Al Amerat (Oman): Opener Abhishek Sharma struck a scintillating half-century after an excellent performance by the bowlers as a dominant India defeated UAE by seven wickets to enter the semifinals of the Emerging Teams Asia Cup here on Monday.

This was the Indian team’s second win in as many matches in the tournament, having beaten traditional rivals Pakistan by seven runs in the opener.

Abhishek smashed 58 in 24 balls before Ayush Badoni completed the formality of chasing down a target of 108 with a six and four. India won with as many as 55 balls still left to be bowled.

While Abhishek hit five fours and four sixes in his blazing knock, skipper Tilak Varma missed out on a big one after making 21 in 18 balls.

Opting to bat first, UAE were bowled out for 107 in 16.5 overs.

The decision backfired as UAE lost both openers — Mayank Kumar (10) and Aryansh Sharma (1) — inside the first two overs.

Seamer Rasikh Salam dismissed three batters in his opening over, reducing UAE to 40 for 5 inside the power play.

Salam was adjudged the Player of the Match for returning excellent figures of 3/15 with the ball. There were also a couple of strikes from Ramandeep Singh (2/7) as India bundled out UAE with more than three overs remaining in their innings.

UAE skipper Basil Hameed (22 off 12 balls) and Rahul Chopra (50 off 50 balls) steadied the ship with a 41-run partnership before Abhishek broke the partnership, getting the former caught off his own bowling.

That UAE managed to cross 100 was largely due to Chopra’s effort.

India are currently on top of Group B with four points, and take on hosts Oman in their final group game on Wednesday.

Ishan Kishan returned to the national set-up as he was on Monday named in a 15-member India A squad, to be led by Ruturaj Gaikwad, for the upcoming tour of Australia.

Fresh from his fine hundred against Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy, Maharashtra’s Gaikwad was named captain of the India A team.

India A will play two first-class matches against Australia A in Mackay and Melbourne and then take part in a three-day intra-squad game against the senior India team in Perth.

Apart from Gaikwad, the squad also includes other opening batters like Abhimanyu Easwaran and Sai Sudharsan, as India will likely need to name a reserve opener in their Test squad for the upcoming tour of Australia, with captain Rohit Sharma set to miss one of the first two matches of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for personal reasons.

Kishan, who was dropped from the BCCI central contracts earlier this year due to concerns that he was “prioritising” the cash-rich Indian Premier League over domestic cricket, made his return to the India A setup.

Kishan was last part of the India squad during the tour of South Africa in 2023, which he had left midway.

The batter had reportedly taken a personal break which did not go down well with the BCCI.

After the player decided to skip the domestic competitions in the run-up to the IPL, the BCCI dropped him from the central contract.

India A squad for the tour of Australia: Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), Abhimanyu Easwaran (vice-captain), Sai Sudharsan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Devdutt Padikkal, Ricky Bhui, Baba Indrajith, Ishan Kishan (WK), Abishek Porel (WK), Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal, Navdeep Saini, Manav Suthar, Tanush Kotian.

Sharjah: India lost to defending champions Australia by nine runs in their last group match to find themselves in a difficult position to qualify for the semifinals of the women’s T20 World Cup, here on Sunday.

Chasing 152 for a win, India ended at 142 for 9 with captain Harmanpreet Kaur top-scoring with 54 not out off 47 balls. Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma chipped in with 29 and 20 respectively.

India ended their Group A campaign on four points after two wins and two losses.

Australia, who topped the group with all four wins, qualified for the semifinals while New Zealand (4 points) need a win against Pakistan on Monday to make it to the last-four stage.

Opting to bat, Australia were restricted to 151 for 8 with opener Grace Harris top-scoring with 40 off 41 balls. Stand-in captain Tahlia McGrath and Ellyse Perry chipped in with 32 each.

For India, Renuka Singh and Deepti Sharma took two wickets apiece while Pooja Vastrakar, Radha Yadav and Shreyanka Patil got one each.

Brief Scores:

Australia: 151 for 8 in 20 overs (Grace Harris 40; Renuka Singh 2/24, Deepti Sharma 2/28).

India: 142 for 9 in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 54 not out; Annabel Sutherland 2/22, Sophie Molineux 2/32).

Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene

Mumbai: The five-time Indian Premier League winners Mumbai Indians on Sunday announced roping in former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene as their head coach with a major overhaul on the horizon with a mega auction to follow.

Jayawardene has had a similar role with the franchise from 2017-2022 and oversaw their title-winning campaigns in 2017, 2019 and 2020-21.

Jayawardene replaces former South African wicketkeeper-batter Mark Boucher who had a two-year stint as MI’s head coach in 2023 and 2024.

Mumbai Indians qualified for the knockouts in the 2023 edition but endured a poor run this year, finishing last with only four wins in 14 matches.

“My journey within the MI family has always been one of evolution. In 2017, the focus was on bringing together a talented group of individuals to play the best cricket ever and we did very well,” Jayawardene said in a release issued by the franchise.

“Now to return, at the same moment in history, where we look ahead at the future and the opportunity to further strengthen the love of MI, build on the vision of the owners, and continue to add to the history of Mumbai Indians, is an exciting challenge I am looking forward to,” he added.

Jayawardene became MI’s global head of cricket and saw the expansion of the franchise’s other teams. He worked with the coaching staff as MI (WPL), MI NY (MLC) and MIW (ILT20) won a trophy each.

“With our global teams having found their footing within their ecosystems, the opportunity to bring him back to MI arose,” said team owner Akash Ambani.

Kanpur Yashasvi Jaiswal scored another half-century as India defeated Bangladesh by seven wickets in the weather-hit second Test to make a clean sweep of the two-Test series here on Tuesday.

