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The BCCI is at the final stages of planning for a Women’s IPL, according to BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, who has said he strongly believes that the tournament should take off in 2023.”We are at the level of formulation to have a full-fledged WIPL. It is certainly going to happen,” Ganguly told PTI on Friday. “I strongly believe that next year i.e. 2023 will be a very good time to start a full-fledged women’s IPL which will be as big and grand a success as men’s IPL.”After India finished runners-up to England in the 2017 ODI World Cup, and then second-best to Australia at the T20 World Cup in 2020, the women’s game in the country has cornered a lot more attention than it had previously.But despite prominent voices asking for a T20 league for women in India along the lines of the WBBL or the now-defunct Kia Super League (the women’s Hundred has taken its place), the BCCI has opted not to go ahead, so far, choosing instead to only host a three-team Women’s T20 Challenge alongside the playoffs of the men’s IPL. This started in 2018 as a two-team event, with one exhibition match, and expanded to a three-team affair in 2019 and 2020, but was scrapped in 2021, even though the men’s tournament took place (in two parts because of the Covid-19 situation).The BCCI’s argument against the Women’s IPL has been that Indian cricket doesn’t possess the sort of depth in its domestic circuit that is required for the tournament to be worthwhile. In 2019, Ganguly had, in fact, suggested that a seven-team women’s IPL could well come to fruition in 2023, when he had said, “You need a lot more women players. I see that in four years’ time, to get a seven-team IPL with the best women players [in participation].”As such, there are at least 1100 registered women’s players in India in any domestic season, and around 40 players who have either played for India since the 2018-19 season or are on the fringes of selection.

The third day of the Dhaka Test lived up to its very rainy forecast with a full day washout. The covers never came off the Shere Bangla National Stadium, and Bangladesh and Pakistan players didn’t come to the ground, as the country’s capital bore the brunt of a depression at the Bay of Bengal.Play was called off at 2pm local time, a foregone conclusion, though it could have happened much earlier. Match officials usually cling on to the hope of rain relenting. Even in that case, it takes an hour to clear the water off the ground and the covers. None of that was required on Monday.The last time a full day’s play was lost in a Test in Bangladesh was in July-August 2015, when South Africa toured the country.Only 30 minutes of play was possible on the second day, when Pakistan resumed their first innings for just 6.2 overs. It was enough time for Azhar Ali to move from his overnight 39 to his 34th Test half-century and then to 52 not-out. Babar Azam struck a few boundaries to move to an unbeaten 71.Babar started the day with an easy boundary off Khaled Ahmed, before Azhar brought up the 100-run stand. He then struck two fours off Ebadot Hossain to reach his fifty, off 126 balls. The pair have so far added 118 runs for the unbroken third-wicket stand.Earlier on the first day, visitors made an unsurprisingly strong start, with Abid Ali and Abdullah Shafique adding 59 for the opening stand. It was Pakistan’s fourth successive 50-plus stand for the first wicket, equalling the same feat from 2002. Taijul Islam removed both Abid and Shafique, but Azhar and Babar remained solid.The weather, however, promises to be better on the fourth and fifth days. There is no more rain in forecast, but it might take a while for the ground staff to rid of the excess water even when the sun comes out.

Karun Nair prepares to sweep•Associated Press

Karun Nair’s century delayed the inevitable for India Green as they lost to India Red by 170 runs in the Duleep Trophy opener at Lucknow’s Ekana International Stadium on Sunday.India Green, in pursuit of 474, were bowled out for 303 in the final session on the fourth day, with Karn Sharma, the legspinner, taking six wickets and finishing with his first-ever ten-for. Siddarth Kaul, the fast bowler, had four wickets, including that of top-scorer Nair, also the captain, for 120.Resuming on 98 for 2, India Green lost R Samarth early, after he’d added just 13 to his overnight 46. Ankit Bawne then became the first of Kaul’s four wickets when he was bowled for 17 shortly before the first session ended.Nair, meanwhile, battled on and forged a 49-run stand with Parthiv Patel, before Karn struck again. Parthiv, who became the 48th Indian to go past 10,000 first-class runs in the first innings, was caught by Rahul Singh for 26. At that stage, India Green were reduced to 213 for 5.Nair, who during the course of the day’s play was named captain of the India A team to play two four-day fixtures against New Zealand A, brought up his 10th first-class century, but his dismissal to break a 62-run stand with Mayank Dagar, who made 45, hastened India Green’s exit. Their inability to build on two strong partnerships during the course of the day eventually proved costly.India Red take on the Suresh Raina-led India Blue in the second fixture at Green Park in Kanpur on September 13.

