The six-team tournament is slated for September; PCB to co-host Emerging Team’s Asia Cup with Sri Lanka in December

Umar Farooq10-Apr-2018The United Arab Emirates has been awarded the 2018 Asia Cup that was originally slated to be held in India. The tournament will be played between September 13 and 28, in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.Political tensions between India and Pakistan has been cited as the reason for the change. “The ACC deliberated on the matter and decided that this was the best way forward,” Asian Cricket Council and PCB chairman Najam Sethi told ESPNcricinfo. “All decisions were unanimous. All participants agreed to support the return of international cricket to Pakistan subject to certain constraints. That’s why the ACC Annual General Meeting will he held in Lahore and the BCCI has pledged to participate in it like all other ACC members. That’s why a number of matches of the Emerging Asia Cup will be played in Pakistan.”The Asia Cup will feature 50-overs games between Full Members India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and a sixth team. The sixth team will be determined via a play-off that includes UAE, Hong Kong, Nepal, Singapore, Malaysia and Oman. Abu Dhabi and Dubai will be the venues for the tournament, where India is to serve as the official host. The Emirates Cricket Board is renting out the stadiums.This will be the 14th edition of the Asia Cup. The first 12 were staged as ODI competitions, while the previous Asia Cup in 2016 was the first to be held as a T20I event, effectively as a warm-up event ahead of the World T20. India are the defending champions, having beaten Bangladesh in the final two years ago.The 2018 Emerging Teams’ Asia Cup, meanwhile, will be co-hosted by Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Originally slated for April, the tournament has been moved to December. Pakistan will also play host to the next ACC Annual General Meeting, which will be held later this year.

A stunning 102 runs came off sixes as Chennai Super Kings consigned Royal Challengers Bangalore to another deflating loss at home

The Report by Varun Shetty25-Apr-2018
4:25

Manjrekar: RCB left the final overs to limited bowlers

Chennai Super Kings picked up their fifth victory through thunderous performances from two heroes – Ambati Rayudu and MS Dhoni – in an explosive performance. They made nearly half of the 206 target with the 17 sixes they hit at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Kohli fined for slow over rate

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli has been fined INR 12 lakh (USD 18,000 approx) after his team maintained a slow over rate on Wednesday night against Chennai Super Kings. Kohli’s penalty was decided keeping in mind it was his team’s first over-rate offence of the season.

