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Former India captain and coach Anil Kumble feels that Virat Kohli is “trying too hard” and that’s making it tougher for him to find form amid a lean patch.Kohli has managed just 137 runs in the six ODI innings he has played after the 2023 World Cup, with a single half-century. In India’s first game in Champions Trophy 2025, Kohli made 22 off 38 before falling to Bangladesh legspinner Rishad Hossain in Dubai.”Having been through a lean patch, so to speak, especially in white-ball cricket – he hasn’t had that kind of run for a long period of time – I feel he’s trying a bit too hard,” Kumble said on ESPNcricinfo Match Day. “You have that in players who have been there and done that before, and everyone sort of looks up to you saying he’s the guy who’s going to take the game away and he’s the one guy who is the important man in the team.Related

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“When you have that kind of pressure and you have that kind of expectation, you suddenly start putting undue importance to all of that and then try hard to do well. When you do that, you’re not really relaxed. The best innings that I am sure he’s played, he’s not even thinking about all of that. The best bowling performances, you’re not even thinking about all of that.”I think he’s trying a bit too hard. You can see that in the way he is going about his innings. He just needs to not worry about it. Rohit [Sharma] comes in there, has the freedom because there is plenty of batting and all of them are in great form. Similarly for Virat, he just needs to come in and not worry about anything else.”Kohli’s last six dismissals have come to spin – five of them to legspin.”To start off against spin, on surfaces like that, you need a lot of confidence. He’s certainly trying too hard to manoeuvre that,” Kumble said. “He’s a good player of spin when he’s in form, when he’s wanting to just knock singles off and keep rotating the strike. Now he’s trying too hard to score runs rather than just manoeuvre, and that’s been his game plan.”All players go through tough moments in their career, but I get a feeling watching him bat, I think he is putting a lot more pressure on himself. He just needs to relax a little bit and not worry too much about the outcome of what happens on the field rather than just go out there and have the freedom to just go and play naturally, what he does really well.”2:30

Bumrah or Gill – who should be India’s next ODI captain?

Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar suggested that Kohli didn’t have the big-hitting game anymore and his lack of form since the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia had pushed him into a corner.”He’s in a tight corner, Virat Kohli. His confidence is still down,” Manjrekar said. “He wants to still show that he’s up there for a fight, and I am starting to see maybe there’s a little bit of bravado as well, and why not? You can’t be revealing what’s inside you.”Rohit Sharma still has the big game. He can step out and hit a guy over extra cover and play the short-arm pull and [is] willing to take chances. Virat Kohli doesn’t have the big game anymore. We’ve seen on occasion him playing the big shot, but he can’t hit at will hit like a Shubman Gill does.”What happened is, after that hundred in Australia, had he just carried on that form… you know it’s a confidence thing as well – when you’re out of form and you don’t have confidence you suddenly don’t quite get that power and the courage to hit the big shots.”Kohli made an unbeaten 100 in the second innings in the first Test in Australia in Perth, but managed just 90 runs in the eight other innings he played in the series.”That slip after Australia where he really struggled… I saw when he got a fifty against England in the one-day series, it was actually more of an insight into how Virat Kohli is batting,” Manjrekar said. “I thought he batted superbly in South Africa when India were there, in Australia that hundred came when already 300 runs were on the board. At this stage, I’m looking at him down on confidence.4:30

Manjrekar: There’s an air of dominance around Gill

“The batting mechanism is not staying with him. And you know what? There was somebody who said many years back to us that as you start ageing, your luck also starts running out. And look at Virat Kohli, you’ve got to feel for him.”What kind of a surface is he going to get for the next two matches? Surfaces that you would hate batting on. Slow, turning pitches. So it’s not helping his cause either.”Manjrekar suggested that spinners are more confident trying to bowl aggressively to Kohli, knowing that he isn’t going to punish them with big shots.”When he comes into bat, the spinners come on. And once the spinners know that you’re not going to be hitting them for three sixes straight down the pitch or over midwicket – Rohit Sharma can still do it, KL Rahul can do it, Shubman Gill can do it – so the spinners also are bowling the kind of deliveries they’ll get wickets off because they don’t fear backlash from the batter.”So he’s cornered in a way. What he needed in this tournament are flat pitches like the ones in Pakistan. But if he finds a way out of this and he finds another peak of Virat Kohli, that will tell you a lot more about the man and how he’s built.”

