This is Kevin Pietersen's first coaching assignment in the IPL, where he featured as a player from 2009 to 2016.
Australia pace spearhead Mitchell Starc said a sore ankle and his "personal views" were behind his decision to pull out of the Champions Trophy.
Since first opening the batting together in January 2023, the duo has been prolific in 50 overs cricket.
Afghan fans turned out in large numbers, hoping to witness history-a victory over Australia that would have boosted their team's semifinal chances.
The inaugural edition's winner Mumbai Indians will bank on their core group of players while two-time finalists Delhi Capitals will expect fireworks from Shafali Verma when they face-off in the second game of the Women's Premier League here on Saturday. The finalists of the first WPL in 2023, both Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals made it to the knockouts in the second edition last year but lost to the eventual champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the eliminator and the final respectively. Those defeats were certainly not reflective of how well MI and DC had fared until the knockouts stage, with Harmanpreet Kaur's side finishing second in the points table with five wins in eight matches and Meg Lanning's team topping it with six wins in as many outings. The winners of WPL 2023, Mumbai Indians tend to lean on their core group of players both overseas and Indian and a similar approach can be expected this year, with only a few changes taking place in terms of squad composition. India pacer Pooja Vastrakar, who was grappling with an unspecified injury, was ruled out of the competition and has been replaced by slow left-arm orthodox bowler Parunika Sisodia, who was one of the main performers in India's title-winning campaign in the U-19 Women's T20 World Cup recently. Mumbai Indians have let go of England's Issy Wong, who took the first-ever WPL hat-trick in 2023, after the player lost form and the franchise found the leader of their attack in South Africa's Shabnim Ismail. Among domestic talents, another member of the U-19 T20 World Cup winning squad G Kamalini would be one to watch out for, having finished as the third highest scorer in the competition with 143 runs in seven matches. Apart from a strong leader in Harmanpreet, MI have strong figures from other international sides such as Nat Sciver-Brunt (England), Hayley Matthews (West Indies), Amelia Kerr (New Zealand), as well as South Africans Nadine de Klerk, Shabnim Ismail and Chloe Tryon. While Yastika Bhatia is MI's No 1 wicketkeeper-batter, other Indian players in Saika Ishaque, Sajana Sajeevan, uncapped Akshita Maheshwari and Amanjot Kaur will be expected to play their roles to perfection. On their part, Delhi Capitals will be keen to do one better after finishing as runner-up for two times in a row ever since the competition began. One of the most consistent teams in the competition, the Lanning-led Delhi have strong talent base across departments but the key will be to deliver in crucial matches. All eyes will be on the explosive Indian batter Shafali who has responded to her exclusion from the Indian side with runs in domestic cricket. She forms a lethal opening pair with Lanning at the top, while the likes of Australia's Annabel Sutherland, England's Alice Capsey and India's Jemimah Rodrigues form the core of their middle order. All-rounder Sutherland will hope to draw inspiration from her recent success of having struck 163 in the only Test of the women's Ashes followed by winning the highest individual honour in Australian cricket. While Delhi boasts of three wicketkeeper-batters in India's Taniyaa Bhatia, Nandini Kashyap and Scotland's Sarah Bryce, their bowling looks settled with Marizanne Kapp as the leader of the attack, backed by Australia's Jess Jonassen, India's Radha Yadav and Shikha Pandey as well as Titas Sadhu.
Sri Lanka are still 518 runs behind and will need a Herculean effort to avoid the follow-on even though more rain is forecast for Saturday.
Australia, who have already secured their place in the final of the World Test Championship against South Africa, won the opening Test, also in Galle, by an innings and 242 runs.
A round-up of Saturday's action in the Premier League.
Bromance is a fun film that doesn't take itself too seriously, observes Arjun Menon.
'It's the game of cricket. You're going to miss out, you're going to drop a catch -- you've got to get on with what's in front of you.'
