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Vijay Dahiya, the veteran Delhi wicketkeeper who played two Tests and 19 ODIs for India, has retired from all forms of cricket after a 15-year career. In a sudden decision, Dahiya informed the Delhi District Cricket Association of his retirement just four days after he sat out Delhi’s Ranji Trophy match against Baroda at the Feroz Shah Kotla.Speaking to , Dahiya, 33, said that a hand injury forced the decision midway through the domestic season. “I know what I am doing but my hand just gave away. I know my body well and I am happy that I came back and proved a point to my critics. And I am leaving when the team is on a high,” he said. “I can rest and then come back but then I will not be fair on this young boy [Puneet Bisht, the rookie ‘keeper] too because then even I am not letting him settle also.””I don’t like to sit out and I just wanted to be part of action before I called it quits. So I thought, let me just field and walk back to the dressing room one final time along with my team-mates,” he added. “I always wanted to leave on my terms. Why should I let anybody take away that liberty from me?”Dahiya made his first-class debut against Punjab in 1993-94, and was an integral part of the North Zone team which lifted the Duleep and Deodhar Trophies in 1999-2000, and also captained Delhi for some time. He was called up to the Indian ODI side in late 2000, and was one of five wicketkeepers used by the selectors in a 16-month period. In an ODI against Australia at home in March of 2001, Dahiya slammed a a 39-ball 51 to help set up a match-winning total. It was his only ODI half-century, while in the two Tests he played against Zimbabwe in 2000, he only got the opportunity to bat once.Dahiya took a break from the game last year – he informed the DDCA that he “need not be considered” for selection so as to make room for a younger player – but returned this year. He began his Ranji season with a fine 152, his highest first-class score, against Tamil Nadu that bailed Delhi out of trouble, and effected a stumping against Uttar Pradesh’s Praveen Kumar that helped his side gain a vital first-innings lead. He informed Arun Jaitley, the DDCA president, about his decision on Sunday, but there was no press conference or benefit match.

Match facts

January 20, 2015
Start time 1500 local (0900 GMT)Bangladesh are a step away from their second successive T20I series win over Zimbabwe•AFP

Big Picture

It is becoming increasingly difficult to predict playing XIs from both sides, who aren’t afraid to tinker with their combinations in their quest to narrow down on an ideal combination going into the World T20 in India.Both Bangladesh and Zimbabwe have to play in the preliminary round, also featuring Oman, Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Scotland, Ireland and Netherlands, with the top two teams progressing. That means, both sides will want to throw the younger players into the deep end, to see how they acclimatise to the pressure. That Bangladesh are sitting pretty with a 2-0 lead means the time is ripe for them to unleash their bench strength. Zimbabwe, meanwhile, are still smarting from their series loss to Afghanistan in the UAE. Ordinary performances in the first two games means they are running out of time.They rested the designated captain Elton Chigumbura among three players in the last game. It remains to be seen if they are brought back in at a crunch time. That apart, they will also need impact players like Sikandar Raza and Luke Jongwe to come good if they are to challenge the hosts in conditions as subcontinental as they can get.With Bangladesh missing Mushfiqur Rahim due to a hamstring injury, even as Mustafizur Rahman and Al-Amin Hossain, their best seamers on show in the first two games, have been rested, Zimbabwe will hope to cash in on the relative inexperience of some of the Bangladesh players. Among them, Sabbir Rahman will be keenly followed after his impressive outing in the previous game that also earned him the Man-of-the-Match award.

Form guide

(last five matches, most recent first)

 Bangladesh: WWLWL
Zimbabwe: LLLLW

In the spotlight

With Mushfiqur out of the series, Nurul Hasan, who impressed in the Bangladesh Premier League, will now have a lot more focus on his batting as well. But his main job would be to keep things clean behind the stumps.Malcolm Waller did well in the last T20 series in Bangladesh and also had his moments in the BPL, but hasn’t really come up with a blinding knock in this series. Zimbabwe will look at him to provide a late flourish.

