He says the bubble life hasn’t taken a toll on India’s players

Varun Shetty03-Feb-20213:42

Rahane explains his responsibilities as India vice-captain

India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane is pleased at Virat Kohli’s return to the team and is gearing for his normal and “easy” role as deputy, one he says he enjoys best by being in the back seat.Rahane took over as stand-in captain, when Kohli left on paternity leave after the first Test of the Australia series, in Adelaide, and led India to a historic series victory that involved two Test wins and a draw. Rahane had only led India on two occasions before the Australia tour, but remains unbeaten as a Test captain.”See, my job is to take a back seat and help Virat,” Rahane said during a virtual media conference on Wednesday. “There are too many things on a captain’s mind, so as a vice-captain you have to visualise a situation, think about what can happen in the game, and then if captain asks you for suggestions then you should be ready. So my job is really easy. I take a back seat. Whenever required I go and tell him…or whenever he asks me about certain things, I’ll just go and tell him. That helps us a lot. For me, personally, I generally take a back seat when I’m vice-captain.”Related

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Even so, Rahane’s likely to have had a slight responsibility as the leader of the team during the Australia series win: that of grounding the team and helping them move on to focussing on the upcoming home series against England.”Australia was really special for us. We did enjoy our victory, especially that night in Brisbane and also when we came back home. But we are in the present now,” Rahane said. “What we learnt from Australia was, after losing a match in Adelaide, how we came back. So it’s all about staying in the moment. We respect the England team as well. We’re not going to take them lightly. For us, what’s important is playing a good brand of cricket, what we’ve been playing since the last two-three years. And play as a team and play as a unit. We’re not taking anything for granted. It’s all about taking one match at a time.”Ajinkya Rahane: “Whenever required I go and tell him (Virat Kohli)…or whenever he asks me about certain things, I’ll just go and tell him”•BCCI

The cancellation of the series between Australia and South Africa this month has meant that New Zealand have become the first team to qualify for the World Test Championship final, with India being strong favourites to face them in the final at Lord’s later this year. Rahane said New Zealand were deserving of the spot but said that the Indian team is only looking as far as this week’s game in Chennai, reiterating that complacency was not an issue.”We know every series, every game is really important, especially in the Test championship. What happened in Australia was really special but that is the past. We’re thinking of this series, this game particularly, and taking it one game at a time,” he said. “I don’t think we have to think too much about complacency. We know what’s our strength. We’re still respecting the England team, they did really well in Sri Lanka. So basically we have to play good cricket, back our strengths and play as a team here.”Rahane was tight-lipped about team combinations and pitch conditions, saying we’d have to “wait and see” about both, while hinting that Hardik Pandya was working hard as “a batsman and a bowler” in the nets. The return of Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer to the English team – both of whom were former team-mates of his at Rajasthan Royals – would not, he said, give England too much of an advantage.”We play IPL with them but Tests and IPL are completely different,” Rahane said. “We know how their bowlers come here and bowl, but like I said, lengths are completely different in the formats. It’s not like we tell them everything [about strategy]. That’s very important. IPL and Tests are completely different.Several of India’s players have been in a bubble since late August, just before the IPL began, and will likely have little time outside of bubbles any time soon, with the IPL shaping to be held in its regular March-April window. But, at the moment, Rahane said, there has been no mental faitgue.”We are not mentally tired at all,” he said. “We are really tough mentally. We are a unit, a family. We are enjoying each other’s company here. We are spending time in the team room. Our families are here which is really important. So we are not at all tired”

South African-born allrounder was isolated 30 overs into one-dayer in Chattogram

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Mar-2021Ruhan Pretorius has revealed he was in “a bit of a weird space” after his positive Covid test result led Ireland Wolves’ first one-day game in Bangladesh to be abandoned after 30 overs, only for him to discover a day later that the result was a false positive.Pretorius, 30, was born and raised in South Africa but has played club cricket in Ireland since 2015, and after relocating permanently, he will qualify for international selection through residency in 2022.Related

