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Classy Chase leads West Indies rally

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An unbeaten 132-run stand for the seventh wicket between Roston Chase (131) and Jason Holder (58) helped West Indies end day one on 286 for 6

The Report by Danyal Rasool30-Apr-2017
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details1:07

Roston Chase, the Caribbean’s Crisis Man

A day that started with ominous familiarity for the West Indies ended in unexpected success as the hosts recovered from a middle order meltdown to post 286 for 6 at stumps. Roston Chase was primarily responsible for the turnaround, an unbeaten 131 – just his second century – dominating the day, while Jason Holder’s unbeaten fifty helped run Pakistan ragged in a final session off which they scored 120.Chase’s awareness around the crease was excellent, knowing exactly when to leave the ball. He was equally effective at adjusting his feet when facing the spinners, and was in position to take advantage when they dropped the ball either short or bowled full. The stroke that brought up his century was a fitting snapshot of how he had played: a delightful cover drive off an overpitched delivery from legpinner Shadab Khan, who had a particularly harsh introduction to the longest format. In the absence of Yasir Shah for most parts of the final session, he was summoned but failed to ring in any sort of consistency.The evening session began, somewhat familiarly, with Holder joining Chase to play his part in yet another rearguard. With the West Indies top and middle order disappointing so regularly, Holder’s runs in the lower order have become essential to his side, rather than just an added bonus. To his credit, he delivers more often than not, and he gave Chase stellar support.With Yasir clearly hampered by a back niggle and unable to bowl at full tilt, Pakistan were at times reduced to being a three-man attack. Chase and Holder were wise to the situation, ensuring they didn’t give a wicket away easily and waited for the bowlers to tire. As they did, their intensity invariably dropped and for the first time all day, Pakistan looked like they were waiting for a wicket to fall instead of actively hunting for one.West Indies had perhaps expected an easier ride after winning the toss and choosing to bat in favourable conditions, but a splendid new ball spell from both Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Abbas put them on the back foot straightaway. The wicket of Kraigg Brathwaite, when it came, had a sense of inevitability to it, the right-hander edging an Amir delivery that held its line. When Shimron Hetmyer fell flashing at a ball outside off stump soon after, the lack of experience was telling.With the pitch seen as conducive to spin bowling, Misbah-ul-Haq turned to Yasir as early as the eleventh over. There was sharp turn on offer for the legspinner right away, hardly a ringing endorsement of the wicket, what with this being the first morning of the Test. But with the under-fire Shai Hope having gone into his shell, Yasir pitched one on a length around middle stump. Hope failed to get on the front foot in time, and the ball took the edge through to Sarfraz Ahmed as West Indies slumped to 37 for 3.Amir provided Pakistan the next breakthrough, ripping a yorker into Powell’s toes that tailed in at serious pace, taking the slow pitch out of the equation. The umpire turned down the appeal, but Amir was sure, and Hawk-Eye agreed with him. Wickets continued to fall as West Indies threatened to fold for a sub-200 total, as the hosts were reduced to 154 for 6. The players went in for tea soon after; the fans will probably have needed something stronger.What they couldn’t have known was Chase and Holder would concoct the perfect tonic to soothe their disappointment in the final session, as the West Indies improbably finished the day on even terms. With the partnership standing at 132, and still unbeaten, the fans had better turn up tomorrow, too. They certainly haven’t seen this before.

Ticket fiasco as fans locked out of near-empty Nagpur stadium

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Fans without tickets were turned away from Scotland’s World T20 match against Zimbabwe at the VCA stadium in Nagpur today, as there are no ticketing facilities available at the ground