Teams news

Although Imrul Kayes has remained in the squad, it is likely that newcomer Mosaddek Hossain will come in place of Mushfiqur, while three out of Taskin Ahmed, Muktar Ali, Mohammad Shahid and Abu Hider are likely to get a place in the XI. Bangladesh: (probable) 1 Tamim Iqbal, 2 Soumya Sarkar, 3 Sabbir Rahman, 4 Mahmudullah, 5 Shakib Al Hasan, 6 Mosaddek Hossain, 7 Nurul Hasan (wk), 8 Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), 9 Muktar Ali, 10 Taskin Ahmed, 11 Abu HiderWith the series on the line, Zimbabwe could bring back their regular captain Chigumbura along with senior members Sikandar Raza and Luke Jongwe. Zimbabwe: (probable) 1 Vusi Sibanda, 2 Hamilton Masakadza, 3 Sikandar Raza, 4 Sean Williams, 5 Malcolm Waller, 6 Elton Chigumbura (capt), 7 Richmond Mutumbami (wk), 8 Luke Jongwe, 9 Graeme Cremer, 10 Wellington Masakadza, 11 Taurai Muzarabani

Pitch and conditions

Favorable batting conditions are likely to continue. Both sides have started well with the bat, but haven’t been able to finish off the innings. The team batting second will have the advantage of dew, as it would allow the ball to slide onto the bat nicely, while making life difficult for the spinners.

Stats and trivia

• If Bangladesh hand debuts to three players, it will be the first time since December 2012, against West Indies. The uncapped players are Abu Hider, Mohammad Shahid, Mosaddek Hossain and Muktar Ali.
• In the previous game, Hamilton Masakadza became the first Zimbabwean to reach 3000 runs in T20s.

Quote

“Like we always do, we will try to win tomorrow. If we play our own game we will definitely win. We are not talking about a series win right now.”

Not satisfied with a nine-wicket win over Bangladesh last week, New Zealand aim to crush the visitors in the second Test starting at the Basin Reserve in Wellington on Saturday.”There’s no letting off within the team. It’s almost the opposite,” captain Daniel Vettori told the . “The guys are pushing harder to get the result we need in an even better fashion than at Dunedin. If we can put on a big score and the key players in the top six make sure they bat for a long time and score big runs then I think we’ll be satisfied with that.”Stephen Fleming, Vettori’s predecessor, felt the side was very eager to do well after their recent defeats in South Africa and Australia. “It’s a lot easier to turn up when you’re expected to win,” Fleming said. “We’re enjoying being the dominant side but I guess we’ve got one eye looking towards the rest of the summer without slipping up against Bangladesh.”Fleming, 34, scored 14 in his only innings in Dunedin and is desperate for some big scores before his likely retirement after New Zealand’s return trip to England this year. “Every Test innings from here on is massively important,” he said. Fleming will be playing his 108th Test but in 16 games at this venue – which he ranks as his favourite, and at which he has scored more runs than anywhere else – his best is 97.John Bracewell, New Zealand’s coach, wanted the team to go all-out against Bangladesh, who have had a poor tour. “We’re pretty realistic as to where we’re at when we do our review,” he said. “I thought we were quite comprehensive in the one-day series in terms of ruthlessness. We had a day off being ruthless in Dunedin and that’s not good enough if we’re to compete with the big boys.”A win will give New Zealand two more points in the ICC rankings, to move within one point of Pakistan.New Zealand’s top order will be out to make amends for an indifferent performance in the first Test, as middle-order Mathew Sinclair indicated. “I know from a batting perspective I have a lot to prove after I didn’t push on in Dunedin,” he said. “There’s a lot of talk about the top order going out and doing the bizzo, we’re aware of that and we want to make the most of it.”Both teams have delayed naming their teams because of selection dilemmas. New Zealand are without Mark Gillespie, ruled out with a shoulder injury, and are confronted with the issue of whether to retain Iain O’Brien as the third seamer or opt for Michael Mason. Vettori hinted that they would probably go with O’Brien, on his home ground. “We might get a day of big wind…. someone has to bowl into it and Iain’s probably done that a lot over his Wellington career,” he said.The pitch is likely to count against spinner Jeetan Patel bowling in tandem with Vettori, who at first glance said it looked a little more dead than usual. It’s a flat surface, which, Bangladesh’s coach Jamie Siddons said, his team was looking forward to playing on. “We’d love to have a bat on it. It’s certainly not the threatened green seamer we expected to get all tour,” Siddons said.Siddons is expected to change his batting lineup after a miserable showing in Dunedin. Habibul Bashar was out to injudicious shots and Aftab Ahmed bagged a pair, so Rajin Saleh and allrounder Farhad Reza could replace them. The two openers, Tamim Iqbal and Junaid Siddique, are unlikely to be touched; they added a record opening stand in the second innings before the ten wickets fell for just 93 runs. Enamul Haque jnr, the slow left-arm spinner called up for the two-Test series, failed to impress in Dunedin and may make way for Abdur Razzak.Teams:New Zealand (likely): 1 Craig Cumming, 2 Matthew Bell, 3 Peter Fulton, 4 Stephen Fleming, 5 Mathew Sinclair, 6 Jacob Oram, 7 Brendon McCullum (wk), 8 Daniel Vettori (capt), 9 Kyle Mills, 10 Iain O’Brien, 11 Chris Martin.Bangladesh (from): Tamim Iqbal, Junaid Siddique, Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Ashraful (capt), Aftab Ahmed, Shahriar Nafees, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqir Rahim (wk), Mashrafe Mortaza, Farhad Reza, Rajin Saleh, Abdur Razzak, Shahadat Hossain, Enamul Haque, Sajidul Islam.

