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Shikhar Dhawan has a shoulder injury, Punjab Kings coach Sanjay Bangar has confirmed, and could be out of action for a week, possibly, or even more. If it’s a week, Dhawan, the designated captain of the team, could miss two IPL 2024 matches, against Mumbai Indians (April 18) and against Gujarat Titans (April 21), both at home in Mullanpur.Speaking a press conference after Kings’ last-over defeat in a low-scoring game against Rajasthan Royals in Mullanpur, Bangar first said Dhawan could be out for “at least a couple of days”, and that it could be “at least seven-ten days”.”He’s having a shoulder injury, so he is likely to be out for at least a couple of days, I would say,” Bangar said. “Having an experienced opener, somebody like Shikhar, who has experience of playing on such wickets, becomes extremely crucial [for the team].”We have to wait and see how he responds to the treatment. At the moment, it seems that he could be out of action for at least seven-ten days.”In Dhawan’s absence, Sam Curran walked out for the toss for Kings, which led to some amount of confusion, since Jitesh Sharma had attended the captains’ conference in Chennai prior to the start of the season.”No, no, he [Jitesh] wasn’t the designated vice-captain,” Bangar clarified when asked the question. “The impression could have been because he attended the captains’ seminar, or meeting, at the start of the IPL. But the thought was always that… because Sam has led the team in the previous year as well; he was late to arrive from UK and he wanted to have a few [training] sessions, that’s the reason we couldn’t send him to Chennai. Hence Jitesh was sent, because the directive was that a player has to attend.”It wasn’t the case that Jitesh was the stand-in captain. We were very clear in our mind that if at all there had to be an opening, Sam Curran will be taking over and do the job as the captain.”Dhawan hasn’t had a spectacular time of it with the bat in IPL 2024, but is Kings’ highest run-getter at this stage with 152 runs from five innings, scoring at an average of 30.40 and a strike rate of 125.61. In fact, Kings’ struggles with the bat at the top of the innings have contributed in a major way to their lack of wins – they have four losses from six games so far and are down at eighth place on the table.Jonny Bairstow, Dhawan’s opening partner, has had a rough time too, scoring just 96 runs in six innings, while Prabhsimran Singh (119 runs in six innings) and Jitesh (106 runs in six innings) have struggled for consistency and impact also.On Saturday, with Dhawan out, Kings tried Atharva Taide at the top. He scored 15 runs in 12 balls as Kings put up 38 for 1 in the powerplay on their way to a total of 147 for 8.”Certainly is a cause for concern that the top order is not making enough runs for us,” Bangar said. “They are trying hard – I am not saying that they are not applying themselves – but it’s just not coming. Low-scoring games, especially at Mullanpur, the way the wicket is… that also has a factor. Because if you see, some of the scores have been pretty low.”All the three games that we have played here, in the first six overs, with the new ball, the wicket tends to just jag a little bit, and uneven bounce as well. So maybe that is also a contributing factor because, not only us, the visiting teams and their top order are facing issues.”

Sophie Devine struck two Super Over sixes as Perth Scorchers secured a come-from-behind victory over Brisbane Heat who will be left wondering how the game slipped away from them.Heat needed 51 off 62 balls with nine wickets in hand in the latter part of their chase having been set up by Grace Harris. But in the end, they were fortunate to scrape into the Super Over when Lilly Mills, who took 3 for 28, couldn’t gather the final ball of the innings at the stumps to make a run-out with the pressure telling on both sides.South Africa allrounder Anneke Bosch then struck two boundaries off Marizanne Kapp to leave Scorchers needing 13. Devine ended up doing it with two balls to spare against Jess Jonassen who sent down a huge full toss first delivery.Heat lost their composure badly in the chase, having reached 1 for 87 in the tenth over. Spinners Mills and Alana King, both playing their first matches for Scorchers, combined to take five wickets while Heather Graham went for just two in the penultimate over.King, who moved from Melbourne Stars, took a brilliant caught-and-bowled to remove the dangerous Laura Kimmince while Mills responded strongly after the first ball of the final over had gone for four.Earlier in the chase, Kapp had claimed the vital wicket of Harris, lbw trying to pull a delivery that was too full, after she had dominated the early stages. The scrambled thinking of Heat was summed up in the final over when Nadine de Klerk wandered out of her crease having completed a single and was run out.Scorchers had made a good start before Jonassen, in her first game back from injury, claimed Devine first ball. Beth Mooney anchored the innings but the rest of the order could not get going as they lost 4 for 30 in 7.2 overs. India legpsinner Poonam Yadav claimed Mooney as her first WBBL wicket.

