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Essex have appointed Sunrisers duo Danni Warren and Andy Tennant to oversee their women’s set-up as they transition to Tier 1 status for next season.Warren, formerly the regional director of women’s cricket for London and the east, will transition into the role of performance director at Essex. Tennant, the former Scotland international, will take over as Essex Women’s team director, having been head coach of Sunrisers.”I’m incredibly excited to take on this new role with Essex Women as we enter a new era for the women’s professional game,” Tennant said. “Having worked with Danni and the majority of the staff and players at Sunrisers, I know the strength and potential of the team we’re building here.Related

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“Our focus will be on creating an environment where players and staff can thrive and fulfil their potential, both on and off the field. This is a fantastic opportunity to drive towards sustainable success and help Essex Women become a leading force in the game, and I know we all can’t wait to get started.”Warren had been regional director at Sunrisers since 2020 and brought in Tennant as coach ahead of the 2023 season. Last summer, they oversaw Sunrisers’ first title of the women’s regional era, when they defeated South East Stars in the final of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy.Essex were one of eight teams to be awarded Tier 1 status during a bidding process earlier in the year, as the ECB returned to structuring women’s cricket within the pre-existing county system.

India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav has not given up hopes of adding to his lone Test cap, insisting that he is trying to play as much domestic cricket as possible in a bid to make a comeback into the Test side.Suryakumar played his first and only Test against Australia in early 2023, and while his T20I credentials have grown, a Test call-up has remained elusive. The 34-year-old is trying to rectify that. He played a Ranji Trophy game for Mumbai last month and had turned out for India B in a Duleep Trophy fixture in September, though without much success.”When the time comes, I will make a Test comeback,” Suryakumar said ahead of India’s first T20I against South Africa in Durban. “I am playing all the domestic tournaments, be it red-ball or white-ball. I don’t miss any game. If that [Test comeback] has to happen, it will happen.”Related

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Suryakumar also threw his weight behind the Test and ODI captain Rohit Sharma, who has been under fire after India were whitewashed 3-0 for the first time in a Test series at home by New Zealand.”In sports, winning and losing are common. Everyone works hard, everyone wants to win,” he said. “For me, the most important thing in life is the balance. Whether he’s [Rohit] doing well or not, his character does not change. That is one quality which I feel a sportsman should always have.”It is still early days for Suryakumar the T20I captain who took over full-time after Rohit’s retirement from the format post India’s T20 World Cup win in June. Having played under Rohit for India and in the IPL for Mumbai Indians, Suryakumar said that he has “learned a lot” from him, particularly the way he handles the youngsters, a trait he’s trying to imbibe into his captaincy style.Of late, India have been trying plenty of fresh faces in T20Is•BCCI

“I know how he [Rohit] treats the players, what he wants from them. So that route I have also taken because he’s been very successful recently,” Suryakumar said. “When I am on the ground, I keep noticing how his body language is, how calm he is under pressure situations, how he talks to the bowlers, how he treats everyone on the field and off the field.”Most importantly, from a leader you expect how much time he is spending with you to have that comfort. I try to replicate that. When I am not on the ground, I try and spend time with my team-mates, have a meal with them, travel together.”These are the small things which reflect on the ground. If you want to earn your team-mate’s respect and if you want him to deliver on the ground, all these things are very important. I add a bit of my own spice, and we are going forward.”While the sample size is small, India have achieved terrific results under Suryakumar, having won 11 out of 13 T20Is, which includes series sweeps against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Suryakumar also has the experience of leading in South Africa, having captained the Indian side last year in a three-match T20I series which ended 1-1 with the game in Durban washed out.Suryakumar said that his captaincy style is completely different to his aggressive batting style, and that he tries to give his players plenty of “freedom and clarity”.”You have to understand what’s happening around, what’s going on in their [the players’] minds and it is very important to give them that comfort,” he said. “Everyone has different skillset, and they also want to come out and express themselves. So that freedom is very important when they get onto the field and that is what I try and give.”Whatever is running in their mind, I listen to them carefully. Off the field, I try and spend a lot of time with them to understand their strengths, who can deliver for me in a pressure and current situation, and that’s how I am on the field.”See this format is such that if you keep playing, you keep learning and it’s so fast on the field. By the time you blink your eye, the game is over. So that freedom and clarity is very important when you play this format on the field.”

