Shafiq, Razzaq join Pakistan women's selection committee

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has reconstituted its national women’s selection committee, expanding it to seven members. The decision was taken by PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, and comes in the wake of Pakistan’s 3-0 ODI series loss to West Indies at home earlier this week.According to a PCB release on Thursday, the retained members from the previous selection committee include former Pakistan internationals Asmavia Iqbal and Marina Iqbal. Joining them on the committee are Abdul Razzaq and Asad Shafiq, both part of the men’s national selection committee, and former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Batool Fatima. The head coach and captain (currently Mohtashim Rasheed and Nida Dar) will also be part of the seven-member panel. Former fast bowler Saleem Jaffar meanwhile is no longer part of the committee.The first task for the new selection committee will be to pick the squad for Pakistan’s upcoming tour of England, where they are scheduled to play three T20Is and three ODIs from May 11 to 29. All three ODIs are part of the ICC ODI women’s championship 2022-25.Related

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Pakistan are currently fifth on the women’s championship table with eight wins and 13 losses in 21 ODIs. Ahead of them on the points table are Australia, South Africa, England and New Zealand. The top five teams from the championship, along with hosts India, will directly qualify for the 2025 ODI Women’s World Cup. The remaining teams will participate in a qualifier tournament.Pakistan started off the ODI series against West Indies with a 113-run loss. They then suffered a narrow, two-wicket defeat in the second game before going down in the third ODI by 88 runs. With scores of 140*, 44 and 141, Hayley Matthews was the star of the series as she finished with 325 runs while averaging 162.50. She was also the joint-leading wicket-taker along with Dar, picking up six wickets.Pakistan will now compete in a five-match T20I series against West Indies which gets underway on April 26 and will run through till May 3. All matches will be played in Karachi. They will then travel to England with the first T20I scheduled to be played on May 11 in Birmingham.Women’s National Selection Committee:Abdul Razzaq
Asad Shafiq
Asmavia Iqbal
Batool Fatima
Marina Iqbal
Captain
Head Coach

Rahul: 'I may end up letting the team down if I play the way I want to play'

There has always been a clamour for KL Rahul to bat freely. He has all the shots in the book and, at a pinch, he is more than capable of inventing a few new ones. Those abilities were all on show in Punjab Kings’ final match of IPL 2021 when Rahul scored 98* off a mere 42 balls in his side’s six-wicket win. So why does he always insist on batting within himself?”I feel like I may end up letting the team down if I play the way I want to play.”Rahul has been a sedate presence at the top of the order ever since he was made captain of the Punjab franchise. This added responsibility may well be playing a part in his throttling down, and so too a middle order that doesn’t really have a mainstay.Related

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Runs continue to flow no matter what method he uses though.In 2018, when he broke the record for the fastest fifty in IPL history, he finished as the tournament’s third-highest run-getter with a strike rate of 158. In 2019, he was second with a strike rate of 135. In 2020, he finally claimed the orange cap but the strike rate came down to 129.This season Rahul seems to have found a better balance, his 626 runs – leading the charts right now – coming at a strike rate of 139. Aggression up top was the need of the hour on Thursday after Chennai Super Kings were restricted to 134 on a good batting pitch.”We wanted to score it before 14 overs [to try and stay in playoff contention],” Rahul said at the presentation. “Today was one of those days where I could hit every ball. [I] had complete clarity of what I wanted to do. No better feeling than hitting the ball from the middle of the bat.”Rahul’s innings featured so many stunning hits. Not least of which was the one he took on his own body. A Josh Hazlewood bouncer left a bruise to the batter’s forehead, but he shook it off very quickly and launched into the fast bowler, taking him for 4, 4, 0 and 6 and setting the tone for a near-flawless innings.The Kings captain cruised to fifty off 25 balls and was within sight of a hundred even in a small chase.”I don’t think these innings come too often in this world,” team-mate Aiden Markram said after the game. “He needs to enjoy that. He’s done something quite special tonight. Hopefully he appreciates it. This team, behind the scenes, has gone crazy after every shot as you can imagine. It’s been unbelievable to watch.”Proof of Markram’s words came later in the day at the post-match press conference when Chris Jordan gushed about Rahul’s batting prowess.”KL is a world class batsman. It’s such a joy to watch him play. I first played with him when I played for RCB back in 2016 and even then, some of the shots he played, I just knew he was a class player. It just seemed like, especially today, any time he felt like hitting a six, he just took it, no matter where the ball was. As I said he’s such a high quality player, can play in various situations and in various ways and he’s more or less a 360 degree player as well. It was just great to see him go out there today and lead from the front and get us over the line in timely fashion to give us an outside chance of qualifying.”Whether Kings make the playoffs or not – and it looks unlikely, they still need Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians to lose and lose big – Rahul’s form all through the IPL has been a huge plus for them, and for India as well as they prepare for the upcoming T20 World Cup.

