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Who’s playing

Mumbai Indians (MI) vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB)
Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, March 11, 2025

Big picture: RCB look to end on high

Mumbai Indians almost secured a direct spot in the final on Monday. They needed to keep Gujarat Giants to 156 or fewer but a spirited Bharti Fulmali innings did not allow that. The chance was missed but they will not be worrying too much: they not only won the match against Gujarat Giants and kept their perfect record at the Brabourne Stadium intact but also have one more shot at finishing on top of the table. They are on par with table-toppers Delhi Capitals on points. The only point of concern, if at all any, would be that they have to be back within 24 hours to achieve that.Though the move to make Amelia Kerr open hasn’t made much of a difference with the allrounder falling cheaply in both games, MI will be happy Nat Sciver-Brunt did not have to do the heavy lifting once again. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur made a fifty and there were handy contributions from the middle order. Their bowlers were excellent up front and even though they lost the plot in the second half of the chase, they kept their cool to defend 179 on a batting-friendly surface.RCB, meanwhile, will rue what could have been. The defending champions were unlucky with the toss in all four games at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, which meant they had to do the difficult task of batting first on a ground where seven out of eight matches were won by the chasing team. They still had a tiny chance of making the playoffs which they let go of in a high-scoring thriller against UP Warriorz and are now coming into this contest on the back of five consecutive losses.RCB also had similar issues from start to finish, including playing this season with a weakened bowling attack and depending on a couple of players to shoulder the bulk of the responsibility. In their previous match, it was the out-of-contention Warriorz who took RCB down with them, and now RCB will look to ruin MI’s chances of wanting to finish on top.

Form guide

Mumbai Indians WWLWW (last five matches, most recent first)
Royal Challengers Bengaluru LLLLL

Team news

MI are unlikely to change their winning combination.Mumbai Indians (probable): 1 Hayley Matthews, 2 Amelia Kerr, 3 Nat Sciver-Brunt, 4 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 5 Amanjot Kaur, 6 Yastika Bhatia (wk), 7 G Kamalini, 8 S Sajana, 9 Sanskriti Gupta, 10 Shabnim Ismail, 11 Parunika SisodiaRCB made two changes for the previous match, bringing in S Meghana and Charlie Dean for Danni Wyatt-Hodge and Ekta Bisht. While Dean had a tough outing, conceding 47 in her four overs of offspin, Meghana got off to a rapid start.Royal Challengers Bengaluru (probable): 1 Smriti Mandhana (capt), 2 S Meghana, 3 Ellyse Perry, 4 Raghvi Bisht, 5 Richa Ghosh (wk), 6 Kanika Ahuja, 7 Georgia Wareham, 8 Sneh Rana, 9 Charlie Dean, 10 Kim Garth, 11 Renuka Singh

Players to watch: Harmanpreet Kaur and Sneh Rana

Harmanpreet Kaur returning to form is great news for MI. Coming into the game against Giants with scores of 4, 22 and 4*, she scored a crucial 54 to power her side to 179. She has three fifties in four innings at the Brabourne Stadium in WPL and will want to make the most of the home advantage to secure a second title for her team.Sneh Rana will be key for RCB•BCCI

Performances like the one she put up against UP Warriorz make one wonder why Sneh Rana isn’t in the T20 scheme of things for India; she last played a T20I for India in 2023. Against UPW, Rana plundered Deepti Sharma for 25 off five balls, giving RCB a chance to hunt down 226. In her first game for RCB this WPL, Rana returned with 3 for 27 but she has been underutilised with the ball in this edition. She has bowled her full quota only once in the four games.

