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No head of the committee has been named but it now means that since August 2021, Pakistan have used 26 different selectors

ESPNcricinfo staff11-Oct-2024The PCB has reconstituted its selection committee again, the latest on the day of another home Test thumping, this time at the hands of England. Shortly after England completed an ultimately comfortable innings win in Multan, the PCB announced Aleem Dar, Aaqib Javed, and Azhar Ali as the new members of the panel, joining Asad Shafiq, the analyst Hassan Cheema, and the captain and the coach, who were already part of the committee.All seven members will have a vote on selection. In addition, there are four non-voting members in Azhar Mahmood (the assistant coach), Bilal Afzal (an advisor to the PCB chairman), Nadeem Khan (director – high performance) and Usman Wahla (director – international cricket).The additions came ten days after Mohammad Yousuf’s resignation from the panel. No head of the committee has been named but it now means that since August 2021, Pakistan have used 26 different selectors.The appointments came within an hour of Pakistan’s innings-and-47-run defeat, becoming the first team in Test history to lose a Test by an innings after scoring over 550 in the first attempt. It was Pakistan’s third Test loss at home in a row and their seventh in their last nine home Tests.The immediate task for the new committee will be to pick a squad for the second Test, also in Multan, which starts next Tuesday – the PCB had only announced a squad for the first Test. The members met at the PCB’s National Cricket Academy in Lahore on Friday afternoon, and will travel to Multan on Saturday to meet the head curator, captain Shan Masood and head coach Jason Gillespie, after which they will finalise the squad.Changes are likely with the performances of four to five players under the scanner. And despite scoring a hundred in the first innings, Masood’s captaincy is likely to be a subject of discussion given his longer run of indifferent form and a record that now reads zero wins and six successive losses. Pakistan have now slipped to the bottom of the WTC points table with only 16 points from eight games.When asked at the post-match presentation in Multan if Pakistan could see some new faces for the second Test, Masood said, “Look, we’re in the middle of the series. We’ve talked about a squad mentality. We’ve talked about consistency. Where I’d like the team to improve is no matter what the pitch is like, we must find a way out. And England showed us the way in this Test match, you have to give huge credit to them.”The selection panel had been restructured only earlier this year – with no chief selector – under PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi, but has since seen Wahab Riaz and Abdul Razzaq sacked after Pakistan’s early exit from the T20 World Cup in June, without any replacements named. Yousuf’s resignation at the end of last month also did not lead to a replacement immediately, which left Shafiq as the only voting member outside of the captains and coaches.Dar’s appointment is bound to attract attention, given how rare it is for umpires to become selectors. Though he stepped down from the ICC’s elite panel last year, he has continued to umpire domestically and in home internationals. He announced recently, however, that this season would be his last as a professional umpire.

While they often played in tandem during the 2019 World Cup cycle, India have tended to use only one at a time in the lead-up to 2023

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jul-2023Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal. For years their names were always part of the same sentences. Between Kuldeep’s ODI debut in June 2017 and the end of the 2019 World Cup, India played 63 ODIs with either one of them in their XI, 34 with both, and none with neither.Since the 2019 World Cup, though, India have become reluctant to use their wristspinners in tandem. While they’ve fielded either Kuldeep or Chahal in 51 ODIs, they’ve unleashed both of them only three times, and picked neither of them on four occasions.Related

• Faster, straighter, deadlier – Kuldeep 2.0 is India's ace in the hole

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• Rohit: 'I never thought the pitch was going to play like that'