Elusive Sheffield Shield title the focus for Western Australia

Captain Mitchell Marsh
Coach Adam Voges Fixtures
September 22: South Australia (Marsh Cup), Karen Rolton Oval
September 24-27: South Australia (Sheffield Shield), Karen Rolton Oval Winter moves
The bulk of the squad is unchanged from last year with only changes to the rookie contracts. Left-handed batter Jake Carder, who did play two matches at the end of last season, has moved to South Australia while young allrounder Brad Hope has joined Tasmania. Jayden Goodwin, son of former Zimbabwe and WA batter Murray Goodwin, has returned from his sabbatical last year but is still a development player. Squad
R=Rookie, CA=Australia contract
Ashton Agar (CA), Cameron Bancroft, Jason Behrendorff, Hilton Cartwright, Cooper Connolly (R), Sam Fanning (R), Cameron Gannon, Jayden Goodwin (R), Cameron Green (CA), Liam Guthrie, Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis, Bryce Jackson, Matthew Kelly, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, David Moody, Lance Morris, Joel Paris, Josh Philippe, Jhye Richardson (CA), Corey Rocchiccioli, D’Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Sam Whiteman Last season
Western Australia only lost one match last season in the Shield but it was their last one against Tasmania which cost them a spot in the final. They only won two and had five draws. They batted superbly all season led by a sensational summer from Cameron Green (922 runs at 76.83). Green, Josh Inglis, Shaun Marsh, Cameron Bancroft, and Sam Whiteman each scored three centuries, but their bowling lacked penetration. They took 10 wickets in just six innings for the entire season and two of those innings cost more than 432. Cameron Gannon was the leading wicket-taker with 24 scalps but they came at 39.58 apiece with a strike-rate of 78.9, while Matt Kelly was the only other bowler to claim 20 wickets. WA made the final in the Marsh Cup but were unable to defend their title, collapsing in a chase of 252 against New South Wales. Their batting was hot and cold in the 50-over format with three scores over 300, with Green and Shaun Marsh scoring a century each, but they were twice bowled out for under 150, including in the final. Joel Paris was the star performer with the ball taking 10 wickets in just three games. Player to watch
Josh Inglis has bolted into the Australia T20 World Cup squad but his long-form ability will also have him sharply in focus with Australia Test wicketkeeper Tim Paine recovering from neck surgery and coming to the end of his career. Inglis scored 585 runs at 73.12 last season to put pressure on Alex Carey as Paine’s first-choice successor. Inglis’ batting ability against spin and his excellent glovework will certainly put him in the frame for Australia’s three scheduled tours of the subcontinent in 2022. Australia radar
With Green already in the Test team and Inglis becoming a player of interest, WA is aiming to add more players into the Test ranks having already provided a number of Australia limited-overs players over the past 12 months. Jhye Richardson has had an interrupted pre-season but at his best, he sits alongside James Pattinson and Michael Neser as Australia’s next crop of Test fast bowlers behind the big three of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Starc. Mitchell Marsh has gone to a new level with his batting over the winter in the shortest form and newfound confidence won’t harm his Test chances if Australia wishes to take more allrounders to the subcontinent.

