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Rohit Sharma will lead India in their first T20I series following Virat Kohli’s stepping down from the captaincy in the shortest format.Kohli and outgoing head coach Ravi Shastri have endorsed Rohit’s candidature for the T20I captaincy, but it’s not yet known if he has been given the role permanently. For now, the only communication from the BCCI is a terse press release announcing the squad for the upcoming three-match home T20I series against New Zealand, which begins on November 17.KL Rahul has been named Rohit’s deputy.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

The squad is without a number of first-choice players, among whom are Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami. All four have been on the road virtually non-stop since the start of India’s tour of England – which began with the World Test Championship final in June – which was followed by the IPL and then the T20 World Cup, which India exited at the Super 12s stage. The allrounder Hardik Pandya and the fast bowler Shardul Thakur are also absent from the squad.Of the players who were part of India’s squads for both the England tour and the T20 World Cup, only Rohit, Rahul, Rishabh Pant, R Ashwin and Suryakumar Yadav – who was flown in to the UK as a replacement for the injured Shubman Gill – have stayed on to face New Zealand.

Ind vs NZ T20I schedule

Nov 17 – 1st T20I, Jaipur

Nov 19 – 2nd T20I, Ranchi

Nov 21 – 3rd T20I, Kolkata

There are four new or virtually new faces in the squad. The opening batter Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was the leading run-getter in IPL 2021, made his T20I debut when he was part of a second-string India squad that toured Sri Lanka in July. The allrounder Venkatesh Iyer and fast bowlers Harshal Patel and Avesh Khan, however, are yet to play for India.The legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who enjoyed a strong finish to the IPL season in the UAE after he had been a surprise exclusion from the T20 World Cup squad, makes a comeback, with the man who replaced him, Rahul Chahar, missing out. Also out of the squad is the mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who went wicketless over three World Cup games.Related

• Deepak Chahar, Ishan Kishan to join India A squad for red-ball series in South Africa

• Road to 2022 T20 World Cup begins as new-look India host weary New Zealand

• KL Rahul: Rahul Dravid will bring culture of 'putting team ahead of personal goals'

• Rohit, Pant, Bumrah and Shami to sit out Test series against New Zealand

• T20 World Cup 2022: The roadmap for new-look India is tricky

Middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer, who was left out of the World Cup squad since he had been out of match practice since recovering from a shoulder injury, returns, as does the left-arm spinner Axar Patel, who was originally part of the World Cup squad, only to be replaced at the last minute by Thakur.This series will be first one under the charge of new India coach Rahul Dravid.The BCCI also announced the India A team that will be touring South Africa for three four-day matches starting November 23. Opener Prithvi Shaw and fast bowler Umran Malik are part of this team.India A squad for South Africa tour: Priyank Panchal (capt), Prithvi Shaw, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Sarfaraz Khan, B Aparajith, Upendra Yadav (wk), K Gowtham, Rahul Chahar, Saurabh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Umran Malik, Ishan Porel, Arzan Nagwaswalla

Eoin Morgan is the only man who can determine his future as England’s limited-overs captain and he was already making plans for the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia on the bus back from Abu Dhabi to Dubai after their defeat to New Zealand, Chris Silverwood has said.England lost by five wickets with an over to spare in Wednesday’s semi-final, thanks to a late surge from James Neesham and Daryl Mitchell, after which Morgan insisted that he would continue in the role in spite of his poor form with the bat this year. Silverwood, England’s head coach, gave Morgan carte blanche to stay on, saying that “the longer he is there, the better”.”He’s got to make that decision himself,” Silverwood said on Thursday. “Morgs and I talk a lot. We are always chatting away. Even last night on the coach on the way back, his mind had already gone on to the next [World Cup], what do we need to do, what are we looking for. As soon as those conversations start, in my mind, that is it for us: he’s in. He wants it, and he wants to lead. I think he will make his mind up when he’s ready.”He’s a very strong leader, and has been for many years now. I still think he’s got a lot of years in front of him that he can give to this team, and this team enjoy having him at the front. I think we are a stronger unit for it. We’ve seen that, at stages in the tournament, he has slipped down the order to let others put their mark on the game. I think that’s testament to what a good leader he is. For me, the longer he is there, the better.”He probably hasn’t got the runs he wanted, but the value he brings as a leader outweighs that. That’s how I see it. What he brings to the team from a tactical point of view, a motivational point of view and from the way he gets all the players and staff to buy in behind him and to follow him… I think he brings so much more than just the batting.”Related

