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The Bangladesh selectors have named both Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman in Bangladesh’s 23-member preliminary squad for the ODI series against Sri Lanka later this month. The group is scheduled to start training from May 2, although it is not clear whether either Shakib or Mustafizur, both currently playing in IPL 2021, will join the camp on time.Related

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Shakib missed Bangladesh’s Test series against Sri Lanka after being granted leave by the Bangladesh Cricket Board, to play in the IPL. Rahman was also given an NOC to take part in the IPL, after he wasn’t included in the Test squad. Shakib is part of the Kolkata Knight Riders squad, while Rahman is with the Rajasthan Royals, who have already lost four players due to a variety of reasons this year in Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes, Andrew Tye and Liam Livingstone. That has left them with just four overseas options, including Rahman. The other three are Jos Buttler, Chris Morris and David Miller.Both Shakib and Rahman are, however, expected to join the ODI team for the three-match series, which is likely to start on May 23. The IPL’s league stage also concludes on May 23, with the final on May 30.The preliminary squad, which also includes Imrul Kayes who last played an ODI in 2018, will train till May 9, after which they will get a seven-day break for the Eid festival. Most of the preliminary squad is made up of cricketers who played in Bangladesh’s recent white-ball tour of New Zealand.The three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka is part of the ICC’s Super League.Bangladesh’s preliminary squad: Tamim Iqbal, Mohammad Naim, Imrul Kayes, Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Najmul Hossain Shanto, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Mithun, Mahmudullah, Afif Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Nasum Ahmed, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Hasan Mahmud, Shoriful Islam, Shohidul Islam.

Durham record-breaker Chris Rushworth celebrated another milestone on the third day of the LV= Insurance County Championship match against Derbyshire at Derby. The 34-year-old, who last week became Durham’s leading first-class wicket-taker, claimed his 29th five-wicket haul, finishing with 6 for 49.Derbyshire captain Billy Godleman scored 41 before Wayne Madsen shared a stand of 99 in 28 overs with Matt Critchley who during his 49 became the 28th player for the county to score 4000 runs and take 150 wickets in all formats. England fast bowler Mark Wood took 2 for 84.The home side had to bring in Anuj Dal as a concussion replacement for wicketkeeper Harvey Hosein who was hit on the back of the helmet by Brydon Carse and he steered Derbyshire to 258 before Ben Aitchison struck twice to reduce Durham to 20 for 2.Rushworth’s day started with Godleman driving and cutting him for three fours in the opening over before he and Wood hit back. Rushworth swung one in to trap Brooke Guest lbw for 30 and Wood found lift and movement to have Leus du Plooy caught behind for a second-ball duck.When Godleman edged to second slip charging Rushworth, Derbyshire had lost three wickets in nine balls but they were revived, not for the first time this season, by Madsen and Critchley.Madsen cover drove fluently while Critchley counterattacked against Wood, pulling him for two sixes in an over to restore Derbyshire’s fortunes at lunch. The pair were one short of a fourth century stand of the campaign when Critchley clipped Rushworth to midwicket and then Hosein was forced to leave the field when he ducked into a Carse delivery.After a short break for rain, Carse took the wicket Durham wanted when he beat Madsen’s drive to pin him lbw and after tea was taken early because of bad light, Wood bowled Alex Hughes who was beaten for pace.Aitchison whipped Wood for six before he top-edged Carse and Fynn Hudson-Prentice became Rushworth’s fourth victim when he missed a big drive. Rushworth had Sam Conners caught at point and Dal lbw to complete his second six-wicket haul against Derbyshire this season, leaving Durham to negotiate 15 overs in which they lost Alex Lees and nightwatchman Ben Raine.