Covid challenge laid bare for Australian grassroots but female game stands tall

Inevitably Covid-19 had an impact on grassroots participation in Australian cricket last summer, and is likely to do so for another season, but the decline was mitigated somewhat by growth in the female game.Cricket Australia released its annual participation figures on Wednesday with an overall drop of 24% from approximately 710,000 registered players to 539,000.However, there was a 2% increase in children playing the game. That was powered by 17.5% growth among girls registered to clubs and the Woolworths Cricket Blast programme in the first summer after Australia’s T20 World Cup success, which finished with the final at the MCG with a crowd of over 86,000 just days before the pandemic shut down global sport.”We were really fortunate with some timings and there’s no doubt the impacts we felt last season will be a similar story this year,” James Allsopp, Cricket Australia’s executive general manager of community cricket told ESPNcricinfo. “Cricket really did reconnect communities last year after missing winter sports, that’s seen in the junior numbers, so we are really pleased with the way the game came out of it. We are also really mindful that the impacts won’t be a one-off thing, we’ll be navigating it this summer as well.”The areas hit hardest by the pandemic were indoor cricket, schools and social competitions. Overall, Cricket Australia said there were 170,000 games played last season largely thanks to the efforts of volunteers who adapted to the new normal.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

“Around the country, particularly Melbourne but everyone went through it at some stage, they had to do their version of biosecure plans,” Stuart Whiley, Cricket Australia’s head of participation, said. “There were Covid-safe plans, cricket club will never have spent more money on sanitiser, there were check-in, check-out systems.”For a club volunteer who is trying to do that as well as living with everything else going on that’s a lot of additional work. First and foremost, we are just really appreciative of the volume of work volunteers picked up to get those games to happen.”While trying to see through another season that appears likely to face disruption, an area of continued focus for CA is to ensure there are pathways into cricket outside of the club structure both for the multi-cultural communities and also those for who the traditional route is not the best fit.”We know that South Asian communities love their cricket so we are really sharply focused on how we are integrating those communities into our clubs,” Allsopp said. “We need to really understand their culture, what are the barriers to them participating and making sure we an inspiring them to play the game.”That’s something we are really mindful of as we start to work through the new strategic design. How do we continue to support the traditional club structure but how do we diversify the cricket offering so they are flexible, more social, you can opt in and out, to make sure there’s a format of cricket to suit everyone.”

Unbeaten fifty from Luke Wood sets up potential match-winning total for Lancashire

A precious unbeaten half century from Lancashire all-rounder Luke Wood set up a potentially match-winning total at Emirates Old Trafford with Kent going into the final day of a rain-affected match trailing by 185 runs after the hosts closed on 259 for 9.Wood batted superbly throughout the majority of a third day which saw 51 overs sent down by an increasingly frustrated bowling attack unable to take advantage of the home side’s precarious position at the start of play.Both teams were forced to make changes following the overnight news that England’s entire ODI squad was to be replaced, Lancashire’s Matt Parkinson and Kent’s Zak Crawley both heading south to Bristol as a result.No play was possible until deep into the afternoon and it was 3pm when Steven Croft and Rob Jones strode out with Lancashire 108 for 5 and clutching a slender lead of 34 runs.Just nine runs had been added when Croft shouldered arms to a lovely nip-backer from Darren Stevens and turned around in shock to see it had clipped his off stump.Related

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Wood came in to join Jones and the seventh-wicket pair began a mission to extinguish any hopes Kent might have had of keeping the lead to a manageable margin. By tea the hosts were 155 for 6 and looking secure with a priceless 50 partnership coming up soon after the interval.Jones was three short of his half-century when the impressive James Logan got one to spin sharply and induce an edge to Stevens at slip, ending a stand of 69 runs that had taken the lead to 112.Logan quickly added another when Danny Lamb top-edged to Stevens for 2, but the incoming Tom Hartley, who replaced the England-bound Parkinson, was able to give valuable support to Wood who brought up his half-century from 98 balls as Lancashire’s lead tipped over the 150 mark.Batting with freedom against the spin of Logan, Jack Leaning and Joe Denly, the ninth-wicket pair brought up their 50 partnership with five overs left and had extended the Red Rose’s lead to 174 when Hartley was caught at second slip by Jordan Cox off Matt Quinn for a useful 24.As if to emphasise Lancashire’s dominance, the final over of the day saw man of the moment James Anderson hit two boundaries off Stevens to finish unbeaten on eight with Wood closing on 63 not out.