Super Kings survived an AB de Villiers onslaught to recover and chase just a little over 200 – it could’ve been much more. Then they slipped to 74 for 4 in nine overs, before coming back with blazing 101-run stand between Dhoni and Rayudu. Dwayne Bravo, then set it up for Dhoni to complete a win in his signature style – a six over long-on, thereabouts – to take them back to the top of the table.The sub-plot was a familiar one for Royal Challengers: they didn’t have the bowling to defend, again. They had seven bowling options on the night and their two best bowlers – Yuzvendra Chahal and Umesh Yadav – bowled out their overs for a combined 3 for 49. The two other spinners were given a combined four overs, the better bowler of their two allrounders – Colin de Grandhomme – didn’t have a bowl, and, yet again, a glaring lack of a death-overs plan resulted in an embarrassing collapse.The top does it again for RCBBy the time CSK had got into the third over after electing to bowl, Virat Kohli had figured out his method against the opening bowlers: short strides against Deepak Chahar’s swing and a few steps down at Shardul Thakur. He also exchanged notes with Quinton de Kock who aggressively kept gesturing about how Thakur’s knuckle ball was coming out.Thakur managed to pull it back momentarily with a quite remarkable feat – a wicket maiden off a T20 over faced by Kohli and de Villiers – but the bleeding wouldn’t stop. De Kock and de Villiers, together, put up 103 for the second wicket from there in under nine overs, starting with a 16-run punishment off three balls that took Harbhajan out for the rest of the innings.When the ball lost its shine, there did appear to be grip from the surface. But the South African duo weren’t averse to using their feet – de Villiers made 45 off his 68 runs against 17 balls of spin – to move laterally in the crease or down the pitch to open up the field. With their abilities to clear the ground in tow, that proved vital, because the spinners were forced into bowling faster than they should have been.Mighty fallThe next breakthrough, the wicket of de Kock in the 14th, also came in a maiden over. It might even have been a double-wicket maiden had CSK reviewed an lbw decision where Bravo got Corey Anderson on the back leg off a full toss. It didn’t do too much damage though as Imran Tahir claimed two: de Villiers – 68 off 30 – and Anderson, off consecutive deliveries.Suddenly, it was turning big. CSK could’ve had Mandeep Singh, but Dhoni failed to anticipate a spitting turner from Ravindra Jadeja and couldn’t get his hand on a stumping opportunity. What followed was a six over midwicket and a reverse-swept four to get Mandeep going. A missed opportunity and Royal Challengers looked like they would capitalise.But another collapse came. RCB lost seven wickets in the last five overs and played out two maiden overs in the innings. They didn’t have the bowling to afford such mishaps.How to lose a matchRCB had made the perfect start with the ball. Shane Watson, Suresh Raina and Sam Billings, who have all made winning contributions this season, were out inside seven overs and the pitch was allowing big turn. CSK seemed to have given them some help too, when they sent Jadeja ahead of Dhoni at No. 5. That move brought a 15-run fourth-wicket stand that consumed 16 balls.Umesh had bowled out his overs in a testing opening spell, though, and Chahal would be done in the 13th. The brutal effect of that reality in simple, numerical terms: CSK hit 12 sixes in 64 balls after Dhoni walked in.Rayudu didn’t exactly fly under the radar. Like he had against Sunrisers in Super Kings’ previous match, he dealt mainly in flat-batted shots. He was severe on Hyderabad Ranji team-mate Mohammed Siraj, and did not allow Washington Sundar a chance to settle.At the other end, Dhoni smashed the confidence out of Pawan Negi. Shortly after coming in to bat, he swatted the left-arm spinner over midwicket, and upon his return in the 14th, a visibly nervous Negi fired full ones flat into Dhoni’s arc. Two of RCB’s spinners had been neutralised on a spin-friendly surface.That was the beginning of an inevitable death-overs meltdown. With 70 required off 28 balls, Umesh put down a simple chance at extra cover that would have ended Rayudu’s innings. It was perhaps the only time Anderson’s plan of sliding cross-seam length balls across came close to working. By the end of that over, he was truly found out – Rayudu hit balls from the same line outside off over extra cover and then over midwicket.At 21 required off seven balls, even if Mohammed Siraj had completed the penultimate over without needing four attempts at the last ball, Anderson didn’t look like he would have defended the runs. The allrounder, had gone for 16 and 15 in his two overs before the last one, and conceded 17 runs off four balls to finish with figures of 3.4-0-58-0.De Grandhomme, brought into the XI on the night, did not feature in Kohli’s bowling plans. This meant that Royal Challengers would bowl their last six overs with two bowlers: a strategy scarcely seen in ODI cricket even, which shouldn’t have a place in T20 cricket. But it did have a place on the night. And it summed up why RCB’s economy in the death-overs this season – 13.29 – is the worst by any team in any edition of the IPL.

The West Indies coach wants his bowlers to hit the right lengths and target the stumps on the final day, taking some assistance from the variable bounce of the pitch

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jun-2018Seven wickets away from win, 90 overs to bowl on the last day with a massive lead of 277 runs, West Indies coach Stuart Law wants “one more big effort” from his bowlers on Sunday to take a 1-0 lead in Port-of-Spain in the three-match series. Setting Sri Lanka a target of 453 after declaring for the second time in the Test, West Indies dismissed Kusal Perera, Angelo Mathews and Roshen Silva even though opener Kusal Mendis’ unbeaten 94 kept the visitors fighting.”You know 453 to win is a huge target, 400 is not something that gets chased down too often in Test cricket, there’s always something happening,” Law said. “[From] our bowlers, we’ve had a big effort so far, they bowled them out for 180 in the first innings in 40-odd overs, we just need one more big effort tomorrow – 90 overs to get seven wickets and keep them under 250.”Apart from Mendis, West Indies will also have to plan to dismiss No. 3 Dinesh Chandimal, who retired hurt in the second session of the fourth day due to symptoms of heat stroke. He faced only 23 deliveries for his 15 runs and is expected to return to bat on the last day in Sri Lanka’s steep task to save or win the match. Law said the bowlers’ plan would be to hit the right lengths and target the stumps on the final day, taking some assistance from the variable bounce.”We don’t talk a great deal, we just stick to what we know best,” he said. “We know that we’ve got to find the length that’s hard to score of, we attack the stumps with good field settings, make it hard for them to score and one of those that either roll on the ground or bounce should come into play. We won’t talk about it too much tonight, we come back in the morning and reassess. We formulate our plans and then get out there and try and do it.”Law also praised the batting effort of his team, mainly led by Shane Dowrich’s unbeaten 125 in the first innings and Kieran Powell’s 88 in the second, as no other batsman crossed 45. Law was aware that the frontline batsmen hadn’t done as well as he would have liked.”We batted really well in this Test match, our top five didn’t score great runs but they all got starts in the first innings. Shane Dowrich converted that and Kieron Powell batted beautifully in the second innings, didn’t quite get on to that hundred but useful contributions down the order.”It’s been hot, that’s for sure. I think the wicket’s been good too, in the first innings it was difficult to bat on, our boys applied themselves really well and to bowl Sri Lanka out for 180 was a testament to it. The wicket was difficult, it’s flattened out, it’s got better and better so it’s been a good cricket wicket so far, we just need it to deteriorate a bit. There’s a little bit of spin, little bit of variable bounce and we need to exploit that tomorrow to push on for victory.”