‘The youngsters have made my job very easy’

India have opted for a young T20I squad for the three-match series against South Africa, with three uncapped players in the mix: Vijaykumar Vyshak, Ramandeep Singh and Yash Dayal. Even among the capped ones, there are a few who either don’t have a lot of international experience or are making a comeback after a while such as Tilak Varma.Suryakumar said that managing the youngsters hasn’t been difficult as they have been doing the job for their state teams and IPL franchises.”They have made my job very easy if you’ve seen the last two to three series,” Suryakumar said about the youngsters. “I have told them to keep the needs of the team in front, and whatever calls they take, we are here to back them.”Everyone knows what they have to do. The kind of cricket they play for their state, the franchise, the same they have to play here. Just the colour of the jersey changes and the emotions get heightened. But the kind of cricket they have been playing, they should just play the same way. It feels refreshing to see them play.”Suryakumar also quashed any theories that India would struggle on the bouncy South Africa pitches, insisting they play on such surfaces at home as well. India have an excellent T20I record in South Africa, with six wins and three losses in nine matches.”We do play on good bouncy pitches back home in India also. There are quite a few, so it’s nothing new for us,” he said. “And we played here last year. We know what the conditions are and what the ground and wicket have for us. We have our game plan, we’ll back that and are very excited for the series ahead.”

Scotland vs South Africa

Dubai, 2pm local time

Scotland squad: Kathryn Bryce (capt), Chloe Abel, Abbi Aitken-Drummond, Olivia Bell, Sarah Bryce (wk), Darcey Carter, Priyanaz Chatterji, Katherine Fraser, Saskia Horley, Lorna Jack, Ailsa Lister, Abtaha Maqsood, Megan McColl, Hannah Rainey, Rachel SlaterSouth Africa squad: Laura Wolvaardt (capt), Anneke Bosch, Tazmin Brits, Nadine de Klerk, Annerie Dercksen, Mieke de Ridder, Ayanda Hlubi, Sinalo Jafta (wk), Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka, Sune Luus, Nonkululeko Mlaba, Seshnie Naidu, Tumi Sekhukhune, Chloe TryonTournament form guide: Scotland’s maiden T20 World Cup appearance hasn’t gone to plan so far with two back-to-back losses. They started their tournament with a 16-run defeat against Bangladesh, before going down heavily to West Indies by six wickets and 50 balls to spare. South Africa are also coming into this game on the back of a seven-wicket loss against England which saw them slip to third on the points table. Their ten-wicket win against West Indies, though, has kept their net run rate (NRR) relatively healthy.Related

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News brief: There are no major injury concerns in either camp, though it remains to be seen how South Africa manage the players’ workload considering a less-than-48 hours turnaround time after their game against England was a day-night affair in Sharjah on Monday. Scotland are bottom placed on the group B points table, and with an NRR of -1.897, a loss against South Africa will most certainly end their hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals. South Africa, on the other hand, can leapfrog England and secure top spot with a big win in Dubai. This is the first time South Africa and Scotland will face-off in any format in women’s cricket. Heat is once again going to be a factor in the day game in Dubai, with temperatures likely to touch 38 degrees Celsius.Player to watch: Nonkululeko Mlaba is currently the leading wicket-taker in the tournament with five wickets and could once again be South Africa’s trump card, especially in the day game where the ball is expected to turn more. Mlaba picked a four-wicket haul the last time she played in Dubai – against West Indies, earlier in this World Cup – and will want a repeat of that performance.Harmanpreet Kaur, who sprained her neck against Pakistan, is expected to play against Sri Lanka•ICC/Getty Images

