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Saurashtra’s trio of spinners, Kamlesh Makvana, Vishal Joshi and debutant Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, earned their team a first-innings lead of 107 against Madhya Pradesh

Abhishek Purohit in Rajkot30-Dec-2012
ScorecardBefore this game started, Saurashtra’s only chance of achieving the outright win that would take them to the quarter-finals was believed to be their spin attack, considered to be better than Madhya Pradesh’s. Despite the absence of Ravindra Jadeja and Nayan Doshi, the trio of Kamlesh Makvana, Vishal Joshi and debutant Dharmendrasinh Jadeja showed why that belief was right, earning a first-innings lead of 107. MP’s dismal batting means they too will now have to push for an improbable victory, when a first-innings lead would have sufficed.As was the case on day one, the new ball was productive, with Jaydev Unadkat taking three wickets, including those of Devendra Bundela and Jalaj Saxena in inspired, extended spells of 6-3-7-2 and 6-3-13-1 on either side of lunch. Unadkat had earlier made 20 of the 30 runs he and Makvana added for the last wicket, and carried that confidence into his bowling.The difference between the two sides, however, was the quality of spinners, and the way they were played. There wasn’t a lot of turn from the dry Khandheri pitch, contrary to what was being expected by both sides before the start of the match. Still, Saurashtra’s spinners created chances, half-chances and plenty of excitement among the close-in fielders regularly. While MP’s spinners had been content with cutting down the runs, allowing the opposition to recover from 94 for 5, Saurashtra’s bowled a fuller length, drew the batsmen forward, put in more effort and flight in their deliveries, and generated more bounce. Also, while Saurashtra’s batsmen were prepared to grind it out and wait for runs, MP’s batsmen kept going for their strokes despite the situation demanding some caution.The initial incisions were made by Unadkat. Bowling flat out, he got the sort of lift and zip that had eluded Ishwar Pandey and Anand Rajan in the morning. Saxena did not help MP’s cause by flailing and getting beaten a couple of times outside off. Despite his partner Naman Ojha walking over for a word, Saxena proceeded to play the hook, on the hop, to an Unadkat bouncer, only to be caught at square leg. Rameez Khan played a sharp length delivery from the crease, and lost his off stump, which took such a blow it had to be replaced.Then came the most crucial part of the innings as MP’s best batsmen, Bundela and Ojha, fought. Unadkat reared a short delivery up at Bundela’s throat first ball, which the MP captain defended. The next ball was pitched up, produced an edge, but fell short of the cordon. Bundela responded with a clip to the deep-midwicket boundary.Ojha, a free-flowing batsman, took on spin soon after it was introduced in the 13th over, as he stepped out to lift left-arm spinner Jadeja over mid-on and mid-off. As lunch approached and Ojha continued leaving his crease and lofting the ball, Saurashtra already had a sweeper cover, long-off and long-on for him.Unadkat was at it again soon after lunch though. In the second over after the break, he zipped one across Bundela, which the batsmen could only edge on its way to the keeper. MP were now 57 for 3 and soon slipped to 73 for 4 when Ojha dragged a sweep into the keeper’s gloves down the leg side off Joshi.This was when the difference in the spin attack started to show. The tall Jadeja, the second-highest wicket-taker in the Under-25 CK Nayudu Trophy, put in a lot of work on the ball with an action that had him pivoting on the front foot like the classical spinners of old. He was accurate too, and after some time, had Satyam Choudhary and Udit Birla edging for an alert Shitanshu Kotak at slip to take his 101st and 102nd first-class catches. MP continued to sink, with Harpreet Singh slashing Makvana to second slip, a very sharp chance held nonchalantly by Rahul Dave. Similar chances had gone down in the Saurashtra innings.Unlike the Saurashtra lower order, the MP tail showed absolutely no fight. Anand Rajan drove at a flighted Joshi delivery and was bowled, Ishar Pandey slogged his first ball to midwicket, and Ajay Rajput his second to extra cover.Once again, when they needed to fire in a crunch game, MP came up short. They had batted poorly in the first innings of their quarter-final against Mumbai in the previous season and, this year, had also lost a thriller to them in the previous round.MP did send back Sheldon Jackson in the third over of Saurashtra’s second innings, but Pandey’s length ball barely got above the ankles. MP, who have to bat last, wouldn’t have liked that.