Stats that matter

• This is the second time in the WPL that RCB have lost five matches in a row, the first time being in the 2023 season
• Sciver-Brunt and Kerr, both from MI, occupy the top of the run-getters and wicket-takers charts, respectively

Toss Just like 17 years ago at the first-ever IPL match, RCB won the toss and asked KKR to bat first with rain and dew not ruled out at the IPL 2025 opener. RCB were hopeful of not allowing a repeat of a blowout on that night when Brendon McCullum set the tournament alight. This was the first time these two teams were kicking off the IPL season since 2008.Defending champions KKR had a new captain, and wore a new look, with at least the official team sheet not slating Sunil Narine as the opening batter. Wicketkeeper-batter Quinton de Kock and left-arm quick Spencer Johnson made their KKR debuts, edging out Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Anrich Nortje, who was nevertheless named in the list of substitutes. Whether KKR were going to open with Narine was going to be revealed in earnest.RCB’s new captain, Rajat Patidar, got off to an auspicious start, calling correctly at the toss. He didn’t quite remember the names of the possible Impact Players, but made what is expected to be the beneficial call in evening games in T20 cricket: chase. However, there was a new aid for the sides defending – a ball change they can claim after the tenth over of the second innings.RCB handed caps to Phil Salt, who represented KKR last year, and Tim David, let go by Mumbai Indians. Suyash Sharma and Krunal Pandya were their spinners, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who had a minor injury, missed out. RCB instead went with the left-arm pace of Yash Dayal.Kolkata Knight Riders: 1 Sunil Narine, 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Ajinkya Rahane (capt) 4 Angkrish Raghuvanshi, 5 Venkatesh Iyer, 6 Rinku Singh, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Ramandeep Singh, 9 Harshit Rana, 10 Varun Chakaravarthy, 11 Spencer Johnson/Anrich Nortje, 12 Vaibhav AroraSubstitutes: Anrich Nortje, Manish Pandey, Vaibhav Arora, Anukul Roy, Luvnith SisodiaRoyal Challengers Bengaluru: 1 Phil Salt, 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Rajat Patidar (capt), 4 Liam Livingstone, 5 Jitesh Sharma (wk), 6 Tim David, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Rasikh Salam, 9 Josh Hazlewood, 10 Yash Dayal, 11 Suyash SharmaSubstitutes: Devdutt Padikkal, Abhinandan Singh, Manj Bhandage, Romario Shepherd, Swapnil Singh

We are 36 matches into IPL 2025, and the Purple Cap table is led by a Gujarat Titans (GT) man, one of his team-mates is at No. 6 on that list, and another is at No. 9. Between them, the three of them – Prasidh Krishna, R Sai Kishore and Mohammed Siraj – have 36 wickets in seven games each. But after Saturday’s win over Delhi Capitals (DC), the most interesting talking point was perhaps the overs Sai Kishore wasn’t given a chance to bowl.”It was quite strange,” Ambati Rayudu said on ESPNcricinfo TimeOut after the game. Sai Kishore bowled just one over in the game. It was the last over of the DC innings. He gave away just nine runs and got the wicket of the big-hitting Ashutosh Sharma. With Rashid Khan hardly setting the IPL on fire – he had none for 38 this time – why hide Sai Kishore away?”Given the conditions – it was an afternoon game – you would expect the ball to grip a little bit, especially with the new ball when the seam is hard and slightly elevated,” Rayudu said. “He should have bowled at least one over in the powerplay and definitely through the middle. He’s been their best spinner so far; he’s been bowling better than Rashid in this competition. Doesn’t make sense to me.”Related

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The answer, not unsurprisingly, could be match-ups, since the left-handed Axar Patel was batting from the fifth over onwards, till the 18th, and Nicholas Pooran, a left-hand batter like Axar, had given Sai Kishore a hiding in GT’s previous match – he ended with 1.3-0-35-0.”Spooked by match-ups and perhaps what’s happened before. I think the last time we saw him bowl, [he was] put under the pump, but it was Pooran. And that’s why we’re all scratching our heads, going ‘why didn’t he give him a go?’ Especially when three of your topline seamers are all going at more than ten runs an over,” Mark Boucher said on the same show.”Even if he’s bowling to a match-up like Axar, he’s still got the mindset that ‘I can bowl it outside his eyeline’ and I think he might still have created opportunity there. Yes, your best spinner in the competition at the moment and he only bowled one over, in a day game – it is very strange not to have given him the opportunity, or a better opportunity.”With Rashid well off his best, Shubman Gill, the GT captain, might have a job to do to make sure Sai Kishore doesn’t lose his confidence.”One of the biggest things as a spinner is the knowledge of your captain backing you in situations,” Boucher said. “There are certain times when, unfortunately, you’re going to have to bowl against a left-hander. And you get put under pressure. But the one thing as a captain you can do is go to him and say, ‘listen, I know it’s a match-up you don’t enjoy but you’re actually bowling really well, picking up wickets, so just bowl your best ball to him; you’re clever enough to bowl balls and deliveries that are going to make it tough for him to hit’.”On the day, Gill didn’t think so. And they won in the end to go to the top of the table, so who can question the plan?1:30

