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‘He got 91 from 34 balls against KKR, probably that is the best innings I have seen in the IPL’

ESPNcricinfo staff04-May-20199:11

Bumrah will be the best bowler at the World Cup – Yuvraj

England and India are firm favourites going into the 2019 World Cup, according to Yuvraj Singh, Player of the Series in the 2011 edition of the tournament.Speaking at a promotional event on Saturday, Yuvraj also included Australia among his favourites.”My first two teams are England and India,” Yuvraj said. “Obviously with [David] Warner and [Steven] Smith coming back [from their ball-tampering bans], Australia will be in contention. West Indies also looked a very power-packed side. You can’t say much at this stage. I think it would be India and England first, third would be Australia. Fourth I don’t know. I will tell you later…”Yuvraj, who last played an ODI in June 2017, said Hardik Pandya could make a big impact for India, given the form he carries into the World Cup from the IPL.”I was actually having this conversation with him yesterday where I told him that “you have a great chance of performing really well with the ball and bat,” the kind of form he is in at the moment.”Definitely, the way he is batting at the moment, it is phenomenal and I hope he carries that form (into the World Cup). He has been bowling well in patches but as I said it is all about how you handle the pressure… I just hope that Hardik has an awesome tournament, the way he is batting at the moment.”Hardik Pandya targets the leg side•BCCI

Among the positive signs Yuvraj sees in Pandya’s batting is his big hitting against quality bowlers.”He got 91 from 34 balls against KKR, probably that is the best innings I have seen in the IPL just because he hit four quality bowlers he was batting against,” Yuvraj said. “When you are doing that, you know that someone is batting very well.”Yuvraj is enthused by the form of India’s batsmen, but he cautioned that T20 form cannot be a guarantee of ODI form.”See you can’t really compare T20 form with 50-overs. In T20 you don’t have the time and you have to start going and hitting fours and sixes and it’s a different ball game,” Yuvraj said. “In 50 overs you have a lot of time (to get) set and start going, you can’t really assess 20-overs form for 50 overs.”MS [Dhoni] is in good form, Rohit [Sharma] is hitting ball well so is Virat [Kohli], Shikhar [Dhawan]. If you look at 90 per cent of the guys they are in good form.”At No 6, Kedar [Jadhav], you get less opportunity to show your form so I’m pretty happy with the way all the guys are playing.”The 2019 World Cup begins on May 30 with England facing South Africa at The Oval. India’s campaign begins against South Africa on July 5.

Kusal Mednis will come into the Sri Lankan T20I squad in place of the injured Kusal Perera

Andrew Fidel Fernando13-Feb-2018Kusal Perera has been ruled out of the T20 internationals against Bangladesh, and has been replaced in the squad by Kusal Mendis. Perera had suffered a side strain while batting in Sri Lanka’s third ODI of the tri-nation series that preceded the Tests, and had returned home for treatment. Although he was named in the T20 squad, he has not traveled with the team to Bangladesh.”According to medical advice, Perera needs more time to recover from the side strain,” an SLC release said. This is Perera’s second injury over the past year. In June he had pulled a hamstring while batting in the Champions Trophy, and was out of competitive cricket until November.Mendis, his replacement, has been in excellent Test form, but does not have an enviable T20I record. From eight international innings in the format, Mendis has a high score of 22, and a strike rate of 123. It is possible he will not play in the top order, with Danushka Gunathilaka, Upul Tharanga, Niroshan Dickwella and Dinesh Chandimal all jostling for positions. Mendis last played a T20I in February last year.The first of two games will be played in Mirpur on Thursday, before the action moves to Sylhet for Sunday.