Seekkuge Prasanna made good use of his early arrival in England for the Vitality Blast as he bowled Northants to a second successive Championship win

ECB Reporters Network28-Jun-2018
ScorecardNorthants took the final six Glamorgan wickets for 69 runs on the fourth morning to complete a comprehensive 233-run victory and record their second successive Championship win of the season.They also moved away from bottom place in Division Two, after outplaying a Glamorgan team who, after winning their opening game, have lost four of their last five championship games, and won only one of their eight Royal London 50 over matches.They were again let down by their batting, with only Usman Khawaja scoring over fifty in both innings, while there seven half centuries for Northants, whose batsmen showed far more application on a pitch of irregular bounce.Northants’ decision to bring their Sri Lankan legspinner Seekkuge Prasanna over a week early, ahead of the Vitality Blast, played dividends as he finished with four wickets in the second innings.Glamorgan resumed on 121 for 4 in their second innings, and soon lost their nightwatchman Timm van der Gugten, who fatally played back to Prasanna and was leg before on the back foot.Kiran Carlson meanwhile was fortunate to survive against the Sri Lankan leg spinner, twice edging deliveries wide of the slip cordon. He was joined by Chris Cooke who appeared more comfortable against Prasanna, twice striking him through extra cover for four.The fifth wicket pair had added 48 before Carlson, aiming to drive expansively at a wide ball, edged one in Brett Hutton’s opening over of the morning, to wicketkeeper Adam Rossington after scoring 32.Cooke was the next to go when he was bowled by Hutton; undone by a ball that kept very low, Cooke almost ended up on his knees as he tried unsuccessfully to get his bat down in time.The procession continued as Nathan Buck came on for his first over of the day, and with his first ball, trapped Ruaidhri Smith leg before with his opening. When Prem Sisodiya was caught at silly mid off to give Prasanna his fourth wicket, the players shook hands as Glamorgan captain Michael Hogan was absent and unable to bat.Glamorgan’s head coach, Robert Croft, sounded relieved that T20 cricket was around the corner: “This defeat had a common thread that we need to improve on,” he said. “We are not capitalising on the starts we are having, whether it’s a lack of concentration or inexperience. We are developing a young team that I’m sure will improve, but possibly we might have to bring in a senior player into the team for the next game or two.”

With 31 to win off the final three overs, the St Lucia Stars captain smashed 30 off legspinner Devendra Bishoo in the 18th over to beat Guyana Amazon Warriors by six wickets

