Sports

  After everything, Ryan Rickelton will go to the T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka and India next month. So will Tristan Stubbs. But Tony de Zorzi and Donovan Ferreira, who were in the squad, will not. Neither, at this stage, will Ottneil Baartman. The changes, which CSA revealed on Thursday, were made not because of a rethink in the wake of performances in the SA20. Instead, they were dictated by injury. And there may be more where those came from. David Miller is probably out of Paarl Royals' eliminator against Joburg Super Kings in Centurion on Thursday because of the groin he hurt playing against Joburg in Paarl on Monday. Lungi Ngidi bowled only half of his overs for Pretoria Capitals in qualifier one against Sunrisers Eastern Cape at Kingsmead on Wednesday before leaving the field with a seriously strapped leg. Dewald Brevis scored an unbeaten 75 off 38 to put Pretoria in Sunday's final at Newlands, but injured a finger in the process. Miller, Ngidi, and Brevis are all in South...

  Asif Nazrul, the Bangladesh government's sports advisor, on Thursday said that the ICC and the BCCI made no effort to convince the Bangladesh Cricket Board of the security for their players in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup, scheduled to be hosted in India and Sri Lanka. He also added that they did not deliver justice to their plea of shifting matches to Sri Lanka. On Wednesday, the  ICC rejected Bangladesh's plea to relocate their venues from India to Sri Lanka, and instead gave the Bangladesh Cricket Board 24 hours to make a decision on their participation. The ICC has also kept Scotland as a standby if Bangladesh eventually doesn't agree to travel to India to take part in the tournament. Nazrul, who had a  meeting with national cricketers  on Thursday, told reporters that they are not ready to change their stance. "The purpose of the meeting was simply to explain to the players why the government took this decision and give them the context. I believe they under...

  Mumbai Indians have named left-arm spinner Vaishnavi Sharma as a replacement for wicketkeeper-batter G Kamalini, who has been ruled out of the remainder of WPL 2026 with an unspecified injury. Kamalini, 17, featured in five matches for MI in the ongoing season, managing an aggregate of 75 runs with a best of 32 in the tournament opener against RCB. Vaishnavi, who will join the franchise for INR 30 lakh, arrives with growing pedigree. The left-arm spinner was part of India's title-winning squad at the ICC U19 Women's T20 World Cup in 2025 and has since taken the next steps, making her senior international debut recently in the five T20Is against Sri Lanka that preceded this WPL season. The 20-year-old Vaishnavi also recently earned a call-up to the ODI side for the tour of Australia set to begin after the WPL season. Two-time winners Mumbai Indians are currently placed second in the WPL 2026 standings, having won two of their first five games. TAGS Mumbai Indians Women Vaishna...

  Asif Nazrul, the Bangladesh government's sports advisor, on Tuesday again indicated that they are  not ready to change  their stance as far as playing the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in India is concerned. Asif also brushed aside speculation that Scotland might replace them in the showpiece event if Bangladesh opts out, as they are refusing to play in India citing security concerns, and have asked the ICC to shift their matches to co-host Sri Lanka. Over the weekend, the BCB held talks with ICC officials in Dhaka over the impasse, but no agreement was reached as the BCB requested the ICC to change their venue after the BCCI directed IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders to release Mustafizur Rahman from their squad amid prevailing political tensions between the two countries. It is understood that the ICC has set January 21 as the deadline to resolve the matter, as they are running out of time. If they have to replace Bangladesh with Scotland, who are the highest-ranked team t...