India, after dismissing Bangladesh for 146 runs in the second innings, thanks to three-wicket hauls by Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah, achieved the victory target of 95 runs in 17.2 overs, with Jaiswal and Kohli scoring 51 and unbeaten 29 runs respectively.

Earlier, Ashwin (3/50), Jadeja (3/34) and Bumrah (3/17) broke the back of the Bangladesh batting, allowing them the addition of just 120 runs to their overnight total of 26/2.

Overnight batter Shadman Islam was the highest scorer for Bangladesh in the second innings, scoring 50 runs.

The lunch session was extended by nearly an hour to complete Bangladesh’s innings.

Bangladesh were bundled out for 233 in their first innings before India scored a quick-fire 285/9 and declared their innings on Monday in a match in which two days were completely lost due to a wet outfield.

Brief scores: Bangladesh 233 all out and 146 all out in 47 overs (Shadman Islam 50; Ravichandran Ashwin 3/50, Ravindra Jadeja 3/34, Jasprit Bumrah 3/17) vs India 285/9 declared in 34.4 overs and 98 for 3 in 17.2 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 51, Virat Kohli 29 not out).

India and Mumbai pacer Tushar Deshpande underwent an ankle surgery in London

Mumbai: India and Mumbai pacer Tushar Deshpande underwent an ankle surgery in London after missing the second round of the recently-concluded Duleep Trophy.

The right-arm pacer informed about his surgery in a social media post on Tuesday. He was left out of Mumbai’s 30-man probable list for the upcoming Ranji Trophy season.

“This post comes as an update about my ankle surgery which was done yesterday and went very well,” he said.

“It is a great relief as I was dealing with it for quite a long time. I am very grateful to my family, friends and all my fans for the well wishes, love and trust they have shown towards me.

“Here on, I start my journey to recover better than before and comeback stronger,” added Deshpande, who made his international debut during India’s tour of Zimbabwe in July.

Deshpande claimed 15 wickets in five matches as Mumbai clinched their record-extending 43rd title win in the Ranji Trophy during the 2023-24 season.

The defending champions will take on Baroda in an away game at Vadodara as the split-format Ranji Trophy 2024-25 begins on October 11.

Sri Lanka’s Kamindu Mendis

Galle (Sri Lanka): Kamindu Mendis matched Don Bradman as the joint third fastest player to 1,000 test runs as Sri Lanka tightened its grip on New Zealand in the second test on Friday.

Sri Lanka declared at 602-5 in its first innings and left New Zealand reeling at 22-2 by stumps. With three full days left to play, the Kiwis face a mountainous challenge to avoid a second defeat.

Kamindu reached the 1,000-run milestone in just his 13th test innings, sharing the honor with Bradman, who achieved the feat in 1930 against England at Headingley. Only England’s Herbert Sutcliffe and West Indies great Everton Weekes reached the landmark in fewer innings, doing so in 12 knocks.

In a career that has blossomed rapidly, Kamindu notched his fifth century before lunch. and second century in two tests. Later, with audacious flair, he brought up his 1,000th run by stepping down the track to Rachin Ravindra and smashing a towering six straight back over the bowler’s head.

This remarkable achievement made him not only the fastest Sri Lankan but also the quickest Asian to the milestone, surpassing the likes of Sri Lanka great Roy Dias (23 innings) and India’s Vinod Kambli (14).

The crowd’s celebrations were bittersweet, however, as Sri Lanka declared before Kamindu could reach his maiden double century. He was unbeaten on 182 off 250 balls, an innings laced with 16 boundaries and four massive sixes.

“Kamindu Mendis has been sensational for us this year,” teammate Angelo Mathews said. “He is doing stuff that none of us were able to do early in our careers. He is very matured, knows his game and plays very positively.

Even in the first test, we were under tremendous pressure after a collapse and he rescued us with a hundred. In the second test, the pitch was not doing much, but his concentration was amazing. He just kept on batting. It was a terrific knock.

“Kamindu has made runs everywhere. He was player of the series in Bangladesh this year when wickets weren’t the easiest to bat on. Then, when we went to England, it was seaming all over and he batted so beautifully. Then again, here, on turning tracks he has looked a class apart.”

Kamindu found strong support from Kusal Mendis, who shrugged off recent struggles to post an undefeated 106, his 10th test century.

Demoted to No. 7 in the order after disappointing performances, Kusal responded with a measured innings, combining with Kamindu for an unbroken 200-run partnership, the highest sixth-wicket stand for Sri Lanka against New Zealand on home soil. This partnership also set a record as the highest sixth-wicket stand in Galle, by any team, further cementing Sri Lanka’s dominance.

Earlier in the day, the hosts lost Mathews (88) and skipper Dhananjaya de Silva (44) in the morning session, but Kamindu’s relentless march, paired with Kusal’s defiance, ensured Sri Lanka remained firmly in the driver’s seat, with thoughts of a 2-0 series sweep looming large.

New Zealand, meanwhile, missed crucial chances again to rein in Sri Lanka. Daryl Mitchell dropped Kamindu on 26 and Tom Blundell fluffing a straightforward stumping when he was on 113.

The misery continued for the Kiwis when Sri Lanka struck early in their innings.

Asitha Fernando set the tone, dismissing Tom Latham in the very first over with a sharp catch at gully. Prabath Jayasuriya then removed the other opener Devon Conway, snapped up at slip by De Silva on 9.

“It’s a tough ask for us now,” New Zealand’s Luke Ronchi said. “The important thing is to play each ball, build partnerships and see through sessions. We have done it before in tough conditions. We need to take the game as deep as possible.”