Rayudu: Prasidh a great prospect for India going forward

Boucher: ‘Prasidh is bowling with good heat’

The bowler who is only providing answers to GT is Prasidh. He started with a wicketless game, but has been a star since, the constant in an attack that is often shuffled around based on conditions. On Saturday, he went off his plan of bowling into the pitch for a moment and bowled one of the deliveries of the tournament, nailing the inswinging yorker to KL Rahul and catching the batter lbw.”He looks in great rhythm. His strength is hitting the pitch hard, but the ball he has bowled to KL Rahul was quite surprising and also it moved right at the end,” Rayudu said. “He surprised KL Rahul, and he has a lot of variations – his slower ball is quite effective as well. I think he’s a great prospect not only for GT but for India also going forward.”Prasidh had been out with an injury for the longest time, but made an impressive comeback in the Sydney Test against Australia earlier this year, picking up six wickets, and hasn’t looked back.”I think he really enjoys bowling with Siraj in his team. He takes a bit of pressure off him, as a sort of wicket-taker,” Boucher said. “His pace is up. He gets good bounce obviously because of his height. He’s also getting nice and tight to off stump when he’s delivering. So the ball doesn’t have to do a lot.”KL’s ball didn’t swing a lot, but just swung enough. I think he’s high on confidence at the moment, his release points are good, he’s bowling with good heat, and it’s a great position for him to be in and it’s a great position for GT to have a guy who’s not taking the new ball but is coming in the middle overs and taking wickets for them.”

Derbyshire fought out a final-over draw as Glamorgan took a pendulum-swinging thriller down to the final ball thanks to Ben Kellaway’s heroics in the Rothesay County Championship.Kellaway claimed career best batting and bowling figures on the same day as Luis Reece and Derbyshire No. 11 Blair Tickner survived 28 balls to secure a draw. Kellaway, 21, had struck 78 to set up a declaration before taking 5 for 101 in 25 overs, falling just short of handing Glamorgan a win.Tasked with the last over after taking two wickets in two balls, Kellaway produced a spectacular turnaround after twists and turns on the final day with Derbyshire firing towards victory on numerous occasions when set 338 in 65 overs.David Lloyd ignited Derbyshire’s winning hopes against his former side before Martin Andersson and Brooke Guest’s 97-run partnership put Derbyshire in the ascendancy for 56 of their 65 overs.The day began with all results possible. Glamorgan had an explosive end to the first session via Chris Cooke and Kellaway, despite the latter having some fortune when kicking a ball away from his stumps on 19. With 124 added in 32 overs from the overnight score, Glamorgan subsequently declared at lunch with the veteran keeper on 49 not out.Derbyshire, requiring a chase which would rank fourth amongst their successes if achieved, started strongly with the opening pair chalking up a half-century partnership in just 10.5 overs, stamping their authority early.But Ned Leonard struck in his first over to trigger a “will they, won’t they” scenario. Wayne Madsen took over as enforcer for his 22 from 19 balls, ended by a diving catch from Andy Gorvin at fine-leg, another for Leonard.Kellaway sparked Glamorgan hopes on two occasions, initially with the prize wicket of Caleb Jewell short of 50, sweeping against the spin. But Guest and Andersson’s run-a-ball 50 partnership with innovation and big hitting in form of reverse-sweeps, muscled pull shots and clean strikes over mid-on put Glamorgan into defensive mode, until Asitha Fernando broke through by trapping Guest in front.Kellaway kickstarted the hosts for a second time to forehadow a Derbyshire collapse, removing Andersson and Zak Chappell with successive balls before having Anuj Dal stumped to complete his five-for. That dismissal left Derbyshire nine down with almost five full overs remaining.But Tickner showcased his international experience in blocking out for 1 in 10 balls alongside the injured Reece, batting at No. 10, as the last pair survived against an ambidextrous over from off-spinner-come-left-arm-orthodox Kellaway.