The Sri Lanka selectors have kept Marvan Atapattu on the tour of Australia to minimise disruption for the team, but will take “the necessary disciplinary action” when they return home. SLC issued the statement on Tuesday, following a committee meeting, which said they felt “distressed and disappointed”.Atapattu, then, will be considered for the second and final Test which begins this Friday in Hobart. His tour was in jeopardy when he called the selectors “muppets headed by a joker” in a press conference during his first Test since 2005, in Brisbane this week. Whether he will now be considered for the home Test series against England which follows remains to be seen.SLC said in their statement: “Sri Lanka Cricket does not wish to disrupt the ongoing tour of Australia, especially as the second Test in Hobart will commence on November 16. However, Sri Lanka Cricket is very distressed and disappointed about the statements made by Marvan Atapattu on the selectors and Sri Lanka Cricket – and will take necessary disciplinary action on his return to Sri Lanka.”The captain Mahela Jayawardene had joined Trevor Bayliss, Sri Lanka’s coach, in support of Atapattu. “He’s worked really hard in the three to four weeks he has been with us,” Jayawardene said. “His contributions at team meetings, in the dressing room and off the field have been brilliant.”Bayliss added: “The way he batted in this match, he was one of our better players in the first innings. He’s batted well in the warm-up games as well and he is an important part of the set up at the moment. The comments he made didn’t have any effect on his involvement in the team whatsoever.”