There’s been plenty of talk about when the world will get back to normal, but Lahore Qalandars look like they’re there anyway. A vintage capitulation from a side for whom qualification to the semis once looked a mere formality means their chances for progression hang in the balance. Multan Sultans swatted them aside by 80 runs, with Sohail Akhtar’s side bowled out inside 15.1 overs for 89, which – aside from the points going to the Sultans – has produced a devastating blow to the Qalandars net run rate that they could ill afford to absorb. Shahnawaz Dhani was the architect of the huge win, taking four wickets once again in the face of listless opposition from Qalandars.Having lost three on the bounce when failing to chase down targets, Qalandars’ decision to put Sultans in first was curious, but the bowlers kept them on a leash for much of the innings. Aside from a menacing 63-run partnership between Rilee Rossouw and Sohaib Maqsood – whose 40-ball 60 was redolent of his best days as a T20 power hitter – Sultans were never truly able to pull away. And once that partnership was broken, Shaheen Afridi and James Faulkner helped Qalandars run riot, ripping through the lower-middle order to leave Quetta hovering around 140. Only a destructive – in every sense of the word – final over from Haris Rauf, from which Sohail Tanvir plundered 24, helped Sultans set Qalandars 170 to win.Given their chasing struggles in this leg of the tournament, that was always going to be an uphill task. Ben Dunk was promoted, signalling a shift in approach. But the experiment failed before Dhani, sensational once again, got some extra bounce to prise out a struggling Fakhar Zaman. Blessing Muzarabani got in on the act as Mohammad Hafeez fell thanks to a loose shot. Imran Tahir joined the party too, and aside from one big over courtesy Faulkner, the chase was never really on. When he was dismissed, the fight left the Qalandars. At this rate, the Qalandars might be leaving Abu Dhabi soon enough.Dhani delight Shahnawaz Dhani’s special relationship with the PSL shows no signs of cooling, his dizzying figures of 3.1-1-5-4 the zenith of an already glittering tournament. The signs of a remarkable day presented themselves the very first time he bowled, nailing Fakhar Zaman with a bouncer off his first ball and putting Qalandars on the back foot straightaway. When he returned in the middle overs, he got rid of the last dregs of Qalandars’ hope, extra bounce putting paid to Faulkner’s enterprising little stay. All that remained was the snuffing of the tail, and in this sort of mood, he accomplished that with disdainful ease.Harif Rauf’s 20th overIt’s easy to forget what a seemingly impregnable position Lahore found themselves in 19 overs into the match. Sultans had hobbled along to 145, and Tanvir kept the strike off the final ball of the previous over, hoping to get a few big hits in. It began with a couple of streaky fours, before a hammer blow over square leg for six saw the momentum shift ominously away from the struggling Qalandars. Assisted by supremely ordinary bowling, Tanvir – who has struggled for runs this PSL – managed another ten off the last two, wrenching the momentum back to his side. While Lahore had conceded just 26 off the five overs prior, Sultans plundered 24 more in just one. Lahore would never quite recover.Where they standLahore Qalandars are joined by Multan Sultans on ten points and both teams have one match to play. Sultans have the best net run rate in the tournament and barring a historically catastrophic loss to Islamabad United, Sultans are assured of a playoff spot. Meanwhile, Qalandars’ fate rests in the hands of Quetta Gladiators. If the last place Gladiators can beat Karachi Kings, then Qalandars will take the final playoff berth. However, a win for the Kings and they’ll move to ten points but will be in the playoffs ahead of Qalandars due to a superior net run rate.

A trademark Beth Mooney masterclass century set up Perth Scorchers for a 23-run win over Brisbane Heat to get their WBBL season up and running.Mooney made a scintillating 105 off 73 deliveries to power the Scorchers to 172 for 3 at Allan Border Field. Heat, who dropped crucial catches in the field, were all out for 149 in 19.1 overs. Mooney finished the match as she started it with a brilliant direct hit at the non-striker’s end to run out Nicola Hancock.Mooney was at her composed best from the get-go. She was particularly severe on the leg side initially, where she flicked several deliveries to the fence with consummate ease. She brought up her half-century off 42 balls without breaking stride before upping the ante in an innings that included three sixes. A straight six off Jess Jonassen was sublime, as was a ramp to the boundary off Nadine de Klerk that went straight over wicketkeeper Georgia Redmayne’s head.She took to the first over of the power surge, flipping a six off Nicola Hancock in an over that went for 21 runs.”I probably just went through different phases. I was hitting it really nicely early and then was trying to hit it a little bit hard through the middle and then came good towards the end,” Mooney told AAP.”In those innings you have to hang in there when it is getting a bit tough. I thought Brisbane bowled really well, Lucy Hamilton in particular in the surge. It just showed if you bowled in the right areas it was tough to score. We managed a decent score and held them off at the end.”Mooney received outstanding support from opening partner Katie Mack (31) in an 89-run opening stand. She was dropped on 32 by Charli Knott when she splayed a drive towards third man.Mack was put down at slip by Annie O’Neil first ball off Lucy Hamilton and then again by Knott at short fine leg when on 19 from the bowling off Jess Jonassen. Paige Scholfield (22) came to the crease and continued the momentum.In reply, the big-hitting Grace Harris – playing her first match of the campaign for the Heat after recovering from a calf injury – made 46 off 30 balls before being bowled.Jonassen was then run out without scoring in a horrible mix-up with Knott (32), and it was 4-84. It was always going to be a bridge too far from there despite big hitting from West Indies powerhouse Chinelle Henry (39 off 23).In the end it was Mooney who owned the match at a venue she knows so well.