Australian star Ellyse Perry believes it is time to move on from comparing women’s cricket with the men’s game and celebrate the female version as a sport in its own right.Speaking on the eve of her first match in the 2017 Kia Super League – Loughborough Lightning’s opening fixture against Western Storm in Taunton on Saturday – Perry sees no reason why women’s cricket should not enjoy the same profile women’s tennis has alongside the men’s game.”If you look at tennis, it is probably the leading sport in terms of male and female equality yet they are really different games as well,” the 26-year-old all-rounder said.”Aside from the obvious difference that one goes for three sets and the other for five at the slams, the way the game is played is different.”People appreciate the games for different reasons, like in the women’s game the rallies go on for longer because the serves are not as hard whereas in the men’s game there is the real power there.”But fans appreciate the two games equally for different reasons and because you’re a fan of men’s tennis doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy women’s tennis too.”Perry, whose Lightning team open their fixtures in a double-header with Somerset’s NatWest Blast match against Kent Spitfires, believes women’s cricket can also succeed because it is different.”Obviously, women are biologically different from men but I think it is time we moved away from comparing women with male players,” she said.”In my mind we are two different sports and so long as we are compared to the men’s game it kind of hamstrings us a bit because you can’t forge your own competition, your own game and your own kind of entertainment for the public.”If you look at the World Cup and the final in front of a full house at Lord’s you saw what a great spectacle it can be and the ECB and the ICC deserve congratulating for the way they staged and promoted a great tournament.”Thanks to her success in cricket and her parallel career in international women’s football, Perry has become a high-profile figure in her native country, the face of women’s sport in Australia. She is also married to the Australian rugby international Matt Toomua, who plays just down the road from Loughborough for Leicester Tigers.Most other female cricketers have some catching up to do in that respect but Perry believes there is enormous potential for top women’s cricketers to become stars in the same way as their male counterparts.”For women’s sports in general, whether it be cricket, soccer or the AFL at home, it is about creating your own identity and product,” she said.”It is not just about the match on the day, it is about developing the stories and the rivalries and bringing the players to the fore in terms of their own stories and personalities in the way they play the game.”There is so much scope for that in the women’s game with great characters and personalities and the World Cup showed it is really possible.”After their away match with Western Storm, Lightning host their two home fixtures in this year’s Kia Super League next week, taking on 2016 champions Southern Vipers at Derby on Tuesday, followed by a clash with Yorkshire Diamonds on Friday at Loughborough.As well as Perry, the Lightning line-up features two more Australian World Cup stars in batter Elyse Villani and leg-spinner Kristen Beams, as well as England World Cup-winners Georgia Elwiss, the captain, and Beth Langston, and 35-times capped wicketkeeper Amy Jones.

