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A round-up of the second day of action from the World Cricket League Division Three tournament in Hong Kong

ESPNcricinfo staff23-Jan-2011Denmark’s 30-run win over United States of America at the Mission Road ground in Mong Kok was the story of the second day of the World Cricket League Division Three tournament. Michael Pedersen played a true captain’s knock for his team, holding the innings together with an unbeaten 78, and followed that up with four wickets as USA were bowled out for 163 in pursuit of Denmark’s 193 for 6.In the lowest scoring fixture of the day, Denmark were put in to bat on a fine and sunny day and the top order put 50 runs on the board before opener Freddie Klokker had his stumps rearranged by medium-pacer Orlando Baker. After Yasir Iqbal departed for 31 it was left to Pedersen to guide his side to a respectable total, with no other batsman scoring more than 13. He eased past fifty and maintained his composure as wickets fell at the other end, facing 123 balls and hitting nine fours.USA weren’t particularly impressive in the field, missing key opportunities that allowed Denmark to score more runs than they otherwise would have. Their bowling attack – Muhammad Ghous apart – was at least economical, with left-arm spinner Asif Khan picking up 2 for 31.Carl Wright launched USA’s chase with an aggressive 43 and it appeared the team’s tactic would be to waste no time in getting past the low total. Denmark’s opening bowlers bore the brunt of their attack, but USA paid the price for their approach as wickets fell at regular intervals and it was spin that proved their undoing. Pedersen provided crucial breakthroughs with the wickets of Wright, Lennox Cush for a 14-ball 16 and Rashard Marshall for 31. Legspinner Bobby Chawla then ran through the lower order, picking up 4 for 32 and removing Kevin Darlington lbw to seal the result.”I think in the first hour or so we played well making 40-odd runs and I was pleased with how Freddie Klokker and Yasir Iqbal performed,” said Pedersen, who was named Man of the Match. “But once the newness of the ball had worn off and it began to lose some of its pace I think our batsmen found it harder to score runs, especially with the USA bowling so straight and not leaving much room for manoeuvre. I felt I had to really sit in and grind out my innings giving the others the opportunities so that we could make a decent total. I think we were also aided in making our total by some poor fielding by the USA who missed at least one sitter of a catch.”Pedersen added his side’s game-plan, when it came to the bowling, was what really paid off for the team today. “The team had a game plan when we took to the field and once we’d taken the pace off the ball after the first 12 overs the USA started to come at the ball.”Bobby’s bowling was brilliant today and as for myself, I think I was pretty lucky with some of my wickets with some good catches being taken by my fielders. This tournament is wide open now which I think is great. We weren’t the favourites in today’s game and today’s results show no team is unbeatable. I feel we’ve got ourselves accustomed to the conditions and are now playing the way we should be at this event.”Papua New Guinea completed their second win in two days, beating Italy by 32 runs at Hong Kong Cricket Club. In another low-scoring game Jason Kila’s innings of 46 proved vital to PNG’s total of 209, while they were also helped by some sloppy bowling from the Italians as 24 wides were conceded. Peter Petricola was once again the pick of Italy’s attack, taking 4 for 38, but he could do nothing to counter a committed team performance from PNG’s bowlers as Italy were bowled out for 172 in the 44th over.Despite their inaccuracy, Italy’s bowlers had reduced PNG to 105 for 6 before they encountered some gritty lower-order resistance. Wicketkeeper Jack Vare made a patient 28 in helping to add 61 for the seventh wicket – the highest partnership in either innings – while Kila struck four fours and a six before he was caught behind to prompt a capitulation from the tail.PNG captain Rarua Dikana shone with the ball, claiming 3 for 24 with his medium pacers and taking the all-important wickets of opener Andy Northcote and the dangerous Petricola. While most of Italy’s batsmen made starts, none were able to push on and play a decisive innings and the wickets were shared around before No. 11 Alauddin was run out to end the innings.”Our batsmen are confident and did a good job spreading the load to make the total but perhaps didn’t perform as strongly as we know they can, but with a strong bowling unit we didn’t feel panicked about taking on Italy’s batting line up and we scored our second victory,” said Dikana. “The pitch was pretty bouncy this morning but it flattened out as when we bowled on it which saw the ball keep low which helped me in claiming at least two of my wickets which were leg before. Tomorrow’s a rest day which means we can relax as a side and prepare for Tuesday and hopefully make it three out of three.”In the tightest match of the day hosts Hong Kong lost out for the second time in a row, this time to a rejuvenated Oman side. In the bright sunshine of Kowloon Cricket Club, Najeeb Amar’s side put on a respectable total of 266 after some strong batting from Hussain Butt who struck 81 of the side’s runs. The stand-out bowler for the Omanis was veteran spinner Khalid Rasheed who managed to claim the scalps of Courtney Kruger and Butt on his way to 3 for 37.Oman’s batsmen didn’t waste any time when it came to scoring runs after lunch with opener Hemin Desai smashing his way to 62 in just 30 balls. The 33-year-old right-handed batsman smashed nine boundaries and three sixes before he was bowled by Nadeem Ahmed. Vaibhav Wategaonkar added an important 68 but the star of the Oman innings was easily the side’s wicketkeeper-batsman Sultan Ahmed, whose unbeaten 70 guided the team to victory with one over to spare.”It’s obviously disappointing not to win for a second time but the side hasn’t lost its confidence. We know we’ve got the ability and today’s game, like yesterday’s, came down to the last over,” said Hong Kong coach Charlie Burke. “Our biggest problem is we’ve not had a big enough batting partnership in our innings and then we’ve gone on to bowl five or six poor overs which has allowed the opposition to get on top of us. We won’t let today’s result hold us back and along with the other results from today’s games the tournament is still wide open.””We have a great depth in our middle-order and today it paid off with everyone contributing throughout the 50 overs to get us over the line,” said Ahmed, who was named Man of the Match. “We knew today’s match was important for both ourselves and Hong Kong and we wanted to give it our all, we made sure we were motivated for today’s match and it really paid off. We always focus on the coming match and not the next four matches and I think that has helped our focus today and hopefully it will help us after the rest day when we face Italy on Tuesday.”

