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Punishments handed out to two teams over wayward bowling in protest at umpiring decisions will be reconsidered after appeals to the BCB

Mohammad Isam09-Apr-2018The BCB will review its decision to punish Fear Fighters Club and Lalmatia Club, their players, coach and manager, after they admitted to losing Dhaka Second Division Cricket League games on purpose as a form of protest against alleged biased umpiring. The matches produced two of the most bizarre scorecards ever seen.The need for reassessment came after the punished submitted multiple letters to the BCB requesting a pardon to renew their careers over the last 12 months. In January this year, both Lalmatia and Fear Fighters appealed to play in this year’s Second Division League but were denied.Jalal Yunus, the BCB director who was part of the three-member inquiry committee formed in April 2017, said that the BCB would discuss all these appeals later this month.”We have received appeals from some of the players and clubs,” Yunus told ESPNcricinfo. “I think Lalmatia have put in a request recently too, and one of the captains has also submitted a letter. We are going to sit for a review soon.”Last year, the BCB effectively terminated Fear Fighters and Lalmatia from the league and handed 10-year bans to bowlers Sujon Mahmud and Tasnim Hasan. They also banned captains Faisal Ahmed and Tonumoy Ghosh, Lalmatia coach Asadullah Khan and manager Adnan Rahman for five years each.The BCB delivered the punishments within ten days, without much in the way of clarification or due process, and soon enough flaws emerged in the investigation. The committee didn’t meet all those involved in the incident, and were said to be lenient on umpires Shamsur Rahman and Azizul Bari, the central figures in the entire episode.During both games, umpires Shamsur and Azizul were said to have prevented captains from both Fear Fighters (against Indira Road Krira Chakra) and Lalmatia (against Axiom Crickters) from seeing who actually won the toss. They were also alleged to have bullied players from these clubs during the games, and then went on to give several questionable decisions.In the first of the two games in question, frustrated by what had happened during their batting innings, Fear Fighters’ Tasnim gave away 69 runs in 1.1 overs which included eight wides and six no-balls. Following Tasnim’s example, Lalmatia’s Sujon, having allegedly been treated the same way by umpires Shamsur and Azizul, gave away 92 runs in four deliveries that included 13 wides and three no-balls the next day.The BCB’s inquiry committee said later in their report that umpires Shamsur and Azizul should have stopped Tasnim and Sujon from bowling in this manner. For being unable to control the match, Shamsur and Azizul were handed six-month bans which ended in November last year, and they are now eligible to officiate in league games.Both bowling performances made headlines across the cricket world and while on the surface it appeared to be one of those quirky scorecards, scratching slightly below revealed the tale of Dhaka’s lower leagues.Several umpires, including Shamsur and Azizul, are recognised as problematic, with many clubs putting in written complaints against them in previous seasons. In the Dhaka Premier League, umpiring was a major issue in 2016 but it has since reduced in the following two seasons, including this year when only a few incidents have come up.There have, however, been continued calls for better umpiring in this season’s Dhaka’s Second Division League. There is also fear among many clubs that umpiring could again be an issue in the First Division League, the second tier of the Dhaka league system, which began on April 8.The punished players – Sujon, Tasnim, Faisal and Tonumoy – remain out of action, as Dhaka’s leagues form the pinnacle of Bangladesh’s domestic cricket. Over the last 12 months, they have tried to play in unofficial leagues in small towns, although in some tournaments their BCB bans became an issue. One of them has even dabbled with umpiring.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is “King of Kings”, with the AC Milan icon set to watch the 2024 Kings World Cup from his throne before handing over a $1m prize.

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• Swedish legend is now retired
• Will be involved in Kings League spectacle
• 32 teams competing for global crown

• WHAT HAPPENED?

  The Swedish legend is now officially retired, with an advisor role being filled at San Siro. He is, however, still passionate about football and has been drafted in to work alongside the likes of Gerard Pique, Neymar and Sergio Aguero when the Kings League takes a global competition to Mexico.

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  Ibrahimovic, with over 500 career goals to his name, will crown the winning team as a seven-figure cash reward is handed out. He is joining a number of celebrity team presidents – with that list including streamers, content creators and football superstars – at the Kings World Cup.