• Eoin Morgan's endgame approaches as England prepare to do without him

• England's imbalance comes back to bite them at the death

• Eoin Morgan remains determined to stay on as England captain

• England cut contrasting figures as end of an era looms for golden generation

Silverwood said that England were “hurting” after having their place in the final “snatched away” from them but that he took pride in their performances across the World Cup in the absence of three important players in Jofra Archer, Sam Curran and Ben Stokes, with Tymal Mills and Jason Roy ruled out later in the tournament and that the same core would be in Australia next year.”I’m not going to lie – it would have been nice to have had Tymal out there, or bring in Archer. But at the same time we did have strength on the bench,” Silverwood said. “It does show a depth of talent, which is very encouraging. A lot of people will be better for the experience.”At the same time, we have got a group of lads who are hurting, which you can understand as well. To get so close, touching distance, and then to have it snatched away… we had the game under control for a lot of the time, [but Neesham] came in and played some exceptional shots, made life difficult for us.”We have a lot of talent. It [the next World Cup] comes in such a short period of time – it’s not like it’s in three or four years’ time. I don’t think age particularly comes into this one. We have got a good pool of players that we are picking from… I imagine everyone will be throwing their hat in the ring.”England’s multi-format players – Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Dawid Malan, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood – will fly out of Dubai this weekend on a charter flight with the Australia squad, along with most of the coaching staff at the World Cup. Silverwood, whose appointment in 2019 was intended to signal an increased focus on Test cricket rather than white-ball formats, maintained that he was the right man to coach England’s limited-overs sides.”It does keep me very busy, but at the same time I’m enjoying the role,” he said. “You’re involved in everything, you’re an integral part of it and that’s exactly what you want and you want to have the ability to effect change if you can and try and bring some success and help the players. The big one for me is to make sure that myself, the coaching staff, all of us are helping the players to be in the best place possible to go out there and perform and live their dreams. That’s what I enjoy doing, so for the moment I’m fine.”

Lockie Ferguson has been ruled out of the T20 World Cup 2021 with a calf tear, New Zealand Cricket said in a statement less than an hour before the team’s opening game, against Pakistan in Sharjah, on Tuesday.Ferguson will be replaced by Adam Milne, who was already part of the reserves, in a like-for-like right-arm fast paceman swap.Related

• Minor abdominal injury to Ferguson depletes New Zealand further for tri-series

• Adam Milne's 'roller-coaster ride' brings him into New Zealand's T20 World Cup plans

• Gary Stead on T20 WC: Main goal is to get to the semi-finals

• Adapting to UAE conditions key as New Zealand eye second world title in 2021

• New Zealand 'tracking well' despite Williamson elbow niggle

“Ferguson felt tightness in his right calf following training and a subsequent MRI scan on game-day revealed a grade two tear which would require three to four weeks recovery,” the NZC statement said.New Zealand could potentially also be without Martin Guptill for their next game against India on Sunday*, with the opening batter sustaining a toe injury during the game against Pakistan. Guptill was struck on the toe by a delivery from Haris Rauf shortly before being dismissed for 17.”He looked in a little bit of discomfort at the end of the game and it might take 24 to 48 hours to see how he goes,” New Zealand coach Gary Stead told reporters after the match.New Zealand’s schedule for the group stage matches of the T20 World Cup will have them playing five games in 13 days, and Stead said they had no option but to rule Ferguson out of the tournament.”It’s a real shame for Lockie to have this happen on the eve of the tournament and the entire team is really feeling for him right now,” Stead said. “He’s a massive part of our T20 side and has been in such good form – so to lose him at this time is a blow.”However, we are fortunate to have a like for like replacement in the form of Adam Milne who has been with the squad training for the past two weeks.”Milne is already in the UAE with the team, having been selected in the squad as traveling injury cover, but won’t be available to play until ICC approval has been received, making him unavailable for the game against Pakistan. The ICC’s technical committee approved the replacement shortly after New Zealand’s game against Pakistan, which meant Milne would now be available for selection for New Zealand’s remaining games in the tournament.*Both Ferguson and Milne were involved in the second leg of IPL 2021 played in UAE, for Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians respectively. While Ferguson played eight matches for Knight Riders, including the eliminator, the second qualifier and the final, Milne played only three games for Mumbai.Ferguson was instrumental in Knight Riders reaching the final, taking wickets with high pace and accuracy while not giving up too many runs. He had an off-day in the title match against Chennai Super Kings though, going for 56 runs in four overs. In the seven previous games, he had given up more than 30 runs only once.Lockie Ferguson with his right calf in a moon boot in an earlier injury•Getty Images

