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Pace and bounce. Those are the words that come to mind when one thinks of cricket in South Africa. However, things have been completely different in the first two T20Is of the current series. There was so much help for spinners that India looked more at home than the hosts.South Africa’s batters had no clue against Varun Chakravarthy, now an overspin bowler with more tricks in his bag than a magician. His eight wickets – and an economy rate of 5.25 – are the most in the series so far. Legspinner Ravi Bishnoi is the joint second on that list with four wickets and an economy rate of 6.12.In all, spinners from both sides have a combined 16 scalps and gone at 6.51 per over. Fast bowlers, despite bowling almost seven overs more, have 12 while going at 8.58.Related

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Arshdeep Singh, a fast bowler himself, does not mind that. Even though he went for 41 in four overs in the second T20I in Gqeberha. “I’m enjoying what the spinners are doing. I will be really happy if they take all ten wickets and I don’t have to do my job,” he said on the eve of the third T20I in Centurion.The conditions in the third T20I, though, are expected to be different from the first two. The first two were played in coastal cities, Durban and Gqeberha, and the teams could breach the 150 mark only once in four innings.The next two games will be played in Centurion and Johannesburg, high-altitude venues where the ball flies off the bat. In the most recent T20I in Centurion, in March 2023, West Indies posted 258 for 5, only for South Africa to pull off a record chase with more than an over to spare.So what is India’s plan for Wednesday? “The South Africa batters are struggling against spin,” Arshdeep said. “So the idea is to contain early on and give a good platform to our spinners to attack and take wickets.”Varun Chakravarthy bamboozled South Africa’s batters in the first two T20Is•AFP/Getty Images

But it will not be easy for Varun and Bishnoi to replicate their performance, and South Africa know this. “Playing spin here is a lot different than playing it in PE [Port Elizabeth, Gqeberha’s earlier name] or Durban,” their allrounder Marco Jansen said. “There is a lot more bounce here and they will probably try a fuller length. How we go about that is different for each individual.”I think we didn’t play spin as well as we wanted to in PE. There were a few soft dismissals where we felt we could definitely make better decisions and execute better.”It’s important we look to score straight against spinners. It’s the same for them; they don’t want to go too full because then it’s easier to play. They want to be shorter. It’s not turning a lot; the ball just skids on. So they know if they go fuller, it is easier to score. If it’s full, we can step out. If it’s short, we can stay back.”With the ball, South Africa’s plan looks different from India’s. Their lead fast bowlers – Jansen and Gerald Coetzee, both returning from injuries – have been quicker and more accurate than their Indian counterparts and will aim to strike early.”In the Highveld, the ball travels a lot more than at the coast,” Jansen said. “So it’s important to take wickets at regular intervals, because it’s very difficult to restrict the scoring rate.”Arshdeep is aware he may have to play a key role for India. “I am looking forward to what the wicket offers here,” he said. “It all depends on the conditions, the pitch, the situation whether to go for wickets or look to contain.”When you are bowling two overs at the start and two at the end, a lot depends on you – you can win a game or lose it. So there’s a lot of responsibility. When you bowl at the death, some days are good, some days are bad. You try to stay level-headed and not overthink. The endeavour is to keep things simple, not complicate them, and fulfil what the team demands from me.”