Ismat Alam’s century on debut and Rashid Khan’s six-for bookended a day of dominance for Afghanistan, who will come back on the fifth and final day needing just two wickets to seal the match and the series against Zimbabwe.Ismat, who had come into the Test with a first-class average of 92 and had converted all four of his fifties at the level into centuries, also converted his maiden Test fifty into a century to help Afghanistan finish on 363, setting Zimbabwe 278 to win.After that, it was all Rashid magic as he ran through Zimbabwe, who fought back with a gritty fifth-wicket stand between captain Craig Ervine and Sikandar Raza, but in the end Afghanistan were in a winning position at stumps.Zimbabwe had a bright start in their chase of 278. Ben Curran hit two late cuts as Zimbabwe took 12 runs off Fareed Ahmad’s first over. Seven runs came off the next over before the Afghanistan bowlers found more discipline and started to dry out the runs. While there was some movement on offer with the new ball, the fast bowlers could not really threaten the Zimbabwe openers.Spin was introduced in the tenth over in the form of Zia-ur-Rehman and the left-arm spinner struck in his third over. Joylord Gumbie had reverse-swept him for four off the first ball of the over, but when he went for another reverse-sweep he ended up gloving the ball behind to first slip.From there on in, it was the Rashid show for Afghanistan. He first got one to spin in from the rough outside off to knock Curran over. In the next 37 balls, Zimbabwe managed just 14 runs and Takudzwanashe Kaitano released the pressure by authoritatively pulling Fareed for a six over backward square leg.Rashid then changed ends and drew the top edge from Kaitano as he went for a sweep. Abdul Malik ran across from slip to take the catch down the leg side, giving Zimbabwe another breakthrough just before tea.Blessing Muzarabani walks back with his career best innings figures of 6 for 95•Zimbabwe Cricket

In the third over of the final session, Dion Myers slashed at a wide delivery from Rashid and got a thick edge for four, but Rashid hit back by trapping him in front with a wrong’un, for his 400th international wicket.At 99 for 4, Zimbabwe were in trouble but the senior pair of Raza and Ervine combined to frustrate Afghanistan with a 58-run stand. They were watchful and kept the runs ticking with plenty of singles in the absence of close-in fielders. They hit just the one boundary in a partnership that lasted 19 overs.Rashid finally broke through, although it had little to do with his bowling. Raza, ever so watchful until then, was tempted into a drive as Rashid threw down a half-volley outside off, but he couldn’t get it over the cover fielder, much to his frustration.Sean Williams, nursing a back injury from the first day of the Test, was next on Rashid’s radar, as he got another one to spin in from the rough outside off to crash into off stump with Williams missing a sweep. That completed Rashid’s fifth Test five-for in just eight games. One ball later, he darted in a quick, flat legbreak that spun past the outside edge to crash into Brian Bennett’s off stump.In the next over, Zia trapped Newman Nyamhuri, as Zimbabwe lost three wickets in seven deliveries, still 100 runs away from their target.Ervine fought on for Zimbabwe, hitting Rashid for two boundaries either side of the wicket in the next over before depositing Zia over midwicket. He took Zimbabwe past 200 with a cover drive and hit another boundary down the ground – a misfield at long-on that helped him to a second half-century in the match.Soon after, Zimbabwe’s No. 10 Richard Ngarava pulled up holding his calf, and with lights fading, it brought on stumps with Zimbabwe still needing 73 and Afghanistan two wickets from victory.Afghanistan began the day 205 runs ahead and scored quickly with Ismat and Rashid finding the boundary regularly. But the latter failed to get out of the way of a Blessing Muzarabani bouncer and gloved a catch behind to give him his maiden Test five-wicket haul.Ismat carried on, hitting three fours in four overs after Rashid’s dismissal, and went past Ibrahim Zadran’s 87 in 2019 for the highest score by an Afghanistan batter on Test debut. With Zimbabwe spreading the field, he was forced to slow down but with Yamin Ahmadzai for company, he brought up his century and celebrated with a series of fist pumps. The celebrations were worth it after he had fallen for a two-ball duck in his maiden international innings.He fell on 101, miscuing a pull off Muzarabani, after which Afghanistan added just seven runs.

