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Zimbabwe squad for NZ Tests

Graeme Cremer (capt), Sikandar Raza, Regis Chakabva, Brian Chari, Tendai Chatara, Chamu Chibhabha, Craig Ervine, Hamilton Masakadza, Prince Masvaure, Tino Mawoyo, Peter Moor, Richmond Mutumbami, Taurai Muzarabani, Njabulo Ncube, Donald Tiripano, Sean Williams
In: Graeme Cremer, Prince Masvaure, Tino Mawoyo, Peter Moor, Taurai Muzarabani, Njabulo Ncube, Donald Tiripano, Sean Williams
Out: Brendan Taylor, Elton Chigumbura, Tafadzwa Kamungozi, Shingi Masakadza, Wellington Masakadza, Natsai M’shangwe, John Nyumbu, Tinashe Panyangara, Vusi Sibanda, Malcolm Waller

Legspinner Graeme Cremer, who led Zimbabwe in the limited-overs series against India in June, has been named captain for the upcoming two-Test home series against New Zealand. Uncapped batsman Prince Masvaure features in the 16-man squad. Opener Vusi Sibanda has been dropped, while a back injury has ruled out fast bowler Tinashe Panyangara.Masvaure had been in form for Zimbabwe A in the recently concluded unofficial Tests against South Africa A, scoring 277 runs from four innings at 92.33, including a century and a half-century.The squad includes allrounder Chamu Chibhabha, who has played 96 ODIs but is yet to make his Test debut. Two others who have debuted in ODIs but are yet to play Test cricket feature in the squad: opener Peter Moor and fast bowler Taurai Muzarabani.Returning to the squad are batsmen Tino Mawoyo – who last played a Test in 2013, and any international cricket in 2014 – and Sean Williams, and fast bowlers Njabulo Ncube and Donald Tiripano. Either Ncube – who played his only Test so far in November 2011 – or Tiripano is likely to open the bowling with Tendai Chatara.Zimbabwe’s previous Test assignment was 20 months ago, in Bangladesh, when former captain Brendan Taylor was still part of the set-up; Cremer was not part of that squad.Several players miss out from the squad that played in Bangladesh, including long-time limited-overs captain Elton Chigumbura (who had stepped down from the role in January this year) and the two younger Masakadza brothers: Shingi and Wellington. Zimbabwe had lost that series 3-0. Their last Test at home was in August 2014, a one-off game against South Africa, which the visitors won by nine wickets.Zimbabwe’s series against New Zealand begins on July 28, in Bulawayo.

Live scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsMohammed Shami used the heavy cloud cover and swing with the new ball to his advantage•AFP

Earl, the tropical storm threatening Kingston, allowed for only 15.5 overs on the fourth day. In that time, India helped themselves to four wickets, suggesting all they needed was a session or two more to wrap up a Test victory. The forecast is better for cricket tomorrow and West Indies are trailing by 256 runs in their second innings.An early start – at 9.30 am – had been scuppered by overnight rain leaving the outfield rather wet. When the players finally got on the field at 10.45 am only three overs were possible before a couple of sharp showers forced them back into the dressing rooms. A good chunk of the session was played amid a mild drizzle, which at one point got strong enough to halt play for about a minute before it disappeared into thin air.West Indies felt tentative batting in these conditions. Not least because the heavy cloud cover was helping the new ball swing nicely. Mohammed Shami used it to his advantage, pitching one on middle and seaming it away to hit the top of Marlon Samuels’ off stump for a five-ball duck at his home ground. In his next over, with lunch only seconds away, Shami had Darren Bravo caught in the slips with a well-directed short ball.Bravo lasted 37 balls, most of which were looking to maim his nose. He did not look to attack them. He struggled to defend them. He often took his eyes off them. Eventually he fell to one of them.The weather was bad, which might have worried India but West Indies’ abysmal batting sent them to lunch with beaming smiles. There was no more play thereafter.Although not as wide as India’s smiles, there were cracks on this pitch now, around the short-of-a-length area. Ishant Sharma is naturally a hit-the-deck bowler. When he did so at the start of his second over, it stayed low. Two balls later, however, it gained some extra bounce, hit Rajendra Chandrika’s elbow as he was trying to leave the ball outside off and cannoned onto his stumps. Chandrika made 1; his Test average is currently 14 after 10 innings. No West Indian opener has been as bad.Kraigg Brathwaite had looked a lot better against the short ball. He cut and pulled at the first opportunity against the fast bowlers. Could he bat as well against spin? Virat Kohli brought Amit Mishra on in the 13th over. Mishra bowled one unintentionally short. Brathwaite played an awful pull shot – his feet not going back and across to generate power – and was caught excellently by KL Rahul running back from midwicket.Kohli ran up to his bowler, his mouth open, his eyes wide, laughing. Mishra hugged his captain, bemusement on his face. Rain that started one minute and left the next. Batsmen who didn’t really know what to do. And bowlers who were taking wickets as easily as they snapped their fingers. It was all just a little silly for Test cricket.

