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Dion Myers has said that time away from cricket has given him a broader perspective on his game and renewed energy for his second stint. The 22-year-old Zimbabwe batter had taken a break from cricket to pursue his university studies in the UK before returning to the international fold in the ongoing five-match T20I series at home against India.”Over the last few years, there’s been a lot of self-introspection, seeing how my first stint went and things like I did well… things I can improve upon,” Myers said at his post-match press conference on Wednesday. “And watching a lot of cricket, honestly, along with my own training. It just helps sometimes when you’re out of the system or set-up to be able to look from a panoramic view and see what you can achieve or what you can do better to give to the team. The time away from the game [was] a blessing in disguise and it helped me realise a few more things about myself and also I needed to grow up.”Myers had captained Zimbabwe in the 2020 Under-19 World Cup and, in just over a year’s time, he made the step-up to the senior team in a one-off Test against Bangladesh in Harare. He subsequently featured in ODIs and T20Is for Zimbabwe before pausing his cricketing career for academics. In his third international innings upon return to action, Myers struck an unbeaten 65 off 49 balls, his maiden international half-century, against an India side that had three T20 World Cup champions in their ranks.Related

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“It’s surreal, honestly,” Myers said. “It’s something that you dream about as a young boy, and I really thank my team-mates and my family for the support and above all, I thank God. Lots of times were tough in the past few years, but [I] managed to find a way, so very proud of it.”Being back in the team…it’s such a nice vibe, wonderful coaching staff as well and they’re there to support us, so I expect a lot more from this team going forward and very excited for the future.”With Zimbabwe moving on from the likes of Sean Williams and Craig Ervine, the young pair of Myers and Clive Madande offered a glimpse into that future with a counterattacking 77-run sixth-wicket stand off 57 balls after they had been reduced to 39 for 5 in seven overs. Myers was particularly fluent against spin, taking Ravi Bishnoi, Player-of-the-Match Washington Sundar and Abhishek Sharma for a combined 44 off 31 balls. Madande, at the other end, lined up seam-bowling allrounder Dube for a pair of sixes.Dion Myers returned to international cricket in this series•Associated Press

“It was the sort of wicket where you couldn’t really come in straightaway and start going at 150-200 strike rate,” Myers said. “I just tried to play it my way, hitting it on the ground early on, get into the game and as the innings goes on, you pick more areas of the ground. But from the others, the intent was great. You can’t fault that and I think if a couple of guys do well, it’s crazy what this team can achieve. It’s just a matter of time, I can assure you that.”Myers had a rust-ridden restart to his career – he had laboured to 23 off 22 balls in the first T20I before holing out for a duck in the second. Also in that second game, Abhishek Sharma whacked him for 4, 6, 4, 6, 4 in a 28-run over. However, that didn’t dent Myers’ confidence going into the third T20I.”It’s brilliant to learn and it’s brilliant to be in the firing line, and I’m a big believer that if a situation presents a tough circumstance, you’re going to stand up or just let it go,” he said. “So, it was a great experience for me, personally, I didn’t take it in a confidence-down sort of a way and I thought there are some things that I need to work on much like they’re trying to improve. That’s how I’m taking it and the rest of the boys are taking it.”After being particularly sharp in the field in the series opener, Zimbabwe were guilty of a number of lapses in the second and third games. Myers summed it up thus: “It was just different phases throughout the game. Maybe we just bowled a touch too straight and a touch too short [with the ball] on the odd occasion and the mis-fields didn’t help us. So, it was just minute differences [between the two teams] but I thought India played very well.”