Trevor Bayliss admitted England had been ‘totally outplayed’ by India on the fourth day in Chennai as they conceded the largest total in their history

George Dobell in Chennai19-Dec-2016The England coach Trevor Bayliss admitted his team had been “totally outplayed” by India on the fourth day in Chennai as they conceded the largest total in their history.And Bayliss, who leaves the tour on Monday night to return to Australia for a hernia operation, conceded such a chastening day might influence Alastair Cook as he reflects on whether he wants to continue as England captain.Criticising England’s bowling and catching, Bayliss, who has supervised the fielding training for the last 18 months in the absence of a specialist fielding coach, also suggested there was a lack of captaincy experience in the squad should Cook decide to step down but agreed that Joe Root was the “leading candidate.””We got totally outplayed today, for sure,” Bayliss said. “We just weren’t in the game today.”You’ve got to give credit to the Indian batters, who played extremely well. But at times we struggled to bowl to the fields that the captain had set. That just makes it very difficult.”Our catching is still below par – I think the last three catches we’ve dropped have only cost us 500 – and that’s disappointing and something we’ve got to keep working on. There’s no short cut to that – we’ve just got to do a lot of it. We’re a team that probably haven’t got a lot of natural athletes. We’ve got some very good cricketers but we haven’t got a lot of slippers. We’ve just got to get better. It’s as simple as that.”Asked whether such a tough day could have a bearing on Cook’s decision, Bayliss said “possibly” but stated that he would not attempt to persuade him either way.”That’s a decision only he will know the answer to,” he said. “He’s done it for so long, whether I say yes or no, it won’t change his mind whether he keeps going or stops. I’m not big on the technology, but I’m sure we’ll speak on the phone at some stage over Christmas.”If he keeps going, fantastic; if he stops, that’s up to him, and I’ve got no problems with that either. I won’t actually sit down to have a chat with him. We’ve got six or seven months till our next Test match, so there’s plenty of time for him to have a think about it.”I don’t think there’s too many of our players who’ve actually captained too many teams, or any of their county teams.”Joe Root has done a few games on tour, when Cookie’s had a bit of time off or when he’s off the ground. Joe is obviously our number one bat, and is highly-respected by the players. He’s one of those guys who leads by example, and I can’t see that being any different when and if he takes over … if he takes over, I suppose, because we haven’t actually made that decision either.”That will come next if Cookie does step down. But he seems like he’s the leading candidate at this stage.”If it seems odd that Bayliss is leaving the tour slightly early – it was unclear why he could not wait the extra day – it is in part because he wishes to return for the limited-overs leg having made a full recovery. He is scheduled to miss the Caribbean tour in February and March.

India’s captain Virat Kohli has admitted to being disappointed after rain denied his team a chance to go 2-0 up against South Africa, but said his squad’s mindset was still positive