The Report by Peter Della Penna25-Aug-2018Getty Images

Captain Kieron Pollard ensured St Lucia Stars’ playoff hopes aren’t snuffed out as the Stars bounced back from Tuesday night’s abysmal effort of 69 all out to trip up CPL table-toppers Guyana Amazon Warriors by six wickets with 11 balls to spare.Chasing 141, Stars were two runs ahead on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern par score when rain stopped play at 71 for 2 after 11 overs. The Stars batting went through a mild stutter when play resumed as David Warner and Qais Ahmad fell in quick succession to the legspin duo of Imran Tahir and Devendra Bishoo respectively. After Stars slumped to 97 for 4, it looked as if the match was headed for a deja vu finish of the first showdown between these sides in Guyana. Stars, in that instance, had lost by three runs while chasing 142. On Friday, though, with 31 to win off the final three overs, Pollard smashed 30 runs – three sixes and as many fours – off Bishoo in the 18th over to quell any doubts over a repeat ending.Hit and missStars’ fielding, which has been a major source of woe throughout another dismal campaign, was a mixed bag on Friday night. Two balls into the match, Kesrick Williams dropped Chadwick Walton at point to put Luke Ronchi on strike, who hammered three fours off the last three balls of the opening over. Walton also survived a clear run-out chance on 7 in the third over as Stars looked like they were in for a long night in the field.Walton only scored five more before he backed away to make room for Cornwall’s offspin from round the wicket but he missed and lost his leg stump. Warner counterbalanced the early drop with two very sharp catches in the Powerplay to get Ronchi and Shimron Hetmyer. Just as quickly, though, another chance was left on the table when Lendl Simmons misfired with Cameron Delport well short of his ground in the sixth over, having just come to the crease after the fall of Hetmyer. Delport was also shelled by Pollard in the 14th over but finally fell for a top-score of 25 in the next.The shoe was on the other foot in the 16th over though as a terrible mix-up between Sherfane Rutherford and Sohail Tanvir resulted in a simple relay by Qais to the bowler Obed McCoy that made Rutherford wave his bat in frustration as he walked off for 15. Stars got sharper in the waning overs as Warner took his third catch in the 20th, followed by a last-ball run-out, as Amazon Warriors ended on 140 for 9.Lend me some runs In an effort to spur Simmons out of a form funk, he was given a chance to start the chase with Andre Fletcher and Warner was bumped down to No. 4. The pair are second and third on the all-time CPL run charts, behind only Chris Gayle, but the shuffle up the order didn’t have the desired effect.Simmons, the Stars’ $160,000 purchase, scratched his way to 15 off 20 balls before being bowled by an arm ball from Veerasammy Permaul. Simmons has 84 runs in five innings this season, including 17 in his last three innings. Meanwhile, Fletcher anchored the rest of the chase to finish with a top-score of 45 not out off 46 balls.Knight and dayEight days ago on the same ground, Pollard leaked 32 runs, including five sixes, to Darren Bravo in the 16th over of Trinbago Knight Riders’ successful chase of 213. On this occasion, it was Pollard doing the damage with the bat as Bishoo wound up on the receiving end of six consecutive strokes to the boundary.In spite of the wickets in hand, Stars’ chase was beginning to look eerily similar to the bungled effort produced by the Jamaica Tallawahs in Lauderhill on Wednesday night, losing by two runs against Barbados Tridents with seven wickets in hand despite the required run rate never climbing over 10 per over.The Warriors spinners had been doing damage through key phases of the chase but struggled to grip the ball in the late stages of the chase following the rain delay. With 31 needed off the last three overs and Pollard on 11 off 12 balls, Bishoo lost control of the first delivery of the 18th over, a full toss slipping out of his hand that was slapped over long-off for six. Pollard was now comfortably out of his shell and proceeded to smack the next three balls for six, four and six to take the equation under a run a ball. Two more straight fours ended the over, leaving Fletcher on strike to hit the winning runs in the next over for a rare victory for the home side.

Glamorgan’s batting subsided again as they closed on 79 for 7 with only rain saving them from a two-day defeat

ECB Reporters Network20-Aug-2018
ScorecardOn the day that Aneurin Donald, the 21-year-old Glamorgan batsman, decided to leave the club and join Hampshire, two Durham batsmen making their debut for the club made sizeable contributions as the visitors took control on the second day of their Championship game at Sophia Gardens. At the close, Glamorgan were 79 for 7 in their second innings, still needing 62 more runs to avoid an innings defeat.Alex Lees, formerly of Yorkshire, opened the batting and made a fluent 69 from 98 balls with 12 fours, to lay the foundations of Durham’s first innings total of 296, then the Indian allrounder Axar Patel helped his team recover after a mid-innings collapse. Patel was unbeaten on 95 and looked crestfallen as No. 11 Chris Rushworth was bowled by Michael Hogan.Durham had resumed on 75 without loss, with Lees and Cameron Steel extending their partnership to 94 for the first wicket, before Steel shouldered arms to Ruaidhri Smith and was bowled off stump. Gareth Harte was then dismissed in identical fashion, and when Graham Clark and Michael Richardson both edged Smith to the keeper, Durham had subsided to 144 for 5.