If Andrew Strauss’s century was an innings that Australia had anticipated on the strength of his performances in England in 2009, then Alastair Cook’s personal epic crept up on them via the blind-side

Andrew Miller at the Gabba28-Nov-2010If Andrew Strauss’s century was an innings that Australia had anticipated on the strength of his performances in England in 2009, then Alastair Cook’s personal epic crept up on them via the blind-side. By the close of the fourth day’s play, however, a man who had begun the series being singled out as England’s weak link was just one run shy of a double-century match tally, having batted all told for almost 12 hours.Despite being the only one of England’s two openers to have previously made a century in Australia, Cook’s 116 at Perth back in December 2006 had come in the midst of a series in which his next highest score was 43. Back in England last summer, his 95 at Lord’s owed a considerable amount to Mitchell Johnson’s first-day largesse, and he did not pass 32 in eight further innings in that series, leaving his overall average in Ashes cricket – 498 runs at 26.21 – looking like that of an under-achiever.But with one day remaining of an absorbing Brisbane Test, Cook has the platform from which to produce something truly memorable – the chance to live up to the exhortations of his mentor Graham Gooch, by batting Australia out of the match with a “daddy”, and himself into a position from which no-one will dare to question his resolve at the highest level.If Australia under-estimated Cook’s resilience, then they weren’t the only ones. With his awkward, pokey technique, with his bat and gloves often dangling several feet from his front pad, it doesn’t require much for errors to creep into his game, and on the last Ashes tour in particular, he was tormented outside off stump by Glenn McGrath and Stuart Clark. But with Gooch as his sidekick, and through hours of deconstruction in the nets, he’s stripped his game down to its basics and equipped himself with the necessary tools for survival.”It was very satisfying,” said Cook at the close. “I said at the start of the tour I had a point to prove, because in my last two series against Australia I hadn’t done that well. But over the last 12 months I’ve had a bit of a tinker with my technique and tried to improve it. The results today, I’m very happy with.”That’s not to say that Cook will ever please the purists, or keep his detractors at arm’s length at all times. In the 2010 English summer, for instance, he scraped 106 runs in his first eight Test innings against Bangladesh and Pakistan, and was said to be playing for his place when he lived up to his dogged reputation with a defiant 110 at The Oval. For Cook, however, the traumas of that series have had a flip-side, for they have allowed him to accept the Gabba wicket for what it’s been all week – a relative batsman’s paradise on which application is sure to be rewarded.”Conditions at home were the toughest I’ve ever experienced as an opening batter,” he said. “It swung and was very tough for the top order. It reminds you, when you do get conditions that don’t swing as much, to cash in. In the first innings I worked really hard and got out for 60 – which was very frustrating. It took me another two-and-a-half hours to get my hundred, after Straussy. But when I got it, that noise made the hair at the back of my neck stand up.”The likelihood of England going into the Gabba Test without him was always next-to-nil, even when he began the Ashes tour with an ugly double-failure against Western Australia at Perth. The team simply values his mental fortitude above all else, and that trait was especially in evidence in Bangladesh back in the spring, when he was named as England captain while Strauss took a break.The decision to promote him was not universally welcomed, but Cook was mightily impressive in the role, as he willed himself to score a century in each of the two Tests at Chittagong and Dhaka, while also leading from the front in a rare foray into the one-day side. Of course, the pressures of those contests were not in the same league as the Ashes, and yet for Cook, as an untested captain in an environment where defeat was not an option, the lessons he learned were invaluable all the same.”Resilience is certainly one of Cookie’s greatest strengths,” said Strauss. “He is a very resilient character and he is able to do the hard yards as he demonstrated in this game. One of the things you have to do in Test cricket generally is not think too much about what has happened or what’s going to happen, you just stay in the present as much as possible. That is what Alastair and I managed to do today.”