India vs Sri Lanka

Dubai, 6pm local time

India squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Smriti Mandhana (vice-capt), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Shafali Verma, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Renuka Singh, D Hemalatha, Asha Sobhana, Radha Yadav, Shreyanka Patil, S SajanaSri Lanka squad: Chamari Athapaththu (capt), Harshitha Samarawickrama, Vishmi Gunaratne, Kavisha Dilshari, Nilakshika Silva, Hasini Perera, Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), Sachini Nisansala, Udeshika Prabodhani, Inoshi Priyadharshani, Achini Kulasuriya, Inoka Ranaweera, Shashini Gimhani, Ama Kanchana, Sugandika KumariTournament form guide: India suffered a big 58-run loss against New Zealand in their opening game, but managed to get past Pakistan in Dubai by six wickets on Sunday. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, are currently bottom of the group A points table, and are yet to win a game. They lost their opening match against lower-ranked Pakistan by 31 runs, and then went down to Australia by six wickets on Saturday.News brief: India received good news on the fitness of captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who is available to play Wednesday’s game after spraining her neck and retiring hurt in the last over of India’s chase against Pakistan. Pooja Vastrakar, though, is unlikely to take part having missed Sunday’s match due to a niggle, with S Sajana replacing her.India hold the advantage by a 19-5 margin in T20Is against Sri Lanka. But one of those five defeats was as recent as this July at the Asia Cup final. India will be keen on exacting revenge. They need a big win to bolster their NRR, something that they did not manage in their victory against Pakistan despite restricting them to 105. A defeat for Sri Lanka, meanwhile, will make their chances of moving to the next round almost nil. Dew has not had much of an effect in the games in Dubai so far, with the sticky nature of the surface and long boundaries also not making run-scoring easy.Player to watch: Smriti Mandhana does not have the greatest of records in T20Is against Sri Lanka: 379 runs in 19 innings at 22.29 with two fifties. But in a crunch game, India will bank on their experienced batter to give them a grand start, something that has not happened so far in the tournament.

South Africa ran out of time, ideas and most importantly bowlers, as they fell five wickets short of winning the first Test against West Indies in Trinidad. The hosts weren’t too far from challenging for a win themselves: West Indies were 97 short of their target when the curtains came down.With 142 overs lost to rain over the five days, South Africa made a fist of the final day when they batted quickly, declared early and gave themselves a little over two sessions to bowl West Indies out. But, Alick Athanaze, playing in his eighth Test match, scored a career-best 92 and shared in half-century stands with Kavem Hodge and Jason Holder to deny South Africa and save the match. This was the first drawn Test worldwide in 28 matches, since July last year.Related

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Weather aside, questions will be asked of South Africa’s selection after they chose an extra batter at the expense of a fifth frontline-bowling option and were forced to rely heavily on two players. Keshav Maharaj bowled 66.2 overs and Kagiso Rabada 30 out of the 148.1 West Indies faced across both innings, while Lungi Ngidi and Wiaan Mulder contributed 30.5. In the absence of a second specialist spinner, Aiden Markram delivered 21 overs.There may also be some scrutiny on the Queen’s Park Oval pitch. It lacked pace and bounce and did not facilitate a free-flow of runs, ostensibly because the square has already been used extensively for club cricket this season. Whatever the reason, it made for an attritional style of play, emphasised by the amount of time lost, and both teams did well to turn most of the final day into a cat-and-mouse battle with all four results possible.Maharaj and Rabada bowled 96.2 overs between themselves in the Test•AFP/Getty Images

South Africa came out with clear intent on the fifth morning: to get runs and get them quickly. Tony de Zorzi and Markram scored 48 in the first 10.2 overs and the 13 they took off Jayden Seales’ third over best illustrated their approach. De Zorzi appeared to defend the first ball but somehow timed it well enough to get through mid-off and almost to the boundary and the pair ran three. Then Markram smashed a short ball through midwicket and drove a full one over mid-on for two fours. Timing, power and finesse all went into their 78-run opening stand.When Jomel Warrican was introduced in the 16th over, de Zorzi tried to be innovative and paddle him away fine but gloved a leg-stump delivery to Joshua Da Silva, ending his 60-ball stay. He fell five runs short of scoring successive half-centuries in this Test and has put a peg in the ground as an enterprising opening option.Tristan Stubbs was in at No.3 and edged the fourth ball he faced past the only slip to frustrate Holder, but Stubbs calmed his nerves with a sweep off Warrican in the next over. The sweep shot was profitable for him and Warrican was a clear target. Markram hit Warrican for six over long-on once but when he tried it a second time, he did not get enough behind the shot and was caught on the boundary by Holder.Tristan Stubbs celebrates his maiden Test fifty•Gallo Images/Getty Images