Glamorgan disappointed as Donald switches to Hampshire

Despite being offered a three-year contract by Glamorgan, Aneurin Donald has accepted a two-year deal with Hampshire and will join them on loan immediately until the end of the season. After scoring a double century against Derbyshire two years ago, he has contributed little since, and this season has averaged under twenty in all competitions.
Hugh Morris, the Glamorgan chief executive, said: “Our strategy is increasingly focussed on providing opportunities for our young players, and we are disappointed that Aneurin – who we wish well in the future – has not accepted our offer.”

Patel, who has not played a Test, but who has appeared in 38 ODIs and 11 T20Is, has joined Durham for the final six Championship games, and after taking 2 for 10 in Glamorgan’s first innings, he played an attractive innings with most of his 12 boundaries struck in the region between cover point and mid-off.Stuart Poynter gave him valuable support as he contributed 29 in a seventh-wicket stand of 61, which enabled Durham to gain a lead of 141 on a pitch which continued to help the seamers.After they were dismissed in 49.1 overs in their first innings, Glamorgan were again in familiar territory, slumping to 40 for 4 in the 16th over. Nick Selman was the first to go when he was strangled down the leg side, then Kiran Carlson and Jack Murphy fell to Rushworth.David Lloyd became the fourth victim when he gave Poynter his third catch, and when Cooke nudged Patel to the keeper – although the batsman was reluctant to leave the crease – half the team had gone for 51. But before the next batsman had reached the middle, rain forced the players indoors.After a short wait, they reappeared, with Connor Brown, who was not off the mark until his 30th delivery, beginning to play with more freedom. However, when Steel was brought on with his occasional spin, he dismissed Brown with his first ball and later dismissed Andrew Salter.The game would surely have finished on the second evening had the rain not returned with 14 overs remaining and Glamorgan facing the prospect of being dismissed for under 100 for the third time in the last four innings.

West Indies used seven bowlers, of whom four went wicketless as Ankit Bawne smashed his third hundred in four innings after Mayank Agarwal’s brisk 90

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Sep-2018Mayank Agarwal jumps in jubilation•PTI

West Indies found moderate success on their first outing in a six-week tour of India, taking six wickets on the opening day of their two-day warm-up match against Indian Board President’s XI in Vadodara. The hosts scored at 4 per over to post 360 for 6.Legspinner Devendra Bishoo found the most success for the visitors, taking three wickets – including those of half-centurions Mayank Agarwal (90) and Shreyas Iyer (61) – across a 21-over spell while Sherman Lewis, the right-arm seamer, was economical as he picked up a wicket and conceded only 13 runs in 10 overs. Lewis’ wicket was that of India’s latest Test player, Hanuma Vihari. Ankit Bawne, the right-handed middle-order batsman who had made two centuries in three List A innings before this match, scored an unbeaten 116 at No. 6. His innings took 191 balls and he hit 15 boundaries during its course.Agarwal’s 111-ball innings was peppered with 14 fours and two sixes, as he made another push to the national selectors for a back-door entry into the Indian squad that plays it’s first Test on October 4. Ignored for the Tests in England, Agarwal had struck two half-centuries against the visiting Australia-A team in the past month, before which he had scored 220 against South Africa A in early August. Agarwal did the bulk of the scoring in a 92-run third-wicket stand with captain Karun Nair, after the two had come together with IBXIP on 40 for 2. By the time Agarwal was out ten short of a ninth first-class hundred just after lunch, the Board President’s XI were at 132 for 3.Iyer then hit a brisk 64-ball 61 through the afternoon, combining with a more sedate Bawne for a 113-run fifth-wicket stand, after which the latter took control and piloted his way to an 18th first-class century.Having been asked to field, West Indies had begun with Shannon Gabriel having opener Prithvi Shaw caught-behind in the day’s third over, after which Lewis sent Vihari back in the 13th. It was then Bishoo’s legbreak that broke the Agarwal-Nair partnership, after which he went on to dismiss both Iyer and wicketkeeper Smit Patel after tea. Paul, Jomel Worrican, Roston Chase and Kraigg Brathwaite went wicketless.The second and final day of the only tour match will see the West Indies batting be tested by the likes of Avesh Khan, Basil Thampi, Jalaj S Saxena and Ishan Porel.