Hamid Shinwari, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) chief executive, has issued an impassioned plea to Cricket Australia, asking it for “considered, balanced, cricket diplomacy” instead of a “sudden knee-jerk reaction” when it comes to possibly cancelling the scheduled Test match between the two nations if women are not allowed to play the sport under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.Saying that the ACB had received the CA update with “shock and immense disappointment”, Shinwari asked CA to look at the political and cultural situation in Afghanistan with a lens similar to the one used by ICC over the years.Related

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“Since the ACB joined the International Cricket Council (ICC) and through our fast growth through affiliate, associate and to full membership, the ICC has been aware of our cultural and religious environment,” Shinwari wrote in a press statement. “It has taken a balanced, diplomatic, sensitive and considerate approach as we have worked to develop every aspect of the game of cricket in our country despite the situations we have faced.”We believe that the ICC has had the forethought to recognise and accept that we have been doing all we can to grow cricket in the traditional cultural, religious and changing political environments of our country. The alternative to cancellation of the Test match would be for CA to take the same approach as the ICC. A considered, balanced, cricket diplomacy would be far more productive for Afghanistan and for cricket than a sudden knee-jerk reaction.”CA need to know that the comments of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan spokesperson regarding women’s participation in cricket are not substantially different to the ACB’s cultural and religious environment during the [democratically elected] Karzai and Ghani governments over the last 20 years. We believe that the ICC is fully aware of this, although it seems CA is not.”Afghanistan are scheduled to play their first Test against, and in, Australia from November 27 in Hobart. But following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, and a statement from a senior functionary of the group that indicated Afghan women would not be able to take part in sport, several Australian politicians, including sports minister Richard Colbeck, suggested that the Test would not go ahead. That had followed concerns raised by Tasmania Premier Peter Gutwein earlier in the week.In a statement earlier this week, CA said, “If recent media reports that women’s cricket will not be supported in Afghanistan are substantiated, Cricket Australia would have no alternative but to not host Afghanistan for the proposed Test match due to be played in Hobart.” The Australian Cricketers Association has also issued a statement “unequivocally” endorsing CA’s stance.Afghanistan are the only Full Member to have earned that status without having an operational women’s team in place. Last year, the ACB had announced their first contracts for women as they looked to build a team.Shinwari: “There has been a quiet but significant development of women’s cricket over the past 10 years in girls-only schools”•AFP/Getty Images

“The development of women’s cricket has been slow in Afghanistan, just as it was for other more traditional cultures: India in the 1970s; in Pakistan in the 1990s when women’s cricket was at first declared illegal and players had death threats; in Sri Lanka in the late 1990s; and in Bangladesh not until the early 2000s,” Shinwari wrote. “Nonetheless, there has been a quiet but significant development of women’s cricket over the past 10 years in girls-only schools where cricket is an integral part of the health education process.”The ICC, meanwhile has said that Afghanistan’s status in the international game would be discussed at the next board meeting but that is not scheduled until November, which has raised questions about their participation in the upcoming T20 World Cup in October-November.Asking CA not to take away “a treasured gift to the people Afghanistan” and for the cricket world at large to “keep the door open for us, walk with us, do not isolate us and avoid penalising us for our cultural and religious environment”, Shinwari added, “The ACB is powerless to change the culture and religious environment of Afghanistan. If the CA decides to cancel the Test match and isolate the Afghan men’s national team, it will have no impact upon those cultural and religious values as they stand. The spokesman for the government has unequivocally stated this.”We are concerned that, if other countries’ cricket administrators follow CA, then Afghan cricket will be alienated from the cricket world, the development of cricket in our country will be stalled and, even more concerning, cricket may cease to exist in Afghanistan.”

