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ICC announces penalty half an hour after Shoaib Malik comes out to the toss for Pakistan in Johannesburg

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Jan-2019Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed has been suspended for four matches after he admitted to making a racist comment at South Africa’s Andile Phehlukwayo during the Durban ODI.Sarfraz will be forced to miss the final two ODIs against South Africa, and then two of the three T20s that follow. The PCB said he will not play the third T20 either, but return home “immediately”. Shoaib Malik will captain in his absence.The ICC release said that Sarfraz will also have to attend “an education programme to promote the understanding and awareness of issues directly relevant to the offence that he has committed”.Remarkably that ICC release was made public half an hour after the world realised that Sarfraz wasn’t playing in the fourth ODI at the Wanderers because Malik turned up for the toss in his place.”We wanted him [Sarfraz], but the incident… we all know what has happened,” Malik said. “I don’t want to comment about it. But they’ve given me this opportunity, and I want to do my best.”Malik later said he only found out he would be captaining the team on the morning of the match. “When we got to the ground, that’s when I came to know I’m captaining the side. It’s a great honour to represent your country as a captain or a player, and whenever the opportunity comes to you should give your best shot. And that’s what I did.”It was actually South Africa captain Faf du Plessis who first indicated that Sarfraz had been handed a four-match ban. “We’ve heard that he’s out for four games,” he said during his toss interview.In Durban, during the second ODI, during Phehlukwayo’s innings, as he got South Africa’s wobbling chase back on track, Sarfraz was heard on the broadcast stump mics saying in Urdu: Translated literally that is: “Hey black guy, where’s your mother sitting today? What [prayer] have you got her to say for you today?”Since then, Sarfraz has apologised twice, the first an apology in the general direction of nobody, but then backed up by a personal one to Phehlukwayo. The day after the match, Sarfraz tweeted that his comments were “not directed towards anyone in particular”. Then, two days ago, Sarfraz tweeted a picture of himself shaking hands with Phehlukwayo, with this caption: “This morning I apologised to Andile Phehlukwayo and he was gracious enough to accept my apology and I hope the people of South Africa also accept my apology.”The punishment came five days after the incident, allowing Sarfraz to play the third ODI in Cape Town. Ahead of that game, du Plessis said his team had forgiven Sarfraz for the comments.ICC CEO David Richardson said Sarfraz’s apology was taken into account when deciding on his penalty. “The ICC has a zero-tolerance policy towards conduct of this nature,” he said. “Sarfraz has promptly admitted the offence, was regretful of his actions and has issued a public apology, so these factors were taken into account when determining an appropriate sanction.”Pakistan do not have a back-up wicketkeeper in their T20 squad, so Mohammad Rizwan, who took the gloves in Johannesburg, will stay on for the T20s.

Steve O’Keefe produced his second-best first-class figures, of 6 for 35, in a fine spell of spin bowling after lunch to lead Australia’s charge, and put his own career back on track

Brydon Coverdale24-Feb-2017Steve O’Keefe knew this Test was his big chance. He had played four Tests before, but never more than one in a series. One in Dubai, one in Sydney, one in Pallekele, another in Sydney. So when he saw a pitch that threatened to be a raging turner, he knew the pressure was on to perform. And, having been given the new ball to share with Mitchell Starc, O’Keefe went to lunch on day two with 0 for 23 from seven overs.He was disappointed with how he had bowled. He was not leaking runs, but nor was he threatening much either. So, O’Keefe spent some of his lunch break training with Sridharan Sriram, the former India allrounder serving as Australia’s spin consultant on this trip. And when O’Keefe was handed the ball for his first spell upon the resumption, he took three wickets in his first over to turn the match in Australia’s favour, and finished with 6 for 35 from 13.1 overs.”When I first started to bowl, my first six overs, I went probably back to my comfort zone, which is what I bowl in Australia,” O’Keefe said after play. “You probably won’t see it on camera, but I know how it feels. I was probably just going a bit over the top and whenever I tried to bowl quick it was too full, and it was ordinary bowling the first six overs.”I’d been working in the nets on some other variations, just changing the seam angle and arm angle and you probably don’t notice it, but for me it made all the difference. Sree was like ‘let’s go out and bowl it so you feel comfortable with it’.”It’s amazing how things can quickly change over here. I probably didn’t bowl very well at all in my first six overs. And then it all just happened really quickly. I guess that’s the sort of wicket it is. We played and missed at a lot of balls, and fortunately for us they nicked them and we caught them. It was a good day to be a part of and well finished off by the batters.”O’Keefe’s success should guarantee that, unless he suffers an injury like he did during last year’s Sri Lanka tour, he will play multiple Tests in a series for the first time in his career. At 32, he knew this tour was make or break for his international career, after the disappointment of being forced home from Sri Lanka, which had been followed by a drunken incident at a Sydney hotel that led to a fine from Cricket Australia.Steve O’Keefe returned the third-best figures by a visiting left-arm spinner in India•AFP