Mitchell Johnson will take the rare step of returning to club cricket this weekend, as he aims to regain his touch in the lead-up to the Ashes

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Nov-2010Mitchell Johnson will take the rare step of returning to club cricket this weekend, as he aims to regain his touch in the lead-up to the Ashes. Johnson has struggled for form since returning early from the series in India, and as a player for whom time off can be a hindrance more than a blessing, he is keen to get as much on-field action as possible before the Gabba Test.Having recently played his first game for Western Australia, despite moving there two years ago, Johnson will on Saturday line up for the Perth club side Wanneroo. He will then rejoin the Warriors for their Sheffield Shield match against Victoria, which begins at the MCG next Wednesday, before getting ready for the first Test starting on November 25.”I’m not getting the results I would probably like in the wicket column,” Johnson told reporters in Perth. “But I don’t feel like I’m out of form. I guess you look at the last game against Sri Lanka on Sunday and I felt really good. I was speaking to Brad Haddin, we normally talk to each other about how things are going for each other, and he just said go out there and bowl fast, and that’s what I did and he said I looked really good.”I don’t feel like I’m out of form, I just feel a little bit off the mark. Hopefully I’ve got it right for the Ashes. The last time I played grade cricket, I was in Brisbane maybe four years ago. I remember it quite well. I was at our home ground. It was actually a nice, fast week so it was quite exciting for me. [I’m] looking forward to this weekend. Get a bit more bowling in before a big Ashes series.”Johnson was wayward in the ODI series against Sri Lanka this month, when he collected 1 for 128 across the three matches. However, he did show some signs of improvement in the final match at the Gabba, although Mitchell Starc and Clint McKay reaped the rewards.

Both teams have not been in great form in the format in recent times

Andrew Fidel Fernando09-Jul-2025

Big picture: Two teams in choppy T20I form

So far on tour [two Tests and three ODIs], Bangladesh have one win from five matches. This, they will feel, is not an apt reflection of how competitive they have been in Sri Lanka. They were running the back end of the first Test in Galle, were more competitive than Sri Lanka’s margins of victory suggested in the ODIs, and have had some promising players make significant contributions.The problem for Bangladesh is that T20I is the format they have been in the worst form. They have lost 11 of their last 15 T20Is. Even against Sri Lanka, who have not been especially good themselves in T20Is recently, they have lost four matches to the two won since 2020.Related

• Shanaka, Karunaratne, Wellalage back in SL squad for T20Is against Bangladesh

• Kusal 124 forms the centrepiece of Sri Lanka's series victory

• Litton Das hopeful of coming out of batting slump

There is added incentive here. Next year, part of the T20 World Cup will be played in Sri Lanka. The schedule for that tournament is yet to be released, but this could potentially be an important opportunity for Bangladesh’s younger players to become accustomed to these surfaces and grounds.Sri Lanka are in the midst of their most serious attempt at regeneration since their great T20 team of the early 2010s waned. It is difficult to know what to expect. They have both Kusal Mendis and Charith Asalanka in form. But as a team, they are yet to string together consistent T20 performances, losing eight of their last 13 matches. In the T20 World Cup last year, their defeat to Bangladesh effectively put them out of the tournament.They have momentum on this tour, though, and with there only being one free day between the end of the ODI series and the start of the T20Is, Sri Lanka will hope their momentum carries them through.