Jarrod Kimber and Arya Yuyutsu10-Mar-20162:42

Poor ticket arrangements disappoint fans in Nagpur

Fans without tickets were turned away from Scotland’s World T20 match against Zimbabwe at the VCA stadium in Nagpur today, as there are no ticketing facilities available at the ground.The tickets for the match are priced at 100 rupees for the East and West stands and 200 rupees for behind the bowler’s arm (approx £1.10 and £2.20 respectively). However, many supporters were obliged to travel back to the old VCA stadium in central Nagpur to purchase their tickets, meaning that that those that chose to do so were forced to miss much of the contest.The current stadium, which was inaugurated in 2008 and has a capacity of 45,000, lies 20km outside the city centre, a journey time of approximately 40 minutes by auto-rickshaw. However, the main ticketing system remains still situated at the old venue. A VCA official said it was not possible to have ticketing at both grounds.The BCCI, who declined to comment, are in overall charge of the ticketing policy for the tournament, but the arrangements for each match are at the discretion of the individual state associations. Dharamsala, the other venue that has so far hosted matches, has chosen to sell tickets for the qualifying rounds at the gate.The VCA spokesman added that advertisements for the ticketing policy had been placed in local papers but was unable to explain why the information had not been passed on to the BCCI or ICC, so they could warn fans who were travelling in from other grounds.The atmosphere inside the stadium, which came in for heavy criticism on the opening day of the tournament, was marginally improved for today’s contest, thanks to an influx of some 250 children from nearby schools. However, approximately 100 fans remained locked out of the ground at the start of Zimbabwe’s innings. The venue is too remote to support any local pubs or cafes in which to watch the contest, or to access the ICC’s online ticket-booking service that could have resolved the issue.”We love cricket, which is why we are here even in this heat to watch Scotland take on Zimbabwe,” one group of college students from Nagpur told ESPNcricinfo. “But we can’t book online because of the network and the ticket sales are going on at the other ground. There’s so few people in, why can’t they just let us in. We are even willing to pay at the gate.”One group of Scotland fans, who encountered similar problems during Tuesday’s opening round of fixtures, including Scotland’s defeat against Afghanistan, had been mistakenly informed that they could buy their tickets at their hotel.Privately ICC officials are frustrated that common sense has not been used, especially with the already low turn out for these matches.

Sangakkara signs for Jamaica Tallawahs

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Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara is set to join the Jamaica Tallawahs for the final stretch of the Caribbean Premier League

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Aug-2013Sri Lanka batsman Kumar Sangakkara is set to join the Jamaica Tallawahs for the final stretch of the Caribbean Premier League. The 35-year-old replaces Pakistan top-order batsman Ahmed Shehzad, who will join the Pakistan squad in Zimbabwe.”I did not expect to be playing the CPL this year, but when Muralitharan telephoned and asked whether I might be interested in playing for the Jamaica Tallawahs, I jumped at the chance,” Sangakkara said. “To play alongside Murali again will, of course, be a great privilege and it will also be very exciting to bat with Chris [Gayle] rather than being his opponent. The Tallawahs have had a great season thus far and I hope I can make a positive contribution as we seek to win the inaugural tournament.”Sangakkara is the fourth Sri Lanka player to join the CPL following the signings of Muttiah Muralitharan (Jamaica Tallawahs), Mahela Jayawardene (Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel) and Lasith Malinga (Guyana Amazon Warriors).Jamaica are currently placed third in the points table and have booked a semi-final berth. Their match against T&T on Sunday will decide their semi-final opponent.The other T20 franchises Sangakkara has played for are Deccan Chargers, Kings XI Punjab, Kandurata Maroons and Sunrisers Hyderabad. He was a part of the winning squad of Kandurata in the recent Sri Lanka Super Fours T20 Tournament.He has 3481 runs in 138 T20 matches at an average of 28.53 and strike rate of 124.76, and has 20 fifties to his name.

Groenewald charge halted by Coles

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Derbyshire’s seam attack again delivered to keep the Division Two leaders on track for promotion before Kent’s tail fought back on the opening day at Derby.