Karthik Krishnaswamy in Bangalore18-Nov-20153:42

‘Nothing has changed from Mohali’ – Kohli

India are 1-0 up at the halfway point of a four-Test series against the No. 1 side in the world. Under normal circumstances, Virat Kohli would probably be pleased with the scoreline. But having won the first Test inside three days and ended the first day of the second Test in a hugely advantageous position, Kohli was frustrated that rain denied his side a shot at 2-0.”It was very disappointing,” Kohli said, after a fourth successive cricket-free day at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. “The second and third day were especially very frustrating because we had a very good first day. The toughest task is to set up a Test match and then you have to win the important moments later on.”We were on course to do that, to get control of the important moments of the game and capitalise. We had a good chance of putting South Africa under more pressure, but as I said the weather turned out to be in such a way that we had no control over it for the course of the next four days. It is always annoying for any side to come to the ground and have no play. The covers come off and the rain falls again. I think that was something that was disappointing.”Kohli felt India could have put South Africa under pressure even if rain had relented just enough to allow two more days of play.”If we had proper two days of play even from fourth day to the end of the fifth day, we were still looking at it as a positive where we can bat for a full day and try to get as many runs as possible and then put pressure on the opposition. I am not saying that we would have certainly bowled them out, but you can actually put them under pressure even if we had two more days of play. That’s how well we played on day one and that gave us the liberty to think of something like that on the fourth and fifth day.”The rain ruled out even that possibility, but Kohli said it hadn’t dampened his side’s spirits or dissipated any of the momentum they had built.”The momentum, I don’t see any change in that, the mood is absolutely the same that we had in Mohali. We had a really positive day one, bowled the No. 1 side out in under three sessions, bowled them out on a decent batting wicket, there were no demons in the wicket I can say for sure. And we batted pretty well in whatever time we had in the middle. Shikhar [Dhawan] getting some runs was a big positive as well.”All in all, we had been in a very good space and we have maintained that. Even in the last four days, we haven’t really thought about what the rain is going to do, we have just reacted to how the weather has turned out which is very, very important. Thinking about the weather can put you off, which the team has not done, so I would like to give credit to the guys to still stay in the zone. Nothing has changed in the last four days at all.”At stumps on day one, India were 80 for no loss in response to South Africa’s 214, with Shikhar Dhawan batting on 45. Dhawan had failed twice in Mohali, and was coming off middling form in the ODI series that preceded the Tests, but Kohli didn’t feel he was coming out of a lean patch. Keeping the formats separate, he harked back to the hundreds Dhawan had made in his last two Tests before this series, in Fatullah and Galle.”If you call scoring two hundreds in three Test matches struggling then I don’t know what ‘in form’ is,” Kohli said. “[Dhawan’s] last three matches, he has got a hundred in Galle, he has got a hundred in Bangladesh, unfortunately he got injured after and he played first Test match after that in Mohali.”So let’s not be too hard on someone because of two innings or three innings. This is international cricket, you are going to play numerous innings and we have to be patient with players like Shikhar because he is an impact player and we need to give him as much confidence as we possibly can. When he gets going he wins you the game, that is a surety.”I don’t think he has been out of form at all, he has been batting beautifully. Sometimes you will not get the scores that you desire, but it is important how you are playing at that moment. He is certainly hitting the ball very well, and as I said he got runs here, which is good for his mental set-up. We don’t see any issues with his batting or his confidence for sure. We have to let the individual sort of come into his own, not to put too much pressure on him.”We have to be patient with players like Shikhar because he is an impact player and we need to give him as much confidence as we can” – Virat Kohli•Associated Press

“I am sure he is happy with the way he batted here as well, if he had more overs to bat he would have been 70 or 80 not out or possibly could have got a hundred as well if we had some amount of the game left. He is that sort of player who can take the game away very quickly. I am delighted that he is feeling good about his batting at the moment and I am sure he would want to score big runs in this series and in future as well, every batsman wants to.”Having played five specialist bowlers in Mohali, India left out one of their spinners and brought in Stuart Binny to play the role of a seam-bowling allrounder after weighing in the conditions in Bangalore. Kohli said the presence of multi-skilled players such as Binny and Gurkeerat Singh – who was called into the squad on the eve of the second Test – allowed India a certain amount of bowling depth in any kind of conditions.”[Binny] is an allrounder who can bowl you really consistent medium-pace and can be very handy with the bat,” Kohli said. “Then we have Gurkeerat. [Ravindra] Jadeja is potentially the right kind of allrounder for us. It’s just about being in a confident zone. We can play him as a frontline spinner or an allrounder as well. That depends on what sort of space an individual is in. I think you have to choose an allrounder according to the conditions.”You can’t be stubborn about saying ‘This guy has ability and he will do the right kind of job in every condition’. Some people will be more effective in different conditions. I’ve mentioned in the past, this team is all about flexibility.”We did not play Amit Mishra here, and he has been bowling really well in the last few months. But he understood that we probably needed someone like Stuart in these conditions. Because Bangalore always tends to do something on the last couple of days, that is the feedback we got from the guys who have played here and guys who have bowled on this pitch. There’s no set combinations in this team. Everyone is ready to play at any stage and willing to perform for the team, which is a positive sign.”With less than four full days of cricket possible in the first two Tests, and given that the first Test was a low-scoring game, India’s batsmen haven’t had too much of a chance to play themselves into form yet. Kohli didn’t think this was a concern going into the third Test.”Not at all. As I said, everyone is in a good space. It doesn’t matter, you know. You don’t need to put a certain number or score in front of your name to make sure you make an impact. Someone scoring 30 runs also [can make an impact].”You take Jadeja’s knock of 38 [in Mohali]. Nobody talks about it but it was as important as [Cheteshwar] Pujara’s and [M] Vijay’s runs in the course of the Test match, seeing the first innings and how it went. [Wriddhiman] Saha’s [20] in the second innings was as crucial as [the runs made by] Pujara and Vijay early on because that gives you a competitive target.”This team is not worried about personal performances or putting numbers in front of names. We just want to go out there and win a Test. And if we feel someone makes an impact, even if he makes a 30, we surely let him know that ‘your knock was as important’, so that he knows he is making an impact for the team.”We need to find the right balance between batting and bowling. You certainly need that to win a Test match and that’s exactly what we did in Mohali. Day one here was a balance of both as well. I’m sure when you get going, any batsman wants to make it big like I said. And everyone is in that zone of performing for the team firstly and not worry about themselves getting to a hundred or fifty. That’s the most pleasing thing about the confidence and mindset of this team right now.”