Form guide

Sri Lanka: WLLLW
Bangladesh: LLLLLLitton Das needs to find form with the bat•AFP/Getty Images

In the spotlight: Litton Das and Sri Lanka allrounders

There is currently a captaincy spot up for grabs for Bangladesh, with Najmul Hossain Shanto having stepped down as captain after the second Test. Litton Das could potentially be their next leader in the longest format, though he is not the frontrunner right now (you’d think that would be Mehidy Hasan Miraz). But for that to become a serious possibility, he would have to lead Bangladesh well in the format he currently captain of – T20Is. And he would probably need to contribute runs to their victories as well. Although he was dropped from the one-day team after making a duck in the first match, he had hit 90 in the Galle Test.While in ODIs, Sri Lanka are trying to develop a seam-bowling allrounder with an eye on the 2027 World Cup in South Africa, in T20Is, it seems like Sri Lanka are more intent on trialling Chamika Karunaratne and Dasun Shanaka for that role. On tracks that take big spin, Dunith Wellalage can turn the ball at speed, and also has outstanding control. But Sri Lanka want some big-hitting capability in their XI, and Wellalage doesn’t quite have the power game at present.Taskin Ahmed is expected to start for Bangladesh•AFP/Getty Images

Team news

Khaled Ahmed and Hasan Mahmud are out of the T20I squad, so Bangladesh have to make two changes in the bowling department. Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman are likely to play ahead of Shoriful Islam and Mohammad Saifuddin. They also have choices in the spin department, though that would depend on how they perceive the Pallekele pitch.Bangladesh (probable XI): 1 Tanzid Hasan, 2 Parvez Hossain Emon, 3 Litton Das (capt & wk), 4 Towhid Hridoy, 5 Shamim Hossain, 6 Jaker Ali, 7 Mehidy Hasan Miraz, 8 Tanzim Hasan, 9 Rishad Hossain, 10 Taskin Ahmed, 11 Mustafizur RahmanSri Lanka’s main question will be the make-up of their attack. They’ll likely want two frontline quicks – Matheesha Pathirana the likeliest to play, but Binura Fernando and Nuwan Thushara also in with a good chance. On the spin-bowling front, Jeffrey Vandersay will likely replace the injured Wanindu Hasaranga.The other question is allrounders. Wellalage, Dasun Shanaka, and Karunaratne are all in a fight for a spot.Sri Lanka (probable XI): 1 Pathum Nissanka, 2 Kusal Mendis (wk), 3 Kusal Perera, 4 Avishka Fernando, 5 Charith Asalanka (capt), 6 Dasun Shanaka, 7 Dunith Wellalage/Chamika Karunaratne, 8 Jeffrey Vandersay, 9 Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Nuwan Thushara, 11 Matheesha Pathirana

Pitch and conditions

Pallekele can often be a high-scoring ground, particularly if there is a little rain around and the ball becomes difficult for the bowlers to grip. There are showers floating around the hills surrounding Pallekele frequently, but this is generally not one of the wetter parts of the year.

Stats and trivia

• In four T20Is so far, Wellalage has taken six wickets and maintained an economy of less than six. But his batting is less impressive in this format – he has a strike rate of 106 in T20s.
  
• Litton Das is yet to hit a fifty as captain. After ten innings at the helm, he has hit 158 runs at a strike rate of 120.
  
• Sri Lanka last played Bangladesh at this venue in this format in March 2013. Sri Lanka won that game.

  Quotes

  “Sri Lanka were better, and that’s why they won the ODIs. In T20s, if you play good cricket on the day, you will win. They have a lot of experience playing here, and overall, their bowling is strong with several mystery bowlers.”
  “The important thing is managing players. We have to give the players who come into the scene a decent run and keep them in good form for the World Cup. We hope the LPL will take place before the World Cup and that’s a big thing for us.”