Temba Bavuma stayed in his No. 4 spot and provided a foil to Stubbs, who was given a licence to thrill. He reverse swept and advanced on Warrican to hit him over the leg side and scored 36 runs off the 25 balls he faced from him. In the process, he reached his first Test fifty, off 42 balls – the second-fastest maiden half-century by a South African after Dudley Nourse’s 40-ball fifty on debut. Stubbs also took on the senior seamer, Kemar Roach, and scored 13 runs off three balls from him before Roach took out his leg stump, and South Africa declared half an hour before lunch.They gave their bowlers 20 minutes in the first session but only had 15 before the rain came down. Maharaj opened the bowling and, with his third ball, had the usually sedate Kraigg Braithwaite attempting a big shot from a full ball and caught at sweeper cover. Stubbs judged his run from the boundary well to hold on to the catch.At the other end, Rabada tested Keacy Carty by beating his outside edge, almost having him played on, and thought he had him caught behind but didn’t. He then reviewed an lbw appeal that hit Carty’s front pad in line with off-stump. Ball-tracking showed it was clipping the top on umpire’s call and Carty survived but then rain arrived.Rain affected play in all five days of the Test•AFP/Getty Images

An hour was lost and when play resumed, Rabada returned with a plan. He set up Mikyle Louis with a series of full deliveries including a fabulous yorker that was well kept out and then bowled a short one. Louis got a top edge to midwicket where he found Stubbs, who held on to a second good catch.With Carty and Athanaze at the crease, South Africa would have hoped to exploit their inexperience but the young pair survived and then thrived. Athanaze became comfortable sweeping and Carty took 12 runs off Ngidi’s second over. The third-wicket stand grew to 46 before Carty hit Maharaj towards cover where Mulder dived forward to take a low catch.South Africa could not prise West Indies open in the second session and put down two chances. Hodge offered Markram a return catch when on 9 and survived again on the last ball before tea when, on 24, he gloved a Maharaj delivery in Bavuma’s direction at second slip. Bavuma went to his right but the ball evaded him. Hodge’s dance with danger ended in the first over after tea when Maharaj found turn and bounce and Hodge got the faintest of edges to Kyle Verreynne.But Athanaze was not easily moved and was excellent against the short ball. He scored quickly, reached 50 off 58 balls and took on South Africa’s main bowlers. He scored 18 runs off 19 balls he faced from Rabada and 47 off 62 from Maharaj and had three figures in his sights until he top-edged a sweep from Maharaj to Ryan Rickelton at deep-backward square leg. By then, West Indies were on safe ground and it was too late for South Africa to push for a result. The captains shook hands on a draw in fading light with 6.4 overs of play remaining.

Middlesex are facing a first defeat of the season in the Vitality County Championship after Leicestershire batted themselves into a commanding position on day two at the Uptonsteel County Ground.Lewis Goldsworthy and Ben Green, who are both at Grace Road on loan from Somerset to boost a depleted squad, made their presence count as Leicestershire reached 311 for 8 in their second innings before rain forced an early end to play, with 37 overs lost.Middlesex captain Toby Roland-Jones bowled superbly to finish with 5 for 76, but after being bowled out for 86 to concede a first-innings lead of 93 on a 21-wicket opening day, his side are 404 runs behind.One down for 40 overnight, Leicestershire were 63 for 4 within the first 10 overs, which suggested another bowler-friendly day lay ahead. But Goldsworthy and Harry Swindells added 101 for the fifth wicket, and with batting proving a little less hazardous Louis Kimber and Ben Cox put on 62 for the seventh, while Green’s unbroken partnership with Ben Mike stands at 71 going into day three.During that initial flurry of wickets, Ryan Higgins brought his first ball back sharply from outside off stump to bowl Rishi Patel between bat and pad.The uneven bounce in the pitch was then illustrated perfectly as Roland-Jones had nightwatchman Scott Currie leg before to one that shot through at ankle height before dismissing Lewis Hill with one that reared up off a good length, the ball striking the Leicestershire captain a painful blow on the hand before looping gently to second slip Leus du Plooy, who had dropped him in the previous over.Middlesex, 93 behind on first innings after being shot out for 86 on a chaotic opening day, sensed an opportunity to fight their way back into the contest but were not able to make another breakthrough until six overs after lunch when Swindells, who had functioned as the junior partner in what felt like the decisive stand of the match, edged behind off Henry Brookes.One wicket then brought a second as Goldsworthy, his concentration disturbed by the day’s first stoppage for rain, departed four balls later, caught at slip off as he shaped to cut Roland-Jones.Goldsworthy, on loan at Grace Road primarily for his left-arm spin in the T20 Blast, had been one of the few batters in the match to have the measure of the pitch, picking up the majority of his 13 boundaries square on the leg side or else driven through extra cover.Much as his demise was a blow for Leicestershire, it was not the end of Middlesex’s suffering as Kimber, confidence sky high after his extraordinary performance at Hove last week and undiminished by a first-innings duck here, came in to hammer 38 off 21 balls, including four consecutive sixes off Brookes, one of them out of the ground on the Milligan Road side.Brookes had his revenge, bowling Kimber with a slow yorker, and Roland-Jones completed his 27th career five-for when he pinned Cox in front only for Green and Mike to stretch Leicestershire’s advantage beyond 400.Although the pitch is offering less help to the bowlers than was the case on Sunday, it is difficult to envisage the match ending in a draw, barring a substantial loss of time to rain, which means Middlesex will need to make one of the highest-fourth innings scores in their history to win the match.