Skipper Marcus North top-scored with 68 as Glamorgan opened their Yorkshire Bank 40 campaign with a 28-run victory over Yorkshire at Colwyn Bay.

05-May-2013Glamorgan 285 for 7 (North 68, Pyrah 4-43) beat Yorkshire 257 (Gale 65, Hogan 3-29) by 28 runs
ScorecardSkipper Marcus North top-scored with 68 as Glamorgan opened their Yorkshire Bank 40 campaign with a 28-run victory over Yorkshire at Colwyn Bay.After winning the toss Glamorgan made 285 for 7 in their 40 overs, with Will Bragg and Chris Cooke also scoring half centuries. But Yorkshire could only make 257 all out in reply, with Dean Cosker taking 3 for 36, although a quickfire 53 from Jonny Bairstow and a partnership of 93 between Gary Ballance and skipper Andrew Gale gave the visitors hope.After Mark Wallace was bowled by Steven Patterson in the eighth over, Bragg and Cooke showed attacking intent with the Glamorgan 100 coming up from 15.2 overs and Bragg going to a 48-ball 50. But next ball Bragg was bowled by Pyrah leaving Glamorgan 105 for 2 in the 17th over.The loss of Bragg did not deflect Cooke, who registered a 46-ball 50 with seven fours, but he failed to build on to a good start when he was caught and bowled by Steve Patterson for 58.The fourth-wicket partnership of North and Jim Allenby looked well settled until Allenby holed out at long-on to give Will Rhodes a wicket on debut.North cracked his fifth boundary as he became the third Glamorgan batsman to reach a half century. They accelerated in the latter stages with 14 coming off one Moin Ashraf over before Pyrah took a very sharp return catch to remove North for 68 from 63 balls.Glamorgan’s hopes of getting towards 300 were dashed when Murray Goodwin, who made 45, and Graham Wagg were out to consecutive deliveries from Pyrah, who was the pick of the Yorkshire attack with 4 for 43.Yorkshire were stunned when Wagg dismissed Phil Jaques and Joe Root in the space of three balls in the second over of their reply. And that helped Glamorgan restrict Yorkshire to 38 for 2 after the first 10 overs.Ballance and Gale began patiently rebuilding before the introduction of Cosker paid dividends when Ballance was stumped off a wide with his first ball.Bairstow cracked three fours off a Michael Reed over to ease the increasing pressure and then hit Wagg for a four and a six from two balls as 16 came off the over. But Glamorgan fought back as Gale was trapped leg before attempting to sweep Cosker.Wagg produced another expensive over with 16 coming off it as Bairstow reached a 34 ball 50 with seven fours and a six before Pyrah holed out on the boundary to give Cosker his third victim. It left Yorkshire needing 105 off 63 balls, but the key wicket came when Michael Hogan returned to the attack to dismiss dangerman Bairstow. Rashid ended with 42 not out from 28 balls but he ran out of partners.