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He was not picked for the first-class game against a Bangladesh Emerging Team, meaning that the first 50-over game was his first appearance for an Irish representative team. He had taken one wicket in his first four-over spell as a first-change bowler, but was told to leave the field after 30 overs, with the match abandoned soon after.”It’s been the most bizarre few days, to be honest,” Pretorius said in an interview with Cricket Ireland. “We started the first game all testing negative for Covid – we had to be negative in order to get on the field according to the protocols. Then halfway through the first innings I was pulled off the field and the game was stopped. To then be told I was potentially Covid-positive was a shock.”I was isolated immediately from the team and was told to wear an orange suit – kind of like a sweat suit, but this one was for isolation. I then was taken in an ambulance to the team hotel, where I was immediately sent to the isolation room and spent the evening there.”To be fair, the team management were brilliant in managing the whole situation. I underwent two tests – an emergency test and another along with the rest of the team. Luckily both came back negative, and the medical staff advised that the original test was a false positive, so I was able to resume the tour.”I was in a bit of a weird space after trying to get used to being in isolation, and thinking worst case that I might be there for 14 days if I was positive. To deal with it mentally was challenging – I was preparing myself for the worst. However, after getting the two negative results, I just tried to re-focus and get back in my normal routine.”Pretorius returned to the side to top-score with 90, opening the batting, and then took 1 for 40 in his nine overs as the Wolves fell to a four-wicket loss with two balls to spare. The series continues with the third 50-over fixture on Tuesday.

Ben Stokes has suggested associating women’s sides with that of the men in franchise leagues, especially in the IPL

Alan Gardner09-Apr-2021Heather Knight has echoed recent comments from Ben Stokes and Smriti Mandhana, calling for the formation of a women’s IPL, saying it “would be amazing for the women’s game”.Knight lifted the WBBL title with the Sydney Thunder in November and was twice a Kia Super League winner before the English T20 league was scrapped to make way for the Hundred. She agreed that an IPL equivalent would be timely, and praised Stokes for speaking out in support of women’s cricket.”It was awesome to see Stokesy talk about the women’s IPL,” she said. “The more allies we have in women’s cricket, it really helps to change perceptions. It’s great from Ben to say that and I totally agree, I think it would be amazing for the women’s game to have an IPL.”You’ve seen it in Australia with the Big Bash, and hopefully here with the Hundred having men’s and women’s competitions alongside each other, it’s a really positive thing for the women’s game and really helps to progress things. It was really nice to see Ben make those comments.”Speculation about whether the BCCI could launch a women’s T20 league has circulated for some time, following the success of similar competitions in Australia and England. Speaking earlier this week ahead of the start of the men’s IPL, Stokes, an overseas player for the Rajasthan Royals, said he was very hopeful of fully fledged women’s franchises being established, too.”Yes, I think the women’s game, especially over the last four to five years, has gone from strength to strength and it’s great how it is filtering into the men’s game in terms of [parallel] competitions and things like that,” he said on Red Bull’s Decoding Athletes podcast. “I’m very hopeful there’ll be a women’s franchise side associated with every men’s franchise side so we’re able to grow the women’s game even bigger. What better place to do it than out here in India?”Related

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Since 2018, the BCCI has staged the Women’s T20 Challenge to run alongside the men’s IPL playoffs. Initially featuring two teams, it was expanded to three – Trailblazers, Supernovas and Velocity – in 2019 and 2020; last year, the plan was to add a fourth team, but the idea was scrapped as the BCCI decided to stick to the old format as the men’s and women’s events moved to the UAE because of the Covid-19 situation in India.The Challenge event is due to be held again this year, with the possible addition of that fourth team, but no dates have been confirmed and its viability could yet be affected by the rising number of infections in India.Mandhana, captain of the the Trailblazers, was also speaking on the Decoding Athletes podcast alongside Stokes and India men’s batter KL Rahul, and said it was “the right time to start” a women’s IPL in order to help the sport’s growth.””If you’re a young girl and you see people like you playing cricket at the highest level, that’s going to encourage you”•Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images