One team had Jasprit Bumrah. The other didn’t. And that was that. That was the difference. His legend is littered with incredible displays. But this will feel sweeter, not merely for the fact that it came in a T20 World Cup match against Pakistan, but for the fact that without his intervention this game would have almost certainly had a different ending. India defended 119. Pakistan lost after being 80 for 3. The finalists of the 2022 tournament are in serious danger of an early exit.

Boom in Blue

Pakistan need 40 runs off the last 36 balls with seven wickets in hand. ESPNcricinfo’s forecaster gave them a 93% chance of victory then. Poor thing. It’s been left on the fritz. Bumrah’s discipline, his calmness under pressure, his extraordinary skill, not just in delivering the right ball but in understanding what the right ball is, confounded man and machine alike In New York.Ironically, all this happened because Bumrah refused to go searching for wickets. He just bowled what he thought would be unhittable – which was the back of a length delivery – and by doing it consistently he made Pakistan desperate. He forced them into a corner, which to be fair is their happy place in World Cups, but that wasn’t the case here. Here, there was only panic.Related

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Mohammad Rizwan was made to believe that a full length ball was there to play a cross-bat shot. His stumps paid the price. Soon after knocking it back, Bumrah spread his arms wide and broke into a smile. That’s his usual celebration. But he didn’t stop there. He roared. And over 30,000 people at the ground roared with him. He punched the air. Millions joined him. This was the opening that India could build on. This was the crack that would cause the collapse. Rizwan, the set batter, fell for 31 off 44. Bumrah, who had accounted for Babar Azam earlier, also took out Pakistan’s final hope, Iftikhar Ahmed, in the 19th over. Of his 24 balls, 15 were dots. Somehow, even his full tosses proved game-changing.Bumrah’s mastery carved out a piece of history: 119 is the joint-lowest total ever defended in men’s T20 World Cups.

The support act

India waited until the third over to deploy their super weapon. Then they had to wait until the 15th to bring him back. In between, they relied on others to keep the pressure up and two people in particular did that with aplomb. Hardik Pandya and his short-of-a-length offerings were always going to be a threat on this New York pitch with uneven bounce. He stopped Fakhar Zaman before he could play the kind of cameo that would kill chases like these. And then he took out Shadab Khan. Both times the batters were surprised by how high the ball was when they made contact with it. Hardik wasn’t. He just shrugged, as if to say, yeah, I do that. No big deal.Axar Patel was the other unsung hero, bowling the first of the death overs and somehow keeping it to just two runs even though he was up against a left-hand batter with the short boundary on the leg side. Imad Wasim was never allowed to win the match-up as he was fed a diet of non-spinning deliveries that were angled across him and kept bouncing over his cut shots. Bumrah produced the biggest swing in momentum towards India according to Forecaster, 44% at the end of the 19th over. Axar produced the second-biggest swing, his defensive skills earning a 13% bump.Rishabh Pant used his luck and played some creative shots•Getty Images

Pant doing Pant things

This was the best pitch to bat on in New York so far. But even that had its perils. Largely in the form of the ball not coming on, and occasionally with uneven bounce. Rizwan and Arshdeep Singh took blows to the hand.A bit of luck is required in these conditions. Pant got that when he survived three catching opportunities in three balls and later survived an inside edge that could have gone onto the stumps. A bit of bravery helps. Pant showed that when he smashed Haris Rauf over extra cover. A bit of imagination doesn’t go amiss either. Pant epitomised that with a flick shot that he played while falling to the floor because that was the only way he knew how to get under a good length ball and put in the gap at fine leg. Later, to Imad’s highly accurate left-arm spin, he brought out the standing reverse sweep.It was tough to bat out there. Pant’s unorthodox methods made him successful; made him stand out. He made 42 off 31 at a strike rate of 135. The rest of India made 70 off 84 at a strike rate of 83.It’s all blue in New York•Getty Images