Borthwick slipstreams 'master' Sangakkara

ScorecardIf Surrey are to make the title tilt that many consider within their grasp, they will seldom be able to bully teams as they did Warwickshire at The Oval last week. To thrive in a Division One that appears more competitive than ever, Surrey will need resilience, stubbornness, and the savvy to escape from precarious positions with minimal harm. Kumar Sangakkara and Scott Borthwick displayed plenty of such qualities in adding 256 to ensure a draw against Lancashire.Both played magnificently. In recent times Sangakkara’s innings for Surrey have taken on the air of a father playing with children in the park without wanting to be too mean-spirited: he has thrashed the bowling around a little and then generously chipped the ball to the on side, as in his tame dismissal for 46 on the third day.His brilliance for Surrey has been more fleeting than a club would hope from their overseas star; a year had passed since his last Championship century, during which there have been seven half-centuries, each containing wondrous shots yet none leaving an indelible mark on a match. But here, dreamy batsmanship fused with tenacity, as if Sangakkara was piqued by the notion that this game would be defined by another retired Test great, Shivnarine Chanderpaul.After Surrey’s inertia against Lancashire’s spin twins in their first innings, Sangakkara resolved not to let the opposition attack establish such a hold again. Each of his 16 boundaries were hit so sweetly that the fielders themselves seemed inclined to applaud. Three particularly stood out: caressing Kyle Jarvis down the ground, generating ferocious power from nothing more than a nonchalant push; shimmying down the pitch and contemptuously lifting Simon Kerrigan into the second tier; and then slog-sweeping Kerrigan to reach his century, a shot in keeping with the determination to dominate that infused his innings.Borthwick, meanwhile, moved to The Oval hoping to construct innings such as this. He batted rather more austerely than Sangakkara, underpinned by a firm forward stride to inoculate his stumps from harm. If there was less for aesthetes to savour from Borthwick, he was no less effective, sweeping efficiently against spin, greeting any width on the off side by thrashing the ball through the covers, and scything anything short through his favoured leg side, as when he received an egregious long-hop on 99 to reach his century.”It’s something I’ve dreamt of for the last five or six months,” he said. On a day when Durham lost their opening game in Division Two, this, following Mark Stoneman’s debut century for Surrey last week, was another reminder of the talent that Durham has produced and now has lost.It is a little over three years since Borthwick’s solitary Test cap, as a legspinner, and a little under a year since he was primed to be picked against Pakistan as a specialist Test batsman, only for his batting returns to fall away just as the scrutiny increased. On this evidence, the first cap of the new stage of his career might not be far away, though the scramble for England places has seldom been fiercer.Borthwick believes that batting alongside Sangakkara, just as he used to for Durham, will aid his prospects. “Batting with him it’s almost like you’re learning by watching him and the way he’s talking to you. He’s a bit of a batting coach as well, he gives you tips, especially against spin,” Borthwick said. “At Durham you don’t get to play against spin much so it’s good that I did what I did today, and can learn from Sanga – he’s the master.”Yet, as well as Borthwick batted, he knows that honing his legspin, restricted to nine overs so far in 2017, will increase his chances of another England cap.”I don’t want to be a frontline anything – I want to score runs and take wickets and be an allrounder,” he said. “If we get wickets that can turn I might be able to get more wickets. Looking at that wicket there we’ve just batted on, it’ll spin. So hopefully if we do produce wickets like that than myself, Gareth [Batty] and Zafar [Ansari] can come into the game because I think it will definitely spin. Hopefully we can help each other. There’ll be times when it’ll be my day and times when it’ll be their day.”Lancashire’s flag was removed prematurely from the ground in the afternoon, as if preparing the side for an early getaway, and it seemed a recognition that this was not their day. Yet that detracted little from an admirable display in south London, with the return of James Anderson for their next fixture providing a further source of comfort.