“Going to Sri Lanka, I thought that was my big opportunity, and I sort of messed that one up,” he said. “To be honest, I always thought an India tour was there but that it was almost unreachable. To be given this opportunity – I’ve tried to make the most of it and I’ve prepared for it back home by giving away some of the Big Bash cricket to prepare solely for red-ball cricket … It means a lot to do well, but we’re day two in a four-Test series, so we’re not getting ahead of ourselves.”O’Keefe was well backed up by the fielders on day two in Pune – Peter Handscomb’s take at second slip to get rid of Ajinkya Rahane was particularly special, but also by his captain. Steven Smith trusted O’Keefe to take the new ball and then went to him again soon after lunch, despite his struggle for impact in his opening spell.”I think the important thing is I’ve been well backed up by Steve Smith, who I think is a brilliant captain,” O’Keefe said. “When you play under a captain who shows a lot of belief in you, it’s amazing what can happen.”O’Keefe’s final analysis of 6 for 35 was the third best by a visiting left-arm spinner in India, behind Hedley Verity’s 7 for 49 in 1934 and Michael Clarke’s 6 for 9 in 2004, and they were also the second-best figures of O’Keefe’s first-class career. And while he was still coming to terms with his triumphant performance shortly after play on day two, he knew it would count for little if Australia let India off the hook in the second innings.”It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” he said. “I think it will if that contributes to a win. Right now we’ll enjoy it, we had a good day, but that’s all it is. It’s just a good day’s cricket. We know this Indian team, how well they can bat, and even in spinning conditions they’re exceptional players. They’re all match-winners, all their top seven batters, you’d even argue the top eight. We’ve got our work cut out for us. We’re 300 ahead – let’s get more and let’s create 10 chances tomorrow and hold on to them.”

Darren Sammy singled out West Indies’ determination to fight to the finish as the key factor in helping them win their first world championship since the World Cup of 1979

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Oct-2012The West Indies celebrations after the final wicket were interrupted only by the post-match presentation, during which the captain Darren Sammy singled out his team’s determination to fight to the finish as the key factor in helping them win their first world championship since the World Cup of 1979.”For the last two years we’ve shown the never-say-die attitude, but we haven’t had the results,” Sammy said. “This moment we’re going to live forever. The team has been through a lot in the last two years, for the last ten years. The mission was to win the T20 World Cup, the belief we left the Caribbean with has pulled us through. Today we were down and out but our never-say-die attitude came out.”Thank you to everyone who supported us. The tournament is for the fans. The love we felt from the Sri Lankan people is tremendous and we want to thank them for that. This hopefully will be the beginning of things to come. Hopefully this team will go on.”Sammy played an important role in the 36-run win the final, scoring quick runs at the death during West Indies’ innings to push the total to a competitive 137. But it was Marlon Samuels who played the decisive knock, reviving his team with a counter-attacking 78 off 56 balls, which not only boosted what was a crawling run-rate, but made possible a score his bowlers could ultimately defend. The feature of Samuels’ innings was five sixes off Lasith Malinga.”Put in a lot of hard work. To Jamaica, to the West Indies. Can’t explain how much it means to me,” Samuels, who had lost two years to a ban related to links with an Indian bookmaker, said after being named Man of the Match. “They beat us twice, I tell Chris [Gayle] we can’t lose thrice. The wicket was a bit slow, today was a different mindset, I decided to attack Malinga, their best bowler and it paid off. We are working together as a unit. Future-wise I think West Indies are going to do well, even in Test cricket. Test cricket is the best cricket.”The game ended in despair for Sri Lanka, the hosts, who dominated the first half of the West Indies innings. Mahela Jayawardene kept his team on track in the first half of the chase, but there was no recovering from a collapse that began with the fall of his partner Kumar Sangakkara in the 10th over. They ended up losing nine for 53.”I think the first ten overs were fantastic, they knew they had to go for it. A couple of mistakes on the field and three-four bad overs shifted the momentum,” Jayawardene, who resigned as T20 captain after the defeat, said. “We’re disappointed, a full house. A couple of overs they went after us, against our best bowlers. I backed my No. 1 bowler to deliver but Marlon batted very well.”They bowled really well, we just needed to keep the pressure on which we didn’t. We need to sit down, have a good chat, and move on.”

The Bombay High Court has given Nimbus Communications four weeks to deposit Rs 305 crores (approx. US$61 million) with the court as security for the amount the BCCI claims it is owed by the company