02-Aug-2012
ScorecardTim Groenewald took three early wickets•Getty Images

Derbyshire’s seam attack again delivered to keep the Division Two leaders on track for promotion before Kent’s tail fought back on the opening day at Derby. Tim Groenewald claimed 3 for 41 in 19 overs while Tony Palladino and Mark Turner struck twice as Kent fell to to 238 for 8 after they had been put in on a green pitch.Sam Northeast made his fifth consecutive half-century and Michael Powell scored 45 but too many Kent batsmen got themselves out before an unbroken ninth wicket stand of 64 between Matt Coles, 51 not out, and Mark Davies earned the visitors a batting point.Rain wiped 26 overs from the day’s allocation although the skies were clear when Derbyshire won the toss and gave their bowlers first use of a pitch that had pace and bounce. Kent began well and reached 37 before skipper Rob Key aimed a firm-footed waft at Palladino and was caught at first slip. Northeast continued his recent prolific run by hitting nine fours in his fifty but Ben Harmison again struggled and made only five in 11 overs before he edged Turner to third slip.Northeast was dismissed in the next over when Jon Clare produced a good delivery that knocked back the opener’s off-stump and although Brendan Nash was put down on 13, he made only two more before a loose drive at Palladino was taken at gully to make it Derbyshire’s morning.Powell and Darren Stevens were starting to rebuild the innings until Stevens was bowled trying to drive Groenewald and although rain held up play for 50 minutes, Kent quickly lost their sixth wicket when the game resumed.Geraint Jones carved Groenewald to point just before another rain break which kept the players off the field until 4.45pm but Derbyshire quickly made another breakthrough when Groenewald beat James Tredwell with one that moved late to clip the top of off-stump. When Powell lost concentration and was caught behind driving wildly at Turner, Kent were 174 for 8 but Coles and Davies dug in to take their side past 200.Coles greeted the left-arm spin of David Wainwright by pulling him over midwicket for six and he gave the same treatment to Turner for another maximum before a cut brought him his fifth four and a deserved half-century off 74 balls.With Davies, he played out the last 16 overs of an extended day to put Kent back in the game and keep Derbyshire waiting for a third bowling point.

Bristling Somerset storm into final

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A Dominic Cork-inspired Hampshire very nearly hustled their way to their second successive Twenty20 final, but Somerset held their nerve in the second Super Over of what has already been a remarkable day to secure their passage to a showdown with Leiceste

The Report by Liam Brickhill at Edgbaston 27-Aug-2011
One-over Eliminator
Scorecard Jos Buttler’s stunning assault carried Somerset to the brink•Getty Images

A Dominic Cork-inspired Hampshire very nearly hustled their way to their second successive Twenty20 final, but Somerset held their nerve in the second Super Over of what has already been a remarkable day to secure their passage to a showdown with Leicestershire and a trip to India for the Champions League in a month’s time. Chasing a Duckworth/Lewis altered 95 in 10 overs, Somerset slipped to 50 for 3 as Hampshire’s spinners threatened to take hold on a helpful surface.Jos Buttler then entered to turn the game on its head, celebrating his call-up to England’s Twenty20 squad by thrashing three crisp sixes in a 16-ball 32 that took Somerset to the very brink of victory. With just five needed from six balls Cork grabbed centre stage for himself, demonstrating both his enviable calmness under extreme pressure and streetwise tactical nous – breaking the batsman’s rhythm with an extended team conference that lead to the positioning of a man at short leg – in a nerveless final over during which Hampshire, somehow, secured a tie when Somerset were in a seemingly impregnable position.Ultimately, however, it was to be Somerset’s day. Buttler and Craig Kieswetter calmly accumulated 16 from their Super Over, after which Alfonso Thomas’s intelligent changes of length got the better of Shahid Afridi to keep Hampshire to just 5.All of which rather drew the attention away from Afridi’s earlier efforts, Hampshire’s star overseas import slamming a 42-ball 80 to boost his team to a more-than-competitive 138 for 4 in the second rain-shortened match of the day.
Afridi has had a disappointing run with the bat in this competition, having been used, more often than not, as an opener by Hampshire. He is a player who relishes the big stage, however, and today he soaked in the atmosphere and shrugged off two rain delays before four overs had been completed to steadily build Hampshire’s momentum and boost them to what could well have been a match-winning total.Summer showers repeatedly scudded across the ground and both early delays were mercifully short but it was still an unusually becalmed start from a batsman not known for taking his time at the crease. Murali Kartik and George Dockrell, Somerset’s wily pair of left-arm spinners, were both treated with circumspection on first viewing and it was not until Afridi scythed medium-pacer Craig Meschede one-handed over cover for his first six that he really began to go through the gears.Kartik was brought back in the seventh over and immediately dumped over the long-off boundary, Afridi’s power ensuring the ball went the distance despite coming off the toe-end. Next to suffer was Arul Suppiah, his first over dispatched for 14 and his second bringing a 28-ball fifty for Afridi courtesy of a drilled cover drive – his fourth four.A rapidly deflating Somerset were grateful for the wickets of James Vince (22) and Neil McKenzie (4) but while Afridi remained the boundary was always in danger. He took Hampshire’s run rate above nine with two sixes in an over off Kieron Pollard – the first a monstrous blow that soared into the second tier of the stands behind long on, the second a disdainful flick with barely any backlift – and it looked as though Afridi could reach a century before he swiped at a Thomas in-ducker to be bowled in the 14th over.Sean Ervine and Liam Dawson flailed with gusto but couldn’t ping the boundary in the closing overs before the third and final rain interruption came, much to the chagrin of a crowd that was close to capacity. With just one delivery to be bowled, Duckworth/Lewis stepped in to readjust Hampshire’s total.Needing more than nine an over from the start, and with precious little time to settle at the crease, Marcus Trescothick launched Somerset’s chase by shovelling the first ball, from Dimitri Mascarenhas, through extra cover for four. His rustic, stand-and-deliver approach blended well with Kieswetter’s more light-footed swiping as Somerset stormed to 40 in the first three overs.The introduction of spin in the form of left-arm spinner Danny Briggs brought an immediate change of fortunes, Kieswetter chipping straight to long-off, and when an exuberant Imran Tahir got the better of Pollard and Trescothick with consecutive deliveries Somerset were in some serious strife.This was just the sort of situation that made Buttler’s name, however, and he took on the spinners in sublime fashion, planting both Briggs and Tahir over long-on to revive his team before Cork’s last gasp intervention brought a dramatic finale.

