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Islamabad United needed 39 from 30 balls with eight wickets in hand but fell short by eight runs

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Feb-2022Islamabad United needed 39 to win from 30 balls with eight wickets in hand and two set batters in Colin Munro and Shadab Khan at the crease. Still, they fell short by eight to hand Lahore Qalandars their third win in four matches.Munro and Shadab added 100 for the third wicket after Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf dismissed Alex Hales and Paul Stirling respectively inside five overs with United on 37. But 85 runs came off the next eight overs as Munro and Shadab got the team back on track. During that period, Munro brought up his half-century as well, off just 36 balls after taking seven deliveries to get off the mark.Munro was severe on offspinner Mohammad Hafeez, in particular, whom he smashed for two fours in the fourth over and two sixes in the sixth. At the other end, Shadab too started going for the big hits. After scoring just two off his first eight balls, he struck two sixes in the next four – one each off Zaman Khan and Rashid Khan – before he combined with Munro to smash Kamran Ghulam for 17 in the tenth over.But with five overs to go and the required run rate well within reach at 7.80, Shadab fell to Rashid’s googly. In the next over, Rauf got Munro. Eventually, United needed 12 to win from the last six balls, which Azam Khan and Asif Ali couldn’t score off Zaman.Earlier, openers Fakhar Zaman and Abdullah Shafique provided Qalandars with a commanding start, putting on 83 in just 7.2 overs. By the time Shadab dismissed Shafique, he had cracked six fours and a six in his 24-ball 44.The wicket, though, triggered a collapse as Qalandars slipped from 83 for no loss to 98 for 5, with Shadab taking four wickets in his first three overs. After getting Shafique, the legspinner also got rid of Fakhar for 38 in his next over before accounting for Hafeez and Phil Salt.But Harry Brook and David Wiese revived their innings with a 51-run stand in 32 balls. That featured Brook clattering four successive fours off Hasan Ali in the 17th over. Rashid’s cameo of an unbeaten 15 from eight deliveries took Qalandars to 174, which proved enough in the end.

South Africa’s captain explains his decision to bat first in the second Test, and has words of praise for Erwee, Verreynne and Maharaj

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Mar-20221:29

Elgar: ‘Decision to bat first was purely about playing a positive brand of cricket’

Sent in to bat in the first Test in Christchurch, South Africa were bowled out for 95 in the first innings, and 111 in the second, losing by an innings and 276 runs. So when Dean Elgar opted for first strike in the second Test, his decision had every chance of biting him in the back. But Elgar went by what he saw on the pitch, nothing else, and chose not to take the “the easy, soft decision” of bowling because, well, that’s not him.”Visually, the wicket did look a lot different to the first Test, so it wasn’t as green, there was a lot less green grass, maybe a lot more browner grass on the wicket. So it did look a bit like a bat-first wicket,” Elgar said after South Africa won the second Christchurch Test by 198 runs to square the series. “I think, because of what happened in the first Test, the easy, soft decision would have always been to bowl first after winning the toss. My nature, my character as a leader, is not to take the easy way out. It’s obviously to run towards the pressure that you’re facing and, yeah, sometimes you have to make these tough calls for your squad, and it was great to see the guys respond.Related

