There’s no stopping Abahani Limited – they have now crushed their closest rivals, Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club, to win all 11 matches of the first phase of the Dhaka Premier League. It has left them just three wins away from claiming their 22nd DPL title as the top six teams head into the Super League phase. In the match billed as this season’s biggest fixture – between the two supposedly…

The Impact Player rule has given him “nightmares”, but Ricky Ponting, Delhi Capitals’ head coach, is happy for the IPL to retain it if it is making the tournament a “better spectacle.” “I can answer it in two ways,” Ponting told ESPNcricinfo in a conversation on April 16, a day after Sunrisers Hyderabad plundered 287 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru to break their own record, established earlier this season, for the…

Match details Delhi Capitals (P7 W3 L4 6th) vs Sunrisers Hyderabad (P6 W4 L2 4th)New Delhi, 7.30pm IST (2pm GMT) Big picture – Delhi Capitals’ homecoming After setting up base in Visakhapatnam for the first half of the season, Delhi Capitals are back in the national capital for their first game at the Arun Jaitley Stadium this season. Capitals played two games in Vizag this year, winning one and losing…

Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) chief executive Rob Lynch will stand down from his role in June to join MCC as director of cricket operations. Lynch, who represented New Zealand at the Under-19 World Cup in 2000, has been in his role at the players’ union since October 2020. He initially served as the PCA’s commercial director from February 2020 before taking on an interim CEO role following Tony Irish’s departure…

Heather Knight, England’s captain, has challenged her squad to “go out and dominate” in regional cricket this summer and hopes domestic players will stake strong claims for selection ahead of the T20 World Cup and the Ashes later this year. The 50-over Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy begins on Saturday with a full round of games and while many of England’s centrally-contracted players will miss the opening weekend to attend Tammy…

Left-arm orthodox Test spinner Matthew Kuhnemann has left Queensland and is set to head to Tasmania in a bid to play more first-class cricket to put himself in the frame for the tour of Sri Lanka, while former Test opener Joe Burns has not been offered a contract as Queensland revamp their list after a poor season. Kuhnemann, 27, played three Tests for Australia last year on the tour of…

Mumbai Indians tend to use Jasprit Bumrah as their trump card in the back end of the bowling innings, given that is where a lot of T20 games are won and lost and having his skills when the pressure is that high is always useful. But the man himself would like to have a crack at oppositions much earlier. “Of course, you want to make an impact early on when…

Punjab Kings are the team to watch this IPL, at least in terms of nail-biting thrillers. They have had four final-over finishes already this season and Thursday’s might have been their most heartbreaking. They were going backwards in a chase of 193 – 14 for 4 in the first 2.1 overs – but once again unheralded stars stood up to be counted. Ashutosh Sharma, the 25-year-old who made his IPL…

Yorkshire’s unsuccessful bid to host a Tier 1 team in England’s new domestic women’s structure does not amount to the club being “punished for past sins”. That is according to ECB chief executive Richard Gould, speaking after Yorkshire’s board said they were “shocked and disappointed” to learn they would not receive funding for a fully professional side until 2027. Northern Diamonds, the regional side in the north east, have predominantly…

Mumbai Indians 192 for 7 (Suryakumar 78, Harshal 3-31) beat Punjab Kings 183 all out (Ashutosh 61, Shashank 41, Bumrah 3-21) by nine runs Ashutosh Sharma‘s heroic 28-ball 61 went in vain as Punjab Kings suffered yet another close defeat in IPL 2024, this time going down to Mumbai Indians in Mullanpur by nine runs. Early in the chase, Kings were at the risk of being bundled out cheaply when…