Cameron re-elected as WICB president for third term

Dave Cameron has been re-elected for a third consecutive two-year term as WICB president. Cameron was the lone nominee for the position, and received 12 votes at the WICB Annual General Meeting on March 26 in Barbados. Emmanuel Nanthan, WICB’s vice-president for the last four years, was also set to be re-elected for a third consecutive stint in the position.Despite being an imposing figure within the WICB, Cameron has not been a popular administrator in the West Indies. Throughout his tenure, Cameron’s policies and decisions have been criticised by many former cricketers as well as by fans. The absence of any opposition on the WICB board has been the main reason Cameron has managed to continue as the head of the WICB.Nonetheless some on the WICB board remain sceptical of Cameron. One director, who has been part of the WICB board and observed Cameron closely, felt the Jamaican takes things “personally”, which does allow for constructive discussion.According to this director Cameron needs to focus on improving his relations with WICB board going forward. “He needs to temper himself. It seems to me he still does not have confidence in some directors. The trust is not there. It is also because if some people speak out at meetings, he will feel that those people are against him. But all those people want is the best of West Indies cricket. He takes everything personal, as if they are attacking him.”The director, who wished to remain anonymous, also felt that Cameron “favours” some territorial boards more than others. Asked why the board would elect him for a third successive term, the director said that those who oppose him “prefer to remain silent and go with the status quo”.With West Indies having already missed out on the 2017 Champions Trophy in England, the priority now is to make sure they receive direct entry for the 2019 ODI World Cup, instead of having to go through the qualifier. To achieve that goal, the WICB recently made fresh appointments, hiring former West Indies captain Jimmy Adams and former Australia batsman Stuart Law in important roles. Adams took over as director of cricket from Richard Pybus, while Law was named as West Indies’ coach after the sacking of Phil Simmons last September.It is also understood that Cameron, along with new WICB chief executive officer Johnny Grave, will travel to India to finalise the schedule for the limited-overs series scheduled in July.

KSCA set to boycott BCCI awards, Pataudi Lecture

The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), which will host the second Test between India and Australia starting Saturday, has told the BCCI that it will boycott the MAK Pataudi Memorial Lecture and the annual BCCI awards to be held on March 8 in Bengaluru. ESPNcricinfo understands there is also a danger of other state associations following suit in protest.In an e-mail sent last week, BCCI chief executive Rahul Johri had invited state associations for the fifth Pataudi Lecture, to be delivered by former India wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer, and the board’s annual awards with the last paragraph saying: “Kindly note that the committee of administrators is constrained to convey that only those office bearers who are qualified as per the Supreme Court orders are expected to attend the function.”The KSCA, in a reply dated March 3, said it would not even “remotely think” of attending the function, to be held on the last scheduled evening of the second Test. The KSCA further said it would be a “humiliation to the very cricketing fraternity” to accept the invitation with constraints and restrictions, and also accused the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) of showing “prejudice” against “various people who have served the game of cricket over decades”. The two-page e-mail, accessed by ESPNcricinfo, was signed by KSCA’s current president Sanjay Desai and secretary K Sudhakar.Although the KSCA is the first state association to lodge the protest, many other BCCI members may not attend the March 8 event. “Though courtesy demands and it is customary to thank you for the subject invitation, it is unfortunate that we do not intend to even acknowledge leave alone, thank you for the invite,” the KSCA’s e-mail said. “It may seem very rude and un-diplomatic, however, looking at the last paragraph of your invitation, constraining you from certain acts, we would like to also ascertain that we are also constrained not to acknowledge, thank or even remotely think of attending this function.”This is the second time in three days that the CoA has come in for strong criticism from the state associations. On Thursday, many state associations, barring Vidarbha and Tripura, sent the CoA separate e-mails saying they would not comply with its directives till they got clarification from the Supreme Court on aspects like eligibility of an office bearer. They also told the CoA that they were “alarmed” it was “overstepping” the role defined by the court.Two days later, the KSCA adopted the same blunt tone. “The fact [is] that the Committee of Administrators who have blatantly overstepped their roles far overreaching the direction of the Supreme Court do not understand the very meaning of an annual awards function pertaining to Cricket and an invitation to the same.”Administrators and Cricketers who have contributed their time and energy and also have sacrificed immensely for the development of game over decades are being treated so shabbily by the Committee of Administrators as though all of them are of doubtful integrity.”According to Desai and Sudhakar, the KSCA was one of the most “transparent” and “well run associations” in the country. They stated that many Karnataka players had achieved the distinction of being a cricketer of “impeccable character” because “the same has been inculcated” in the KSCA. “Under these circumstances, if in the wisdom of the Committee of Administrators, they feel that people who have contributed over decades are not worthy of attending a cricketing award function, then it demonstrates the prejudice they are carrying in this matter about the various people who have served the game of cricket over decades.”They concluded the e-mail by saying: “Debarring personnel who have contributed immensely over decades from being part of a cricketing function of the BCCI which has been built brick by brick by the sweat and sacrifice of these personalities in our view is an absolute aberration on the wisdom of the learned Committee of Administrators.”