Pawan Negi had a phenomenal start to 2016, only most of his success came off the field. The 23-year old left-arm spinner was a wildcard pick in the Indian squad for the World T20 but he couldn’t break into the XI. Still, his elevation up the ranks had come in time for the IPL auction, where he was bought for INR 8.5 crores by Delhi Daredevils, who had made a conscious decision to recruit younger players this year. Negi had fit the profile, but after a dismal season – he played only eight of the team’s 14 matches and bowled a mere nine overs in the entire tournament – he felt he was underused.”I kept wondering why wasn’t I given more opportunities,” Negi told the . “And the team management didn’t tell me the reason either. When I was with CSK [Chennai Super Kings], Mahi bhai [MS Dhoni] backed my abilities. Maybe, I feel Delhi didn’t back my skills with bat and ball. Maybe, it was a rotation policy, because I was never told that I was dropped.”The hardest part was, before every match, I had no clue whether I would play or not. People kept asking me why I didn’t play much. I didn’t have a proper answer.”Sitting on the bench was hard to digest as I never expected to watch the action from the sidelines. I was mentally down, but I didn’t lose hope. After the season, TA Sekhar and our manager Sunil Valson pepped me up saying that I didn’t get enough opportunities to showcase my abilities.”In the chances he did get, however, Negi was unable to make an impact. He was often used as a pinch hitter in the batting order but a strike-rate of 96.61 indicated his lack of form. On the bowling front, with Amit Mishra, Zaheer Khan and Chris Morris taking 36 of the team’s 63 wickets in 2016 and establishing themselves as the frontline options, Negi was rarely needed. He picked up one wicket.A mixture of injury and strategy contributed to Daredevils making 35 changes in 14 matches – an average of 2.5 changes per match – which also contributed to Negi spending time in the sidelines.”I was told that it was sort of a combination [of poor form and tactics],” Negi said. “Though I’m a very positive person, I would say this IPL ended on a negative note for me. I wasn’t surprised a bit that I didn’t make the cut for the Zimbabwe series because I didn’t perform well in the IPL. Now, I will practice hard for the upcoming Ranji season.”Negi has played one match for India – a dead rubber against UAE in the Asia Cup in March – but at the time of the auction in February, he was still uncapped and the INR 8.5 crores he fetched was the record for an uncapped player in the IPL.When asked if the money had played on his mind, he said “it was never about money. The team management said not to get weighed down by the price tag and the pressure that comes with it. Coach Rahul Dravid told me to stick to my natural instincts. He wanted me to perform like I was doing in the Chennai colours for the last two years. I was excited to play for Delhi, my home.”

Nuwan Kulasekara, the 33-year old Sri Lanka seamer, has announced his retirement from Test cricket.”I would like to retire from playing Test cricket with immediate effect,” he was quoted as saying in a Sri Lanka Cricket press release. “After much thought I believe it is the right time to retire and I hope it will allow me to better prepare for ODI and T20 cricket, which I would like to continue playing for Sri Lanka subject to good performance and selection”Kulasekara played 21 Tests and picked up 48 wickets since making his debut in April 2005. Though pace wasn’t his strong suit, he had the ability to move the new ball and was known for his accuracy. Among his standout performances were the two four-wicket hauls he took against Pakistan in Colombo in 2009 to finish with a match-winning 8 for 58 in 28.4 overs.Kulasekara played his last Test in June 2014 at Lord’s, where Sri Lanka clung on for a nail-biting draw. He was not in the XI at Headingley, though, where Sri Lanka beat England to seal a landmark series win.Kulasekara is an asset in limited-overs cricket – he has played 173 ODIs and was ranked as the No. 1 bowler in March 2009 – due to his nagging lines and seam movement but was unable to reprise the same threat in Tests. As a result, he could only play 21 matches in 11 years.