South Australia have overcome a frustratingly long rain delay to strike four late daggers on day two of their Sheffield Shield clash with Tasmania at Bellerive Oval.SA opener Henry Hunt was all class on Friday when he made an unbeaten 136 to guide the Redbacks to 329 for 3 by stumps in Hobart.But long periods of rain meant play didn’t resume on Saturday until after 3pm AEDT. South Australia added 69 runs in the space of 12 overs before declaring at 398 for 6.Tasmania went to stumps on day two in all sorts of trouble at 96 for 4, with Nivethan Radhakrishnan (43), Jake Weatherald (12), Jordan Silk (18) and Tim Ward (7) already sent packing.With just two days remaining, South Australia have the chance to enforce the follow-on if they can rattle through Tasmania’s middle and lower order quickly on Sunday.Day one was dominated by South Australia as opener Hunt and Jason Sangha (151) combined for a 300-run partnership.The lengthy rain delay on day two meant South Australia needed to up the ante when play finally resumed in the afternoon.Hunt was caught behind without adding to his overnight score, but Jake Fraser-McGurk (43 off 37) and Jake Lehmann (24 not out off 25 balls) batted like it was a one-dayer to add some handy quick runs before the declaration.Tasmania moved to a solid 45 without loss in reply before Weatherald chopped Liam Scott (2-19) on to his stumps.Radhakrishnan was caught chasing a wide delivery, before speedster Nathan McAndrew (2-28) struck two late blows to leave Tasmania four wickets down. Silk was out edging behind in the final over of the day.

The England camp were taken aback when they first heard of Pakistan’s plan to stage the second Test in Multan on the same strip as the first. The ploy has been designed to bring Pakistan’s spinners into play, but among its unintended consequences is that it has enabled Ben Stokes to return from his injury earlier than he might have been able to.It is rare for the same venue to stage back-to-back Tests, and using the same pitch twice in a row is believed to be unprecedented. James Anderson, England’s fast-bowling consultant, thought it would be outlawed by the ICC, but their regulations only stipulate that the host board and ground authority must prepare the “best possible pitch”.Stokes was one of six England players to train on Sunday, and has put himself through “quite a lot of high-intensity stuff” in the past two days as he prepares to return from his torn hamstring. The pitch was heavily watered after the first Test and has since been dried out by a combination of two industrial-sized fans and the harsh Multan sun.Related

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“I’ve never seen a used pitch before, used in back-to-back games – and I’ve never seen fans that big standing as umpires,” Stokes joked on Monday. “You’d like to think it’s going to offer the spinners a bit more than it did last week with it being used and hot. It’s a slightly drier square, so you might see a little more reverse-swing to bring seamers into the game… Hopefully, we win the toss and bat.”Pakistan have endured a turbulent few days even by their own standards, after their innings loss last week extended their streak of consecutive Test defeats to six. They have revamped their selection panel and made five changes to a 16-man squad which included the omissions of perhaps their three most high-profile players in Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah.Around 90 minutes after Stokes spoke on Monday, Pakistan announced a team featuring three frontline spinners – despite the fact Abrar Ahmed, their first-choice legspinner, is in hospital with dengue fever – and only one seam option, in the allrounder Aamer Jamal. Azhar Mahmood, their assistant coach, said they had decided this was the best way to take 20 wickets.”We thought about how we’re going to take those,” Mahmood said. “We thought that if we use that pitch [again], the thinking was, ‘How do we take 20 wickets against England?’ And we thought spin was the way to do it… We want the ball to turn. We felt we could have the home advantage. Let’s see if it works to our advantage or not. Time will tell.”England have named two frontline spinners to Pakistan’s three, with Jack Leach partnering Shoaib Bashir and Joe Root offering a part-time option. But the expectation that the used surface will favour spin has enabled Stokes to make his comeback: he pledged to be “sensible” with his bowling workload but revealed he would not have played as a specialist batter.”Playing on a used wicket made the decision a little bit easier,” Stokes said. “I’m available to bowl and when I sense the time is right for me to come on and make an impact, there won’t be any doubts in my mind that I can come on and bowl. You’d like to think it might be a bit more in favour of the spin, hence playing on a used pitch made the decision a little bit easier.”Stokes’ knee injury limited him to five overs across England’s 4-1 series defeat in India at the start of this year, when they only selected four frontline bowling options per Test. He conceded that he could not work out a way of playing as a batter in Pakistan without compromising England’s attack: “I’d written a few teams down with me not bowling, and it just didn’t work.”While Stokes was evidently surprised that Pakistan had decided to use the same pitch again, he encouraged his team to “play what’s in front of us”. Root, meanwhile, said the surface was “clearly not going to produce the same kind of game” and that it was “very likely” to offer more assistance for bowlers: “It can’t be any flatter than it was last week.”And Stokes suggested that Pakistan’s ploy was a legitimate use of home advantage. “If we went 1-0 down at home, we would probably be going to our groundsman at the second Test [venue] saying, ‘Can we have a bit more of this, bit more of that?’ to use our home advantage in our favour,” he said.”If you look at the way that first Test played out, if another wicket like that was produced, maybe that gives us more of an advantage, just because of the way that we take the game on. Using a used pitch brings a lot more into the game for both teams, actually – so if it does spin more, if it does reverse more, there’s more options there for both teams. It could be a tactic. I’m not sure.”

