Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner has criticised his batsmen for playing cross-batted shots to left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed in the six-run defeat against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Chennai. Ahmed took the wickets of Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey and Abdul Samad in the 17th over, which derailed the Sunrisers' chase.

"A very big [bitter pill to swallow]," Warner said on Star Sports after the Sunrisers lost their second consecutive game. "Quite disappointing how we approached it towards the middle. Against the left-arm orthodox bowler coming in, cross-batted shots and hitting them in the air is not the way to go over here. You have to try and assess that when you come in, and there was plenty of time to chase the total down and that too comfortably. It hurts."

With nine wickets in hand, the Sunrisers needed 54 runs in 41 balls to get their first win this season. But from there on, they lost eight wickets for just 46 runs in the remaining overs. Warner, who top-scored for them with 54, compared the defeat to the one suffered by the Kolkata Knight Riders against the Mumbai Indians on Tuesday. Although he had chosen to chase at the toss, Warner did not necessarily agree with the suggestion that batting first on the slow Chepauk surface is a better option for teams.

"At the end of the day, you look at the last four games here, the batting team second should've won each game," Warner said. "If you have people at the end, you should be winning the game. Last night's game was the perfect example; we almost played the identical game. There's no excuses."

While praising Glenn Maxwell's 41-ball 59 for the Royal Challengers, Warner also lauded his bowling unit, calling their performance "fantastic" to restrict the opposition to 149 for 8. With the Sunrisers set to play their next three games also at Chepauk, Warner laid the game plan for what his team needs to do to not falter again; their next game will be against Mumbai on April 17.

"We have three [more] games in this surface, we need to know how to approach it," Warner said. "The wickets aren't going to get better here. The key is to execute through the middle, try and take early wickets in the powerplay and when batting it's just to consolidate in the first six with minimal damage. We just [need to] make sure we have a big partnership with one guy at the back end. It's simple cricket."

Heath Streak and Deepak Agarwal started chatting on the pretext of organising a T20 league in Zimbabwe, in September 2017. Streak, the iconic former Zimbabwe captain, was the head coach of the national team at the time, and Agarwal, simply a Delhi-based businessman. Agarwal wasn't yet banned (for two years) by the ICC's anti-corruption unit from participating in any cricket-related activities - that wouldn't be till April 2020, after details of his key role in the Shakib Al Hasan corruption breaches emerged.

Agarwal initiated the chats, mainly over WhatsApp, contacting Streak on his personal phone number and email account. Agarwal told Streak that he could "earn some good money" for setting up the T20 league.

The ICC anti-corruption unit's verdict on Streak, released by the governing body on Wednesday, reveals telling details of the investigation, including that of Agarwal telling Streak that he was "involved in betting on cricket". Agarwal also asked Streak for details of his bank account "outside" Zimbabwe, which Streak provided readily. "Mr Streak also made it clear in these discussions that he wanted to establish a T20 League in Zimbabwe and was passionate about furthering cricket in Zimbabwe," the ICC's investigation said.

Streak's past as Bangladesh coach exploited

Streak and Agarwal's relationship began with those T20-league discussions, and would last 15 months until the ACU busted it in December 2018. During this period, Streak served as a coach in Zimbabwe, at the IPL, at the Afghanistan Premier League (APL). But Agarwal also made use of Streak's contacts in Bangladesh, where he had served as the head coach between 2014-16. And it was the 2017 Bangladesh Premier League, where Agarwal used Streak as a conduit to get inside information on and from active players for the first time.

"In relation to the 2017 edition of the Bangladesh Premier League, Mr X [later confirmed to be Agarwal] asked Mr Streak to provide him with any links, namely team captains, or owners or players, in the BPL, saying they could earn good money as a result which they could invest in a T20 event in Zimbabwe," the ICC's investigation found. "It appeared that Mr X wanted Mr Streak to provide him with contacts of players, team owners etc. who Mr X could then approach for Inside Information, such as which team would win a match, in upcoming matches."