It’s been a challenging situation, but their relationship, according to Kuldeep, hasn’t suffered for it.”We’re very relaxed,” he said after picking up 4 for 6 in the first ODI against West Indies in Bridgetown on Thursday. “We know the combination matters a lot. Sometimes he plays, sometimes I play, and our understanding is very good. We’re very normal.”He helps me a lot when I play, he tells me what I can do, what I can change. He always wants me to do well. When he plays I do the same thing, so that when he plays he performs well for the team. Maybe this is why the Kul-Cha partnership has worked so well over the years. We support and back each other.”Kuldeep has impressive records in all three formats, but such is India’s depth of spin resources that he’s sat out 184 of their 302 matches since his international debut. He says he understands the situation and is used to dealing with it.”You often have to sit outside because of the situation or the combination,” he said. “It’s become a normal thing. I’ve been playing cricket for such a long time – it’s been six, six-and-a-half years [since my debut] and a lot of things have become normal.”I pay more attention to the work I need to put in, and my bowling, [so that I can perform] whenever I get a chance. I’m very relaxed when I don’t play, because there’s no pressure of performing on the ground. When you play there’s pressure, but at the same time it’s the pressure of doing well. You’re playing for a big team, you’re playing for India, you have so many people watching you, following you, so you want to perform at your best.”

Sunrisers did well to recover from 99 for 6, but their total of 157 wasn’t nearly enough

Hemant Brar22-May-20223:04

Should Sunrisers have tried out a few more players?

Punjab Kings ended their season on a high note, registering a thumping five-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the dead rubber at the Wankhede Stadium.Bhuvneshwar Kumar, captaining Sunrisers in the absence of Kane Williamson, decided to bat first after winning the toss but Harpreet Brar dented them by picking up the wickets of Rahul Tripathi, Abhishek Sharma and Aiden Markram. At 99 for 6 after 16 overs, it looked like Sunrisers might even struggle to reach 150 but Romario Shepherd and Washington Sundar ransacked 58 off the last four overs to lift them to a respectable total.Kings batted in the fifth gear throughout their innings. A flying start from Jonny Bairstow meant they raced away to 62 for 1 by the end of the powerplay. In the last ten overs, they needed only 61. Liam Livingstone’s unbeaten 49 off 22 balls, studded with two fours and five sixes, ensured they needed no more than 31 balls to knock off those runs.Sunrisers’ sedate start
On a used pitch, Sunrisers openers Priyam Garg and Abhishek struggled to force the pace even against the new ball. After only nine runs came off the first two overs, Garg tried to flick Kagiso Rabada through midwicket but ended up closing the bat face early, and Mayank Agarwal gobbled up the leading edge at mid-off. By the end of four overs, Sunrisers were 24 for 1. The sixth over, bowled by Nathan Ellis, though produced 11 runs, with Tripathi picking up a six and Abhishek a four.Liam Livingstone was at his belligerent best against the high pace of Umran Malik•BCCI

Brar’s three-four dents Sunrisers
Abhishek welcomed Brar into the attack by pulling his second ball over deep midwicket for a six. But Brar struck back in his next over when Tripathi swept one straight to short fine leg. Soon after, Brar snared Abhishek too. The batter tried to launch a fuller delivery over long-on but failed to clear a leaping Livingstone.If those two wickets were the result of the batter trying to take him on, the third was a left-arm spinner’s delight. Brar pitched one on a good length to Markram and beat the outside edge with turn and bounce. Jitesh Sharma whipped the bails off to find the off-balanced batter out of his crease.Shepherd, Washington lift Sunrisers
Both Shepherd and Washington had started slowly – at one stage, Shepherd was on 1 off five balls and Washington 3 off seven. But the floodgates opened in the 17th over, with the duo taking 17 off Ellis with the help of two fours and a six. In the next over, Washington hit Rabada for a six and a four before the bowler gifted five wides. In all, 19 came off that over.The final over, bowled by Ellis, was the most eventful. Shepherd hit the first ball for a six over long-on before Ellis dismissed Washington and Suchith off consecutive deliveries. On the last ball, Bhuvneshwar tried to sneak in a bye but was run out at the keeper’s end. Ellis, however, had overstepped, which meant there was still one ball left. Umran Malik lost his off stump on the free hit but collected a bye, just making his ground at the bowler’s end.Kings tee off
Bairstow seemed to have come out with the intent of hitting every ball to the boundary line. In the first two overs, he hit five fours, albeit two of them came via edges. But he soon ran out of luck. He tried to hit Fazalhaq Farooqi across the line but missed the length ball and lost his off stump.Shahrukh Khan was promoted to No. 3. On the second ball he faced, he pulled Bhuvneshwar over deep midwicket before clipping Farooqi for four in the next over.Shikhar Dhawan had crawled to 12 off 11 balls but now he too joined in, jumping out of his crease against J Suchith and hitting him over deep midwicket for back-to-back sixes.Livingstone finishes it off in a hurry
Shahrukh tried to take on Malik as well. He drilled his first ball down the ground for four but holed out to a back-pedalling mid-on two balls later. Agarwal came in at No. 4 and straightaway copped a blow to his rib cage, courtesy of a 144kph lifter from Malik. His painful stay came to an end in the next over when he pulled Washington straight to deep midwicket.That brought Livingstone to the crease. He started by pulling Washington into the deep-midwicket stands before thumping Malik for successive sixes. At the other end, Dhawan was struggling for timing and eventually fell to Farooqi for a 32-ball 39.Incoming Jitesh Sharma started in a similar manner to Livingstone. Off his first five balls, he hit three fours and a six. However, he didn’t last long and Suchith had him caught at long-on.At the end of 14 overs, Kings needed 25 off 36 balls. But Livingstone was in a hurry, and was helped in equal measure by Sunrisers’ sloppy fielding. He hit Shepherd for two sixes and two fours in a 23-run 15th over to all but seal the game.