If Rohit Sharma, the Player of the Match for his 41-ball 92 in India’s 24-run win over Australia in T20 World Cup 2024, had to “open up all sides of the field” to counter the breeze in Gros Islet, Arshdeep Singh said the bowlers had to prevent “the wind to come into play” to not let the Australia batters take advantage of it. Arshdeep finished with 3 for 37, removing David Warner in the first over and then getting the wickets of big-hitters Tim David and Matthew Wade in the death overs.”As a player and as a team, our motto is to adapt as well as we can to the conditions,” Arshdeep said after the match. “As for the wind factor, when we bowled from the end opposite to the pavilion, we got a lot of swing. From the other end, bowling against the wind… the batters were going to use the wind since the ball was travelling. So we had to look for defensive options there and not allow the wind to come into play.”Josh Hazlewood, the most economical bowler of the day with 1 for 14 from four overs, said that 180 or thereabouts would have been a par score in those conditions; India ended with 25 more than that. Rohit was the main reason for that, but Suryakumar Yadav (31 off 16 balls) and later Hardik Pandya (27* off 17) contributed to the cause too.Related

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“From one end, it was very hard for the bowlers to even pitch the ball, and the ball was flying to the boundary,” Arshdeep said. “So having the cushion of extra 15-20 runs always helps, gives you the extra freedom of going for wickets.”With his three wickets, Arshdeep reached the top of the pile for the tournament, joint with Afghanistan’s Fazalhaq Farooqi. But he was quick to accept that a lot of his success was down to Jasprit Bumrah being Jasprit Bumrah at the other end, who dismissed Head in the 17th over to put India ahead.”I guess a lot of credit goes to Jassi because he puts a lot of pressure on the batters – he gives, what, three or four runs in an over – so batters are coming hard against me, and I just have to try and bowl my best ball and there are a lot of chances of getting wickets there,” Arshdeep said. “On the other end they see the runs are not coming and the asking rate is going high, so they take more risks against me. [There’s a] chance always of getting a wicket there. So a lot of credit for my wickets goes to Jassi .”Head took the lead in Australia’a chase by slamming 76 in 43 balls, with a spot in the semi-finals at stake. At the start of the 14th over, when Australia were 128 for 2, Kuldeep Yadav got rid of Glenn Maxwell, and Axar Patel removed Marcus Stoinis in the next over, and Australia were suddenly 135 for 4 with 71 to get in just under six overs.”The thought [process] was clear. Our batters also batted on the same wicket, and early on it was easy to score runs, the ball was coming on nicely. But afterwards, it became tough to hit boundaries,” Arshdeep said. “We knew if we took a couple of wickets, it will be tough for the new batters coming in to hit boundaries at will. That was the plan. A couple of nice overs from the spinners in the middle overs helped us.”

Pakistan’s attack squeezed Sri Lanka’s batters: their seamers bossed the powerplay, before Mohammad Nawaz claimed three wickets through the middle. Sri Lanka could muster no more than 128 for 7, and Pakistan strode to the target in 15.3 overs, with seven wickets to spare.Sahibzada Farhan led the chase from the top of the order, with 80 not out off 45 balls. His knock, in fact, was the only real fluent innings in this game. Janith Liyanage – the next-best scorer with 41 not out – struck at only 108. On the other hand, Farhan hit five sixes and five fours in the innings. His most productive partnership was with Babar Azam – the two put on 69 together.The victory puts Pakistan at the top of the tri-series table with two victories. Sri Lanka are the only winless side, and also have the worst net run rate by a distance, having now suffered two exceedingly heavy losses.Mohammad Nawaz’s three wickets ensured Sri Lanka never got going•PCB

Pakistan peg Sri Lanka back in the powerplay

Kamil Mishara made the big plays for Sri Lanka early in their innings, hitting 22 off his first 11 balls. But Mishara misread a slower ball from Faheem Ashraf and holed out to mid off. After he was dismissed early in the fourth over, they managed only one further boundary in the powerplay. Then, in Ashraf’s next over, Kusal Mendis was run out attempting a needless second. Sri Lanka finished the powerplay on 44 for 2.