Cameron Green demonstrated true grit in scoring a much-needed hundred to extricate Gloucestershire from a spot of bother on day two of the Rothesay County Championship Second Division match against Kent at the Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol.Reduced to 139 for 4 in reply to Kent’s first-innings 424, Gloucestershire were indebted to their overseas hired hand, who registered a battling 102 not out from 150 balls with 12 fours and a six, and shared in a revitalising unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 168 with James Bracey to steer the home side to the relative safety of 307 for 4 by the close, just 117 runs behind. Bracey finished unbeaten on 69 from 134 balls and Gloucestershire are already two batting bonus points to the good.Jake Ball took 2 for 67 and Nathan Gilchrist and Grant Stewart claimed a wicket apiece as Kent applied themselves diligently in the field, but the visitors will have to make the new ball count in the morning if they are to shift pressure back onto their opponents in a contest which looks increasingly likely to end in a draw.Resuming their first innings on 386 for 6, Kent had earlier lost their last four wickets for the addition of 38 runs, Ajeet Singh Dale returning career-best figures of 7 for 110 from 26 overs. He accounted for Stewart and Chris Benjamin, who scored 182 and 93 respectively in staging a partnership of 264, a record seventh wicket stand in all matches for Kent, who were dismissed in 110.4 overs.There may have still been some shine left on the relatively new ball, but it was back to business as usual for Stewart and Benjamin, Kent’s seventh wicket pair requiring four overs to bank a fourth batting bonus point. For their part, the home side desperately needed wickets and skipper Cameron Bancroft threw the ball to Singh Dale, Gloucestershire’s most incisive bowler on day one.He claimed his first five-wicket haul of the season in his third over from the Ashley Down Road end, inducing Stewart to play a tired shot and edge to second slip. Having advanced his career-best first-class score to 182 from 189 balls, hit 20 fours and 5 sixes and dominated a Kent record-breaking seventh wicket partnership of 264 with Benjamin, the Italy international walked off to a standing ovation with the scoreboard on 401 for 7.His erstwhile partner in runs departed soon afterwards, Benjamin attempting to drive Singh Dale and nicking off to wicketkeeper James Bracey, who took a straightforward catch to terminate a magnificently obdurate innings on 93 from 244 deliveries. The patient Benjamin had defied Gloucestershire for five and a half hours, transforming an innings that had been deep in trouble on 137 for 6 on the first day.Presented with an opportunity to improve upon the career-best 6 for 41 he took against Worcestershire at New Road in April 2023, Singh Dale ran in hard, located Ball’s outside edge and raised his arm in celebration before even Bracey had pouched the catch that further reduced the visitors to 414 for 9. He was denied an eighth victim when Zaman Akhter had Kashif Ali held at deep backward square to bring the innings to a close shortly after midday.Kent’s top order batsmen scratched a mere eight runs from 10 overs against a new ball that nipped off the seam on the first day, but Gloucestershire openers Bancroft and Ben Charlesworth encountered few problems on an essentially flat surface as they safely negotiated 12 overs to reach lunch on 48 without loss.But there was just enough assistance from the pitch to keep the Kent seamers interested and Stewart effected a breakthrough early in the second session, Bancroft prodding defensively outside off stump and nicking to slip. Gloucestershire’s skipper had scored 26 from 36 deliveries and staged an opening stand of 54 with Charlesworth inside 13 overs to at least afford the innings a decent start.Gilchrist and Stewart mustered sufficient movement off the pitch to trouble the batsmen, but left handers Charlesworth and Ollie Price played steadfastly, punished the bad bad when it came along and gradually laid the foundations for a meaningful partnership. Gloucestershire’s progress was smooth until Charlesworth fell into a trap set for him, pulling a short-pitched delivery from Ball and holing out to deep backward square for an 87-ball 41. The second wicket pair had added 45 in 13.5 overs and Gloucestershire were 99 for 2.When last they batted together, Price and Miles Hammond had staged a stand of 203 for the third wicket in a drawn match against Lancashire. Still in good touch following his career-best 253 at Old Trafford, Price played some glorious shots in raising 40 from 51 balls with 9 fours, only to be pinned lbw by Gilchrist with the score 119 for 3. It felt like a big wicket and Kent were positively on a roll when Hammond fell for 18 soon afterwards, playing a back foot defensive shot to a fullish delivery from Ball and offering a catch to Tawanda Muyeye at first slip. Having lost three wickets for 40 runs in 7.4 overs, Gloucestershire were 139-4 and under mounting pressure, still 285 behind.Green and Bracey ensured the home side reached the tea interval without further mishap on 156 for 4 and these two continued to build steadily as conditions eased in the final session, going to an assured 50 partnership from 120 balls. Green made a hundred on debut for Gloucestershire at Canterbury last month and clearly enjoys playing against Kent. He went to 50 from 106 balls on this occasion, reaching that landmark with his fourth four, a back foot force through the covers off Gilchrist.Runs now began to flow and the fifth wicket pair required only 62 balls more to raise the hundred partnership as Kent’s bowlers began to tire. Playing the supporting role to perfection, Bracey went to 50 via 101 balls with his tenth four, a cut shot off Kashir Ali. Gloucestershire banked a second batting bonus point and there was still time for Green to move to his hundred from 146 balls, the Western Australian heaving Kashif through mid-wicket for his twelfth four to spark raucous celebrations among those who had stayed on into the early evening sunshine.

