Cricket news round-up – 17 April 2019: Bangladesh announce World Cup squad, Punjab win, Zimbabwe whitewash UAE

Bangladesh have announced their 15-member squad for the upcoming World Cup; Kings XI Punjab beat Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2019; Zimbabwe pulled off a 4-0 rout of UAE; and Australia have included Steven Smith and David Warner in their central contracts.

Bangladesh retain eight members from 2015 squad

Bangladesh have retained all eight senior members – Mortaza, Mushfiqur, Shakib, Tamim, Mahmudullah, Sarkar, and Rubel – from the squad that had reached the quarter-final of the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

They have also included Mustafizur, who had debuted later that year. The squad reads:

Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Liton Das (wk), Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Shakib Al Hasan, Tamim Iqbal, Mahmudullah, Soumya Sarkar, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Mohammad Mithun, Mohammad Saifuddin, Abu Jayed, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Sabbir Rahman, Mosaddek Hossain.

Punjab leapfrog to fourth spot

Kings XI Punjab leapfrogged ahead of Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2019 points table, though Kolkata have a match in hand. At Mohali, Punjab put up 182/6 thanks to KL Rahul (52 in 47 balls) and David Miller (40 in 27), and an uncharacteristic 4-ball 17* towards the end by R Ashwin. This, despite Jofra Archer’s 4-0-15-3.

Rajasthan were on track after Rahul Tripathi (50 in 45), promoted at the top, took them to 97/1 in the 12th over. Then Ashwin (4-0-24-2) choked them to 170/7 despite Stuart Binny’s frantic 11-ball unbeaten 33.

Zimbabwe trounce UAE

Zimbabwe completed a whitewash of UAE in the 4-ODI series. From 91/2, UAE were bowled out for 175 in the last match at Harare Sports Club. Chirag Suri scored 46 and CP Rizwan 45, while Sean Williams (2/27), Kyle Jarvis (2/28), and Christopher Mpofu (2/39) were the standout bowlers.

After a shower, Zimbabwe’s target was reduced to 128 in 30 overs. They raced to 79/2 in the 15th over before losing 3 wickets in 4 balls, but Timycen Maruma’s 22-ball 35 sealed the fate of the match. Even then UAE reduced Zimbabwe to 120/7 before the hosts reached home with 31 balls to spare.

Central contracts for Smith, Warner

Cricket Australia have handed out contracts to the hitherto banned duo of Steven Smith and David Warner for the 2019-20 season. James Pattinson is the other new inclusion. On the other hand, Mitchell Marsh and Matt Renshaw have lost their contracts. The list of contracts reads:

Tim Paine (Test captain), Aaron Finch (ODI and T20I captain), Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Alex Carey, Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, James Pattinson, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa.