World T20 winner retires, Surprise gift for Virat Kohli and more - Cricket News Today, 4th September 2018

After the training camp finally concluded, Pakistan announced their 16-member squad for the upcoming Asia Cup. While Sri Lanka have already announced theirs, they suffered a big blow before the start of the tournament as two key players, Dinesh Chandimal and Akila Dananjaya won't be available for at least the first two games of the tournament.

The other major news of the day came courtesy of a surprise announcement from a 32-year-old Indian pacer, who last represented his country in 2011. RP Singh took to Twitter to announce his international retirement 13 years after he made his debut while Virat Kohli was presented with a gift from Southampton Football Club.

Here are all of today's important developments from the cricket world.

Pakistan announce Asia Cup squad

The wait is finally over. Pakistan finally announced their squad for the Asia Cup. Unsurprisingly, they will be led by Sarfraz Ahmed, who will be looking to add the Asia Cup to his kitty and he will have a strong side to help him achieve just that.

The biggest surprise from the squad was the inclusion of Shan Masood who is yet to make his debut for Pakistan in limited-overs in place of the experienced Mohammad Hafeez. Otherwise, Sarfraz has a strong pace battery to call upon including Amir, Junaid Khan and Hasan Ali, who recently recorded a better YoYo test score than Virat Kohli.

Pakistan Asia Cup 2018 Squad: Fakhar Zaman, Imamul Haq, Shan Masood, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Asif Ali, Haris Sohail, Shadab Khan, Muhammad Nawaz, Fahim Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Muhammad Amir, Junaid Khan, Usman Khan Shinwari, Shaheen Shah Afridi

Dinesh Chandimal, Akila Dananjaya doubtful for Asia Cup

Sri Lanka will begin the Asia Cup 2018 without both players

Sri Lanka's hopes of adding their sixth Asia Cup title at the UAE has been dealt a severe blow as two Sri Lankan stars won't be starting their Asia Cup 2018 campaign. While spinner Akila Dananjaya will miss at least the first two matches as he awaits the birth of his first child, Dinesh Chandimal has a hairline fracture on his right-hand middle finger that could well rule him out of the tournament.

Chandimal suffered his injury while playing for Colombo in Sri Lanka's domestic T20 tournament. He is likely to be replaced by Niroshan Dickwella, who is on standby after missing the cut for Sri Lanka's Asia Cup 2018 squad.

Sri Lanka will be hoping that the update on Chandimal's condition which will be out this week will be positive and that he can play at least some part in the tournament.

RP Singh announces retirement on Twitter

His last appearance for India came in 2011

In what has now become a trend, RP Singh became the latest player to announce his retirement from international cricket on the day that he made his debut. The 32-year-old left-arm pacer took to Twitter to pen an emotional note about the same.

"For someone born in a small village, I never thought I would be able to say this – I have lived my dream. And for that, I have nobody else to thank but you. My fans. For believing in me. for criticizing me and for hailing me but mainly for just being there for me. Thank you!”, wrote the 32-year-old who last played for India in 2011.

The left-arm seamer is fondly remembered for his pivotal role in India clinching the inaugural World T20, where he picked up 12 wickets in six matches. Overall, he played 82 matches across all three formats and picked up over 100 wickets in the process as well. However, his last appearance for India was in 2011 when he played an ODI against England at Cardiff.

Virat Kohli presented with custom jersey from Southampton

England & India Net Sessions

A bittersweet Test at Southampton ended with India losing but captain Virat Kohli received a customised jersey from Southampton Football Club on Tuesday. Club forward Danny Ings present Kohli with the jersey just after India's 60-run defeat to England, gave the hosts an unassailable 3-1 lead in the Test series.

Kohli, who during the fourth Test became the fastest to score 6,000 Test runs as captain, was also presented with a cake by the staff at The Harbour hotel in Southampton to commemorate his achievement.

Taking to Twitter, the Premier League club, who are currently 12th in the standings with just a solitary win in four matches, wrote on its official handle, “It was great to welcome @imVkohli and @BCCI to Southampton last week! 😇 #saintsfc”.

It was great to welcome @imVkohli and @BCCI to Southampton last week! 😇 #saintsfc pic.twitter.com/6apz5IpQus

— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) September 4, 2018