Both Shreyas Iyer and Hardik Pandya were fined after their teams, Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Mumbai Indians (MI) respectively, maintained slow over-rates during their IPL 2025 Qualifier 2 face-off in Ahmedabad on Sunday night.The game got off to a late start because of unseasonal rain in Ahmedabad just after the toss, which brought into effect the tweaked playing conditions of the tournament, allowing two hours of additional time to complete a full game, but the slow over-rates ended up pushing the finish time further.As it was PBKS’ second over-rate offence of the season, Iyer was fined INR 24 lakh, while Hardik, for his team’s third such offence, was fined INR 30 lakh. The rest of the members of the PBKS playing group were each fined either INR 6 lakh or 25% of their respective match fees, whichever is lesser, while those numbers went up to INR 12 lakh and 50% for MI.Despite this being MI’s third over-rate offence, Hardik will not have to serve a suspension, as he had to at the end of IPL 2024, which forced him to miss the first match of IPL 2025, since that rule was amended ahead of the ongoing season.PBKS rode on Iyer’s 41-ball 87 not out to knock MI out of the tournament, and took them to their first IPL final since 2014, where they will meet Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on June 3. With neither PBKS nor RCB – both in the mix since the inaugural season in 2008 – having won the tournament to date, we will have a new IPL champion come Tuesday night.

Tea Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja batted through the afternoon session, frustrating England and helping India creep towards a doughty draw. Washington and Jadeja both made battling half-centuries as England’s bowlers toiled without reward, adding exactly 100 in an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership that took India into the lead.Washington batted at No. 8 in India’s first innings, below Shardul Thakur, but was promoted to No. 5 for the first time in their second. He brought up his half-century by hooking Ben Stokes for six, then pulling him for four, and Jadeja raised his later in the same over thanks to Zak Crawley’s misfield.Dropped first-ball by Joe Root at slip off Jofra Archer’s bowling, Jadeja brought out his trademark sword celebration to mark his fifth half-century in his last six innings. He also became the seventh Indian – and the third this week, following KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant – to reach 1,000 Test runs in England.England’s close fielders were occasionally excited by tight leaves or half-chances, but there were far fewer genuine opportunities than they would have anticipated. Liam Dawson and Root both wheeled away between spells from the four seamers, but found little joy from a pitch which has not deteriorated as much as they must have hoped.India’s slender lead means that England will have to chase down a target if they do manage to run through the lower order, but the draw is the clear favourite. The two captains could shake hands at the start of the last hour if they wish, though Stokes will be reluctant to accept what would be only the second draw of his tenure as captain.