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  The Kings World Cup will involve 32 teams – 10 from Kings Spain, 10 from Kings Americas and 12 foreign guests. FURIA FC, with Brazil’s all-time leading scorer Neymar part of their set-up, have already seen their presence confirmed. Ibrahimovic is now on board, with the promise of more big names to come.

When he came to the crease, NZ needed 181 off 130 balls; Bracewell ended with 127* off 82, with the lower order for company

Deivarayan Muthu11-Jul-2022Michael Bracewell is known as “The Beast” to his New Zealand and Wellington Firebirds team-mates. On the recent Test tour to England, he had been beasted with the ball, and questions were raised over his selection ahead of left-arm fingerspinner Ajaz Patel.On Sunday, in the ODI series opener against Ireland in Malahide, similar questions were raised over his selection, although Mitchell Santner wasn’t available to play after having a bout of Covid-19. Bracewell struggled for control with the ball against the right-hand pair of Harry Tector and Curtis Campher, but turned up with the bat under immense pressure to show what is truly capable of in New Zealand’s white-ball side.When Bracewell came to the crease, the game seemed all but over for New Zealand, who at that stage needed another 181 off 130 balls in a chase of 301, with only the lower order for company for Bracewell. Some of the Irish fans were already celebrating in the stands, but Bracewell hushed them and powered New Zealand to an incredible victory with a calculated assault in only his fourth ODI, thus ending unbeaten on 127 off just 82 balls.Related

• Ajaz Patel peers through sliding door to see Michael Bracewell

• Report: Bracewell's 127* the centrepiece of incredible NZ drama

Campher gleaned seam movement off the deck and swing in the air. Bracewell was particularly cautious against him and offspinner Simi Singh, who was matched up with the left-hander Bracewell. It was Ish Sodhi who took greater risks in a 61-run seventh-wicket partnership with Bracewell.Bracewell then seamlessly shifted through the gears and took the chase deep. It ultimately came down to one man vs the other. Bracewell vs Craig Young. New Zealand needed 20 off the last over, with just one wicket in hand. Young’s plan was to bowl wide yorkers away from the swinging arc of Bracewell and deny him the access to the shorter leg-side boundary.Bracewell proactively veered across off stump and scooped the first two balls for fours, with both square leg and fine leg in. His smarts and power dismantled Ireland’s best-laid plans as he then jumped across off and walloped the next two balls for four and six, both over midwicket. He added another four and six to the sequence to cap a sensational turnaround.Bracewell is used to dealing with pressure. He has been around the domestic scene for over a decade, and captains Firebirds. His Malahide miracle is somewhat comparable to the rescue act in New Plymouth in the Super Smash in January earlier this year. Firebirds were 24 for 4 against Central Stags in pursuit of an imposing 229, but despite wickets tumbling around him, Bracewell turned on the beast mode in cracking an unbeaten 141 off 65 balls. Coincidentally, he had also finished that match with a No.11 for company, with one ball to spare.Michael Bracewell on his first hundred: “Pretty proud moment walking off the field and seeing all the boys’ faces”•Sportsfile/Getty Images”Those experiences… you always learn from and learn what you’ve done well, and probably what you can do better next time,” Bracewell told NZC after scripting New Zealand’s come-from-behind win against Ireland. “I think that’s the benefit of playing plenty of domestic cricket and putting yourself in those pressure situations; you sort of learn how to get through them, and [are] fortunate enough to come on the right side in a couple of times now.”Bracewell said that the win didn’t sink in until he walked off to a rousing reception from his team-mates and family, who were among the sell-out crowd in Malahide.”That was pretty special. That was when it sunk in that I just got a hundred for my country and it was a pretty proud moment walking off the field and seeing all the boys’ faces,” he said. “Yeah, something that I will cherish for a very long time.”[I] had mum and dad come over a couple of days ago and my wife Lauren and little baby Lennox. Yeah, it has been special; Lennox and Lauren have been here for a while now. Nice for them to see a win on the tour. And for mum and dad, I’m pretty proud to put on the performance for them in the crowd.”Bracewell’s big-hitting and left-handedness in the middle order could be an attractive option to have, especially in a T20 World Cup year. And if Bracewell can tighten up his offspin, New Zealand could have a variety of spinners to choose from in white-ball cricket: Sodhi (legspin), Santner (left-arm fingerspin), and Michael Rippon (left-arm wristspin) being the other options.It is this depth on various fronts that has transformed New Zealand into a force to reckon with in white-ball cricket – with or without their seniors. Bracewell’s emergence is the latest embodiment of it.