South Africa earned a consolation win to end their three-match series against Afghanistan 2-1 as they completed their ninth successful chase in 22 matches since 2021. After being outplayed in the first two games, South Africa finally arrived in the contest via their bowlers and fielders who dismissed Afghanistan in 34 overs and left their batters a small total to chase.Aiden Markram scored his first ODI fifty in 10 innings and shared a 90-run fourth-wicket stand with Tristan Stubbs. Stubbs’ ODI career is only four matches old and importantly for him, he was able to bat time and finish the match.In the absence of Rashid Khan, who tweaked his hamstring in the second match, and Fazalhaq Faooqi, who was rested, Afghanistan’s attack lacked some intensity but they did not have as much to work with as they would have liked after the batting blunders. Rahmanullah Gurbaz was the only member of Afghanistan’s top eight who scored more than 10, once again holding their innings together. He fell 11 short of a second successive ODI century and extended his lead at the top of the series run-scorers charts. AM Ghazanfar, batting at No.9, contributed 31 off 15 balls to give South Africa a target of 170. They got there in 33 overs.South Africa’s energy came from a good new-ball combination of Lungi Ngidi and Bjorn Fortuin, and in the field. Run-outs accounted for three of the first five Afghanistan wickets and gave South Africa an edge they lacked in the previous two matches.Ngidi was excellent upfront, with his range of cutters and slower balls and got an early breakthrough when debutant opener Abdul Malik played all around a straight delivery and was pinned on the pad. Arguably, Ngidi made a more important breakthrough in his next over, when Gurbaz drove him aerially, he stuck out his right hand and the ball clipped his finger and ricocheted off Rahmat Shah and onto the stumps. Rahmat, at the non-striker’s end, was short of his ground.While Rahmat was sloppy in getting back in time, Hashmatullah Shahidi’s lack of urgency was worse. He hit Markam behind square and called for two but ran the second too slowly and veered off a straight line to give Stubbs enough time at sweeper cover to throw to Kyle Verreynne and run the Afghanistan captain out. Things got worse in the next over when legspinner Nqaba Peter bowled Azmatullah Omarzai.Rahmanullah Gurbaz waged a lone battle at the top•ACB

By then, Gurbaz had already brought up a 47-ball 50, laced with his characteristic clean hitting down the ground and on the leg side. He dealt with the wickets by batting as normally as possible, even as he grew frustrated with his partner’s mistakes. Ikram Alikhil was next to misjudge when Gurbaz bottom-edged a pull off Markram to midwicket, leaving no time for a single. Alikhil was halfway down the wicket when Gurbaz sent him back but Temba Bavuma was onto the ball and ran Alikhil out.Mohammad Nabi was Afghanistan’s last recognised batter and South Africa kept him quiet and should have him out for 5 when he missed a Bjorn Fortuin arm ball. South Africa didn’t review but replayed showed he would have been out lbw. In Fortuin’s next over, he got his own back when Nabi edged him to Verreynne and Bavuma reviewed successfully.Gurbaz’s push for a century ended when he tried to hit Andile Phehlukwayo over extra cover and was well caught by Reeza Hendricks diving forward to leave Afghanistan 133 for 7. Phehlukwayo took a second wicket in three balls before Ngidi and Peter got rid of the tail. Afghanistan left 16 overs out there and will be disappointed with their capitulation after two dominant performances earlier in the week.South Africa’s batting has been their downfall throughout the series and although improved, did not always look convincing. Bavuma and Tony de Zorzi were tentative against left-armer Naveed Zadran at first and Bavuma almost chopped on in the third over. But when they got hold of the 19-year-old, they capitalised. De Zorzi smashed him past mid-off for the innings’ first boundary and Bavuma pulled him through mid-wicket later in the same over. He also took on Ghazanfar to suggest South Africa had done some work on their approach to spin, but de Zorzi underlined the old problems. He hit a sweep off Nabi straight to Hashmatullah at square leg and the captain put it down and then sent the next ball to cover, where Omarzai could not hold on.In the next over, Bavuma played Ghazanfar down the wrong line and was bowled and the over after that, de Zorzi gave Ghazanfar a return chance but the ball bounced just in front of him. Just when it seemed de Zorzi’s charmed life knew no end, he stayed back in his crease against Nabi and was trapped lbw.Reeza Hendricks’ lean run continued when he top-edged Fareed Ahmad to depart for a third score under 20 this series. In his last 15 white-ball internationals, Hendricks has only gone past 20 three times.Markram took it on himself to anchor the rest of the chase and also provided experienced counsel for Stubbs. The pair built slowly at first and minimised risk but also picked their moments to attack. Markam scored the first boundary in 10 overs when he slog-swept Nangeyalia Kharote and then drove him through the covers. Then it was back to singles until Stubbs pulled Fareed behind square. Markram’s aggression against spin came out when he hit Nabi for two sixes in an over. He brought up 50 off 54 balls and ended unbeaten on 69 off 67 balls. Stubbs reviewed successfully when he was given out lbw to Fareed on 18 and saw South Africa through to the end.