The footnotes

In the game against USA, Mohammad Amir was all over the place. In this one, he was spot on. Eight of the first 12 deliveries he bowled produced false shots. Early on with the new ball, he beat the bat three times in a row. Later on, with the old one, he was on a hat-trick. Pakistan demoted him to first-change and by the time he came on, India had already lost their two best batters, both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli caught off balls that stuck in the pitch, a theme that would continue for the rest of the innings. Amir had a soft entry but he made the absolute most of it. His best work coincided with the best phase of the game for Pakistan, when they strung four overs together between the 12th and the 15th where only eight runs were scored and four wickets were taken. India went from 89 for 3 to 96 for 7. At the halfway stage, Pakistan were ahead. Twenty overs later, they were facing elimination, in part because they weren’t the team with Jasprit Bumrah.

By the time India wakes up on Sunday, it is possible their team might have qualified for the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2024. They were too good for Bangladesh in Antigua, a total of 196 built by series of quickfire cameos in defiance of a slow pitch carrying them through to victory by 50 runs. If Australia beat Afghanistan, both they and India will move into the final four.

The opening conundrum

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as a partnership has won many a match for India, but at this T20 World Cup, they are yet to click. There was even a moment’s confusion when they were running between the wickets, Rohit unsure of whether there was a single on to midwicket’s right. It was stop-start but they eventually got the run. The team will hope the same thing happens to them as the tournament goes on because pairing them together at the top of the order is allowing India to pack their middle order with six-hitters. That advantage is helping them post par-plus totals in tough conditions.

Bangladesh’s bright spot

Tanzim Hasan did as much as he could to mess with that plan. He was Bangladesh’s best bowler and he earned that mantle by doing the one thing a big-hitter hates. He was unpredictable. Kohli came charging to meet him but he did the batter with change of pace and let him have it with a send-off. Suryakumar Yadav managed to get a six away first ball but was overwhelmed by extra bounce the next delivery. Tanzim’s slower balls gripped and misbehaved off the pitch. And when he went on-pace, he made sure to hit the pitch hard to extract variation in bounce.

India’s counterattack

Rishabh Pant was the firestarter. After India went from 71 for 1 to 77 for 3, they suffered nine balls without a boundary. Sometimes, in good batting conditions, that’s the price you pay. These weren’t good batting conditions. The pitch and the outfield were slow. They couldn’t wait till the death overs to make up the difference. Fully aware of that, Pant, who was 12 off 15, burst to life. A left-hander’s cover drive is usually a thing of beauty but the one that Mustafizur had to endure was something else. It was power stripped to its purest essence. It was chilling. Pant hit five boundaries in eight balls and fell looking for another one.

The highlight

Rishad Hossain will no longer be denied. Having had to wait because the culture in Bangladesh does not rate wristspinners, (even as the rest of the world made it plain they were game-changers) he has arrived at this T20 World Cup as their most exciting cricketer. His dismissal of Pant secured Bangladesh their best period of play in this game – 2.4 overs of singles and dots between the 12th and the 15th. He took two wickets as well, both of batters looking to attack him. Pant caught off the reverse sweep and Dube bowled neck and crop. He may have given a few runs away but he never took a backward step. Not even when he had to bowl one of the death overs.Kuldeep Yadav derailed the Bangladesh chase with three wickets•CREIMAS

The half-centurion

Hardik broke India free of their second lull. They were 120 for 4 at the start of the 15th over. He was 6 off 7. Then he got a gift from Mahedi Hasan – a long hop with room to free the arms – and that was that. A lot of his power game comes from having incredible strength in his core and in his forearms. That’s why he’s able to hit even yorkers for boundaries. That’s why he doesn’t always need a full swing of the bat. That’s why he should be a little more adventurous than he lets himself be now. Although he came in only in the 12th over, and had faced only 18 deliveries by the 18th, his ability to access the boundary – each of the four that came in the last two overs were off his bat – helped him score a fifty.This was the kind of innings India could never imagine. Even the stats bore that out. Only once before, in their entire history of T20Is, had they made more than the 196 they did on Saturday with none of their top five batters scoring a fifty. They’re usually freight trains, slow to start, but steadily picking up steam. At this World Cup, they’re finding a new identity. Four of the seven batters who went out there scored at a strike rate of 150 or more. Twenty-eight balls was the longest anyone spent in the middle because everyone was looking to take risks.