“It’s really tough,” Cummins says about losing Josh Hazlewood for the rest of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy matches

Andrew McGlashan18-Dec-20240:55

Cummins on Hazlewood: ‘Story of the last few summers’

Australia have insisted that Travis Head will be fit to take his place in the Boxing Day Test against India after he experienced some discomfort with a tight quad on the final day in Brisbane.Head appeared slightly restricted towards the backend of his second innings and did not take the field for India’s brief chase before rain halted the match for the final time. There was initial speculation that it was a groin problem, but that was emphatically denied by a Cricket Australia spokesperson”Trav, he’ll be fine, it’s a bit of a tight quad, he’ll be fine for Melbourne,” captain Pat Cummins said after the match.Related

• India and Australia take a moment to recalibrate as Gabba stalemate leaves everything up for grabs

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At the post-match presentation, Head said, “It’s been a big couple of weeks. But I’ll be fine.”Australia had already lost one key player during the Gabba Test, with Josh Hazlewood picking up a calf strain during warm-ups on the third day. Cummins confirmed Hazlewood would miss the remainder of the series. Scott Boland is expected to return at the MCG.Hazlewood’s latest injury came in his comeback match from the side strain that kept him out of the second Test in Adelaide and means, after a setback-free run from mid-2023 where he played ten consecutive Tests, he will miss more matches than he plays this season.”It’s really tough,” Cummins said. “It’s been the story, outside of last summer, of the last few summers. The extra layer to that [is] he’s probably one of the most disciplined, professional sportspeople you could meet [with] the way he trains and prepares. When he’s at home he’s in the gym every second day or every day, doing whatever it takes to try and minimise injuries. Think that’s an extra kind of blow, knowing how much he’s put into his body in the last few years to try and play as many Tests as he can.”It’s one of those [injuries] you can’t really predict, but we value him. Unfortunately, he’ll miss this series. I don’t know exactly when he’ll be right to go again but even in the little snippets we’ve seen this series it shows how much we rate him and how much of an impact he can have.”Travis Head hit his second century of the series in Brisbane, but ended the Test with “a tight quad”•Cricket Australia via Getty Images

However, Head, Australia’s most in-form batter, would have been an even bigger hole to fill so his positive prognosis is vital for the home side. He has made back-to-back destructive centuries in Adelaide and Brisbane, the first setting up victory and the second putting Australia in a dominant position.Cummins confirmed that there had been consideration to opening with Head on the final day after Australia had secured a lead of 185, following a defiant last-wicket stand between Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep which removed the option of the follow on.However, ultimately the decision was to stick with openers Usman Khawaja and Nathan McSweeney in what became a strange second innings, where Mitchell Marsh was promoted to No. 4, in which they were 33 for 5 in 11 overs making it a little unclear what the objective was until Cummins flayed 22 off ten deliveries.”[We were] always trying to set up the game,” Cummins said. “[A] day-five wicket, it always felt like there were plenty of wickets on offer so just trying to get a bit of a total then try and then have enough overs to take those ten wickets. The number in your head always keeps changing as the weather does.”With Hazlewood limited to just six overs in the first innings, a significant bowling load fell on the shoulders of Cummins and Mitchell Starc, who sent down 46 of the 78.5 overs India faced in their first innings. Cummins acknowledged it had been tough work on the fourth day but that the regular rain breaks had meant they had not felt overburdened.Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc took on most of Australia’s bowling load in Josh Hazlewood’s absence•AFP/Getty Images

“We are feeling really good,” Cummins said of himself and Starc. “It was hot yesterday but we’d had about seven days off bowling after Adelaide so we were fresh, ready to go, and if anything the rain breaks helped us get little breaks yesterday.”Marsh, who effectively became Australia’s third seamer, only sent down two overs (having bowled just four in Adelaide) but Cummins said he would have been used more extensively if a fuller run chase had played out. Before the match, Marsh had reiterated he was able to bowl as much as the captain needed him following doubts over his fitness after Perth where he had pulled up sore following 17 overs in the opening Test.”We went in thinking we’d need a lot more from Mitchy Marsh but felt like we got enough breaks so he wasn’t needed as much,” Cummins said. “Also [had] a bit of an eye to the second innings so when we had a fresh new ball, it would have landed on Mitchy a lot to try and take those ten wickets. I suspect we’ll call on Mitch and some stage in the next couple of Tests to get us a breakthrough or two.”Australia’s selectors will meet over the next 24 hours and the squad is due to come back together in Melbourne on Monday ahead of the Boxing Day Test.

