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Mumbai Indians (MI) batting coach Kieron Pollard is ecstatic that his prediction about Rohit Sharma has come true.Rohit has turned his season around with back-to-back 70s in his last two innings, both coming in comfortable wins for MI. But it was hardly this rosy at the start of IPL 2025 for the former MI captain.He had scored just 82 runs in his first six innings and was also struggling with an injury, which forced him to miss a game. It was around this time that Pollard was grilled about the form of MI’s most experienced batter. He had at the time said that Rohit should not be judged after a few low scores and that he would bounce back. As he has.Related

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“If my memory serves me right, at the start of this competition, that question was different,” Pollard said when asked about Rohit’s surge in form. “I said sitting right here, we are also going to be singing his praises as an individual. For us, we always had that belief that he is going to come good.”There are dips. There is low confidence. But for someone who has played this sport for a long time, you have these moments. Sometimes you just need that extra support from people. Now we are singing his praises. We are all very happy in the Mumbai dressing room. We were happy at the start as well, knowing that it is going to happen, and long may it continue.”The headlines are going to be about that. But for us, in our entire batting unit, we look for guys to perform at different junctures in a tournament. We are not going to individualise it.”MI had a torrid run at the start of the season, losing four of their first five games. Since then, though, they have won four in a row. It is not the first time that MI’s season has started slowly before they have picked up pace. Pollard said it was down to some teams gelling faster, while some teams take time. He also said MI have now “found a sort of a method”, which was working for them.”There is no ‘more important’ part in IPL,” Pollard said when asked if the second half of the season carried more significance than the first half. “It all depends on form and confidence of the team. In the second half, you build a bit of momentum. You will tend to say now is more important. But you have 14 games in a tournament. Each and every game is important. Some teams gel faster than some or they start off pretty quickly. Some teams build the momentum and come into the back end.”The most important thing is trying to qualify for the playoffs and get into the final and see if you can win. That is important.”Pollard also heaped praise on MI captain Hardik Pandya, particularly the way he’s handled himself after last season. Hardik had an acrimonious start to his MI captaincy stint where he was welcomed with loud boos wherever he went. However, things have been much smoother this year.Hardik Pandya has proven to be an able leader•AFP/Getty Images

With the bat, Hardik is striking at 170.49 so far in IPL 2025, while with the ball, he has 12 wickets in nine innings at an economy of 9.08.”It is great to see a human being that has been challenged in different facets of not only cricket but of life come out and continue to show what cricket and what winning means to him as a human being,” Pollard said. “I know he is enjoying cricket as we have all seen from international cricket, winning World Cups, to Champions Trophy. It is an individual that has gone through a lot.”For me, I am happy to see where he is at right now. And as I said previously, we are all human beings in this world. So sometimes we need to give a bit of leeway to some individuals at certain times.”Who says he won’t have another down? And who says he is not going to have another up as well? So that is what life is about and that is what the journey is about. So I am happy for Hardik.”

Abishek Porel is currently the second-highest run-getter for Delhi Capitals (DC) in IPL 2025 behind KL Rahul. He hasn’t reached there – 225 runs in eight innings – with big, crushing-the-opposition knocks, but regular, crucial contributions at the top of the order. And those have been coming because “I know my game and the support staff knows my game,” Porel says. The team knows what it can get from Porel and he knows what he can give the team.The season started with a two-ball duck for Porel, one of four players – Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Tristan Stubbs the others – retained by DC ahead of the last auction. Porel said he was “feeling the pressure”, but the big men in the backroom, coach Hemang Badani, mentor Kevin Pietersen, captain Axar and others made him pick himself up, and “I am getting the results”.”I am enjoying myself, enjoying every innings I play,” Porel said at a press conference after DC beat Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Lucknow on Tuesday night for their sixth win in eight games this season. “I am trying to find ways to get better each time I bat. I talk a lot with Hemang sir and KP at training, trying to figure out what I can work on to do better. What I do in training, I bring to the matches.Related