“I think the kind of performance last three-four years… IPL is all about youngsters and if you look at the current Indian team, the average age is around 23-24,” she said. “That shows that there are a lot of youngsters coming in so IPL is definitely going to boost women’s cricket and give the confidence in youngsters which we’ve seen in men’s cricket.”People who are making their debut are playing 145-150kph [bowling] like it’s a [regular] day at office, and you can’t feel that they’re nervous on their debut. So the IPL has had a huge impact in that and I feel the IPL will help women’s cricket as well. It’s the right time to start because if we really want to grow women’s cricket, especially in India, it’s the right time to start the women’s IPL.”Although the Kia Super League is now defunct, with a regional T20 tournament being put into place this year, the ECB has pushed to give the women’s Hundred a greater degree of parity with the men’s competition. The opening night of its new format will see the Oval Invincibles and Manchester Originals women’s teams go head-to-head in a standalone fixture at The Oval, with all of the other games played as double-headers on the same grounds.”When you switch on the Hundred as a young girl. you’re going to see men’s cricket and women’s cricket put on the same pedestal, the same branding, matches at the same venue, etc. I think that’s great and really important to do that, to change perceptions of getting people involved in cricket,” Knight said. “If you’re a young girl and you see people like you playing cricket at the highest level, that’s going to encourage you that it’s a sport for you.”Little things like playing the first-ever game of the Hundred as a women’s game is a really big step. It’s going to be a huge summer and hopefully the competition goes really well.”

He trained with the Sunrisers on May 1, the same day he reported a fever

ESPNcricinfo staff04-May-2021Wriddhiman Saha has tested positive for Covid-19, meaning the Sunrisers Hyderabad became the third franchise to register positive cases at IPL 2021. The team was due to play the Mumbai Indians in Delhi on Tuesday but the IPL has been postponed following the surfacing of Covid-19 cases at least three franchises over the last few days.ESPNcricinfo understands that Saha reported symptoms, including a fever, on May 1, the day before the Sunrisers played against the Rajasthan Royals in Delhi, an afternoon match. Saha had trained with the rest of the Sunrisers squad on the afternoon of May 1. Following that training session, Saha felt he might have got a heat stroke and had even got tested for Covid-19 on the same day. The result of that test was negative, but he still reported a fever.Related

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Saha was isolated immediately by the franchise. He underwent two further tests, on Sunday and Monday. It is understood that he tested positive for Covid-19 in the the third round of testing.Saha had scored eight runs in two games and taken three catches this season before he was excluded from the playing XI.Two players from the Kolkata Knight Riders – spinner Varun Chakravarthy and seam bowler Sandeep Warrier – and two members of the Chennai Super Kings contingent – bowling coach L Balaji and a member of the maintenance staff – had also tested positive over the past two days. Subsequently, yesterday’s game between the Knight Riders and the Royal Challengers Bangalore was put off, before the announcement of the postponement today.

England players unlikely to be released for tournament restart, says ECB director of cricket

George Dobell27-May-2021England are not planning on making any changes to their plans to accommodate the IPL, according to Ashley Giles.While Giles, the managing director of England men’s cricket, admitted some players may be rested from the tours of Bangladesh and Pakistan, which are likely to take place at the same time as the rearranged IPL, he said it “wouldn’t be for them to go and play cricket elsewhere”.Giles also confirmed the ECB had no plans to alter their schedule – and in particular, the schedule for the Test series against India – to enable a larger window to be found for the IPL. The fifth day of the final Test of the series is currently scheduled for September 14, with England departing for Bangladesh less than a week later. From there they go to Pakistan for two T20Is which have tentatively been scheduled for October 14 and 15. The IPL is likely to restart on about September 18 and run until around October 12.”I’m not aware of anything official, any requests to shift anything,” Giles, speaking at the launch of IG as the new official partner of England Cricket, said. “As far as we’re concerned and what we’re prepared for, the matches will be where they are. I’m not surprised there’s all sorts of speculation. Everyone wants to get their cricket in. But we’ve not received anything official and we’re cracking on.”We have a full schedule. If we go from the end of the fifth Test in September, we are set to leave for Bangladesh on September 19 or 20. We have a full schedule right through including Pakistan and wherever the T20 World Cup is.Related

