Cricket news round-up – November 21: India Women whitewash West Indies, Naseem Shah debuts at 16

India Women completed their whitewash against West Indies Women; Naseem Shah became the youngest cricketer to make his Test debut in this decade; Pakistan knocked India out with a 3-run win in the ACC Emerging Teams Cup; Sana Mir will take an indefinite break from international cricket; and an Abu Dhabi T10 match had to be called off after organisers failed to provide Duckworth-Lewis-Stern calculation sheets.

India Women

India Women beat West Indies Women by 61 runs in the fifth T20I to sweep the series 5-0. Batting first, India Women put up 134/7 largely due to a 117-run stand between Jemimah Rodrigues (50 in 56 balls) and Veda Krishnamurthy (57* in 48). Hayley Matthews and Aaliyah Alleyne had 4-0-23-1 each.

West Indies Women never got going in response. They finished on 73/7 against Anuja Patil (3-1-3-2) and Radha Yadav (4-0-10-1).

Naseem becomes youngest debutant in 17 years

Pakistan included Naseem Shah in their starting XI for the first Test against Australia, at Brisbane. At 16 years 279 days, Naseem became the youngest to play Test cricket since Talha Jubair, in 2002. Jubair was 16 years 223 days old on debut.

Naseem is also the fifth-youngest Pakistani (after Hasan Raza, Mushtaq Mohammad, Aaqib Javed, Aftab Baloch, and Nasim-ul-Ghani) and ninth-youngest overall to play Test cricket. Raza (14 years 227 days) still holds the world record, followed by Mushtaq (15 years 124 days).

A tearaway fast bowler, Naseem has played 7 First-Class matches, mostly for Central Punjab. He has picked up 27 wickets at 16.67.

Unfortunately, his team is in trouble at the time of writing this. Led by Josh Hazlewood (2/30), Australia have reduced Pakistan to 99/5.

Burns, Denly shepherd England

England were on top in the first ever Test at Mount Maunganui. Rory Burns (52) helped them weather the early storm before Joe Denly (52* at the time of writing) took over. They are currently 179/3.

Colin de Grandhomme has taken 2/28 and Neil Wagner 1/66.

Pakistan Emerging win a thriller

Pakistan Emerging beat India Emerging in the semi-final of the ACC Emerging Teams Cup, at Mirpur. Batting first, Pakistan put up 267/7 largely due to an opening stand of 90 between Omair Yousuf (66) and Haider Ali (43), followed by a 48-ball 47 not out by Saif Badar. Shivam Mavi picked up 2/53.

BR Sharath (47 in 43), Sanvir Singh (76), and Armaan Jaffer (46) then led India’s India’s chase, taking them to 211/3 in the 38th over. Unfortunately, two run outs, combined with some excellent death bowling from Amad Butt (10-0-43-1) and Umer Khan (5-0-25-1), prevented them from going beyond 264/8.

Mir to miss England series, and beyond

Former Pakistan Women captain Sana Mir shall take a break from international cricket. While Mir has not commented regarding the duration of the break, she will definitely miss the 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is against England Women, in Malaysia in December. With the Women’s T20 World Cup set to commence in February, the break has come as a surprise.

Mir has played most ODIs (120), taken most ODI wickets (151), played most T20Is (106), and taken most T20I wickets (89) for Pakistan Women.

T10 match called off due to lack of DLS sheets

The Abu Dhabi T10 match between Team Abu Dhabi and Deccan Gladiators did not provide a result because the organisers failed to provide the teams with the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern calculation sheets.

Batting first, Abu Dhabi put up 118/4 despite Fawad Ahmed’s 2-0-7-2. Mohammad Shahzad (24* in 8) then took the Gladiators to 25/1 in 2.2 overs when rain halted play – and there was no way to calculate the revised target as per the DLS method.