Davidson finds support from chief executive

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There was little progress on or off the field at Grace Road as rain washed out the third day of the County Championship match between Leicestershire and Surrey

George Dobell at Grace Road26-Aug-2010There was little progress on or off the field at Grace Road as rain washed out the third day of the County Championship match between Leicestershire and Surrey.Leicestershire’s acting chief executive, Mike Siddall, denied that a full board meeting would take place during the day, stating that “as there’s no cricket, the board members have not come to the ground.” However, it is understood that all members of the board, except the under-fire chairman, Neil Davidson, are to meet informally.That distinction is important. As an informal meeting, there will be no need for minutes. It is understood that the board is split on the issue and at least one member has threatened to resign if Davidson remains in position.A compromise solution has been rejected. It was suggested that Davidson could step down as chairman but retain a place on the board, but Leicestershire’s players have dismissed that option. There’s little doubt where Siddall’s sympathies lie, however. “Neil Davidson has done masses for this club,” Siddall said. “But sometimes, in circumstances like this, people don’t see both sides.”It simply isn’t true that all employees are against Neil. A number of people I’ve spoken to don’t want to be associated with what’s going on. Some of the young players have just been whipped into a state of mass hysteria.”Siddall also explained why the board rejected a members’ petition calling for a Special General Meeting. “These things have to be right,” he said. “The original petition was on a number of pages and several of those pages didn’t have any heading on them. It became clear after a members’ forum that a number of people had signed the petition but weren’t fully aware of what they were signing. A number of members have withdrawn their signature.”But we do remember that we are a members’ club and, if we receive another request for an EGM that is properly presented, we’ll welcome it.”