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“The wicket played quite nicely in our favour. It was maybe a little bit slower. The bowlers still posed quite a tough challenge for us up front. But we managed to negate it and put on a good opening-wicket partnership [of 111 runs, between Elgar and Sarel Erwee]. But yeah, basically the decision was purely about us playing a positive brand of cricket and playing off the front foot. And for me, taking the easy way out is… doesn’t sit well for me.”After South Africa won the initial exchanges, they scored 364, bowled New Zealand out for 293, put up 354 for 9 before declaring and setting New Zealand 426 to win. Then they finished the hosts off for 227. One-all. Crucial World Test Championship points in the bag. And a happy feeling all around.”One-all, coming to New Zealand, I think at the start of the series I would have taken the result,” Elgar said. “It was a little bit difficult for us to take things after that first Test because there were so many learnings, and we didn’t really pitch up in that first game. But to see the boys bounce back showed a lot of character, showed a lot of growth and maturity.”The other brave decision was playing Keshav Maharaj after neither side fielded a frontline spinner in the first Test. Kagiso Rabada had said earlier that when the South Africans saw the pitch before the start of play, they felt the dryness of the pitch would ensure the “footmarks would be created for Keshav to exploit” as the game wore on. Maharaj picked up one wicket in the first innings, and three in the second, including those of top-order batters Henry Nicholls and Daryl Mitchell, bowling both of them.”He has always been someone that is a banker of mine, and I know what I get from when it comes to playing in a competitive nature,” Elgar said.There were many heartening takeaways from the Test for South Africa, as is often the case after a special win. Erwee, for example. Kyle Verreynne too. Erwee was playing his second Test. And Verreynne his sixth. Both scored their maiden centuries in Test cricket.”I think his story is a lot deeper than just playing cricket. He is a little bit older, and he understands the concept of hard work,” Elgar said of Erwee, his new opening partner. “I think he came close not too long ago to giving up the game, which would have been a massive loss. So I think he understands the concept of working for what you believe and where you feel you can be one day.Kagiso Rabada and Keshav Maharaj formed an excellent partnership for South Africa•AFP/Getty Images

“He’s great. He is a good team man. He is always looking to influence. It’s never about him, it’s always about what he can do for the side. So, for me, it’s not surprising that he has come in and done well. He is an inexperienced Test cricketer, but he isn’t an inexperienced cricketer with regards to the bigger scheme of things.”About Verreynne, South Africa’s first-choice wicketkeeper-batter in Tests after Quinton de Kock’s surprise retirement from the format, Elgar was equally effusive. “Great to see his natural ability come out and kick in,” he said. “A lot of scrutiny has been put on his plate, too early in his career, which is a little bit unfair. Bear in mind that he has got a massive role to play being a wicketkeeper-batter. But yeah, great to see him come out and do what he does best.”Rabada was Player of the Match for his haul of eight wickets, Marco Jansen picked up seven, and crucial runs came from many batters, but there was an innings of 42, scored off 103 balls in just over two hours, that meant a lot for South Africa. Because it came from Aiden Markram, whose best score in his previous five Tests was 31. The 42 wasn’t earth-shattering, but it was good for a man under pressure.”There’s no doubt that Aiden has been under pressure a little bit from a run-scoring point of view,” Elgar said. “I’ve always said Aiden’s one innings away from being back in form. He got some runs in the first innings, which was great to see. It’s good for him. Hopefully the confidence that he brings, or gets out of that innings, goes a long way for him.”I know he has a lot more in the tank when it comes to scoring runs, and I can see the disappointment that he goes through when he fails.”