He had retired from international cricket in December 2020, but his return means he will be unavailable for Derbyshire at the start of the county season

ESPNcricinfo staff24-Mar-2024Mohammad Amir has made himself available for selection to Pakistan for the upcoming T20 World Cup that starts on June 1 in the USA and the West Indies. Amir’s last match for Pakistan was a T20I against England in 2020, and he retired from international cricket in December that year, saying he felt mentally tortured.”I still dream to play for Pakistan!” Amir, 31, said in a post on social media. “Life brings us to the points where at times we have to reconsider our decisions. There have been a few positive discussions between myself and the PCB where they respectfully made me feel that I was needed and can still play for Pakistan, and after discussing with family and well wishers I declare that I am available to be considered for upcoming T20 WC.”I want do this for my country as it comes before my personal decisions. Donning the green jersey and serving my country has always been, and will continue to be, my greatest aspiration.”Amir most recently played the 2024 PSL, where he finished with 10 wickets in nine games with an economy of 8.41 for Quetta Gladiators. Amir’s announcement comes a day after allrounder Imad Wasim reversed his retirement and also made himself available for selection for the T20 World Cup.While Amir had an unremarkable PSL campaign, his performances in the CPL in recent seasons stand him in promising stead for a World Cup that will largely be held in the West Indies. He has taken 43 wickets at an average of 14.39 and an economy rate of just 6.50. With Shaheen not at full tilt since his injury return, Naseem only recently back from a lengthy layoff and Haris Rauf currently injured, Pakistan’s pace bowling stocks are depleted, potentially giving Amir the opportunity to elbow his way in.The decision also has ramifications for his county Derbyshire, whom he will not be linking up with when the season starts on April 5.New Zealand visit Pakistan for five T20Is from April 18-27, and Amir’s decision to make himself available for international cricket means he will be in Pakistan during this period. In a post on social media, he thanked the county, as well as head coach Mickey Arthur, for “being understanding”.

Who does the finishing job then? Hardik Pandya is the best option, says the India Test batter

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Aug-20228:40

Rishabh Pant or Dinesh Karthik?

Cheteshwar Pujara called the task of picking one of Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant in the India XI for the Asia Cup game against Pakistan a “big headache”. But, unless both are fielded, one has to miss out, and Pujara picked Pant over Karthik for a spot in the team.”Firstly, it’s a big headache for the team management as both [Pant and Karthik] are doing really well in the T20 format,” Pujara said on ESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time Out programme ahead of the India vs Pakistan game in Dubai. “The tough call is whether you want someone to bat at No. 5 or you want a finisher who can bat at No. 6 or 7.Related

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“So, I would say, if you want someone at No. 5, Rishabh Pant is a better choice. But if you want your batting line-up to have a very good finisher who is likely to play ten or 20 balls and give you 40-50 runs, I think DK [Karthik] is the better option.”With India trying out a number of players over the last few months for one reason or another, both Pant and Karthik have had decent runs in the format. But now Virat Kohli is back, and all of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya are around, which has changed the scenario.Those names, however, don’t include a left-hander, another reason Pant might pip Karthik to the post, Pujara reasoned. “Personally, knowing the team management (and) knowing how things work around the Indian team, I would think they might go with Rishabh Pant because he is a left-hander and that gives the team a bit of balance with a left-and-right combination.But how about both figuring in the playing XI? Possibly at the expense of a top-order batter? If the top three of Rohit, Rahul and Kohli is fixed, could Suryakumar make way?The team’s not big enough for both of them, or is it?•PTI

“Suryakumar is one of our top T20 players, so I would definitely want him in the side because he can win you games… he is someone who has done really well for Mumbai Indians [in the IPL],” Pujara said. “Whenever I’ve seen him at No. 4, he has done exceptionally well.”So I don’t think the team management will leave him out. If Rishabh and Karthik both have to play, then I think you have to drop one of the top-order [batters], which is impossible. So I don’t think both can make the XI.”Karthik has been India’s finisher of choice in T20Is this year. He boasts of a strike rate of 171.60 in the death overs in 2022 and has the ability to manufacture shots soon after getting in. If he is dropped, who does that job?”I would prefer Hardik to do that role,” Pujara said. “He is someone who can strike from ball one, and his strike rate is always above 150. I don’t think Rishabh can do that job because he needs a little more time. And if he [Pant] comes in to bat, it should be somewhere around ten or 12 overs. And if he gets eight-ten overs, he can score a 50 or a bit more than that.”The India vs Pakistan game will be played in Dubai, where Pakistan beat India by ten wickets at the T20 World Cup last year – it was Pakistan’s first win over India in any World Cup, ODI or T20I.