As he prepares to depart the ICC, Alex Marshall, the head of global cricket’s anti-corruption unit (ACU), has warned that “badly run” domestic T20 leagues “at lower level” remain a “threat” to the game with corruptors looking to use them as an entry point. Marshall, 63, has decided to retire from the ICC job this November, ending a seven-year term, which started in 2017 as general manager of the ICC’s integrity unit, which includes the security and anti-doping units apart from the ACU.Marshall, a former senior policeman in the UK, recently communicated his decision to the ICC, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family, including parents and grandchildren in England. Marshall, who replaced YP Singh, was the fourth ACU head and was shortlisted by Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the independent chairman of the anti-corruption watchdog.Marshall said that while the malaise of corruption will continue to shadow cricket, he was “proud” that during his stint the ACU had been successful in helping players be more forthcoming about approaches from corrupters. “I am proud of the significant increase in trust from players who now report approaches to us frequently whereas there was a time when they lacked confidence in confidentiality and the action that will be taken,” Marshall told ESPNcricinfo on Friday. “They have now seen corruptors being disrupted, named, banned when they get involved in cricket. And the education we now do with players shows them who the corruptors are, what their methods are, so everyone is much better equipped and protected to keep corruption away from the game.”Immediately upon taking charge in September 2017, Marshall and his team investigated several people in Sri Lanka, a country where the ACU was busy at that point, conducting a number of probes concerning “various types of corrupt activities.” That operation lasted several years during which the ACU met the top-most authorities of the Sri Lankan government, including the President and Prime Minister, to paint them a picture of corruption that had seeped into the country’s cricketing system. Eventually, the ACU intervention paved way for Sri Lanka becoming the first South Asian country to criminalise several offences related to match-fixing.Related

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Marshall said he was happy with the progress in Sri Lanka, where he says there are now stronger guardrails to ward off corrupt elements. “Sri Lanka turned out to be a good news story because there were serious issues which were addressed locally and with ICC,” he said. “Now with the legislation and stronger measures Sri Lanka is in a much better place to keep the corruptors away.”Another significant outcome of the ACU probe involved charging several Sri Lankan players under its own code, including sanctioning a two-year ban on former Sri Lanka captain Sanath Jayasuriya in 2019 for refusing to co-operate with investigations related to corruption in cricket.Two other former international captains, Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan and Zimbabwe’s Heath Streak, who passed away last September, were charged by Marshall’s ACU for wrongdoing. Both players accepted their offence. In 2019, the ACU sanctioned Shakib across the three international formats for failing to report “not one but three” approaches made by alleged corruptor Deepak Aggarwal to engage in corrupt conduct in two tournaments in 2018: an ODI tri-series in Zimbabwe and an IPL match the same year when the Bangladesh player featured for Sunrisers Hyderabad.In 2021, Streak was handed an eight-year ban by the ACU after admitting to five breaches of the ICC’s anti-corruption code, including accepting a payment in bitcoin from a potential corruptor.As he prepares to leave his ICC job, Marshall has a word of caution for those administering, playing and governing cricket: that corrupt elements continue to wander around, waiting for any opportunity to enter the system. And one of those routes, Marshall stressed, was “badly” managed T20 franchise leagues, which are outside the ambit of the ICC ACU and are instead monitored by the member country boards.”I am confident that the cricket you watch is safe and clean,” Marshall said. “But I am also absolutely sure that corruptors are constantly looking for a route into the game, particularly in badly-run lower-level franchise leagues. The threat to the game is corruptors won’t go away while there is always money to be made and they will look for weakness in the system to get in.”