Country moved into level three restrictions but international sport still allowed to take place

Firdose Moonda29-Dec-2020The ongoing series between South Africa and Sri Lanka will continue despite the country moving to a stricter level of lockdown. In the face of an increasing number of Covid-19 infections, the South African government has moved the country from level one to level three, prohibited all gatherings for two weeks and enforced a stricter curfew.The regulations allow for international sports to take place involving countries with a low or medium infection and transmission rate (which includes Sri Lanka). Matches must take place behind closed doors, and venues have to be closed by 8pm.”Only journalists, radio, television crew, security personnel, emergency medical services, and the necessary employees employed by the owners of the venue of the sport match, are allowed at the venue of the sport match and only the required number of players, match officials, support staff and medical crew required for the sport match, are allowed at the venue of the sport match,” regulation 36 (17) reads.CSA confirmed that the new regulations will not impact the series.No fans have been in attendance at any of South Africa’s international fixtures this summer, including the Boxing Day Test. Similarly, domestic matches have also taken place inside empty stadiums.South Africa’s borders remain partially open and international flights are allowed subject to travelers producing a negative test for Covid-19, obtained no less than 72 hours before the flight. South Africans are also allowed to leave the country with the same rules. That means that the national men’s tour to Pakistan, which takes place in January, is still set to go ahead.