Milne began well for Mumbai but a combination of an expensive game and Mumbai’s need to lengthen their batting line-up meant he sat out after that. However, he came into the IPL’s second leg on the back of a terrific show in the the Hundred, where he was not only one of the joint top-four wicket takers, but also had the best economy rate of all bowlers while regularly cranking up speeds of over 90mph. Milne has also bowled more balls in T20 cricket in 2021 than he has in any other year so far.Speaking to NZC before New Zealand’s T20 World Cup campaign, Milne had said he would keep his preparations on track, in case he was drafted into the main squad from the reserves.”I’m just going to go about it how I would usually if I was in the team,” Milne said. “Just try and train and play hard, prepare as well as I can. If something happens, I know I’ve got a chance and I’m ready to go.”It’s been good to be injury free. I played in the Vitality Blast in England, the Hundred, and then the second half of the IPL. Excited to be back and playing, it’s been a great year. Being on the park is a great start. I’ve had a lot of trouble with that so it’s been nice to sort of be able to play consistent cricket. It allows you to work on your game rather than go in starts and stops. (You) take the good performances with the bad ones and hopefully ride out that wave of cricket that comes.”It’s nice to be around the New Zealand boys after having been away for so long. It’s a nice environment.”*This copy was updated at 6.10pm GMT with the ICC’s technical committee approving Milne as Ferguson’s replacement, and at 10.00am GMT (October 27) with the news of Martin Guptill’s injury.

Nitish Rana has received a glowing endorsement from Dinesh Karthik after he saw Kolkata Knight Riders through in a tricky chase against Delhi Capitals on Tuesday. Rana, who has dropped back into the middle order for Knight Riders after Venkatesh Iyer’s emergence at the top, batted ahead of Eoin Morgan at No. 4 against Capitals, and scored the winning runs after a slim middle order had collapsed in the chase of 128. His unbeaten 36 off 27 in a low-scoring game complemented Sunil Narine’s cameo (21 off ten) to keep Knight Riders in fourth place as they continued to turn their season around.”I think he played a really sensible knock. The good thing was he was not out till the end, which is very important for us,” Karthik said. “Just the way he was able to handle the pressure and take on the bowlers that he thought he could take on. It was nice to see him mature.”It was important that he keeps playing innings like this, because he is capable of it. The most important thing in his life is if he wants to get into the national team and make a name for himself, he needs to keep producing these knocks. And he’s definitely got the talent to do it.”Related

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• Deflected overthrow causes tempers to flare in Capitals-KKR match

Twenty-seven-year-old Rana had been among the most consistent uncapped Indian batters in the IPL since he broke through with Mumbai Indians in 2015, and debuted in ODIs and T20Is with India’s second-string squad in Sri Lanka in July.Rana’s innings on Tuesday was in line with Brendon McCullum’s demand of fearless cricket from his team. It was particularly evident during the 14th over, when their run rate had dropped below six and they needed 52 off 42. The Capitals were looking to sneak in an over from offspinner Lalit Yadav, who isn’t a frontline option for them, but had kept the batters in check in his first two overs. Rana took his state (Delhi) team-mate for 14 runs off three balls, before Knight Riders closed off the over getting 20.”It was a case of Nitish feeling good [about] the fact that he could take on a Lalit Yadav,” Karthik, who was batting with Rana at that point, said. “So he backed himself to hit those shots. At that stage what we were discussing is that we need to take the game slightly deep, we need to have the right intent – if it is there, we’ll go for it, if not we’ll make sure we rotate strike if it is possible. It wasn’t an easily rotatable wicket, so to speak, but there wasn’t a plan like we to take a Lalit Yadav on. In fact, it was actually harder to hit the spinners than the fast bowlers.”The win made it three out of four for Knight Riders since the IPL has resumed in the UAE, and the ten-ball victory in a low-scoring game has added to what is the best net run-rate among the four teams that are currently battling for the fourth spot on the table. It is symptomatic of a team that has looked a completely different side to the one that started the second half in seventh place.”I think the fact that Venkatesh Iyer has opened and he’s shown great intent,” Karthik said in relation to what has changed for the team. “Shubman Gill is a far more free player, he’s able to back himself to play his shots.”The talent was obviously there, it was [about] getting the combination right. I think in many ways the combination is kind of set, we got off to a good run so it feels good. So just a couple of things falling in place. We have Lockie Ferguson bowling well. A lot of small things fell in place. People have had time to look back at themselves and what they need to do, and they’ve come back as much better cricketers.”

