot more chances than we have today,” Keightley added. “The last two days, we’ve trained really well and the girls have been up and about and putting a lot of effort in.
“We just haven’t got the rewards in the games that matter, so it is something that we’ll have to think about when we review after this World Cup.”Despite England’s bleak standing on the World Cup table – only Pakistan, with four defeats out of four, sit below them – Keightley is adamant that the round-robin format can still get them back into the qualification mix.”We’re trying hard to get those wins and once I think we win a close one, we’ll get a bit of momentum and finish strong,” she said. “We’ve just got to dust ourselves off, come back out in two days’ time and play the way we want to play.”

Jayawickrama, Embuldeniya were the main spinners in the original squad against Australia

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jul-2022Left-arm spinners Praveen Jayawickrama and Lasith Embuldeniya have been left out of Sri Lanka’s 18-member squad for the two-match Test series against Pakistan starting July 16.The more inexperienced left-arm spinners, Prabath Jayasuriya, who picked up a record 12 wickets on Test debut against Australia, and uncapped Dunith Wellalage, who were drafted in the Covid-hit squad ahead of the second Test last week, have been included.Both Embuldeniya and Jayawickrama have been dropped on account of modest form. Embuldeniya claimed only one wicket and went for 177 in his last two Tests, Jayawickrama went wicketless and conceded 155 in a Test in Dhaka, in May.Although 19-year-old Wellalage has not played a Test, he was the top-wicket-taker in Sri Lanka’s ODI series win against Australia. He also offers some batting down the order.In selecting the squad, Sri Lanka have also taken the unusual step of naming two wicketkeepers – incumbent Niroshan Dickwella, as well as Dinesh Chandimal, who has played as a specialist batter in the last two series.There are no real surprises on the batting front. Kamindu Mendis secures a place after having made a half-century in his first Test innings this week.The first Test will be played from July 16 in Galle, followed by the second from July 24 in Colombo. The series will be part of the World Test Championship, in which Sri Lanka are placed third and Pakistan fourth.Squad: Dimuth Karunaratne (capt), Pathum Nissanka, Oshada Fernando, Angelo Mathews, Kusal Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva, Kamindu Mendis, Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Ramesh Mendis, Maheesh Theekshana, Kasun Rajitha, Vishwa Fernando, Asitha Fernando, Dilshan Madushanka, Prabath Jayasuriya, Dunith Wellalage, Jeffrey Vandersay

Veteran seamer open to offers elsewhere as he prepares to end 18-year stint at Headingley

Paul Edwards29-Jul-2022Yorkshire skipper Steve Patterson has announced that he is stepping down as captain and will leave the club at the end of the season. The 38-year-old, who has spent 18 years as a first-team cricketer at Headingley told his teammates after their seven-wicket defeat to Hampshire at Scarborough and the news was made public soon afterwards.”It’s been an honour and a privilege to captain the club for the past five seasons,” Patterson said. “I would like to thank those who entrusted me with the position, my teammates for always getting behind me, and the members and supporters for their unwavering support. I would like to assure you that I’ve never taken the position for granted, and I’ve always given my very best in the interests of the team.”It’s been made clear to me over the last few days that my career at Yorkshire will come to an end when the season finishes. With that in mind, I think now is the appropriate time to step back from the captaincy. It will allow me time to consider my future, and to enjoy the time I have left playing at the club.”I will remain available for selection for the remainder of the summer, and if selected, will give my all for the team as I have done for the past 18 years.”Patterson’s departure brings to an end one of the most distinguished careers in Yorkshire recent history. One of the most reliable of medium-fast bowlers in the country, he has taken 477 first-class wickets for the county and was in the title-winning sides of 2014 and 2015.However, ESPNcricinfo understands that Patterson is not intending to retire and is open to continuing his playing career if the right offer comes along from another county.

Afghanistan counterattacked in the chase but eventually fell to a 42-run loss

Madushka Balasuriya09-Feb-2024Pathum Nissanka’s historic double ton ensured Sri Lanka withstood a spirited Afghanistan counterattack to record a 42-run victory in the first ODI at Pallekele and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.That Afghanistan even got that close was down to a record 242-run stand between Azmatullah Omarzai and Mohammad Nabi, the second-highest sixth-wicket stand in ODI history. Omarazai ended on a 115-ball 149, while Nabi scored 136 off 130, as Afghanistan fell short but with their heads held high.It would leave them wondering perhaps what might have been had there been more substantial contributions from their top order, but in a chase of the mammoth 382-run target set by Sri Lanka, many fell wanting in searching for a fast start.Related