Less than 24 hours after sparking off a near-unthinkable push for victory in a game in which only 35 overs had been bowled in the first three days, India’s batters completed the task they had started by smashing down their target of 95 in just over an hour. The highlight of India’s performance on Tuesday came from another record-breaker from the fourth day; Ravindra Jadeja’s triple-strike started a slide for Bangladesh in an extended first session, in which they were bowled out for 146. India lost three wickets in pursuit before Rishabh Pant hit the winning runs in the chase set up by a 43-ball fifty from Yashasvi Jaiswal, and extended their lead at the top of the WTC points table with a 2-0 series sweep.The 312 balls India batted for in this Test is the second-fewest they have faced – and the fourth-fewest overall – to win a Test match, behind the 281 against South Africa in Cape Town earlier this year.Related

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Bangladesh started the day on 26 for 2, and with Jadeja starting things off in the company of Akash Deep, suffered a collapse of 7 for 55. R Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah also finished with three each. Jadeja first broke the stubborn stand of 55 between Najmul Hossain Shanto and Shadman Islam when he struck in three successive overs, also sending back Litton Das and Shakib Al Hasan. Bangladesh went from 91 for 3 to 94 for 7. After that, Bumrah wiped out the tail. There were no demons in the pitch, no vicious turn, just tight and skiddy bowling from Jadeja and the mounting pressure.Bangladesh were trailing by 26 when the day of 98 overs started and it was Ashwin who struck first. After using the sweep effectively in his unbeaten century in the first innings, Mominul Haque fell to the same shot when he handed a catch to leg slip for 2. Many might have expected Bangladesh to buckle under pressure but Shadman replied with a string of boundaries against Ashwin. He struck three confident cover drives and a back-foot cut for four fours in seven balls against Ashwin, which gave Bangladesh confidence and the lead.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

A few loose deliveries from Mohammed Siraj leaked a few more boundaries; he was struck for two fours each by Shadman and Shanto in his opening spell, although one of them would have been a chance had third slip been in place.It’s possible Jadeja was the last one to get the ball because only left-hand batters had been at the crease. But it took him only two balls to strike. Shanto missed a reverse sweep on his first ball against Jadeja to lose his leg stump before the bowler extracted extra bounce on a pitch that has been keeping low to have Litton caught behind on the cut for 1. Between those two overs, Akash Deep pitched one up to Shadman soon after the batter’s half-century, and the push to gully ended his 101-ball stay.Jadeja was all over Bangladesh by now. In his third over he sent back Shakib with an innocuous delivery bowled slow through the air, which Shakib only chipped back to give Jadeja figures of 2.2-1-3-3 early in his spell.2:35

Manjrekar: ‘This is the legacy Rohit Sharma will leave as captain’