Alex Hales will link up with former England coach Trevor Bayliss for the first time since he was banished from the national side on the eve of the 2019 World Cup after securing a deal to return to Sydney Thunder in the BBL.Hales has not played for England since he failed two recreational drug tests shortly before the tournament that the hosts went on to win two years ago although Bayliss ended his time as coach at the end of that summer following the Ashes.He was overlooked for a recall when England had to select an entirely new ODI squad for the series against Pakistan earlier this year following a Covid-19 outbreak among the original group.Hales has been prolific for Thunder over the last two seasons with hauls of 576 and 543 runs including a top score of 110 in the 2020-21 campaign which saw Thunder reach the Knockout final where they were eliminate by Brisbane Heat.Related

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He has also recently completed an impressive T20 Blast tournament for Nottinghamshire with 482 runs at 43.81 and a strike-rate of 178.51 during which he made the fifth hundred of his career.”The culture at Sydney Thunder, both on and off the field, is something special and I am excited to have the opportunity to be a part of it again,” Hales said. “Over the last two seasons I have seen first-hand how this franchise is putting together a squad who believes they can win the BBL and that’s the case this summer more than ever.”Thunder now have 14 players locked in ahead of the new BBL season which is due to start on December 5 with at least one more overseas signing to come. They are yet to confirm who their captain will be following the departure of Callum Ferguson although Usman Khawaja is the favourite.Hales is the latest in a recent group of overseas players confirmed in the BBL alongside Carlos Brathwaite and James Vince (Sydney Sixers), Mujeeb Ur Rahman (Brisbane Heat) and Sandeep Lamichhane (Hobart Hurricanes). Tom Curran (Sixers) and Tom Banton (Brisbane Heat), who did not play last season, are on multi-year deals.Overseas players will again have to undergo two weeks quarantine when they arrive in Australia ahead of the tournament due to the Covid-19 border restrictions in place and it remains to be seen whether all the clubs will be able to fill their slots.Fringe England players are likely to continue to be sought after with a large number set to already be in Australia in the lead-up to the Ashes with an England Lions fixture penciled in at the same time as the first Test. However, anyone involved in the Lions match (December 9-12) would not be available for the early matches in the BBL and England have an ODI series in West Indies in late January which would mean anyone selected for that tour would not be available for the latter part of the tournament.Sydney Thunder Jonathan Cook, Ben Cutting, Ollie Davies, Brendan Doggett, Matthew Gilkes, Chris Green, Alex Hales (England), Baxter Holt, Usman Khawaja, Nathan McAndrew, Alex Ross, Daniel Sams, Tanveer Sangha, Chris Tremain

England men’s Test players have been made available for two games each in the inaugural season of the Hundred, ahead of their five-match series against India.With Covid-19 cases on the rise in the UK and the ECB desperate to ensure that the summer’s showpiece Test series goes ahead unaffected, there had been suggestions that England’s players would be pulled out of the new 100-ball competition altogether in order to minimise their risk of infection.Instead, they will play two matches each for their respective teams before being ‘bridged’ into England’s secure team environment ahead of the first Test at Trent Bridge on August 4. The ECB had initially hoped that Test players would be available for three group games, and a decision is yet to be reached on their availability for the knockout stages, which take place between the second and third Tests against India.While players participating in the Hundred have been asked to follow certain protocols aimed at minimising the risk of Covid infection – such as avoiding pubs and shops – and are being tested regularly, the involvement of England players does increase the risk of them missing the first Test due to self-isolation, either due to testing positive themselves or being a close contact of a positive team-mate.It means Jos Buttler, Sam Curran and Rory Burns will all be available for the opening match of the men’s competition at The Oval on Thursday night, with Chris Woakes, Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley, Mark Wood and Dan Lawrence involved in Birmingham Phoenix vs London Spirit at Edgbaston on Friday night.Related

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The final game that Test players will be available for will be Welsh Fire vs Southern Brave on July 27, though with Ollie Pope (Fire) unlikely to play a part in the Hundred as he recovers from injury and Jofra Archer (Brave) a doubt for at least the first two Tests following elbow surgery, availability may not be an issue in that fixture.Ben Stokes, who has been a central figure of the ECB’s advertising for the Hundred, said last week it would have been “devastating” to miss out on playing in the competition. “It would be very frustrating to not be able to participate,” Stokes said. “It’s a massive event for England and we want to be part of it – we know how big a role players play in making a franchise competition big.”Players on red-ball central contracts will not be replaced, since their deals fall outside of the Hundred’s draft mechanism, but teams can sign replacements for players called up without such deals – London Spirit’s Crawley and Wood, for example. It is expected that the ECB will confirm the squad for the first Test later this week.