Despite him not being involved in the BPL, the players in question trusted Streak, who had formed and maintained strong one-on-one relationships with many of the Bangladesh players. Streak, the ICC said, provided details of "three players in the BPL (including the details of a national captain), in circumstances where he knew or should have known that Mr X may use these details to contact these players and request Inside Information from them for him to use for betting purposes." Streak "actually contacted" two of the players himself to "vouch" for Agarwal.

ESPNcricinfo understands that one of these players - the national captain - was Shakib, who in 2019 had been slapped with a two-year ban (one year suspended) for failing to report three approaches from Agarwal.

In November 2017, during the BPL, Agarwal contacted Shakib for the first time. Shakib was representing the Dhaka Dynamites at the time.

While releasing details of the Shakib investigation in 2019, the ICC had pointed out that Agarwal had received the player's contact details from a person who was close to Shakib. This, the ICC investigation eventually established, was Streak.

In January 2018, when Shakib was playing in the tri-series involving Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, Agarwal sent him a message asking "do we work in this or I wait til the IPL", by which he meant getting "inside information".

On April 26 that year, during the IPL, Agarwal contacted Shakib, who was then playing for the Sunrisers Hyderabad. It was on the day on which the Sunrisers were playing the Kings XI Punjab in Hyderabad. As well as insider information, Agarwal also broached the topic of crypto-currency and dollar accounts from Shakib, prompting the cricketer to ask the corruptor to meet him in person for the first time.

Shakib failed to report all of this initially before eventually admitting to the charges levelled by the ACU.

Crypto-currency as payment

While it could not be established if that meeting did indeed take place, in Streak's case the meeting with Agarwal did take place. One of these occasions was in India in 2018 during a personal trip Streak took with his wife. It is understood that it was after this meeting that Streak received the two bitcoins and the phone (a present to his wife) - he did not disclose these details to the authorities until the ACU questioned him.

This is the first time the ACU has come across a corruptor using crypto-currency as a mode of payment. It appears that Agarwal transferred the bitcoins as payment against future coaching assignments for Streak.

As for the expensive phone, it was gifted to Streak during the 2018 Afghanistan Premier League where he had "facilitated the introduction of Mr X to one player and attempted to facilitate the introduction of Mr X to another player". Agarwal also asked Streak to help him with procuring "inside information" at the APL.

How Streak was nailed

In 2017, a young cricketer from an economically disadvantaged background (from a full-member country), reported an approach from Agarwal to the ACU. It was while conducting that investigation that the ACU became aware of a long-term relationship between Streak and Agarwal. The ACU team analysed the phone interactions and unearthed evidence of the relationship between the two, and used that as the basis to formulate the five broad charges to nail Streak.

One of the charges was that both Streak and Agarwal had scripted their responses to cover for the other before the cricketer was scheduled to meet the ACU team in January 2019. Streak and Agarwal exchanged "a series of WhatsApp messages".

"Mr Streak has admitted that he and Mr X effectively discussed what Mr Streak should say in the interviews to ensure that they both told the same story (a story which on occasions was not true) and consequently he has admitted that his conduct in so doing could be construed as misleading or obstructing the ACU's investigation. Mr Streak also sought clarification from Mr X over the interview process and what Mr X had told the ACU on certain matters," the ICC said.

Confronted with the evidence against him, Streak eventually cracked. "Mr Streak has admitted that, at the instruction of Mr X, he deleted these messages from his phone before he attended the ACU interview, as well as deleting Mr X's phone number from his phone."

Babar Azam celebrated reaching the top of the ODI rankings with a performance for the ages in the shortest format, scoring his maiden T20I hundred, and the highest score by a Pakistani in T20I cricket. His 122 not only helped his side cruise to victory, but demonstrated a side to his game many had accused him of lacking: that of an opener who could spearhead the chase; his runs came at a strike rate of over 206.