Back after injury layoff, Williamson hits 60 in his first Plunket Shield game since 2019

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He warmed-up for the Tests against England by scoring 60 for Northern Districts against Auckland

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Nov-2024Kane Williamson returned to competitive cricket after nearly two months out with a groin injury, and scored 60 for Northern Districts on day one of their Plunket Shield game against Auckland in Hamilton.Auckland asked Northern Districts to bat after winning the toss, and Williamson walked out to the crease at the fall of the first wicket. He hit seven boundaries in his 122-ball knock, which lasted for almost three hours. Williamson added 52 for the fourth wicket with Robert O’Donnell, before falling lbw to Jordan Sussex after a stand of 36 with Brett Hampton.It was Williamson’s first match in the Plunket Shield after five years – he last played in the premier first-class competition in the country in October 2019.”You always feel like an ND man, whether you are here or not,” he had said ahead of the game. “It is nice when, with the balance of the international schedule, you do have the opportunity to play.”Williamson had last played for New Zealand on the tour of Sri Lanka in September, and missed the entire Test tour of India and the white-ball series in Sri Lanka which followed. In his absence, Will Young occupied the No. 3 spot against India, and returned 244 runs to be named Player of the Series. But last week, Williamson was named in New Zealand’s squad to face England in three Tests at home.The first Test begins on November 28 in Christchurch, before the series moves to Wellington and Hamilton for the next two games. It will be Williamson’s long-time team-mate Tim Southee’s final Test series, unless New Zealand make the WTC final next year.

Crawley expands repertoire in bid to bring Ashes form into Hundred

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England Test opener unfurled a ramp at Lord’s on Saturday and has been working on his reverse-sweep

Matt Roller14-Aug-2023Zak Crawley hopes that working on his ramp and reverse-sweep can help him force his way into England’s white-ball plans, as he looks to further expand his range of shots after finishing the Ashes as their leading run-scorer.Crawley played his first innings since the end of the Ashes on Saturday, hitting 30 off 15 balls in London Spirit’s tight win over Trent Rockets at Lord’s, and is targeting an England call-up for December’s tour to the Caribbean for three ODIs and five T20Is against West Indies.Having scored at a strike rate of 88.72 across five Tests against Australia this summer, a shift to 100-ball cricket has not necessitated a significant change in approach. “I try to keep it pretty similar,” Crawley explained. “I play similar shots, just a bit more aggressive and probably a bit more aerial.”Related

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Crawley models his white-ball game on James Vince, another top-order batter who relies more on placement than power and is adept at exploiting the powerplay. “I really like the way he plays. He’s a very natural player. If I can emulate him, he does really well in England and I feel like that’s quite similar to my game.”Obviously you’ve got to keep up and the game’s getting more aggressive each year, so you try and keep up with that: I certainly feel like my game will get more aggressive as the years go on. But at the moment, it’s still about playing good shots and picking the right moments to score.”He unfurled a ramp when facing Luke Wood on Saturday, scooping him over short fine leg for four, and is looking to expand his range of innovative shots. “I’m trying to get better at a few,” Crawley said. “[You will see] a few more sweeps, reverse-sweeps, and maybe a ramp; other than that, I just try to play the ball on its merits.”He used to play the ramp regularly in his early days at Kent. “I haven’t played it too much in recent times, but before I played for England, I used to play it a lot more. I’ve been trying to work on it and bring it back in a little bit more – and hopefully [it will] free up a couple of other areas to score.”Crawley was seen practising his reverse-sweep in the nets throughout the Ashes, having initially devised a plan to use it against Nathan Lyon. He played it three times against him before Lyon’s series-ending injury, though he continued to unfurl it against Todd Murphy and Travis Head.”Lyon gets lovely shape on the ball, so I felt like he was OK to reverse-sweep outside off,” Crawley explained, speaking at the launch of KP Snacks’ community cricket pitches initiative. “It was something I wanted to play against him. Obviously he only played two Tests in the end but hopefully, having done that work on it, it’ll come to fruition in the Hundred.”Zak Crawley wasted no time returning to action after the Ashes•ECB/Getty Images