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“Pitches keep changing, but I know my game and the support staff knows my game, what I can do and can’t do. They always ask me to be free, bat with freedom, not worry about other things. They say they are with me at all times. I had a couple of bad outings, scored a zero in the first game, and was feeling the pressure, so they all backed me: ‘We are with you, don’t worry.’ KP backed me, Hemang sir backed me, the captain backed me, KL [Rahul] always backs me, he reminded me, ‘You did well against LSG [Rahul’s former team] last year].’ It motivates me.”Kuldeep keeps telling me, ‘You are a very good batsman, you have great timing.’ This is very important for a player. Even if you don’t back yourself, these people are always backing me. This motivates me to play with freedom and play to my strengths, and I am getting the results.”There has been just one other failure for Porel this season: a run-a-ball 7 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). Apart from that, he has scored 34* in 18 balls vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), 33 in 20 vs Chennai Super Kings (CSK), 33 in 25 vs Mumbai Indians (MI), 49 in 37 vs Rajasthan Royals (RR) and 18 in nine balls vs Gujarat Titans (GT), before scoring 51 in 36 balls to give DC exactly the start they needed against LSG. The last four games have been as opener, as DC have tried to find a fix in the absence of the injured Faf du Plessis and the out-of-touch Jake Fraser-McGurk, with Karun Nair going out with Porel at the top.Porel has gone at a strike rate of 146.10 this season. Not earth-shattering, but DC have got what they want from him after he had given them 327 runs in 14 matches last season, scoring at a strike rate of 159.51.And though higher honours might be some way away, Porel has reason to dream, short term as well as long term. “The plan for the future is obviously to play for India, play for the national team for many years,” he said. “But right now, what matters more to me is the IPL trophy; how we can do better, how I can contribute to making DC IPL champions.”

Six 200-plus totals were made in the first five matches of IPL 2025. Four of them exceeded 230, with a highest of 286. But scoring rates have come down since, with no 200-plus scores in the next eight matches. Dwayne Bravo, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) mentor and the IPL’s highest wicket-taker among seamers, said this was a result of batters putting less value on their wickets and bowlers getting smarter.”The batsmen are not having that value on the wicket anymore,” Bravo said on the eve of KKR’s home game against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). “They’re a bit reckless because they play on those flat pitches. Teams are batting longer with the Impact Player, so the value for batsmanship is no longer there. The Impact Player is there, a lot of teams have batted longer, so the value for batsmanship is no longer there.Related

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“So that’s why you see the scores are now starting to drop a bit. Bowlers are getting smarter and they’re trying to use their strengths more.”Bravo’s side KKR, the defending champions, are among the teams who promised to raise run rates this season, but they’ve only made totals of 174 and 116 on the two occasions when they’ve batted first, with their middle order not yet finding form. Their opponents SRH have also promised breakneck run-rates but have lost steam since posting 286, one run short of their own IPL record total, on the first weekend of the season. Bravo said batting was about more than just hitting.”Yes, we are an aggressive batting line-up but that’s not cricket,” he said. “My message to the batsmen especially is that the basics of the game are still required. The smarts of the game are still required. These guys just need to apply themselves a bit more and I think they’re getting to understand that.”The games we lose, we have those learnings, so that when we speak cricket, they get to understand that the evidence is there on why we are failing as a batting group. As coaches, it is about telling them that cricketing shots are allowed in T20s as well.”[L to R] Chandrakant Pandit, Venkatesh Iyer, Dwayne Bravo and Ajinkya Rahane have a chat•NurPhoto via Getty Images

KKR’s upper and lower middle order (Nos. 4 to 8) has averaged 17.22 so far this season while at 113.63, with Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh and Ramandeep Singh failing to reproduce their performances from the last few seasons. But Bravo maintained that the tournament was still in its early days.”Batting is not our main concern,” Bravo said. “We are not the only team after three matches in this position. But we are working on being smarter. Once we get that right, we’ll be fine. We bat fairly deep and it’s an area we are letting ourselves down [in], but these guys are all quality players.”In a tournament where there are 14 games, you don’t judge a player who has had success over the years after just two games. You’re judging them based on two games, because one game none of them batted.”In the IPL you don’t expect any player to be consistent with 14 games. It’s important to keep encouraging them, remind them of how great they are. They already have success in IPL with KKR.”And Rinku will win two games by himself, Russell will win two by himself. Ramandeep will contribute, Venky will come into his own, and will also win two games by himself. There are so many match-winners there.”While KKR head coach Chandrakant Pandit has called for teams to be allowed a greater say in the preparation of pitches on their home grounds, Bravo didn’t comment on the surfaces at Eden Gardens. Instead, he felt home advantage also came from players feeding off the energy of the crowds.”For me, you turn up, you play,” he said. “The team that plays the best will win – whether it’s slow, it’s turning, or not turning. For me, my language to the players will always be to make the necessary adjustments for the conditions.”And what helps us with home advantage is the fans. I think that is more important than how the pitch plays. I will not really comment much about pitches. Once the fans are there into the game and cheering us on, that makes a difference.”

