Cricket news round-up – October 5: Harbhajan picks IPL over The Hundred, says he’s not retiring anytime soon

Speculation that Harbhajan Singh was set to retire has been quashed by the man himself after he said he wasn’t aware his name in the Hundred draft would mean he can’t play in the IPL, and said he’d pick the IPL any day.

Elsewhere, India are still in command in the Vizag Test after R Ashwin’s five-for reduced South Africa to their last two wickets, despite tons by Dean Elgar and Quinton de Kock. Ashwin said his spell on the sidelines was tough, and he played whatever cricket he could.

Harbhajan Singh says he is not retiring anytime soon

Harbhajan Singh has quashed talks of his retirement, and said he will play for Chennai Super Kings in the next IPL.

The speculation that he would retire grew when he was part of the players in the draft of The Hundred. However, Harbhajan said he didn’t it was a matter of picking one or the other, and if it came down to it, he’d pick the IPL.

“I did not know that to be part of IPL, I couldn’t be part of the draft of The Hundred. So right now, I am not retiring and if it is a case of a choice between playing IPL or The Hundred, it will definitely be IPL,” Harbhajan told Times of India. “I will pull out of the draft and abide by all BCCI regulations.”

Elgar, de Kock tons wind up India as Ashwin takes five-for

South Africa refused to turn over against a sustained Indian onslaught, with Dean Elgar and Quinton de Kock scoring fine centuries, and Faf du Plessis chipping in with a half-century on the third day of the Visakhapatnam Test.

However, despite that, they were still reduced to 385/8 by stumps, still adrift by 117 runs of the Indian total of 502/7 declared, with R Ashwin taking a five-for, including the wickets of du Plessis and de Kock, to stifle the visitors.

India will be hopeful of knocking off the last two South Africans wickets early on the fourth, and piling on a quick, daunting target.

Andy Moles appointed ACB director of cricket

Andy Moles, the former Afghanistan coach, will now take up the role of director of cricket and chief selector with the side, ACB confirmed on Friday, October 4.

Moles coached Afghanistan in 2014 and 2015, and stepped in as interim coach after the World Cup when Phil Simmons stepped down. This was the latest among sweeping changes in Afghanistan’s structure, with Rashid Khan taking over as captain in all three formats and Lance Klusener appointed head coach till 2020.

Last month, Afghanistan registered their first overseas Test win against Bangladesh, to win two of their first three Tests.

Hard to stay away from cricket – R Ashwin

R Ashwin, the India off-spinner, said it was hard to stay away from cricket after marking his comeback with an important five-for against South Africa.

Ashwin was sidelined from the India set up since December last year, with injuries initially playing a part in that before he was dropped by the management for the tour of the Caribbean in August.

Ashwin marked his return to the XI in Vizag with yet another five-four, and is in line to become the fastest to 350 Test wickets. He reflected on the time away, and said it had been tough. “To stay away from playing cricket itself is very tough for me,” he said. “In order to substitute that, I played whatever games I got. I tried and made an opportunity for myself to go and play some county cricket. I tried and played the TNPL as much as I could, played some league cricket in Chennai. It was very important for me to tick those numbers off because that is essentially where I came from.”