A typically blistering half-century by Chris Gayle went in vain for Sydney Thunder as they fell short by six runs to Melbourne Renegades at Stadium Australia

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Dec-2011
ScorecardA typically blistering half-century by Chris Gayle went in vain for Sydney Thunder as they fell short by six runs to Melbourne Renegades at Stadium Australia. The Renegades posted a middling total of 140, but a three-wicket haul by Shahid Afridi and some good death bowling stopped Thunder on their tracks.The Renegades promised a bigger score after their openers, Aaron Finch and Brad Hodge, added 82. Luke Doran, the left-arm spinner, claimed both wickets in three balls. The quick strikes put the skids on the scoring rate. Shahid Afridi managed one four in his 16 before he was dismissed by Luke Butterworth in the 18th over.Debutant Tim Cruickshank and Gayle got off to a sound start chasing 141, adding 59 in close to eight overs. Cruickshank perished for 15 when he tried to loft Afridi over long-on. Gayle carried on attacking, hitting five sixes and three fours en route to 75. However, he didn’t have the support he would have liked as wickets kept falling at the other end. The Renegades pulled it back thanks to the discipline shown by their bowlers, Dirk Nannes (0-10) and Afridi (3-21). When Gayle fell in the penultimate over, caught at midwicket, the Renegades had all but sealed their first win against Thunder.

Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lanka captain, has said the plan was to bowl around the wicket to Chris Gayle and use the bouncer as a surprise delivery

Sa'adi Thawfeeq in Colombo25-Nov-2010Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lanka captain, has said the plan was to bowl around the wicket to Chris Gayle and use the bouncer as a surprise delivery rather than allowing him to expect it. The ploy worked when the West Indies triple-century maker from the first test was dismissed for 30 on the third day of the second test on Thursday.”That short ball was an excellent delivery; great line and length. That whole over the one before as soon as [Suranga] Lakmal went around the wicket he troubled Gayle from ball one. Taking out Gayle was a huge blow to the West Indies and it really put us on top.”After getting the big wicket of Gayle, Sri Lanka were stymied by Darren Bravo and Brendan Nash, who put together a partnership of 83 before part-time spinner Tillakaratne Dilshan swung the scales in Sri Lanka’s favour again by snapping them both up within three balls shortly before bad light ended play.”That was a fantastic effort,” Sangakkara said. “Dilshan’s got that magic touch when he comes on he manages to do something. Two wickets at a very crucial time – one guy was on 80. Now we got the opportunity to come back tomorrow and really put the pressure on.”Sangakkara, who was out for 150, said the pitch was not an easy one to bat on, so it was very satisfying to adapt to it and score runs. “We expected the wicket to do a bit. The only problem with it was it didn’t do a huge amount. It did enough but it was also very slow. The value for shots you get was not there in the first one-and-a-half to two sessions.”It was really a struggle for the batsmen because the loose balls also it was hard to put them away. At the end of the day that’s what makes Test cricket so interesting. It never comes easy for you. You get wickets that are really flat and also wickets like this that makes you work hard.”He said it was careless of him to get out when he did, and his dismissal together with that of Prasanna [Jayawardene] cost Sri Lanka the chance to get to 400. “That kind of put us on the back foot,” Sangakkara said. “It’s nice to get a big hundred but it would have been nice to have gone on and set us up for a bigger total. All in all there is quite a lot of time left in this match, and hopefully if we bowl well in the first session we can set it up.”Getting a result in this Test will, of course, depend on the weather, which has affected the Test over the first three days. “We’ll have to see how the conditions are tomorrow. If the weather is really good we might think of batting again. It all depends on the time factor. It’s nice to get them in twice, but we also need to make sure that we don’t have to score many if we are batting fourth on this track.”

