Cricket News Daily, Saturday: Steve Smith May Lead in 4th Test Too, Dottin Reacts After Being Ruled Out of WPL 2023

Harmanpreet Kaur scored a fifty as Saika Ishaque picked up four wickets to help Mumbai Indians beat Gujarat Giants by 143 runs in the Women’s Premier League

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Pakistan Cricket Board announced that Bismah Maroof and Dida Dar will captain the Amazons and Super Women respectively for the three Women’s T20 League exhibition matches.

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Mumbai Indians post 207/5 from their 20 overs against Gujarat Giants in the first match of the Women’s Premier League.

Harmanpreet Kaur smashed a stunning half-century as the inaugural WPL got underway in front of a packed house in Mumbai.

WPL 2023: GG v MI – LIVE

Yashasvi Jaiswal mauled a hapless Madhya Pradesh attack into submission with another near-flawless hundred as the Rest of India remained favourites to retain the Irani Cup.

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Gujarat Giants won the toss and chose to bowl against Mumbai Indians.

WPL 2023: GG v MI – LIVE

Gujarat Giants XI: Beth Mooney(C/WK), Sabbhineni Meghana, Harleen Deol, Ashleigh Gardner, Annabel Sutherland, Dayalan Hemalatha, Georgia Wareham, Sneh Rana, Tanuja Kanwar, Monica Patel, Mansi Joshi.

Mumbai Indians XI: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Yastika Bhatia (WK), Natalie Sciver-Brunt, Hayley Mathews, Pooja Vastrakar, Issy Wong, Humaira Kaazi, Amelia Kerr, Amanjot Kaur, Jintimani Kalita, Saika Ishaque.

Australia’s stand-in skipper Steve Smith was all praise for his players and support staff after the side qualified for the ICC World Test Championship 2023 final.

Australia’s convincing nine-wicket triumph over India in the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Indore on Friday helped them book a place at this year’s ICC World Test Championship Final. (Read Full Story)

Steve Smith has no ambition to be Australia’s full-time captain again but the 33-year-old may continue to lead them in the fourth and final test against India as regular captain Pat Cummins stays put in Sydney.

Cummins returned home after the second test in Delhi to be with his ailing mother after Australia had dropped 2-0 behind in the four-test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. (Read Full Story)

Ace West Indies all-rounder Deandra Dottin reacted on Twitter after getting ruled out of inaugural season of the Women’s Premier League. Dottin, who was signed by Gujarat Giants for INR 60 Lakh, was replaced by Australian pace bowler Kim Garth. (Read Full Story)

Better late than never – a phrase that perfectly fits when we speak about the Women’s Premier League (WPL). For the past 15 years, Indian summers have mostly been about men’s franchise cricket but now, the dosage of entertainment will be doubled. The women cricketers from all across the world, divided into five teams, will lighten up the city of Mumbai as the WPL begins on Saturday with the mouth-watering clash between Beth Mooney’s Gujarat Giants and Harmanpreet Kaur-led Mumbai Indians Women at the DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai. (Read Full Story)

India’s senior-most speedster Mohammed Shami is expected to feature in the playing XI for the final Test against Australia in Ahmedabad, starting March 9 after being rested for workload management during the Indore game.

The Indian team management, in consultation with medical staff, has decided to space out the pace bowlers, who are also going to play IPL regularly and are part of the ODI World Cup plan. (Read Full Story)

Veteran India spinner Harbhajan Singh has joined the bandwagon of former players to slam the Indore Pitch where Australia beat the hosts by 9 wickets within three days. The Holkar Cricket Stadium pitch got a poor rating from the International Cricket Council as match referee Chris Broad stated in his report that it was favouring spinners right from the start of game and didn’t provide fair competition between bat and the ball. (Read Full Story)

The face-off between Gujarat Ginats and Mumbai Indians women will now start at 8 pm IST at the DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai, with the toss set to take place at 7.30 pm. The opening ceremony, to be held before the tournament opener, will begin at 6:25 pm. (Full Story)

Gujarat Giants vs Mumbai Indians Women, WPL 2023 Match 1: Know when and where to watch the live streaming online of the Women’s Premier League match between Gujarat Giants Women and Mumbai Indians Women. (Full Story)

Match referee Chris Broad stated that the Holkar Cricket Stadium pitch was favouring spinners from the start and didn’t provide fair competition between bat and the ball. (Full Story)

The WPL will not just be about the creme-de-la-creme of world cricket with huge pay packets and reputations to play for but also for someone like Sneha Deepthi, who would like to prove that motherhood hasn’t robbed her of the passion to play elite sport. (Full Story)

The Australian cricket fraternity took multiple shots at the pitch that saw 14 wickets falling on Day 1 and 16 on the second day. Moreover, neither side managed more than 200 runs in an innings. The talks began right from the opening day of the Indore Test when India suffered a horrendous collapse. However, the Indian skipper, Rohit Sharma, silenced the critics, saying that none of those former cricketers ever played on pitches like this. (Full Story)