Israrullah's 153* puts Peshawar in final

ScorecardFile photo – Israrullah hit his third List A hundred•PCB

Opener Israrullah’s unbeaten 153 off 148 balls helped Peshawar to a narrow win over Karachi Blues and put his team in the final of the Regional One-day Cup against Karachi Whites.Israrullah struck 12 fours and five sixes and contributed just over half of Peshawar’s runs. The next best score from was wicketkeeper-batsman Gauhar Ali’s 45 off 51 balls, but a series of cameos from the middle order pushed the total to 303 for 5.Karachi Blues made a steady start to the chase with Khurram Manzoor, who last played for Pakistan in the Asia Cup T20 in March 2016, and captain Khalid Latif adding 59 for the first wicket. The stand ended in the 17th over when Latif was lbw to left-arm spinner Khalid Usman. Manzoor, though, went on to bring up his 28th List A fifty off 73 balls.He then became part of a middle-order slump as the chase spiraled out of control. From 155 for 2, Karachi Blues were reduced to 211 for 7. Jaahid Ali, coming in at No.7, counterattacked his way to 53 off 44 balls, but ran out of partners in the end. Karachi Blues were dismissed for 280 in 47.4 overs, left-arm seamer Taj Wali taking care of the tail and finishing with 3 for 32.

Bowlers, Tare help Mumbai nudge ahead

ScorecardAbhishek Nayar rattled Hyderabad’s top order•PTI

For large parts of the day, there wasn’t much to choose between Mumbai and Hyderabad, although the defending champions enjoyed the first-innings honours on a topsy-turvy day in Raipur. Towards the end, though, they steered clear of choppy waters courtesy an unbroken 50-run fourth-wicket stand between Praful Waghela and Aditya Tare, the captain, to end with a lead of 116.Hyderabad, who resumed on 167 for 3, needing another 127 to wipe out the deficit, came within 15 runs of the lead. A lower order collapse resulted in them slipping from 255 for 5 to 280 all out. K Sumanth, the wicketkeeper, battled through to make 44; he was the last man to be dismissed. Vijay Gohil, the left-arm spinner, picked up three of the five wickets to fall. Abhishek Nayar, who made 59 in the first innings, took 4 for 60.Mumbai were rattled early as they slipped to 52 for 3, with Mohammad Siraj dismissing Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav. They had Waghela and Tare to thank as they steered them to safety.
ScorecardSamit Gohel’s third first-class ton put Gujarat in a commanding position•ESPNcricinfo

Gujarat continued to gain a foothold after their strong comeback from 71 for 6 on the first day, as they finished day three with a lead of 310 runs in the second innings with seven wickets still in hand.Odisha’s first innings ended early on the third day, with Jasprit Bumrah adding one wicket to his overnight burst through the middle order to complete his second five-wicket haul of the season. He finished with 5 for 41, as Odisha were shot out for 199 in response to Gujarat’s 263.Gujarat capitalized on their 64-run lead through an opening stand of 149. Priyank Panchal, the season’s top-scorer, got 81 of those before he was dismissed by left-arm spinner Dhiraj Singh. His opening partner, Samit Gohel, built stands of 49 for the second wicket with Bhargav Merai, 40 for the third with Rujul Bhatt, and batted through to stumps with Manpreet Juneja with a career-best unbeaten 110 off 291 balls. Gujarat finished the day on 246 for 3.
ScorecardIshank Jaggi (in pic) and Virat Singh helped build Jharkhand’s lead•K Sivaraman

Virat Singh’s second first-class century steered Jharkhand to a comfortable first-innings lead before they were bowled out for 345. In reply, the Haryana top order wiped out the deficit and ended the third day with a lead of 59 runs for the loss of two wickets.Ishank Jaggi, the other overnight batsman apart from Virat, could not score on the third day when he was bowled for 77 by Harshal Patel, and Ishan Kishan and Kaushal Singh fell for ducks. However, Virat batted with the tail to nearly take them to 300 in the company of Shahbaz Nadeem (34) and Rahul Shukla (28). Once Virat fell for 107, Jharkhand added another 45 to the total.Haryana openers Nitin Saini (41) and Shubham Rohilla (43) put on a strong stand of 79 but Samar Quadri dismissed both before Shivam Chauhan (22) and Chaitanya Bishnoi ended the day unbeaten on 22 and 33 respectively.

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