With Bangladesh seven down for 94, Rohit Sharma brought back Bumrah and the spearhead did his job straightaway. His third ball of the fresh spell was a beauty that got Mehidy Hasan Miraz’s edge. It was only Mushfiqur Rahim who delayed the inevitable, extending the lead towards 100. He saw off the quicks and belted two back-to-back fours against Jadeja.Bumrah trapped Taijul Islam lbw to extend the first session at the stroke of lunch before Mushfiqur frustrated the hosts further. He started to farm the strike with only one wicket left but again it was Bumrah who made the difference. Back for one over before lunch, his slow offcutter at 125kph went through a big swing from Mushfiqur on the last ball of the session as he put to waste all his hard work.India again came out all guns blazing as Bangladesh didn’t use any pace in search of wickets. Rohit missed a big swing to the leg side in the first over and when he middled a sweep, he found deep backward square-leg in Mehidy’s second over. Shubman Gill was trapped lbw for 6 by Mehidy to a delivery similar to the one that kept low and dismissed Rohit on Monday. Otherwise India cruised in their chase thanks to Jaiswal’s third half-century of the series. He muscled his back-foot punches and sweeps and came down the track to smash a few boundaries, including a six, down the ground. His brisk partnership of 58 with Virat Kohli nearly saw India through except that Jaiswal miscued a swing to the off side with only three runs required.

Scott Currie’s valiant maiden first-class century proved in vain despite helping to stage a remarkable Leicestershire fightback as Northamptonshire completed back-to-back first-class victories for the first time in five years to the day.Sent in as nightwatcher, Currie kept his calm as Leicestershire lost three early wickets on the third morning of this Vitality County Championship match at Wantage Road, slumping to 92 for seven, still 88 runs behind. The arrival of Tom Scriven (48 off 66 balls) heralded a complete change of approach though as he and Currie wrestled back the initiative in an attacking partnership of 101 in 21 overs either side of lunch.With the momentum shifting and Leicestershire building a slender lead, Currie was joined in another big stand worth 110 in 23.3 overs by Sam Wood who smashed 57 off 91 balls (5 fours, 3 sixes). Currie’s lengthy vigil eventually ended after more than four hours at the crease, having faced 192 balls and hit 15 fours and two sixes.Those partnerships allowed Leicestershire to set their hosts 137 to win and while they claimed one early wicket, George Bartlett (54 off 91 balls) and captain Luke Procter (68 off 76 balls) both scored half-centuries in an unbroken stand of 120 to seal victory by nine wickets.Earlier Indian international Yuzvendra Chahal (5 for 134) claimed a five-wicket haul for the second match running, while Northamptonshire stalwart Ben Sanderson also nipped in to claim his 400th career first-class wicket.At the start of the day, Leicestershire resumed on 69 for four, still trailing by 111 runs. They soon lost skipper Lewis Hill (14) as Chahal got into his work. Keeper Lewis McManus completed the stumping as Chahal turned one which pitched on middle and beat Hill’s outside edge.Ben Cox (8) then became Sanderson’s landmark scalp when he was trapped lbw before James Sales took a sharp catch at short leg off Chahal to dismiss Liam Trevaskis (2).Currie, meanwhile, on a season-long loan deal from Hampshire, had proved a stable presence at the other end. He played a textbook cover drive off Sanderson but was otherwise content to bat within himself.Scriven however provided the impetus the innings needed as Leicestershire pressed the accelerator rather than wait for wickets to fall. Scriven took the positive route from the outset, striking Chahal over mid-on to bring up Leicestershire’s 100 in the 58th over, before pulling Sanderson for another four.Currie too started to play his shots. He had made just 16 off 72 balls when the seventh wicket fell, but quickly moved up several gears. He took the attack to Chahal, swinging dismissively through midwicket and dispatching him over long-off. The leg-spinner conceded 19 in one expensive over, as Currie pulled for six before Scriven deployed the slog sweep and reverse sweep for consecutive boundaries to bring up the 50 partnership.While Scriven was dropped at short midwicket, he continued to attack, muscling Chahal over long-on for a huge six as Leicestershire went into lunch on 172 for seven, trailing by just eight runs, an unlikely prospect earlier in the day.They resumed after the interval in bright fashion, Currie driving Justin Broad for four to take Leicestershire into the lead. Broad though soon made the breakthrough, denying Scriven a well-earned half-century when he knocked middle stump out of the ground.Currie continued to find the boundary, pulling Broad confidently before smashing him through deep point as he passed his previous highest best score of 72. He eased into the eighties with a fluent cover drive off Chahal and moved on to his century off 159 balls.Meanwhile, Wood picked up where Scriven had left off, crunching Chahal down the ground for three sixes and cutting and driving fluently along the turf.Chahal finally ended Currie’s long stay, picking up his fifth wicket in the process with one that turned and took the edge to be caught behind by McManus. Louis Kimber came out at number 11 after injuring his hand in the field yesterday and made four before Saif Zaib bowled him to wrap up the innings.Gus Miller (11) kicked off Northamptonshire’s run chase by driving Holland for four but had his stumps rearranged by Wood with the hosts 17 for one, but Bartlett and Procter played the seamers with relative ease, starting to knock off the runs required in ones and twos and some streaky boundaries.Procter greeted Rehan Ahmed by sweeping him high over deep midwicket for six, while Bartlett took another maximum off the England leg spinner a few overs later, this time over long-on. Procter hit Wood for consecutive boundaries to bring up the 100 partnership off 124 deliveries before hitting the winning runs with a boundary down the ground off Sol Budinger. Both not out batters finished with seven fours and one six apiece.