Northamptonshire took an iron grip on the third day of their County Championship match against Gloucestershire

25-May-2012
ScorecardNorthamptonshire took an iron grip on the third day of their County Championship match against Gloucestershire despite an unbeaten century by the visitors’ Hamish Marshall.Gloucestershire managed to avoid the follow-on before they were bowled out for 268 with former New Zealand international Marshall making a brilliant 117 not out from 196 balls. Northants then extended their lead to 389 as they closed on 246 for 5 with Scotland international Kyle Coetzer making 86 off 127 deliveries including two huge sixes over midwicket.Gloucestershire began the day on 156 for 6, 255 runs behind their opponents and needing another 106 to avoid the follow-on, with Marshall resuming on 49 and wicketkeeper Jonathan Batty on 9. Marshall quickly completed his half-century off 105 balls with a single off David Willey with the sixth ball of the day.Batty, however, was unable to add to his overnight score before he walked when he was caught by his opposite number David Murphy after edging Lee Daggett.Ed Young failed to score off five deliveries before he was trapped lbw by Willey but Marshall and Ian Saxelby hung in to add 90 for the ninth wicket. This set a new Gloucestershire record against Northants, going past the previous best of 84 made between David Graveney and Brian Brain at Bristol in 1981.Marshall completed his 20th first-class century off 165 balls but Saxelby was to perish on 30 when he was pinned lbw by Con de Lange. James Middlebrook finally brought the Gloucestershire innings to an end with the final ball before lunch when Liam Norwell edged him to Northants captain Andrew Hall at first slip.Middlebrook threw his wicket away on 19, 18 overs into Northants second innings, when he chipped Will Gidman straight to Saxelby at mid-on. But fellow opener Stephen Peters completed his half-century in the third over after tea off 99 balls as Northants steadily extended their advantage.But he departed on 58 when he gloved his attempted reverse sweep off New Zealand international Kane Williamson to Marshall at slip. Coetzer went on to reach 50 off 93 deliveries but his superb knock came to an end when he smashed Saxelby to Williamson at midwicket.David Sales then retired hurt on 33 after seemingly pulling a muscle running a single towards the wicketkeeper’s end. Alex Wakely was then stumped by Batty off Williamson before Willey launched the same bowler to Saxelby at deep square-leg with the last ball of the day.

Cricket Kenya chairman Samir Inamdar has hit back at criticisms levelled against the board by sports minister Paul Otuoma

ESPNcricinfo staff04-May-2011Cricket Kenya chairman Samir Inamdar has hit back at criticisms levelled against the board by sports minister Paul Otuoma.Questioned about Kenya’s poor showing at the World Cup, Otuoma said: “The officials are responsible for the current rot in the game.”Inamdar countered that despite several invitations, Otuoma had yet to sit down with CK officials or even acknowledge attempts to arrange meetings”It’s unfortunate that, in these circumstances, [he] has chosen to air his ill-advised views publicly and to condemn the Cricket Kenya board without any proper consultation or discussion,” Inamdar said. “He appears to be clearly unaware of the history of the sport in Kenya, its challenges or the work carried out by the current administration since the inception of Cricket Kenya five years ago. Nor does he appear to be aware that the ICC regularly reviews Cricket Kenya’s operations, finances, development programmes, performances and governance.”Inamdar, who took over following the ousting of Sharad Ghai in 2005, inheriting a board is chaos and with no money, dismissed Otuoma’s suggestion the board should resign en masse. “[We] take exception to the apparent suggestion that constitutionally elected officials of a national sports association should either be replaced or compulsorily resign because the national team concerned has performed poorly.”The board is mandated by its constituent member clubs and by the ICC to govern the sport in Kenya and it fully intends to carry out its obligations in doing so.”CK has instigated a top-to-bottom review of the game’s structure following the World Cup, and both the captain and coach have been dismissed.”This review will include all aspects of the team’s preparations and performances with input from the entire team management, players and officials,” Inamdar said. “The ICC will be an integral part of that review and its representatives are due to fly into Kenya to discuss these matters with Cricket Kenya. The ICC will provide its own report on the performances of all the non-Test playing members (including Kenya) at the World Cup.”CK is conscious of the fact that far-reaching changes need to be made in the way cricket is played, managed and structured in Kenya if playing standards are to improve. The review is aimed at providing a long-term answer to this.”CK has invited the minister to meet with board members and the ICC’s officials at any time convenient to him to discuss the ongoing review and our future plans. It is sincerely hoped he accepts the invitation on this occasion.”