Cricket Kenya chairman Samir Inamdar has denied claims made by Steve Tikolo, Kenya’s captain, that more of the country’s players need to be made professional.In a recent interview, Tikolo said that more players needed to be on full-time contracts to allow them to train properly. While admitting that some of the national side were contracted, he added that “the rest of the players need to be looked after too”.”I think Steve is talking about players outside the contracted ones,” Inamdar told Cricinfo. “Calling the contracted players semi-professional is not accurate. They are fully-contracted based on a scale of salaries, match fees and other allowances that he himself together with his senior players approved in June last year.”While players emoluments are always an emotive issue, the players are receiving a regular income with match fees to boot. Their health care needs, daily lunches, insurances and physiotherapy needs are all looked after. A total of about 18 players are contracted on this basis. The other players who are not contracted but help out by turning up for nets etc each receive a daily allowance and a lunch.”Given the state of our resources I think that the players have done reasonably well. It is quite plain – and the figures were given out at our stakeholders meeting – that the overwhelming major portion of our revenue goes to the players – probably two-thirds or thereabouts in 2006.”Kenya are the only non Test-playing country to have players on full-time contracts, and while others have signalled their desire to follow suit, they have not had the finances to enable them to do that. CK has only been able to buck the trend because of the side’s success in the World Cricket League last February – it earned them US$250,000 – and a new media deal signed in 2007.

Northerns Titans paceman David Townsend exploited a disappointing batting performance from the Highveld Strikers to earn his side a 186-run lead on the second day of their Supersport Series match at the Wanderers on Saturday.Townsend took three wickets as the Strikers limped to the close on 170 for eight in response to the Titans’ first innings total of 356 all out.Earlier in the day, the Titans resumed on 306 for seven and with Steve Elworthy on 39 not out. Elworthy unleashed a hard-hitting and unbeaten 75 to further bolster the Titans’ innings.The veteran of Northerns cricket hit 10 fours and three sixes off the 115 balls he faced, and carried his bat when Northerns were bowled out for 356.Andrew Hall led the Strikers’ bowling attack, taking 5-93 as both he and Clive Eksteen wrapped up the Titans tail in the morning.Having done themselves little justice with ball in hand, the Strikers then failed in their attempt to prove themselves as a batting side. Only Adam Bacher stood out with 61.Sven Koenig was the first to make the long Wanderers walk back to the changeroom, dismissed for 16 by a catch at mid-wicket from Greg Smith off a ball from Elworthy that was pitched wide outside the off-stump.David Townsend then stepped into the attack for Northerns, and made the most vital breakthrough of the day shortly after lunch.Having just returned to the Titans side after a previous season where he was plagued by injury, Townsend had settled into an excellent rhythm.Bowling a good line and length, Townsend had Andre Seymore caught behind and then took Daryll Cullinan for a duck with his very next ball, lifting out the latter’s off-stump with embarrassing ease.Bacher was left to fend for himself, although he was given some support by Zander de Bruyn.The duo shared in a fourth-wicket stand of 61 runs before a horrendous run-out. It was sparked by some excellent fielding from Allahudien Paleker, who did well to stop a boundary off Bacher’s bat.The batsmen were busy on the third run when, despite being three-quarters of the way down the pitch, Bacher suddenly stopped and joined De Bruyn running to the same end. De Bruyn paid the price for the mistake.The weight of the innings eventually proved to great for the shoulders of Bacher to bear. With a much-needed century certainly beckoning, Bacher went out to the tamest of deliveries from Townsend, caught at point by Neil McKenzie.There was little resistance after that. But it has to be said that the Strikers’ batting did not make it very hard for the Titans to take wickets.