Alongside Mohammad Rizwan, he shared a 197- run opening stand to set up a victory with two overs to spare and nine wickets in hand. Rizwan remained unbeaten on 73 with a strike rate of 155.31, ensuring South Africa's bowlers had no respite at either end.

"I was waiting for such an innings for a long time," Babar said after the game. "I planned for it, and felt if I got a chance I would grab it. I am thankful that I was able to deliver. I stuck to my strengths and my game plan was developed around team requirements. If you need 10 an over, you definitely have to play with urgency and for that, you have to take risks.

"The partnership with Rizwan was outstanding. I give him credit for the way he played because it is really tough to play while fasting and despite that, he batted and kept wicket throughout. It takes a lot of courage and guts. The whole team takes inspiration watching him and it brings us confidence."

Azam continues his T20I form to go along with the ODI touch that has seen him climb to the top of the rankings. He was the second-highest runscorer in the ODI leg of the series, and after becoming the number one ODI batsman, he admitted it had been a lifelong dream.

"It had always been my dream to be number one and that has been fulfilled," said Azam. "There was lots of hard work, suffering, and sacrifice needed to get there. I have always been trying to improve my game with each passing day, learning new things and applying them. We all know cricket evolves and you have to keep up with it or risk getting left behind."

Rizwan and Azam's combination at the top may seem unshakable but is fairly recent. The pair only started opening earlier this year; this was the fifth T20I in which they had opened together. Rizwan said there wasn't a secret to this success, but underscored the importance of a fast start.

"It's a big win for us. Chasing 200-plus is always a difficult task but the way we got a start it made it easy for us," Rizwan said. "We had a simple plan to win the powerplay and we did get more runs than they did in the first six. That momentum carried us deeper which brought us success.

"Since we started playing together, this and the one in Australia are the only two innings in which we have spent time at the crease together. Otherwise either me or him get out and we never got an opportunity to build a bigger stand. We even in between talked about making a world record and Babar was even more positive than me. When Babar scored his 100, I felt the same joy as if I'd done it myself."

Just months ago, Pakistan's top order was considered a significant Achilles heel leading up to the World T20. Now, it appears that gap has been conclusively plugged, without requiring either of Sharjeel Khan or Fakhar Zaman to open the batting.

Here are the major Talking Points after Royal Challengers Bangalore's six-run win against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday.

Are Manish Pandey's runs hurting the Sunrisers?
With 99 runs, Manish Pandey is the leading run-scorer for the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the moment but with a strike rate of 119.27. For someone who faced 83 deliveries across two games, are Pandey's runs hurting his side more than helping them?

Chasing 188 against the Kolkata Knight Riders, Pandey finished with an unbeaten 61 off 44 balls. According to ESPNcricinfo's smart stats, which take into account the match situation, his 61 was worth only 56. It was a similar story on Wednesday. The target was 150 but Pandey crawled along for 38 off 39 balls. His smart runs were 34.

The problem with Pandey is even after being set, he fails to kick on. Shiva Jayaraman from our stats team dug out these numbers: in the last three IPL seasons, 25 batsmen have played ten or more innings where they faced 25-plus balls. Pandey's strike rate of 136.24 after facing 25 balls is the second-worst among them. Only Chris Lynn (129.54) is below him.

Pandey's dot-ball percentage though isn't bad, which means he simply struggles to find boundaries. On average, Pandey takes 7.9 balls per boundary after 25 balls, the most in that lot of 25. It's possible Pandey may have been assigned the role of the anchor, but such a low strike rate, especially after facing so many deliveries, isn't helping his team's cause.

Why was Harshal allowed to continue after bowling two waist-high full tosses?
In the 18th over of the Sunrisers' innings, Harshal Patel bowled a leg-side full toss to Jason Holder, which was called a no-ball for height. In the final over, he bowled another such delivery to Rashid Khan. That too was given a no-ball. But Patel was allowed to continue.