Kieran Powell and Chandrapaul Hemraj are no Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis, but they haven’t even gone past the mandatory Powerplay unscathed in this series

The Preview by Deivarayan Muthu31-Oct-20183:30

Dasgupta: Spin-friendly surface might prompt tactical changes for India

Big Picture

West Indies did deny Virat Kohli a hundred but a familiar Indian script unfolded at the CCI’s Brabourne Stadium: Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan provided the launchpad for a tall total. In a rather unfamiliar instance, though, an India No. 4 (Ambati Rayudu) cracked a century, as the side moves closer towards solving the middle-order jigsaw.After coming close to matching the hosts’ firepower with the bat in the ODI series opener, tying with them and later toppling them, West Indies stretched back to the stragglers, again, in Mumbai. They to win on Thursday in Thiruvananthapuram if they are to claim a share of the ODI series.For that their flimsy top order needs some stability. Kieran Powell and Chandrapaul Hemraj are no Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis, but they haven’t even gone past the mandatory Powerplay unscathed in this series. This has applied further pressure on an inexperienced middle order, which folded under relentless scoreboard pressure on Monday. And the clock keeps ticking on the 37-year-old Marlon Samuels.The 37-year old from India – MS Dhoni – seems to be fading away as well, with the bat. While his tactical nous and wicketkeeping skills are still indispensable, Hardik Pandya-less India want Dhoni to find a higher gear, which he briefly did in the IPL earlier this year.

Form guide

India WLTWW
West Indies LWTLL

In the spotlight

In the fourth ODI, Khaleel Ahmed showed why he had been fast-tracked into India’s World Cup plans. He consistently swung the white ball – with and against his left-arm angle – lending more spice to an already varied attack that has been bolstered by the returns of Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The way he dismissed Samuels in Mumbai was particularly delightful. After breaching the defences of Shimron Hetmyer and Rovman Powell with inswingers, he moved one away to catch the outside edge of Samuels.Rovman Powell is a Jr Andre Russell. He has a Mr T hairstyle like Russell, he can tonk the ball high and far, and can pitch in with handy medium-pace. He has also swiftly established himself as a T20 globetrotter. However, he has struggled against spin here, falling twice to left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav and once to Ravindra Jadeja’s left-arm orthodox in four innings. All told, he has managed only 45 runs in four innings at an average of 11.25 and strike-rate of 68.18. Among West Indies batsmen, only Samuels had fared worse than him.1:44

For the first time we have a good fast bowling quartet – B Arun

Team news

India had left out one of their gun bowlers Yuzvendra Chahal for batting insurance in Jadeja in the absence of the injured Pandya in the previous game. They might stick with the same combination, considering Dhoni’s form – or the lack of it.India (Probable) 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli (capt.), 4 Ambati Rayudu, 5 Kedar Jadhav, 6 MS Dhoni (wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Khaleel Ahmed, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 Jasprit BumrahThe visitors might consider bringing in Sunil Ambris – a dasher like Jermaine Blackwood – at the top of the order in place of either Powell or Hemraj. On the bowling front, they might swap left-arm spin-bowling allrounder Fabien Allen with the more experienced Devendra Bishoo.West Indies (Probable) 1 Chandrapaul Hemraj/Sunil Ambris, 2 Kieran Powell, 3 Shai Hope (wk), 4 Shimron Hetmeyer, 5 Marlon Samuels, 6 Rovman Powell, 7 Jason Holder (capt.), 8 Ashley Nurse, 9 Keemo Paul, 10 Devendra Bishoo/Fabien Allen 11 Kemar Roach

Pitch and conditions

The Greenfield Stadium is set to host its first ODI, having made its international debut last year by hosting New Zealand in a T20I. This could be the most humid venue in this series, and the pitch appeared flat and dry on the eve of the match.

Stats and trivia

• No side has beaten India twice in a home ODI series since October 2016.
• Dhoni needs one run to become the fifth player to score 10,000 ODI runs for India after Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli.
• Bhuvneshwar Kumar needs two wickets to 100 scalps in ODIs.

Quotes

“Khaleel looks a very exciting prospect. He is sharp and has the skills to do well at the international level.”
“I like heat, especially from the point of view that I could be in the UK, where it starts to get cold. The humidity’s is what you will expect. We’re not very far from Sri Lanka, so the weather is pretty similar. This is an amazing ground. Certainly we’re very excited to be playing here tomorrow. The wicket looks good, but it’s a phenomenal ground.”