Toby Albert’s fourth List-A half century and two crucial wickets for Mohammad Abbas booked Hampshire a place in the knockout stages of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup as they beat hosts Middlesex by 19 runs at Merchant Taylors’ School.Albert struck 75 in an innings of 53 balls, complete with four sixes, sharing stands of 59 with Liam Dawson (48) and 49 with Kyle Abbott (20 not out) as the visitors totalled 276 for 7, Luke Hollman taking 4 for 61 for the hosts.Middlesex were in the hunt to chase down the target while Mark Stoneman 53 and Jack Davis 46 were sharing a stand of 90 for the fourth wicket, but Pakistani international Abbas returned to remove both, after which Abbott (4 for 48) saw Hampshire over the line as Middlesex were bowled out for 257 with 11 balls left.With Derbyshire narrowly beating Durham at Chester-Le-Street, victory was enough to send Hampshire to the quarterfinals on net run-rate.Hampshire, put in after losing the toss, were increasingly frustrated through the powerplay and pressure told when Fletcha Middleton nicked Ethan Bamber to slip and skipper Nick Gubbins chewed up 34 balls before slashing one from Henry Brookes into the hands of Ryan Higgins at point. The all-rounder left the field after taking the catchTom Prest began brightly, hitting Bamber back over his head for six before being given a life when Cracknell shelled one at point. The 21-year-old would be reprieved again when replays showed Cracknell’s direct hit left him short of his ground. It mattered little as Hollman trapped him lbw in the next over. Ben Brown also got a start before top-edging a sweep into the hands of Nathan Fernandes.Dawson though found an ally in Albert, both clearing the ropes in a 50-stand from 44 balls and it took a stunning running catch from Cracknell in the deep to remove the former England spinner two short of what would have been an excellent half-century.Albert remained to pick up the baton, reaching the landmark in 45 balls, and two more sixes followed as he and Abbott added a crucial 49 from the last 28 deliveries, turning a par score into a challenging one.Fresh from his batting cameo, Abbott struck a huge early blow pinning the in-form Cracknell lbw with 21 on the board. Abbas was convinced he’d got Sam Robson in similar fashion soon afterwards, but the umpire waved away vociferous appeals. Progress, though, was slow, with the 50 taking almost 15 overs.Fernandez survived a close shout for a run out only to fall two balls later to the bowling of Brad Wheal, before Robson’s torturous innings of 20 from 49 was ended by a catch in the deep.Stoneman signalled a change of intent with three successive fours of Wheal after drinks, and the busy Davis caught the mood twice sending deliveries from Felix Organ over the ropes as the 50-stand came up in 49 balls.Stoneman moved to 50 from 55 balls forcing Gubbins to recall his opening bowlers under darkening skies, but Davis sent Abbott to the midwicket fence before edging another over wicketkeeper Brown’s head.With rain threatening Abbas settled matters by removing both set batters in his final over. Davis skied one to Brown behind the stumps to end the stand of 90 and the double act were at it again four balls later courtesy of Stoneman’s outside edge.Higgins emerged with Cracknell as a runner but was bowled by Dawson for a two-ball duck and despite some defiant late blows from Hollman (27) and Brookes (29 not out) Abbott had the final say.

