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Fresh off toppling England again, Afghanistan face Australia with a semi-final place at stake

Andrew McGlashan27-Feb-20251:44

Shahidi: We have planned for the entire Australia team

The last time Afghanistan faced Australia in an ODI, Glenn Maxwell produced arguably the greatest innings the format has ever seen with his unforgettable double century to secure a remarkable chase in Mumbai.It ripped away a game that appeared a certain Afghanistan victory when Australia were 91 for 7 chasing 292, but they have insisted there is no extra focus purely on Maxwell ahead of a winner-takes-all clash in Lahore with a semi-final spot on the line.Related

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A significant reason for that is Afghanistan know they beat Australia: last year at the T20 World Cup they prevailed by 21 runs despite Maxwell’s 59 off 41 balls. His dismissal to Gulbadin Naib was the defining moment of the game”You think we will come only to play with Maxwell?” Hashmatullah Shahidi said when asked about the 2023 World Cup meeting. “We have planning for all Australian team. I know that he played really well in 2023 World Cup, but that’s part of the history.”After that, we beat them in [the] T20 World Cup. We think about all [the] opposition team, we are not coming to the ground to plan on [an] individual player. We will try our best to come with the planning and we are not playing only Maxwell – we are playing Australia.”Afghanistan were the winners of this fixture at last year’s T20 World Cup in West Indies•ICC/Getty Images

A second consecutive ICC tournament semi-final beckons if Afghanistan prevail on Friday, but they insist their minds won’t wander that far. “We will try to play positive game – just like we defeated England today, we hope to beat Australia as well,” Shahidi said. “We won’t put that pressure on ourselves by thinking too much about the semi-final qualification.”Afghanistan will enter the match less than 48 hours after the eight-run victory over England highlighted by Ibrahim Zadran’s magnificent 177. He also has good memories of facing Australia having scored 129 in that Mumbai match then 51 off 48 balls in the T20 World Cup victory in St Vincent.”It’s never easy for a player to return from injury and make such a strong comeback in a high-stakes match,” Shahidi said. “I am extremely happy for him because he is a very talented and hardworking player. When players like him perform well, as a leader, it makes me very happy and hopeful for the future. Ibrahim played a brilliant innings, and I pray that he continues to perform like this always.”The two matches so far in Lahore have seen all four innings pass 300 with Australia chasing down 352 against England in their opening match. Pace bowler Azmatullah Omarzai was Afghanistan’s match-winner yesterday with 5 for 58, but there was enough assistance for the spinners to provide encouragement. Noor Ahmad conceded just 51 from his 10 overs.”There was support,” Shahidi said. “I think the spinners bowled also really well. In this kind of condition our spinners are very good, and if they have a little bit help, I know they will do it for the team.”

The 34 games will be played across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, with the final in Dubai on February 17

ESPNcricinfo staff03-Nov-2023The second season of the UAE’s ILT20 will kick off on January 19, with Gulf Giants, the defending champions, taking on Sharjah Warriors in Sharjah.Of the 34 games in the tournament, Dubai will host 15, including the final on February 17, while Abu Dhabi and Sharjah will host 11 and eight matches respectively. The six teams in the fray will share the three venues as their home grounds: Dubai will be the home venue for Dubai Capitals, while Desert Vipers and Gulf Giants will split their home games between Dubai and Sharjah; Sharjah will also be the home venue for Sharjah Warriors, while Abu Dhabi will be the home venue for Abu Dhabi Knight Riders and MI Emirates.A total of six double-headers will be played in the league stage. The day games will start at 2.30pm local time, while the evening matches will start at 6.30pm local time.Related

• ILT20 Season 2: Hales, Russell, Narine, Hetmyer among top retentions

“The weather in UAE is absolutely ideal for cricket in the months of January and February,” ILT20 chief executive David White said. “There is as always, a huge appetite and interest in the game here and we welcome local fans as well as international travelers as they have the greatest cricketing spectacle to enjoy with a number of entertainment opportunities on offer besides the action on the field.”The ILT20 will clash with the five-match India vs England Test series that begins on January 25 in Hyderabad. Of the players to have signed up for the ILT20, Mark Wood and Joe Root are expected to be part of the England squad for the Test. David Warner, meanwhile, is expected to fulfil his BBL commitments with Sydney Thunder – the tournament will end on January 24 – before hopping across to the UAE. He will require a no-objection certificate from Cricket Australia to play in the league.The second season of the ILT20 will also run more or less concurrently with the second season of the SA20 league in South Africa, which is expected to be played from January 10 to February 10. This was the case last year too. And while the dates for the PSL and the BPL haven’t been announced yet, there could be some overlap there, too.Schedule