South African all-rounder rescued the Rapids after they had slipped to 35 for 3

ECB Reporters Network31-Jul-2019Worcestershire 159 for 8 (Parnell 81*) beat Derbyshire 156 for 4 (du Plooy 52) by two wicketsWayne Parnell scored his maiden Vitality Blast half-century for Worcestershire Rapids as they overcame a wobbly start and finish to their innings to edge out Derbyshire Falcons by two wickets at New Road.The South African all-rounder, who celebrated his 30th birthday yesterday, rescued the Rapids after they had slipped to 35 for 3 in reply to Derbyshire’s 156 for 4. He reached his half century off 34 balls with the aid of four sixes and one four.Ben Cox and Ross Whiteley proved crucial support but then the Rapids lost four wickets for seven runs when the finishing line was in sight before victory was secured with one over to spare.Parnell finished unbeaten on 81 from 46 balls with seven sixes and two fours to move the Rapids within one point of leaders Lancashire Lightning.Derbyshire were put into bat on the same pitch used for the Rapids’ run blitz against Durham on Sunday.Dillon Pennington took the new ball and his third legitimate delivery accounted for captain Billy Godleman (0) who shaped to cut and was caught behind.Luis Reece found the England Under-19 paceman to his liking in his second over as he collected two fours and a huge six over mid-wicket.But he perished to the last ball of the power play on 29 when deceived by a slower ball from Pat Brown which he scooped straight to mid-off.Skipper Brett D’Oliveira came into the attack and Wayne Madsen (28) fell to a fine diving catch by Parnell at cover with the South African celebrating with a series of press-ups.The legspinner struck again when Matt Critchley (9) tried to repeat his straight six from earlier in the over and was pouched at long off.
The ball was sticking in the pitch and batsmen were struggling to time the ball.Veteran opening batsman Daryl Mitchell tied down the Derbyshire batsmen with a mid-innings spell of four overs for just 15 runs.But Leus du Plooy and on loan Kent all-rounder Darren Stevens gave the innings some late momentum with an unbroken stand of 70 in seven overs.Du Plooy brought up a 46-ball half-century with five fours and Stevens ended unbeaten on 26 from 18 deliveries.In reply, Fynn Hudson-Prentice claimed the scalps of Martin Guptill and Riki Wessels in the space of four balls in his first over, and that became 35 for 3 when Callum Ferguson (6) was caught off a leading edge at cover from the first delivery by Reece.Parnell added some impetus to the Rapids innings and a six over mid-wicket off Reece brought up the 50 in the eighth over.Cox gave him good support until he was caught around the corner off Mark Watt (20) but Whiteley proved to be a useful ally to Parnell in a stand of 49 in just four overs. He made 20 off 12 balls before he was bowled by Watt and then Ed Barnard (0) was run out from the following delivery.Mitchell (5) fell to Rampaul with 10 still needed and then D’Oliveira (1) was bowled by the West Indian paceman at 149 for 8.But Parnell drilled Alex Hughes for six over long off amidst great excitement and relief amongst the 3,000 crowd to settle the contest in the Rapids’ favour.

Gupta’s eight-month doping ban will only end on September 14, six days after the conclusion of the Duleep Trophy

Saurabh Somani23-Jul-2018In June, the BCCI imposed a retrospective doping ban on Punjab wicketkeeper-batsman Abhishek Gupta, having confirmed he had tested positive for a prohibited substance during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in January. Gupta’s eight-month ban is set to expire on September 14.On Monday, Gupta was included in the India Red squad for the forthcoming Duleep Trophy, which is scheduled to be played between August 17 and September 8.Genuine oversight or plain ignorance? It could be either, but the selectors first named Gupta in the India A squad before another BCCI release arrived, close to seven hours later, confirming that they had replaced him with Vidarbha’s Akshay Wadkar.”It was brought to notice by the BCCI Anti-Doping team that Mr. Abhishek Gupta who was initially added in the India Red squad is serving an 8-month ban for a doping violation,” the release said. “His ban is set to end on the 14th of September, 2018. The Senior Selection Committee has reached a consensus that Mr. Akshay Wadkar will be included in the India Red team as Mr. Gupta’s replacement.”Wadkar, 24, has only played six first-class matches, all of them during Vidarbha’s run to the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy title. He has scored 395 runs at an average of 65.83, with three fifties and a hundred, which came in the final against Delhi.The three squads for Duleep Trophy were part of the various selections finalised by the selectors in Kolkata on Monday. Also picked was the India A squad for two four-day games against South Africa A, the India A and India B squads for a quadrangular series that will also involve South Africa A and Australia A, and three squads for the Duleep Trophy – India Blue, India Red and India Green.Gupta was handed a retrospective eight-month ban in June, after a urine sample he provided as part of the BCCI’s testing programme was found to contain terbutaline, which is among the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) list of prohibited substances. This test was conducted on January 15, during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.Gupta had admitted to taking the banned substance, saying he did so inadvertently, as part of medication he had been prescribed. The BCCI was satisfied with Gupta’s explanation and back-dated the start of his eight-month ban to January 15.Gupta, 27, made his senior debut for Punjab last October, and has since played six first-class, six List A and nine T20 games. He has scored 471 first-class runs at an average of 52.33, with two fifties and a double-hundred on debut against Himachal Pradesh.IST 1040 The story was updated after the selectors named Wadkar as Gupta’s replacement

The Australia fast bowler also said ‘all the pressure’ was on India to win the series