The reason being the on-field umpires didn't deem at least one of those deliveries not dangerous. The law states that only if a bowler delivers two dangerous deliveries, not necessarily two waist-high full tosses, can he be suspended from bowling further in the innings. While deciding whether a delivery is dangerous or not, the umpires also keep in mind the speed, height and direction of the delivery, and the skill of the striker. Trevor Bayliss, the Sunrisers coach, also agreed with the umpires, saying the first one was not really directed at the batsman.

How did Holder use the slow Chepauk pitch to his advantage?
The MA Chidambaram Stadium surface is known to be slow, sluggish and helpful for spinners. On Tuesday, the Knight Riders bowled spin for the first five overs against the Mumbai Indians. That though also had a bit to do with Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock's lower strike rates against spin. Still, since 2018, spinners have fared much better in Chennai than seamers. They have a better average (20.74 vs 29.10) and a better economy rate (6.47 vs 8.47).

So far this season, the ball hasn't swung much in Chennai. During the pitch report, Murali Kartik called Wednesday's pitch "the driest" of the lot. Still, Holder finished with figures of 3 for 30 from his four overs. How did he do it?

The answer is by banging it in the middle of the pitch and taking the pace off. Seventeen of Holder's deliveries were either short or short of good length; and only 15 runs came off them. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who is a swing bowler and normally bowls fuller, also bowled similar lengths. Out of his 24 deliveries, only two were full, while 11 were either short or short of good length. Off those 11 deliveries, he conceded just six.

Why did Shahbaz Ahmed bat at No. 3?
Shahbaz Ahmed had played 24 T20s coming into this game and had never batted higher than No. 5. But Virat Kohli stated at the toss itself that Ahmed would be batting at No. 3.

Over the years, the Royal Challengers have been too top-heavy and been found wanting in case of early wickets. While they have got Glenn Maxwell, alongside AB de Villiers, to shore up the middle order this time, they probably want to ensure the two don't come in too early. That's why in the first game they had Rajat Patidar batting at No. 3.

Now with Devdutt Padikkal fit, there was no place for Patidar. So the Royal Challengers went with Ahmed, who was aggressive right from the start, allowing Kohli to take his time at the other end. He managed 14 off ten and fell on the first ball of the seventh over. Did the move work? It might just have because you don't want to keep two of your best batsmen out of action for too long.

The last over of the Royal Challengers Bangalore's six-run win against the Sunrisers Hyderabad had Harshal Patel bowl a full toss over the waist, the second time he had done so during the match. An animated David Warner was seen gesturing in the dugout, wondering why Patel wasn't taken out of the attack given his second offence, but Sunrisers coach Trevor Bayliss later said the team eventually accepted the umpires had made the right call. That was because Patel's first over-the-waist no-ball was not bowled at the batsman, and he, therefore, hadn't received any warning for it.

"He was a little animated because we weren't playing very good cricket and we lost," Bayliss said of Warner, the team's captain, at the post-match press conference. "I think the umpires got it right. There was a bit of conjecture over obviously the second high no-ball, but the first one was not directed at the batter's body, so that wasn't a warning. So I think the umpires got that one right."

Patel had bowled his first no-ball on the fourth ball of the 18th over, the ball flying at Jason Holder's rib height, but the batsman didn't get bat on ball since it was well down the leg side. On the third ball of the 20th over, Patel lost control of the ball again and a high full toss on the stumps was swiped for four by Rashid Khan.

Patel was issued a warning for the second no-ball, but since it was the first warning, he was allowed to complete the over, and he gave up just one more run as the Royal Challengers sealed the win. Had Patel been taken off, the Royal Challengers still had a variety of options to choose from to complete the over, with all of Kyle Jamieson, Dan Christian, Washington Sundar and Shahbaz Ahmed available.

