United News of Bangladesh

National opening batter Soumya Sarkar has been ruled out of next week’s Pakistan tour due to injury while all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz has received a fresh call-up for the three-match T20I series against the hosts. Soumya, who was part of the squad for the ongoing UAE and upcoming Pakistan tours, could not feature in any of the three T20Is against the UAE due to back pain. He has now been dropped from the squad for the Pakistan leg of the tour. Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) physio Bayazid Islam Khan said Soumya needs 10 to 12 more days of rehabilitation for full recovery which makes him unavailable for the Pakistan series. Soumya suffers finger injury ahead of Champions Trophy Mehidy, who is currently in Pakistan playing in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) for Lahore Qalandars, will join the national side there after the PSL ends. The Bangladesh team is scheduled to travel from the UAE to Pakistan on May 25. The T20I matches will take place on May 28, 30 and June 1, all at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

United Arab Emirates sealed a memorable 2-1 T20I series win over Bangladesh with a commanding seven-wicket victory in the third and final match at Sharjah on Wednesday night. Chasing 163, UAE rode on a brilliant unbeaten 68 off 47 balls from Alishan Sharafu, who was named Player of the Match. His partnership with Asif Khan, who hammered 41 off 26 balls, ensured UAE cruised home with five balls to spare. This is UAE’s first-ever T20I series win against a full-member side. Earlier, Bangladesh posted 162 for 9 after being sent in to bat. The innings began brightly with Tanzid Hasan smashing 40 off just 18 deliveries. Three Bangladesh team members opt out of Pakistan tour But Bangladesh faltered after a flurry of early wickets, including a golden duck for Parvez Hossain Emon, returning to the XI after injury. Only Jaker Ali (41 off 34) and a late cameo from Hasan Mahmud (26 off 15) provided some resistance. Haider Ali was the pick of the UAE bowlers, claiming 3 for 7 in his four-over spell. Saghir Khan and Matiullah Khan chipped in with two wickets each to restrict Bangladesh below par. UAE’s chase began with the early dismissal of skipper Muhammad Waseem, but Zohaib (29), Sharafu and Asif counterattacked effectively. UAE elect to field first in third T20I vs Bangladesh Despite a few tight overs in the middle, Bangladesh’s bowlers couldn’t apply sustained pressure. A 50-run stand off 31 balls between Sharafu and Asif all but sealed the match. Bangladesh will now travel to Pakistan to play a three-match T20 series against the hosts.

United Arab Emirates have won the toss and elected to bowl first in the third and final T20I against Bangladesh at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Wednesday. With the three-match series level at 1-1, both teams head into the decider with high stakes and fresh changes to their line-ups. Bangladesh made three adjustments from their previous outing. Nazmul Hossain Shanto, Tanvir Islam, and Nahid Rana have been left out, making way for Mahedi Hasan, Hasan Mahmud, and Parvez Hossain Emon. Emon, who struck a stunning century in the series opener, missed the second game due to a hamstring concern but returns for the finale. Bangladesh A reach 225/4 on rain-hit day 1 vs New Zealand A The home side, buoyed by their historic two-wicket win in the second match, will be eager to seal the series in front of home fans. Bangladesh, meanwhile, will look to bounce back from their dramatic loss and finish the tour on a winning note. Bangladesh XI: Parvez Hossain Emon, Tanzid Hasan Tamim, Litton Das (capt), Towhid Hridoy, Jaker Ali (wk), Shamim Hossain, Rishad Hossain, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Shoriful Islam, Shak Mahedi Hasan, Hasan Mahmud United Arab Emirates XI: Muhammad Waseem (capt), Akif Raja, Alishan Sharafu, Rahul Chopra (wk), Asif Khan, Dhruv Parashar, Muhammad Zohaib, Haider Ali, Ethan D’Souza, Matiullah Khan, Saghir Khan.