David Moore, the newly-appointed coach of the West Indies team, has said that preparation would be the key to success. “We have the will to do well but we have to have the will to prepare to do well, we need to prepare ourselves to compete consistently well at the highest level,” he said as he took over the reins from Bennett King, who resigned as head coach of the West Indian team after the World Cup.”We are in a situation where we are coming off the back of playing a lot of one day cricket and moving into Test matches which is a real test of one’s skill,” said Moore. “In our last Test series (against Pakistan) we played some respectable cricket without gaining any wins and it now requires that we spend some quality time in preparing for Test cricket against a tough opposition at home.””We do not have a lot of time, but we do have one warm up game and we have to utilize the time effectively and get into the rhythm of Test cricket again,” said Moore, as the team assembled in Barbados ahead of their departure to England where they will play four Tests, three ODIS and two Twenty20 matches. “Traditionally the wickets in England are a bit more fresh and have more moisture earlier in the season and it means the pitches would do a little bit more but having followed the English first class season so far the wickets appear to be a little flatter with a lot of runs being scored.”Moore, who played one first-class match for New South Wales, hoped that the England tour would afford his team the chance to make a fresh start, under a new captain. “We’ve got a brand new captain, the head coach has resigned so from our point of view as team management it’s a fresh start, it’s a good opportunity to move the team forward and we will be looking to all the players to perform at their best levels and looking for each player to move forward on and off the field, in training and in representing the West Indian people in public.”Moore conceded that losing Brian Lara would have its impact, but hoped that his team could look at the positive side of things. “We’ve lost Brian (Lara) which is a major loss and it leaves a big hole but it is a wonderful opportunity for all the batsmen to stake a claim in replacing him in the side.””We’ve got Daren Ganga, who has scored some quality runs, opening the batting, once we get through the new ball and establish a base for us to score runs we then need the middle order to capitalize on that and for players to go ahead to score Test hundreds and there is a chance for those batters to establish themselves.”Moore also looked for consistent contributions from other players, insisting that both the top- and lower-order had roles to play. “Also I’m looking for players like (Dwayne) Bravo and (Denesh) Ramdin to also score runs in the lower middle order, it’s an important area for us in the past and these guys need to perform,” Moore continued. “(Chris) Gayle, (Shivnarine) Chanderpaul and (Ramnaresh) Sarwan are all quality batsmen but they are probably not happy with the amount of runs they have been scoring recently in Test cricket and we are looking to them to contribute in the batting order.””On the bowling side of things I feel Corey Collymore is a key in our attack, he has been frugal with runs scored against him and can get the ball to swing,” Moore said as he discussed the bowling attack. “Overall we have a very good young team who are still learning about all facets of their cricket and I’m really looking forward to working with them during this tour and if they can get their processes right we can certainly compete with the opposition.”

Brendan Nash, the former Queensland batsman who left Australia to restart his career in the Caribbean, has been named in Jamaica’s 17-man squad for this season’s forthcoming KFC Cup.Nash is eligible to play for Jamaica as his father, Paul, is of Jamaican origin, having represented the country as an Olympic swimmer. Nash is joined by two new faces in the squad: Donovan Sinclair and Krishmar Santokie, the left-arm fast bowler.Chris Gayle leads the strong side which includes Daren Powell, JeromeTaylor and Marlon Samuels.David Bernard, Xavier Marshall and Donovan Pagon, who have all played for the West Indies, have been left out, as has Dwight Washington.

Luke Ronchi, the big-hitting wicketkeeper-batsman, will join Mumbai for next month’s Indian Premier League after signing a three-year deal with the franchise. Ronchi owns a 56-ball century with Western Australia, a domestic one-day record, and his all-round skills are perfectly suited to the Twenty20 format.Mumbai have Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya, Harbhajan Singh and Shaun Pollock in their squad and Ronchi, who has a strike-rate of 176.97 in his 12 abbreviated matches, is looking forward to joining them. “I can’t wait to get over there and start training with the likes of Tendulkar and Jayasuriya and try to gain as much as I can from the wealth of experience they possess,” Ronchi said.”It will be a tremendous learning experience for me, not just in how to play Twenty20, but in all aspects of my game because I will be surrounded by so many champions. And there may be an opportunity to open the batting with Sachin in front of his home crowd in Mumbai – that would be the stuff dreams are made of.”While Ronchi has joined the IPL’s playing ranks, Matthew Mott, the New South Wales coach, has accepted an offer from John Buchanan to be an assistant with Kolkata. Mott guided New South Wales’ Pura Cup final victory last week and he will be in India for Kolkata’s first game against Bangalore on April 18.”It’s going to be a great experience for him,” Dave Gilbert, the New South Wales chief executive, told the Sydney Morning Herald. “They have a terrific side, and the opportunity to work with Buchanan will be beneficial for him.”To be honest, our limited-overs form has been pretty ordinary in the last couple of seasons, and this is a great chance for Matt to go there and observe first-hand some of the game’s innovations. There will obviously be some pretty interesting cricket being played, and he will be able to take note of it all and plan for our assault on the title next season.”