Daniel Brettig23-Mar-20172:42

‘The pressure is firmly on India’ – Hazlewood

Australia fast bowler Josh Hazlewood expected a result-oriented pitch for the series-deciding fourth Test against India in Dharamsala, though not necessarily the juicy kind that helped Adam Gilchrist’s team clinch the most recent Australian victory in India, 13 years ago.Dharamsala is the home ground of the deposed former BCCI president Anurag Thakur, and differences between a state association and the Indian board’s leadership were at the heart of the grassy pitch served up in Nagpur in 2004. The disconnect ultimately provided a priceless advantage to the visitors, who at that stage had Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz in their bowling attack alongside Shane Warne.Hazlewood, though, has memories of the sluggish surface the HPCA ground served up at the World T20, when Mitchell McClenaghan’s cutters and Mitchell Santner’s left-arm spin spearheaded a victory for New Zealand. Knowing that India must win the match to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Hazlewood did not think the relatively friendly batting conditions in Ranchi will be replicated.”I think the wicket will determine a result,” he said. “They need to win so the wicket they serve up will bring a result into the game. The pressure is firmly on them. We can draw it but we obviously want to win it, win 2-1 and win a series in India, which rarely happens.”I’d love to see it fast and bouncy. But that’s what they said in Pune as well and we didn’t quite get that. I think the way they saw Pat Cummins bowl the other day, they don’t really want it any faster than Ranchi, I wouldn’t think. We’d love it to be that way, would feel a bit more like home, but I don’t think we’ll get that.””We played New Zealand here in the T20 World Cup nearly 12 months ago. It spun quite a bit that game. They can make it however they want, really. It sometimes has pace and bounce and sometimes has spin. Guess we’ll find out.”‘All the pressure is on them. I think the whole Indian team has [felt pressure], and probably the skipper more so’ – Hazlewood•Associated Press

Equanimity about conditions and match situations has been a hallmark of the Australian approach in this series, and Hazlewood retained his laconic streak when pondering the physical toll of spending more than two complete days in the field in the last game.”You’re probably going to bowl that many overs in a Test match, it’s just the fact we did it one go,” he said. “It was a long time out in the field but that’s what you prepare for and that’s what a Test match brings. Everyone has pulled up well and ready to go again.”I might roll the arm over lightly just to see how it goes. We’ve bowled enough so far this series and we’ve been playing non-stop for a long time now so we know what we’re doing bowling-wise it’s just a matter of recovering and preparing for the next Test as best we can.”The tourists’ due diligence on the fitness of the recalled Cummins included precautionary back scans between Tests. It was a source of relief to medical staff both in India and back home that they came up clear.”It’s great to have him back,” Hazlewood said. “I’ve spent a lot of time with Patty [at New South Wales] and finally got to play a Test with him last week which was great. I think everyone was taken aback by the way he bowled and to get that lift and pace off the wicket like that. He’s a pretty special player and to bring that extra pace is what you need sometimes on those wickets to get those breakthroughs.”He’s going to be great if he can stay on the park and join the [fast bowlers’] cartel and have a good partnership moving forward. You never want to see guys in the sidelines injured, and Pat’s obviously been playing for a majority part of this year in one-day cricket and T20s. But it’s great to see him back in the Test format. He obviously had a great hit-out in that last Test and bowled fast for the whole duration, so it’s amazing what he’s going to do back in Australia and on bouncy wickets in South Africa and places like that.”With the possible exception of the 2015 Ashes, Hazlewood said he has never been part of a Test match more hotly-anticipated than this one. In his mind, the pressure of the occasion will weigh heavily on India’s cricketers, none more so than the captain Virat Kohli. “It’s pretty exciting. We had that win in Pune, feels quite a while ago now, but we’ve competed for every day of Test cricket so far. We’re pretty excited that if we can put a couple of good days together here in Dharamsala against a great opposition that we can come away with a win which is something you’d never forget.”Before we came over, they were expected to win 4-0. The pressure is still firmly on them being 1-1 going into this decider and all the pressure is on them. I think the whole Indian team has [felt pressure], and probably the skipper more so. There’s a little bit more pressure on him. It’s just that they are expected to win in their own backyard, just as we are at home. So the more pressure we can put on the better.”