Hosts recover from 40 for 5 thanks to battling century from former Middlesex man

ECB Reporters Network28-Apr-2022James Anderson celebrated news his international exile is set to end by helping Lancashire bowl Hampshire out for 246 in the LV= Insurance County Championship.Anderson, who was left out of England’s tour to the West Indies, has been given the green light to return to the Test side by new captain Ben Stokes and managing director Rob Key. At the Ageas Bowl, he produced a flawless new ball spell on his way to 3 for 24. Pakistan fast bowler Hasan Ali continued his excellent start at Lancashire with 5 for 45, with Nick Gubbins’ 101 not out saving Hampshire after they had slumped to 40 for 5. Lancashire reached the close 37 for 1, 209 runs in arrears.On the day Stokes was announced as England men’s Test captain, Anderson produced a casting tape of his best attributes. A reminder, if one is ever needed when you have 640 Test wickets, ahead of the upcoming series with New Zealand. Not that Stokes or Key asked for (or needed) one having made their intentions clear.Inviting Anderson to bowl first on a green-tinged pitch under silvery skies is asking for trouble, but Hampshire did just that and predictably lost their top order cheaply. Anderson was at his controlling best in a first six-over spell which found brisk nibble in both directions.After Tom Bailey had dismissed Joe Weatherley with an in-out set-up, Ian Holland pushed forward on one which held its fifth-stump line, while James Vince was bereft by a sharp in-ducker which resulted in an lbw decision. Anderson’s opening stint returned 2 for 6, with four maidens.One of the motifs of this fixture is the blue-riband fast bowling attacks on show from both teams, something perfectly exemplified by the replacement of Anderson with Hasan. Coming off the back of a nine-wicket bag against Gloucestershire, Hasan maintained and built on Anderson’s pressure. He slightly squared up Liam Dawson with one that angled away off the seam before a leg-side delivery found its way to third slip via Ben Brown’s outside edge four balls later.Hasan Ali brings out a trademark celebration•Getty Images

Hampshire needed a partnership. They got one through the pugnaciousness of Gubbins and Felix Organ, who put on 92 either side of lunch.
Gubbins spent a portion of his winter playing in Zimbabwe’s Logan Cup – scoring a century in two matches – and had begun his Championship season with a handful of starts and a 69 last week versus Kent. He was forced to temper his usual approach to churn to fifty in 133 balls.Anderson returned to direct some short balls at Organ, who having negotiated a series of bumpers, tamely lobbed a top edge to leg slip for 42, before Keith Barker looped a leading-edge off Hasan.James Fuller juxtaposed Gubbins by upping the tempo with his biffing and bottom-handed shot-making. He was 37 off 19 balls at one point, before slowing slightly to a 49-ball fifty, during an 83-run stand with Gubbins.Gubbins reached his second century for Hampshire since arriving last summer, and the 12th of his first-class career, in 210 balls. But with Fuller bowled by Luke Wells, Hasan mopped up the tail ruthlessly to move to 19 scalps so far this season.Wells and George Balderson had fewer issues against the new ball, although the latter tickled Barker behind late in the day.

Anderson, Broad recalled but more continuity than change in first squad of Key-McCullum-Stokes era

Matt Roller18-May-2022Harry Brook and Matthew Potts have won their first call-ups to England’s Test squad for the first two Tests against New Zealand, with James Anderson and Stuart Broad’s anticipated recalls confirmed.Rob Key, England’s new managing director of men’s cricket who was involved in the selection process, said the squad represented “the start of a new era” but there was more continuity than change, with eight of the side that lost by ten wickets in Grenada in England’s most recent Test selected and the three absentees – Dan Lawrence, Chris Woakes and Saqib Mahmood – all ruled out by injury.Related

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Jonny Bairstow is included despite his involvement in the Indian Premier League – his Punjab Kings side are mathematically still in contention for the playoffs but play their final group game on Sunday – and looks set to bat at No. 5. Zak Crawley and Alex Lees will open the batting while Ben Foakes is likely to keep wicket at No. 7.With Joe Root and Ben Stokes confirmed to bat at No. 4 and No. 6 respectively, Ollie Pope has been inked in for a promotion to No. 3 – a position in which he has never batted in first-class cricket. However, Key insisted he had no concerns about Pope’s suitability for a role that Root had filled with success in the Caribbean with two centuries in the three Tests.”If you ask who is the best 1-11, you’d probably put Joe Root down as all of those,” Key said. “After that we feel Ollie Pope is the man. With a lot of these guys, the bet is that with the talent they have, in this environment and these coaches, Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes will get the best out of one of our most talented cricketers. Ollie Pope is one of those if we can unlock him, which I think they can. I think he can be a seriously good Test cricketer. I think he’ll do a fine job.”Lawrence has not played for a month due to a hamstring complaint and has been left out of the squad, while Rory Burns, Dom Sibley, Haseeb Hameed and Dawid Malan are among the recently capped top-order batters to miss out.England Test squad for New Zealand series•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