Dileep Premachandran26-Mar-2009Leadership means different things to different sports. In football, the
captain’s armband is more a sign of recognition than an acknowledgement of
tactical nous. When people talk of the immortal Brazilians of 1970, they
talk of Pele and Jairzinho, Gerson and Tostao. If they do mention Carlos
Alberto, it’s for the rocket into the Italian net, and not his leadership.Cricket couldn’t be more different. When we speak of the great sides,
they’re almost always prefaced by the captain’s name. Warwick Armstrong’s
Australians of 1920-21. The Don’s legendary team of 1948. Ian Chappell’s Ugly Australians. Clive Lloyd’s Calypso Men. Mark Taylor’s new-age
Aussies. You can’t separate the team from the leader, the victorious
campaigns from the men who made the crucial calls.After American Football, where the quarterback reigns supreme, in no other
sport does the captain exert the same level of influence. So, when John Buchanan, acknowledged as one of the great coaching brains of our age, comes out and says that it doesn’t really matter who leads a team, people
will sit up and take notice. More so when the man being marginalised as a result of the new theory is the most successful captain that India has ever had.”It could actually be of benefit to someone like him because it could free
him up for his batting, when he just needs to do his batting or for his
fielding when he just needs to do his fielding or when he needs to just do
his bowling without the burden of the 20-over format on his
shoulders,” said Buchanan when asked about Sourav Ganguly not being given
the Kolkata Knight Riders captaincy for the second season of the IPL. “The laws of the game state that you need a captain for certain formal roles, such as the coin toss, but that
aside, I see there is scope to challenge the way teams have been run in
the past.”His idea of collective leadership has already drawn an incredulous
response from Mickey Arthur, who has plotted South Africa’s rise to the
top of the world game in conjunction with Graeme Smith. Ganguly himself
didn’t appear best pleased with the idea, saying: “Tomorrow I can jump out
and say we need four batting coaches, four John Buchanans and Shah Rukh
Khan [the team owner] can say we need six Andy Bichels. These are all
opinions, these are the ways they are thinking Twenty20 cricket can be
played. We’ll have to wait and see because it’s completely new, it has
never happened in sports.”

One of Buchanan’s more strident critics, Shane Warne, might also have a
thing or two to say about this latest theory. The story of last season’s
IPL was the story of the Rajasthan Royals, the basement-dwelling
candidates who went on to be champions. Warne was captain and coach, and
the inspiration behind a less-than-star-studded side punching way above
its weight. He made household names of the likes of Yusuf Pathan and
Ravindra Jadeja, while Sohail Tanvir and Shane Watson finished up as the
stars of the tournament.Try telling those men that Warne didn’t matter, that it could just as
easily have been Mohammad Kaif or Kamran Akmal leading the side. The team
that lost to the Royals in a thrilling final was no different. MS Dhoni’s
composed style of leadership helped the Chennai Super Kings recover from a
mid-season slump, and nearly repeat his feats with India’s Twenty20 team
less than a year earlier.There’s a tendency to denigrate the twenty-over game as hit-and-giggle and
little else, but for the captains, the margin for error is infinitesimally
small. One bad over, and the game could be finished. In a Test match, you
can have one poor session and still come back to wrest the game away. In
Twenty20, there are seldom any second chances.Arthur spoke of the players getting mixed signals, and that’s the biggest
problem with this Politburo model of captaincy. Who has the final say?
Even in this era of coaches, the one consistent line has been that the
captain has the final word once the team crossed the rope on to the field
of play. Does a coach sitting on the sidelines really have a better feel
for what’s going on in the middle? And if there are four or five “leaders”
on the field, who makes the crunch calls? Instead of relying on one man’s
instinct, do you put it to a vote?As with any experiment, it can’t be rubbished without giving it a fair go.
Just don’t expect Warne or Dhoni to buy into it. Ganguly, who won 21 of
his 49 Tests and led India to a World Cup final, probably won’t either.