James Vince stroked 60 from 38 and Chris Jordan produced a late cameo with the bat as Southern Brave finally got their campaign up and running with victory under the lights at the Ageas Bowl. Liam Livingstone produced his first significant contribution of the Hundred with an unbeaten half-century and Adam Milne’s 3 for 15 had seemingly set up Birmingham Phoenix for a narrow victory – only for Tom Helm to blink first against Jordan in the final set of five.For the third game running, Brave conceded a century stand (no other men’s team has done so even once), as Livingstone and Miles Hammond lifted Phoenix from a precarious 47 for 3 after 37. Jake Lintott picked up 2 for 13 while Liam Dawson was also frugal – but neither bowled their full allocation as Brave’s big guns, Tymal Mills and Jordan, again proved expensive, Livingstone hauling Phoenix up above 150 with a boundary from the final ball of the innings.Vince led the Brave charge but Milne removed Quinton de Kock cheaply and Devon Conway suffered the rare indignity during his time in England of being made to look human, producing a scratchy 34 from 27. Conway took 21 balls to score a boundary and then had his stumps rearranged by the returning Milne, leaving 32 needed from 19.Jordan struck a vital boundary off Helm and Milne produced a late blip by delivering a wide and a no-ball in his final set, bringing the equation down to single figures. With Phoenix failing to bowl the 95th ball before the cut-off, they were made to bring an extra fielder up inside the ring – and their poor timekeeping was to prove costly, as Jordan thrashed Helm into the newly-created gap at deep square leg, before a wide and a dropped catch by Benny Howell at deep midwicket was followed by another wide as Jordan scrambled Brave over the line.Lintott provides cutting edge
Despite a much-vaunted pace attack for this competition, Brave have struggled to make an impact with the ball. Missing Jofra Archer as he continues his comeback from injury, Mills and Jordan had taken one wicket between them in Brave’s first two games; and their only wicket in the Powerplay was George Garton’s dismissal of Alex Hales at the start of Trent Rockets’ low-pressure chase of 127.Related

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Brave started much better in their first outing at home, with Garton proving difficult for the two right-handed Phoenix openers to get away during an opening “tenner”. Colin de Grandhomme sneaked through a cheap set and Mills then finally got himself on the board for the campaign when Daniel Bell-Drummond slapped to point for 9 off 10. Phoenix were 27 for 1 after 25 and although Livingstone targeted de Grandhomme, hitting him for two sixes either side of being caught off a no-ball, the introduction of Jake Lintott seemed to put Brave on top.The left-arm wristspinner, a Blast wildcard pick after his success for Birmingham Bears, claimed a wicket with his first 100-ball delivery in Cardiff earlier in the week, but was then collared by Ben Duckett. On a bigger ground, he had greater protection to toss it up, and this time he struck twice in four balls – Finn Allen stumped coming down the pitch, Moeen Ali bowled while slog-sweeping – for impressive figures of 2 for 3 from his opening ten.Livingstone, we presume
That Livingstone would prove to be the headline act for Phoenix sooner or later was no surprise, coming just a couple of weeks after he had blitzed an England record 42-ball T20I hundred. But despite a few trademark towering blows into the stands, this was an innings that was more perspiration than inspiration.Liam Livingstone powers one through the offside•Getty Images