There is no room for Ollie Robinson in the squad, who has struggled with injury and illness in the early stages of the season, while Woakes, Mahmood, Sam Curran, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Matthew Fisher and Olly Stone are among the seamers unavailable through injury.Craig Overton keeps his place ahead of his twin brother Jamie, who has impressed for Surrey in the County Championship, while Jack Leach retains his position as England’s main spinner despite Matt Parkinson’s eye-catching returns for Lancashire.Key chaired the interim selection panel, with Brendon McCullum, England’s new head coach, providing inputs along with Stokes, ECB performance director Mo Bobat, player identification lead David Court and head scout James Taylor.”This is the start of a new era for our Test team under the stewardship of Ben [Stokes] and Brendon [McCullum],” Key said. “With a blend of youth and experience, we have selected an exciting squad that can compete with New Zealand in next month’s Test series.”We have rewarded players in Harry Brook and Matty Potts who have had outstanding starts to the county season, and they deserve the opportunity to stake a claim at this level. It promises to be a mouthwatering series, and I can’t wait for the team to start against a very good New Zealand side. It is a fascinating prospect for everyone connected with the sport in this country.”Matthew Potts celebrates with Ben Stokes•Getty Images

Brook, the Yorkshire batter, is the leading run-scorer in Division One of the Championship this year with 758 runs in eight innings at a remarkable average of 151.60. He has made three hundreds, and his innings of 41 against Lancashire last week was the first time this season he has failed to reach a half-century.Brook made his England T20I debut earlier this year in Barbados and was the PCA’s Young Player of the Year for 2021 after a stunning breakthrough summer in white-ball cricket, but appears to be the ‘spare’ batter in this squad.Potts, the Durham seamer, has also enjoyed a bright start to the Championship season. He has taken 35 wickets at 18.57 across his first six games, 11 more than anyone else in the country, and has impressed his county team-mate Stokes with his ability to sustain his pace across spells.”He’s been involved in the [ECB] pathway, so people like Mo Bobat understand his character, and that’s the one thing that really stood out when people are talking about him,” Key said. “You see the way he runs in, if you’re facing him, you’re in a proper contest. They are the pics I get really excited about. Out of the injury problem that we’ve got at the moment, some good will come out of that, and it may be him.”Anderson and Broad’s recalls after their shock omissions for the tour of the Caribbean come as no surprise: Key revealed at his unveiling that Stokes had pushed for them to return to the squad and the length of England’s injury list leaves them as the only fully-fit seamers with central contracts. At the age of 39 and 35 respectively, Key added that there were no qualms about testing those fitness levels to the max.”I don’t think their workload will be managed actually,” Key said. “I think we’re just going to try and pick the best team we possibly can to try and win the game. We will try and get the most out of James Anderson and Stuart Broad that we possibly can.”I’d rather have them in the side, trying to win games of cricket for England than prolonging their careers for a long time where they can’t impact as much as possible. I think we’ll try and make the most of them while we’ve still got them.”Players in the squad will be available for selection in this week’s round of Championship fixtures which start on Thursday. The squad will come together in a camp at Loughborough next week before travelling to London on May 29 before the first Test on June 2.