India have rested several first-choice players, including Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni, while Sri Lanka will miss Angelo Mathews and Asela Gunaratne, who are unavailable through injury

The Preview by Mohammad Isam05-Mar-20184:10

Pant has improved a lot behind the stumps – Dasgupta

Big Picture

India going into the Nidahas T20I tri-series without many of their first-choice players has somewhat levelled the playing field. Captain Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Hardik Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav have all been rested.Sri Lanka will also miss some of their key players: Angelo Mathews, Asela Gunaratne and fast bowler Shehan Madushanka, who bagged a hat-trick on ODI debut in Bangladesh, are unavailable through injury.Suranga Lakmal and Nuwan Pradeep return to bolster the pace attack, but Sri Lanka will have to be wary of India’s strong bench strength. Allrounders Deepak Hooda, Vijay Shankar and Washington Sundar, fast bowler Mohammed Siraj, and wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant have only played five T20Is among them, but are used to playing under pressure in the IPL. Rohit Sharma, the stand-in captain, meanwhile will look to hit form after an underwhelming tour of South Africa. The return of Suresh Raina adds meat to the middle order, which also includes Manish Pandey.Sri Lanka will aim to build on the gains made in the limited-overs series in Bangladesh. Kusal Mendis has bedded in at the top while Thisara Perera and Dasun Shanaka have boosted the middle order. Akila Dananjaya, who can bowl offbreaks as well as legbreaks, and Isuru Udana are capable of supporting Lakmal and Thisara with the ball.

Form guide

Sri Lanka: WWLLL (last five completed matches, most recent first)
India: WLWWW

In the spotlight

After making back-to-back fifties in Bangladesh, Kusal Mendis repeated the feat at home in the domestic T20 tournament for Colombo Cricket Club. Can he continue his excellent form in the Nidahas Trophy?Sri Lanka might have nightmares of Rohit Sharma, who slammed 118 off 43 balls in the last bilateral T20 series between the two sides in December. In all, Rohit has hit 278 runs in 11 innings against Sri Lanka at a strike-rate of 146.31.

Team news

Kusal Perera, Suranga Lakmal and Dushmantha Chameera might return to the XI. Having secured a thumping series win in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka might not tinker too much with their team.Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Kusal Mendis, 2 Danushka Gunathilaka, 3 Kusal Perera, 4 Upul Tharanga, 5 Dasun Shanaka, 6 Thisara Perera, 7 Dinesh Chandimal (capt & wk), 8 Akila Dananjaya, 9 Amila Aponso, 10 Suranga Lakmal, 11 Dushmantha ChameeraDinesh Karthik will tussle with Pant for the wicketkeeper’s spot. Yuzvendra Chahal and Jaydev Unadkat are likely to return to the XI despite being left out for the third T20I in Cape Town. Sundar will compete with Hooda for the allrounder’s spot, while KL Rahul, who hasn’t played a T20I since December 2017, might get a game in the absence of key players.India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Suresh Raina, 4 KL Rahul, 5 Manish Pandey, 6 Rishabh Pant/Dinesh Karthik (wk), 7 Washington Sundar/Deepak Hooda, 8 Yuzvendra Chahal, 9 Shardul Thakur, 10 Axar Patel, 11 Jaydev Unadkat

Pitch and conditions

The Premadasa pitches are known to be low and slow, but they are likely to help the fast bowlers at the start of the T20I tri-series. There is a slim chance of a thunderstorm in the evening.

Stats and trivia

• Two of the top-ten scorers in T20 cricket feature in this tournament – Suresh Raina (7275) and Rohit Sharma (6587)
• India newbie Vijay Shankar bowled offspin until he was 20 but switched to medium-pace in a bid to break into his spin-heavy state side, Tamil Nadu
• Deepak Hooda, the other India rookie, has a strike-rate of 143.48 in 79 T20 matches

Quotes

“We will open with whoever we feel will play the best. We’ll look at the other teams’ strengths and limitations before coming to that decision also.”

