Duminy to lead South Africa in T20 series against India

Melbourne, Feb 29: India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur on Saturday said the team management has given Shafali Verma the freedom to play her natural game, which has set the Women's T20 World Cup ablaze.

The 16-year-old announced her emergence on the global stage by becoming the second highest run getter in the ongoing tournament. She has so far scored 161 runs, hitting 18 fours and nine sixes in four matches at an astounding strike rate of 161.

On Saturday, Shafali hit a 34-ball 47 to steer India to a seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka after spinner Radha Yadav produced a career-best 4/23.

"Shafali is someone who loves to play big shots, and we don't want to stop her. She should continue doing the same and she should continue enjoying her game," Harmanpreet said after the match.

India entered the semifinals with an all-win record as they led Group A with eight points from four games and the captain insisted it is important to continue the winning momentum.

"It's really important to keep the momentum when you are winning games. You really work hard, so you can't afford to lose that momentum. You can't bowl same pace and lengths on these wickets, so you need to keep rotating the bowlers."

"Today I tried to be positive and got a few boundaries. In the upcoming games I'll try to give my best," Harmanpreet said.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Atapattu rued the reprieves given by her side to Shafali in the form of two dropped catches.

"I think that score was not enough, we lost couple of chances, specially Shafali, it was hard to stop her," she said.

"Yeah, I got a good start but unfortunately got out in the 10th, would have wanted to stay in there till the 16th or the 17th over. I hope we can beat Bangladesh in our last game," she added.

New Delhi, May 14: Mahendra Singh Dhoni is an unconventional and unique leader, whose biggest strength is his incredible gut feeling, says his Chennai Super Kings teammate Faf du Plessis.

The former South Africa skipper has spent considerable time with Dhoni after joining the Indian Premier League (IPL) side in 2011 and has been an integral part of its successful journey.

"He reads the others player really well and he uses that to make instinctive decisions on the field. He's got an incredible gut feeling on the game and I think that's his biggest strength," du Plessis said in a Facebook live session with Bangladesh ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal.

The 35-year-old said Dhoni changed his perception of how a captain should be.

"It was amazing for me to see how different M S was as a captain. I used to think a captain must speak all the time in team meetings etc but M S was completely different.

"He doesn't believe a lot in team meetings. He's a very instinctive captain he's got such a good cricket brain that he relies on it to make the right decisions on the field," du Plessis said of former India skipper.

Dhoni last played for India in World Cup semifinal last year and was expected to be back to playing competitive cricket at now-postponed IPL.

Calling Dhoni the best finisher he has played with, Du Plessis said no one can emulate what the dasher from Ranchi can do with the bat.

"He's extremely calm. I haven't played with someone who is a better finisher than him. It's just remarkable to watch him from the side of the field."

"If someone else tries to do it like him they won't be able to. He's just so unique like he times the ball so late he's got an incredible calmness. He knows his game and he picks a bowler and goes for it."

Du Plessis said that playing for CSK alongside Dhoni and under the guidance head coach Stephen Fleming has taught him a lot about leadership.

"I'm lucky to have started my journey there at CSK because I have really learned a lot from a leadership point of view. I tried to learn as much as possible from Dhoni and Stephen Fleming because both are great captains."

Dubai, Jul 24: The eagerly-awaited Indian Premier League will start on September 19 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the final slated on November 8, IPL Chairman Brijesh Patel told PTI on Friday.

While the event's Governing Council will meet next week to chalk out the final details and approve the schedule, it is understood that the BCCI has informally intimated the franchises about the plan.

"The GC will meet shortly but we have finalised the schedule. It will run from September 19 to November 8. We expect the government approval to come through. It is a full 51-day IPL," Patel confirmed the development after PTI reported the dates on Thursday.

The IPL has been made possible by the ICC's decision to postpone the October-November T20 World Cup in Australia owing to the COVID-19 pandemic due to which the host country expressed its inability to conduct the event.

Patel said that the Standard Operating Procedure to combat the COVID-19 threat is being prepared and the BCCI will formally write to the Emirates Cricket Board.

"We are making the SOP and it will be ready in a few days. To allow crowd or not depends on the UAE government. Anyway social distancing has to be maintained. We have left it for their government to decide on that. Will also be writing to the UAE board formally," Patel said.

There are three grounds available in the UAE -- Dubai International Stadium, Sheikh Zayed Stadium (Abu Dhabi) and the Sharjah ground.

It is learnt that the BCCI will be renting the grounds of the ICC Academy for training of the teams.

The ICC Academy has two full-sized cricket grounds along with 38 turf pitches, 6 indoor pitches, a 5700 square foot outdoor conditioning area along with physiotherapy and medicine centre.

As per the current health protocol in Dubai, there is no need to be in quarantine if people are carrying a negative COVID-19 test report, but if they are not, they will have to undergo a test.

While there was speculation that the IPL will start from September 26, the BCCI decided to advance it by a week in order to ensure that the Indian team's tour of Australia is not jeopardised.

"The Indian team will have a mandatory quarantine of 14 days as per the Australian government rules. A delay would have sent the plans haywire," a BCCI official said on conditions of anonymity.

"The best part is that 51 days is not at all a curtailed period and broadcasters will be happy with full seven-week window," he added.

While the original schedule had five double-headers, Patel said the new one will feature around 12 double-headers which means two matches each on both Saturdays and Sundays.

The Indians are set to play a four-match Test series against Australia starting December 3 in Brisbane after the IPL.

It is expected that with each and every team needing at least a month's time to train, the IPL franchises will be leaving base by August 20 which gives them exactly four weeks time to prepare.

The cash-rich event was originally scheduled to start at the end of March but the COVID-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions that were put in place to contain the virus, led to an indefinite postponement.

However, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had always maintained that the event will be held some time this year.