Bangladesh A made a solid start to the ongoing unofficial Test against New Zealand A, reaching 225 for 4 at stumps on Day 1 at Mirpur’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Wednesday. Opting to bat first, the home side was led by a fluent 82 from Mohammad Naim, who dominated the opening stand with Anamul Haque.  England prepares for India series with its first test against Zimbabwe in 22 years The pair put on 130 for the first wicket before Anamul fell for 48 off 97 balls, caught behind off Zakary Foulkes. Naim struck 10 boundaries and two sixes in his 94-ball knock before being dismissed just six runs later by Jayden Lennox. Saif Hassan then anchored the middle overs with a composed 51, which included four fours and three sixes, before falling late in the session to Foulkes. Zakir Hasan chipped in with 19 before becoming Matthew Boyle’s lone victim. By tea, Bangladesh A were 209 for 3, but rain interrupted play shortly after. The day ended prematurely with just 57.3 overs bowled.  Tanzid Hasan breaks into ICC top 100 after T20I fifty Amite Hasan remained unbeaten on 16, alongside Mahidul Islam Ankon on 1. Among the New Zealand A bowlers, Foulkes was the pick of the attack with 2 for 40, while Lennox and Boyle picked up one wicket each.

For England, it’s little more than a warm-up match ahead of much sterner examinations to come. For Zimbabwe, it means everything. Trent Bridge in Nottingham will host a four-day test match — something of a rarity for the usual five-day format but perhaps a sign of the future — from Thursday when England and Zimbabwe meet for the first time at international level in 18 years, since a Twenty20 World Cup match in Cape Town. You need to go back four more years — to Chester-le-Street in 2003 when Jimmy Anderson, a 20-year-old with highlights in his hair, was playing in his first series — for the last test match between the teams. Zimbabwe’s return to English soil continues the African nation's gradual reintegration to test cricket after two decades of political interference, poor governance and sanctions that resulted in the team being exiled from test cricket for around six years. The Zimbabweans didn’t play a test from 2005-11. From 2022-24, they played just four tests. But between December last year and August this year, they’ll have played in 10 tests, with two-match series against South Africa and New Zealand to come this summer. Zimbabwe still isn’t part of the World Test Championship but, in the bigger picture, progress is being made. Zimbabwe Cricket will receive a touring fee from the England and Wales Cricket Board for being the first test opponent of the summer, ECB chief executive Richard Gould confirmed last year while speaking about the “huge responsibility” to maintain the strength of bilateral cricket. Zimbabwe isn't expected to offer much resistance to England, having slumped to a 138-run defeat to a Professional County Club Select XI in Leicester last week. Before that, however, it did earn a first test victory since 2021 — winning in Bangladesh on the way to sharing the series 1-1. Debut for Cook While Zimbabwe's view is very much about the present, England's sights will be on the future. Ahead this summer is a five-test series against India and then an Ashes tour Down Under. For England, it doesn't get much bigger than that so the match against Zimbabwe will be important preparation, especially for a bowling department at the start of a new era following the test retirements of Stuart Broad (in 2023) and Anderson (last year). For the Zimbabwe test, England will give a debut to Sam Cook, fellow pacer Josh Tongue is returning to the team after a two-year absence, and Gus Atkinson is about to start his second summer of test cricket. There are as many question marks about the only specialist spinner in the team, Shoaib Bashir, and the fitness of allrounder Ben Stokes, returning after a hamstring tear to regain the captaincy. “I've got to be mindful of where I'm at and building myself back up to proper match workload for later on in the summer,” Stokes said Wednesday. Then there's the batting lineup where opener Zak Crawley and No. 3 Ollie Pope have been retained despite continued speculation about their worthiness in the team. There's the welcome sight of a return for wicketkeeper Jamie Smith after missing the tour of New Zealand in November and December while on paternity leave. England is No. 2 in the test rankings but coach Brendon McCullum said “there’s a lot of meat on the bone for us” in the next stage of the so-called “ Bazball ” era. “When we took on a project like this, it was not about necessarily settling on ‘good,'" McCullum said. "I think now’s the time, working from a strong base, to be able to shoot for the stars and say, ‘Where can we take this team? What can we achieve?’” The scheduling of a four-day test might be a blow to test purists but England home matches have rarely reached Day 5 under the leadership of McCullum and Stokes since 2022. As for the Zimbabweans, they'll take whatever top-flight games they can on the long road back to cricket relevancy.