The M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru could be in danger of losing its Women’s World Cup matches after the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) missed the August 10 deadline set by the BCCI to secure police approvals to host the games at the venue.The Greenfields Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram is being mooted as an alternative.Bengaluru is, for the moment, scheduled to host the tournament opener between India and Sri Lanka on September 30, and matches between England and South Africa (October 3), India and Bangladesh (October 26), the second semi-final on October 30, and possibly the final on November 2.As things stand, the Greenfields Stadium is preparing to host the second season of the Kerala Cricket League (KCL) from August 21 to September 7. However, the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) is believed to have a back-up plan in place, with the KCL being moved to another venue, should they be required as World Cup hosts.Related

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As per the ICC guidelines, a venue has to be handed over to the organisers at least a month prior to the tournament. This means a decision will need to be taken by the BCCI and ICC within a week since Thiruvananthapuram is also likely to be allotted World Cup warm-up fixtures on September 25 and 27.According to the police commissioner’s office, the KSCA hadn’t got clearance for the Chinnaswamy Stadium as of Monday, when the ICC marked the 50-day countdown to the tournament with an event in Mumbai. ESPNcricinfo has contacted KSCA CEO Subhendu Ghosh but has yet to receive a response.The KSCA is currently hosting its T20 competition, the Maharaja Trophy, in Mysore. The tournament also had to also be moved out of the Chinnaswamy Stadium after the KSCA failed to secure police permission despite offering to play the matches behind closed doors.As a final attempt at securing police approvals, the KSCA is believed to be exploring the possibility of conducting World Cup matches with a reduced capacity. It’s unclear whether the BCCI would approve such a proposal considering the Chinnaswamy Stadium is also the venue for the final if Pakistan don’t qualify.The KSCA has been in trouble since June 4, when 11 people died and more than 50 were injured around the premises of the Chinnaswamy Stadium during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s victory parade after winning IPL 2025. In the aftermath of the incident, secretary A Shankar and treasurer ES Jairam resigned citing moral responsibility.Late last month, a committee tasked by the state government to investigate the stampede deemed the Chinnaswamy “unsafe” for large-scale events. The commission “strongly recommended” that large-scale events be relocated to venues that were “better suited” to handle significant crowds.The uncertainty could potentially upset plans of several teams which had hoped to be based in Bengaluru to train at a number of practice venues, including the KSCA facility in Alur on the city’s outskirts, in the lead-up to the tournament.

Australia’s Test players are going to have a rare uninterrupted two-week window to play in the BBL 2025-26 season following the home Ashes series, fostering hopes within Cricket Australia (CA) that the upcoming season could be one of the best ever following the fixture announcement on Thursday.The BBL season will begin on December 14 with Perth Scorchers hosting Sydney Sixers, three days before the start of the third Ashes Test in Adelaide between Australia and England. The 40-game regular season will run until January 18 before the finals are played from January 20 to 25, with the tournament ending on the Sunday night before the Australia Day public holiday on January 26.Full BBL fixture listThe fifth Ashes Test in Sydney runs from January 4 to January 8, meaning Australia’s Test players will theoretically be available for the last ten days of the regular season. It is more likely that only select batters will be available following a gruelling five-Test series. But there remains a hope from the BBL that some of the bowlers and allrounders may play as part of their preparation for the T20 World Cup in February. However, CA’s high performance team and the players themselves will have the final say on their availability.Related

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Nonetheless, it is a significant improvement on the last three years, when Australia had Test assignments in late January and early February, which did not allow Test players to play many matches in the competition. Head of the BBL leagues, Alistair Dobson, was optimistic that this could be one of the best BBL seasons ever.”We earmarked this season from a while back,” Dobson said. “Anything we do around international summer is huge. But then to have a good, clear run of nights available from mid-December through to the end of January, where we can play the BBL every night, is one that adds up to a pretty strong season for us.”Inevitably, at other times, there are things that don’t allow that, whether it’s different scheduling of Test matches, whether it’s the Australian team having content at the end of the summer, which might restrict potentially availability of some of our Test players and Australian players. So all those things in the mix this year give us confidence this is as good a year as we’ve had almost ever.”The schedule has been designed to give every team a home game in the last week of the season, with the hope that the Test players will be able to play for their clubs at home in that week as well as in the finals. Nathan Lyon looks likely to play his first game for Melbourne Renegades in that period after being contracted for the previous two years without playing a game.But a number of other Test players are currently uncontracted, including the three fast bowlers in Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. Travis Head is also uncontracted after not playing a game for Adelaide Strikers, while Cameron Green has not played in the BBL since January 2020.”It’ll ultimately come down to an individual case by case basis with players of how they’ve gone through the summer and what their recovery is like, and their availability,” Dobson said. “But certainly we see a great opportunity there for a number of them to come and play the back end of the season and through the finals, so hopefully that’s a way to finish off a big season.”Pat Cummins is currently uncontracted in the BBL•Getty Images

