Cricket news round-up – January 29- Rohit Sharma and Mohammed Shami win T20I series for India

Cricket news round-up – January 29- Rohit Sharma and Mohammed Shami win T20I series for India

Rohit Sharma India

Rohit Sharma helped India win the T20I series against New Zealand in the Super Over. New Zealand secured a semi-final spot in the Under-19 World Cup. Saqib Mahmood replaced injured Jofra Archer for the T20I series against South Africa.

India claim T20I series 3-0

India won the 5-match T20I series 3-0 against New Zealand as the match saw a thrilling finish at Super-Over. Winning the toss Kane Williamson sent India to bat and Rohit Sharma scored 65 off 40 balls that helped India put a target of 180. Hamish Bennett was expensive but ended by picking up three major Indian wickets for 54 runs. In reply, the Kiwis were going strong led by their captain. Kane Williamson was set to take New Zealand home but Mohammed Shami had a different plan. He bowled the final over of the match, conceded eight runs and took wickets of Williamson (95) and Ross Taylor.

With both teams reaching 179 in their allotted 20 overs, the match was stretched Super Over. New Zealand scored 17 runs and Rohit Sharma while chasing smashed two consecutive sixes to win the match for India. Sharma for his stunning show got the Man-of-the-Match award.

Zimbabwe eying for Test victory

Zimbabwe are looking for a rare Test victory as they comfortably ended the day three of the ongoing Test against Sri Lanka on the driver’s seat.

Sikandar Raza’s 7/113 helped the hosts to take a sizable lead. Sri Lanka started the day on 122/2 and kept losing regular wickets to Raza’s off-spin. The first wicket of the day came when a Kusal Mendis pull hit Kevin Kasuza on the helmet and went for an easy catch. Kasuza had a mild concussion and was replaced by Timycen Maruma. The only significant partnership for Sri Lanka came from Angelo Mathews and Dhananjay de Silva who put 84 runs in quick time. But Raza went through the middle and lower order and only resistance came from Vishwa Fernando whose 38 ensured that Zimbabwe’s lead was 113. Zimbabwe reached 62/1 in their second innings as rain brought an early end. They are now leading by 175 runs and will look to set up a 350-plus target for the tourists.

Semi-final spot for New Zealand in Under-19 World Cup

A great all-round performance by the number ten Kristian Clarke took New Zealand Under-19 to the semi-final of the Under-19 World Cup. West Indies batted first and despite Kirk McKenzie’s 99 could post 238 in 47.5 overs as Clarke took 4/ 25. There were contributions from Kelvon Anderson (33) and Antonio Morris (31).

New Zealand kept losing regular wickets and on 153/8 the target looked beyond them. However, Joey Field and Kristian Clarke, the number nine and number ten batted close to 15 overs for an unbeaten 9th wickets partnership of 86 runs and took them to victory with two balls to spare. Clarke scored 46 and Field scored 38 as Ashmead Nedd took 3/ 33.

Archer out of T20I series against South Africa

Due to an elbow injury, Jofra Archer will be missing England’s T20I series against South Africa. Archer was already suffering from soreness in the right elbow for which he could play only one Test. Although the initial scans did not reveal any seriousness, later he was advised to get a period of rest.

Saqib Mahmood from Lancashire has been added to the squad as part of the T20I series.  Mahmood debuted against New Zealand last year in the T20I series for which Archer was rested.

Mohammad Munaf passes away

Former medium-pacer from Pakistan Mohammad Munaf died at the age of 84 in Amsterdam on Tuesday. Munaf made his international debut against Australia in 1959 in Lahore and went on to play four Tests for Pakistan. He recorded 180 wickets in first-class cricket while his best in Test (4/42) came against England in 1961.

PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani said, “The PCB is saddened by the news of Munaf’s passing away. Munaf was one of those respected cricketers who made their name at the first-class level in the early days of Pakistan cricket. We share the grief of his friends and family and express our deepest sympathies.”