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A day after losing his father, Mandeep Singh chose to step out in the Kings XI Punjab’s IPL 2020 match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Dubai. Singh’s father Hardev died on Friday evening, and he is understood to have told his franchise that he was up to playing the game. The Kings XI team wore a black armband as a mark of respect.On Saturday, Singh opened with his captain KL Rahul but could manage only 17 off 14 before being caught in the deep off Sandeep Sharma.As Singh walked out to bat, some of the Sunrisers’ players consoled him including their lead spinner Rashid Khan. A couple of years ago, Khan lost his father while playing for the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League. Khan, too, had opted to continue playing at the time. Earlier in the day, the Kolkata Knight Riders’ Nitish Rana dedicated his half-century against the Delhi Capitals to his father-in-law, who died of cancer on Friday. Opening the innings, Rana scored 81 off 53 and, along with Sunil Narine, added 115 in 56 balls for the fourth wicket to steer the side to 194 for 6. Varun Chakravarthy then picked up 5 for 20, the first five-wicket haul of IPL 2020, to help give the Knight Riders a 59-run win.The Knight Riders’ victory has made things difficult for the Kings XI. If the Kings XI beat the Sunrisers and also win their next two games, they can reach up to 16 points but even that may not be enough to qualify for the playoffs.

Records were shattered at Glenelg Oval in Adelaide as Marcus Harris and Will Pucovski batted throughout the second day to set a new record for a Victoria Sheffield Shield opening stand with an unbroken pairing of 418 against South Australia.Harris reached his second Shield double century shortly before the close but Pucovski will sleep on 199 in his first first-class innings as an opening batsman with the pair sending significant reminders to the Australia selectors.It was just the fifth time in Shield history a duo had combined for a 400-run stand and the second-highest opening stand in Shield history. They need just 14 runs in the morning to move past Geoff Marsh and Mike Veletta’s first-wicket record of 431. Incidentally, new Victoria coach Chris Rogers sits third on the all-time partnership list.The pair cruised past Victoria’s previous highest Sheffield Shield stand of 390, set by Julien Wiener and Jeff Moss in 1981. Harris and Pucovski now own the second-highest partnership for Victoria in first-class cricket, behind Ernie Mayne and Bill Ponsford’s stand of 456 set in 1923.Marcus Harris and Will Pucovski celebrated centuries during an enormous opening partnership•Getty Images

Harris, who has not played a Test match since he was dropped following the 2019 Ashes, was rewarded for some off-season work on his technical set-up, cruising to his 14th first-class century just before tea, his fifth against South Australia.Pucovski reached his fifth Sheffield Shield century just an over later, having declared this week that he was in the best mental state of his young career having regularly missed games over the last three seasons due to mental health and concussion issues.The pair went to tea at 0 for 233, already having established a lead of 33, and then piled on 185 runs in the last session as South Australia wilted woefully.Pucovski gave a life on 119 when he was dropped at leg slip attempting to pull a short ball, but the pair were otherwise untroubled by a toothless Redbacks attack.Harris’ new alignment was tested as South Australia’s pacemen went around the wicket regularly and he passed with flying colours. He was well behind in the race for 200 midway through the last session but feasted in the last hour to beat Pucovski to the milestone.Pucovski was attacked briefly by some short stuff earlier in the day but, for the most part, looked impenetrable. His composure, placement, and timing were a feature throughout the day. He was unfortunate to be stuck one run shy of his second Shield double hundred but he looked content to bat for a week if necessary.Chadd Sayers was the only Redback to concede less than 3.5 runs per over as they failed to either contain or truly threaten the Victoria pair at any stage. They trail by 218 runs with two days to spare and will need a repeat of last week’s heroics against Tasmania to avoid defeat.

At the end of a 15-wicket day in Hamilton, New Zealand are all but sure of taking a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series. Tim Southee started the carnage, sending back John Campbell on his way to returns of 4 for 35 in the first West Indies innings, as the visitors went from 53 for no loss to 138 all out, before following on and ending the third day on 196 for 6, still 185 behind. And for Southee, the difference was that New Zealand “knew where we had to be for longer periods of time”.Campbell and Kraigg Brathwaite had taken West Indies to a safe 49 for no loss in reply to New Zealand’s 519 for 7 declared when play ended on the second day, but more swing with the older ball and the westerly breeze at Seddon Park, Southee said, had an effect.