The league wasn’t tempted to move the season back one more week to give those players a chance to play more games and also allow for some of the overseas players like Sam Curran to play more games after the ILT20, which finishes on January 5.”I think our season has found a nice spot where it is for now. In terms of that school holiday finish, we work really closely with our broadcasters and our clubs to find a window there that works for everyone,” Dobson said. “I think we’ve found a good rhythm in the past couple of seasons, particularly around finishing around the long weekend that was always our footprint that we set down from day one, and we think with the players that we picked up in the draft from around the world, shows that there’s still lots of interest and excitement about coming and playing in the BBL.”Once again, the BBL has opted not to play games on Christmas Eve (December 24) or Christmas Day (December 25) and will not play a game on Australia Day (January 26). Dobson said the prospect of a game on Christmas Day continues to be discussed and said it could still happen in the future.”Never say never,” he said. “I think it’s one of the ones where each year, when we sit down to lay out how the season might look. We consider it, and ultimately, the interest and the demand from our key stakeholders probably isn’t there right now, whether that’s broadcasters or clubs to push into that particular day, albeit it’s discussed regularly.”Dobson also wasn’t concerned about the prospect of three games being played at Marvel Stadium after the surface was substandard during last year’s BBL. Renegades will host three games at the venue, including a Melbourne derby, but their first two matches will be played in Geelong.

Steven Smith found some form while Pat Cummins made a successful return after a long layoff as New South Wales hammered Victoria in a their One-Day Cup clash at the Junction Oval after Josh Hazlewood was a late omission when he woke up ill.An early rain delay allowed both sides to attend a pre-match ceremony where Cricket Victoria unveiled the renamed Shane Warne stand on the western side of the ground. But shortly before that ceremony, Hazlewood walked out of the venue unaccompanied and headed back to the hotel on orders of the NSW team doctor having woken up feeling ill.”He looked terrible this morning,” Matthew Gilkes said post-match. “I think he had a headache and he looked like death. Feel for him. Hopefully he’s resting up and getting himself better.”He was replaced by Under-19 World Cup winner Charlie Anderson who took three wickets on his List A debut. Anderson, who was on the trip for experience only until Hazlewood was ruled out, had to wear Sam Konstas’ shirt as he did not have one made with his name on it.Related

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Smith, Nic Maddinson and player of the match Gilkes, all made brisk half-centuries as the Blues piled up 336 for 8 from 45 overs, having been sent in after 10 overs of the match were lost. Most of Victoria’s bowlers were clobbered on a good pitch, but the veteran Peter Siddle was the exception. A month shy of his 40th birthday, Siddle took his first List A five-wicket haul in an 81-game career that has remarkably spanned 19 years. He finished with 5 for 49 in nine overs including the wickets of Smith, Gilkes, Cummins, Josh Philippe and Moises Henriques.Victoria never got close, bowled out for 196 in reply despite a blistering 57-ball 80 from Matthew Short who was playing his first game since injuring his adductor in the last ODI of Australia’s UK tour. Short looked in supreme touch as he tuned up for Australia’s upcoming ODI series against Pakistan where he is set to open the batting in the absence of Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh.Glenn Maxwell’s return to the Victoria senior side was not as productive. He made a run-a-ball 21 after scores of 14 and 10 in a four-day Victoria Second XI match last week. He did strike two massive sixes before falling caught behind trying to glide Anderson fine of short third.Smith’s return to form was noteworthy after scores of 3 and 0 in the Sheffield Shield match at the MCG. He entered in the 13th over after a 73-run opening stand between Philippe and Maddinson got the Blues off to a quick start. Smith looked on-song from the outset as he struck four fours and two sixes. One was a dismissive whip off the stumps over deep midwicket. He also unfurled some brilliant lap scoops off both the quicks and the spin of Todd Murphy.He was frustrated to be judged lbw when he missed a straight delivery from Siddle trying to whip square. Maddinson had already departed for 63 off 64. But Gilkes powered the back-end of the innings with a blistering 42-ball 74 which included eight fours and four sixes. Chris Green added 25 from 18 to close out the innings.Short was imperious at the start of the chase smashing the first two balls of the innings for four off Cummins. He clubbed five fours and five sixes and looked unstoppable but he kept losing partners at the other end.Cummins trapped Sam Harper lbw with an off-cutter to claim his first wicket of the season. Marcus Harris was bizarrely stumped when he failed to realise the ball had rolled behind him after an attempted sweep. Peter Handscomb and Tom Rogers both holed out before Short and Maxwell fell in quick succession as the required run-rate spiraled out of control. Green picked up two wickets late to finish with 3 for 27.