India Women began their tour of Australia by pulling off their highest ever chase in T20 internationals, to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series in Adelaide

ESPNcricinfo staff26-Jan-2016
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsIndia Women put up a strong batting performance to win their first T20I in Australia•Getty Images

India Women began their tour of Australia by pulling off their highest ever chase in T20 internationals, to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series in Adelaide. Before today, their best chase was 128 for 7 against New Zealand in Bangalore in July 2015, but Harmanpreet Kaur and Veda Krishnamurthy ensured that bar was raised by hauling in Australia Women’s 140 for 5 with eight balls to spare.Australia did well to make as much as they did after getting sent in to bat. They lost opener Grace Harris for a duck to Jhulan Goswami in the first over, and their captain Meg Lanning was bowled by Shikha Pandey in the fourth, leaving them 2 for 17. The other opener Beth Mooney made a run-a-ball 36 on international debut and added 49 with Ellyse Perry before both of them fell in quick succession. When Jess Jonassen was bowled by Anuja Patil for 2, Australia were struggling at 5 for 81 in 15.4 overs.They were lifted by Alyssa Healy’s blitz. She smacked 41 off 15 balls – her strike rate of 273 was the third best for a score of 30 or more in Women’s T20 internationals – and she added 59 off the last 26 balls with Alex Blackwell, who was unbeaten on 27 off 22. Healy hit Ekta Bisht for three fours in the 17th over, and then carted Niranjana Nagarajan for consecutive sixes and a four in the 19th to finish the innings powerfully.India’s chase did not begin well either as Mithali Raj was caught for 4 in the second over. Smriti Mandhana and Krishnamurthy (35 off 32) steadied the innings with a 55-run stand for the second wicket, but Australia fought back with three quick strikes – reducing India to 4 for 91 in 14 overs.Having come in at the fall of the second wicket, Kaur watched two big wickets fall at the other end, the equation boiling down to 50 runs off the last six overs. She had started slowly, scoring only 8 off her first 13 balls, but raised the pace quickly. Kaur struck a six and six fours in the space of 16 deliveries before her dismissal, leaving her team-mates with an easily achieveable equation.

Two successive sixes off Sammy’s bowling, and from Brad Hodge’s bat, launched Rajasthan Royals into the second qualifier, where they will take on Mumbai Indians for a place in the final

The Report by Abhishek Purohit22-May-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsBrad Hodge turned it around from 57 for 5 (file photo)•BCCI