Peter Handscomb’s rearguard fell short as Kieran Elliott powered Tasmania home against Victoria for a thrilling 20-run Sheffield Shield victory.Elliott followed his first innings, four-wicket haul with 6 for 84 in 28.1 overs on Tuesday as the hosts defied early rain and several Victorian stands to notch a crucial, second victory this season. They were comfortably career-best innings and match figures for 29-year-old Elliott.Related

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Tasmania were down a bowler with Lawrence Neil-Smith have gone off injured on the third day which made their success even more noteable.Set 270 for victory after Jake Weatherald’s blazing day-three century, Victoria resumed on 55 for 2 and inched towards the total in between morning rain delays.Handscomb had support from nightwatchman Sam Elliott before Sam Harper joined and put the visitors within reach. But Kieran Elliott ended both of those partnerships and then nabbed Will Sutherland to again stunt their march before the second new ball was due.Gabe Bell then found Fergus O’Neill’s edge and left Victoria needing 21 from their final partnership.Handscomb tried to do it himself, but could only sky an attempted flick over midwicket, Nivethan Radhakrishnan running in from the boundary to take the catch and spark wild scenes.The only wicket not taken by Elliott of Bell fell to debutant Aidan O’Connor who had Jonathan Merlo top-edging to fine leg early in the day. O’Connor had contributed a vital half-century on the opening day.Tasmania lifted off the bottom of a crowded ladder while second-placed Victoria missed a chance to push clear of the pack with three matches to play.

New Zealand strode to 255 for 9 in their 37 overs, with a 112-run second wicket stand between Rachin Ravindra and Mark Chapman the bedrock of that innings. And then Sri Lanka’s top order crashed and burned again. They were 4 for 22 inside the first five overs, their hopes of levelling the series almost completely dashed.Kamindu Mendis attempted to revive the innings, but his 64 was not nearly enough to revive this innings. Sri Lanka slipped to a 113-run defeat, having also lost heavily to New Zealand in the first ODI. New Zealand take the series despite being significantly depleted by absences and injuries. Sri Lanka are essentially at full strength, but the failure of their top five continues to dog them, even in a rain-reduced match such as this.New Zealand had some stutters too. They were modest at the death, as Maheesh Theekshana in particular was effective, taking a hat-trick across his last two overs, as New Zealand mustered no more than 63 in the last 10 overs, losing five wickets in that period. But they did not stumble so spectacularly as to undo the work of the Ravindra-Chapman stand. They had contributions through the middle, with Daryl Mitchell, Glenn Phillips, and Mitchell Santner chipping in.Maheesh Theekshana became the seventh Sri Lanka bowler to bag an ODI hat-trick•Getty Images

And then they had their confident seam bowlers, who imposed themselves even with the older ball. Will O’Rourke took 3 for 31, Jacob Duffy 2 for 30, while Matt Henry and Nathan Smith claimed a wicket apiece. The only semblance of a partnership had been between Kamindu and Janith Liyanage, as the pair put on 57 together for the fifth wicket. Outside of that, New Zealand were picking their way through the batting order, and ultimately had them all out inside 31 overs.Sri Lanka’s required rate was 6.92 right from the beginning. Although this seems a monumental challenge, the pitch was good to bat on, and with rain having delayed the start of play by two-and-a-half hours, a damp ball was also proving a challenge for some bowlers. But Sri Lanka needed a strong start to put some wind in the sails of this chase, and what they got instead was a collapse.Pathum Nissanka holed out to mid-off in the second over, badly miscuing a lofted drive against Duffy. Kusal Mendis then edged behind in Duffy’s next over, before Avishka Fernando slapped a ball from Henry straight to point immediately after. Captain Charith Asalanka’s horrendous judging of a run extended Sri Lanka’s nosedive. He’d blocked one towards Mitchell Santner at mid-off and called his partner through. Santner swooped in the ball, hit the stumps with an under-arm throw, and caught Asalanka metres short. Kamindu had been out in very similar fashion, taking on the same fielder, only on Sunday.Captain vs captain: Mitchell Santner ran out Charith Asalanka•Getty Images