Livingstone was reprieved on 12, when replays showed de Grandhomme had overstepped after a big top edge had settled in the hands of mid-off, and although the next ball was dumped over the ropes, he only managed to find the boundary once from his next 23 balls. He moved into the 40s with a thick top edge over the keeper, crashed Mills into the crowd next ball and then brought up his half-century with another slice over short third man.Taking the pressure off during the middle of the innings was Hammond, moved down after the first two matches to fill an unfamiliar middle-order berth. From 6 off 9 he looked increasingly fluent and briefly overtook Livingstone to be 41 off 25 – but only ended up facing four of the last 15 deliveries. He said afterwards his strategy was to “get down the other end” and let his partner go to work, but Livingstone’s struggle for timing continued, even if his 68 off 44 looked like decisive.Vince’s lone hand
The women’s match earlier in the day had produced a cakewalk of a chase for the home side, Danni Wyatt’s fireworks seeing them to a target of 141 with 18 balls to spare; consequently, both Vince and Moeen Ali had been keen to bowl first at the toss. Vince got his way and made the early running in Brave’s chase. In fact, he did the early everything – during the time he was out in the middle, he scored 60 out of 82 and all nine of his side’s boundaries.He began in circumspect fashion against Milne’s extra pace in the Powerplay, but climbed into Helm, taking his first five for three fours and a six. Howell’s second ball was lofted for a regal six over deep extra cover, while four more boundaries came from the spin of Moeen and Livingstone. But with Conway dealing almost exclusively in singles, the pressure on Brave’s captain increased – and when he top-edged a sweep off Moeen to short fine leg, they were left needing 70 off 42.It looked beyond them until Jordan joined his captain in making a stand, as Brave’s men matched the women by pulling off the highest chase in their side of the tournament so far.

Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga has leapfrogged Afghanistan’s new T20I captain Rashid Khan to be ranked career-best No. 2 among T20I bowlers. The ICC rankings list is led by South Africa’s Tabraiz Shamsi, who has a 72-point advantage following impressive returns on the tour of the Caribbean and Ireland earlier this month.As many as six wristspinners feature in the top 10 – the others being Adil Rashid (fourth), Adam Zampa (seventh) and Ish Sodhi (ninth). Hasaranga will have an opportunity to establish a lead over Khan, who is just one point behind, during the second and third T20Is against India this week. The 23-year-old legspinner picked 2 for 28 during the series opener in Colombo on Sunday.Bhuvneshwar Kumar, India’s vice-captain on tour, jumped four places to be ranked 16th, while Yuzvendra Chahal, whose tight spell reined in Sri Lanka in the first T20I, jumped 10 places to be ranked 21st. Fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera also moved up five places to 37th spot.

Full rankings tables

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The other gainers include India’s stand-in captain Shikhar Dhawan, who is joint-29th with Reeza Hendricks. The South Africa opener made a 48-ball 69, his sixth T20I half-century, in an impressive 127-run opening stand to help South Africa clean sweep Ireland in Belfast last week.In the ODI arena, Josh Hazlewood made significant gains following an excellent tour of the Caribbean, jumping to No. 2 after taking five wickets and starring in Australia’s 2-1 series win. His new-ball partner Mitchell Starc, who also came up with a Player-of-the-Series performance in picking 11 wickets, jumped 10 places to be ranked eighth. The list is headed by New Zealand’s Trent Boult.Among the batters, Alex Carey jumped three places to be ranked just outside the top-20 (22nd), while Avishka Fernando, who struck a match-winning half-century against India to lift Sri Lanka off the bottom of the World Cup Super League points table, is now ranked 52nd.

