Sports
Karunaratne climbs up in Test Player Rankings
Sri Lanka’s win in the first match of the ICC Men’s Test Championship has put the team on top of the table powered by MRF (on percentage points), and several players including skipper Dimuth Karunaratne have improved their rankings after the first Test in Galle.
Captain Karunaratne’s Player of the Match effort of 147 and 83 has lifted him four places to seventh, just one below his career-best sixth position attained in August 2019. Former captains Angelo Mathews (up two places to 23rd) and Dinesh Chandimal (up four places to 46th) have also advanced.
Left-arm spinners Lasith Embuldeniya (up four places to 37th) and Praveen Jayawickrama (up six places to 44th) and off-spinner Ramesh Mendis (up 28 places to 57th) have improved in the rankings for bowlers.
Fast bowler Shaheen Afridi has made it to the top five of the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings for the first time in his career after a fine show in the first Test against Bangladesh which Pakistan won by eight wickets.
The 21-year-old left-arm bowler, who grabbed seven wickets including a haul of five for 32 in the second innings of the Chittagong Test, has moved up three places to fifth position after overtaking James Anderson, Kagiso Rabada and Neil Wagner.
Shaheen’s new-ball partner Hasan Ali too is at a career-best position after finishing with a similar seven-wicket match haul that included a five-for in the first innings. Hasan has advanced five places to 11th place. His previous best in Tests was 14th, reached in May this year.
Pakistan’s opening batters were not the ones to be left behind. Abid Ali may have missed out on a century in each innings but his scores of 133 and 91 helped him shoot up 27 slots to a career-best 20th position while Abdullah Shafique enters the rankings at 83rd with scores of 52 and 73.
For Bangladesh, Mushfiqur Rahim is up four places to 19th with scores of 91 and 16 while Liton Das has moved up 26 places to a career-best 31st position after accruing 114 and 59. Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam has progressed two places to 23rd after an eight-wicket match haul that included seven scalps in the first innings.
The thrilling draw in Kanpur between India and New Zealand had quite a few performances from either side that reflect in the latest weekly update that also includes the first Test between Sri Lanka and the West Indies at Galle, which the host side won by 187 runs.
Debutant Shreyas Iyer’s Player of the Match effort of 105 and 65 helped him enter the rankings in 74th position while opener Shubman Gill (up six places to 66th) and Wriddhiman Saha (up nine places to 99th) also made notable progress after notching half-centuries.
Ravindra Jadeja is up two places to 19th among bowlers with five wickets in the match and is also up one place to second among all-rounders. Ravichandran Ashwin is the third-ranked all-rounder and 79th among batters.
For New Zealand, Tom Latham’s knocks of 95 and 52 place him back in the top 10 as he goes up from 14th to ninth. Fast bowler Kyle Jamieson is ninth among bowlers, his three wickets in each innings resulting in a gain of six places. Tim Southee has gained 15 rating points to reach within one point of second-placed Ashwin (840) after his eight-wicket match haul.
For the longest time, they were inseparable at the top of the order for Pakistan in T20Is. Then, with questions about strike rates and maximising powerplay value cropping up, the team management tried putting some distance between them in the batting order. They found their way back up, together. But now, with just under a year to go for the next T20 World Cup, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are out altogether.
This signifies a shift in approach for Pakistan, perhaps triggered by the failure to make an impact at their own Champions Trophy, though that was an ODI contest.
Pakistan have opted for three dashers at the top. With Saim Ayub still unavailable, Pakistan have a likely top three of Mohammad Haris, Omair Yousuf and the uncapped Hasan Nawaz – all three have a reputation of being aggressive batters.
Salman Agha, Pakistan’s new T20I captain, has emphasised the need to improve their intent and approach and the need to play “fearless” and “high-risk cricket”, saying that the squad has players that have displayed that brand of cricket in domestic games.
The new-look Pakistan line-up will start off facing a difficult test against a strong New Zealand outfit, even though they are missing key players who are away on IPL duty. There is a formidable bowling attack, with Will O’Rourke, Ben Sears, Kyle Jamieson, Ish Sodhi and Jacob Duffy all set to test Pakistan’s inexperience.
Key batters are missing, too, in the team led by Michael Bracewell, one of New Zealand’s best performers in their run to the title round at the Champions Trophy. But Finn Allen is back, as are Tim Seifert and Jimmy Neesham. Daryl Mitchell hasn’t gone anywhere. And Mitchell Hay, Mark Chapman and Tim Robinson are hardly pushovers. At home, they will think of themselves as favourites, with or without a Rachin Ravindra or a Devon Conway or a Glenn Phillips. If anything, the changes will give them a better idea of the make-up of the World Cup squad next year.