Bangladesh A succumbed to their second consecutive defeat in the tri-series, falling short by 29 runs against West Indies A in Mirpur

Cricinfo staff08-May-2010
Scorecard
Bangladesh A succumbed to their second consecutive defeat in the tri-series, falling short by 29 runs against West Indies A in Mirpur. West Indies were boosted by half-centuries from Darren Bravo and Brendan Nash which helped take their team to a competitive 259 for 7. The pair added 84 for the third wicket, and some attacking batting at the death from Imran Khan took West Indies past 250.Bangladesh were well placed for much of their innings, opener Nazimuddin leading the way with an 86-ball 89, comprising 13 fours. He was supported by captain Shamsur Rahman, with whom he added 84, while Raqibul Hasan and Marshall Ayub scored 46 and 43 respectively to keep the chase on track. At 176 for 3 in the 35th over, Bangladesh had the upper hand but two quick wickets in successive overs for one run pegged them back.Ayub fought hard, batting with the lower order, but when he fell with the score on 230 to make it nine down, West Indies had the game covered. Seamer Nelon Pascal starred for them, taking four wickets to trigger Bangladesh’s slide after they had threatened to scale down the target.

“When you don’t play, it is very easy to blame someone. To take it constructively and improve is tough”

Shashank Kishore18-Sep-20253:59

Kuldeep: Had a good time in England working on myself

For Kuldeep Yadav, rhythm is everything. It’s what aids his drift, helps develop a loop to deceive batters in the air, and gives him confidence to sequence his deliveries better.However, he says, rhythm only comes with time in the middle, something he didn’t have a lot of through the course of an entire Test series in England, because the team opted for batting depth.”In England, obviously, looking at the conditions and the combination of the team, I didn’t get a place in the XI,” he said ahead of India’s final group match against Oman in Abu Dhabi in the Asia Cup. “But it was a very good time for me to work on myself, to improve my fitness and to give more volume to bowling, because it is very important.”Instead of sitting and sulking, Kuldeep developed his own pattern to training, and analysed his game, and picked out certain markers for when his time would come.Related

• Kuldeep makes it worth the wait

• How Kuldeep and Axar slammed the door shut on Pakistan

“As a player, you learn a lot when you don’t play,” he said. “When the team reacts to certain situations, you can judge from the outside. You have a lot of ideas when you are in this situation, as to how to react and how you can bowl. I got a lot of ideas from there.”The communication [when he didn’t play] from Gauti [head coach Gautam Gambhir] was very clear. He was very straightforward. When you don’t play, it is very easy to blame someone. To take it constructively and improve is tough. There are two ways and players choose according to themselves.”But it is very important that you keep working hard. The game is such that you have good and bad days. If you are not playing, you have time to improve on your own and become a better player when you get the chance.”Kuldeep Yadav did not get to play in England•Getty Images