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“It was nice, this is one of the few grounds that favours the outswing. But we assessed through it last night and we weren’t far off,” he said in a press interaction. “We knew where we had to be for longer periods of time, and managed to get a couple early and get the ball rolling.”While Southee has so far picked up five wickets, Neil Wagner (four) and Kyle Jamieson (three) have been among the wickets too, and the towering Jamieson, who also scored an unbeaten 51 earlier, came in for special praise from Southee.”He’s been a great addition at the back end of last summer, and he’s shown again here with both bat and ball,” Southee said of Jamieson, who made his Test debut against India last summer as a replacement for Lockie Ferguson, and has played in all three of New Zealand’s Tests since. “So he’s been a great asset to the side and adds another variation as well. Obviously you’ve got myself and Trent [Boult], left- and right-arm to swing it. Wags [Wagner] does his thing and then you’ve got a tall guy in him [Jamieson], who hits some challenging areas.”The New Zealand players gather around Tim Southee after his early strikes•Getty Images

Southee is currently on 289 Test wickets, and though he is focused on winning the Test, and the series, against West Indies, he said he was aware of the 300-wicket milestone.”[You] probably don’t chase [such milestones],” he said. “It’s something that when you play for long enough, those things happen. But yeah, it’ll be something special if I can get there.”At the moment, it’s about coming back tomorrow and taking the remaining wickets. It’s just nice to contribute… and it’ll be a lot of hard work between now and then.”In what has been a dominant performance by Kane Williamson’s team, a few fielding lapses have hrt them. Both unbeaten batsmen, Jermaine Blackwood and Alzarri Joseph, were dropped one each, and Jason Holder had been reprieved twice, in two balls.”We aren’t disappointed, we would have taken this position going into this morning,” he said. “Anytime you have a side follow on, you know you’ve obviously played pretty well at some stage. So although we weren’t quite at our best in the last hour, you’ve got to give a little bit of credit to Joseph and Blackwood – the way they took an attacking approach to it and had a little bit of luck along the way.”But they played positive cricket and we were a little bit off in that last session as well. So [we need to] restart and have another go tomorrow.”

How the game played outIn a departure from the run-fests that have populated the Lanka Premier League 2020 so far, the Jaffna Stallions and Kandy Tuskers played out a rare low-scoring affair that eventually saw the Tuskers sneak a six-wicket win.It was fittingly Asela Gunaratne, unbeaten on a 37-ball 52, who scored the winning runs – coming down the pitch to swat Duanne Olivier for a straight six off the first ball of the final over. That it was just the fourth six of the entire game tells a story, as both sets of players struggled to score fluently.That it even came to that point was down to a combination of tight bowling and unambitious batting on the part of the Tuskers. Having done exceedingly well to limit the Stallions to 150, the Tuskers suddenly found themselves struggling to get ahead of the required rate.Wanindu Hasaranga, who ended with figures of 2 for 23, was once again the standout threat, but it didn’t help the Tuskers’ cause that they lost three wickets inside the powerplay period for just 44 runs. Their response to that was to then eschew any sort of risk in their chase – though there was an incentive to get the runs quicker and leapfrog in the net run rate stakes the Galle Gladiators, whom they are competing with for a final semifinal spot.In the end Gunaratne’s cool head would prevail, putting on two consecutive 50-run stands with Kusal Perera and Irfan Pathan, to see his side through.Earlier, it was once again Gunaratne that had made the difference, after his miserly four overs had given away just 21 runs and accounted for the wickets of Minod Bhanuka and Thisara Perera. Both those wickets came in a pivotal 13th over, after Bhanuka along with Shoaib Malik had resurrected an ailing Stallions innings.Led by the finally available Dale Steyn, the Tuskers had reduced the Stallions to 3 for 50 in the powerplay period, before a slow-burn 59-run fourth wicket stand off 53 deliveries between Malik and Bhanuka brought forth consolidation – the plan clearly being to set the stage for a customary late assault from the likes of Thisara and Wanindu.Gunaratne though would intervene, before Steyn would return to dismiss Wanindu cheaply to leave the Stallions reeling on 104 for 6 in the 15th over. Malik would do his best to up the scoring rate with a few boundary hits, but in the end with recognised batsman running out, he too would fall for a 44-ball 59. Fourteen runs off the final two overs would see the Stallions limp to 150, a score that was going to be hard to defend despite their best efforts.Dale Steyn is thrilled to pick up a wicket•AFP