Updates, analysis and colour from the second day of the third Test

Andrew Miller25-Feb-2021*Most recent entry will appear at the top, please refresh your page for the latest updates. All times are local

7.55pm: All over!

Well, who would have thought? The result looked likely last night but the time frame? India run away with victory by 10 wickets late on the second day of this third Test to take a 2-1 series lead and a step closer to a berth in the WTC final, in the process ruining any chance of England featuring in that showcase against New Zealand at Lord’s. On a day when 17 wickets fell, India resumed on 99 for 3 but were bowled out for 145, a first-innings lead of just 33. But then England managed just 81 in their second innings, even worse than their paltry 112 from the first as Axar Patel claimed another five-for and 11 for the match and R Aswhin passed 400 Test wickets with his seventh for the match. That left the hosts needing just 49 runs in their second innings and they got there with ease, Rohit bringing up the winning runs with a six off Root.

7.30pm: Poor pitch would not cost India WTC points, say ICC

Nagraj Gollapudi is on the case for the race…In case the Ahmedabad pitch is rated poor by the ICC, it will not hurt India’s standing in the World Test Championship.Currently India are in the race for the second finalist spot in the WTC final, along with England and Australia. In 2019 the ICC had cautioned member boards from doctoring pitches to the home team’s advantage in the WTC, saying points could be at stake.However ESPNcricinfo has confirmed that India would not be docked any points even in the case of the Ahmedabad pitch were to be rated poor.The WTC playing conditions states: “If a match is abandoned and the pitch and/or outfield is ultimately rated as ‘Unfit’ under the ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process, points for that match shall be distributed on the basis that the visiting team won the match and the home team lost the match. Any abandoned match will be classified as a drawn match for statistical purposes.”

6.53pm: A costly first foray for England, India need 38

A tricky two-over spell at the top of India’s innings before the dinner break, but they’ll be happy enough with their start. England hand the new ball to Jack Leach and Joe Root, unsurprisingly, but it’s James Anderson who makes the main mark by misfielding at point to gift Rohit two runs to get off the mark. Root then turns one down the leg side, and not even Foakes can intercept that. Eleven precious runs squandered in the blink of an eye.

6.35pm: Pitch battle in prospect as India are set 49 to win

R Ashwin punches in the air after bowling Ollie Pope, his 399th Test wicket•BCCI

Whatever happens from here, this Test is destined to be done and dusted in two days. And Nagraj Gollapudi isn’t entirely impressed, with the batting as much as the conditions.Three days before the pink ball Test Rohit Sharma said it was time to move away from the pitch debate that followed the first two matches of the England series, played in Chennai. However, another dry turner in Ahmedabad is now threatening to get over in two days. Two days, yes. And just two wickets have been taken so far by the fast bowlers of the 30 to fall overall.So, whether Rohit and India like it or not, the pitch debate is not going away. The ball has been turning from ball one, literally, with both of India’s primary spinners – R Ashwin and Axar Patel – taking a wicket off the first ball of England’s innings this Test. The first time in over 100 years such a feat has been achieved.On social media and elsewhere, especially outside India, the chatter is about whether the pitch in Ahmedabad is a poor one. The jury is not out yet. Primarily because the bounce at Motera has remained true on the red-soil pitch where cloud bursts of dust have been captured vividly on the TV. Stark images, yes, but the other key question that cricketing pundits have been discussing is the manner in which batsmen of both teams have poorly handled spin bowling.The backbone of playing spin has always been good defence which involves reading the length of the spinner, moving close to it to smother it or drive it, and committing to moving your feet so that you can play on the front as well as back. Barring Rohit to an extent, none of the other batsmen did that with any command so far this match.But the question will be asked: is the Ahmedabad pitch poor? It definitely is average to say the least, how can it not be if a five-day Test is done in two? For the second time this series, ICC match referee Javagal Srinath has to make that difficult call as he is the adjudicator. It is not an easy job, clearly. Whatever call Srinath will take is not going to be universally liked.The question of home match officials during the pandemic has been a difficult call for the ICC, but the global body might want to rethink appointing neutral match referees for such marquee series to remove any perception of bias.

6.30pm: Drop everything, right this minute