Nottinghamshire Outlaws’ hopes of reaching the knock-out phases of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup were ended when an Essex side who were already eliminated still pulled off a crushing victory by seven wickets at Trent Bridge. Robin Das, opening and still unbeaten, posted a maiden white-ball century off the last ball of the match.The 20-year old Jamal Richards, one of five in the Essex side raised like Das in north-east London, earlier claimed 5 for 31 with wholeheated, bustling pace. His best figures in all cricket halted an Outlaws surge to 96 for 1 and later helped induce a plummet from 163 for 4 to 218 all out despite Ben Slater’s 47 and 52 from South African Matt Montgomery.Other youngsters then saw Essex maturely home as Das and Noah Thain, neither of them yet past his 23rd birthday, put on 185 for the third wicket. Das finished with 100 from 119 balls whilst the teenage Thain fell with victory five runs away for 83, his best in Essex cricket so far.If they could not quite match Essex’s partnership record for the third wicket (268 by Graham Gooch and Keith Fletcher, both veterans at the time) the elder statesman would dearly have relished their stand.Chasing 219, Luc Benkenstein soon went to a spectacular catch on the midwicket boundary as Jack Haynes, running back, caught the ball, threw it up, went over the rope but skipped back to grab it a second time. And Rob Lord made it two wickets in his opening 13 balls when Tom Westley lost off stump to one that kept low.But as Das and Thain went forward with a calm judgement that belied their inexperience, the asking rate, initially 4.38, remained between 4.19 and 4.55 throughout the reply’s first 35 overs. At this point they raced forward as the match was claimed with 39 balls to spare.The Outlaws, put in, had earlier built a 40-run platform from the day’s first eight overs before Haynes, reprieved on five and 14, edged a slash to fall finally for 17.In his 64th first-team match in all formats, Feroze Khushi at last saw his off-spin called up for a maiden outing but it was Richards, the sixth bowler of seven employed, who ended a 56-run stand when Slater was held by Khushi at backward point off his third ball and Haseeb Hameed was bowled for nought by his fifth, a beauty.When Richards, one of seven men aged 25 or under in the line-up, ended an impressive 33 from teenager Freddie McCann, Nottinghamshire, losing three in six overs, were 123 for 4 in the 26th.Tom Moores revived things with 33 from only 28 balls but fell in the deep attempting a second successive six over midwicket before Lyndon James, Liam Patterson-White and Calvin Harrison all came and went cheaply in a disastrous half hour.The last of the trio was wonderfully caught by the leaping Khushi to bring Richards his fourth success at the start of his second spell and he ended things when Montgomery, flailing, miscued to deep cover with 16 balls unused.

A hurricane warning has left the T20 World Cup-winning India team stranded in Barbados.Hurricane Beryl (Category 4) is expected to pass by Barbados on Sunday night local time with the centre of the storm approximately 80 miles off the south coast. India are currently staying at the Hilton Hotel. They were initially planning a charter straight home but the airport has been closed since Sunday evening. South Africa had left earlier on Sunday.BCCI secretary Jay Shah said that board is planning a felicitation for the victorious team after they reach India.”Like you we are also stuck here. After the travel plans are clear, we will think about the felicitation,” Shah told reporters in Barbados.Related

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Shah: New India coach to take charge from SL series

Shah has said that the Indian team will have a new head coach from the limited-overs series in Sri Lanka starting later this month, but did not reveal who has been finalised to succeed the outgoing Rahul Dravid.Former India opener Gautam Gambhir is the frontrunner to take up the position of the head coach. The Cricket Advisory Committee [CAC] has conducted the interviews for the post and shortlisted Gambhir and former India women’s coach WV Raman.”Both coach and selector appointments will be made shortly,” Shah who is in the Caribbean with the Indian team that won the T20 World Cup 2024, said. “CAC has interviewed and shortlisted two names and after reaching Mumbai whatever they have decided we will go by that. VVS Laxman is going to Zimbabwe but a new coach will join from the Sri Lanka series.”The Indian team is due to tour Sri Lanka for three T20Is and three ODIs starting July 27.2:46

What is Virat Kohli’s legacy in T20Is?

