Ashes 2021-22: ECB gives 'conditional approval' to the tour

IPL 2021 | MI vs SRH: KKR qualify for Playoffs as Hyderabad get past 64 against Mumbai Indians

Kolkata Knight Riders and its fans would have had a sigh of relief as Sunrisers Hyderabad got past the 64 run mark while chasing a humongous target of 236 against Mumbai Indians in their last league match of the Indian Premier League 2021. Getting to 64 was crucial from the point of view of KKR as their Playoffs qualification hopes depended on it. Prior to the start of the match between Mumbai and Hyderabad, Mumbai needed to win it by a margin of at least 171 runs to topple KKR from the fourth position in the points table. Thus, when Mumbai scored 235, the target for KKR was to see SRH get past 64. When the team from Kolkata won their last game against Rajasthan Royals by a huge margin of 86 runs on Thursday, October 07, they further pushed their net run rate ahead and made it difficult for Mumbai to catch up, who even if win their last game (ongoing) against SRH, would have a maximum of 14 points only, which would be equal to KKR’s. But KKR’s net run rate of +0.587 is the best in the league among all teams and thus Mumbai who were on a net run rate of -0.048 before their last game, needed to win their last game by a margin of 171 runs or more. They did everything well to get as many runs as possible, but even 235 was not going to be enough.

T20 World Cup 2021: Shane Getkate, Barry McCarthy left out of Ireland’s final 15 man squad

Cricket Ireland announced its final 15 man squad for the T20 World Cup 2021. There was no change in the 18 man squad announced last month, only Shane Getkate, Graham Kennedy, Barry McCarthy were put on the reserves list to make the squad in adherence to the ICC rules. Announcing the changes, Andrew White, Chair of National Men’s Selectors said that head coach Graham Ford’s opinion was taken and a strong squad was chosen based on the conditions. “It was always going to be a very difficult decision to reduce the squad from 18 to 15 – every player out in Dubai at the moment has proven their talent and deserved their chance. The three players who have missed out will still have a role to play in supporting the core squad, and stay on within the team bubble as cover in case of injury or illness,” White said in a press release issued by Cricket Ireland. “Part of the selectors’ decision-making was around the conditions in both Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, but we also factored in [Head Coach] Graham Ford’s on-the-ground assessment of what he believes to be our most effective combination of players to win games of cricket,” he added. The Ireland team, which is currently playing a three-match T20I series against UAE at the ICC Academy Ground in Dubai, will play two warm-up matches, on October 12 vs Bangladesh and on October 14 vs Papua New Guinea. Their World Cup campaign begins with a clash against fellow European the Netherlands on October 18 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi. Squad Andrew Balbirnie (c), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Josh Little, Andrew McBrine, Kevin O’Brien, Neil Rock, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White, Craig Young. Head Coach: Graham Ford. Reserve players: Shane Getkate, Graham Kennedy, Barry McCarthy.

David Warner drops another hint of leaving Sunrisers Hyderabad camp

Opening batsman David Warner has all but confirmed his departure from the Sunrisers Hyderabad camp after the ongoing edition in an Instagram post. He expressed gratitude to his fans and recalled the memories he created with the men in orange whom he led to the IPL title in the 2016 edition of the league. “Thank You for the memories created. To all the fans, you have been a driving force for our team always to give 100%. I can’t thank you all enough for the support shown. It’s been a great ride. My family and I are going to miss you all!!,” Warner said on his Instagram account. Notably, he had made a similar point in reply to a query by fans saying that he was not to feature for the Sunrisers in future but later on retracted the comment. Warner went through a horror run of form with the bat at the top of the order before the Sunrisers decided to move on from him as the captain and as one of the overseas players. Warner was a force to reckon with the bat in all the IPL seasons before the ongoing one and carried the Sunrisers batting through some really tough phases in the league.

Ishan Kishan dismantles SRH; hits fastest 50 for Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians wicket-keeper batsman Ishan Kishan was on a roll in the last league match against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Abu Dhabi. The left-handed batsman unleashed a brutal assault against the SRH bowlers and hammered the fastest fifty for MI and in this editions IPL. Mumbai who won the toss opted to bat first and Ishan and captain Rohit Sharma opened the innings for the franchise and the two batsmen struck 80 runs for the first wicket before Sharma departed for 18 off 13 while trying to accelerate. Spinner Rashid Khan scalped his wicket. Punjab Kings captain KL Rahul holds the record for the fastest half-century who achieved the feat in just 14 deliveries against Delhi team in 2018. Yusuf Pathan and Sunil Narine follow Rahul at number two and three respectively. While Pathan hit a fifty against SRH while playing for KKR in just 15 deliveries back in 2014, Narine notched up a half-century against RCB in same number of balls in the year 2017.