Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Sami is a doubtful starter for his side's ICC World Twenty20 opener against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday after injuring his toe during a practice session. Sami, who was hit on the toe by a local bowler during their first practice session on Sunday, failed to recover from the injury and missed Pakistan's warm-up match against defending champions Sri Lanka. "There's still no word on his fitness and we're not sure whether he would be available for the first match," Pakistan team's media manager told reporters.
The dreaded duo of Lasith Malinga and Muttiah Muralitharan will be missing from the Sri Lankan bowling attack but Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Sunday said their absence does not make his batsmen's job any easy in the second cricket Test starting in Colombo on Monday.
Sri Lankan cricket and the island's once-powerful side arrive at the World Cup struggling for form under a newly appointed captain who has played a single One-day international since 2015.
Pakistan players did not find any spot in ICC Team of the Decade across all formats
Former India captain Rahul Dravid says the islanders may not be front-runners to win the World Cup this time around, but the fact that they are a very close-knit unit gives them the edge.
The 36-year-old Fernando, who last played for Sri Lanka way back in 2012, was included in place of T20 captain Lasith Malinga, who is recuperating from an injury.
Rajneesh Gupta previews Game 44 in IPL 12: Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians.
Will India go into the 3rd T20I vs Sri Lanka with the same squad or will Sanju Samson and Manish Pandey get a look in?
Sri Lanka, the 1996 winners, kick-started their bid for a place in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup semi-finals in dramatic fashion with a 20-run win against hosts England at Headingley. It took them to six points and off-spinner Dhananjaya de Silva insists they can still finish in the top four of the group despite suffering a pair of washouts in Bristol.
England's semi-final hopes were dented after they slipped to a 20-run defeat against Sri Lanka.
India have won the Asia Cup on seven occasions, Sri Lanka on five occasions, with Pakistan winning it twice.
'He had a month's break post ODI World Cup. He didn't play white ball format and came for Test matches. But that means workload was well managed but still he had that fracture. Now can you explain why?'
Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma was lavish in praise of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and flamboyant all-rounder Hardik Pandya after Mumbai edged past Royal Challengers Bangalore by six runs in the IPL match in Bengaluru on Thursday night.
Amit Mishra said his team will have to plan more for the matches which will be held in Sharjah.
Ahmed Shehzad smashed 95 off 90 balls as Pakistan thrashed below-par Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the fourth one-day match in Colombo on Wednesday to clinch the five-match series.
Playing tennis-ball cricket in his formative years has helped him bowl his yorkers with good control, revealed Mumbai Indians pacer Jasprit Bumrah.
Images from Sunday's IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders, in Mumbai.
Lasith Malinga blew away the England top-order by dismissing three batsmen in a single over as Sri Lanka defeated the defending champions by 19 runs in their last Super Eight match to qualify for the semi-finals of the World Twenty20 along with the West Indies in Pallekele.
Lasith Malinga took five wickets to help Sri Lanka knock Twenty20 World Cup holders England out of the tournament with a 19-run Super Eights victory on Monday that put the hosts safely into the semi-finals.
Former Sri Lanka pacer Chaminda Vaas predicted that Virat Kohli and his men would reach the semi-finals of the upcoming 2019 World Cup.
Images from Friday's IPL match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, in Chennai.
Dhoni was to make a comeback at the IPL, leading his team Chennai Super Kings but the cash-rich tournament, which was originally scheduled to begin on Sunday, was postponed due the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of the reasons Yuvraj retired was that he wanted to play in leagues around the world and have "some fun". At the moment, the BCCI doesn't allow an active cricketer to take part in a foreign league.
'His (Bumrah's) bouncers surprise you, his yorkers surprise you and then when he bowls the change-up it's very, very difficult, it's like when Lasith Malinga at his prime, he bowled 140kmph and swung them'
However, Mumbai will take heart from the fact that they defeated defending champions Chennai Super Kings, their first loss in four games, in the last match.
Workload management of pacer Jasprit Bumrah and all-rounder Hardik Pandya will be the focus when Mumbai Indians take on a renamed Delhi Capitals in their first match of the 12th Indian Premier League in Mumbai on Sunday.
Virat Kohli too has stated that choosing between Dhawan and Rahul will be a tough call
Sri Lanka's fast-bowling all-rounder Shaminda Eranga was named as replacement for Angelo Mathews, who had been ruled out of the ongoing Asia Cup tournament due to a calf injury.
The Mumbai Indians' paceman reveals the secret of his precision bowling
IMAGES from the ICC World Cup match played between India and Sri Lanka at Headingley, Leeds, on Saturday
Rajneesh Gupta previews Game 39 in IPL 12: Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Rajneesh Gupta previews Game 26 in IPL 12: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Capitals.
Bumrah bowled a line and length that was Test match quality. He bowled with fire and accuracy. His bowling had it all -- pace, bouncers, yorkers -- everything to make scoring difficult. He literally put Delhi out of the contest.
Test cricket is set to Pakistan after a long wait of 10 years with Sri Lanka picking a full-strength squad for the two-match series next month.
Sri Lanka have dropped Test spinners Rangana Herath and Tharindu Kaushal from their One-day squad for the five-match series against Pakistan starting on Saturday.
Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq although admitted that Sri Lanka's bowling has weakened with the retirement of the likes of Muttiah Muralitharan and Lasith Malinga but said that they remain a potentially dangerous side and could not be taken lightly.
Rajneesh Gupta presents a complete statistical IPL dossier.
Rajneesh Gupta highlights all the important numbers from cricket World Cups held between 1975 to 2015.
'We have a quality group of players and we need to be smart about how we use them against opposition. I thought we played a very good game given the fact that what they had to offer. But definitely (Harbhajan was) not dropped in the way that you want me to say it. Just that it was a tactical decision'
Royal Challengers Bangalore will not just have to address Sachin Tendulkar's unsatiated hunger for runs and Kieron Pollard's blistering powerplay, but will also have to be wary of Lasith Malinga's seering yorkers when they take on Mumbai Indians in the IPL match in Bangalore on Tuesday.
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