Crawley is an unusual batter in that his output tends to improve as the bowling he faces gets quicker, rather than slower. “I know the stats say that, but it’s never too easy facing someone bowling over 90mph,” he said. “Sometimes, when someone is bowling quick and you get hold if it, it goes further.”He believes that the reason is that a shorter reaction time allows him less time to think: “You’re just trying to react. I’m trying to keep it very simple at the moment, and maybe that’s why the quick bowling has suited me a little bit more in the past, because I don’t have to think as much. I’ll just have to get better at playing the 80mph stuff…”As the Ashes fades into memory, Crawley says his life has not changed: “I don’t feel any different. I am just the bloke who scored runs a couple of weeks ago; if I don’t score runs in the Hundred, I’ll be a bloke who doesn’t score runs in the Hundred. It’s a very fickle world we live in, so I don’t get carried away too much.”Obviously I think back with fondness about how cool it was to play in it, but I don’t like to dwell too much on whether [a series] has gone well or badly – I just move onto the next one. If it comes into my mind, I enjoy the memories of it, but I’m very much focused on doing well in the Hundred now.”

Mithali Raj retires from international cricket

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“Perfect time to call curtains on my career as the team is in the capable hands of some very talented young players”

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Jun-2022Mithali Raj has brought the curtain down on her storied career, announcing her decision to “retire from all forms of International Cricket” in a message on Twitter.Raj, 39, wrote, “I feel now is the perfect time to call curtains on my playing career as the team is in the capable hands of some very talented young players and the future of Indian Cricket is bright.”Though she didn’t give any concrete indicators on what her future plans were, she did say that she would stay connected with the game. “Each time I stepped on the field, I gave my very best with the intent to help India win. I will always cherish the opportunity given to me to represent the tricolour,” she wrote. “It was an honour to have led the team for so many years. It definitely shaped me as a person & hopefully helped shape Indian Women’s Cricket as well.”This journey may have ended but another one beckons as I’d love to stay involved in the game I love and contribute to the growth of Women’s Cricket in India and world over.”

It has been one of the most celebrated careers in the game, during which Raj played 12 Tests, 232 ODIs and 89 T20Is, her last appearance for India coming during the 50-over World Cup earlier this year, in a game against South Africa, which India lost by three wickets to be knocked out of the tournament.Raj, India’s captain, scored 68 in 84 balls in that game, her 64th half-century in the format, in which she compiled 7805 runs, including seven centuries, at an average of 50.68. In Tests, she aggregated 699 runs at an average of 43.68 with a century and four half-centuries. And in T20Is, where her appearances had been curtailed since the emergence of the “talented young players” she referred to in her retirement message, Raj scored 2364 runs at an average of 37.52 with 17 half-centuries and a high score of 97*. She, however, remains India’s highest run-getter in the format, at No. 7 on the overall list, with current T20I captain and ODI vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur just 45 runs behind.Her overall tally of 10,868 runs made her the leading run-scorer in women’s international cricket, and no batter has scored more than her 7805 in women’s ODIs. She was also the first to score seven fifties in a row in women’s ODIs, where her tally of 64 is the highest.Raj, in fact, led India for a large part of her career. In eight of her 12 Tests, she was the captain, from as far back as November 2005 to the other day, when India played Australia in Carrara in September 2021. India won four of those Tests. She also led India to 89 wins in 155 ODIs, and in T20Is, 17 wins in 32 games.2:17

Archive: Mithali Raj – ‘I’ve not set any benchmarks for myself’

Raj burst on to the national consciousness as a 16-year-old, where on international debut, she scored an unbeaten 114 in an ODI against Ireland at Milton Keynes on June 26, 1999. Her innings at the time gave her the record for the youngest centurion in women’s cricket across all formats. It remains an unbroken record in ODI cricket.That kickstarted a career that reached never-before highs, as she quickly became the lynchpin of the India’s batting. Not long after, she led India to the final of the 2005 ODI World Cup, and when she did the same in 2017, Raj became the first Indian captain, male or female, to lead in two ODI World Cup finals. The winner’s crown, however, eluded her, as India lost a one-sided final in 2005 to Australia by 98 runs and then, 12 years later, in a much narrower contest to England by nine runs.Raj’s sound batting technique – helped along by outstanding footwork, perhaps a result of her childhood enthusiasm for Bharatanatyam, the classical Indian dance form – and ability to bat for long periods and anchor innings across formats made her an inspiration for the many that have followed. Like Smriti Mandhana.”The sense of responsibility she [Raj] has shown over these years. There was a phase of ten years when Indian batting used to depend on her,” Mandhana told in an interview in March 2019. “The fact that she never cribbed about it, and took on that pressure – that’s one thing I’d like to have in my head, because it’s hard when you know your wicket is important and that if you lose your wicket, the course of the match might change.Mithali Raj leads India out on to the field•Getty Images