Jake Weatherald will be “well in the mix” for selection in the upcoming Ashes series according to Australia’s chairman of selectors George Bailey despite not being sent on an Australia A tour of India in September where battling incumbent Sam Konstas will be given a chance to further develop his game in different conditions.Weatherald, 30, was the Sheffield Shield’s leading run-scorer last season making 906 runs at 50.33 including three centuries opening the batting in difficult conditions in Hobart. He backed that up with scores of 54 and 183 in two unofficial Tests for Australia A against Sri Lanka A last month in Darwin. For the ‘A’ tour of India, though, Test incumbent Konstas is alongside another Test candidate in Nathan McSweeney and promising 22-year-old Victoria opener Campbell Kellaway.Related

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But speaking in Darwin on Thursday ahead of Australia’s opening T20I against South Africa on Sunday, Bailey said the Australia A squad was selected with the 2027 Test tour of India in mind and expects the conditions to have little relevance to the upcoming Ashes. Konstas is among a host of players who will miss the white-ball portion of the A tour in order to return for the start of Shield season where Bailey said the first three rounds will be “critical” for Ashes selection. Bailey declared Weatherald as a player firmly in the mix to open the batting in Perth.”He’s doing a lot of things right, isn’t he?” Bailey said. “His performance last year was awesome. His performance in the Australia A matches was great, too.”So that’s the clear message to him, on the back of talking him through the Australia A selections, the clear focus for him is just to continue that and be consistent.”A lot of selection is potentially being in the right place at the right time. So if he starts the year as he had last year, he’ll be well in the mix.”Konstas, 19, has not been ruled out despite averaging 8.33 in the three Tests in the Caribbean. Bailey said he had spoken to Konstas about the disappointing experience and said the youngster was taking some lessons from the Caribbean. He hoped he would add some more experience in India before returning for the start of the Shield summer.”I think he’s dealing with it well,” Bailey said. “I think he deals with most things pretty well. Him being part of the Australia A series is exactly the same. Any player who’s going somewhere new for the first time, take the performance aspect out of it, you want them to leave with a better understanding of: a) their own game, and b) how to play in in different conditions should they face them again. The chat that I’ve had with Sam since we’ve returned is he’s reflected on that, and he’s put a few things into his training, and he’s launched himself back into getting ready for India and then playing for New South Wales.”Sam Konstas had a tough tour of the Caribbean•Associated Press

Bailey was asked if Konstas scoring centuries in the two Australia A games against India A in Lucknow would carry any weight ahead of the Ashes.”I think there’s some separation there,” Bailey said. “I don’t think the surface of Lucknow is going to be a great read through to what we’re going to get across the summer. Whilst we’d be thrilled to see that, and that’s a really important tool for us and we’re really interested in the performances of players there, there will be some separation. And I do think performing across the start of the summer is going to be important.”Bailey added that discarded Test batter Marnus Labuschagne, who will return in the three ODIs against South Africa in Cairns and Mackay following the T20I series, remains in the conversation for the Ashes.”I think the Test pitches in Australia have been reasonably consistent across the last couple of years,” Bailey said. “So if we expect and are hoping we get something similar to that this year, I think we know that Marnus at his best can certainly perform in those.”Matt Short is still recovering from a side strain•Getty Images

Short ruled out for first two T20Is

Meanwhile, Bailey revealed that T20I and ODI offspinning allrounder Matt Short will not be fit for the first two T20Is in Darwin as he continues to recover from the side strain that saw him ruled out of the West Indies series.”I think he’ll be back as a batter, probably by the third T20 here, and on the bowling front, probably later in the one-day series,” Bailey said.There is a squeeze on at the top of the order in both of Australia’s white-ball teams with Travis Head returning after missing the Caribbean series while skipper Mitchell Marsh will return for the ODI series after missing the Champions Trophy where Head and Short opened together in two of Australia’s three games before Short missed the semi-final through injury.Bailey suggested Short could transition successfully into the middle-order much like Mitchell Owen did in his debut series.”We’ve seen Shorty at the top and have some success there,” Bailey said. “It’s reasonably cluttered up there.”I think Shorty has had some experience in the middle. I think that’s a capability that, at different times, will try and grow out.”Bailey also confirmed that veteran allrounder Marcus Stoinis remains in the mix for Australia’s T20 World Cup squad despite missing both the Caribbean and top end series while he plays in the Hundred for Trent Rockets.”I think he remains firmly in the plans because of his skill set,” Bailey said. “Trying to pad out your batting as much as you can, and having those power hitters who can also bowl you some really handy overs, which the guys that got that opportunity in the West Indies, I think we saw how valuable that is. So I don’t think that’s going to diminish. So I imagine once we get closer to picking that squad, that his name will be firmly in the mix.”