A spirited Bangladesh bowling unit rode on the confidence Mushfiqur Rahim’s 191 had instilled into their camp on the fourth day to skittle Pakistan for 146 on the fifth, and hand them a fifth loss in a stretch of nine winless home Tests. While Pakistan have not won a Test at home since February 2021 against South Africa, this was Bangladesh’s maiden Test win against Pakistan – a ten-wicket win to boot – and a rare one away from home. Leading into this game, they had won just two Tests on foreign soil in the last seven years.If the fourth day was about Bangladesh slowly strengthening their grip on the game, the last day was about romping to victory. Once the fast bowlers removed three of the top four Pakistan batters, the spinning duo of Shakib Al Hasan and Mehidy Hasan Miraz shared the remaining seven wickets; the ball had started to turn more than it did on Saturday, with some uneven bounce as well.Young fast bowler Nahid Rana cranked up the pace close to 150kmph to snare Babar Azam, Shakib stifled with his stump-to-stump lines from both sides of the wicket, and Mehidy struck with his zippy offbreaks to regularly create tense moments and wicket-taking opportunities.Related

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After Pakistan – led largely by Mohammad Rizwan’s 51 – set Bangladesh a mere 30 to win in the second session, Bangladesh hunted down the runs in 6.3 overs.Even though the ball wasn’t swinging as much as it did on the previous evening, Bangladesh’s quicks set up their push for victory in the first session. With Saim Ayub already dismissed on the fourth day, Shan Masood fell early when he edged Hasan Mahmud to the wicketkeeper. The on-field umpire didn’t give it out, but Bangladesh reviewed and saw the decision overturned after a spike on UltraEdge.The score of 28 for 2 could have been 28 for 3 when Babar Azam edged his second delivery, angling away from him to the keeper, but Litton Das couldn’t hold on to the chance to his right and Babar survived a pair.He grew in confidence with some runs and boundaries, but Nahid spotted his lack of footwork and plotted his fall. He peppered Babar with short balls regularly above 145kmph to push him on the back foot, and when he pitched one up outside off, Babar’s feet didn’t move quickly and far enough, and his drive resulted in him chopping on for 22. That started the slide of wickets, halted briefly only by a counter-attacking innings from Rizwan before the lunch break.Mohammad Rizwan was a class apart on the fifth-day surface•Associated Press

Saud Shakeel stepped out to negate Shakib’s turn but missed and was stumped for a duck. A patient Abdullah Shafique then threw his wicket away with just over three overs left for lunch. He attempted a wild swing over mid-off only to hand a leading edge to Shadman Islam at backward point. Two balls later, Mehidy drew Agha Salman forward with a teasing offbreak and drew his edge, with Shadman taking a sharp catch to his left this time at slip.Rizwan, in between, struck four boundaries on either side of the wicket to wipe out a chunk of the deficit that was 50 when he had walked out. He attacked a slightly tired Nahid with a hat-trick of fours and followed it with a slog sweep for another boundary next over that made it 26 runs scored off the two overs. But he was forced to curb his instincts with Salman’s dismissal and farmed the strike after the lunch break once Shaheen Shah Afridi was trapped in front by a Mehidy delivery that barely bounced.Pakistan were 111 for 7 at the time, still trailing by six. They took the lead, but Naseem Shah soon handed a catch to midwicket before Rizwan took the responsibility of building some sort of a lead with his tenth Test half-century. He was going hard at the ball through his innings and this resulted in his wicket when he chopped on against Mehidy, who also trapped Mohammad Ali to wrap up the hosts.Zakir Hasan and Shadman then ensured Bangladesh got over the line unscathed. Zakir struck three fours in his 14 and hit the winning runs with a sweep down to the vacant fine-leg fence.

