Hazare Trophy: Vidarbha maul Haryana by nine wkts

Vadodara

Darshan Nalkande (4/25) helped Vidarbha canter to nine-wicket win over Haryana in their Group B match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Skipper Amit Mishra’s decision to bat first backfired as Haryana were bundled out for 83 in 30.5 overs. Only three Haryana batsmen could reach double figures as they failed to stitch any substantive partnership. With four wickets, the 21-year-old Nalkande (4/25) emerged as the top wicket-taker for Vidarbha. Yash Thakur (2/16), off-spinner Akshay Wakhare (2/15) and left-arm spinner Akshay Karnewar (2/10) bagged two wickets each. Opener Faiz Fazal (38) and skipper Wasim Jaffer (32) shared 66 runs after losing Jitesh Sharma (11) early as Vidarbha romped home comfortably, scoring 85/1 in 20.4 overs.

Brief Scores: Haryana:  83 all out in 30.5 overs (A Mishra 26; DG Nalkande 4/25); Vidarbha: Vidarbha 85/1 in 20.4 overs (F Fazal 38, W Jaffer 32; J Yadav 1/29) 

Lahore
Umar Akmal equals record of most ducks in T20Is

Pakistan’s Umar Akmal has joined former Sri Lankan batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan for an unwanted record, for getting the maximum number of ducks in T20Is. Akmal, who had scored 0 in the first T20I against Sri Lanka, on Monday returned to the pavilion without troubling the scorers at the Gadaffi Stadium in the second match, which the team from the island nation won comfortably by 35 runs to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. Akmal now has 10 ducks in 84 T20Is and jointly holds the record with Dilshan, who had the same number of ducks in 80 matches for Sri Lanka. Third in the list is Luke Wright of England, who has got 9 ducks. For India, Rohit Sharma has the maximum number of zeroes — 6 in 98 T20Is till now. The third and final T20I between Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be played tomorrow.

Sydney
Smith, Warner make T20 return as Oz eye T20 World Cup

Steve Smith and David Warner completed their return from the wilderness when Australia recalled them to a 14-man T20I squad to play Sri Lanka and Pakistan, with an eye on next year’s World Cup. The two have figured in Australia’s Test and ODI teams after serving their ban, and now return to the T20I side. The T20 squad named will face Sri Lanka and Pakistan in the coming weeks but the focus was firmly on next year’s World Cup, which will be held in Australia. — Agencies