Normal service has been resumed for Kevin Pietersen. After the longest and most frustrating lean spell of his international career, he crashed back to form on the first day at Napier with his 11th Test century, a superb innings of 129 from 208 balls. The circumstances of the knock, however, were not quite as he had envisaged. In his mind’s eye, he would have been leading England on a run-spree, en route to a memorable series win. In reality, his was a backs-to-the-wall effort that saved his side from humiliation, but not as yet from defeat.Nothing demonstrated Pietersen’s mindset better than the celebration of his century. The shot he brought it up with was streaky, a thick edge through gully off Chris Martin, but the reaction was low-key in the extreme. A puff of the cheeks and a modest wave to all corners of the ground. England were 170 for 6 at the time, and Pietersen rightly said that the match situation, rather than his personal fortune, was foremost in his mind.”I didn’t have it in me to go prance, and jump around like a cake,” he said. “I knew I had to stick in there. It was a really important time for us, and I was working in tens, and trying to get a partnership going. I’m sure if we had been two-down, and in a whole lot better position, I’d have been more extravagant. But my head just wasn’t in that space.”His head hasn’t been in that space for quite some time. Pietersen hadn’t managed even a half-century in his previous ten innings of the winter, and even for a man with his levels of self-assurance, the pressure was beginning to tell. Not least at the start of today’s innings. “At 4 for 3, there was me thinking, ‘crikey, I’ve got to get a score here even more’,” said Pietersen. “It’s been a tough time, but to be honest with you, that’s the cycle of life, these things happen. Hopefully I’ve come through it and I can continue scoring. At the end of the day. I’m pretty happy with 11 hundreds in 30 games.”When he did end the drought, the first person he picked out with his bat-waving was his wife, Jessica, who he acknowledged for her role in maintaining his morale. She had originally intended to fly home on March 12 for a wedding, but remained out in New Zealand for the final two Tests of the series. “She knew I wasn’t in as happy a place as I could have been, and she stayed on,” said Pietersen. “It’s great, I love having family around. I hate being away from home.”He’ll be rather happier with his travels now, regardless of the match situation. “I’m not a robot, I’ve got to go through a patch where I don’t score for a while,” he said. “Hopefully that patch is finished now and the cricket gods are smiling. How fun would life be if everything was hunky dory all the time. I like to fight and be challenged, and I’ve worked harder on this trip than I have done any stage [of my career], because I’ve really strived for success. The cycle of life says the harder you work you’re going to be rewarded.”Pietersen picked out Ricky Ponting, who managed one score in excess of 25 in the recent VB Series, as an example of a cricketer who’s enduring a rough trot that cannot last. “I’ve been playing well in the five Tests leading up to this, and I’ve got a 30 or 40 in every single match. If that’s your bad patch it’s not all bad,” said Pietersen. “It’s frustrating because I’ve let a load of people down who come and watch all the time, and I like to entertain, play good innings, and keep people going.”At 4 for 3, entertainment wasn’t the first thought that crossed Pietersen’s mind, and yet, as he demonstrated so memorably with his incredible 158 in the 2005 Ashes, match-saving and crowd-pleasing needn’t be mutually exclusive. “There was pressure, definitely,” said Pietersen. “But I reminded myself of that big day [at The Oval] in 2005. There was more pressure on that day than there has been on an England team in a long time. And I played okay that day. I just walked out to bat backing myself, because for two nets sessions leading into this game, I’ve played well.”Steve Waugh always said back yourself, because preparation is what you look after,” said Pietersen. “I can’t work any harder, and I’ll continue to work as hard as I have done. It’s how you work through your bad patches that make you a better person. When I got to fifty today, I really wanted to make it count.”