Liton Das’ 73-ball 85 led a strong batting performance by Abahani Limited, who brushed aside Prime Bank Cricket Club by 60 runs in the 2017 DPL’s first Super League game – a rain-affected affair at the BKSP-4 ground in Savar.Das’ effort was complemented well by Nazmul Hossain Shanto and Mohammad Mithun, the Abahani captain, who both struck quick half-centuries of their own to lift Abahani to 321 for 6 in an innings curtailed to 47 overs. In reply, Prime Bank were snuffed out in 43.3 overs for 273.Das laid out a solid platform for Abahani with a century stand for the second wicket in the company of Saif Hassan who struck a more sedate 46. After Das fell, having struck eight fours and four sixes, Shanto and Mithun added 107 more for the fourth wicket. Atif Hossain and Manan Sharma then raced away to unbeaten cameos to shore up Abahani.Prime Bank’s innings was strewn with batsmen perishing after getting off to starts. Five of their top six made a score in excess of 20, but Zakir Hasan’s 55 was the highest score. Prime Bank captain Asif Ahmed mounted a late fightback, but ran out of partners. He struck 32 of the 44 runs his team scored after his arrival at 229 for 7, before becoming the last man to be dismissed. Manan led Abahani’s bowling efforts with 3 for 54, while Afif, Shuvagata Hom and Mohammad Saifuddin took two each.A 641-run slugfest at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium ended with Mohammedan Sporting Club prevailing by seven runs, consigning Gazi Group Cricketers to their third consecutive defeat.Mohammedan ran up 324 for 8 after half-centuries from Rony Talukdar (92) and Shamsur Rahman (74) at the top. Chasing a stiff target, Gazi Group were off to a flying a start, but ended up on 317 for 8.Anamul Haque and Munim Shahriar kicked off the chase with a 61-run opening stand in 6.4 overs. Kamrul Islam Rabbi struck in the seventh over to end Anamul’s burst on 36 off 22 balls. He had struck three fours and two sixes. Mominul Haque fell soon after, but Shahriar repaired the damage with identical stands of 64 for the third and fourth wickets, with Jahurul Islam and Parvez Rasool respectively.Shahriar fell for 88 in the 39th over, after which Suhrawadi Shuvo kept Gazi afloat with a 51-run seventh-wicket stand with Mahedi Hasan. Though Shuvo and Mahedi struck a combined 84 runs, they only managed three fours between them, and the lack of boundaries hurt Gazi in the end. Kamrul, Bipul Sharma and Sajedul Islam took two wickets each.When Mohammedan batted, they were lifted by a 148-run second-wicket stand between Shamsur and Talukdar. The stand ended with Shamsur’s dismissal for 74 that had one four and five sixes. Talukdar fell in the 35th over, after the score had crossed 200. Thereafter, Bipul (28 off 31) and Nazmul Hossain Milon (47 off 33) made handy contributions to propel them to a big total. Mahedi (1 for 49) and Rasool (1 for 51) impressed in their respective quotas.In another curtailed game, at the BKSP-3 Ground in Savar, Imtiaz Hossain’s career-best 128 vaulted Prime Doleshwar Sporting Club to a 40-run win over Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club.Imtiaz, who struck 17 fours and four sixes, made nearly half his team’s runs as Prime Doleshwar put up 274 for 7 in an innings shortened to 46 overs. In reply, Dhanmondi Club were bowled out for 251 after their batsmen failed to convert their starts.Imtiaz’s second-wicket stand of 176 with Shahriar Nafees (67) formed the bulwark of Prime Doleshwar’s total. Sharifullah later made a valuable late contribution through a 27-ball 35.Three of Dhanmondi Club’s batsmen made 40s, including Tanbir Hayder, who top-scored with 46, while Ziaur Rahman made 37. But none hung on to make a big score.Five of the six bowlers used by Prime Doleshwar were among the wickets. Chathuranga de Silva and Arafat Sunny were the most impressive of the lot with figures of 2 for 38 and 2 for 41 in their respective nine overs.