Warwickshire need 519 to beat Kent – a figure never achieved – but at 229 for 1, and Ian Bell again in sumptious form, anything is possible at Tunbridge Wells

ECB Reporters Network22-Jun-2018
ScorecardEngland Test stalwart Ian Bell appears intent on inspiring a momentous Warwickshire run-chase at Tunbridge Wells after Kent set the visitors a mammoth victory target of 519 in a shade over five sessions.In a topsy-turvy Specsavers County Championship match between the second division’s top two sides, Bell posted his third unbeaten hundred in four red-ball innings to take Warwickshire into the final day on 229 for one, requiring a further 290 for victory. The previous two were unbeaten; if this one remains so, Warwickshire would doubtless make history with the biggest successful run chase in Championship history. It is quite a run in the month when he conceded that his England days were realistically over.Bell and his second-wicket partner Dominic Sibley came together after the departure of left-hander Will Rhodes soon after lunch. Rhodes, back on his stumps to a Harry Podmore off-cutter went leg before for 25 leaving Bell and Sibley to bat out the remaining 55.4 overs of the day.Despite numerous Kent bowling changes, the visiting partners reached stumps with aplomb, rarely looking in trouble as they batted throughout the third day’s final session.The home bowlers switched ends in trying to make best use of Keith Barker’s day-two follow-through marks, but in truth off-spinner Adam Riley and rookie seamer Ivan Tomas offered little threat, Indeed Riley, in his last two championship starts, has now sent down 55.2 wicketless overs.Bell, prodding somewhat at his 164th ball, was slightly fortuitous to move to his 55th first-class hundred with a 15th boundary that ran through to the unguarded ropes at fine leg via a thick inside edge against the bowling of Matt Henry.Two deliveries later, Henry dropped to his haunches in exasperation after umpire James Middlebrook turned aside the Kiwi’s strenuous leg before plea.At the other end Sibley, who was downed in the cordon shortly before lunch, looked sound in defence and restrained in his stroke play in reaching 82 from 197 balls faced.The pair will likely need to extend their stand well into the final day if they are to beat the highest ever fourth-innings run chase in championship history set by Middlesex in beating Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge in 1925.Warwickshire’s own best last innings chase came far more recently however, when they pursued 427 to beat Somerset at Taunton in 2013.At the start of the day, promotion-chasing Kent batted on for a further 22 overs as seventh-wicket pairing Zak Crawley and Harry Podmore frustrated Jeetan Patel’s side for an hour in adding a further 53 runs.Crawley, the 19-year-old former Tonbridge School opener, posted his maiden championship half-century from 87 balls and with four fours, but, with his score on 24, Podmore aimed to force a short, loose delivery from Oliver Hannon-Dalby and succeeded in edging to the keeper Tim Ambrose.Crawley, dropped at slip when on 89 by Jonathan Trott, lasted only two more balls before Hannon-Dalby finally got his man lbw for 93. Having just nicked a streaky boundary to third man, Crawley was undone by an off-cutter that thudded into his front pad.After a lusty 20 from Matt Henry, Kent’s acting skipper Joe Denly declared at 12.25pm, leaving Warwickshire to face a mammoth, first-class record run chase of 519 for victory. By the close, Denly may have already been wishing he’d have batted on a tad longer.

Queensland’s pace trio of Michael Neser, Luke Feldman and Mark Steketee reduced Victoria to 153 for 3 after the visiting team piled on 452 for 5 declared

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Feb-2018Getty Images

An unbeaten century from Queensland youngster Sam Heazlett helped the Bulls pile up a huge first-innings total against Victoria on a batting paradise at the MCG.Heazlett nearly doubled his overnight total to register his second first-class hundred, 24 hours after Matt Renshaw made 170. Jack Wildermuth fell agonizingly short of his third first-class century when he was bowled by Peter Siddle for 94.The Bulls made early inroads, removing both Victorian openers cheaply. Marcus Harris fell to a stunning one-handed catch from wicketkeeper Jimmy Pierson. Michael Neser and Luke Feldman claimed the early wickets, before Mark Steketee later removed Eamonn Vines for 34.But youngster Will Pucovski and veteran Cameron White steadied the innings with an unbeaten 94-run partnership. Pucovski, coming off a double century in the Futures League last week, scored his first Sheffield Shield half-century, and moved to 64 not out at stumps on day two.