Bangladesh opener Tanzid Hasan has made a significant leap in the ICC T20I batting rankings following his explosive fifty against the UAE in the second match of the ongoing series. The 24-year-old left-hander climbed 29 spots to re-enter the top 100, now ranked 98th in the world. Tanzid scored a blistering 59 off 33 balls, hitting eight fours and three sixes in Monday’s thrilling two-run defeat in Sharjah. While Tanzid had a quiet start to the series, scoring just 10 in the first game, his second-match effort was enough to propel him back into the ICC rankings spotlight. Other Bangladesh batters also saw improvements. Pakistan confirm three-match T20I series vs Bangladesh in Lahore Wicketkeeper Jaker Ali, who scored 13 and 18 in the two games, moved up six places to 82nd. Captain Liton Das advanced one spot to 49th after scoring 11 and 40, while Towhid Hridoy’s 20 and 45 pushed him up to joint 29th alongside West Indies’ Shai Hope. Parvez Hossain Emon, who smashed a century in the first match, is yet to break into the top 100. Among bowlers, Mustafizur Rahman rose one place to 25th after taking 2 for 17 in the series opener. Tanzim Hasan Sakib, with three wickets across two games, is now 40th, and Shoriful Islam moved to 76th following his two-wicket haul in the second match. In the allrounders’ list, India’s Hardik Pandya remains at the top, while Travis Head and Jacob Duffy continue to lead the batting and bowling charts respectively.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has officially confirmed a three-match T20I home series against Bangladesh, with all matches to be held under lights at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium from May 28 to June 1. According to the revised schedule announced on Wednesday, the series will begin on May 28 (Wednesday), followed by the second match on May 30 (Friday), and the final game on June 1 (Sunday). Each of the three T20Is will start at 8:00pm local time. Bangladesh are expected to arrive in Lahore on May 25. The team will train on May 26 and 27 ahead of the opening clash. This marks Bangladesh’s return to Pakistan for a T20 series after more than five years. UAE pull off historic chase to stun Bangladesh in Sharjah thriller The tour had earlier faced uncertainty due to rising tensions between India and Pakistan, which also forced a temporary suspension of the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had awaited government clearance and consulted with its players and coaching staff before agreeing to the tour. That clearance came last week, and both boards have since worked together to finalize the new dates. This will be Bangladesh’s second away assignment this month, following their ongoing T20 series in the UAE.

Rajasthan Royals finished its Indian Premier League season with a six-wicket victory against Chennai Super Kings after finally chasing down the target in its last league game on Tuesday. Rajasthan, which failed to complete the chase in eight of its nine games this season, relied on Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s half century to reach 188-4 with 17 balls to spare, reports AP. Chelsea manager Enzo 'not happy' over limited time to prep for European final Fast bowler Akash Madhwal (3-29) was effective with his reverse swing in the final overs to restrict Chennai to 187-8 and allow Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team to add only 17 runs in the last three overs. The win lifted Rajasthan from the bottom of the table with eight points and Chennai now needs a huge win against table-topper Gujarat Titans in its final league match to avoid finishing last for the first time in its IPL history.