Durham 162 and 162 for 5 (Jennings 62*) trail Nottinghamshire 305 (Fletcher 92, Pattinson 59, Rushworth 4-54) by 19 runs
ScorecardLuke Fletcher swopped bowling duties for the innings of his life•Getty Images

Nottinghamshire’s burly nightwatchman Luke Fletcher fell eight runs of a maiden first-class hundred when he was run out in desperately unfortunate circumstances as Nottinghamshire built a sizeable advantage against Durham at Emirates Riverside.Fletcher earned Nottinghamshire a formidable 143-run lead and they strengthened their position by taking four prime wickets before the deficit had been cleared and that of Paul Coughlin for a breezy 36 once it had.The home side’s hopes of recovery rest largely on the slim shoulders of Keaton Jennings, who composed a polished 62 not out in the 47-over evening session. But if this game ends as now expected sometime on the third day Durham will be a mere 89 points behind their current opponents. They do, though, have a game in hand.At Papplewick and Linby, the Nottinghamshire club where Fletcher first learned his cricket, they may have been raising a glass to their former player on the second evening of this game after his beautifully-constructed 209-minute innings had played the major role in establishing his side’s superiority in this game.There will also be talk of the disaster that befell him when his maiden century was in sight.Pattinson played the ball into the off side where Keaton Jennings effected a fine stop. By then, Fletcher had come two thirds down the wicket but was sent back by his partner who had at first made as if to run.Fletcher slipped onto his backside with the sort of thud that shifts tectonic plates. He got up without his bat and galloped back to the bowler’s end like a frightened shire horse yearning for its stable. But he failed to beat Jennings’ accurate throw and the bails were whipped off by Paul Collingwood with the batsman out of his ground. Fletcher had made 92, thus equalling his highest first-class score. He may well have got home if he could have stretched a bat out.Forget, please, the condescension often attached to nightwatchmen’s innings: this was a proper knock in which Fletcher made the most of his ability to drive through the covers and clip the ball off his legs. He defended the good balls with unruffled precision and took advantage of Durham’s curious willingness to feed his best shots.After Samit Patel was caught at slip off the seventh ball of the morning, Fletcher lost nothing by comparison with either Riki Wessels, who was leg before for eight when wafting across the line to Mark Wood, or Chris Read, bowled for 17 when playing loosely at a Paul Coughlin delivery which nipped back a shade.He dealt phlegmatically with a scoreboard malfunction which gave him extra runs and led to him twice being warmly applauded by admittedly hypothermic home supporters for reaching his fifty when he had not, in fact, done so, and then not at all when he actually achieved his fourth first-class half-century in 121 innings. Fletcher’s team mates on the balcony made good the deficiency in acclamation; they knew the value of this innings.Undefeated on 51 at lunch, the mighty megalith contemplated a yet loftier goal in the afternoon. With James Pattinson offering sound support, it seemed possible that his first century for Nottinghamshire was in range after a decade of wholehearted trying.Three fours in a Ryan Pringle over took him into the nineties, a position from which, so the former Kent batman Trevor Ward frequently asserted, all that is needed is “two good hits”.Ward, alas, was oft dismissed when attempting to put fine theory into rough practice and Fletcher, too, was denied his longed-for glory.Nottinghamshire’s seventh-wicket pair had put on 108-runs. After consoling his partner, although “Sorry, mate” may not have done the needful, Pattinson reached his own fifty and had extended his team’s advantage to 139 when he skied an attempted pull off Graham Onions to a scuttling Stuart Poynter behind the stumps.Already the Australian looks like one of the signings of the season. He has scored 148 runs in two innings and by the end of the second day here he had taken 13 wickets, a haul he completed when he removed Coughlin and Collingwood, the latter quite brilliantly snaffled one-handed by a leaping Wessels at first slip after making 40.In the first three overs of the innings Jake Ball had accounted for Stephen Cook and Jack Burnham, both of whom edged good balls to the cordon and Fletcher then enjoyed more joy when he had Michael Richardson leg before for eight. Down the road Chester-le-Street drew their match although Durham’s Adam Hickey made 58 and took three wickets for his new club. Across the land cricket is beginning and good coaching being done. On such a Saturday April’s cruelties seem well hidden.

