Welcome to Sunday’s live cricket blog!
The Sport360 team will have all the updates from the first ODIs from the India-West Indies and Bangladesh-Zimbabwe series, as well as bringing you the latest news from the cricketing world.
11:15pm – Gayle, Ahmed guide Balkh Legends to inaugural APL crown
Teenaged leg-spinner Qais Ahmed and veteran opener Chris Gayle – who hit his fourth consecutive fifty -teamed up to hand Balkh Legends the inaugural Afghanistan Premier League title in Sharjah on Sunday with a four-wicket win.
Ahmed, 18, ripped the heart out of Kabul Zwanan’s batting as he picked up 5-18 from his four overs to restrict them to 132-9.
Read more on Balkh Legends’ win in our match report here.
Gayle scored his fourth straight fifty. Image: APL/Twitter.
9:30pm – Mohammad Abbas jumps to third spot in ICC Test rankings
Pakistan seamer Mohammad Abbas to climb to the third spot in ICC’s rankings for bowler.
The Pakistan man’s rise was the biggest highlight in the latest ICC Test rankings published on Sunday. Abbas’ sublime display in the recently concluded Test series against Australia saw him jump 11 spots to take third.
Read more on this story here.
Yet more reason to celebrate for Mohammad Abbas.
9:00pm – Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe by 28 runs in first ODI
Imrul Kayes’ third ton in the format helped Bangladesh beat Zimbabwe by 28 runs in the first ODI between the two sides at Dhaka on Sunday.
The hosts put on 272-8 on the board in their 50 overs before restricting the visitors to 243-9.
Read more on the match proceedings in our report here.
Imrul Kayes’ 140-ball 144 was the highlight of Bangladesh’s win.
7:30pm – India thump Windies by eight wickets in first ODI
The first ODI between India and the West Indies at Guwahati has drawn to a premature close with the hosts racing away to their target of 323 with 47 balls to spare.
After West Indies had posted 322-8 in their 50 overs, imperious centuries from India skipper Virat Kohli and his deputy Rohit Sharma led the way to a comfortable win for the hosts.
Read more on the match in our live report here. We have also taken a closer look at Kohli’s 36th ODI which can be checked here.
To read about the match in detail, check out our talking points from Guwahati.
Kohli and Rohit were imperious. Image – BCCI/Twitter.
7:00 – Jonny Bairstow’s injury opens up old can of worms
England star player Jonny Bairstow was forced out of action ahead of the fourth ODI in Sri Lanka after injuring his ankle while playing football during training.
Football is one of the more favoured ways for teams to warm up nowadays. However, it is also extremely easy for players to get injured while playing it during training. Even so, teams continue to play the ‘beautiful game’ while preparing for a cricket match.
Our man Ajit Vijaykumar take a look at previous instances of such injuries costing teams dear here.
Jonny Bairstow hurt his ankle.
6:00pm – Starc’s fitness in focus ahead of Australia’s one-off T20I against UAE
UAE will play their first-ever T20 International on Monday when they take on Australia in an one-off match at Abu Dhabi.
Australia are sweating over the fitness of star pacer Mitchell Starc who is currently nursing a hamstring injury.
That and more is covered in our preview for the historic clash here.
Starc is nursing a hamstring injury.
3pm – Hetmyer hits century
Hetmeyer scored his third ODI ton.
Shimron Hetmeyer hit a rapid ton to resurrect West Indies’ innings after a brief wobble. He came in with the score at 86/3, which soon became 114/4, but the young batsman’s counter-attacking innings gave the visitors an outside chance of setting a target over 300.
Hetmyer brought up his century off of 74 balls, before falling for 106.
1:30pm – West Indies lose three wickets in first 20 overs
West Indies are 102/3 after 20 overs as they look to set a competitive target for India in Guwahati.
Debutant opener Chandrapaul Hemraj lasted just 15 balls before getting out to Mohammad Shami, while his opening partner Kieron Powell scored a swashbuckling fifty before falling to Khaleel Ahmed. Shami also got rid of West Indies’ No 3, Shai Hope.
12pm – Bangladesh win the toss, bat first
Zimbabwe batsmen Sikandar Raza and Craig Ervine ahead of the first ODI.
Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first in Mirpur in the first ODI of their series against Zimbabwe.
Sikandar Raza returns for the visitors after resolving contractual differences with the Zimbabwe board, while Bangladesh handed opening batsman Fasle Mahmud a debut.
11:30am – India win the toss and field against West Indies
Virat Kohli won the toss and put the West Indies into bat in the first ODI of their five-match series, in Guwahati.
Rishabh Pant makes his ODI debut for India, while opening batsman Chandrapaul Hemraj and pacer Oshane Thomas got their first ODI caps for the West Indies.
India surprisingly went with only one wristspinner, picking Yuzvendra Chahal and leaving out Kuldeep Yadav. The rest of their bowling attack comprised of three quicks, Khaleel Ahmed, Mohammad Shami, and Umesh Yadav, and left-arm orthodox spinner Ravindra Jadeja.
West Indies also picked two spinners, Ashley Nurse and Devendra Bishoo, alongside fast bowlers Thomas and Kemar Roach and all-rounder Jason Holder, who captains the side.