Nawaz dominates the middle overs

Nawaz bowled an unbroken four-over spell starting with the eighth over, took 3 for 16, and was virtually unhittable – so accurate were his overs, and so cleverly did he vary his pace. He didn’t concede a boundary, and his third over was probably the best of the match – he first bowled Kusal Perera with a delivery that ripped through the left-hander’s gate, before slipping a straight one past Dasun Shanaka’s defences. In his final over, he had Kusal Mendis caught excellently on the deep-midwicket boundary by Mohammad Wasim Jr, who tossed the ball in the air as he was going over the rope, before regaining his footing inside the field and completing the catch.

Farhan blasts Sri Lanka

It didn’t take long for him to get going. By the time he’d faced ten balls, Farhan had hit two fours and a six. His main hitting zones were in a broad V, with the vast majority of his boundaries coming in the arc between cover and midwicket. He was especially severe on the legspinners – he hit 23 off 12 against Wanindu Hasaranga, and 21 off 13 off V Viyaskanth. Farhan hit the winning runs – a four down the ground off Eshan Malinga.

Viyaskanth breaks new ground

Never before have Sri Lanka fielded a born-and-raised player from the Jaffna peninsula, although cricket has been popular in the north for well over a century. This is largely because a 27-year Civil War in the region, which prevented many northerners from pursuing cricket. Legspinner V Viyaskanth had played a T20I before, in the Asian Games, to which Sri Lanka sent only an emerging team. This was his first major international appearance, and as such, the first appearance for a Jaffna player in a televised international match. His figures read 0 for 28 from four overs.

Rajat Patidar has been handed Madhya Pradesh’s all-format captaincy ahead of the 2025-26 domestic season that begins with the Ranji Trophy on October 15.Patidar got the job to replace Shubham Sharma after getting from MP director of cricket Chandrakant Pandit. It’s understood that the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association was keen on an expanded role for Patidar following his recent success.The 32-year-old Patidar was first trialled as captain during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy last season after he had spoken to Pandit over a similar possibility arising in the IPL with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). He was given the job and repaid the faith by leading MP to the final, where they lost to Mumbai.Related

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Patidar has since led RCB to their maiden IPL title and recently helmed Central Zone to a title win in the Duleep Trophy, for the first time since 2014-15.Last week, Patidar led a strong Rest of India (RoI) squad, comprising big names like Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Abhimanyu Easwaran – all state captains – at the Irani Cup in Nagpur, where they lost to Vidarbha by 93 runs.He made 529 runs in 11 innings at an average of 48.09 in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season, with one hundred and two half-centuries. This was the second-highest runs tally for MP that season, behind Shubham’s 943 runs at 104.77.Patidar has been in excellent form already this season, hitting two centuries and three half-centuries in seven innings. One of his hundreds was in the final of the Duleep Trophy that helped Central Zone set up a massive first-innings lead, and eventually a six-wicket win, over South Zone.MP open their Ranji Trophy campaign with a home game against Punjab in Indore. The Ranji season will be played across two phases – the first will be played from October 15 to November 19, before the season takes a break for the white-ball tournaments. The second leg will be played from January 22 to February 1 next year, with the knockouts from February 6 to 28.

R Ashwin has listed a base price of USD 120,000, the highest for any player, at the inaugural ILT20 auction. The auction will be held in Dubai on October 1.Ashwin, who retired from international cricket as well as the IPL recently, is the only player in the ILT20 auction longlist with a base price in six figures. If he is picked, the ILT20 will be his first overseas T20 league.Ashwin, 39, is among the 24 Indians on the auction longlist, which has almost 800 players as of now. A final list will be prepared this week once the ILT20 receives the wishlist from each franchise.Related

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The fourth edition of ILT20, comprising six teams, will be played between December 2 and January 4. Ashwin has listed full availability for the tournament, after which he is likely to head to the BBL where four teams are understood to have expressed interest in hiring him for the latter half of the season.The ILT20 franchises had carried out their retentions and direct signings in July. Each team could spend up to USD 1.2 million on retentions and direct signings, with the balance amount to be added to the auction purse of USD 800,000. While a franchise can exhaust its entire USD 2 million purse, it will need to spend a minimum of USD 1.5 million. The ILT20 rules also permit franchises to spend an additional USD 250,000 to buy up to two wildcard players outside the auction.As per the squad composition rules, each franchise needs a minimum of 19 players and a maximum of 21, excluding the wildcards. There must be a minimum of 11 players from the Full Member countries, four from UAE, one from Kuwait, one from Saudi Arabia and two from other Associate countries.The franchises will also have one right-to-match (RTM) card but they can use it only to buy back a UAE player. That player must have been part of the franchise’s development squad or the 2025 squad.