Unfit? Check. Arrogant? Check. Unfocussed? Check. Robin Uthappa has learnt life’s lessons, and is ready to do anything for what he once took for granted – big-time cricket

Sriram Veera04-Sep-2010It was 2007. They said he didn’t look fit. They said he had been reduced to two shots – a paddle scoop and a desperate walk down the track. They said he was arrogant, that he had got ahead of himself. That Robin Uthappa was over. Aged 21.Uthappa grew up with such accusations directed at him: unfit, over-confident, arrogant, a front-foot thumper. The stories were familiar. Everyone had heard the one about his mother suggesting he ask Rahul Dravid for an autograph, only to have her son reply, “I want to give, not take autographs.”The one about his weight, however, is not so well known. At the age of 10, an attack of epilepsy meant he had to take steroid medication for three-and-a-half years. It slowed his metabolism and made him susceptible to putting on weight, leading to a life-long battle against the bulge.Things haven’t changed much. Uthappa is still battling the same perceptions.”I need not only to be fit but also to fit,” he says. “If I don’t train for a week, I put on four kilos. You can imagine what happens if I don’t train for a month. Post-IPL I was 85kgs. I went into surgery [for a shoulder injury] at 89 kilos.” After surgery he didn’t train for 21 days. He started rehab at 95 kilos.It has to be depressing. “It’s like hitting a wall,” he says. “Day in, day out you hit the gym and work really hard but you feel like you are not getting any results.” After the surgery Uthappa checked his weight every week. No movement on the scale. Still the after-effects of the old battle with epilepsy. Uthappa looks fit now, but he knows it’s a never-ending struggle.Arrogance, the second sin, shadowed him for long and he admits as much. When he played the first IPL, just on the heels of a World Twenty20 triumph, the familiar traps followed: money, fame and narcissism. “I was 21-22, we had just won the World Cup, and I thought I could get away with murder, man,” Uthappa says.It’s the burden of his generation, and it looks like Uthappa’s story is repeated in a dozen youngsters around. The system and its “benefits” can leave a young cricketer vulnerable to temptation and unaware of how to handle fame and fortune.He says it wasn’t the usual distractions like parties and late nights that had bothered him. “I stopped working as hard as I used to. My work ethics definitely suffered. I would rather stay in the room rather than get some work done in the gym. I would rather hit 20 balls less than 40 more, like I used to do in the past.””Fame does funny things,” Sadanand Viswanath, an eighties star who burnt out early, once said. “The adoration from fans is indescribable. You have to be there to understand it.” Uthappa does. “Money, certainly, is a factor,” he says. “When you are suddenly earning so much, you get ahead of yourself.”An entourage mushrooms around you, of the kind of people a young athlete ends up attracting. “You get people who tell you what you want to hear, you slack off,” Uthappa adds, “Worse, you don’t even know you are slacking. It happens more and more, especially with the kind of money that’s come into the game now.”

I can’t be a Rahul Dravid. I can’t be a grafter. I don’t have the flexibility of Sachin. I am someone whose strength is aggression. I am more in the mould of Hayden, Sehwag or Dhoni. I have decided that’s how I am going to play from now on

Some cricketers never realise they have derailed. It struck Uthappa just before the CB Series in Australia two years ago. “We were playing Pakistan in India and I realised I had already done a lot of damage to my career,” he says. “I realised I had to make changes and do it quickly. I tried to do it in the CB Series, but after the new selection committee came in. The Asia Cup in 2008 was the last game I played. I had no real role in that tournament, and Suresh Raina came really good, and they had to leave me out.”It took a while for me to adjust, but I am really happy that I realised by myself that I was going off track and realised pretty quickly. I remember thinking, ‘S**t, I’m getting ahead of myself and should hold back.’ Even then I guess it was a little late to realise.”He is 24 now. He reflects on that phase of his life and talks about what youngsters need in times like the ones he went through. “I think one has to have a guide, a mentor they can talk to, trust, and blindly believe what they say,” he says. “It could be a fellow player, a coach or parents. If that other person says you are crap right now, you close your eyes and believe that is so. Thankfully due to my education and upbringing, I realised soon that I was heading the wrong way. I have understood that there are lines a player can and cannot cross and I have mended my ways.”If that indeed is true – and there is no reason not to believe him – it’s only the beginning of the battle. Uthappa started his campaign to return to the Indian team on the domestic circuit. He had a reasonable 2009 season, but flopped in that year’s IPL. The domestic season that followed wasn’t great, but the IPL 2010 was. His power-packed cameos put him back on the map. It also helped him understand the path ahead.”I can’t be a Rahul Dravid. I can’t be a grafter,” Uthappa says. “I don’t have the flexibility of Sachin, who can graft and attack at his own will. I am someone whose strength is aggression. I am more in the mould of Hayden, Sehwag or Dhoni. I have decided that’s how I am going to play from now on.”The Champions League is the first step in his attempt to return to international cricket. Since the 2009 World Twenty20, many young Indian batsmen have floundered against short-pitched deliveries. Uthappa sees the Champions League as an opportunity to showcase his skill. “I grew up on matting wickets, and pull shots come naturally to me. The South African pitches will offer bounce and should be ideal for such shots.”He has said he will concentrate on his keeping, and now aims to fill that role for India in the limited-overs formats. He also says he has relinquished the opening slot, and will seek a role in the middle order. It’s not going to be easy. He still has a long way to go. The good news is, Uthappa knows it and is ready for the long haul.

