Heena Sharma Blog

Senior batsman Faf du Plessis on Monday stepped down as captain of South Africa's Test and T20 teams with immediate effect. Du Plessis was rested for the three-match T20 series against England which South Africa lost 1-2 on Sunday. The decision comes less than a week from the start of South Africa's T20 campaign against Australia. Du Plessis, who gave away the ODI captaincy to wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock, for the recent series against England, said he took the decision to help South Africa start a new era. "In a perfect world I would have loved to lead the team in the Tests for the rest of the season as well as the T20 World Cup," du Plessis said in a statement. Read More

Indian Premier League (IPL) defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) have released 12 of their players from last season ahead of IPL 2020 players’ auction, to be held in Kolkata on Dec 19. They have retained 18 players. The Mumbai franchise retained their core team, including veteran Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga, despite his fitness issues. Among the 12 released players, Evin Lewis, Jason Behrendoff and Alzarri Joseph were the most prominent ones as they made some match-winning contributions last season. Lewis had given a flying start to the team during the powerplay in several matches, while Behrendoff had taken 6 wickets against Rajasthan Royals in a low-scoring game to provide his team a crucial win last season. Yuvraj Singh, who retired from all forms of cricket, including IPL, earlier this year, has also been released by MI. New Zealand pacer Trent Boult, West Indian Sherfance Rutherford and Mumbai pacer Dhawal Kulkarni were traded in by the franchise, owned by