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“We are going to have to give some of these guys a break at some point. But the intention of giving guys a break for, say, Bangladesh, wouldn’t be for them to go and play cricket elsewhere.”We have to manage our schedule now, so we get our guys arriving in the best shape possible for the T20 World Cup and the Ashes.”While the relationship between the ECB and BCCI appears reasonably good at present, this is the third IPL season (or part season) mooted within 12 months and there is an understanding that there is simply no more wriggle room in the congested schedule. The difference in approach from the recently abandoned IPL season – where England players were allowed to play ahead of involvement in the New Zealand Test series – is explained by the late arrangement of that Test series, which did not form part of the World Test Championship, and the pre-existing agreement to allow players to go to the IPL.Meanwhile Giles also explained the call-up of Sam Billings into the England squad as reserve keeper and batter. Billings is the only man in the squad who was at the IPL but, unlike Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow, who might also have been considered for the role, did not play during the IPL and has spent considerably less time in bio-bubbles over the last year or so. For that reason, he was keen to return to action quicker than most and represented Kent in the LV= County Championship last week.”I think we felt the best option was to [allow the IPL players to] take as much time as they needed after what they’ve been through this winter,” Giles said. “If there was a strong case from the players to get back on the horse a bit earlier and play some cricket then we were prepared to listen to that as well. They know their bodies and minds as well as anyone.”That was the case with Billings. He went back to Kent and played some cricket to put himself in the frame.”Communication was made from [head coach] Chris Silverwood to those players [Bairstow and Buttler] about what the plan was. We felt there was no need to go back on that. They’ve been spending time with families and Jos is away for a few days at the moment. We didn’t want to drag those players out of that at the 11th hour. There was no plan to change that.”IG are an Official Partner of England Cricket. For more information, visit IG.com/uk/england

The biggest loss by runs in PSL history also eliminated the Quetta Gladiators from the playoffs race

Debayan Sen16-Jun-2021A fluent half-century from Shan Masood, who hit 73, and a fantastic bowling and fielding display spearheaded by Imran Tahir, who grabbed 3 for 7, took the Multan Sultans to a thumping 110-run victory, knocking the Quetta Gladiators out of contention for the PSL playoffs. This is also the biggest margin of victory by runs in the league’s history; in fact, the Sultans overwrote the previous record by 39 runs.Put into bat by Sarfaraz Ahmed, the Sultans’ innings owed their early impetus to Masood, as he helped bring up 50 off six overs. There weren’t a lot of dot balls, with Mohammad Rizwan happy to work the ball around, as Masood found the boundaries with ridiculous ease. Standing tall, he peppered the arc between midwicket and covers at will, with the pick of the shots a firm on drive to a length ball from Usman Shinwari. Masood looked even more dangerous after the powerplay, smacking Mohammad Nawaz for six over midwicket before going straight down the ground for another maximum off the very next ball, en route to 50 off 26 deliveries.An all-too-brief fightback by the Gladiators
The introduction of Khurram Shahzad brought the Gladiators some hope, with Rizwan chopping him on to his off stump to start the ninth over, thus ending a 72-run association for the first wicket. Zahir Khan gave his team another lift by getting Sohaib Maqsood to miss one that turned into him to tickle the top of off, leaving the Sultans at 88 for 2 at the halfway mark.Johnson Charles started briskly, using the pace of Shinwari to guide him past third man for four early on, and this gave some breathing space to a tiring Masood. However, before holing out to long-on in the 14th over delivered by Hassan Khan, Masood would repeat the loft over long-off and smash over midwicket for six on the way to posting his highest PSL score in the process.The Sultans were left with an opening to surge on to a massive score, but Rilee Rossouw then skipped down the wicket to Hassan and top-edged an intended lofted drive towards square leg, where Usman Khan came running in from the deep to take a diving catch. Zahir then spun a web around Khushdil Shah, zipping googlies and conventional legspinners across him, while also inducing an edge for a sharp chance that Ahmed failed to latch on to in a 16th over that fetched the Sultans just one run off the bat.The final push and a sign of things to come
The Sultans ended up pillaging 49 off the last four overs, which really should have been contained had Hassan held on to a Charles flick off Shahzad that went through his fingers and hit the midwicket boundary skirting on the full when he was on 23. Charles eventually fell to Shahzad for 47, but by then having clubbed Mohammad Hasnain for four down the ground and whipping him over midwicket for six. Post that, some hefty blows from Khushdil Shah saw the Sultans through to 183.Ahmed had inserted the opposition hoping for some dew, but there didn’t appear any when the Gladiators began their chase. Jake Weatherald struck some meaty blows early on, picking up two slower balls from Sohail Tanvir, depositing the first over wide long-on before swinging the next down to fine leg for four. He welcomed Imran Khan with a gorgeous lofted extra cover drive for six, but at 27 without loss one ball into the fourth over, that was about as good as the evening could get for the Gladiators.Crash! Boom! Bang!
Imran got a sharp length ball to take Weatherald’s edge through to Rizwan, and two balls later, Cameron Delport skipped down the wicket and popped a slower ball to mid-off. Usman was run-out in comic fashion, having overrun a quick single after Ahmed tapped a ball to point, and thus not responding to his captain’s call for an overthrow in good time. At the end of the powerplay, the Gladiators were going at a run a ball, but had consumed 21 dot deliveries and three precious wickets in the process.Azam Khan then fell to a lazy waft off Blessing Muzarabani to leave the Gladiators at 46 for 4. They then lost four more wickets for just 13 runs, with Rizwan afforded the luxury of bringing on Tahir after nine overs. His first ball produced the wicket of Nawaz, who had batted competently for 10, run-out through a Tahir deflection at the non-striker’s end. Tahir then mesmerised the lower order, pinging Shinwari and Shahzad leg before after having induced a false shot from Hassan.Fittingly, the last wicket fell to Shahnawaz Dhani, who joined Wahab Riaz at the top of the wickets tally with 14. While the Gladiators are on their way out, Wednesday’s result might also have severely dented the hopes of the Karachi Kings following the significant boost to the Sultans’ net run rate.