Jordi Alba was reportedly absent from Inter Miami training ahead of Lionel Messi and Co's CONCACAF Champions Cup clash with Nashville.

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• Alba missed training on Tuesday
• Left-back is said to be sick
• Remains to be seen if he can make the trip to Nashville

• Getty/GOAL composite
  

  WHAT HAPPENED?

  According to the the defender is sick and hence refrained from participating in the team's training session on Tuesday. The Inter Miami squad will leave for Nashville on Wednesday morning and it remains to be seen if Alba will be well enough to fly with his team-mates.

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  Alba has played every minute in the MLS so far and has been a crucial figure for Tata Martino. He set up Messi for a 92nd-minute equaliser against LA Galaxy which was incidentally the Argentine's first strike of the season.

• DID YOU KNOW?

  Alba was signed from Barcelona last summer as a free agent by Inter Miami. He took little time to taste success as the Spaniard went on to lift the Leagues Cup along with Messi & Sergio Busquets.

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  WHAT NEXT?

  Martino will be looking to manage the minutes of his veteran superstars to keep injury at bay. However, if Alba does feel better on Wednesday he should be on the flight to Nashville as the Herons would like to field their strongest XI in the first leg of the Champions Cup last-16.

Fakhar Zaman and KL Rahul became the new No. 2 and No. 3 respectively, while Babar Azam, Colin Munro and Glenn Maxwell slipped to occupy the spots right below the top three

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jul-2018Australia T20 captain Aaron Finch has jumped three places to vault to the top of ICC T20I rankings for batsmen, while Pakistan’s Fakhar Zaman and India’s KL Rahul rose to the No. 2 and No. 3 spots respectively. Finch also became the first player ever to break the 900-point barrier in the T20I rankings but ended the series with a final tally of 891 points.The new top three in the ICC rankings for T20 batsmen•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Babar Azam, Colin Munro and Glenn Maxwell all slipped, occupying the three spots below Finch, Zaman and Rahul.Finch had a prolific run in the tri-series against Pakistan and hosts Zimbabwe, piling on 306 runs in five games at a strike rate of over 200, which included a world record 172 off 76 balls.Zaman moved up 44 places on the table and reached 842 points following his own incredible form in Zimbabwe, which featured a career-best 91 off 46 balls in the final that helped Pakistan seal a record chase against Australia in Harare.Rahul touched a career-high 854 points following the first match of the T20I series in England – which the visitors won 2-1 – where he scored a match-winning 101, but a dip in the next two games saw him finish with 812 points.D’Arcy Short, Finch’s opening partner, entered the top 10 rankings for the first time. He made 165 runs at an average of 41.25 in the tri-series, including a 53-ball 76 in the final. The others who garnered career-best rankings following the two series were Jason Roy (No. 15 with 641 points), Jos Buttler (No. 17 with 614 points) and Zimbabwe’s Solomon Mire, who rose a staggering 202 spots to 25th place on the table.Among the bowlers, legspinners Rashid Khan and Shadab Khan retained the top two positions but there were movements down the table. Andrew Tye rose 41 places to seventh spot and Adil Rashid moved up four places to ninth.