Cricket news round-up – 25 June: Bangladesh’s World Cup still alive; Andre Russell ruled out

Bangladesh beat Afghanistan by 62 runs; Andre Russell has been ruled out of the remainder of the 2019 World Cup; Sachin Tendulkar is displeased with MS Dhoni’s ‘intent’ against Afghanistan; and Jason Roy will not feature in the clash against Australia.

Bangladesh overcome Afghan challenge

A double of a half-century and a five-wicket haul in the same match by Shakib Al Hasan ensured that Bangladesh remained in the hunt for a semi-final spot in the ICC World Cup 2019 by beating Afghanistan by 62 runs at the Rose Bowl.

Shakib scored 51 and picked up 5/29, becoming the first Bangladeshi player to achieve the rare double, as Bangladesh put up 262/7 after being asked to bat by Afghanistan before bowling out the opponents for 200. He was helped by Mushfiqur Rahim, who scored a sublime 83 at No. 4. They shared a 61-run third-wicket stand.

The finishing touch by Mosaddek Hossain (35 off 24) pushed the Bangladesh total past 250 on a sluggish wicket. Mujeeb Ur Rahman starred with the ball for Afghanistan with 3/39 from 10 overs. Captain Gulbadin Naib returned 2/56 from his full quota.

In reply, Afghanistan could not quite get going and were always behind the required run rate. Naib and Rahmat Shah added 49 runs for the first wicket in just under 11 overs but the middle order could not capitalise on the start as Afghanistan slipped from 79/2 to 117/5 and continued sliding thenceforth.

Shakib dismissed both openers and got the key wickets of Asghar Afghan and Mohammad Nabi. He returned at the death to clean off Najibullah Zadran (23), who had added 56 with Samiullah Shinwari (49*) for the seventh wicket to give Afghanistan a glimmer of hope. Mustafizur Rahman cleaned up the tail by dismissing Rashid Khan (2) and Dawlat Zadran (0) in consecutive overs to finish with 2/32 from 8 overs.

World Cup over for Dre Rus

Andre Russell of the West Indies has been ruled out of the remainder of the World Cup with a knee injury. Sunil Ambris has been named his replacement. Russell’s knee injuries have hampered his career often – he was seen limping during West Indies’ first match, against Pakistan – which was also his first ODI since 2015.

West Indies decided to continue fielding Russell for three more games – against Australia, England and Bangladesh – but he kept on struggling with his knee. He bowled only 2 overs against England and 6 against Bangladesh before finally being omitted from the clash against New Zealand, where his replacement Carlos Brathwaite got his maiden ODI century and almost carried his team to a miraculous win.

Ambris was picked over the likes of Kieron Pollard owing to his good returns with the bat during the recent Tri-Series in Ireland. He scored 278 runs in 4 innings at an average of 92.67 and a strike rate of 102.

Sachin displeased with Dhoni’s lack of intent

Sachin Tendulkar criticised MS Dhoni’s slow innings against Afghanistan, saying Dhoni should have shown more intent against the spinners. Dhoni scored 28 off 52 balls in an overall average Indian batting effort even as the Afghanistan spinners kept the leash on the Indian middle order, returning combined figures of 5/119 from 34 overs. India were restricted to 224.

“MS Dhoni is a senior player and should show positive intent. Afghanistan’s bowling is good but you can’t score only 119 runs in 34 overs. He did not show any positive intent against Afghanistan,” Tendulkar told India Today.

“MS Dhoni has the ability to hit but yesterday his strike rotation was not good. He faced too many dot balls and this hampered a strong finish for India. The intent could have been much better by the middle-order batsmen. I believe MS Dhoni needs to up his ante when it comes to strike rotation in the next matches.”

A hat-trick by Mohammed Shami and some tight bowling by Jasprit Bumrah helped India save their blushes by sealing a 11-run win but not before Afghanistan gave India a major scare and almost pulled off the upset of the tournament.

Roy ruled out of Australia clash

Jason Roy is still nursing a hamstring tear and will take no part in the clash against Australia on June 25 at Lord’s. He sustained the injury during the game against the West Indies. Roy had another scan on Monday that showed improvements to the injury, raising hopes of him being fit for the match against India on June 30.

Roy batted in the nets on Monday, the first time since the injury, and he will be assessed on a daily basis with the view of helping him return to the field for England’s final two matches in the league stage. 

“Jason went for a scan this morning. It was all positive news, but he won’t be fit for tomorrow. We’ll monitor his progress in the week,” England captain Eoin Morgan said. “To put one game on it [his return] I don’t think is sensible, let’s just see how it goes.”