January 19: Sharjah Warriors vs Gulf Giants, Sharjah
January 20: Dubai Capitals vs MI Emirates, Dubai
January 21: Desert Vipers vs Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, Dubai
January 21: MI Emirates vs Gulf Giants, Abu Dhabi
January 22: Dubai Capitals vs Sharjah Warriors, Dubai
January 23: Abu Dhabi Knight Riders vs MI Emirates, Abu Dhabi
January 24: Gulf Giants vs Desert Vipers, Dubai
January 25: Dubai Capitals vs Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, Dubai
January 26: Sharjah Warriors vs MI Emirates, Sharjah
January 27: Abu Dhabi Knight Riders vs Desert Vipers, Abu Dhabi
January 27: Gulf Giants vs Dubai Capitals, Sharjah
January 28: MI Emirates vs Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, Abu Dhabi
January 28: Desert Vipers vs Sharjah Warriors, Sharjah
January 29: Sharjah Warriors vs Dubai Capitals, Sharjah
January 30: Desert Vipers vs MI Emirates, Dubai
January 31: Abu Dhabi Knight Riders vs Gulf Giants, Abu Dhabi
February 1: Dubai Capitals vs Desert Vipers, Dubai
February 2: MI Emirates vs Sharjah Warriors, Abu Dhabi
February 3: Desert Vipers vs Gulf Giants , Dubai
February 3: Abu Dhabi Knight Riders vs Dubai Capitals, Abu Dhabi
February 4: MI Emirates vs Desert Vipers, Abu Dhabi
February 4: Gulf Giants vs Sharjah Warriors, Dubai
February 5: Sharjah Warriors vs Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, Sharjah
February 6: Dubai Capitals vs Gulf Giants, Dubai
February 7: Abu Dhabi Knight Riders vs Sharjah Warriors, Abu Dhabi
February 8: Gulf Giants vs MI Emirates, Dubai
February 9: Desert Vipers vs Dubai Capitals, Dubai
February 10: Gulf Giants vs Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, Dubai
February 10: MI Emirates vs Dubai Capitals, Abu Dhabi
February 11: Sharjah Warriors vs Desert Vipers, Sharjah
February 13: Qualifier 1, Dubai
February 14: Eliminator, Abu Dhabi
February 15: Qualifier 2, Sharjah
February 17: Final, Dubai

Batters cash in again as Glamorgan face uphill battle to salvage draw

ECB Reporters Network21-Jul-2022Glamorgan face an uphill battle to emerge with even a draw after Leicestershire built their highest total on this ground since 2004 on day two of their LV= Insurance County Championship match.No Foxes side has prospered to the same degree since a Brad Hodge double century helped them pile on 634 against Durham 18 years ago. Wiaan Mulder added only nine to his overnight 147 but Ben Mike’s 91 and a debut half-century from former Glamorgan bowler Roman Walker turned the screw before Callum Parkinson’s side were dismissed for 584, just a week after their record-breaking 756 for four against Sussex in Hove.A good pitch and a fast outfield meant Glamorgan’s bowlers had little margin for error, their mood not helped by some poor fielding that saw as many as seven catching chances go begging. Offspinner Andrew Salter’s four wickets cost 158 runs, albeit from 42 overs.After losing both openers before they had reached double figures in their reply, Glamorgan had recovered to 111 for 2 when bad light brought an early close, with Sam Northeast on 50, but needed to reach 435 just to avoid the follow-on.The day had begun with Leicestershire adding only a single to their overnight score before Harry Swindells was caught at second slip from a ball that climbed on him more than he expected, giving Michael Hogan a third wicket.Related

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The Mulder-Swindells partnership had added 138. Leicestershire notched a fifth batting bonus point for only the second time this season as Mike arrived full of intent, the allrounder hammering three fours in an over to end Hogan’s first spell of the day.Michael Neser ended Mulder’s fine if not faultless innings moments after he had gone past 150 as the South African, perhaps weary from his exertions of the day before, was bowled between bat and pad. The breakthrough gave Glamorgan an opportunity to stem the damage. In the event, Mike inflicted more, albeit with a few slices of luck before he was out for 91.Spared on 43 after Hogan and Eddie Byrom left it to one another to take the catch when he top-edged James Harris, he survived a half-chance back to the bowler against Kiran Carlson’s offspin on 56 and was carelessly spilled by Harris himself at mid-on off Hogan on 70.Mike regained his momentum after a period of circumspection, yet missed out on a maiden first-class century for the second time this season. Left stranded on 99 not out when he ran out of partners against Middlesex at Lord’s in April, he moved into the 90s with four boundaries in as many overs here only to take one liberty too many with Salter, falling to a catch at long-on with the prize there for the taking.The eighth wicket added 115, and though Parkinson was soon back in the pavilion as ninth man out after David Lloyd took a stunning catch at slip off Salter, there was time for Walker – making his first-class debut a year after moving to Grace Road from Glamorgan – to complete a 79-ball maiden fifty and benefit from another error in the field as Billy Root dropped him on 52 at deep midwicket, and for Chris Wright to survive a simple caught-and-bowled chance to Colin Ingram on 14 as the last wicket added another 45.Lloyd, who survived beyond the first ball of Glamorgan’s reply only because Wright’s overstepping invalidated Louis Kimber’s brilliant catch at third slip, departed 18 balls later when Kimber reprised the moment to give Walker his maiden first-class wicket. Byrom was taken low down at second slip off Wright but Ingram and Northeast played positively, adding 102 before play was called off with 12 overs left of the day’s schedule.

India’s captain was reacting to Varun Chakravarthy and Rahul Tewatia failing their fitness tests

Nagraj Gollapudi11-Mar-20212:49

Kohli says no compromise on ‘very high levels of fitness’

Fitness cannot be “compromised”. That is the firm message India captain Virat Kohli has sent to the players who recently failed to clear to the fitness tests put in place by BCCI to be eligible for selection to the national team.Two uncapped spinners – mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy and leggie Rahul Tewatia – failed to clear one of the two norms that comprise the fitness test: either matching the 17:1 mark in the yo-yo test or running a two-kilometre time trial in 8 minutes and 15 seconds (for a fast bowler) or 8 minutes 30 seconds (for the rest).Related

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Kohli, who has utilised fitness as a scaffolding to climb greater heights in the game, said that it was the responsibility of the individual player to maintain “high levels” of fitness in order to play for the country.”Individuals have to understand and appreciate the kind of system that’s been created for the Indian cricket team,” Kohli said on Thursday during a media briefing. “We should operate at very high levels of fitness and skills.”Kohli was responding to a query on whether he was disappointed Chakravarthy has failed to work on his fitness ahead of India’s five-match T20I series against England, having already missed out earlier when he was picked for India’s T20I series in Australia but couldn’t travel due to a shoulder injury.There has been a perception in some quarters that players like Chakravarthy, Tewatia and other domestic players who are not part of the Indian set-up all the time could be cut some slack. Some of the players, who recently took the tests at the NCA, told ESPNcricinfo that if they had been informed in advance about the new fitness norms, they could have cleared the hurdles at the first time of asking with enough practice.Virat Kohli says there will be no compromise on fitness levels for Indian players•PTI

There is also a school of thought that holds that cricket primarily is a skill-based sport, and players should be given a bit more leeway as long as they have a base level of fitness. Kohli, however, disagreed. “There is a reason why this is the top of the ladder when it comes to playing cricket in our country,” he said. “And, yeah, you would obviously expect players to abide by what’s required to be a part of Team India. There should not be any space for any compromise in that regard.”In terms of fitness, India are still catching up with teams like New Zealand, Australia and England, where the targets are much tougher compared to those set by the BCCI, although the Indian board did recently upgrade its minimum fitness targets by raising the level of the yo-yo test from 16:1 to 17:1, and introducing the 2km time trial, which many other international cricket teams use as global fitness standard. These fitness norms were finalised by the national selectors, the team management and the National Cricket Academy, which is headed by former India captain Rahul Dravid. Consequently, the BCCI asked the selectors to identify a pool of about 25 players, who would normally in the reckoning to play for India. These players were called by the NCA, which has the authority to conduct the fitness tests. Several of the players in India’s T20I squad, including KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar cleared the tests before they integrated with the Indian squad.However, both Chakravarthy and Tewatia failed to clear the test at the first attempt. While Tewatia travelled to Ahmedabad (the venue for the T20I series), Chakravarthy’s whereabouts could not be confirmed. It is likely that he is currently at the NCA in Bengaluru as ESPNcricinfo understands Chakaravarthy injured his shoulder again, after he was picked in the 19-member T20I squad for the England games.Even T Natarajan, who became the first player to make international debuts across three formats in the same series on the Australian trip, is currently at the NCA doing rehabilitation for a niggle. It is understood the left-arm fast bowler will take the fitness test on March 12.As far as Tewatia is concerned, he is likely to take a second fitness test in Ahmedabad before his fate is decided. In case he is unable to clear it again, it is likely he will stay with the squad as a net bowler, and be replaced by legspinner Rahul Chahar, who played a solitary T20I for India in 2019.The BCCI has not yet officially made any announcement on the fitness status of Chakravarthy, Tewatia and Natarajan, nor named any replacement for the five-match T20I series that starts on Friday.It is worth noting that Kohli’s stress on fitness is not an isolated view in cricket. Recently, the West Indies selectors did not consider four players who had failed to reach the minimum fitness standards for the white-ball segment of their ongoing Sri Lanka series: Shimron Hetmeyer, Roston Chase, Sheldon Cottrell and Oshane Thomas. This is the second time Hetmeyer has failed the fitness test in a year, having missed the ODI series in Sri Lanka last February.

All the live updates and chatter from Pakistan’s premier domestic first-class competition

Danyal Rasool12-Nov-2019