First thing I learnt from Glenn McGrath was to stay calm: Prasidh Krishna

DC not keen on Rishabh Pant taking over captaincy in Shreyas Iyer's absence: Reports

India batsman Shreyas Iyer’s shoulder injury has ruled him out of the on-going ODI series against England while he won’t be available to take part in the forthcoming IPL 2021in the major part of the tournament. He had injured his shoulder during the first ODI against England in Pune. Iyer’s unavailability has created a huge void in the Delhi Capitals camp as he is the captain of the side and the management now has the task to announce a new skipper in his absence. R Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant, Ajinkya Rahane are some of the Indian players available for the role while their latest recruit Steve Smith can also be one of the candidates. According to a TOI report, Pant tops the list of the players who are being considered for the position but his lack of experience as a leader is an issue for the management. "Pant is the first name that pops up in everyone's mind. He is the hot property at the moment. But a few in the management pointed out that his lack of experience in captaining a team could go against him. Also, there's thought that the added responsibility could hamper his form," a source told TOI. "There is no consensus on who should be captain yet. There's a faction of the management which is convinced that Pant should assume charge and then there's another which is keen to have an experienced captain," the source added. Delhi Capitals will begin the IPL 2021 campaign against Chennai Super Kings on April 10 in Mumbai. DC had a brilliant last season under Iyer’s captaincy after they managed to make a place for themselves in the final but suffered a defeat in the title clash against Mumbai Indians.

WI vs SL | 1st Test Report: Nkrumah Bonner brings up maiden Test ton to salvage draw for Windies

A marathon maiden Test ton from Nkrumah Bonner helped West Indies salvaged a draw in the first Test of the series at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. Coming into the fifth and final day of the Test, Windies had an uphill task of resisting an impressive Sri Lankan bowling lineup for a whole day. But, Bonner stood tall right when the team required him to bat big and batsmen around him such as Kayle Mayers and Jason Holder batted with mixed aggression with grit to deny Sri Lanka any chance of running through the batting order to take a 1-0 lead in the series. Windies had already lost the opener, John Campbell, on the fourth day and the skipper Kraigg Brathwaite has had a task on his hands to get his team off to a solid start. He showed patience against pacers and did not play loosely outside his off stump that had resulted in his dismissal in the first innings. However, after spending more than three hours on the crease, his patience withered away against the left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya. He danced down the track to hit him over the top and in the process lost his stumps to make the tourists ecstatic. With both the openers gone by 40 overs, the responsibility of bailing the team out of trouble fell once again on the shoulders of the newest emerging batting talents in the Caribbean—Nkrumah Bonner and Kayle Mayers, who had led Windies to a remarkable series win in Bangladesh. They started defensively against Embuldeniya and the off-spin of Dhananjaya de Silva. Their task was made tough when Dimuth Karunaratne brougt Dushmantha Chameera into the attack and runs started to dry up. The target was not a key factor fo the pair, but Sri Lankan bowlers understood that prolonged pressure would bring a loose shot. However, in the battle of who will blink first, Chameera lost and provided a loose delivery outside Bonner’s off stump. The right-hander was all in readiness and thumped the delivery towards the off-side boundary to show confidence. Chameera bounced back in the next over and caught Mayers in front of the stumps. The umpire did not agree to the loud appeal from Sri Lankans and the skipper opted for a review. The ball was pitched marginally outside the leg stump and Mayers survived the close call. He out all that to rest with a crisp drive off Suranga Lakmal in the next over when the pacer erred by blowing too full to him. Sri Lanka kept coming at them every now and then though as Embuldeniya found Bonner paying from the crease to a delivery that turned slightly away. This time, the umpire agreed to the appeal and gave the batsman out caught behind, but only to reverse his decision after a review. Both Bonner and Mayers flourished with confidence and took Windies to the tea interval on the final day. The Windies batsmen had already batted two and a half session out of a total of three and a half sessions they were supposed to bat to save the game. However, they were jolted right after the tea break as Embuldeniya finally broke through with a delivery wide off Mayer’s off stump and tempting the batsman to go for a booming drive. The edge was found and snaffled up by Lahiru Thirimanne at the slip. The tourists had an opening with the next man in—Jermaine Blackwood not really known for his defensive batting. He bats with freedom and having taken the second new ball with and many runs left in the bank, Lanka sensed an opportunity against him. Skipper Karunaratne brought Vishwa Fernando to cramp him for room outside off stump and the move paid dividends. The new ball swung for Fernando and yorked Blackwood with an inswinging yorker to ring an alarm for the hosts. Bonner grew in confidence and was batting fluently in the middle. He jumped quickly past the 80s to get on the brink of his maiden century before Blackwood departed. The wicket did not deter him and when Fernando provided him with a half volley at 99, he smashed it to the boundary to bring up a much-deserving century. Jason Holder batted superbly to deny Sri Lanka any chance of getting into the lower order batsmen beneath him and the hosts managed to get out of the game with the series still hanging in balance at 0-0. The second and the last game of the series will be played at the same venue from March 29.