The left-arm quick, who recently turned 35, says he still has ‘plenty left in the tank’ as a Test cricketer

Deivarayan Muthu26-Jun-20213:02

‘In your head… Kohli, Kohli’ – Neil Wagner sings Zombie cover

As a red-ball specialist who hasn’t played any white-ball cricket for New Zealand, Neil Wagner had never dreamed of being part of a world final. Speaking to ESPNcricinfo in the lead-up to the inaugural World Test Championship final, the left-arm quick had likened the match to a World Cup final. During a virtual media interaction on Saturday afternoon, Wagner said winning the WTC was the “pinnacle of the game” for him and that the team was overwhelmed by the support and reception from their supporters.”Never [dreamed of it],” Wagner said. “No, that (playing white-ball cricket for New Zealand) was sort of a dream and a ship that had sailed to be fair – thinking about the white-ball World Cup in some sort of a way. So, when the Test Championship came around and it was sort of explained to us a couple of years ago what it’s going to be like, I got quite excited by the idea. I thought it was quite special and I thought it was something that’s going to make Test cricket the way it is right now and make it quite exciting and add a bit more perspective to it.Related

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“So, finally, I guess, getting to an ICC event and with something as big as that… how hard Test cricket is and to be able to do that for a period of two years; every Test match is extremely hard to try and put a performance in and win it. There’s a lot of things that’s got to go your way and lot of hard work you got to do over five days.”To then get into a final, which was obviously rain-affected and still play our brand of cricket and be positive and to get there, personally for me, I can’t speak for everyone, this is the ultimate for me to win a Test Championship final though it’s the first one and probably hard to compare with others, it’s definitely the pinnacle of the game for me. And to win it against a quality team like India and the way we did and then to see what it has meant to everyone… The support back home and support that was around there – the text messages keep flowing in, phone keeps buzzing and to see what it has meant for Kiwi supporters and family and friends, it means a lot to us too. So, it’s definitely right up there.” Everyone wants a piece of the WTC mace that has now been nicknamed Michael Mason – including the customs officials who greeted the New Zealand players after they touched down in Auckland on Saturday morning.”I don’t think I have ever walked into customs and got greeted the way we did,” Wagner said. “Everyone was like straightaway: ‘Congratulations!’ Pretty happy, [they] grabbed our passports and all they wanted to ask was ‘Where’s the mace? Where’s the mace?’ Obviously, when they saw it, the smiles on their faces and what it brought to them, it sort of hit home pretty hard… What it meant to people back home and obviously getting across the line, winning a Test Championship final, and bringing that trophy back like that.”I remember watching as a kid a lot of other teams lifting that [mace] up after finishing a Test cycle being No.1 in the world and what it meant to them. So, to be able to win it in a one-off Test match like that is a pretty special feeling and we could see what it meant to other people once you got home.”Seeing even police officers stopping and wanting to have a photo from a distance with it. Like I said, it’s a pity that it’s Covid times and you can’t hug around these guys and pose for a photo and you know, obviously, give something back to them, too, but it was nice to see the smile on everyone’s faces and how jubilant they were to receive us and getting on the bus… There were cameras outside and people waving and yeah obviously just being very happy about what we were able to achieve. I think it definitely hit the boys hard what it has meant to everyone and around.”Neil Wagner has said he still feels ‘pretty young and the body feels really good’ and that he has ‘plenty left in the tank’ as a Test cricketer•Getty Images