Kamran Akmal’s poor showing with the gloves for Pakistan during the second Test in Sydney has prompted the selectors to rush promising wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed to Australia

Cricinfo staff06-Jan-2010Kamran Akmal’s poor showing behind the stumps for Pakistan during the second Test in Sydney has prompted the selectors to rush promising wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed to Australia ahead of the third Test in Hobart. A strongly-worded release from the PCB said Sarfraz “will be participating in third Test” although it didn’t say whether Akmal, who is the team’s vice-captain, would play as a specialist batsman or not.”[The] Pakistan Cricket Board shows its utmost concern over the poor performance of Pakistan Cricket Team in second Test match played in Sydney,” the PCB release said. “Chairman Selection Committee was invited today for a meeting with Chairman of PCB to evaluate the situation. As an urgent action, it was agreed to send wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed to Australia before the 3rd Test to reinforce the wicketkeeping department. The tour selection committee has been informed accordingly. An overall review of the performance of the team shall be carried out by the board after completion of the Australian Tour.”Akmal had a torrid time behind the stumps on day three of the second Test, dropping Michael Hussey three times off Danish Kaneria and missing a run-out chance earlier in the day. He also dropped Peter Siddle off Mohammad Sami on the fourth morning. Hussey went on to score an unbeaten 134 and helped stretched Australia’s lead from 80 – at the end of the third day – to 175. Pakistan were the favourites to win on the fourth day but collapsed to 139 and lost the match, by 36 runs, and the series.”The call up has come as a pleasant surprise and if I get a chance to play I will do my best for my country”, PTI quoted Sarfraz as saying before flying out of Karachi.Sarfraz had toured New Zealand recently as an understudy to Akmal but was sent back home before the team headed to Australia, because the selectors wanted to trim the squad. Sarfraz, who has played eight ODIs for Pakistan, had replaced Akmal for the 2008 Asia Cup. Akmal has since been the first choice wicketkeeper and was even publicly backed by his captain Mohammad Yousuf during the Sydney Test because of his abilities as a batsman.

It will be the first women’s T20 tournament to be held in Bangladesh; could kick off at the end of the ongoing BPL

Mohammad Isam17-Jan-2025The BCB will be launching a maiden Women’s Bangladesh Premier League (WBPL); it is likely to be held soon after the ongoing men’s competition ends on February 7. According to Nazmul Abedeen Fahim, the BCB director, it will be a three-team competition, with each team playing the others twice for a total of six league games followed by the final.”The board has been thinking about the various ways that we can take women’s cricket forward,” Fahim said. “Whether we can do a T20 competition for women was in our thoughts. We have decided today that we will do the Women’s BPL.”Fahim said the BCB is in talks with some of the men’s BPL franchises regarding ownership of the women’s teams, and that a couple of owners have shown interest.”We have already spoken to a few BPL franchises, who have shown interest [in owning women’s teams],” he said. “We want to see how a women’s tournament has an effect on our T20 cricket. We are hopeful that it will help our women’s game progress.”Fahim said that only allow one overseas player will be allowed in the playing XI, with the squads having a maximum of 15 players each.”We won’t take many overseas players due to the financial constraints,” he said. “Four overseas players puts financial pressure on the teams; perhaps they don’t want to take that pressure. We want to give more opportunities to our domestic cricketers. We want to add competitiveness.”It will be the first women’s T20 tournament to be held in Bangladesh. Women cricketers in the country play the one-day league in Dhaka, and the BCB recently launched a women’s three-day competition.

The allrounder is still building up to full capacity but Australia are never short of options with the ball

AAP and ESPNcricinfo staff29-Sep-2023Ellyse Perry’s knee injury could keep her from bowling for the entire white-ball series against West Indies that kicks off the women’s home summer.Perry hurt her left knee playing the second one-day international of Australia’s series against Ireland in July. The injury forced her out of the final match against the Irish, as well as England’s franchise tournament the Hundred.In early September, Cricket Australia (CA) named the 32-year-old allrounder in the squad for the white-ball series against West Indies that begins with a T20I at North Sydney Oval on Sunday.CA said at the time Perry was expected to be “fully available” for the six-match series, and on Tuesday she had her first competitive hit-out since July in a one-dayer for Victoria against Western Australia.Related