South Africa Women’s offspinner Raisibe Ntozakhe has been cleared to bowl in international cricket again by the ICC, following remedial work after she was banned for an illegal bowling action. Ntozakhe was found to have an illegal action in October 2018 and was suspended from bowling in international cricket on the day she was named in South Africa’s squad for the T20 World Cup.Ntozakhe was reported during an ODI against West Indies in September 2018 in Barbados and had undergone an independent assessment of her bowling action at the University of Pretoria. The assessment revealed that all of her deliveries exceeded the 15-degree level of tolerance permitted under the regulations. On Thursday, the ICC announced that after further assessment, her elbow extension was found to be within the limit.”Ntozakhe’s remodelled bowling action was assessed at the University of Pretoria on 10 September, where it was revealed that the amount of elbow extension was within the 15-degree level of tolerance permitted under the ICC Illegal Bowling Regulations,” the ICC said in a release.”Match officials may still report Ntozakhe if they believe she is displaying a suspect action and not reproducing the legal action from the reassessment. To assist the match officials, they will be provided with the report, images and video footage of the bowler’s legal bowling action.”The 24-year-old had still managed to be among the women centrally contracted by Cricket South Africa in 2019 but missed out in the following year.

Big picture

Kolkata Knight Riders have been on a fairytale ride since the UAE leg of the tournament began. Their top-order batters have scored consistently at a brisk pace and their spinners have stifled oppositions on sluggish tracks. Even though Eoin Morgan hasn’t struck form with the bat, he has led Knight Riders to six wins in the last eight matches. Now they are in Qualifier 2, one step away from the final.Meanwhile, Delhi Capitals have been the most consistent IPL side in recent years – they are the only ones to qualify for the playoffs in each of the last three seasons. The key to their success has been identifying their best XI early and changing it only when forced to do so.This season, Capitals topped the league stage despite missing Marcus Stoinis for five games. But after their defeat to Chennai Super Kings in Qualifier 1, cracks seem to have emerged in their line-up. Suddenly, in the absence of Stoinis, their balance looks comprised, while R Ashwin’s bowling form is giving them headaches. Can they regroup quickly and make it to their second successive final?The chasing teams have won five out of seven games in Sharjah so far this season. Moreover, four of Capitals’ five losses this season have come when batting first, while Knight Riders have won on all five occasions they have chased during the UAE leg of the tournament. So it will not be a surprise if both teams are keen to bowl first.Shakib Al Hasan has made the most of his limited opportunities in the UAE leg•BCCI

In the news

Andre Russell is still recovering from his hamstring injury. According to West Indies coach Phil Simmons, Russell has been batting in the Knight Riders nets and is “running at a certain level”. But given the slow nature of the Sharjah surface, Knight Riders could continue with Shakib Al Hasan even if Russell regains full fitness in the next 24 hours.Rishabh Pant had hoped for Stoinis to be fit for Qualifier 1. That didn’t happen but Capitals will be keeping a close eye on him. If available, Stoinis will replace Tom Curran in the side.

Likely XIs

Delhi Capitals: 1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Shreyas Iyer, 4 Rishabh Pant (capt & wk), 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Marcus Stoinis/Tom Curran, 7 Axar Patel, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Anrich Nortje, 11 Avesh KhanKolkata Knight Riders: 1 Shubman Gill, 2 Venkatesh Iyer, 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Nitish Rana, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Eoin Morgan (capt), 7 Shakib Al Hasan, 8 Sunil Narine, 9 Lockie Ferguson, 10 Varun Chakravarthy, 11 Shivam Mavi

Strategy punt

• Capitals have tried Lalit Yadav, Steven Smith, Ripal Patel and Curran to fill the Hulk-sized hole Stoinis has left behind. But none of them offers the balance Stoinis provides, by being a finisher who can bowl seam-up. A left-field option could be going back to Smith as the Sharjah pitch is likely to suit his style of batting. But given Ashwin’s form, Capitals could continue with Curran.
• If Knight Riders go unchanged, they will have five left-hand batters in the top eight. On the face of it, that should work in Ashwin’s favour, but a closer look tells he doesn’t have particularly impressive numbers against them in T20 cricket: 74 runs off 35 balls (no dismissal) against Nitish Rana, 60 runs in 21 balls (no dismissal) against Sunil Narine, 32 runs off 23 balls (two dismissals) against Eoin Morgan. He has hardly bowled against Venkatesh Iyer and has a favourable match-up only against Shakib: 30 runs in 31 balls and two dismissals. Generally, Ashwin is an economical bowler in the powerplay but Shubman Gill has taken him for 38 runs in 25 balls without getting out.Rana, though, has struggled against Axar Patel. The left-arm spinner has dismissed him twice in 22 balls while conceding only 23 runs. So it will be interesting to see how Capitals use their spinners.
• Knight Riders can once again promote Narine up the batting order, especially when the spinners are operating. In T20 cricket, Narine has a strike rate of 287.5 against Ashwin and 187.5 against Axar. Neither bowler has been able to dismiss him in a combined 29 balls.
• Instead of Kagiso Rabada, Capitals could use Anrich Nortje at the death. Rabada has a death-overs economy of 10.84 in this season, whereas Nortje has gone for only 6.81 per over. Rabada could be used in the powerplay and middle overs where has conceded 6.93 and 7.86 per over respectively.