Wagner recently turned 35 and is the oldest member of the New Zealand pace quartet, but he brushed aside talk of a potential retirement, stressing that he was still fit and motivated to deliver for the team. Returning from toe injuries, Wagner swung the Dukes ball in England in addition to unleashing his patented short-ball barrage over lengthy spells.’I’ve got plenty left in the tank,” Wagner said. “Age is just a number for me personally and I feel potentially I haven’t got the five-wicket bags or performances behind my name that I wanted to, but still feel I’m contributing and playing a role, doing what I’m doing and that is just my role. It’s not always going to have the glory numbers or the wickets or whatever it is, but I’ve got a role I can fulfill for the team and as long as I’m needed or called upon, or I guess asked to do a job, 100% I’ll be there to contribute.”I still feel pretty young and the body feels really good. I played those three Test matches [in England] and got through this pretty easily and felt really good that I could play even more. So that’s a good sign for me personally. As long as that motivation and desire is there to keep going to do the hard work at training and do the hard yards of going to the gym and do the tough running sessions and keep the body fresh and improving your game – as long as that’s still there, the rest is easy. Mentally, [I] still feel fresh.”If anything this [WTC title] has just urged me on to work harder and my game personally, but also on a fitness level and all those sort of things to keep playing and performing and doing my role to the best of my ability as much as I can and contribute to the team.”‘I remember when I started my career, it took about 11 Test matches before I got even a Test win. Kyle has played eight – he hasn’t lost one or drawn one yet’ – Wagner•Getty Images

Wagner also hailed Kyle Jamieson, who has emerged as a potent point of the difference in New Zealand’s attack with his ability to swing the ball both ways in addition to the bounce he generates from his 6’8” frame. After scorching the 2019-20 and 2020-21 home summers, Jamieson was front and centre of New Zealand’s victory over India in the WTC final, scooping up a match haul of seven wickets and the Player-of-the-Match award.”Just the way he has fit into the group and come in and play the way he’s done – to just do what he’s been doing in domestic cricket and do even better,” Wagner said of Jamieson. “Every game he’s getting better and better, his willingness to learn, how he’s been bowling with the team and the performances he has put in have put him a long way ahead of the cricketer he’s still yet to be and become. He’s been instrumental to us; yes it’s been amazing to do it with Tim [Southee] and Trent [Boult] as well with myself.”We keep building as a unit, we keep building in partnerships, we said from the start that we know one day might one person’s day and the other day might not be someone else’s day, but you still contribute and bowl for the guy at the other end and someone might reap the rewards for us. I remember when I started my career, it took about 11 Test matches before I got even a Test win. Kyle has played eight – he hasn’t lost one or drawn one yet [laughs]. That’s pretty amazing and he’s played a massive part in that [success] too. Good on him and hopefully he can continue and as a bowling unit, hopefully we can continue to learn and get better and obviously put more performances like this for New Zealand cricket.”