NZ vs BAN | 3rd ODI: All-round Blackcaps thump Bangla Tigers for series-sweeping win

New Zealand completed a clean sweep win in the ODI series against Bangladesh in Wellington after thumping the visitors by 164 runs in the third and final encounter. Chasing yet another big score of 319, Bangladesh were bundled out for 154 after James Neesham and Matt Henry rattled the batting line up. Neesham scalped a five-wicket haul while Henry bagged a four-for during the course. Only three Bangladesh batsmen managed to breach the double-figure mark with Mahmudullah top-scoring with an unbeaten 76. The visiting team had a dismal start to the mammoth chase as they were reduced to 26/3 in seventh over with the likes of Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar and Liton Das back in the hut. The visitors were eventually left tottering at 102/8. Mahmudullah along with Rubel Hossain did try to resist the New Zealand bowling attack after the two stitched a partnership of 52 runs for the ninth wicket but Hossain perished when the team scored read 154 at the start of the 42nd over and Mustafizur Rahman followed him three balls later to conclude Bangladesh’s innings. Earlier, the Blackcaps rode on some brilliant batting from Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell to post 318/6 in 50 overs. The hosts had a decent start to the proceedings after openers Martin Guptill and Henry Nicholls put 44 on the board before Nicholls departed for 18. The left-handed batsman’s dismissal saw the fall of wickets at regular intervals. New Zealand were 120/4 when Conway and Mitchell joined hands and steadied the ship for their side. The two put on a stand of 159 runs for the fifth wicket and both the batsmen also notched up individual tons during the course. While Conway scored 126, Mitchell remained not out at 100. Rubel picked up three wickets for Bangladesh. New Zealand wrapped up the series 3-0 and the two sides will now play a three-match T20I series slated to begin on Sunday. Conway who was adjudged man of the match expressed his delight after getting a hundred for his team and also talked about the partnership with Mitchell that scripted the convincing win for his side. “Good feeling, pretty happy with how things went today. For me it's about trying to keep it nice and simple, do the same things over and over. Credit to Daryl, the way he played his natural, positive game,” Conway said after the match. Bangladesh captain Tamim expressed his disappointment at yet another loss in the series. While he did admit that the dropped catches and sloppy fielding are the major cause of concern for the side, Iqbal hailed New Zealand’s approach. “Thought we started pretty well with the ball. But those two guys batted beautifully. Sometimes small things hurt you more. The catches, the run outs. No doubt Black Caps played unbelievably well, but at the same time we didn't play well,” Tamim said.

Teams cancelled, postponed their South Africa tours, but we are committed to it: Misbah takes dig at England & Australia

Pakistan head coach Misbah-Ul-Haq believes that a full-strength Pakistan team touring South Africa and Zimbabwe is going to have a great effect on the game and also the hosting nations, which have seen several of their series being cancelled, postponed and left midway due to Covid-19. Speaking to the press before their departure from Lahore, Misbah informed that all players and support staff including Hasan Ali, who had earlier tested positive, have tested negative for the Covid-19 virus. Stressing upon the point how Pakistan toured England during the raging Pandemic last year and without naming Australia, who cancelled their South Africa tour just recently, Misbah said, “It’s very difficult for players to keep on playing while remaining in the bubble. However, being the stakeholder of the game, they are taking it as their duty to serve the game. We went to England last year and now e are touring South Africa even as others team postponed and cancelled tier tours midway.” Addressing the elephant in the room, the selection of players like Shrajeel on captain’s recommendations, Misbah said, “There is a prevalent notion that it is somebody’s team that we have picked. Let me clear this once and for all, it is not mine or the captain’s or the selector’s team, it is Pakistan’s team and whatever would be better for Pakistan, we would do that.” Agreeing to the fact that It’s going to be a challenging series as always because of the conditions and the strength of the hosts, the 46-year-old also showed confidence in the abilities of his leader Babar and the nucleus of the team to present formidable resistance. “Babar is a leader who just doesn’t believe in saying things, rather gives his 100 per cent and expects the same from his men. It is his ability to lead by example that makes him stand out from the rest. He has also got a lot of support from Shadab [Khan] and [Mohammad] Rizwan, So I think the team is going to give its best. Pakistan on its tour of South Africa will play three ODIs and four T20is and Misbah believes that the T20s would be very important with respect to the upcoming T20 wORLD cup in October- November in India. The team also plays three T20Is against Zimbabwe later on. The Zimbabwe leg of the tour, according to the former Pakistan skipper is mainly to give opportunities to the youngsters and then build proper bench strength for the Red ball cricket team. Pakistan will play the first game of the tour on April 2, an ODI at the SuperSport Park in Centurion. The first T20 would be played on 10th April at the Wanderers.