Sunrisers Hyderabad ended Lucknow Super Giants’ faint playoff hopes with a clinical six-wicket win in the Indian Premier League on Monday. Abhishek Sharma’s blistering 18-ball 59 led Hyderabad's chase to 206-4 with 10 balls to spare. Lucknow, which needed to win its remaining three games and rely on other results, couldn’t capitalize on a blazing 115-run opening stand between Mitchell Marsh (65) and Aiden Markram (61) and was restricted to 205-7. Gujarat Titans, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Punjab Kings have made it to the playoffs. The fight for the fourth and final place was now between Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals. Lucknow captain Rishabh Pant’s sub-par season continued when he fell for 7, his seventh single-digit score. Pant was a symptom of the team's middle order woes, and Hyderabad fast bowler Eshan Malinga (2-28) was the latest bowler to profit. Sharma seals the game Left-handed Sharma’s brutal hitting sealed the game inside the first six overs as Hyderabad raced to 72-1. He opened with Atharva Taide after regular partner Travis Head was in quarantine with COVID-19. IPL: Gujarat, Bengaluru and Punjab advance to playoffs Sharma didn’t hold back once the field restrictions came off after the powerplay, and smacked leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi for four successive sixes. The third one burst through the hands of Nicholas Pooran on the boundary and brought up Sharma's half-century. But soon after that 26-run over, Sharma was out caught off a googly by Digvesh Rathi, and both got into a heated argument. Rathi’s signature notebook celebration seemed to irritate Sharma and they had to be separated by onfield umpire Michael Gough. They appeared to make up after the game. Unlike Lucknow's middle order, Hyderabad's delivered. Ishan Kishan scored a six off the first ball he faced and made 35 off a slow 28 balls. Heinrich Klaasen (47) and Kamindu Mendis (32) accelerated before Mendis retired hurt with a hamstring injury only nine runs from victory. Lucknow slumps after blazing start Marsh and Markram have been Lucknow’s batting mainstays and gave another whirlwind start of 115 runs off just 63 balls. Both batters raising half-centuries off 28 balls. But Lucknow slipped from 108 without loss in the first 10 overs to 97-7 in the last 10 overs. The Hyderabad bowlers, especially Malinga, bowled smart with changes of pace. Pant promoted himself to No. 3 but chipped a slower ball back to Malinga, who also claimed Ayush Badoni for just 3. Debutant left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey (1-44) also slowed down Lucknow. He ousted Marsh, who was caught at short third man, in the 11th over. Markram also was deceived by Harshal Patel’s slow yorker in the 16th over just when the South African was looking to up the rate in the death overs. Nicholas Pooran hit 45 off 26 balls with one six and six fours but Lucknow kept on losing wickets. Gujarat, Bengaluru and Punjab advance to IPL playoffs Nitish Kumar Reddy bowled for the first time this season and conceded 20 runs in the final over that also brought two run-outs. Akash Deep got Lucknow past 200 with a six off the final ball.

UAE stunned Bangladesh in a dramatic finish to the second T20I, chasing down a record 206 with just one ball and two wickets to spare at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Monday night. The thrilling victory, powered by a 42-ball 82 from captain Muhammad Waseem, helped the hosts level the three-match series 1-1. Chasing Bangladesh’s total of 205 for 5, Waseem set the tone with an explosive start, smashing nine fours and five sixes in a whirlwind knock. Bangladesh set challenging 206-run target for UAE He shared a 107-run opening stand with Muhammad Zohaib (38 off 34), which laid the platform for the biggest T20I chase ever achieved by an Associate nation against a Full Member side. Despite losing wickets regularly after Waseem’s dismissal in the 15th over, UAE stayed in the hunt. Cameos from Asif Khan (19), Saghir Khan (8), and debutant Haider Ali, who finished unbeaten on 15, helped UAE inch closer. With 12 runs needed in the final over, bowled by Tanzim Hasan Sakib, the game turned on its head with a six, a wicket, and a no-ball before Haider sealed the win with a scrambled two off the penultimate delivery. Earlier, Bangladesh had posted a strong total, thanks to Tanzid Hasan’s 59 off 33 balls and quick contributions from Litton Das (40), Towhid Hridoy (45), and Jaker Ali (18 off 6). Muhammad Jawadullah took 3 for 45 for UAE. IPL: Gujarat, Bengaluru and Punjab advance to playoffs The match, which produced a combined total of 411 runs, also saw Bangladesh’s fielding fall apart in the closing moments, with overthrows and missed opportunities proving costly. The series decider will be played on Wednesday at the same venue, with both teams eyeing a final conquest.