At Asalanka’s dismissal, Sri Lanka still had 234 runs to get off 194 deliveries, and only two specialist batters and two allrounders left to do it with. They didn’t get especially far.Contrast this to New Zealand’s top order, who put their team in a powerful position inside the first 22 overs, with Ravindra stroking 79 off 63 and Chapman hitting 62 off 52.What was most impressive about their stand was how comfortable both batters made brisk run-scoring appear. Ravindra was strong through the offside as usual, but found plenty of runs to leg, using the sweep and the pick-up shot off the pads to especially good effect.Chapman meanwhile, was decidedly stronger on the legside, scoring 46 off his 63 runs in that direction. He hit two sixes – one top edged over the keeper, and another over midwicket off a short ball from Eshan Malinga to bring up his fifty off 44 balls as well as the century partnership. Ravindra had also got to his half-century with a six – down the ground off Hasaranga. He took 43 balls to get there.Rachin Ravindra and Mark Chapman added 112 runs off 91 balls for the second wicket•AFP/Getty Images

Earlier, Asitha Fernando had bowled Will Young with an outstanding jagging delivery, but neither Ravindra or Chapman were tested for long by Sri Lanka’s seamers. In fact, it was the spinners that introduced even a little discomfort – between them, Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga took six wickets.Sri Lanka fielded well, and induced errors at a greater rate in the back half of the innings. Asalanka pulled off an excellent diving catch at short cover to get rid of Ravindra, and Theekshana’s hat-trick featured some tumbling catches in the deep from Chamindu Wickramasinghe and Kamindu.But even in the field, New Zealand outdid them. Their ground fielding was spectacular again, and the catch of the day belonged to Nathan Smith, who bounded along the deep-third boundary, threw himself off his feet and got his outstretched right arm to a ball that might otherwise have landed over the boundary to dismiss Malinga.

Mohammed Siraj, who endured a difficult home season, where he only played four of their five Tests for a total of six wickets, is in Australia after a little bit of an epiphany.”I could feel that I wasn’t enjoying my bowling,” he said at the end of the tour game against the Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra on Sunday. “As a person I am someone who gets a different feeling when I’m enjoying my bowling, even if I’m not getting wickets. And now when I wasn’t getting wickets, I went a bit deep into why I wasn’t getting them. In India you know that spinners bowl most of the overs, so there it’s a little tough to get wickets in [the] five-six overs [you get as a fast bowler]. So I just became a bit upset about why I wasn’t getting wickets. But now I am having a lot of fun.”Even though its only been one match in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Siraj is already closing in on his wickets tally over the last three months, having picked up five in Perth. He checked in with former India bowling coach Bharat Arun to help find his centre.Related

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“I spoke with Bharat Arun sir, that this is what’s happening with me,” Siraj said. “Because he has known me for a while and he has seen my bowling from long time back. So he just told me to enjoy and not run after wickets. Just enjoy and you’ll get wickets. And before travelling, I met [fielding coach] Dilip sir in Hyderabad and we practiced together as well. So it felt good and now I’m enjoying.”Morne [Morkel, India’s current bowling coach] keeps telling me that ‘you are a warrior’. ‘You’ll get us wickets, but you just keep enjoying your bowling’.”Siraj looked in good rhythm in the practice game against the Prime Minister’s XI. It was his first game with the pink ball. Enabled by a rain break in between, he got through a seven-over first spell where he picked up the first wicket to fall. He finished with figures of 7-1-18-1, though he was certain he had Jack Clayton caught behind down the leg side, indulging in a celebrappeal but the deflection was off the thigh pad. He was happy to get time with the pink ball.”This [pink] ball has a synthetic feeling,” Siraj said. “This is different to the red ball we play with. There can be a bit of confusion due to the ball, but it’s just one match so we just have to focus on that and practice for it and we’ll improve day-by-day. The seam is very hard. It’s bright, and quite big. The more you practice with it, the better you get.Mohammed Siraj with the pink ball•AFP via Getty Images