Stars of the dayWith figures of 2 for 33, a well-taken catch, and the introduction of a fishing-themed celebration, the Steyn effect on the Tuskers cannot be understated. Indeed, it was expected that Steyn’s entry would add some much-needed firepower and potency to the Tuskers’ bowling ranks, but it’s his influence on his fellow bowlers as a result of his in-game nous and experience that really stood out. Steyn was seen constantly giving advice to his colleagues, and it’s no fluke that it coincided with one of the most well-rounded bowling performances of the tournament.At the other end of the speed spectrum lies Asela Gunaratne. While his bowling may be hard to describe, it’s nevertheless effective. And with the bat, his mentality and composure in pressure moments makes him the ideal finisher. After a long spell out with injury, Gunaratne looks to finally be finding his best form.For the Stallions, it seems they have had get-out-of-jail free cards right through out the tournament, and why not when you have game-changers such as Wanindu Hasaranga in your ranks. While Steyn ensured he wouldn’t be able to do any damage with the bat, he more than made up for it with the ball; once again it was his control and variations, namely his excellent googly, that caused the opposition batters all kinds of trouble.Turning pointAt 100 for 3, seven overs remaining, and Thisara and Wanindu still to come, the Stallions would have been relatively pleased with the situation. But in the space of two overs all those plans went out the proverbial window, as first Gunaratne dismissed Bhanuka and Thisara in the space of an over, and then Steyn took out Wanindu four balls later. The Stallions’ innings never recovered after that.Where the teams standThe win sees the Tuskers go ahead of the Gladiators on points in the race for the final semifinal spot, but they still lag behind on net run rate. Regardless of whether the Gladiators win their next game or not, if weather doesn’t intervene, it’s all set for straight play-off between the two tomorrow.

Does this mean New Zealand are through?
Yes. Australia, marginally behind New Zealand on the points table at this stage, will not get the opportunity to go past them now. India and England are both in contention, but since they play each other, only one of them can exceed New Zealand’s points percentage of 70. That means New Zealand versus…Australia, possibly?
Australia are not out of it yet, but they will be ruing the four points they dropped because of a slow over-rate against India in the Boxing Day Test. Had that not happened, Australia would have been level with New Zealand on 70, which would then have brought the runs-per-wicket ratio into play (that is the ratio of the runs scored per wicket lost, and the runs conceded per wicket taken). Australia’s ratio is currently 1.39 while New Zealand’s is 1.28.This means Australia would have stayed ahead of New Zealand if they hadn’t been docked those four points, and would have been certain of qualification. Now, they will need India and England to help them out: if the two teams share the total points on offer from the series in such a way that their overall percentages drop below Australia’s 69.17, then Australia can still make it to the final. That can happen only if the series is drawn (by any margin), or if England win 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1, or if India win 1-0.What do India need to do to qualify?
Both India and England will target Australia’s points percentage – whichever teams tops 69.17 will qualify.India need 70 points from the four-Test series to go past Australia. That means they need to win by at least a 2-1 margin – that will fetch them 30 points for each of the two wins, and 10 points for one draw; 3-0 or 3-1 or 4-0, of course, work even better.And England, don’t they have a shot too?
England need 87 points from these four Tests to go past Australia. That means they need to win at least three matches. History is against them there, though – the last time a touring team won three Tests in a series in India was West Indies, in 1983-84.Of course, both India and England will have to keep the over-rate penalties in mind: any points docked due to slow over-rates will make their task tougher.

Angelo Mathews has been named as Sri Lanka’s stand-in captain for the T20I series in the West Indies as Dasun Shanaka, the appointed captain, is yet to join the team because of a delay in obtaining a US transit visa. Mathews has previously led Sri Lanka in 34 Tests, 106 ODIs and 13 T20Is.As it stands on Sunday, Shanaka is yet to receive the visa, and as such seems likely to miss the entire T20I series – his first assignment as the new T20I captain. He will hope to make the ODI leg of the tour at least, which starts on March 9.Shanaka did have a proper US transit visa – valid for five years – on a previous passport. But as he had lost that passport two years ago, visa officers told him they must do additional checks, meaning they were not able to greenlight the visa for this tour in time for him to make the flight.This news is the latest setback for Sri Lanka, who also lost the services of Lahiru Kumara for this tour after testing positive for Covid-19 in the days before departure for the West Indies.Sri Lanka’s multi-format tour of the Caribbean kicks off on March 3, with the T20I series.