A batting meltdown at Eden Gardens cost Hyderabad dear as they were pipped for a knockout berth by Jharkhand on net run rate.Services’ pace trio of Suraj Yadav (3 for 36), Diwesh Pathania (4 for 21) and Sachidanand Pandey (3 for 22) skittled Hyderabad for 88, before the batsman wobbled and eventually got home by five wickets. Hyderabad ended their campaign with four wins in six matches.A stand of 39 runs for the sixth wicket between Tanmay Agarwal (16) and Chama Milind (32) saved some of Hyderabad’s blushes after they lost their first five wickets inside 11 overs. They were struggling at 25 for 5 when the duo added the only significant stand. Hyderabad’s bowlers, led by spinner Mohammed Siraj (2 for 31), made the Services chase difficult, but useful knocks from Gaurav Kochar (24) and G Rahul Singh (22) were enough to complete a consolation win.Karnataka completed their sixth-straight win to finish as Group D toppers after beating Chhattisgarh by three wickets . Captain Vinay Kumar snared three wickets while opener Mayank Agarwal slammed a half-century (66 off 76 balls) to help complete the chase of 200 at Kolkata’s Jadavpur University Ground.Vinay struck early after Chhatisgarh chose to bat; they slumped to 60 for 4 before Abhimanyu Chauhan (58 off 102 balls) and Mohammad Kaif (43* off 52 balls) put on a 75 for the fifth-wicket. Chauhan was the fifth man to go with the team on 135. They would lose their last four wickets for 12 to finish with 199.Karnataka’s started strongly after a 52-run opening partnership between Agarwal and Robin Uthappa (23). That was followed up by useful contributions from captain Manish Pandey (34 of 40 balls) and Stuart Binny (25 off 34 balls). Shubham Thakur’s three wickets kept Chhattisgarh in the hunt, but a batting collapse would eventually mean they didn’t have enough to defend in the end.Jharkhand qualified to the next round after Shahbaz Nadeem’s second List A fifth-wicket haul set up their five-wicket win over Jammu & Kashmir.A patient 78 from Kumar Deobrat led Jharkhand’s 185 chase. They got past the line with 90 balls to spare. MS Dhoni, who hit two fours and a six, was unbeaten on 19 when the winning run were scored. J&K got off to a strong start courtesy a 66-run third wicket partnership between Owais Shah (59) and Parvez Rasool (45 off 40 balls) but Nadeem’s introduction to the attack turned the game. He took four wickets off his last three overs to set up a comfortable second-innings chase.

The much-anticipated early-season match-up between Alastair Cook and James Anderson has been scrubbed with Cook, the former England captain, out of Essex’s opening Specsavers County Championship match against Lancashire with a hip problem.A scan on Cook’s left hip has ruled out a serious injury but he will undergo an injection to try and ease the problem he has been managing for “several weeks” according to an ECB statement and will therefore sit out the first round of the Championship.The match against Lancashire would have been Cook’s first first-class outing since the Test series against India in December after which he stepped down as England’s Test captain in January.”I’ve got a sore hip, which is not getting right,” Cook said. “We’re going to go for a different bit of treatment and hopefully it will be all right for Somerset. It’s just frustrating to miss the first game.”Even though his next England assignment is three months away, Cook added he did not want to risk making the problem worse. “That’s the key in one sense [not taking chances], the first Test match is in July. Ultimately the hip’s not quite right, so it needs to get right before you can play. It’s been going for a month or so now.”Earlier this week, Cook spoke to ESPNcricinfo about the transition from being a captain back to a player and said it was taking some adjusting to. “I won’t miss going into all the extra press conferences, he said. “But being at the centre of it, being involved in a lot of decision-making, was the excitement of the job. Not doing that any more, will probably take a while to get used to.”Ultimately I know it was the right decision for myself and the team but that doesn’t make it any easier. It has been time to move on as a person and a player.”He added that he was eager to return to the middle for Essex ahead of the resumption of England’s Test cricket in July when they face South Africa. “It’s the next phase of my career,” he said. “I’ve really enjoyed playing for Essex in pre-season and that’s the most important thing. I’m refreshed and raring to go. It’s time to move on.”