Tariq Engineer23-Jan-2012The Bombay High Court has given Nimbus Communications four weeks to deposit Rs 305 crores (approx. US$61 million) with the court as security for the amount the BCCI claims it is owed by the company. The order, issued by Justice SJ Vazifdar on January 19, 2012, came after the board had moved the court asking for Nimbus to provide a security for the outstandings.The BCCI argued that the amount is due to them for the telecast of India’s recent home one-day series against England and the West Indies series, and asked that the amount be taken from the advertisement revenue earned through Nimbus’ sports channels – Neo Sports and Neo Cricket.The lawyers for Nimbus and Neo Sports, however, claimed that the terminated contract was between BCCI and Nimbus and did not involve Neo Sports. Therefore Neo was not liable to pay the board anything. Neo, they argued, was an independently-run business and though it was a subsidiary of Nimbus, there were no legitimate grounds to use its revenues to pay off the debts of its parent company.However, the court disagreed with Nimbus’ argument and ruled that “the respondents [Nimbus and Neo] should deposit all monies which they have already received from the advertisers as consideration for broadcast of advertisements on the television channel/s owned and operated by the respondents in relation to the 2011 cricket series.” In addition, the court directed Nimbus to petition the advertisers who still owed them money for the same series to deposit that money with the court as well, with the stipulation that the total amount placed with the court was not to exceed Rs 305 crores.Nimbus and the BCCI are locked in a battle over the television rights for cricket in India. The board terminated the contract between the parties last month, claiming Nimbus had defaulted but were stymied by the courts when it came to encashing bank guarantees worth Rs 1600 crores (approx. $320 million). ESPNcricinfo understands that the dispute over the contract is now under arbitration.

Rahane misses ton but Mumbai dominate, while Tamil Nadu could get lucky

Shashank Kishore31-Jan-2025Kohli’s short stay
It lasted all of 15 deliveries in which he made six. Virat Kohli was beaten twice outside off, once to a full delivery that left him late and then a length ball that he jabbed and missed.He brought out a delightful straight drive in the next over, but was out off the very next delivery when Himanshu Sangwan, a Railways ticket collector at New Delhi Railway Station during the off-season, sent his off stump cartwheeling. Soon, Sangwan became a reel sensation for a superb nip-backer that sneaked through Kohli’s big gap between bat and pad.A strong crowd of around 15,000 who made a beeline for the exit, missed a quality knock from Ayush Badoni. The captain’s 77-ball 99 helped Delhi open up a 93-run lead against Railways, with three first-innings wickets remaining.Pujara 99, Saurashtra on course
The stars have aligned perfectly for Saurashtra. They needed two outright with bonus points, both games were at home in Rajkot on turners; they beat Delhi last week inside three days with Ravindra Jadeja taking 12 wickets.Related

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This week, they didn’t need Ravindra’s bowling because the other Jadeja (Dharmendrasinh), was among the wickets (four of them) as Assam were made to follow-on. That Saurashtra were in a position to enforce the follow-on was because of a solid batting performance in the first innings.Their 474 was set up by Cheteshwar Pujara, who was out for 99 early on day two having added four to his overnight score. Assam’s only source of resistance was Riyan Parag, who top-scored with 51 on his return to top-flight cricket from a shoulder injury.Kuldeep made to toil
Returning to competitive cricket after three months following a surgery for sports hernia, Kuldeep Yadav sent down 31 overs to pick up three wickets, but Uttar Pradesh were sent on a leather hunt. Double tons from Harsh Gawli and Shubham Sharma helped Madhya Pradesh post an imposting 670 for 7 declared. From a qualification standpoint, this game doesn’t hold much significance since with both teams are out of the knockouts race.Rahane 96 in mammoth Mumbai total
Ajinkya Rahane’s quest to convert his maiden first-class fifty this Ranji season into a century met disappointment as he was out for 96 against Meghalaya, but Mumbai opened up a 585-run lead.Meghalaya were 27 for 2 at stumps, giving Mumbai a sight of seven full points that will take them to 29 points and help them seal a quarter-final berth. Coming into the final round, they needed a favour from Jammu & Kashmir, and they’ve helped them along the way by pocketing not just a first-innings lead against Baroda but also opening up the possibility of an outright win.Jalaj continues to shine
Earlier this season, Jalaj Saxena – the Kerala allrounder – completed the double of 6000 first-class runs and 400 wickets. In the final round of matches, he picked up a five-for in each innings, both on Friday, as Kerala trounced Bihar by an innings to secure a quarter-final berth.Jalaj took his wickets tally in the tournament to 421, the seventh-best. This was the 10th time he picked up 10 wickets or more in a first-class game. Bihar lasted a combined 64.2 overs across both innings in which they made make 64 and 118 in response to Kerala’s 351 fuelled by Salman Nizar’s 150.TN stutter but knockouts chances burn bright
They need 97 and have only five wickets in hand against Jharkhand, but a scenario has emerged wherein Tamil Nadu can qualify for the knockouts despite a defeat. That’s because Chandigarh – who won three successive games outright in the first half – have now conceded the first-innings lead to Chhattisgarh in a game they needed to win with a bonus point. Tamil Nadu’s hopes of pulling off the chase are pinned on Vijay Shankar, who is unbeaten on 33.

The 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season will be his last tournament as a cricketer – both for international and domestic cricket

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Nov-2024Wriddhiman Saha, the India wicketkeeper, is set to bring the curtains down on a 17-year career at the end of the ongoing 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season. Saha, a veteran of 40 Tests, made the revelation through a social media post.Saha is currently preparing for Bengal’s fourth-round fixture against Karnataka in Bengaluru, having returned to the team after spending two years as a player-mentor with Tripura. He had returned to Bengal following a meeting with Sourav Ganguly, the former India captain.