Since his 137 against Pakistan in January 2024, Finn Allen has failed to cross 50 in nine T20Is. In fact, he crossed 25 only twice in this period, with a high score of 32. He turned out for Perth Scorchers in the BBL, but his form there was also indifferent, as he got just 181 runs from ten innings. Allen, despite not being centrally contracted, wants to play the T20 World Cup next year, but he knows he must turn his form around and marry his explosiveness with consistency. Last year, he scored 275 runs in the five-match T20I series against Pakistan, so there may not be a better team for him to face to get going again.
Omair Yousuf has played just six T20Is – three in the Asian Games and three in Zimbabwe. Hasan Nawaz has only three PSL games under his belt, and didn’t get a game last season. That makes Mohammad Haris the most experienced player in Pakistan’s new-look top three and the onus will be on him to break the shackles and play the new aggressive brand of cricket the team management is aiming for. It’s also a comeback series for Haris, whose last international game was in September 2023.
Neesham, Seifert and Allen are back in New Zealand’s squad, and Neesham and Allen are likely to start. Sears and O’Rourke are expected to lead the fast-bowling attack, along with Jacob Duffy, who was the highest wicket-taker in New Zealand’s last T20I series, against Sri Lanka.
Apart from Nawaz, Pakistan might also hand a debut to Abdul Samad, who was picked despite having no PSL experience. Shadab Khan is back in the side and should lead the spin attack alongside Abrar Ahmed.
New Zealand (probable): Finn Allen, Tim Robinson, Mark Chapman, Daryl Mitchell, James Neesham, Mitchell Hay (wk), Michael Bracewell (capt), Ben Sears, Ish Sodhi, Will O’Rourke, Jacob Duffy
Pakistan (probable): Mohammad Haris (wk), Omair Yousuf, Hasan Nawaz, Salman Agha (capt), Abdul Samad, Irfan Khan, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed, Abbas Afridi
[Cricinfo]
Royal College defeated S. Thomas’ College by four wickets in the 48th Mustangs Trophy cricket encounter played at the SSC today [15]
Scores:
S. Thomas’ 220 in 49.1 overs
Royal 223/6 in 46.4 overs
Is it 2023 again ? Mumbai Indians [MI] and Delhi Capitals [DC], two consistently good teams with all-star line-ups, meet again in the WPL final. While DC have breezed into the final this season, MI are coming in battle-hardened, having had to take the circuitous route by playing three matches in four days to get there.
DC have been strong in most departments, and have got their selection calls right throughout the season. Their captain Meg Lanning hit form late in the tournament, Shafali Verma has continued to churn out the runs at the top of the other, and the move to promote Jess Jonassen to No. 3 has paid off. But for DC to look more threatening, they’d want their middle order to step up further. Their middle order (Nos. 4 to 7) collectively averages 17.50, the lowest this season, and have struck at 116.66, which is the second-lowest among all teams.
MI’s line-up also drips with power and strength. Powerplay bowling has been one of DC’s strongest suits, but only MI have bettered that. DC’s bowlers have taken 50 wickets at 23.84 in this phase, while MI have 61 wickets at 22.68.
For MI,Nat Sciver-Brunt has been at her brutal best, Hayley Matthews has delivered with both bat and ball, and captain Harmanpreet Kaur has hit high tempo. The rest of the line-up, though, has blown hot and cold.
But MI will be playing at their home ground – a venue where they’ve lost just once in seven games – and that tilts the scales in their favour. DC, though, have had a good seven days break, and will be coming in without the pressure of having had to scramble for a place in the final. Two heartbreaking finals later, will third time be the charm for them?
MI had promoted Amelia Kerr to the opening slot, and pushed Yastika Bhatia down the order for a couple of games. While Yastika was able to make quick runs from her new position, Kerr, who hasn’t been in the best of form with the bat, wasn’t able to capitalise on her starts. The order went back to what it was in the Eliminator against Gujarat Giants (GG), but neither player made an impact. Will MI switch their positions again to get the best out of Yastika?
MI had also brought in left-arm spinner Saika Ishaque in place of Parunika Sisodia for the Eliminator. Will they pick Ishaque again for the final after she bowled just one over against GG?
DC, who were last in action on March 7, are unlikely to make any changes to their line-up.
Mumbai Indians (probable): Hayley Matthews, Amelia Kerr, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Amanjot Kaur, Yastika Bhatia (wk), S Sajana, G Kamalini, Sanskriti Gupta, Shabnim Ismail, Saika Ishaque
Delhi Capitals (probable): Meg Lanning (capt), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Annabel Sutherland, Marizanne Kapp, Jess Jonassen, Sarah Bryce (wk), Niki Prasad, Minnu Mani, Shikha Pandey, Titas Sadhu
[Cricinfo]
Pakistan face patchwork New Zealand in first test of their new T20 era
Royal defeat S.Thomas’ by 4 wickets in 48th Mustangs Trophy encounter
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