Quetta Gladiators will turn up on the field for the Pakistan Super League (PSL) final with a significantly altered line-up to the one that has seen them through in the first place. On Saturday, the morning after they discovered their opponents for the game in Lahore on Sunday, they secured the services of five foreign players to replace their contracted roster, none of whom were prepared to travel to Pakistan for security reasons.Their XI will feature a combination from Bangladesh’s Anamul Haque, South Africa’s Morne van Wyk, Zimbabwe’s Elton Chigumbura and Sean Ervine, and West Indies’ Rayad Emrit who have all agreed to travel to Lahore. They are not quite like-for-like replacements for Kevin Pietersen, Rilee Roussow, Luke Wright, Tymal Mills and Nathan McCullum but organisers will be relieved that they do at least have an overseas contingent to rely on for the final.Haque, van Wyk (both wicketkeeper-batsmen), Chigumbura and Erive (both allrounders) will join the team on Sunday morning, while logistics are being worked out to get Emrit (also an allrounder) to Lahore in time for the match that begins at 8pm local time. Pakistan pacer Aizaz Cheema has also been added to the squad, a replacement for the injured Umar Gul. Team mentor Viv Richards and fielding coach Julien Fountain – both overseas recruitments – are expected to arrive in Lahore for the game in the early hours of Sunday morning.”KP, Luke, Rilee, Mills would have been great but we respect their decision,” the franchise said. “We are still confident of winning the PSL final despite missing the big stars. For our local players, playing at home is a huge opportunity. The experience of playing in front of the home crowd is massive, and all of them are excited about it.”The local players of the Quetta squad are already in Lahore and have had training sessions at the National Cricket Academy, next to the Gaddafi Stadium where the match against Peshawar Zalmi will be played. As the city prepares for the much-awaited game with various security measures, an estimated 18,000 tickets have already been sold and a full house is expected.Their opponents Peshawar, meanwhile, will be able to call upon nearly all of their first-choice foreign stars, having successfully convinced their quartet to travel to Lahore for the game*. The captain Darren Sammy was asked after Friday evening’s win over Karachi Kings in Dubai about Lahore, but he evaded the question, saying only that he had to discuss the matter with the franchise owner Javed Afridi.Late on Saturday, however, league officials confirmed that Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Chris Jordan and Dawid Malan would be playing and were due to arrive in Lahore early Sunday morning – the delay in confirmation was due to the wait for Jordan’s clearance from the ECB. Their fifth foreign player, England allrounder Samit Patel, has not been given an NOC by his county Nottinghamshire, and will not travel to Lahore. In the squad are also two emerging Afghanistan players.The PCB has been firm on playing the final in Lahore – despite a spate of bombings rocking the city and other parts of the country too last month – as it sees the match as an opportunity to show that it is safe for international cricket to return to Pakistan. Zimbabwe and Afghanistan are the only international teams to play in Pakistan since the attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in March 2009. The Zimbabwe series in 2015 was not incident free, with a bomb blast occurring during the second ODI 800 metres away from the stadium and killing two people.Among the security measures in check this time are three layers of security checks, some as far as two kilometres away from the ground, a new range of scanning and CCTV equipment, and the deployment of over 10,000 security personnel including Pakistan’s paramilitary force, the Rangers.*18.40 GMT – This story was updated with confirmation from the PSL about the status of Peshawar’s overseas players

The two Under-19 Tests between India and England originally supposed to be held in Tamil Nadu have been relocated to Nagpur.

India Under-19 ODI squad

Heramb Parab, Het Patel, Himanshu Rana, Ayush Jamwal, Vivekanand Tiwary, Prithvi Shaw, Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Harvik Desai, Rahul Desraj Chahar, Kamlesh Singh Nagarkoti, Salman Khan, Priyam Garg, Shiva Singh, Yash Thakur, Mayank Rawat, Rohan Kunnumal, Ishan Porel

The four-day matches, starting on February 13 and 21, will follow five youth ODIs in Mumbai. Wankhede stadium will host the first, fourth and fifth 50-over matches on January 30, February 6 and February 8 while the Cricket Club of India will host the remaining games on February 1 and 3.The confusion around this tour began two weeks ago when the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, which was meant to host the two youth Tests, expressed its inability to do so because of “domestic programs”.On January 7, the TNCA had sent a letter to the BCCI CEO Rahul Johri asking to be excused from hosting duties. “We have a heavy backlog of matches because of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) and the Vardah cyclone,” RA Palani, the joint-secretary and interim caretaker of the TNCA, was quoted as saying in the .”We have to conduct the TNCA first division matches, lower division games and inter-university matches. We need grounds to hold our own matches. At a time like this, it will be extremely hard for us to take the responsibility for two under-19 Tests.”It is learnt the BCCI had checked with the Vidarbha Cricket Association last week about whether they would be ready to host the matches and had received a favourable reply immediately. Both youth Tests will take place at the VCA stadium in Nagpur.