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Pramod Madushan did the most damage sending three of Afghanistan’s top four packing inside the first powerplay. The right-handed Rahmanullah Gurbaz and the left-handed Hashmatullah Shahidi were both done in by in-duckers, Madushan adept at moving the ball both ways – either through the air or off the surface.In between the two he had Ibrahim Zadran caught at slip, and returned later in the game to break the stand between Nabi and Omarzai. He finished with figures of 4 for 75.With Dushmantha Chameera accounting for the scalps of Rahmat Shah and Gulbadin Naib at the other end, Afghanistan found themselves staring down the barrel of an ignominious defeat, having stumbled to 55 for 5 midway through the ninth over.But that was when the fightback began, as the pair of Omarzai and Nabi resolved early on to take the game as deep as possible.With not much batting to follow, it was clear the pair could not take undue risks, nevertheless they found boundaries to ensure the run rate never got too out of hand. That said, it wasn’t until the 36th over that their scoring rate went beyond six an over, by which point the required rate was touching 12 an over.By the 40th over the requirement was 137 needed off 60 deliveries, a tall ask but put into context by the fact that Sri Lanka had struck 120 in the same period.In the end the asking rate proved too much, especially with Sri Lanka having multiple overs available from each of their frontline bowlers.Mohammad Nabi is the oldest player to score an ODI hundred•AFP/Getty Images

It also put into perspective the batting effort put in by the Lankans, particularly the outstanding Nissanka, whose 210 had come off just 139 deliveries.Avishka Fernando, with a run-a-ball 88, was the next highest scorer, as he and Nissanka put on a 182-run opening stand – Sri Lanka’s first century opening stand in nine innings, and just the third to hit double digits in that period. But that was just the start of Afghanistan’s misery.The visitors, who had opted to go with a four-strong seam attack, were left to rue their decision to bowl first having won the toss, with conditions proving ideal for batting. After a subdued start in the opening five in which just 22 runs were scored, Nissanka began to let loose.There was a subdued period through the middle overs when Nabi was rifling through his overs, but at the start and the death the Afghan bowlers were at Nissanka’s mercy.Omarzai was the first to feel the heat, taken for back-to-back boundaries through midwicket and then cover. Two overs later Fareed Ahmad was taken for 19, inclusive of two fours and a six – the latter off a free hit. Ahmad went for a further 17 in his next over, Avishka doing the brunt of the damage on that occasion, as Sri Lanka raced to 90 by the end of the 10th over.The scoring tapered from there on, the occasional flurry of boundaries serving to keep the scoring rate hovering around the seven an over mark. It took a scorching grab from Hashmatullah Shahidi at backward point to bring an end to the opening stand, as Avishka flayed a wide one hard to his right.Kusal Mendis’ entry saw more of the same, as he scrounged around for a 31-ball 16 before skying a miscued shot after coming down the track. The entry of Sadeera Samarawickrama, midway through the 36th over, though was the catalyst for Sri Lanka to shift gears, as his ability to rotate strike and find boundaries dovetailed perfectly with Nissanka, who was beginning to see the ball bigger with every stroke.Their stand of 121 came off just 71 deliveries and scaled up in the final 10 overs. Of the 120 runs ransacked in this period Nissanka alone accounted for 76 of them.Having earlier brought up his century with a single eased to deep cover, he brought up his 150 with a double past backward point. But those milestones were surrounded by belligerence.Noor Ahmad was slog-swept twice in an over, with the wind, over deep midwicket. Fazalhaq Farooqi was clobbered down the ground, flicked over square leg, heaved over deep midwicket and paddled behind square. And when all else failed Afghanistan turned back to Fareed, but Nissanka would not err.Having failed to get away a string of wide Fareed yorkers two overs prior, Nissanka squeezed the first such attempt in the final over past backward point to bring up his double ton. Two balls later he swung one high over square leg and then he crashed a drive to deep extra cover to finish the innings.It was a knock worthy of winning any game, and so it proved in the end.

The first day was washed out in Canberra

Alagappan Muthu30-Nov-2024The first day of the two-day pink ball game between India and the Prime Minister’s XI was washed out due to persistent rain.Chances of play were remote with a steady drizzle bedding in from almost 10am right through to about 5.30pm during which time the covers stayed firmly on. The Indian team did come over to the ground but there wasn’t much reason for them to stick around.The rain did stop, briefly, late in the day, and there was a flurry of activity, with the covers being peeled off and members of both teams’ support staff being briefed by the two umpires. But when the groundstaff restored the covers, packed up and left at 6.30pm, it was clear that there would be no cricket. Much heavier rain came through at 7pm.The game is expected to resume as a 50-over affair starting from 2.40pm on Sunday. Tickets for Saturday’s play will be refunded.The day-night match was going to be India’s only chance of getting any game time with the pink ball under lights, especially or India captain Rohit Sharma who joined the squad after missing the first Test in Perth, which India won by 295 runs. Sunday could also be the return for Shubman Gill, who missed the first game because of a thumb injury and had returned to the nets in Canberra on Friday.The second Test is a day-night game from December 6 in Adelaide, where India were bowled out for 36 in their last outing there.