Pakistan underlined their credentials as early Twenty20 World Cup favourites when they held their nerve to beat New Zealand by five wickets in Sharjah on Tuesday and secure a second straight victory in the tournament.

Wicket keeper batsman Nurul Hasan Sohan’s participation in the Tigers’ second Super 12 stage game against England is under doubt after the cricketer suffered an injury while batting in the nets during a training session at ICC Cricket Academy in Dubai today.

South Africa stumper-batsman Quinton de Kock skipped Tuesday's Twenty20 World Cup match against West Indies citing "personal reasons" after the team were directed to take a knee in their remaining matches in the tournament.

Mashrafe Bin Mortaza has dubbed current team management of Bangladesh as a ‘rehab centre’, saying that ‘this rehab centre is the resort for all South African coaches looking for employment’.

Taliban officials took to social media on Monday to congratulate the Afghan national cricket team for winning a match in the Twenty20 World Cup, but there was a muted response on the streets of Kabul where such wins were celebrated enthusiastically in the past.

South Africa appreciate that they did not have an ideal day with the bat in their opening World Cup loss against Australia but the team did not dwell too much on it, fast bowler Kagiso Rabada said on Monday.

Standing at an imposing 6ft 6ins (1.98m), Shaheen Shah Afridi, the first-strike destroyer of India at the T20 World Cup, is the latest high-end product of Pakistan’s fast bowling factory -- left-arm division.

The atmosphere at the Crown Plaza hotel in Dubai on Sunday night after Bangladesh’s five-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka was in stark contrast to the one of Pakistan’s, who registered a historic ten-wicket win over their archrivals India on the same night.

Newly appointed interim head coach Mario Lemos revealed a 24-member preliminary squad of Bangladesh football team for next month’s Four Nations invitational tournament in Sri Lanka yesterday.

Smarting from opening game losses, a good batting display will be high on the agenda for South Africa and defending champions West Indies when the two teams lock horns in a Super 12 match of the T20 World Cup in Dubai today.

Pakistan will have ‘revenge’ on their mind for a recent off-field snub when they take on New Zealand in the T20 World Cup here on Tuesday, looking to build on the historic high of beating arch-rivals India in their tournament-opener.

From Chandika Hathurusingha to Steve Rhodes and now Russell Domingo, all the coaches in charge of Bangladesh team over the past five to six years seemed to have taken the conservative approach of sticking to the left and right-hand combination, regardless of the condition and game situation.

Fingers are being pointed towards the two dropped catches by Liton Das and Mahmudullah Riyad’s captaincy as prime causes for Bangladesh’s five-wicket defeat against Sri Lanka in their first Super 12 clash in Sharjah on Sunday. Experts, fans, media and critics are spot on in pointing out these factors playing major roles in the defeat, but were those the only reasons? Was not the lack of killer-instinct responsible for the defeat as well? 

Spinners Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Rashid Khan shared nine wickets between them as Afghanistan thrashed Scotland by 130 runs in their opening Super 12s match of the Twenty20 World Cup on Monday.

Former India players rallied around pace bowler Mohammed Shami on Monday, after the 31-year-old was targeted online following his team's 10-wicket defeat by arch-rivals Pakistan in the Twenty20 World Cup a day earlier.

Bangladesh opener Liton Das was fined fifteen percent of his match fee by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for his role in breaching ICC code of conduct during a confrontation with Sri Lanka pacer Lahiru Kumara.

Pakistan finally got the monkey off their back with a 10-wicket thumping of arch-rivals India but skipper Babar Azam refused to get carried away and reminded his jubilant team mates to stay focused on the task ahead at the Twenty20 World Cup.

A "brave" question in the news conference brought some moments of amusement for India captain Virat Kohli in an otherwise chastening night for his team, who were thrashed by arch-rivals Pakistan in the Twenty20 World Cup on Sunday.

India captain Virat Kohli denied his team underestimated Pakistan in Sunday's high-profile Twenty20 World Cup contest and said they know what went wrong in their 10-wicket thumping by the arch-rivals.

Charith Asalanka’s unbeaten 80 alongside two dropped catches by Liton Das crushed Bangladesh’s hopes of a winning start to the Super 12 stage of the ICC T20 World Cup, with the Tigers suffering a five-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium yesterday.