The chase

Bangladesh’s opening partnership had provided only 13 runs in five previous innings. Given how crucial it is to start a big chase well, they were already at a handicap. Tanzid Hasan, coming off back-to-back ducks, finished less than a-run-a-ball. Litton Das didn’t survive the powerplay, although he was done in by a lovely slower ball from Hardik, who also made sure to drag the offbreak wide of the right-hand batter’s hitting arc, securing a mis-hit that was caught at deep midwicket.A batting team at 67 for 2 after 10 overs should have put up more of a fight but Bangladesh ran into Kuldeep Yadav and never recovered. The googly caught Tanzid unawares for 29 off 31. The legbreak had Towhid Hridoy lbw on the slog sweep. And finally, he was also up to task when Shakib Al Hasan was looking to hit him out of the ground. A simple shift of line slightly wider outside the off stump messed with the left-hand batter’s hitting arc and had him caught at cover.Bangladesh actually ended up attacking more balls than India did in this game – 49 to 48 – but a lot of them were panicked swings. It goes to show that clarity is crucial in T20 cricket. Kuldeep denied them that because they couldn’t pick the ball out of his hand. Jasprit Bumrah played his part as well, 15 of his 24 deliveries yielding dots along with two wickets.

Top-order batter Mahmudul Hasan Joy has returned to the Bangladesh squad that will face Ireland over two Test matches in Sylhet and Dhaka later this month.Joy has played 18 Tests and was seen as a highly promising addition to the team after scoring the first-ever Test match century by a Bangladesh batter in South Africa, in 2022. He lost his place in the side after averaging 14.92 in seven Tests since the start of 2024 but good form in the new season of the National Cricket League, during which he scored 127 and 51 for Chattogram Division against Rajshahi Division, has helped him mount a comeback.Najmul Hossain Shanto leads the 15-member team. He had quit as captain at the end of Bangladesh’s last Test series in June, which they lost 1-0 to Sri Lanka, but the BCB has reinstated him and said he will remain in charge until the end of this World Test Championship cycle in 2027. Anamul Haque, Mahidul Islam Ankon and Nayeem Hasan, who were part of that Sri Lanka tour, have been left out.Related

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Mushfiqur Rahim, should he play both matches against Ireland, will become the first Bangladesh cricketer to play 100 Tests. The 38-year-old made his debut back in 2005 and is already their most capped player and their highest scorer in the format. He is also in form having made 115 for Sylhet Division at the same ground where the first Test against Ireland will take place.Bangladesh have picked four fast bowlers in Ebadot Hossain, Nahid Rana, Hasan Mahmud and Khaled Ahmed to complement their three spinners Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam and Hasan Murad, who is still awaiting his Test debut. Murad picked up a match haul of 9 for 135 for Chattogram in the NCL in October. Taijul, meanwhile, is 10 short of going past Shakib Al Hasan and becoming Bangladesh’s highest wicket-taker in Tests.The two matches against Ireland are scheduled for November 11-15 in Sylhet and November 19-23 in Dhaka. They are not part of the WTC.

Bangladesh Test squad for Ireland series

Najmul Hossain Shanto (capt), Shadman Islam, Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das, Jaker Ali, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Khaled Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Nahid Rana, Ebadot Hossain Chowdhury, Hasan Murad.