A searing burst from Josh Tongue put Nottinghamshire back in the box seat after Worcestershire fought back well on the second day of their Rothesay County Championship match at Visit Worcestershire New Road.Nottinghamshire’s first-innings lead was restricted to 25 after they were bowled out for 207. Freddie McCann defied for 56 (106 balls) but Tom Taylor took 4 for 70 and Ben Allison 3 for 41 while wicketkeeper Gareth Roderick took five catches.The game had evened right up but Worcestershire closed the second day on 93 for 5 after Tongue took out the top three in a fiery burst of 9-1-24-3. With the pitch still helping seamers, Nottinghamshire won’t want to chase many in the fourth innings, but are well-placed to push for a win to keep them on the shoulders of leaders Surrey ahead of their mouth-watering meeting at The Oval next week.Nottinghamshire resumed on the second morning on 46 for 1 to find the pitch still lively. Allison soon produced a perfect away-cutter that Ben Slater edged to Roderick.McCann and Joe Clarke added 50 in 17 overs before McCann, having gritted out a valuable half-century, drove at a wide ball from Matthew Waite and Roderick accepted another catch. The slip cordon remained on high alert. Jake Libby, at second, pouched Jack Haynes off Allison. Clarke dug in for 122 minutes before nicking a waft at the same bowler.From an uneasy 121 for 5, the title-chasers were rebooted by Lyndon James’ punchy 42-ball 35 but Taylor ended the counter-attack by inducing another nick and pinned Liam Patterson-White lbw two balls later. Kyle Verreynne steered his side in front then edged Taylor to second slip.Former Pears pair Dillon Pennington and Tongue added a handy 23 before falling in five balls, the former lbw to Allison and the latter supplying Roderick with his fifth catch, off Waite.With the game so evenly-poised, a mammoth evening session – 49 overs – promised to be pivotal. Only 36 were possible before bad light intervened but Nottinghamshire made serious inroads.Tongue trapped Rehaan Edavalath lbw and dismissed Libby, caught at second slip, with a lifter so brutal it invoked comparison with Allan Donald, Curtly Ambrose and Percy Jeeves. Catching of similar quality followed from McCann, a one-handed, diving grab at second slip to remove Dan Lategan off James that invoked comparison with Graham Roope, Rikki Clarke and Ashley Giles.Tongue then knocked out Kashif Ali’s off-stump and James hit Brett D’Oliveira’s. At 68 for 5, Worcestershire were in danger of speeding to a defeat which would pretty much seal their relegation but Roderick and Ethan Brookes stayed firm until the light closed in to keep this fascinating match very much alive.

The PCB has suspended all no-objection certificates for players who want to participate in T20 leagues outside Pakistan.Sumair Ahmad Syed, the board’s chief operating officer, sent a notice on September 29, informing players and agents of the decision.”With the approval of Chairman PCB, all No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for players with respect to participation in leagues and other out of country tournaments are hereby put on hold until further orders,” the notice, seen by ESPNcricinfo, read.No reason has been given as to why this action was taken. Reports have suggested the PCB aims to tie NOCs to a performance based system, the criteria for which has not been made public. The goal, from the board’s perspective, is for players to incentivise national and domestic performances. However, there is no information on how long such an evaluation will take before the current suspension on NOCs is lifted.The move came a day after Pakistan’s tight loss in the Asia Cup final to India in the UAE, but from a tour in which they also won a T20I tri-series. The Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Pakistan’s premier domestic first-class competition, is also due to start in October, having been delayed from its original start date of September 22.The details around the NOCs and any possible exemptions, or how long they last, are not yet known.Seven Pakistanis, including Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Afridi, are due to play in the BBL this season, which begins in December. There are also 16 Pakistan players in the shortlist for the ILT20 auction, which is due to take place on October 1 in the UAE. Three of those include Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub and Fakhar Zaman.