AB de Villiers has stepped down as South Africa’s Test captain with immediate effect and has been ruled out of the three Tests against Sri Lanka as he continues to recover from elbow surgery. De Villiers endorsed his stand-in, Faf du Plessis, to take over permanently and the CSA board have confirmed du Plessis’ appointment.”The interests of the team must always outweigh the interests of any individual, including me,” de Villiers said. “It was a fantastic honour for me to be asked to captain the Test side but I have missed two series and I am still in doubt for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka. Following the squad’s outstanding performances in Australia, it is clearly in the greater interests of the team that Faf du Plessis should be confirmed as the permanent Test captain.”De Villiers has been out of action since the Caribbean Premier League in July and was expected to be fit for the Sri Lanka Tests but still needs another three to four weeks before being declared fully fit. He will target the ODIs later in January, a format in which he remains captain, for a comeback.De Villiers had surgery on his left elbow in early October, after initially adopting a conservative approach to recovery, and his surgeon was aiming for a three-month rehabilitation period. De Villiers tried to push that forward and was even talking about a comeback in November’s Adelaide Test but only had his first net session last Tuesday. He has been practicing with his franchise, Titans, and had hoped to turn out for them in the ongoing domestic T20 competition but CSA’s medical committee did not give him clearance to play. He has also been instructed not to play in Friday’s final.”AB’s left elbow is much improved but is still regaining the last few degrees of straightening. Fitness to play requires full range of elbow movement and this may take another 3-4 weeks to achieve,” Mohammed Moosajee, South Africa’s team manager, said.AB de Villiers needs another three to four weeks to recover completely after undergoing surgery on his left elbow•Associated Press

De Villiers’ unavailability means he would not have captained South Africa since he was named permanent Test captain in February, after taking over from Hashim Amla in the middle of the home series against England. South Africa lost one Test and won one under de Villiers. In his absence, du Plessis led the team to a 1-0 Test series win over New Zealand, a 5-0 ODI whitewash over Australia at home and a 2-1 Test series win in Australia and was widely praised for his leadership skills.Despite calls for him to stay on, du Plessis remained committed to being a deputy and said he was “100% behind” de Villiers, who also enjoyed the support of the convener of selectors Linda Zondi and premier fast bowler Dale Steyn. Both were quoted in these pages as saying they believed de Villiers was the man for the job, although they noted that du Plessis could not be ignored.But du Plessis is also under scrutiny because he too may be unavailable for the first Test against Sri Lanka, depending on the outcome of his ball-tampering appeal. Du Plessis was found guilty of breaching the code of conduct in relation to changing the condition of the ball after being caught shining the ball with saliva that also come into contact with a mint during the Hobart Test. He was fined 100% of his match fee but escaped a suspension. He is appealing the verdict and runs the risk of a one-match ban at the judicial commissioner’s discretion.The odds appear stacked against du Plessis after the MCC Committee meeting in Mumbai, where it was decided the body would not recommend any changes to the ball-tampering law, believed it to be clear despite CSA’s assertion that the definition of “artificial substance” needed clarity and John Stephenson, MCC’s head of cricket, who sat during du Plessis’ original hearing, said he had “flagrantly contravened the law”. ESPNcricinfo has learned that du Plessis has no intention of withdrawing the appeal. The hearing will take place on December 19, a week before the Test.In de Villiers’ absence, South Africa will also be looking for a reserve batsman. Rilee Rossouw traveled in that capacity to Australia but cannot be considered because he is nursing a foot injury that will sideline him for up to six weeks. Omphile Ramela, who will captain a South African Invitation XI against the touring Sri Lankans, could come into contention. Alternatively, the former Under-19 World Cup-winning captain Aiden Markram, who has been in fine form for Titans, may be considered.