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) will be wary of Sunrisers Hyderabad's (SRH) aggressive batting approach when the two teams face off in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Thursday.
A summary of Tuesday's Champions League first leg quarter-finals between Arsenal and Real Madrid, and Inter Milan and Bayern Munich.
Star opener Smriti Mandhana, wicketkeeper-batter Richa Ghosh and all-rounder Deepti Sharma were on Saturday named in the ICC Women's T20I Team of Year 2024.
The driver of the Tesla Cybertruck that exploded outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas was an active-duty United States Army Green Berret, according to sources reported by CNN.
Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma put together his best round of 2025 as he carded a six-under 66 to be tied-4th on the weather-affected opening day of the Investec South African Open Championship.
With their respective leaders switching camps and squads undergoing major overhauls, both Delhi Capitals and Lucknow Super Giants, under new captains, will be eager to make a strong start to their IPL campaign when they face off in Visakhapatnam on Monday.
Hayden shared his views on how to dismiss the Australian batters at Gabba.
Australian opener Matthew Short suffered an injury while fielding but he returned to open the batting and Smith said he could take a few days to recover.
Harleen Deol underscored her growing maturity with an impressive maiden hundred
Travis Head took 4-28 as Australia strangled England with spin before launching a rapid pursuit of their target with rain in the air to clinch the One-Day International series 3-2 following a 49-run win via Duckworth-Lewis-Stern in Bristol on Sunday.
UP Warriorz will be looking to bounce back and avenge their earlier defeat when they take on a resurgent Gujarat Giants in a crucial return-leg Women's Premier League fixture in Lucknow on Monday.
Harmanpreet Kaur's quickfire fifty and Nat Sciver-Brunt's fine all-round showing lifted Mumbai Indians to their second Women's Premier League title.
Davis Cup heavyweights Australia and the United States eased through the first qualifying round on Saturday but Britain were knocked out as Japan hit back from 2-1 down to win 3-2, while Denmark staged a dramatic comeback to overcome Serbia.
Sanam Teri Kasam got the biggest collections ever for a re-release.
Mumbai Indians suffered a two-wicket defeat against Delhi Capitals in their opening match, which was marred by a few controversial run-out decisions.
Travis Head impressed in Australia's 2023 tour of India showing his proficiency against spin
Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden advanced to the quarterfinals
Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka led by example and smashed a belligerent hundred to set up a 49-run victory over a depleted Australia.
Australia's historic pedigree in cricket's biggest tournaments will count for nothing when they run into an Afghanistan side that is fast cementing its place in the game's top table in the Champions Trophy match in Lahore on Friday.
Smith's unbeaten 120 is his second successive hundred of the series while Carey made a career-best 139 not out hitting 22 fours and three sixes between them.
This is Sri Lanka's biggest victory over Australia in ODIs in terms of runs.
India's stand-in skipper Smriti Mandhana was disappointed that her bowlers put up a below-par performance as Hayley Matthews put them to sword with a blazing 85 not out as West Indies levelled the three-match women's T20I series with a resounding nine-wicket victory in Navi Mumbai on Tuesday.
Rohit Sharma's aggressive batting and Shubman Gill's calculated approach have formed a formidable opening partnership for India in ODIs.
IMAGES from the Premier League matches played on Sunday.
Earlier this week, Bopanna and Ebden had clinched a spot in the prestigious season-ending ATP Finals.
Smriti Mandhana closed in on the top spot while occupying the second slot in both the ICC T20I and ODI batting rankings released
A round-up of the UEFA Champions League last-16 first leg matches played on Tuesday.
Australia's success has been compared with some of the nation's great Test teams led by Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting.
Australia's stand-in captain Steve Smith hailed his side's resounding innings and 242-run victory over Sri Lanka in Galle on Saturday as "near flawless" after the visitors retained the Warne-Muralitharan Trophy.
Australia bowled out Sri Lanka for 231 in the hosts' second innings and then chased down the target of 75 losing the lone wicket of opener Travis Head.
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