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Perry did not bowl in that match and said she may not do so again until after the West Indies series finishes in mid-October.”Nothing’s wrong, it’s just building workloads back up again so I’m fully prepared for the summer,” she said. “In terms of my full fitness, bowling will probably be something that I still work through across this series.”It might mean that I’m not available to bowl until late in the piece or perhaps towards the start of the WBBL.”Australia used Perry’s bowling sparingly during the white-ball legs of the women’s Ashes that preceded the Ireland tour and she has not sent down more than two overs in a T20I since the 2020 T20 World Cup.Australia are rarely short of bowling options in their limited-overs teams. Fellow allrounders Ash Gardner, Annabel Sutherland, Tahlia McGrath, Jess Jonassen and Georgia Wareham have all been selected in the squad to face West Indies.Perry shrugged at criticism of CA’s decision to schedule the first match of the women’s summer on the same day and in the same city as the NRL grand final.”The summer scheduling, and how much cricket we need to fit in, you can’t always get things 100 percent in a clear window,” she said. “Given the time of the match, being played early in the day, at a wonderful venue, there’s plenty of value in this fixture. I’m sure we’ll get a good crowd.”Perry played alongside Meg Lanning as Australia’s captain made her return to cricket this week following a four-month medical absence.Lanning hit a half-century in the first of two matches and CA is hopeful she will return to the national side later in the home summer. Perry heralded Lanning’s return to state cricket as a big step towards an Australia comeback.”That’s absolutely significant,” she said. “At the same time, it’s just significant that she’s back and she’s enjoying playing her cricket. She really just picked up where she left off in terms of her batting.”

England spinner stifles chase as visitors fall short of victory required to stay in hunt

ECB Reporters Network01-Jul-2022James Fuller’s quickfire 45 and impeccable bowling from Liam Dawson and Nathan Ellis fired Hampshire into the Vitality Blast quarter-finals at the expense of Gloucestershire.Allrounder Fuller needed only 24 balls to smack his haul at the death to drag Hampshire to an above-par 140. Gloucestershire, who needed to win to keep their knockout hopes alive, lost wickets with regularity with Dawson returning 2 for 16 and Australian Ellis 1 for 14 in his four overs – as Hampshire won by 15 runs.Hampshire chose to bat first on a sluggish used pitch and battled their way to above par thanks to some late-innings hitting. Before then it had been a struggle as Gloucestershire bowled incredibly tightly on a pitch similar to a typical Seat Unique Stadium wicket.Only 24 runs came in the powerplay with Ben McDermott and James Vince both falling, the former to Mohammad Amir who only bowled three balls before walking off clutching his side.Benny Howell had Tom Prest top-edging a slog sweep with the pressure building before his slower ball found Ross Whiteley chopping on via his pad, on the way to 2 for 29.Joe Weatherley kept things ticking, but his dismissal sent Hampshire sliding. Weatherley and Dawson handed Tom Smith figures of 2 for 18, before Fuller teed off. Forty-six runs came from the final three overs, and 36 from the final two, as Fuller swung Ryan Higgins for back-to-back sixes over the long square boundary before plopping David Payne over the straight boundary twice.The visitors moved Iain Cockbain up to open for the first time this season but he only lasted until the second over when Prest brilliantly ran him out with only a single stump to aim at. It was an atonement for Prest, who had dropped a tough chance off Chris Dent. And he would complete his penance when his offspin forced Dent to sky to deep extra cover – 40 for 2 at the end of the fourth over.Miles Hammond skied to McDermott but Dawson’s introduction swung the momentum. The left-armer’s first over only went for three runs, his second just two runs, the wicket of Glenn Phillips and four play and misses from Higgins, before he bowled Higgins with a jaffa in his third over – at which point he had 2 for 9. Mason Crane joined in to get Jack Taylor caught behind.Gloucestershire had the rate well in hand throughout but the regularity with which they lost wickets came back to bite them, with Howell swiping to deep square leg to become the seventh man to depart to leave 38 needed from the last five overs.Only 15 runs came in the following three overs and the burden was too much for James Bracey – who had scored 38 off 30 – when he was caught splicing to third. Tom Smith was run out off the first ball of the last over, with 17 required, before Ellis bowled Payne to a rapturous response from a packed Ageas Bowl.

Opener’s big hundred leaves England playing catch-up despite dismissing Virat Kohli for 0