“That is a very difficult space to be in as a batter. But she has been consistent, despite being in that headspace – that’s a big task. She’s calm and relaxed even if there are, say, two or three dot balls. I used to get a bit panicky earlier, but she has always been calm.”Those same abilities played a big part in Raj hitting her highest Test score of 214, in 2022, and, three years later, an unbeaten 91 in the ODI World Cup semi-final, which she rated at par with that double-century.A career at the highest level as long as Raj’s can’t be without controversy, and the biggest of them was the face-off between her and India coach Ramesh Powar during the 2018 T20 World Cup in the Caribbean. Things came to a head during the league phase of the World Cup when Raj was asked to move down the batting order, and hit rock bottom when Raj was left out of India’s semi-final against England, a knock-out match they lost. The long, and somewhat sordid, saga of ended when Powar was not given an extension and, not long after, WV Raman took charge of the team.There had been murmurs that Raj’s career was nearing an end as recently as last month, when she was left out of the three-team Women’s T20 Challenge tournament, Deepti Sharma replacing her as captain of the Velocity team. Even prior to the Challenge, during the BCCI’s Senior Women’s T20 Trophy, Sneh Rana was the captain of the Railways team that won the trophy, while Raj was with the squad but didn’t play, and adopted a mentoring role instead.That might be one of her options going forward too, in her attempts to “contribute to the growth of Women’s Cricket in India and the world over”, as she said in her retirement statement.

Mustafizur Rahman secures Chattogram's place in final after seven-wicket win over Dhaka

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Chattogram will now play Gemcon Khulna in the Bangabandhu T20 Cup final

Mohammad Isam15-Dec-2020Gazi Group Chattogram didn’t make a mistake in their second chance to qualify for the Bangabandhu T20 Cup final, beating Beximco Dhaka by seven wickets in the second qualifier. They are now pitted against Gemcon Khulna in the final on Friday, with both teams being touted favourites from the start of the tournament.After being hammered for 210 by Khulna in the first qualifier on Monday, Chattogram’s bowlers brought back their A-game in this match, bowling out Dhaka for 116 in 20 overs. Dhaka’s constant experiment with their opening pair – they tried their sixth combination today – hardly got them anywhere, while their middle order also failing to put their house in order.Openers Sabbir Rahman and Muktar Ali were removed by the fourth over, caught at midwicket and cover, respectively. Mohammad Naim holed out at deep midwicket five overs later, but captain Mushfiqur Rahim and Yasir Ali gave them a sense of recovery. But both fell in their twenties, like Al-Amin Hossain, who also made 25.From being 94 for 4 at one stage, Dhaka suffered a collapse of 6 for 22. Mustafizur Rahman took three wickets while Shoriful Islam picked up two, as Rakibul Islam, Nahidul Islam, Mosaddek Hossain and Soumya Sarkar chipped in with a wicket each.In Chattogram’s reply, openers Liton Das and Sarkar had calmly added 44, until a call for a near impossible run resulted in Sarkar’s run-out for 27 in the seventh over, having struck five fours in his 23-ball stay.But Das and captain Mohammad Mithun nearly had a cakewalk during their second-wicket stand of 57, before both fell to catches at deep midwicket with Chattogram inching closer to a place in the final.Das made a sedate 40 off 49 balls with four boundaries, while Mithun got 34 off 35 deliveries and fell with Chattogram nine away. But Shamsur Rahman and Mosadek Hossain completed the victory with five balls to spare.Going into Friday’s final, Chattogram have a slight advantage of a 2-1 win-loss record against Khulna in this tournament. Khulna, however, have a major disadvantage after having lost the veteran allrounder Shakib Al Hasan, who is scheduled to leave for the US due to a family reason, and the impressive seamer Shohidul Islam, who too has left the team after his father passed away on Sunday.

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