Stats that matter

• This season Ashwin has picked up only five wickets in 12 games at an average of 60.80 and a strike rate of 49.0. Of the 22 bowlers who have bowled at least 40 overs in the tournament, Ashwin’s average and strike rate are the poorest.
• Knight Riders have played three games in Sharjah this season. In two of them, against Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore, they didn’t concede even one six.
• In the IPL playoffs, including finals, Pant has scored 199 runs in six innings, at an average of 49.75 and a strike rate of 151.91.
• The teams that have scored more runs in the powerplay have won eight out of nine games in Sharjah this season.
• Capitals have hit the most number of fours (227) and the least number of sixes (60) for any team in IPL 2021.

The kids are alright. Both Sri Lanka’s and West Indies’.In a game featuring some of T20s greatest names – Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard etc – it was a group of players under 27 that really shone. Perhaps the baton has been passed.

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For Sri Lanka, their two best batters of the tournament, Charith Asalanka (aged 24), and Pathum Nissanka (23), put on a 91-run stand off 61 balls for the second wicket, to help set up a total of 189 for 3, which always seemed commanding, even on a good Abu Dhabi pitch.Both hit fifties, but Asalanka’s was the better one. He struck 68 off 41, cracking a six and eight fours. In defence of a pretty big total, Wanindu Hasaranga (24), took two further wickets to finish at 16 for the tournament – a T20 World Cup record.For West Indies, the greats didn’t really show, but two young batters did, and despite the incompetence around them even got West Indies to within 20 runs of Sri Lanka’s total. Twenty-four-year-old Shimron Hetmyer’s 81 off 54 was the more substantial of the two. Nicholas Pooran (26) hit 46 off 34. No other West Indies batter made double figures.The Asalanka-Nissanka standWhen Sri Lanka started this tournament, Asalanka wasn’t even in the XI. He then came in at No. 3 for Dinesh Chandimal, who had failed in the first couple of games. Since then he’s hit 8, 80*, 35, 21, 12, and 68. His innings on Thursday wasn’t even his best of the tournament (that would be his 80* while chasing, against Bangladesh). It was still impressive though. He found regular boundaries while the spinners were operating (he is especially good against spinners), worked the singles and twos efficiently the rest of the time, and thanks largely to him, Sri Lanka were skipping along at more than eight an over for the majority of their innings.Nissanka, meanwhile, wasn’t quite so regular with the boundary-hitting, but found plenty of runs square on the legside, and took calculated risks that mostly paid off in his 51 off 41 balls. Their partnership defined the match. And they both ended up with more than 200 runs in the tournament – Asalanka making all but eight of those in the Super 12 stage.

West Indies penalised for slow over rate

West Indies have been fined 20% of their match fee for maintaining a slow over rate against Sri Lanka as they were ruled to be one over short of the target after time allowances were taken into consideration.

West Indies captain Kieron Pollard pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanction, so there was no need for a formal hearing.

David Boon of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees imposed the sanction after on-field umpires Aleem Dar and Langton Rusere, third umpire Paul Wilson and fourth umpire Richard Kettleborough leveled the charge.

In accordance with Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel relating to minimum over-rate offences, players are fined 20% of their match fee for every over their side fails to bowl within the allotted time.