‘Seniors will be there for CT and WTC’

Shah has also said that “seniors will be there” in next year’s Champions Trophy and the World Test Championship final, if India qualify for it, while a decision on whether Hardik Pandya succeeds Rohit Sharma as the next T20I captain will be taken solely by the selectors.”The transition has already happened with three greats retiring,” Shah said when asked about the team’s next phase following the T20I retirements of Virat Kohli, Rohit and [Ravindra] Jadeja.”The way this team is progressing, our target is to win the World Test Championship final and Champions Trophy. There will be a similar squad playing there. The seniors will be there.”This means that the senior players, fitness permitting, are likely to be available for the nine ODI matches that India will play before the Champions Trophy scheduled for February-March 2025 in Pakistan.India’s ODI assignments before that include three games each against Sri Lanka (away), New Zealand (home) and England (home).8:43

Rohit Sharma: ‘This has to be my greatest achievement’

‘From Rohit to Virat, all excelled’

Shah also praised the efforts of Rohit and Kohli, who played a match-winning knock in the final against South Africa which India won by seven runs in Barbados. Both Kohli and Rohit announced their retirement from T20Is after the triumph and were joined by allrounder Jadeja in saying goodbye to the format a day later.”It was the same captain last year and same here in Barbados. We won all games except the final in 2023 [ODI World Cup] as Australia played better. This time we worked even harder and played better to win the title,” Shah said. “If you look at other teams, experience counts. From Rohit to Virat, all excelled. Experience makes a lot of difference. In World Cups, you can’t experiment much also. A good player knows when to say goodbye to the game, we saw that yesterday. You look at Rohit’s strike rate, it is better than a lot of young players.”India, who had lost big finals in the past decade, finally ended their title drought after losing two ICC finals – World Test Championship and ODI World Cup final – over the last 12 months and Shah hoped the winning run would continue.”I would want India to win all the titles. We have the biggest bench strength, only three players from this team are going to Zimbabwe. We can field three teams if the need arises,” he said. “The way this team is progressing, our target is to win World Test Championship final and Champions Trophy. There will be a similar squad playing there. The seniors will be there.”On Hardik’s all-round performance in the T20 World Cup and chances of him taking over the captaincy from Rohit, Shah said: “Captaincy will be decided by the selectors and we will announce it after discussing with them. You asked about Hardik, there were lot of questions over his form but the selectors showed faith in him and he proved himself.”India will next travel to Zimbabwe for a five-match T20I series which begins on July 6 in Harare. Shubman Gill will lead the Indian side there with plenty of seniors being rested. Shah also confirmed that an India A team will be travelling to Australia later in the year ahead of the Border Gavaskar Trophy.

Tim Southee has been handed an official reprimand for smashing a hand-sanitiser dispenser, which breached the ICC’s code of conduct that doesn’t take too kindly to “abuse of cricket equipment or clothing, ground equipment or fixtures and fittings during an international match”.This was during the West Indies vs New Zealand T20 World Cup 2024 match in Tarouba on June 12. Dismissed by Alzarri Joseph for a first-ball duck in the 18th over of New Zealand’s chase, Southee smashed the dispenser on his way back to the dressing room. He was reprimanded officially for his troubles and had one demerit point added to his disciplinary record – it was the first offence in a 24-month period.For the record, when a player reaches four or more demerit points within a 24-month period, they are converted into suspension points and a player is banned; two suspension points equate to a ban from one Test or two ODIs or two T20Is, whatever comes first for the player. The demerit points remain on a player’s disciplinary record for a period of two years from their imposition, following which they are expunged.Related

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It wasn’t a happy day for Southee or New Zealand – it hasn’t been a happy time for them at the World Cup on the whole – as they went down by 13 runs for their second loss in a row. With West Indies and Afghanistan getting to three wins and qualifying for the Super Eight stage from that group – Group C – New Zealand had a rare ICC event where they didn’t make the Super Eight stage.Their campaign isn’t over, though. They still have games against Uganda and Papua New Guinea to come, but wins there can only lift them to third place in the group.Southee returned 2 for 21 in that game, his first at the tournament after he sat out the opening loss to Afghanistan.