Somerset bowled out for 69 in second innings as Barker stars with bat and ball

ECB Reporters Network21-May-2022Keith Barker played key roles with bat and ball as Hampshire completed a resounding ten-wicket LV= County Championship win over Somerset inside three days at Taunton.The 35-year-old left-arm seamer began by contributing a valuable 36 to help his side extend their first innings total from an overnight 144 for 5 to 280 all out, Aneurin Donald making 57 and James Fuller a rapid 38 to give Hampshire a lead of 69 on first innings.Barker then got to work with the ball, combining extravagant swing with nagging accuracy to claim 6 for 27 from an unbroken 13-over opening spell as Somerset crashed to 25 for 6 before being bowled out with the scores level.Opener Felix Organ hit the required single for victory off the fourth ball of Hampshire’s second innings and his team took 21 points to Somerset’s four to enhance an impressive start to the Championship campaign, keeping them on the tail of early leaders Surrey.The day began with the visitors trailing on first innings by 67. Ben Brown failed to add to his overnight score of 19 before being pinned lbw by Peter Siddle with the total on 152.At 154 for 6 in the 59th over, the ball had to be changed for the second time in the innings. By then Donald was showing a desire to get on the front foot, profiting from some sweetly timed drives as he and Barker ate into Somerset’s lead.A key moment came at 195 for 6 when Donald, on 29, was dropped by Craig Overton at gully off Josh Davey. It was an error the home side could ill afford and Barker had moved confidently to 26 when greeting the introduction of England spinner Jack Leach with a six and a four off his first two balls.The first of those shots put Hampshire in front. The next delivery saw Barker caught at midwicket, but Donald went to a 74-ball half-century before falling to the second new ball, bowled by Siddle.Kyle Abbott fell cheaply to Overton, but Fuller ensured Hampshire of a meaningful advantage, striking four fours and two sixes as Somerset bowled poorly during a last wicket stand of 24 with Mohammad Abbas.Overton and Siddle ended with four wickets each. But momentum was with Hampshire and a series of wretched shots contributed to Somerset’s nightmare second innings, their batting line-up lacking the technique to cope with the swinging ball.

Notts’ hopes of reaching quarter-finals look remote despite opportunistic Hales fifty

ECB Reporters Network21-Jun-2022A fifth defeat in their last six matches left Notts Outlaws’ hopes of reaching the Vitality Blast quarter-finals looking at best remote after Leicestershire Foxes avenged their heavy home defeat against their East Midlands rivals three weeks ago with a 47-run victory.Alex Hales made 55 off 43 balls after being dropped on 19 but no other batter made more than 12 in a dismal effort by the home side after the Foxes had posted 170 from their 20 overs.Samit Patel reached the milestone of 300 wickets in this format but his achievement was no more than a footnote as a disciplined performance earned the Foxes a third straight win to keep their qualification hopes alive.Naveen-ul-Haq finished with 4 for 24 despite suffering a painful wrist injury in his second over, with Ben Mike the all-round man of the match with 2 for 26 after hitting a 12-ball 29 to help his side set a competitive total.After opting to bat first, the Foxes posted 46 in the powerplay after Nick Welch had opened the scoring with a six over deep midwicket off Luke Fletcher. Welch and Harry Swindells both departed, Welch skiing Carter to mid-off, Swindells sweeping into the hands of backward square leg.Arron Lilley and Lewis Hill added 45 from 32 balls but, after muscling Patel over the midwicket boundary fox six, Lilley managed to slap an ugly full toss from the veteran allrounder straight to deep cover, where Calvin Harrison’s diving catch afforded Patel his 300th wicket.The Foxes struggled to develop any momentum as the Outlaws’ slower bowlers found some grip in the surface through the middle overs. Hill pulled Harrison round the corner for six but could not progress beyond 39 in the 12th over, chipping a return catch to Steven Mullaney, who had seen Colin Ackermann dropped on two in his first over but bowled him in his third.The Foxes lost a wicket in each of the last five overs, including two run outs. Wiaan Mulder’s 27 from 19 balls ended when he found the fielder at long-on off a low Dane Paterson full toss but Mike hit three sixes in plundering 29 off 12 balls to give him and his fellow bowlers more to defend than looked likely at 142 for 8 after 18.The Outlaws were narrowly ahead after their powerplay at 47 for 1 after Joe Clarke had been bowled aiming an ugly slog at Callum Parkinson but the Hales drop by Welch at point off Mulder would have preyed on minds when the dangerous opener lofted Mike for a towering maximum.The teenage leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed claimed his 15th wicket of the campaign as Ben Duckett was bowled behind his legs sweeping and when Tom Moores hit straight to long-off to give Parkinson his second wicket, the required rate was up to 10 an over with 10 overs remaining.With the Leicestershire bowlers now turning the screw, the Outlaws lost two more wickets when Mullaney holed out off Ahmed and Dan Christian miscued to mid-off, that had crept up to 15 when Hales ended a frustrating seven overs without a boundary by hoisting Mike over the straight boundary, going past fifty in the process.But in trying to clear the rope again off the next ball he succeeded only in finding Mulder on the wide long-on boundary and that turned out to be the decisive moment, the last five wickets falling for 26 runs, three of them to Naveen in his last two overs, Mulder finishing with four outfield catches when Paterson holed out as last man to fall with two balls to spare.