Sri Lanka’s finishThe second-wicket stand had set Sri lanka up nicely, but it still needed a fillip to get into the commanding territory they eventually achieved. Dasun Shanaka promoted himself up the order, though, and produced his best batting performance of the tournament, hitting a six and two fours in his eventual 25 not out off 14. With Asalanka also raising the tempo until he was eventually caught at square leg in the 19th over, Sri Lanka made 52 in the last four overs.West Indies’ collapseGayle, match-winner in so many T20 internationals, played his fourth meek innings in a row. He hit one single off his first four balls, and holed out to mid off playing his first aggressive shot of the match, to be out for one off five deliveries. Evin Lewis and Roston Chase were also dismissed inside the Powerplay, substantially denting West Indies’ chances.If there was one half-decent stand, it was the 30-run affair between Pooran and Hetmyer, until eventually Pooran fell early in the 12th over. By then, the required rate had climbed to well over 12. Hetmyer, who was 9 off 15 when Pooran fell, then started playing much more aggressively, but wickets kept falling at the other end. If one other batter had contributed a rapid 35, West Indies could maybe have got close.In the end though, Sri Lanka were good with the ball and excellent with the field, and they closed the match down efficiently.

Services have qualified for their first-ever Vijay Hazare Trophy semi-final, thumping Kerala by seven wickets in Jaipur. The victory was set up by Diwesh Pathania, who picked up 3 for 19, and Ravi Chauhan, whose 95 off 90 balls ensured Services reached their target of 176 in just 30.5 overs.After electing to bowl, Pathania removed Mohammed Azharuddeen and Jalaj Saxena off successive balls to leave Kerala on 24 for 2 in the seventh over. Rohan Kunnummal and Vinoop Manoharan tried stabilising the innings by adding 81 in 105 balls before offspinner Pulkit Narang broke the stand by dismissing Manoharan for a 54-ball 41.Kunnummal took the side to 135 along with Sachin Baby, but once Baby fell, Kerala lost their last six wickets for 40 runs and were bowled out for a mere 175 in 40.4 overs. Only three of their batters could reach double digits, with Kunnummal top-scoring with 85 off 106 balls.Services didn’t have a great start either; Unnikrishnan Manukrishnan reduced them to 12 for 2 after two overs. But Ravi Chauhan and captain Rajat Paliwal dented any hopes of a Kerala comeback with a 154-run stand for the third wicket. By the time Chauhan got out, Services needed only ten more to the win, which they knocked off in the next six balls.The other quarter-final, between Saurashtra and Vidarbha, also followed a similar script. After being put in, Vidarbha were bowled out for 150 and Saurashtra chased that down in 29.5 overs with seven wickets in hand.Jaydev Unadkat and Chetan Sakariya’s new-ball spells had Vidarbha reeling at 9 for 3 in the eighth over. Faiz Fazal and Akshay Wadkar staged a brief recovery and took the side past 50. However, both Fazal and Wadkar fell in quick succession, and when Dharmendrasinh Jadeja dismissed Lalit Yadav and Yash Thakur off successive deliveries, the scoreboard read 86 for 8.That Vidarbha could still reach 150 was because of Apoorv Wankhade’s 72 off 69 balls, which included five fours and as many sixes. Along with Akshay Wakhare, Wankhede added 64 for the ninth wicket, in which Wakhare’s contribution was only 5. Legspinner Yuvraj Chudasama, though, picked up the last two wickets in the same over to deny Vidarbha a competitive total.It was not smooth sailing for Saurashtra, though. Aditya Thakare removed their openers Vishvaraj Jadeja and Harvik Desai cheaply, and when Sheldon Jackson, too, didn’t last long, making it 35 for 3 for his side, Saurashtra might have had some jitters.Prerak Mankad and Arpit Vasavada, however, allayed those fears with an unbroken 116-run stand to see the side home. Mankad struck 77 off 72 balls; he now has 339 runs in the tournament at an average of 113 and a strike rate of 114.91. Vasavada played the anchor’s role with a 66-ball 41.On Tuesday, Vinay Galetiya’s 3 for 19 rocked Uttar Pradesh before Prashant Chopra’s 99 anchored their 208-run chase to script a five-wicket win for Himachal Pradesh. In the second quarter-final, N Jagadeesan’s 102 and Shahrukh Khan’s unbeaten 79 off just 39 balls helped Tamil Nadu trounce Karnataka by 151 runs.Himachal Pradesh will now face Services in the first semi-final, while Tamil Nadu will be up against Saurashtra in the other. Both matches will be played in Jaipur on December 24.