Having been appointed to the captaincy in a time of cricketing crisis, Dinesh Chandimal finds himself scrambling to prevent another one. He only walked out of hospital a few days ago, after having had pneumonia, but thanks in part to an ICC-approved inhaler, he has come back to take control of his side.Just don’t tell him that Sri Lanka are outgunned and that a 0-3 result is possible. When this suggestion was made to him on the eve of the game, Chandimal’s response was emphatic – or at least it was as emphatic as Chandimal gets.”Who is saying it will be 0-3?” he asked. “You can’t say that. India are a very talented team, but we aren’t going to lose 0-3.” What had been a good-natured exchange with the media gained a hint of an edge with that question. “We are looking to level the series and then go to the third match. We have the determination to do that.”But it might take a little more than determination. For one, Sri Lanka’s batsmen will need to resist India’s spinners on a surface that is likely to offer more turn than the Galle track provided. Even on an excellent batting surface in the first Test, Sri Lanka could not make 300 once, and failed to make it to the second new ball in either innings.”We just want to improve as a batting unit,” Chandimal said. “Everyone has scored 50-60 runs, but they couldn’t make the big ones. That’s what we’ve been discussing in the meetings and practices. Hopefully in this match we can do a better job.”If the track is sufficiently bowler-friendly, Sri Lanka may also employ the “hit out before you get out” strategy that has often been employed on lively surfaces in Sri Lanka. The thinking on such tracks – which have recently proliferated on the island – is that an unplayable ball will inevitably come to get you, so make your runs before then. It was a strategy most notably used to good effect in the Galle Test against India in 2015, when Chandimal’s rapid 162 helped overturn a 192-run deficit . Angelo Mathews and Kusal Mendis had also prospered by batting aggressively on turning tracks against Australia last year.”We’ve been preparing for turning pitches, and playing reverse sweeps and sweeps in training,” Chandimal said. “We always do the tough things in practice. When we go to the middle it might be helpful as a batsman.”When we play against a team as good as India, we will have to take a risk in some places. We need to think as batsmen about where we take those risks. If we can identify that, we’ll be able to score a lot of runs against a team like that.”Because a pitch that takes turn is expected, Sri Lanka also appear keen to field two left-arm spinners, including would-be debutant Malinda Pushpakumara. A prolific wicket-taker in domestic cricket, with 558 first-class dismissals to his name, Sri Lanka hope Pushpakumara will eventually become a replacement for Rangana Herath. For now, Sri Lanka are hoping to give him an apprenticeship under the most successful left-arm spinner in the game.”It’s a really good opportunity if Malinda plays, to benefit from Rangana’s experience in the middle and the dressing room,” Chandimal said. “That’s what we want to do. I hope both are going to do really good things.”

ScorecardChris Rushworth was part of a spirited last-wicket stand•Getty Images

Signs of a positive result when Durham lost five wickets for six runs proved misleading as only four more wickets fell in the two sessions of play against Glamorgan at Chester-le-Street.After thundery storms play began an 1.10 on the third day of the Specsavers County Championship match and when Glamorgan were faced with a deficit of 107 and 42 overs to bat after tea they reached 92 for 2.After the collapse Durham’s last-wicket pair, Chris Rushworth and Barry McCarthy, put on 68 to achieve maximum batting points with two balls to spare.McCarthy was then unlucky to take no wickets in a spell of 8-3-5-0 as Jacques Rudolph survived a searching examination from Durham’s four seamers until two overs from the close, when he was strangled down the leg side for 43.It was a deserved reward for academy boy Matty Potts, who also took the other wicket when he had Nick Selman lbw for 16.Rudolph twice edged Potts for four through the vacant third slip area and the youngster conceded only eight more runs in his eight overs.When Durham resumed on 281 for four, Paul Collingwood and Ryan Pringle added 47 in the first 12 overs. Pringle hit Michael Hogan for three fours in four balls, but he fell lbw to the next to start the slide.Graham Wagg had Paul Coughlin caught behind first ball, then Collingwood departed for 92 when a steeply-bouncing ball which Marchant de Lange lobbed off a glove to Aneurin Donald at gully.An inswinger from Wagg had Stuart Poynter lbw before de Lange banged another one in to have Potts caught at short leg.Durham still needed 16 for the fourth batting point when Rushworth joined McCarthy. But they were relatively untroubled once de Lange rested after a 12-over spell, in which his two for 30 took his overall figures to five for 95.McCarthy was on 30 when Rushworth fell for 38, chipping Hogan to mid-on with the total on 402.

Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
1:35

Tait: South Africa lacked someone with calmness when batting

Faf du Plessis scored 36 in the quarter-final of the 2011 World Cup. He scored 36 again in the virtual quarter-final of the 2017 Champions Trophy. On both those occasions, he was involved in the run-out of AB de Villiers. On both occasions the run-out proved to be the moment the match went away from them. Du Plessis went on to run David Miller out as well, and South Africa contrived to lose eight wickets for 51 runs from 140 for 2 in the 29th over.It will be all the more heartbreaking for South Africa that on a used pitch, slower than the ones The Oval has laid out, 275 might have turned out to be a pretty competitive total, but chasing 192, India could take their time when South Africa asked questions of them, and then Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli sealed their semi-final spot in style.India didn’t need to indulge in the mind games that New Zealand resorted to six years ago; they were just excellent with their defensive bowling in the first half, took the run-outs on offer, and then circled in for the kill with aggressive bowling changes. A measure of their discipline was how Quinton de Kock scored just five runs out of 53 square or behind square on the off side; one of them was a reverse sweep. India fell short of being magical in the field, but they showed they were not to be pushed around, reaching six run-outs, the highest in this tournament.Kohli was relieved when he won the toss and passed the onus of how hard to go in the middle overs when setting a target to South Africa. The ball refused to swing or seam once again, but India still thrived by bowling to contain. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah cramped de Kock up, giving him nothing outside off. Bhuvneshwar even brought the third man up to afford a deep point, which resulted in the batsman’s failed attempts to drag the ball to leg from just outside off. Hashim Amla struggled to time the ball, which was a sign the pitch was slow, and there was a need to recalibrate their total.By the time Amla walked across and took a risk to hit Hardik Pandya for a six – his first boundary in 25 balls – India had kept South Africa down to 52 in 14 overs. There were hardly any bad balls. Three of those 14 overs were bowled by R Ashwin, coming back into the side ahead of Umesh Yadav. Ashwin got Amla when he went back to hit a fullish ball square instead of hitting cover. MS Dhoni accepted the thick deflection coolly.Du Plessis made a fluent start to his innings, scoring off each of the first seven deliveries he faced. The energy rubbed on to de Kock, who showed remarkable patience in not playing low-percentage cricket. The run-rate gradually went up from 3.5 in 10 overs to 4.7 in 20 to 4.83 in 24. De Kock reached 50 for the sixth time against India – his previous five had been hundreds – and South Africa were back on course. Then Ravindra Jadeja, fresh from an ordinary game against Sri Lanka, began his fifth over. The room outside off remained elusive, and finally the low-percentage sweep arrived, claiming de Kock.De Villiers and du Plessis started promisingly, adding 24 off 23 without breaking a sweat. Then du Plessis hit to point, and de Villiers, coming off a hamstring niggle, didn’t shout no. The call here was the non-striker’s, de Villiers was well within his rights to send du Plessis back, but he didn’t. The big dive in the end did nothing for him.In the next over, du Plessis got a ball to the left of Jasprit Bumrah, India’s weakest fielder, at short third man. Du Plessis set off for the run, then stopped, then set off again, and by now David Miller just responded. Suddenly, though, du Plessis made a U-turn and beat Miller to the striker’s end. Bumrah’s throw was bad, but that worked in India’s favour as they completed an easy run-out at the non-striker’s.Du Plessis was on 27 off 31 when de Villiers was run out. He managed nine off the next 18 before chopping Pandya on in a manner identical to his dismissal against Pakistan. India could have easily set into template and bowled their spinners out. However, they bowled spin at one end and actively looked for wickets at the other. And the wickets arrived: Chris Morris and Andile Phehlukwayo to Bumrah, and Kagiso Rabada and Morne Morkel to successive Bhuvneshwar deliveries.Just to sum up how dysfunctional South Africa had been, last man in Imran Tahir was run-out too, not clear enough in his mind that it was his job to give the strike to JP Duminy, who was left unbeaten on 20. South Africa were bowled out with 33 balls unused.Run-outs seemed contagious as India got off the mark with a suicidal run. Miller missed the stumps, and Dhawan batted on. Rohit Sharma played a rare loose shot early in the innings to bring Kohli out in the sixth over. A string of 17 dots followed as Rabada and Morkel found some spongy bounce from the slow pitch. South Africa packed the region behind square with two slips and a gully for Kohli. A bigger chase might have brought about a big shot but Kohli just dropped one wide of cover and went to the other end. Dhawan took charge of the chase, and as is his habit, Kohli remained not out at the end.