For the first time in Indian cricket, the BCCI has conducted two Fast Track Level 2 coaching courses at the NCA in Bengaluru for international and domestic players who have played over 75 first-class games. Some of the prominent names who attended the courses included former players Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Abhinav Mukund, Ramesh Powar, Wasim Jaffer, Sarandeep Singh, Debasis Mohanty, Vinay Kumar, L Balaji and Robin Uthappa.Indian players have in the past taken similar certification form the ECB and Cricket Australia, but for the first time the BCCI has initiated such a move to promote home-grown coaching at the NCA, under its head Rahul Dravid.A BCCI release stated: “A wide array of topics was covered, including Skill Acquisition, Applied Biomechanics in Pace Bowling, Spin Bowling, Batting, Wicket-Keeping, Building Social and Personal Competence, Video Analysis etc.”The courses were held in a hybrid model because of the ongoing pandemic, where phase 1 was conducted online over four days and phase 2 was held at the NCA over the next four days.”The experience gained through the rigours of playing first-class and international cricket coupled with knowledge of the technical and tactical intricacies of our game makes for a great combination for a coach,” BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said in the release. “I believe we have some of the best coaching talents in the world and these courses conducted by the NCA will greatly benefit not only those that have participated in it but also the next generation of cricketers who will be coached by these coaches.”Board secretary Jay Shah said: “It is heartening to see former and current cricketers taking up this opportunity to upskill themselves as coaches. The future of Indian Cricket continues to remain bright given the continued involvement and enthusiasm of some of our cricketers even post their playing careers.”

In explaining how he got off the mark with a reverse sweep in two successive T20Is, Finn Allen provided a glimpse into his mindset. He used the word fearless up front. It can come across as a word that is overused but this 21-year old really does bat like that. For proof, check out his 29-ball 71 in a rain-reduced game that helped New Zealand to a 65-run win in Auckland.His ten fours and three sixes was a reflection of how he batted during this season’s Super Smash. Allen scored 512 runs at 193.93 strike-rate in 11 games. It is the third-highest strike-rate among batsmen with 500-plus runs in a T20 tournament. Big-hitting luminaries Andre Russell and Alex Hales are the other two, but neither were playing their first T20 tournament like Allen.When asked why he played a reverse sweep to get off the mark in the second T20I in Napier, especially after his golden duck on debut, Allen said that he backs himself to pull it off despite the risks involved.”It was just about being fearless, continuing to be like that from the Super Smash,” he said. “The fear of not getting out and wanting to take it to the opposition. I felt like it is a shot that I worked on a lot against left-arm spin this summer.”I thought that it is a shot I play a lot so why not pull it out [against Nasum Ahmed]? It doesn’t matter the situation. I could have easily thought I haven’t scored a run yet, just get one under the belt. But I felt like it was the best option for me. Talking to Guptill at the other end, he said back yourself and back your skills. I went for it.”Allen did the same at Eden Park on Thursday. After Martin Guptill hogged most of the strike in the first two overs, Allen reverse swept Ahmed over point for four. He cultivated the shot originally as a means to counter Mitchell Santner in the Super Smash but is now finding a lot more uses for it.”I just felt it was a good option,” Allen said. “The whole field was up and I knew roughly what he was trying to bowl. I felt like it was a good match-up for me. I was lucky that it came off. We just went from there.”I found out a lot of guys got out trying to hit Mitch Santner down the ground. I wanted to hit the reverse sweep but over the top, which is a potential boundary option for me. I think I spent two or three days batting left-handed against the spinners in the nets. Luckily it came off and just kept going from there.”Once he had struck that first four, he struck two more off the next couple of deliveries and added a straight six to take 19 off the Ahmed over. New Zealand were away with both Guptill and Allen going after literally every delivery.Allen’s best shot was perhaps the square-cut six over point off Rubel Hossain, that leapt high into the Eden Park stands.”From the beginning I felt I was in the zone. I was focused on my partner and the bowler. I didn’t hear anything else. (In the end), I had a moment to appreciate the guys who hung around in the rain to watch us. It was pretty cool,” he said.But the T20I series against Bangladesh weren’t all bed of roses for Allen. It taught him that in international cricket, you can’t always rely on plan A.”With all the games I play, I want to have the same brand. I want to approach it in the same aggressive way. But I think this series has made me realise I need to have more options. Get in similar positions and look to be dominant, but have more than one option for a particular delivery,” he said.Also helping Allen perform the way he liked was a dressing room full of people offering him their unstinting support. “I definitely didn’t think it would be so easy to integrate into an international side. I think it just shows how good the group is. The coaching staff made it easy for me to fit in and feel comfortable. It helped my confidence to go out there and play the way I did. It is a similar way Wellington brought me in here,” he said.