Mohammad Amir picked up a five-wicket haul for SSGC, while Iftikhar Ahmed scored more in one innings for SNGPL than Lahore Blues managed in either of theirs

ESPNcricinfo staff16-Nov-2018Lahore Blues outgunned by SNGPLIt doesn’t say much about a team that loses by an innings to a side that only managed 258, but such was Lahore Blues’ performance in this crunch Super Eight match. It was a nine-wicket match haul by Imran Khalid that beset Lahore most, playing a large part in ensuring they were bowled out for 122 and 108 either side of SNGPL’s innings. Iftikhar Ahmed was primarily responsible for getting SNGPL to 258, scoring 125, a number the entire Lahore side failed to manage in either of their innings. It leaves Lahore at the bottom of the table after two losses from two, while a perfect record for SNGPL sees them take top spot.Zahid Mansoor spins WAPDA to innings winKhan Research Laboratories met a similarly ignominious fate, unable to total up to the 296 WAPDA scored in their one innings. KRL stumbled to 12 for 5 in the first innings, setting the tone for the match. Their 110 was answered by 296 from WAPDA thanks to a number of middle-order contributions, notably half-centuries from Abubakar Khan and Kamran Akmal. The 186-run lead they established was too much to overhaul for KRL, with Zahid Mansoortaking another four wickets to go with his four in the first innings, while Waqas Maqsood, recently called up to the Pakistan T20I side, took another three as KRL were wrapped up for 162.Heavyweights SSGC, HBL play out stalemateTwo of the heavyweights on the domestic circuit, SSGC and HBL, couldn’t be separated over four days, a grinding battle ending with the points shared. After Aamer Yamin’s 80 had taken SSGC to 211, after Khurram Shehzad had wiped out five of the top six, HBL responded with 274, with eight of the top nine getting into double figures. Zohaib Khan scored 65 as captain Imran Farhat chipped in with 44, while the national selectors will have been pleased to see Mohammad Amir take a five-wicket haul.In the second innings, SSGC were far more impressive, declaring at 380 for five, with Fawad Alam the top-scorer, unbeaten on 85. The target of 318 was never on for HBL, but they were able to avoid being bowled out, batting nearly 90 overs, with Farhat scoring 77, before the two sides shook hands with four HBL players till undismissed.

The batting coach spoke about Pakistan batsmen’s shot selection, the pressure their captain is under and how the players need to adapt

Danyal Rasool30-Dec-2018Pakistan batting coach Grant Flower admits he has “seen happier dressing rooms” than the one he finds himself in with the team right now. Speaking to ESPNcricinfo in the wake of Pakistan’s defeat inside three days at South Africa’s hands in Centurion, he also warned a lot of the players’ places would be under threat following a collapse that saw Pakistan cede a commanding position at tea on the second day to succumb to a tame six-wicket reverse.”The atmosphere isn’t the best at the moment,” Flower said. “Not many losing teams’ atmosphere will be the best. No one likes to lose. You don’t want to become happy losers. I’m not involved in selection, but there are quite a few guys with their places under threat. It’s not just one or two batsmen, you could point fingers at a few players.”Evidence of a breakdown in the morale of the camp further emerged following stumps on the second day, the one which oversaw a Pakistan collapse that all but put them out of the game, with a dressing room leak reporting coach Mickey Arthur had lost his temper with the players, in particular giving some of the batsmen an earful. Although the PCB later issued a statement denying Arthur so much as became angry, there is little doubt he did make his displeasure known, with Flower saying the real problem was the incident being leaked to the media.ALSO READ: Arthur gives Pakistan’s seniors dressing-room dressing down“We don’t know who it is [the leaker]. But they’ve got to look at themselves in the mirror. It should never happen. On tour it’s all about teamwork, you’re supposed to be a family and trust each other. But I’ve been with the team over four years and there have been constant leaks all the time. It’s nothing new for me, so it doesn’t really come as a surprise.”Mickey had some strong words with the players; there was quite a bit of honesty from him. I think the guys were a bit shell-shocked, but they’ve heard Mickey, everyone knows he can come down harshly on the boys at times. But sometimes that’s needed and the guys needed to be told a few home truths. Mickey won’t be the first or last coach to do that. If the guys do have strong character, they’ll bounce back from it and take that as a challenge.”Much of Arthur’s wrath, ESPNcricinfo understands, was directed at the more experienced middle-order batsmen in the camp. Despite Pakistan’s perceived batting weakness lying at the top of the order, Imam-ul-Haq and Shan Masood had manged to give their side a solid foundation by tea, with the score reading 100 for 1. And in a session where the middle order might have built on the start and given South Africa a daunting fourth innings target, a string of poor shots saw the visitors lose nine wickets in the session, bowled out by stumps.Arthur’s mood had not improved by the following morning, and when Dean Elgar seemed to be dismissed in the slips by Azhar Ali, the third umpire overturned the soft signal of out to give him a reprieve that saw him score a half-century and kill off any Pakistan hopes. Arthur went to the third umpire to remonstrate, earning him a demerit point in the process, but Flower found himself in agreement with the coach.ALSO READ: Azhar took a ‘clean’ catch, on-field decision should have stayed – Sarfraz“In my opinion, it was the wrong decision. And the on-field umpire gave that out. And there was no conclusive evidence otherwise, so he should have upheld that decision.”Pakistan players react after Dean Elgar is given not out•AFP