“I think that with the pink ball, it’s better to bowl back of length. Because pitching it up, there’s not a lot of swing, so the more you hit the deck and get it to seam, it will be better for us.”I have heard that the ball swings a lot under the lights but I haven’t yet bowled with it under lights. So when we go to Adelaide and practice, we will try that. And the more practice we get, we’ll know more about what we have to do.”Jasprit Bumrah took the honours in Perth but Siraj and Harshit Rana, who took four wickets in six balls at the Manuka Oval bowling short-pitched deliveries, helped keep the pressure up from the other end and they will be looking to do that again in Adelaide with the series resuming next Friday with a day-night Test.”I always keep talking to Jassi [Bumrah],” Siraj said. “Even before the first match, I spoke with him about what I was going through. And he just told me one thing – don’t run after wickets, just keep bowling consistently in one area and enjoy your bowling. If you still don’t get wickets, then you come ask me. So I enjoyed my bowling and I got wickets as well.”Australia is a place where a fast bowler enjoys because you get pace and bounce. As a fast bowler, you get everything you want. So you get a different kind of confidence to come and enjoy your bowling here.”

A whirlwind century from hometown hero Travis Head blew India’s attack away and thrilled the Adelaide crowd on day two of the pink-ball Test. Head’s 140 off 141 balls swelled Australia’s first-innings lead to 157, leaving India facing a challenging final two hours under the floodlights. The visitors fell further behind when they lost half their side during that period when the pink ball was at its most potent. At stumps, India were 128 for 5, still 29 runs behind.Head had walked out to generous applause from his home crowd and into a bit of trouble in the middle after Jasprit Bumrah had taken out both Nathan McSweeney and Steven Smith in a space of 13 balls. While McSweeney nicked a Bumrah special behind to Rishabh Pant, after managing to add just one to his overnight tally of 38, Steven Smith was caught down the leg side for 2.After the floodlights had blacked out twice on the opening day, Australia’s batting threatened to black out on the second afternoon. Head, however, had other ideas and torched the innings with his no-holds-barred approach. He played and missed four of his first nine balls, but that certainly didn’t stop him from playing his shots. He stayed true to his method of staying leg-side of the ball and cracking it away into the shorter pockets of the ground square on the off side.He also cleared the longer straight boundary when he crashed R Ashwin over mid-off and then over his head for sixes, including a 110-metre monster hit over the sightscreen.Head scored his first fifty off 63 balls and took only 48 more balls to convert it into a hundred. He celebrated the landmark by rocking his bat like a baby in tribute to his family’s new arrival, with his wife and newborn among a 51,642-strong home crowd. A hug from fellow South Australian Alex Carey was also part of the revelry.Indian fans would be sick of the sight of Head by now. Since 2023, he has hit 1052 runs in 19 innings against India across formats at an average of 61.9 with three centuries, including tons in the previous cycle of the WTC final and 2023 ODI World Cup final.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Head had set to work on Saturday by adding 65 with Marnus Labuschagne and then 74 with Carey. Labuschagne’s innings was as fluent as Head’s but it was one that he needed to work his way back into form after having managed just 123 runs in his last ten Test innings, of which 90 came in one knock against New Zealand, before the Adelaide Test. Having been afforded some fairly comfortable leaves on the first evening, India’s seamers made Labuschagne play a lot more on the second afternoon. Whenever they erred too straight or into his pads, Labuschagne picked them away with compact drives and flicks.Labuschagne got to his fifty off 114 balls and celebrated it by taking the erratic Harshit Rana for three fours in four balls. After having late-cut the taller, quicker Rana with ease, Labuschagne was caught at gully when he tried a similar shot off the shorter, slower pace of Nitish Kumar Reddy.Head was more brutal on Rana, hitting him for 41 off 29 balls. It didn’t really matter what came down at Head. Short. Full. On the stumps. Outside off stump. Everything was dispatched.Mohammed Siraj, though, gave India some control and backed Bumrah up. He picked up his first wicket in the game when he extracted extra bounce and coaxed an outside edge from Carey.R Ashwin’s only wicket was Mitchell Marsh but that was down to some good fortune. After shaping to defend a non-turning offbreak from Ashwin, Marsh walked off even before umpire Richard Illingworth raised his finger and didn’t even contemplate a review. There was nothing on Snicko, with replays also indicating that the ball had missed the outside edge.Head attacked the second new ball as well, whipping Bumrah for a brace of fours. He then picked Siraj up for an imperious six over square leg in the next over, but Siraj struck back the next ball to york Head. Siraj released his pent-up emotions and gave Head a send-off that didn’t go too well with him or his beloved Adelaide crowd.The boos rang out but Siraj proceeded to dismiss Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland soon after tea to wrap up Australia for 337. Bumrah, who had gone down with some discomfort, which prompted medical attention, four balls into his spell with the second new ball, recovered to knock Cummins over.Related