“One of the best innings that he has played, or I have seen, especially for the clean hitting. He took his time, then built his innings even as wickets fell. The longer the game went, he built these small partnerships but his batting with the tail was outstanding. His hitting at that stage and how he managed that situation, amazing. It was a total one-man show – sadly he couldn’t finish the game and he missed his double. We were really praying for him to get that double. If he had one allrounder batting with him, it could’ve ended 2-3 overs earlier.”
Babar Azam“That was a really special innings. As a fan of cricket, it was a lot of fun watching that. Personally, really happy with the determination and hunger he showed – really enjoyed that. I can see he changed a little bit in how he played. He gave himself a bit more time and really showed maturity in how he went about it. That was special. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the right result but it was an innings to watch.”
Mohammad Hafeez“I think it was one of the best innings, especially with the match scenario, and the kind of bowling he was up against and the way wickets were falling. Sheer dominance. All alone, he stood there and chasing after such a big target. A smaller target you can understand and you can think about getting there by yourself. But something this big, to try and do it alone, with cricketing shots first and then how he began to clear the boundary. Great fun to watch. He’s been working really hard so to do it in these conditions, it’s great for Pakistan and a real lesson for other batsmen.”
Misbah-ul-Haq“Amazing innings. It got so close to winning that game. I say it’s one of the best innings I’ve seen live because there wasn’t any partnerships with the top order in there. He did it alone. I feel honoured to have seen it live, for an Asian player and especially a Pakistani one to do it here. One of the good things about that innings was that you think of Fakhar as a batsman who plays 50-60 balls, makes 70-80 off it, a hard-hitting batsman who plays in one gear. But this innings he really did shifted through the gears. Very happy as a batting coach that if you look at his wagon wheel, he had shots everywhere. He’s known for big sixes but his running between the wickets, batting without partners, it was amazing that he fought till the end. That’s what we try to instil in our players, to just keep fighting till the very end.”
Younis Khan“You don’t get to see innings like that very often in international cricket. His power-hitting was great to watch. Unfortunately no batsman could really help him out but still very happy to see an innings like that. And to know that Pakistan has a player who can turn a match around like that.”
Imam-ul-Haq

Chris Wood lead a superb defensive bowling display as Hampshire Hawks beat Essex Eagles by 13 runs to get their Vitality Blast competition rolling.Left-arm fast bowler Wood’s four overs went for just 15, along with the scalp of Aron Nijjar, with fellow homegrown star Liam Dawson returning a miserly 1 for 17.Joe Weatherley top-scored with 42 as the Hawks struggled to 155 but despite Tom Westley’s 44 the Eagles were bowled out for 142 – losing their last five wickets for 22 runs.Hampshire were stuck in and were contained well by the Essex bowlers as they reached 39 for the loss of James Vince – aggressively pulling Sam Cook to midwicket – in the powerplay.Simon Harmer, for the second match in succession, struck with his second delivery to york Tom Alsop.Cook took career-best T20 figures against Somerset and once again impressed with analysis of 2 for 21 as he had Australian D’Arcy Short caught behind by Will Buttleman – leaving the visitors 59 for 3 in eight overs.Weatherley rebuilt with Dawson and James Fuller through 35 and 33-run stands without any explosion to the run rate.Dawson was stumped off Harmer and Weatherley – having notched 42 from 34 balls – picked out deep midwicket to leave Hampshire facing a below-par total.But James Fuller plopped Jamie Porter for back-to-back sixes back over his head at the River End in the penultimate over to boost the tally, before he skied to cover.Buttleman lasted only seven balls on debut before he hooked Brad Wheal to fine leg.Michael Pepper also departed in the powerplay, caught behind attempting to sweep Dawson, as Essex reached 41 in the first six overs.The impetus was raised as Paul Walter lifted Mason Crane for sixes into the Hayes Close End houses from the first over of the leg-spinner’s first two overs.Westley also lofted over the straight boundary, but Crane got the last laugh, and loud grunting send-off, as Walter danced past a straight one to be stumped, before Westley was run out by a Ian Holland direct hit.Ryan ten Doeschate was bamboozled by Crane, struggling for four dots before slicing to short third man – as the England spinner pulled back his first 13 balls going for 37 to end up with two for 42 from his four overs.Jimmy Neesham clubbed Wheal into the Doug Insole Pavilion with a pull to accompany some powerful fours but he was caught at midwicket with 36 still needed.Nijjar pulled to deep fine leg, Simon Harmer and Sam Cook were run out and Plom was bowled by Wheal to confirm the victory.