Allrounder Deepti Sharma and fast bowler Renuka Singh are the two Indian players among the eight listed in the marquee set that will open the bidding at the WPL 2026 auction. Sophie Devine, Sophie Ecclestone, Alyssa Healy, Meg Lanning, Amelia Kerr and Laura Wolvaardt are the others in the marquee set.Among the players in the marquee set, only Renuka (INR 40 lakh) and Wolvaardt (INR 30 lakh) have listed their base price lower than the maximum of INR 50 lakh.A total of 277 players have registered for the WPL 2026 auction for a maximum of 73 available slots. A total of 83 overseas players will vie for the 23 slots available for them in the auction that will be held on November 27 in Delhi.Three players in the marquee sets – Deepti, Ecclestone and Healy – have played for UP Warriorz (UPW), who have four right to match (RTM) options available. UPW retained just one uncapped player in Shweta Sehrawat.Related

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Tahlia McGrath, who played for UPW, and Sophie Molineux, who represented Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), are not part of the 23 players from Australia. That aside, there are 22 players from England, 13 from New Zealand and 11 from South Africa in the auction pool. Chamari Athapaththu, batter Harshitha Samarawickrama and left-arm spinner Inoka Ranaweera are the three from Sri Lanka. Athapaththu was part of UPW last season. Three players from Bangladesh – Marufa Akter, Shorna Akter and Rabeya Khan – have listed themselves at INR 30 lakh.India batter Harleen Deol, who played for Gujarat Giants (GG) for the first three seasons, has listed her base price in the highest bracket of INR 50 lakh and in the capped allrounders’ list. Her GG team-mate, Australia’s Phoebe Litchfield also has a base price of INR 50 lakh. But since GG have retained two overseas players, Beth Mooney and Ashleigh Gardner, they cannot exercise their RTM for Litchfield.Alyssa Healy and Sophie Devine are part of the marquee set for the WPL 2026 auction•ICC/Getty Images

Radha Yadav, Sneh Rana, Grace Harris, Chinelle Henry and N Shree Charani are among those in the set of capped allrounders. In that set all players except Deol have a base price of INR 30 lakh.Assam’s Uma Chetry, who was the back-up wicketkeeper in India’s World Cup-winning squad, and allrounder Kranti Gaud, who has represented UPW, both have listed themselves in the highest bracket of INR 50 lakh. Australia legspinner Alana King (INR 40 lakh), India’s Asha Sobhana and Priya Mishra (both INR 30 lakh) as well as Saika Ishaque (INR 30 lakh), who was part of Mumbai Indians (MI) for the first three seasons, are all part of the first set of spinners, which is the sixth set.Left-arm spinner Thipatcha Putthawong is the only Thailand player listed, while Tara Norris, who played for Delhi Capitals (DC) in WPL 2023 and is the first player to pick up a five-wicket haul in the competition, is the only player from USA.UAE captain Esha Oza and wicketkeeper Theertha Satish round-off the four players from Associate teams. No players from Ireland or Scotland are in the list; Scotland wicketkeeper Sarah Bryce was part of DC last season.UPW and GG will enter the auction for WPL 2026 with the highest purse – INR 14.50 crore and INR 9 crore respectively – followed by RCB (INR 6.15 crore), MI (INR 5.75 crore) and DC (5.70 crore). MI and DC, who retained five players each, will not have any RTM option available.

Vidarbha opener Atharva Taide scored an unbeaten 118 on the first day of the Irani Cup in Nagpur, putting his team on course for a strong first-innings total against Rest of India. He wasHe began the day alongside Aman Mokhade, who hit four boundaries during his 27-ball 19, before nicking an Akash Deep delivery in the eighth over of the match. Akash Deep – returning to competitive cricket for the first time since his Test tour of England – found success at either end of the day’s play. He was the most economical bowler for Rest of India, going at just 2.50 across his 14 overs.Akash Deep capped off the day by having Vidarbha captain Akshay Wadkar caught behind for 5 in the 82nd over. Vidarbha were reduced to 275 for 5, and Taide batted out the remaining overs alongside Yash Thakur to take Vidarbha to stumps on 280 for 5.Earlier in the day, Rajasthan allrounder Manav Suthar had threatened to roll them over for much less. Fresh off an eight-for against Australia A in Lucknow, he took back-to-back wickets in his first over – the 23rd of the innings. First, he cleaned up Dhruv Shorey (18) while the batter was playing down the wrong line, before he had Danish Malewar caught behind just three balls later. The latter was the second of three catches Ishan Kishan completed behind the stumps.Akash Deep impressed on his return to competitive cricket•PTI

