KKR appoint Shreyas as captain
Shreyas Iyer has been named captain of Kolkata Knight Riders for IPL 2022. Acquired for INR 12.25 crore in the mega auction, Iyer will succeed Eoin Morgan at his new franchise. He has earlier captained Delhi Capitals 41 times, leading them to the final in 2020.
'I am extremely honoured to have gotten the opportunity to lead a prestigious team like KKR,' Iyer said. 'The IPL as a tournament brings the best players from different countries and cultures together and I look forward to leading this great group of very talented individuals.'
Neser ruled out of Pakistan tour
Michael Neser has been ruled out of the upcoming Test series in Pakistan due to a side strain. Cricket Australia named Mark Steketee as replacement, adding Brendan Doggett as reserve. The first Test match will be played in Rawalpindi from 4 March.
Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner. On standby: Sean Abbott, Brendan Doggett
Maxwell to miss Pakistan tour
Glenn Maxwell will miss Australia's upcoming tour of Pakistan and as well as the start of Indian Premier League 2022 due to his wedding. Maxwell is among the leading contenders to lead Bangalore this year.
'Originally when I organised the dates with CA there was a two-week gap where I could potentially have it,' Maxwell said. 'So when I sorted that out I was pretty happy that I wasn't going to be missing in any series. And then I came to the [CA] contract meeting midway through last year and they said well this is the Pakistan series and I thought well obviously that's changed since the last conversation we had.'
India beat West Indies by six wickets
India defeated West Indies by six wickets in the first T20I at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. They chased down 158 with seven balls to spare. Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan added 64 for the opening stand, with the former scoring 40 in 19 balls. Suryakumar Yadav (34) and Venkatesh Iyer (24) then propelled their team to an easy win.
Earlier, Nicholas Pooran struck 61 to help West Indies post 157/7 in 20 overs. Debutant Ravi Bishnoi and Harshal Patel took two wickets each.