Shakib Al Hasan’s five-for against Zimbabwe, meanwhile, moved him to eighth in the ODI bowling rankings

ESPNcricinfo staff21-Jul-2021Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan and England’s Liam Livingstone have made the most significant gains in ICC’s latest rankings update for T20I batters. Rizwan, who was the top scorer during the T20I series between the two sides with 176 runs in three innings attained a career-best seventh position while Livingstone’s 147 runs in three innings – including a maiden T20I ton – propelled him up 144 places to 27th, having played only eight matches in his career so far.The latest rankings update, which includes the final two T20Is between Australia and West Indies and the series-opener between Ireland and South Africa, also sees Evin Lewis move from tenth to eighth on the batting charts after scores of 31 and 79. Dawid Malan, Babar Azam and Aaron Finch maintained their rankings as the world’s top three T20I batters.

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In the T20I bowlers’ rankings, four wickets each for Shadab Khan and Mohammad Hasnain have moved them to 36th and 41st, while Sheldon Cottrell’s three-for in the final match against Australia helped him gain six positions to reach 16th. Wristspinners Tabraiz Shamsi, Rashid Khan and Wanindu Hasaranga remain the top three T20I bowlers.In ODIs, South Africa’s Quinton de Kock moved into 10th among batters after smashing a 91-ball 120 against Ireland in the final ODI in Malahide. Shikhar Dhawan’s 86 in his first ODI as India’s stand-in captain against Sri Lanka lifted him to 16th. Azam, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma continue to hold the top three batting positions in ODIs.Shakib Al Hasan was the most significant gainer among ODI bowlers on the back of his five-wicket haul against Zimbabwe in Harare. He moved up nine places to break into the top 10 once again, and into eighth position. He remains first on the ODI allrounders’ list.

Adelaide Strikers will back their impressive bowling attack to make their mark again

AAP26-Nov-2021Perth Scorchers import Sophie Devine is ready to carry Beth Mooney off the ground if her fellow star opener can put in one more heroic display in Saturday’s WBBL final against the Adelaide Strikers.Devine and Mooney have formed the best opening partnership in the WBBL, with the duo both named in the team of the season.National team mainstay Mooney has plundered a league-leading 528 runs at an average of 52.80 and a strike rate of 132 for the Scorchers this season, while New Zealander Devine has scored 407 runs at an average of 33.92.The duo loom as key figures against a powerful Strikers’ bowling attack that has strangled the Brisbane Heat and Melbourne Renegades in back-to-back elimination final wins.Related

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A top of 36 degrees is forecast for Perth on Saturday, but Devine is confident Mooney will be able to handle both the heat and the Strikers’ attack.”She’s an absolute machine,” Devine said. “It probably doesn’t look like it at times in the past. I think I was watching replays of her in the Heat colours – she was crawling pretty much in between overs.”But she’s an absolute champion. She’s done this time and time again – not just in Australian colours, but for the Scorchers and for the Heat as well. I’ve got no doubt about her preparation. She’s the ultimate professional, she knows what she needs to do.”Fingers crossed she has a big one out there. If I have to carry her off, so be it, I’ll take that.”Strikers captain Tahlia McGrath was straight to the point when asked about the key to beating the Scorchers.”For us it’s about breaking the partnership of Soph and Moons really early. That’s going to be a crucial decider in the game,” she said.While the Scorchers earned direct passage into the final after finishing on top of the table, the fourth-placed Strikers had to win two elimination games in the space of two days to get there.Adelaide thrashed the Heat on Wednesday and destroyed the Renegades on Thursday before making the flight to Perth on Friday. McGrath is adamant her team won’t enter the decider weary.”Everyone was full of energy at the airport this morning,” McGrath said. “There’s a lot of belief, there’s a lot of fight in the group. It’s a dream group to captain when everyone knows their role and performs. We’ve definitely got one more left in us.”The Scorchers are hopeful of attracting a crowd in excess of 42,000 for the match at Optus Stadium.