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq hopes his and Younis Khan’s impending retirement from international cricket can spur the team in its pursuit of a maiden Test series win against West Indies in the Caribbean. Both batsmen will make their last international appearance in the third Test at Roseau, and with the series tied 1-1, Misbah aims to remain focused on the demands of his role as a senior batsman amid the emotions that come with the occasion.Pakistan have drawn three of the previous seven Test series between the two countries in the West Indies, including their last two series in 2011 and 2005.”That has given us [Younis and Misbah] additional motivation and I hope that is the case with the team also,” he said. “Looking forward to it as a normal game and focusing on our jobs. As batsmen, contributions from Younis and me would be very important. Sometimes emotions can come into these sort of occasions but we will try our best to focus on our jobs.”Pakistan began the Test series well, beating the hosts by seven wickets in the first Test in Jamaica but a dramatic second-innings collapse in Barbados – Pakistan were bowled out for 81 in a chase of 188 – allowed West Indies to draw level. West Indies captain Jason Holder, stressed his side needed get over the Barbados win and play the perfect game of cricket, and highlighted that fielding remained an area West Indies needed to improve on quickly.”What’s happening in Barbados has gone already,” Holder said. “It’s important to put it behind us. We don’t have to forget the good things we have done there but we have to improve on a few areas – fielding is one, especially taking our chances and once we forget the last match as quickly as possible and move on to this, it’s better for us.”We are in a situation where we have played some good cricket in the series so far. We haven’t been perfect so we are striving to play a perfect cricket game. Once we can do that, or get to 99% of that, then we will be the better side in this game.”Looking back on the legacy he will leave behind as captain, Misbah stated that he had tried to show a young team the importance of being more disciplined and determined. Misbah took over as captain in the aftermath of the 2010 spot-fixing scandal and was proud of the manner in which the team had grown in the Test format. Under his leadership, the side briefly held the No.1 ranking in Tests last year, before poor results on the tours of New Zealand and Australia pushed them down the table.”It was a tough time, a lot of players at the time were retiring also,” Misbah said. “We had different issues with the match-fixing, etc, it was a pretty young team at the time and the way we emerged as an international team, especially in Test cricket, that was wonderful. No doubt, we are not performing like that in the last couple of series but still this team has potential. We know the way, we know the path and we have to follow that. As a senior, I have tried to show this young side the need to be more disciplined, determined and once you do that and work hard, you can achieve anything. That is what is really pleasing about this team, you are looking forward that this team can go along well.”

The Committee of Administrators (CoA) submitted its first status report to the Supreme Court on Saturday, saying the BCCI and the state associations have not yet complied with even one of the steps that had to be implemented to meet the timelines set by the Lodha Committee.The CoA, appointed by the Supreme Court in January, recorded in its report the two sets of timelines set by the Lodha Committee, the status for the same submitted by BCCI CEO Rahul Johri on February 10, and its own observations on the implementation of recommendations. Against each of the 15 steps set for the board, the CoA remarked, “Step not complied with”. The Supreme Court will hear the matter for these on Monday.The state associations have been asked to hold fresh elections, and among them, only Vidarbha, Tripura and Hyderabad have done so. On the status of other recommendations, Johri stated the appointment of an ethics officer and ombudsman could happen only once newly elected members from the state associations take part in a BCCI meeting to form an apex council. Johri stated that the appointment of the ethics officer and the scope of the ombudsman’s role will be an amendment to the BCCI constitution, which needs to be passed by a 3/4th majority resolution.The first set of timelines ranged from September 30, 2016 to October 15, 2016 and included recommendations on the adoption of a new memorandum and rules and regulations by the BCCI, the amendment of constitutions by state associations, amendments to certain IPL codes of conduct, and the implementation of the one-state-one-vote policy to be followed by Gujarat and Maharashtra, which have more than one state association.In the status for these submitted by Johri, the CEO said the new memorandum and rules and regulations were “not implemented” because the “BCCI members in their meeting need to accept this with 3/4th majority as per present rules”. Even though the state associations, barring Tripura and Vidarbha, had not amended their constitutions, Johri stated certain state units had declared they would do so and had communicated directly with the Lodha Committee.Regarding the amendments to IPL rules – including the code of conduct for players and team officials, the anti-corruption code, anti-racism code, and the operational rules – Johri said the amendments were agreed upon during the BCCI’s special general meeting in September last year, but the minutes of the meeting were yet to be approved. Amendments to certain rules in the IPL were also dependent on the appointment of a disciplinary committee by the ethics officer, ombudsman and CEO. Regarding the one-state-one-vote policy, the status merely said “yet to be formulated”, without any explanation. The deadline for each of the above steps was September 30, 2016.The second set of deadlines ranged from November 15 to December 30 and featured recommendations on elections for state associations, elections to the apex council of BCCI, the board’s annual general meeting, and appointments of the ethics officer and ombudsman, creation of IPL governing council and the appointment of the management under the new rules.Johri stated that elections to the apex council and the appointment of the ethics officer and ombudsman could happen only once state bodies had amended their constitutions and held fresh elections, after which elected members would represent their respective state associations in a BCCI meeting to then form the apex council.