At 80 for 3, 25-year-old Yash Rathod walked in. He stopped the slide and continued his good form from the Duleep Trophy, where he had scored 374 runs in five innings at 124.67. Rathod and Taide batted through the second session, and looked all set to bat till stumps.However, after having hit Suthar for a six just the previous ball in the 74th over, Rathod skipped down the track for the second time in a row and holed out to mid-off on 91 against the run of play. The dismissal ended a 184-run partnership for the fourth wicket.While Akash Deep snared the fifth wicket before the close of play, Taide’s presence in the middle will be essential to Vidarbha’s hopes on the second day. In case an outright result cannot be achieved over five days, the team with the first-innings lead will be declared the winner.Vidarbha will thus be looking to bat deep in their first Irani Cup outing since the 2018-19 edition, which they won through a first-innings lead as well.

Nair continues to rack up the runs

Left out of the senior India and the India A squads, Karun Nair served another reminder to the selectors and team management, converting his second successive fifty-plus score for Karnataka into a double-century, against Kerala in Mangalapuram. This was Nair’s fifth double-hundred in first-class cricket and third since 2024.After dropping him for the home Test series against West Indies in favour of Devdutt Padikkal, Nair’s state junior, chief selector Ajit Agarkar said that they ‘expected a little bit more’ than his 205 runs in eight innings at an average of 25.62 in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.Nair went back to the Ranji Trophy and scored an unbeaten 174 against Goa in Shimoga in the second round. After that knock Nair felt that he “deserves” to be part of India’s Test team.”Obviously, it is quite disappointing, but I know that I deserve to be there after the last two years I have had,” Nair told reporters during the last round. “People might have their own opinions, but for me personally, I can have my own. My own opinion is that I deserve a lot better.”He eventually ran out of partners in Shimoga but found ample support from 22-year-old R Smaran, who scored a double-century of his own. The pair added 343 for the fourth wicket, stopping 12 short of Karnataka’s first-class record. Manish Pandey and Dega Nischal had piled on 354 for the fourth wicket against Uttar Pradesh in Kanpur in 2017-18.It was seamer NP Basil who ended the stand when he dismissed Nair for 233 off 389 balls, including 25 fours and two sixes. Smaran then proceeded to make a career-best 220 not out. Karnataka will hope that the twin double-centuries will translate into their first outright win this season.Shikhar Mohan: A new star for Jharkhand?•PTI

Another double-centurion: Shikhar Mohan

Jharkhand’s rookie opener Shikhar Mohan also hit a double-century, setting up his team’s push for an innings win against Nagaland in Ranchi. After Jharkhand had lost two early wickets on the first day, Mohan combined with stand-in captain Virat Singh, who was leading the side in the absence of Ishan Kishan, who had linked up with the India A team in Bengaluru as cover for the injured N Jagadeesan. They accumulated 253 for the second wicket before Virat was trapped lbw by left-arm spinner Imliwati Lemtur.Mohan and Kumar Kushagra (58) then carried Jharkhand past 400. Robin Minz also helped himself to a half-century before Jharkhand declared on 510 for 8. Mohan finished with 207 off 303 balls, with 21 fours and three sixes in his third first-class innings. A prolific run-getter in age-group cricket for Jharkhand, Mohan, now 20, is making a smooth step up to the Ranji Trophy.Elsewhere in Raipur, Jammu and Kashmir opener Shubham Khajuria came close to a double-hundred, but left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate denied him and dismissed him for 190 off 344 balls. His knock countered Chhattisgarh professional Ravi Kiran’s 7 for 82.Nachiket Bhute’s five-for wrecked TN•PTI