The PCB is considering “several key changes” to the nature of international cricketers’ obligations to Pakistan cricket, with potential implications for the ability to obtain NOCs, participation in domestic cricket and a change to central contracts agreed last year.What those key changes contain, however, remains shrouded in mystery. A 500-word statement that was light on detail – and not released through official channels or uploaded to the PCB’s official website – stated that domestic cricket “is now compulsory for players”. The board also announced that a “technical method” would be established for issuing NOCs, and only players meeting the criteria of that method would be granted NOCs. It would appear that the tenure of central contracts has been reduced to one year, an apparent rollback of the landmark three-year contracts announced last year.However, despite the potentially wide-reaching implications of such changes, no specific information was provided on what these changes would entail and how they would come into effect. Mohammad Rafiullah – a spokesperson for the board chairman Mohsin Naqvi – told ESPNcricinfo that committees would be formed to work out the fine print: devising the technical method for the NOCs, the tweaking of the central contract, and how much domestic cricket international players would be required to play.Related

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The original statement made no mention of the establishment of any committee, and it is not yet clear whether one committee will be tasked with all three responsibilities, or three separate committees will be formed to handle one task each. Rafiullah told ESPNcricinfo the committees – which have not come into existence yet – would submit their findings for implementation within 15 days.The statement did clarify that the centrally contracted players’ remuneration would not be reduced, a punitive move that initial reports suggested was being considered in the wake of Pakistan’s disastrous T20 World Cup campaign. It also said “the inclusion of players in various categories of the central contract would follow a defined procedure” without information on how this procedure was to be defined.It was also announced that Test head coach Jason Gillespie and white-ball coach Gary Kirsten had been added to the selection committee, though once again, it has yet to be clarified whether that means both coaches will make selectorial decisions across formats, or only sit on committees relevant to the formats they are respective coaches for.The issue concerning player NOCs is perhaps the prickliest one in Pakistan cricket at the moment, with some players understood to feel the spirit of the agreement to allow players two overseas leagues per year was not being respected . Last week, ESPNcricinfo reported Naseem Shah had been refused an NOC to play the Hundred on a contract worth GBP 125,000, while Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam are also expected to have their NOCs for the Global T20 League in Canada turned down. There is no international cricket that clashes with either of these leagues, but the PCB is likely to cite workload management as a reason for their refusal.In a separate statement, one that was uploaded to the PCB’s official website, Australian pitch curator Tony Hemming was appointed the head curator on a two-year contract. He comes in ahead of a busy home season for Pakistan, which includes seven Test matches, a tri-series and the ICC Champions Trophy.

Wriddhiman Saha is all set to return to Bengal for the upcoming Indian domestic season, and will also feature in the inaugural Bengal Pro T20 league that gets underway on Tuesday at the Eden Gardens.Saha, who represented Bengal for close to 15 years since making his first-class debut in 2007, moved to Tripura ahead of the 2022-23 domestic season as a player-cum-mentor. He had asked for his NOC after being hurt by comments by a senior administrator before the 2021-22 Ranji Trophy quarter-finals. After two years at Tripura, Saha is now back at Bengal.He wasn’t on the initial draft list of the Bengal Pro T20 league but has been picked by the Rashmi Medinipur Wizards team as a replacement for the injured Abhimanyu Easwaran. Wizards will be led by Sudip Chatterjee in the league and also have former India U-19 fast bowler Ishan Porel in their ranks.There are a total of eight teams taking part in the Pro T20 league. Each team will play seven league-stage matches, followed by the semi-finals and the final on June 28 at the Eden Gardens.”We are very happy to have Wriddhiman back in Bengal. Also, his interest in playing at the Bengal Pro T20 League will add more glamour to the League,” Snehasish Ganguly, the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal, said.Saha, 39, has played 136 first-class matches, scoring 7013 runs at an average of 41.99. So far, he has hit 14 centuries and 43 half-centuries. This includes 1353 Test runs in 40 matches at an average of 29.41.Saha was picked up by Gujarat Titans at the IPL 2022 auction and was part of the side that won the title in its inaugural season. He had an underwhelming IPL 2024, though, where he could only manage 136 runs in nine innings while averaging 15.11. His loss of form coincided with Titans’ slide as they finished eighth in the season.