Durham 450 for 6 (Gay 161, Rhodes , Bedingham 58) drew with Worcestershire 591 for 9 dec (Roderick 151, Brookes 100, D’Oliveira 84, Taylor 66*, Edavalath 61)Centuries from Emilio Gay and Will Rhodes helped Durham pick up five crucial batting bonus points as they drew their Rothesay County Championship clash with already relegated Worcestershire.In the morning the Pears picked up a couple of Durham scalps to halt their quest for batting bonus points, but Gay and David Bedingham (58) combined for a partnership worth 122 to help Durham’s cause.Gay then reached three figures, while Rhodes scored his maiden first-class hundred for Durham to get them to 450 for six, securing the maximum number of batting points available ahead of a potential relegation decider against Yorkshire next week.Worcestershire declared overnight on 591 for nine, leaving Durham with the task of getting batting bonus points to boost their chances of staying in Division One.Opener Alex Lees carved a Tom Taylor delivery through the covers to the boundary, but Taylor got Lees next ball as he was caught behind for eight.The Pears were testing Durham in the early stages, but Gay relieved the pressure as he produced a great straight drive off Taylor which went for four.Durham’s pursuit stalled as Ben McKinney then departed for 16 at the hands of Matthew Waite as he edged one to Ben Gibbon at slip.That brought David Bedingham to the crease and the batter managed to find the boundary with ease in the early stages of his innings.Pears skipper Brett D’Oliveira came into the attack, but on his follow through he went over on his right ankle, which prompted concerns from the dressing room given they have the Metro Bank One Day Cup final on Saturday.Gay continued to tick along nicely and got his fifty from 71 balls, while taking his side to 100 before lunch.Bedingham continued to attack the bowlers after the lunch interval as he clipped one on the onside for four and he played another excellent shot, this time carving a Taylor delivery through the covers for four.Gay was almost heading back to the pavilion on 72, as he edged an Allison delivery but Gibbon couldn’t cling on to it with an outstretched hand.Bedingham then brought up his second fifty of the season from 79 balls and smashed a six off the bowling of Waite next ball. However, he went for one hit too many as Waite got him for 58 after he didn’t get enough on a pull shot, which Allison caught on the boundary.Gay continued to motor, now alongside Will Rhodes, and he picked up his fourth century of the season from 127 balls.The opener continued to play fluently after reaching the milestone, picking up three boundaries in a Brookes over, and Durham reached their first batting point in the 53rd over.Gay passed the milestone of 150 for the third time this campaign after tea and Rhodes, who has struggled for First Class runs this season, played nicely and found the boundary with a tidy glance off the legs from a Gibbon ball.Rhodes then reached fifty for the first time in Durham whites from 72 deliveries and he picked up another boundary straight after. Gay then went for an excellent 161, his highest Durham score, as he chopped a Gibbon delivery onto his leg stump.Rhodes continued Durham’s swashbuckling approach as he heaved a Dan Lategan to the boundary, but Ollie Robinson fell soon after for four as he was bowled by the part-time off spin of Jake Libby.Rhodes continued his charge as he smashed Lategan for a six down the ground and then reached three figures for the first time this season, coming from 121 balls.Graham Clark produced a quick 29 to speed things up, but Libby got his second of the day as he got the Durham man caught and bowled.Rhodes then got his 150 and guided his side to 450, the magic number for five batting points, and the two sides shook hands just after 5pm.