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Cummins then took centerstage with the ball and cramped KL Rahul with a lifter for 7 off 10 balls. Just before stumps, he hit the top of Rohit Sharma’s off stump with an absolute peach.Rohit had a shaky stay, having been struck on the helmet by his first ball from Starc. He was then bowled next ball, but a no-ball reprieved him. Cummins did Rohit in just before the close of play, with no error in the placing of his heel.It was Boland who had prised out Virat Kohli by pushing a length ball on a fourth-stump line and drawing an outside edge from him. Boland had earlier struck with his first ball to dislodge Yashasvi Jaiswal for 24 off 31 balls. He has seamlessly slotted into the bowling attack and could pose an interesting selection question for the Brisbane Test though Josh Hazlewood is hopeful of returning to action for that fixture.Starc not striking with the pink new ball in his first spell might be an aberration, but he came back with the older one to storm through the defences of Gill with a hooping inswinger that also seamed in late.Pant, however, continued to do Pant things. Despite the rush of wickets, he charged out of the crease and manufactured swinging room to smash his first ball over mid-off for four. He then unfurled the reverse pull and the falling scoop to counter Australia’s quicks briefly. He remained unbeaten on 28 off 25 balls.India will need more of this from Pant – and more support from Reddy – if they are to somehow pull off another heist in Australia.

The BCB has appointed Mohammad Salahuddin as the senior assistant coach of the Bangladesh men’s team. His contract will run until March 15 next year much like head coach Phil Simmons’. Salahuddin’s first assignment will likely be Bangladesh’s tour of the West Indies, which begins with a four-day warm-up match in Antigua.Salahuddin has previously served as Bangladesh’s assistant and fielding coach under Dav Whatmore and Jamie Siddons. He also worked as a specialist coach in the BCB’s national cricket academy from 2010 to 2011 before becoming Singapore’s head coach in 2014. He holds an ACC-Cricket Australia Level 3 accreditation.Regarded as one of the foremost cricketing voices in Bangladesh, Salahuddin has had a contentious relationship with the BCB in recent years. He was appointed as a batting consultant in 2017 only for them to change their decision at the last minute. He has often been critical of the board’s position with respect to pitches and selection.Salahuddin is also regarded highly by most players in Bangladesh, having started his coaching by developing the likes of Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal when they were young. He is also influential in the growth of the current crop of cricketers like Jaker Ali and Mahidul Islam Ankon.BCB president Faruque Ahmed said Salahuddin ticked a number of boxes for the role. In his first press conference as the board chief, Faruque had said that he was in favour of promoting Bangladeshi coaches.”When I took over as BCB president, I made a commitment to provide opportunities for deserving candidates to contribute to the national team set-up,” he said. “Salahuddin brings with him a wealth of experience, pedigree, and knowledge, making him the ideal candidate for this role. I firmly believe it is time to integrate more capable Bangladeshi coaches into the system.”