In a dramatic low-scoring thriller that went into a Super Over, fast bowler Ahmed Daniyal kept his composure as Pakistan Shaheens defeated Bangladesh A to lift the Asia Cup Rising Stars title in Doha, Qatar.Daniyal, defending six runs in the 20th, bowled a nerveless over to take the game into a Super Over. He then removed Abdul Gaffar Saqlain with his second ball in the Super Over and then clean bowled Jishan Alam to restrict Bangladesh A to only 6. Saad Masood and Maaz Sadaqat took just four balls to chase down the target and spark celebrations in the Shaheens camp.This, however, was a game which ebbed and flowed all the way through. Sent into bat, Shaheens lost three wickets in the powerplay, and then continued to slip to eventually be bowled out for 125. Bangladesh A started the chase rapidly, but the spin quartet of Arafat Minhas, Saad Masood, Maaz Sadaqat and Sufiyan Muqeem spun a web around the batters to derail the chase.At 53 for 7 in the 13th over, the game looked as good as done, but Rakibul Hasan (24), Saqlain (16) and Ripon Mondol (11) – Bangladesh A’s last three – staged an unlikely comeback. Mondol, however, wasn’t able to repeat his semi-final Super Over heroics in the final as Bangladesh A went down.Bangladesh A couldn’t have hoped for a better start to the game with Shaheens losing Yasir Khan first ball of the match, courtesy a stunning under-arm direct hit from Saqlain running in from mid-on. Mohammad Faiq was cleaned up by SM Meherob, while wicketkeeper-batter Ghazi Ghori was bowled by Rakibul as Shaheens slipped to 25 for 3 in the fifth over.Maaz Sadaqat struck two fours and a six in his 23, but when he fell in the seventh over, Shaheens lost their way. Captain Irfan Khan scored a sedate 9 off 22 balls, with only Masood and Minhas providing anything of note on the Shaheens’ scorecard. Mondol bowled a terrific 19th over, picking up three wickets, and the innings ended with a run out as Shaheens were bowled out in 20 overs.In reply, Bangladesh A opener Habibur Rahman Sohan was quick off the blocks, tonking Ubaid Shah for a six over deep midwicket. While Alam was trapped in front of the stumps by Minhas, Habibur kept going as he smashed Masood for a six and two fours in the fourth over. But the bowler had the last laugh when Habibur pulled a long hop straight to square leg, and the Bangladesh A middle order caved in.Minhas trapped Mahidul Islam Ankon lbw before Muqeem’s left-arm wristpin bamboozled Bangladesh A. He got Akbar Ali to chop one back onto his stumps, and then struck twice in two balls, cleaning up Mahfuzur Rahman Rabby and Mrittunjoy Chowdhury with identical wrong’uns. Rakibul went after Masood but Bangladesh A kept losing wickets, with the required rate rising.Then came another twist with Bangladesh A requiring 27 off the last two overs and only Saqlain and Mondol, the last two batters at the crease. Shahid Aziz, bowling the 19th over, missed his yorker three times and the batters smashed him for three sixes to flip the script. Daniyal, however, bowled a terrific last over, mixing his lengths to rescue Shaheens.

Varun Chakravarthy, the top-ranked T20I bowler in the world, says India head coach Gautam Gambhir has fostered a “Spartan mentality” in the team, leaving “no option of losing”. He also credited Gambhir and T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav for his international comeback, after spending nearly three years out of the team.”Definitely one thing which I can say about [Gambhir] is he brings a Spartan mentality to the team where there is no option of losing. You just have to bring your best and give everything on the ground and later on, whatever happens, happens,” Varun said on the sidelines of the CEAT Cricket Rating Awards in Mumbai on Tuesday.”When he is around, there is no mediocrity – you can’t be mediocre in the field, that’s what I feel.”Related

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Varun made his India debut in July 2021, but after enduring a tough campaign in the 2021 T20 World Cup, he was dropped and only played for India again in October 2024.Since then, Varun has been a regular fixture in India’s T20I XI and has also made his ODI debut and played a key role in helping the team win the Champions Trophy earlier this year.”When I made my comeback again, Surya and GG [Gambhir], they spoke to me and they told me that we are looking at you as one of the wicket-takers. And they have backed me throughout. For that, I have to give them the credit.”When he is around, there is no mediocrity,” Varun says of Gautam Gambhir•Getty Images

“I was out of the team for more than three years, but I did have a consecutive good IPL. For them to recognise that and bring me into the team was great for me.”Varun, who has been left out of India’s ODI squad for the Australia tour, spoke about the things Gambhir wants him to work on to enhance his chances in one-day cricket.”Basically, the conversations were around bowling longer spells. Because in T20, you maximum bowl two overs back-to-back. But in ODIs, you have to bowl five to six overs back-to-back, which I did work on and I was able to do it in the Champions Trophy.”And he wants me to bat a little more up the order in domestic circuit and improve on my batting.”Varun was also full of praise for fellow spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who finished as the leading wicket-taker at the Asia Cup.”Kuldeep is definitely one of the most experienced bowlers right now in the pool of players that we have and he has done amazingly well,” Varun said. “I bowl at the speeds of 95kph and he bowls around 85kph, so we kind of complement each other. He has more revs and more turn, I have more speed and bounce, so till now it’s been working well for us. Hopefully, we can do the same thing in the World Cup also.”