Vidarbha flex their depth

No Danish Malewar. No Atharva Taide. No Harsh Dubey. No Yash Thakur. No problem for defending champions Vidarbha.Despite being hit by injuries and unavailability of their strike bowlers Thakur and Dubey, who are on India A duty, Vidarbha had enough depth to dominate Tamil Nadu in Coimbatore. Tamil Nadu were also without Gurjapneet Singh, Jagadeesan and India Under-19 allrounder RS Ambrish, but it was Vidarbha who coped better.Fast bowler Nachiket Bhute, who was playing his 14th first-class game, stepped into Thakur’s shoes and triggered a TN collapse. From an overnight 252 for 4, TN were bowled out for 291. Bhute threatened both edges, especially the inside edge of both right-handers and lefties with his inducker. Both M Shahrukh Khan and B Indrajith were done in by sharp induckers. Bhute gifted himself a five-wicket haul a day after his 26th birthday.Aman Mokhade then kickstarted Vidarbha’s reply with fluent strokes against both pace and spin. When TN captain R Sai Kishore pushed one marginally outside off, Mokhade stretched forward and swept him flat and hard into the square-leg boundary. When offspinner S Mohamed Ali darted one into the stumps from around the wicket, Mokhade dared to back away and pump him through the covers. But just when he was looking set to reel off this third successive century, Sai Kishore had him caught by Vimal Khumar for 80. Vidarbha’s professionals Dhruv Shorey and R Samarth then helped them cut their deficit to 80 by stumps on day two.

The Blaze 59 for 0 (S Bryce 33*) beat Essex 211 (Smale 41, Prendergast 3-43) by 35 runs (DLS) Orla Prendergast led the wickets charge as The Blaze won a rain-affected encounter with Essex at Chelmsford to book a home semi-final at Trent Bridge on Wednesday.Prendergast took 3 for 43, including a momentum shifting double strike to help bowl out the hosts for 211. Her efforts were ably supported by Lucy Higham’s 2 for 33 and some outstanding out-fielding, typified by Kathryn’s Bryce’s run-out of Ariana Dowse.Six of Essex’s batters reached double figures, but only Sophia Smale (41) got beyond 40, Jo Gardner making a run-a-ball 36. The pair added 52 for the seventh wicket after the hosts collapsed from 104 for 2 to 133 for 6.Blaze openers Sarah Bryce (33 not out) and Georgie Boyce had knocked 59 off the target in 11.2 overs when the weather closed in.Dowse and skipper Grace Scrivens gave the hosts a a solid start, the former caressing one through the covers and driving another square for four. Scrivens reached 16 before mishitting a half-tracker from opposite number Kirstie Gordon to square leg and a brilliant pick up and throw from Katherine Bryce ran out Dowse for 20.The response to the double setback was good with Lissy Macleod (30) and Lancashire loanee Liberty Heap (33) targeting the straight boundaries in a stand of 59 at almost a run a ball. Essex looked poised to push on, but Heath’s demise, top edging a short one from Prendergast to midwicket sparked a mid-innings slump.Flo Miller was another Prendergast victim and when Higham sent Macleod packing courtesy of a stunning caught and bowled, three wickets had fallen for six runs in 16 balls.Higham then bowled Amara Carr with a beauty, before Smale and Gardner rallied the home side’s flagging effort, the latter striking the ball powerfully back past the bowler in the mid-on/mid-off arc.But before they could entertain hopes of a score of 250, Prendergast splayed Gardner’s stumps and thereafter only Smale who was last out held up The Blaze for long.The bad weather was closing in by the time The Blaze began their reply, Sarah Bryce and Georgie Boyce immediately showing aggressive intent. Bryce hit Gray for the only six of the match while Boyce three times struck the ball firmly to the fence along the floor.By the time rain drove the players from the field enough overs had been completed to constitute a match and The Blaze were a mile ahead on the DLS and looking forward to a semi-final.