Alan Gardner13-Feb-2021A majestic innings in capricious conditions from India opener Rohit Sharma gave the hosts a strong platform at the outset of the second Chennai Test. Rohit counterattacked during a harum-scarum morning session and then settled in to grind England into the dry, cracked clay of the MA Chidambaram Stadium, converting his fourth Test hundred as an opener into a dominant 161.After Virat Kohli had voiced his dissatisfaction with the pitch produced at Chepauk for the first Test against England, it was no surprise to see the ball turn and spit for the spinners on day one of the rematch. Kohli himself was done in by it, bowled for a fifth-ball duck by the returning Moeen Ali before lunch. But that was the high point of the day for Moeen and England, as Rohit and Ajinkya Rahane produced a bustling century partnership that threatened to be decisive even at such an early stage.England claimed three early wickets – including one for Olly Stone with his third ball on only his second Test appearance – but were effectively shut out by Rohit and Rahane during the afternoon session, despite regular half-chances coming and going. Again Joe Root was left to rue a lack of control from his spinners: Jack Leach was the more consistent, asking questions throughout the day, while Moeen went at more than four an over, despite picking up the wickets of Kohli and Rahane.Rohit rode his luck at times, gloving Leach short of slip on 41 and enduring some nervy moments against Moeen in the 90s, but he picked when to attack with judicious care to ensure that India would not squander their in advantage after winning the toss. He skipped along briskly during the early exchanges, scoring 80 from 78 balls before lunch, and kept England toiling long into the day. Such was his dominance that he was visibly frustrated after slog-sweeping Leach to deep backward square leg, having scored almost exactly two-thirds of his side’s 248 for 4.Related

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Rahane showed his quality, too, reaching fifty for the first time since his Boxing Day Test hundred at the MCG. He fell shortly after Rohit, although not before he had controversially been given not out on review when the third umpire failed to check whether a delivery from Leach had bounced up to hit the glove off the pad.In the next over, Rahane was bowled sweeping at Moeen, and Root himself picked up a wicket when he had R Ashwin stabbing a bat-pad catch to short leg, but with Rishabh Pant bringing out his trusty frying pan to deal with the spitting ball India bounced along to reach 300 in the final over of the day, much to the satisfaction of the home fans who had been allowed back in for this match.England, whose attack featured three changes from the one that bowled them to victory in the first Test, made a good start after being put into the field, with Stone striking in the second over, Shubman Gill pinned lbw offering no shot. Rohit and Cheteshwar Pujara then played positively during an 85-run partnership at more than four an over, with the former latching on whenever England’s bowlers missed their lengths. Rohit hooked Ben Stokes for six, twice swept Leach for fours to bring up a 47-ball fifty and drilled another boundary to long-on to take India to 100 shortly before the break.There was plenty of work to do for England’s spinners on day one•BCCI

There were early signs of turn and the ball disturbing the surface, though, and it was Leach who broke the second-wicket stand when Pujara tamely steered to slip. That brought cheers from the crowd, with Chepauk back at 50% capacity for this game, as Kohli walked out to bat – but they were silenced a few moments later when Moeen tossed up an inviting delivery that ragged back inside the India captain’s expansive drive to ping the off bail.Kohli was left looking quizzically at his partner, and lingered while the umpires confirmed that the ball had indeed crashed directly into the stumps. But as has often been the case during Moeen’s Test career, he mixed the sublime with the ordinary: his first ball of the day was a full toss, and a similar delivery saw Rahane get off the mark with a drive through cover.With Rohit sweeping aggressively – he scored six boundaries and 31 runs from the 16 times he employed the shot – and Rahane working the gaps interspersed with the occasional off-side boundary, India held England at bay before pressing home their advantage as the day wore on. Rohit, who survived an early review for lbw against Leach, was occasionally ruffled by the left-arm spinner’s line, while Rahane had to endure some uncomfortable moments against Stone’s short stuff, but as the partnership grew so will England’s sense of foreboding about a surface on which they will have to bat last.Having moved to 97 by rifling Moeen over long-off for six, Rohit almost toe-ended a paddle sweep to short midwicket, before bringing up his hundred with a more effective attempt a couple of overs later. England thought he should have been given out stumped on 159, but TV umpire Anil Chaudhary gave Rohit the benefit of the doubt despite his back foot seeming to be on the line when Foakes dislodged the bails.Chaudhary was again the focus of attention once Rohit had departed, when he declined to wind the replay on after determining that the delivery had missed Rahane’s inside edge. England’s review, which had been lost in error, was later restored by the match referee – but their frustration was palpable at the end of a day that clearly distilled the challenge ahead.

