Cricket news round-up – February 26: Massive win for Bangladesh, Kohli likely to play for Asia XI

Neil Wagner is likely to play the second Test against India. Bangladesh recorded a massive win against Zimbabwe. Virat Kohli was named in the Asia XI squad by the BCB.

Wagner set to return for Wellington Test

Neil Wagner is likely to come back to New Zealand’s squad for the second Test against India. He was not part of the first Test in Wellington as he was on paternity leave. Now he will be replacing Matt Henry for the next Test match that is scheduled to begin on Sunday in Christchurch.

Kyle Jamieson had replaced Wagner in the first Test and performed well with both bat and ball. Speaking about the dame, the coach Gary Stead said, “Yeah, that’s always good selection dilemmas to have. Neil Wagner will come back and he’s been a force in our team for a long time, and obviously Kyle Jamieson made the most of his debut, and the way he played, I thought, was outstanding as well, did a really good job for us.”

Bangladesh register a massive win

Bangladesh completed their first Test win since November 2018, on the fourth day of the Mirpur test by beating Zimbabwe by an innings and 106 runs. Zimbabwe were already on all sorts of trouble as they ended day three on 9/2 trailing by 286 runs.

On day four also they lost regular wickets as the Bangladeshi spinners Nayeem Hasan and Taijul Islam went through their batting order. There were only two partnerships of note as Craig Ervine (43) and Sikander Raza (37) posted 60 runs for the fifth wicket and later Timycen Maruma (41) and Regis Chakabva (18) added 44 runs for the seventh wicket. For Bangladesh, Hasan picked up 5/82 and Islam picked up 4/78 as Zimbabwe were all out for 189 in the 58th over. Bangladesh won the series 1-0 and Mushfiqur Rahim was given the Man-of-the-Match for his double century.

Kohli likely to play one match for Asia XI

On Tuesday Bangladesh Cricket Board President Nazmul Hassan announced the names of the players who are expected to get featured in the Asia XI vs World XI. In all likelihood, Virat Kohli will play one game according to the BCB but the BCCI is yet to confirm his availability. Two matches between Asia XI and World XI will be organized in Dhaka on March 21 and 22 whereas India’s ODI series against South Africa will end on March 18 and IPL 2020 will start on March 29. On the other hand, Pakistan Super League final will be played on March 22 and hence the Pakistan players have not been included in the squad.

Regarding Indian players, Hassan said, “We haven’t signed contracts but Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan and Mohammed Shami are supposed to come. They have said KL Rahul and Virat Kohli will play one game each, but that hasn’t been finalised.”

Tentative squads:

Asia XI: KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Thisara Perera, Lasith Malinga, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mustafizur Rahman, Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das, Sandeep Lamichhane, Mahmudullah

World XI: Alex Hales, Chris Gayle, Faf du Plessis, Nicholas Pooran, Brendan Taylor, Jonny Bairstow, Kieron Pollard, Sheldon Cottrell, Lungi Ngidi, Andrew Tye, Mitchell McClenaghan