The Pakistan middle order found itself under severe scrutiny over the past few days, and Flower felt the dismissal of Asad Shafiq, in particular, showed what pressure could do to Pakistan.”He’s one of the strongest guys mentally, but when you’re under pressure, things can change. Technically, that ball that he hit in the second innings, his back foot didn’t go across at all. There’s no weight transfer towards the delivery. That’s what pressure does. He had a big call the ball before, and when you’re under pressure, your reactions aren’t as quick as they need to be against the best attack in the world at the moment. Whenever people seem to be writing off Asad he comes through with a big hundred. If he is given that chance again I’d back him. He’s definitely good enough and should be playing for Pakistan.”The issue of Sarfraz Ahmed’s declining fortunes had long simmered in the background as an itch to be scratched, but of late has emerged front and centre as a borderline crisis. With the Pakistan captain struggling badly for runs sporting a technique that looks unlikely to flourish in this part of the world – he appears to be crouching far too low on what are almost tennis ball bounce pitches – Pakistan have been left with a captain out of form and no obvious captaincy replacement.”Anyone would agree being a captain, batsman and wicketkeeper is probably the hardest job in cricket,” Flower said. “And probably too hard. I’m sure it would help his batting if he didn’t have the captaincy pressure, but that’s how it is at the moment. If that’s going to continue, then he has to find a way of coping with those pressures technically and mentally.”It’s a tough one. Saifi’s a really good bloke who’s having a bad run. Technically, just trying to work on being able to leave the ball and not defending outside off stump, getting underneath the short ball. I thought we were progressing, but obviously the results show otherwise. It’s a tough one, when you’re in a rut.”Flower also revealed Mohammad Rizwan had been looking very good in the nets, and came to the tour on the back of good form, with the caveat that these pitches were worlds apart from the ones where he had prospered recently. He also singled out Fakhar Zaman as a player who would have to adapt to conditions here in South Africa, and understand he couldn’t play the way he had been doing back home.”Mickey is quite a big Fakhar fan, and so am I. He’s got to realise, though, he can’t play the same way on these South African wickets as he does in the UAE because the bounce is totally different. He’s got to adapt and be mature enough to know that. Regarding that second innings dismissal, it’s a bit hit and miss. You can’t just tee off and hope it’ll land in no man’s land. In Test cricket you’ve got to be more circumspect than that. I told him, and he’s admitted to that. So hopefully he’ll improve.”Pakistan also may find themselves deprived of having all their players back, with Flower disclosing Haris Sohail was still struggling with the knee injury that plagued him in Centurion, and the Cape Town Test may come too soon for him. That would suggest an unchanged top three for the second Test, where pace hasn’t been quite as hard to combat as Pakistan found it in Centurion.”Quite a few of the guys struggled on these wickets. Even the South Africa players who know these conditions said this track was bloody hard. People can say whatever they want, but they’ve got to bear in mind these are tough conditions. But good players adapt, and our players have to adapt quickly before the Newlands Test.”The track isn’t quite as bouncy there, and we have got a good team. They’re used to fighting hard and coming out of the corner so we’ll see what happens at Newlands.”