Sri Lanka’s captain has expressed ‘regret’ over his decision not to tour the country for September’s limited-overs matches

Andrew Fidel Fernando in Karachi18-Dec-2019Halfway through the Test series, several Sri Lanka players have expressed confidence that Pakistan is safe to tour. Not only that, captain Dimuth Karunaratne now even regrets pulling out of the ODI leg in September.Pakistan and Sri Lanka had originally been slated to play the ongoing Test series in September, and the limited-overs leg at this time of year. But so intent was the PCB on resuming Test cricket in Pakistan that they switched the series around, hoping that a safe and successful limited-overs tour would convince the holdouts among the Sri Lanka Test side to travel to Pakistan.It worked. Members of the limited-overs side took good reports of the security situation in Pakistan back to Sri Lanka’s senior players. Karunaratne had been among 10 cricketers to opt out of the September tour, but all of those players made themselves available for the Test series.”Now I do regret not coming for the shorter formats,” Karunaratne said, ahead of the Karachi Test. “At that time it was a really hard decision to take, because I had heard and read lots of things about Pakistan on news and social media – not positive things. But the guys who came here before gave really good comments and that’s why all the seniors decided to go and play a good Test series. Now I think I should have come and played the one-dayers.”The PCB took a further step towards normalising high-profile tours of Pakistan on Wednesday, when it confirmed a tour of Pakistan in February 2020 by an MCC team led by Kumar Sangakkara. It is also hoped that Bangladesh will tour sometime in the next eight weeks, but that visit has not yet been confirmed. Another series, with South Africa, is also in the works, while the Pakistan Super League is expected to be played in Pakistan in its entirety next year.”I can’t appeal to Bangladesh about whether they should come, but what I can say is that for me it feels really safe,” Karunaratne said. “The guys who are giving us security, they are giving us not just 100% but more than 100%. That’s why we feel really good. We went out for dinner as well. I can say that Pakistan is now safe for cricket.”The ongoing Test series is the first in the country since 2009, when the Sri Lanka team bus was attacked by terrorists in Lahore. Six security personnel and two civilians were killed in that attack.

The MCC introduced a rule last year confirming that substitute fielders will be allowed to keep should the original wicketkeeper suffer an injury during play

Osman Samiuddin in Abu Dhabi16-Oct-2018Rules introduced last year will allow Pakistan to look into the option of calling up a substitute wicketkeeper in case captain Sarfraz Ahmed is unable to take the gloves on the second day of the second Test against Australia in Abu Dhabi.Sarfraz was hit on his left forearm by a Mitchell Starc short ball when he was on 90, in the 70th over of Pakistan’s innings. After getting some treatment, he batted on for a couple of overs before holing out off Marnus Labuschange for 94.He then kept wicket for the seven overs Australia batted, not looking comfortable, but still taking an excellent, diving leg-side catch to dismiss Usman Khawaja.When he turned up at the end of the day to speak to media, it was with an icepack strapped to his left forearm.”The arm is not moving properly,” he said. “It’s a bruise, but I think it will have swelling later. I think Mickey [Arthur] was talking to the umpires about a reserve wicketkeeper tomorrow. That time when I was hit, I felt pain, but I hung on because I was approaching my century.”I think had it been more forceful, then I would not have been able to bat properly after that, but I hope that with icing, it will get better.”The MCC, guardians of the Laws of Cricket, last year introduced a rule confirming that substitute fielders will be allowed to keep wicket should the original wicketkeeper suffer an injury during play. The umpires have to okay the change, and it is understood that match officials will allow another wicketkeeper should Sarfraz not be able to come out.That will be Mohammad Rizwan, who was part of the original 18-man Pakistan squad for this Test series. Rizwan was released before the second Test and allowed to join the Pakistan ‘A’ side, also in the UAE, to take on New Zealand ‘A’. That, however, is believed to not be an issue in allowing Rizwan to take over.In the ICC’s Test match playing conditions, clause 1.2.1 states that each captain can nominate up to six substitute fielders on the team sheet handed to the match referee before the toss.Whether or not Rizwan’s name was on that team sheet – as he had been released – is a point made moot by clause 1.2.2, which says: “Only those nominated as substitute fielders shall be entitled to act as substitute fielders during the match, unless the ICC Match Referee, in exceptional circumstances, allows subsequent additions.”Pakistan are fortunate in having Rizwan, who has played one Test, available in the first place. The usual practice, under Sarfraz’s captaincy, has been to not pick a back-up wicketkeeper in their squads. But a lack of form and concern over Sarfraz’s excessive workload meant Rizwan was selected.In the event that Sarfraz doesn’t show up, Asad Shafiq will lead Pakistan on the field.