Three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India to consider reviewing 2018 judgement on board’s constitution

Nagraj Gollapudi20-Jul-2022The Supreme Court is likely to hear on Thursday the BCCI’s plea requesting for several amendments to its constitution, which could roll back some of the most significant reforms that were recommended by RM Lodha Committee and approved by the court in 2018.The case will be heard by a three-judge bench led by the Chief Justice of India NV Ramana.Thursday’s hearing will be the first time in more than two years that the Supreme Court will take up the BCCI’s petition, which was originally filed in December 2019. The board then filed a fresh application in April 2020, and last week it requested the court to hear the case urgently.Among the key reforms that the BCCI has asked the court to review are the mandatory cooling-off period for its office-bearers, modifying the disqualification criteria for holding office, giving unprecedented powers to the board secretary, and preventing the court from having a say if the BCCI wants to alter its constitution in the future. (Read more on the BCCI’s proposed amendments.)Related

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At present, the cooling-off period means that an office bearer who has held any post for two consecutive terms (six years) either at a state association or in the BCCI, or a combination of both, shall not be eligible to contest any further election without completing a cooling-off period of three years. During the cooling-off period, the person cannot serve in any capacity at both the BCCI or state level.In its 2018 judgement passing the new BCCI constitution, the Supreme Court had relaxed a couple of the original recommendations including the one concerning the cooling-off period. As per the Lodha Committee recommendation an office bearer – at BCCI or state association – would need to take a three-year break after serving one term of three years. However, the court changed that and allowed an office bearer to serve two consecutive terms (six years) separately at the state association or the board, or a combination of both, while retaining the maximum tenure of nine years.In October 2019, a new BCCI administration was elected with Sourav Ganguly as president, Jay Shah as secretary, Arun Dhumal as treasurer, and Jayesh George as joint secretary. Within two months of taking charge, the Ganguly administration moved the court contesting the cooling-off period: it wanted the cooling-off period to come into effect after the office bearer had been in a post for six consecutive years at one place – either a state association or the BCCI but not a combination of both.At present, all five BCCI office-bearers including vice-president Rajiv Shukla have finished six consecutive years in some office, having earlier served at their respective state associations before becoming BCCI office bearers.Ganguly was meant to start his cooling-off period after July 2020, having started as secretary at the Cricket Association of Bengal in 2014, following which he became the association’s president in 2015, and was re-elected in September 2019 before moving to the BCCI.As for Shah, he was elected joint secretary of the Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) in 2014. The internal records of the GCA suggest Shah’s tenure started on September 8, 2013.In Shukla’s case, he is ineligible to continue as a BCCI office-bearer on the basis of him being a Member of Parliament – as per the board’s constitution a politician cannot serve as an office bearer.The challenge for the current Supreme Court bench, which also includes Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Hima Kohli, is to decide whether to change – and on what grounds – the 2018 judgement, which was passed by Justice Dr DY Chandrachud, one of the most senior judges in the court who was part of this case since 2016.While adding leniency to the COA’s original cooling-off recommendation, Justice Chandrachud had said that “allowing an individual to act as an office bearer for six years in continuation is a sufficiently long period for experience and knowledge gained to be deployed in the interest of the game without at the same time resulting in a monopoly of power.”The cooling-off period, Justice Chandrachud said, was necessary because it would be act as a “safe guard” against “vested personal interests”, as well ensure against the “concentration of power in a few hands” while encouraging more administrators to gain experience.”Cooling off must be accepted as a means to prevent a few individuals from regarding the administration of cricket as a personal turf. The game will be better off without cricketing oligopolies,” Justice Chandrachud had written in his judgement.And that is the basis of a counter filed against the BCCI petition this week by Subramaniam Swamy, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party that leads the Indian government. According to Bar and Bench, an Indian legal website, Swamy said the BCCI request was aimed at “negating and destroying” the cooling-off period, “resulting in a monopoly of power in the hand of few individuals,” and “destroying the quintessence” of the 2018 Supreme Court judgement.”