Evin Lewis has played eight T20Is for West Indies, a short-format team traditionally known for its power-hitters. He has crossed ten only two times in those eight matches; the first time he went on to a hundred with nine sixes; the second time, he struck 91 off 51 with nine sixes. Only Marlon Samuels has hit as many sixes in a T20I innings for West Indies, and only Chris Gayle has done better.That 91 helped West Indies mow down a target of 138 in Port of Spain against Pakistan on Saturday, with seven wickets and over five overs to spare. Lewis, who was run out for 10 and 3 in the first two games which West Indies lost, said he did a bit of introspection after his twin failures but did not put too much pressure on himself; he was confident he could make a difference if he batted a decent length of time.”I’ve been staying positive. The first two games, you know, run out, I had a long think last night,” Lewis said after the match. “I didn’t put pressure on myself. That’s how the game goes at times. I know once I bat at least five overs, I will get that score.”Lewis’ blitz helped West Indies stay alive in the four-match series; the final game will be played on Sunday, with the scoreline 2-1 in favour of Pakistan.The visitors’ coach Mickey Arthur was disappointed his team did not seal the series at the first opportunity, and put that down to inadequate batting; after being 4 for 2 four balls into the match, they recovered to 92 for 2 in the 13th over courtesy 88 off 69 between Kamran Akmal and Babar Azam before a dramatic slide.”We need to find some balance with our batting,” Arthur said. “For us it was an opportunity to close out a series and we didn’t do that. We’ve put ourselves under pressure, we can’t lose the series, but still we’ve put ourselves under pressure for tomorrow.Mickey Arthur on Shadab Khan: ‘Teams are going to analyse him now, we’ve got to try and stay one step ahead with him’•AFP

“It was a really good partnership between Babar and Kamran. They played really well on this wicket. We set ourselves up for 160-165 at one stage and then we lost six wickets for 45, and that’s a massive mountain to climb. In the last four overs we only got 19 [21], those are stats we can’t afford in games like these. So we’ll continue working on that.”The best way forward, Arthur said, would be to rotate strike more and frustrate the opposition through quick single and twos to make up for a lack of power hitting in the line-up. “We don’t have those massive boundary-hitters, so we’ve got to find another way to score runs. To do that we’ve got to be running hard between wickets and we’ve got to be putting the opposition under pressure that way.”West Indies’ chase was aided by the fact that Pakistan’s main threat with the ball from the previous two games, 18-year-old legspinner Shadab Khan, was taken for 38 runs off 3.5 overs, an economy rate of 9.91. Lewis played a big role in that, taking 25 runs off 14 balls from Shadab, including three sixes.Lewis said he did not plan anything specific to counter Shadab. “There was no big plan against him. I held back myself… I don’t really play bowlers, on my day I can hit any bowler. So I held back myself, and I went on to runs today. Just put him under a bit of pressure when he bowled a bad ball.”Arthur was not overly concerned by Shadab’s expensive display, saying it was natural for teams to deal with him more effectively as he became better known. It was up to his team, he said, to help the young bowler stay ahead.”Teams are going to take him on, teams are going to analyse him now, we’ve got to try and stay one step ahead with him. But he’s a great kid, he’s a great bowler, and he has got such a big future. For us it’s about giving him the right guidance now, and keeping him nice and grounded.”