Three days ago, two successive sixes from Darren Sammy had launched Sunrisers Hyderabad into the IPL Eliminator. Three days later, two successive sixes off Sammy’s bowling, and from Brad Hodge’s bat, launched Rajasthan Royals into the second qualifier, where they will take on Mumbai Indians for a place in the final. The victory also meant Royals sealed their place in the 2013 Champions League Twenty20.Hodge’s was a blinder of an innings in many contexts. Prior to this, he had not spent a lot of time in the middle, Rahul Dravid preferring to use him as a finisher. He came in at 57 for 5 in a chase of 133 on a slow, uneven pitch, on which almost everyone had struggled for timing. He was up against the best attack of the season in a knockout situation. Royals had been up for a week against a spot-fixing controversy that had shaken their team and messed up their combinations.Hodge’s response was one befitting a man who has made the most Twenty20 runs in the world. When he cracked the second ball of the last over 96 metres into the crowd beyond the long-on boundary, he finished on 54 off 29. He hit five sixes on a pitch where the first one took 14.1 overs to come.This match was Royals’ after a start of 50 for 1 inside seven overs. Shane Watson was another batsman who was making a mockery of the difficulties posed by the pitch, pushing forward and getting boundaries with sheer power. His pull off the legspinner Karan Sharma was headed for six over deep midwicket when Sammy jumped several feet to intercept the ball, and turn the game.Royals lost a wicket each in the next three overs to slip to 57 for 5. Sammy did most of the damage, keeping it straight to hit the stumps, as Dishant Yagnik and Stuart Binny missed. Ajinkya Rahane popped one back to the other Sunrisers legspinner Amit Mishra.Fifty-eight were needed from 40 when Hodge tore into Karan, a bowler most sides had found difficult to get away. Two sixes and a four in the space of four deliveries. He followed it up with a straight six off Mishra in the next over. Sunrisers were visibly stunned, and Mishra, whose first three overs had gone for eight, was irritated.Sunrisers hung in, though, despite a wayward 18th over from Dale Steyn. Hodge tried to hit a six almost every ball off Thisara Perera in the 19th, and managed five runs. It came down to 10 needed off six, but Hodge needed two deliveries.Sunrisers did well to get to 132 from 67 for 3 after 14 overs. Royals went in without a spinner, but their various kinds of medium-pacers tied Sunrisers down with lack of pace and width.Vikramjeet Malik, playing his second match of the season, sent back Parthiv Patel and Hanuma Vihari in the space of four balls. Shikhar Dhawan and Cameron White took their time to push on. White, especially, looked in good touch but both fell in trying to step up the pace of scoring.Sammy and Perera were going to be key at the death but again, both fell just as they were starting to dominate. Sammy came out swinging sixes but was run out by an accurate, powerful throw from the deep by the substitute Rahul Shukla for 29 off 21. Perera zoomed to 11 off 6 before edging behind.It was still not an easy target by any means and Royals’ inexperienced middle order seemed to blow it, but Hodge was lurking at No.7 to deliver the knockout punch.

Pakistan’s new Twenty20 captain Mohammad Hafeez has said he expects a tough contest in all three formats against Sri Lanka

Sa'adi Thawfeeq28-May-2012Pakistan’s new Twenty20 captain Mohammad Hafeez has said he expects a tough contest in all three formats against Sri Lanka.”We all know that Sri Lanka is always good on their own soil and we are looking forward to a very tough series,” Hafeez said at a media conference held a few hours after the team’s arrival on Monday for a seven-week tour.”We have experience playing them in the recent past and had good success against them,” he said, referring to the Test and ODI series victories when the sides met in the UAE late last year. “I personally feel the boys have worked really hard in the last one and a half months. Although we were not playing any international cricket (recently) some of the guys were doing their own training and the PCB arranged some matches for us to get match practice.”The Pakistan coach Dav Whatmore was happy with the team’s preparation for the series. “Although Pakistan is unable to play any international matches at home due to the security concerns in their country, they managed to practice together before coming to Sri Lanka,” he said. “We had a pretty decent two weeks camp before we came here finishing up with some practices that were attended by conservatively 15,000 people who were starved of cricket and they just loved them.”The advantage a country like Sri Lanka has, apart from IPL of course, is they are all centralised in one spot. In our case a lot of the boys are spread out. There are a lot of weeks of build-up before we come together for a camp. From that point of view you can’t be in all the places at once taken in good faith that they are working and the boys have. But the two weeks was very good at the other end.”Whatmore served as head coach of the Sri Lanka team on two occasions and is best remembered for guiding them to win the World Cup in 1996 in his first attempt. “That was a long time ago when I finished with Sri Lanka and a lot of water has passed under the bridge. I maintain some friendships which are always good but the task here is to win. It will be nothing less than working 100% to achieve that. The longer goal is to take Pakistan high up in the rankings in all three formats. It’s a simple statement but it requires a lot of work.”Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said that it was a good challenge for his team to play Pakistan at home. “If you take their performances in the last six months they have performed well in all three formats. To play them in our conditions is a good challenge,” Jayawardene said. “We must move forward from the series against England. One-day cricket is important to us and also the T20 because in another 3-4 months we have the World T20 so the T20 matches against Pakistan and the two we will play against India in July are extremely important to us.”Pakistan being their tour of Sri Lanka with two T20 Internationals at Hambantota on June 1 and 3 before moving into the five-match ODI series and the Tests.