Harshal Patel was also not available for selection, while KL Rahul returned to India’s squad

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Aug-2022Virat Kohli has been picked in India’s T20I squad for the Asia Cup, returning after a break of more than a month following the conclusion of the tour of England on July 17. Jasprit Bumrah, however, was not part of the squad named late on Monday night, and according to PTI the fast bowler has a back injury. Harshal Patel was also unavailable for selection owing to a rib injury.KL Rahul also made a comeback as vice-captain, after missing all of India’s fixtures since the end of IPL 2022 in May. Rahul first suffered a groin injury, then underwent surgery for a sports hernia, after which he tested positive for Covid-19 and was ruled out of the tour of the Caribbean.Bumrah did not go to the West Indies after the tour of England, and he had also been rested from the upcoming ODI series in Zimbabwe. It is understood that he had back spasms last week and travelled to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, where he was diagnosed with a niggle.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Kohli was also rested from the recent ODI and T20I series in the Caribbean, and will miss the ODIs in Zimbabwe as well.Kohli has played only four T20 internationals – and missed 19 – since the T20 World Cup ended in November last year, scoring 81 runs at an average of 20 and strike rate of 128.57. His form for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2022 was a concern – 341 runs, average 22.73, strike rate 116 – and he scored only 1 and 11 in his most recent T20Is in England.Arshdeep Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan and Deepak Hooda have all retained their spots in India’s T20I squad for the Asia Cup. Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel and Deepak Chahar were named as stand-by players, while Ishan Kishan, Kuldeep Yadav and Sanju Samson – all of whom were part of the recent five-T20I series in the West Indies – were left out of the 15-man squad.The Asia Cup is India’s third-last T20I assignment – ahead of home series against Australia and South Africa – before the T20 World Cup begins in Australia this October.India are the defending champions of the Asia Cup, which was last played in 2018 in the ODI format. They had won the title by beating Bangladesh in a last-ball thriller in Dubai.This year’s Asia Cup will be played in the T20 format and India begin their campaign against Pakistan on August 28; it’s the first match between the two sides since they met in the T20 World Cup last year.India, Pakistan and the team that wins the qualifying tournament comprise Group A, while Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh are in Group B. All matches will start at 6pm local time (7.30 pm. IST), with ten games in Dubai and three in Sharjah.The qualifying round of matches to determine the sixth team in the competition will begin on August 20 in Oman. The teams competing for a place in Group A – along with India and Pakistan – are UAE, Kuwait, Singapore and Hong Kong.In the main draw, each team will play the other two in their group once, and the top two teams from each group will enter a Super 4 round that starts on September 3. The teams in the Super 4 round will play each other once, with the top two sides qualifying for the final on September 11.This edition of the Asia Cup was supposed to be held in Sri Lanka but it was moved to the UAE last month because of the ongoing economic crisis in the island nation. SLC will continue to be the official hosts of the tournament, although it is being played in the UAE.