Queensland wicketkeeper Chris Hartley will miss his first Sheffield Shield match in nearly 10 years after breaking a finger while batting in club cricket at the weekend. Hartley is expected to be sidelined for at least three weeks by the injury, which will allow gloveman Jimmy Peirson to play his first Sheffield Shield game, against South Australia at Adelaide Oval starting on Saturday.Opening batsman Joe Burns will captain Queensland for the first time in the absence of state captain Usman Khawaja and Hartley, the regular stand-in. Hartley’s injury – a fracture to the middle finger of his left hand – comes at a time when he was displaying strong batting form: in his past three Shield innings he had made 102*, 15* and 86*, and has 460 runs at 92.00 this Shield season.Hartley recently went past Darren Berry as the owner of the most wicketkeeping dismissals in Shield history, and in his most recent match completed the rare feat of 100 consecutive Shield games. Last time Hartley missed a Shield match was October 2007, when Murray Bragg replaced him behind the stumps against Tasmania at the Gabba in what became the only first-class match of Bragg’s career.Although Hartley is expected to miss at least two matches, he could yet return for the final regular-season match against Victoria, starting at the Gabba on March 16. He will be joined on the sidelines for this week’s match by fast bowler Michael Neser, who injured his ankle while playing club cricket at the weekend and will be replaced in the squad by Luke Feldman, who has recovered from a side strain.Meanwhile, wicketkeeper Seb Gotch is set to make his first-class debut in Victoria’s game against Western Australia in Perth, also starting on Saturday. Gotch has been called in to replace Sam Harper, who suffered concussion during the previous game when he was struck in the head by Jake Lehmann’s bat.Harper is still being monitored in hospital, but Cricket Victoria said his condition was improving and there was a chance he would be released from hospital later this week.Queensland squad Joe Burns (capt), Peter Forrest, Marnus Labuschagne, Sam Heazlett, Sam Truloff, Jack Wildermuth, Jimmy Peirson (wk), Jason Floros, Mark Steketee, Peter George, Cameron Gannon, Luke Feldman.Victoria squad Marcus Harris, Travis Dean, Marcus Stoinis, Rob Quiney, Aaron Finch, Cameron White (capt), Daniel Christian, Seb Gotch (wk), James Pattinson, Chris Tremain, Scott Boland, Jon Holland.

Amit Pachhara, the 21-year old on T20 debut, led Services to a four-wicket victory off the penultimate ball of a 15-overs-a-side game against Himachal Pradesh in Dharamsala. Pachhara came to the crease with his team on 48 for 4 in the sixth over chasing 129, and struck an unbeaten 47 off 30 balls, with three sixes and three fours. His knock redressed a top-order wobble after Pankaj Jaiswal took two wickets in two overs to spur Himachal Pradesh’s hopes of defending their total. They had got to 128 with a late surge from Amit Kumar (34 off 24), Rishi Dhawan (37* off 24) and Bipul Sharma (10* off 4) but as has become custom, the side chasing in a shortened game came out on top.File photo – Jayant Yadav conceded just 10 runs in his four overs as Haryana defended 153 against Punjab•BCCI

In a match where batsmen outside of the top four in either team couldn’t score in double figures, Haryana inflicted a collapse on Punjab to win by 47 runs. Haryana posted 153 after being put in, thanks to a 73-run alliance for the second wicket between debutant Shubham Rohilla (37 off 34) and Rajat Paliwal (44 off 39). No. 4 batsman Shivam Chauhan, also on debut, then hit a 24-ball 41 even as the middle order collapsed around him to lift Haryana to 153 for 7. In reply, Punjab’s loss of an early wicket was offset by Manan Vohra (24 off 27) and Jaskaranveer Singh (27 off 20), as the pair put on 45 for the second wicket. But they succumbed to the spin duo of Jayant Yadav and Rahul Tewatia, who finished with figures of 3 for 23 between them in eight overs. Sanjay Pahal then stuck to the pattern of memorable debuts, as he ran through the lower-middle order to finish with 3 for 8. Punjab folded for 106.Unmukt Chand struck two fours and four sixes in his unbetaen 49•PTI

Unmukt Chand struck an unbeaten 49 as Delhi made light work of Jammu & Kashmir’s 104-run target, winning by six wickets with 22 balls to spare. Only two J&K batsmen – Shubham Khajuria and Pranav Gupta – managed to cross 20 after they were put in to bat. Left-arm spinner Manan Sharma applied the brakes to take 2 for 13 off his four overs. Delhi were rocked early when they lost Gautam Gambhir in the second over. Chand then added 61 with Shikhar Dhawan (30) to help Delhi drive ahead and smoothen the passage for victory.

Hong Kong allrounder Nizakat Khan’s bowling action has been cleared by the International Cricket Council, following remedial work after his action was found to be illegal in July 2015 during an ICC World Twenty20 Qualifying match against Nepal.Nizakat underwent a reassessment of his bowling action on December 6 at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane, where his elbow extension for legspin deliveries was found to be within the 15-degree level of tolerance permitted under the ICC regulations. His offspin has not been cleared since he did not bowl it during the assessment.Before the ban, Nizakat had economy rates of 3.67 in ODIs and an impressive 5.30 in five T20Is. He has continued to play for Hong Kong since, averaging 35 in 10 ODIs as a top-order batsman.