Uttar Pradesh batter Rinku Singh will join the India B squad while all of the Test players picked for the series against Bangladesh, except for Sarfaraz Khan, have been withdrawn from the next round of Duleep Trophy matches beginning on September 12 in Anantpur.Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Dhruv Jurel, Kuldeep Yadav and Akash Deep are leaving the India A team and will be replaced by Pratham Singh, Akshay Wadkar, Shaik Rasheed, Shams Mulani and Aaqib Khan. Mayank Agarwal will take over the India A captaincy from Gill, while fast bowler Vidhwath Kaverappa will move from India A to India D for the second round.India B will be without Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant and Yash Dayal, and their spots will be taken by Suyash Prabhudessai, Himanshu Mantri and Rinku, whose omission from all squads for the first round of the tournament had been viewed as a surprise. Sarfaraz, who is part of India’s squad for the first Test against Bangladesh, will stay with India B for the second round of Duleep Trophy matches that are scheduled to end on September 15, three days before the start of the Chennai Test.India C are unaffected by the changes, but India D will be without Axar Patel and Tushar Deshpande, who is injured. Kaverappa and Nishant Sindhu will join their squad.Related

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India’s Test squad is set to assemble in Chennai on September 12 for a preparatory camp ahead of the first Test against Bangladesh starting on September 19.In the first round of Duleep Trophy matches, India B beat India A with Musheer Khan playing a starring role by scoring 181, and India C beat India D with 22-year-old left-arm spinner Manav Suthar taking a a match-winning seven for in the third innings.

Squads for 2nd round of Duleep Trophy matches

India A: Mayank Agarwal (capt), Riyan Parag, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Tanush Kotian, Prasidh Krishna, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan, Kumar Kushagra, Shaswat Rawat, Pratham Singh, Akshay Wadkar, Shaik Rasheed, Shams Mulani, Aaqib KhanIndia B: Abhimanyu Easwaran (capt), Sarfaraz Khan, Musheer Khan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Mukesh Kumar, Rahul Chahar, R Sai Kishore, Mohit Awasthi, N Jagadeesan (wk), Rinku Singh, Suyash Prabhudessai, Himanshu MantriIndia C: Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), Sai Sudharsan, Rajat Patidar, Abishek Porel (wk), B Indrajith, Hrithik Shokeen, Manav Suthar, Gaurav Yadav, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Anshul Khamboj, Himanshu Chauhan, Mayank Markande, Aryan Juyal (wk), Sandeep WarrierIndia D: Shreyas Iyer (capt), Atharva Taide, Yash Dubey, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (wk), Ricky Bhui, Saransh Jain, Arshdeep Singh, Aditya Thakare, Harshit Rana, Akash Sengupta, KS Bharat (wk), Saurabh Kumar, Vidhwath Kaverappa, Nishant Sindhu

Hampshire 40 for 1 trail Essex 438 for 8 dec (Cox 141, Elgar 136, Westley 64) by 398 runs Toby Albert and the rain frustrated Vitality County Championship title-chasing Essex against Hampshire at Utilita Bowl.Only 34 overs were bowled after a rain-soaked morning and afternoon, but after Sam Cook and Shane Snater had taken their partnership to 49 and Essex to 438 for 8, Tom Westley declared.Hampshire lost Fletcha Middleton, but Albert dropped anchor with 18 from 69 balls, with Nick Gubbins even more defensive in his 8 off 58. They ended the day on 40 for 1, 398 runs in arrears, with the likelihood this will turn into a final-day bonus-point match, unless the hosts fail to avoid the follow-on.But Storm Lilian deposited a significant amount of rain on Saturday morning, but the hard work of Simon Lee and his groundstaff made sure action got under way after tea. The first part of the session was a battle for bonus points before a declaration. Hampshire needed one wicket for another point, Essex needed 46 runs.Neither of which came to pass, but Snater and Cook had a good go at the runs part of the equation in putting on an unbroken 49. Hampshire had one massive chance to claim maximum bowling points, but Cook was put down by Tom Prest at first slip with what became the penultimate delivery before Westley called his side in.The blue skies suggested batting might be relatively simple, but Cook and Jamie Porter initially put Hampshire’s young opening batters Middleton and Albert under the microscope.There wasn’t significant movement but the odd late ball tailed in and super-disciplined bowling made scoring runs almost impossible early on. It took 23 balls before Albert scored the first run of the innings, and when Snater entered the attack in the ninth over, only five runs had been scored.The Dutchman may have offered up a half-volley for Albert to strike the first boundary of the innings, but he made the breakthrough.He found movement into Middleton, and helped by some low bounce, caught the outside edge, before Michael Pepper brilliantly caught on the forward dive.From then on, Albert and Gubbins battened down the hatches and simply refused to get out – which never looked like happening as the ball aged.In the 28 overs Hampshire batted, there were 150 dot balls.