Former India fast bowler Jhulan Goswami has joined Trinbago Knight Riders as a mentor for Women’s Caribbean Premier League 2024.”It’s an honour to join such a quality franchise,” Goswami said in a statement shared by Knight Riders. “Knight Riders have done so well in India and around the world, and to join TKR Women at the WCPL is a pleasure. Thanks to KKR management for thinking about me as a mentor and I’m really looking forward to this tournament.”Goswami retired from all forms of cricket in 2022 as India’s leading wicket-taker in women’s internationals. She is currently the bowling coach and mentor of Mumbai Indians in the Women’s Premier League. This will be her first stint in an overseas T20 league.Related

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TKR are led by former West Indies allrounder Deandra Dottin. They recently added India’s Jemimah Rodrigues and Shikha Pandey, and Australia’s Meg Lanning and Jess Jonassen – all four play for Delhi Capitals in the WPL – to their roster.”The conversation about me joining TKR started with Mr. Venky Mysore [CEO of Knight Riders group],” Goswami said. “As a management head, the way he takes care of everyone is amazing. I felt really honoured by the way both Shah Rukh Khan and Venky sir welcomed me and spoke to me when we met in Kolkata during the IPL.”Speaking about the signing, Mysore said, “Jhulan Goswami is an absolute legend of the game, and we are very happy to have her on board as the mentor of the TKR Women’s team. We strongly believe that under Jhulan’s mentorship, the team will reach greater heights. It’s a fantastic opportunity for the youngsters to pick Jhulan’s brains and learn from her experiences to become better cricketers themselves. We would like to wish her all the best, and look forward to seeing her in the TKR setup soon.”WCPL 2024 will run from August 21 to 29. The tournament comprises three teams – TKR, defending champions Barbados Royals and Guyana Amazon Warriors – and seven matches, all to be played at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba.

A career-best bowling performance from Chamari Athapaththu and an incisive spell from offspinner Inoshi Priyadharshani set up Sri Lanka’s first win over West Indies in women’s T20Is since 2015.Athapaththu and Priyadharshani shared seven wickets, with the former finishing with 4 for 29, to restrict West Indies to 134 for 8. In reply, Sri Lanka romped home with four wickets and eight balls to spare to go 1-0 up in the three-match series.Hayley Matthews managed to see the early back of Athapaththu in the third over. However, Vishmi Gunaratne and Harshitha Samarawickrama did not let Sri Lanka feel the nerve. They batted positively in stitching a 46-run stand for the second wicket with Gunaratne being the aggressor. She hit six fours in her 35-run knock, that included the reverse sweep as well.In a bid to attack legspinner Afy Fletcher, Gunaratne holed out to long-on, giving the tourists a slight opening. Samarawickrama then took charge even as Kavisha Dilhari was trapped in front by Karishma Ramharack. She used her feet to put the spinners off their lines and lengths and scored 35. But after she was cleaned up by Aaliyah Alleyne, Sri Lanka lost 3 for 20 to raise hopes for West Indies, who lost the ODI series 3-0. The experienced Nilakshika Silva then took the hosts home, staying unbeaten on 17.Earlier, West Indies received an injury scare for Stafanie Taylor after being asked to bat. She injured her leg while returning to her crease in the third over and had to be stretchered off, but then returned after the fall of the first wicket in the seventh over – when Athapaththu bowled Qiana Joseph.The Sri Lankan spinners, led by Priyadharshani, kept a lid on West Indies’ scoring throughout, highlighted by Matthews’ run-a-ball 30 being the top-score for them. Thanks to an enterprising 33-run partnership between Alleyne (26 off 22) and Fletcher (14 not out off 11) in just 23 balls, West Indies were able to score 35 runs off the last four overs to finish with a decent score.