Kuldeep’s opportunity came soon after, in the form of a Duleep Trophy game in August. The scorecard will show no wickets next to his name, but for Kuldeep, those 32 overs meant so much more.”It was very important for me to bowl there,” he said. “Bowling in nets and bowling in a match are very different. Obviously, you want to play after a long time. You want to perform well. But I didn’t have that much in my mind. I focused on my strength and tried to bowl in good areas.”Now, he feels that sense of rhythm has returned fully at the Asia Cup, where he has picked up seven wickets in two games, against UAE and Pakistan, across 37 deliveries.”Actually, my rhythm is set now,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with that. I think it is important to use small angles for bowlers. As a wristspinner, I always think about my release point, my finish, whether the body is transferring [weight forward] or not.”When you don’t play, these things run in your mind. But obviously, with the help of video analysis, you get an idea of how you are bowling. I think my rhythm is good now. In the beginning, when I changed [in 2022, he worked on a straighter run-up and went through the crease faster], it took time. But now I am used to it.”The rhythm and confidence tie in nicely to his spin chemistry with Varun Chakravarthy and Axar Patel in India’s T20I set-up, with all three having different roles.”Everyone knows their job and my job is to take wickets in the middle overs,” Kuldeep said. “Axar, obviously, we have seen him bowling in the powerplay and he did the controlling job for us. Between me, Varun and Axar, we are very experienced in the T20 format and understand our roles very well.”Giving a lot of inputs really helped me, or anyone who is bowling in the middle. Whether it is Axar or Varun or me, whoever bowls first assesses the conditions and then suggests something. So it’s a good combination and we are very happy with that.”Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav ran through Pakistan’s middle order•AFP/Getty Images

While Kuldeep’s rhythm has given him a fresh verve on the field, he also consciously tries to find a balance off the field, something he believes helps him find a release, especially when he is not playing. That balance has come through football.”If you follow other sports, you get to know how it feels when a team is performing really well,” he said. “You see the bench strength of their team. They have some unbeatable bench strength and when you focus on them, they are not getting enough time -15 minutes, 20 minutes – but they are so good, they can start in any game.”You see other teams, especially the big ones, and how they play against smaller teams – the communication, the decision-making, how quickly it all happens. You hardly have enough time to react.”Obviously, I play cricket on the field, that’s my job. After that, I enjoy football. There are so many games, you just watch and enjoy. In any sport, you admire how they play, especially in team games. The communication, the connection between players, how they lift each other – that’s the most important thing.”

Middle-order batter Irfan Khan Niazi has also been ruled out of the series with a hamstring injury

Danyal Rasool24-Apr-2024Mohammad Rizwan and Irfan Khan Niazi have been ruled out of the remainder of Pakistan’s T20I series against New Zealand. The PCB, in a statement, said they had received radiology reports for the pair and decided to pull them out of the series.Rizwan is thought to have pulled a hamstring while batting in the third T20I. He received extensive on-field attention before going off retired hurt. The PCB has downplayed the extent of his injury, saying he is expected to be out for no more than a week to ten days, and that the injury does not imperil any future tours as things stand. While there was no sign of discomfort for Niazi during that game, he is also believed to have picked up a hamstring niggle, resulting in the PCB pulling him out of the series.The pair’s absences follow Azam Khan’s unavailability for the tour with injury, though an official statement said he only needed 10 days of rest, suggesting there is no long-term availability issue. While Haseebullah, who made his sole international appearance in a T20 against New Zealand earlier this year, was called up as cover for Azam, no further replacements have been announced.Pakistan do have wicketkeeping options in Rizwan’s absence. While Haseebullah has not featured yet, he is a wicketkeeper-batter. Usman Khan also kept wicket for two games for the Multan Sultans earlier this year in the PSL.The injuries come at an inopportune time for Pakistan with the series on the line in Lahore. New Zealand bounced back from a crushing defeat in the second T20I with a dominant performance to level the series in Pindi, with the final two games in Lahore.