In Case You Missed It: Big wins and botched farewells

In a packed week of games, India and Pakistan have gone two-up on New Zealand and Bangladesh respectively in T20Is, South Africa are staring at a 3-1 series defeat at home against England, and Sri Lanka have soundly thrashed Zimbabwe in the first Test. Here's a catch-up on what you may have missed.

Wood takes five as England turn screws on South Africa
South Africa are now looking at an increasingly impossible 466-run chase, and Vernon Philander's final Test has ended on a heartbreaking note for him as he tore a hamstring nine balls into his second innings. As he bids farewell to international cricket, Firdose Moonda remembers him as one of the good things South Africa never really appreciated when he was around, and imagines what a South Africa dream team with no Kolpak deals would look like.

How India should approach each venue for the T20Is in New Zealand
Auckland, Hamilton, Mount Maunganui and Wellington all pose different challenges in terms of ground dimensions, and pitch and weather conditions, and Aakash Chopra has a plan for each one. Meanwhile, the Indian team's search for a No. 4 may have come to an end after Shreyas Iyer's performances in the first two T20Is. So where does that leave Rishabh Pant? Sidharth Monga says it's time the Indian team management stopped sending him mixed messages. Also currently going through ups and downs is Shikhar Dhawan, who has been laid low with a series of freak injuries.

Lahiru Kumara breaks through Zimbabwe's resistance to seal victory
Angelo Mathews' maiden double-ton powered Sri Lanka to 515 after which Regis Chakabva produced a defiant 142-ball innings but failed to secure Zimbabwe a draw.

Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez hit half-centuries as Pakistan canter to series win
Tamim Iqbal's lone hand goes in vain as the Bangladesh batsmen put up another ordinary performance. Pakistan now have taken the series but Bangladesh have made line-up changes for the third T20I to try and thwart a series whitewash. Danyal Rasool, meanwhile is trying to keep track of the nine cricket lives of Shoaib Malik. Do you remember which matches he played in?

Bowled out for 41, Japan look to 'tick off the little wins'
Japan's appearance in the Under-19 World Cup has been the talk of the tournament and even after their resounding defeat to India, there was no despondency in the camp, only the determination to keep improving. In fact, this World Cup adventure is only the tip of Japan's cricket iceberg, says Sreshth Shah.

Sana Mir left out of Pakistan squad for Women's T20 World Cup
Bismah Maroof to lead the side, which has three changes from the one that played England recently. What's behind Mir's omission though? Is it just poor form? Or is there more? Umar Farooq investigates.

'I literally was competing only with white players' - Jonty Rhodes
In a recent press interaction, the former SA batsman has admitted that he benefited from white privilege during his career.

What do India's cricketers have to say about the protests in the country?
Sharda Ugra says the fans want their heroes to speak up and take a position in times like these.

'The smaller teams want to play more, but they can't because the cash is not there'
Alistair Campbell talks about the tyranny of the TV rights cricket economy and why it's not realistic to expect the weaker teams to progress in all forms of the game.

Hate to Love: The trouble with Kolpaks and KP
Firdose Moonda says we want them here in South Africa, working with us, not there, working for themselves.