"I was sweating and the sweat came on the palms. But obviously, it's not an excuse," Patel told Star Sports after the game, explaining the no-balls. "These things shouldn't happen, they are basic mistakes. They shouldn't happen in pressure situations, and I'll try and make sure it doesn't happen next time."

Nabi injured, Williamson nearing fitness
The Sunrisers had got Holder into the XI in place of Mohammad Nabi, and Bayliss said that was because the Afghan allrounder had not yet recovered from a bouncer that caught him flush on the neck in the Sunrisers' first game three days ago, against the Kolkata Knight Riders on April 11.

"Nabi, when he got hit the other day in the first match, he's feeling the effects of that hit for a couple of days after that," Bayliss said. "So he was deemed unfit. He had a bit of a headache and a heavy head. That allowed us to play Jason, and from the pace-bowling point of view he gave us a point of difference with a little bit of height and bounce."

Shaping to pull against Prasidh Krishna in the 16th over, Nabi was surprised by a sharp bouncer that rose above his bat and pinged him on the neck as he took his eyes off the ball while swivelling. Nabi carried on batting after a hold-up in play, even hitting the very next ball for four, but was then out in the same over. He had bowled well earlier, taking 2 for 32 in four overs.

Nabi and Holder might soon have to cede the slot of the fourth overseas player to Kane Williamson though, who Bayliss had earlier said was not "match fit" but whose availability seemed to be drawing closer.

"Kane Williamson is out having a bit of a run now. He trained on one of the days - we had two days' practice before this game and he practised on one of those days so he's coming along," Bayliss said.

The NFL on Wednesday sent a memo to teams outlining rules for its offseason programs -- rules the league has decided to impose after failing to reach agreement with its players' union on some key aspects.

The parts of the offseason program that are voluntary under the CBA -- everything but the annual mandatory June minicamps -- will remain so. But while the NFLPA has publicly called for the entire offseason to be conducted virtually in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the league is telling teams that on-field work will be permitted.

Phase 1 of the offseason program, which reflects what the players requested, will run from April 19 through May 14. All meetings will be conducted virtually, and no on-field work will be permitted. The league says it wants to use this phase to focus on vaccine education efforts and making vaccines available to players, team staff and their families as soon as their various local regulations permit.

Phase 2 will run from May 17 through May 21. It will remain voluntary and meetings will remain virtual, but on-field drills will be permitted under the normal Phase 2 guidelines (which prohibit contact and limit the amount of time spent on the field per day). Annual post-draft rookie minicamps will be held in the week of Phase 2.

Phase 3 will be a traditional Phase 3 that runs from May 24 through June 18 and will include the normal 10 days of voluntary OTA work as well as the mandatory minicamps. Meetings during this phase will be allowed to be conducted virtually or in-person, and applying the COVID-19 rules about testing, contact tracing and limits on the numbers of people allowed in various parts of the team facility.

Players who participate in meetings or workouts virtually will still be entitled to their $250 per diems, which was an important part of the NFLPA's request during the negotiations on offseason programs.

The league will not require players or staff to be vaccinated, but it is waiting to hear back from the NFLPA on its vaccine-related proposal that would ease COVID restrictions on vaccinated players and on teams with personnel that reaches a certain percentage threshold of vaccinations. Under the league's proposal, players who have been vaccinated would be subject to less testing and fewer contact tracing restrictions and would have more freedom of movement around the team facility and outside of it. Teams with players and staff who reach a certain percentage of vaccinations would be subject to more relaxed COVID protocols, as teams in other professional leagues have been.

The NFLPA has said publicly that it believes the offseason program should be exclusively virtual, and it is urging its members not to attend the portions of the program that are voluntary under the CBA. The union does recognize that 203 players have workout bonuses in their contracts that require them to attend offseason workouts to receive those bonuses, and it is not actively discouraging those players from doing so, although the union is trying to articulate a broader message that players should stop agreeing to contracts that include bonuses for attending voluntary offseason workouts.

The Brooklyn Nets continue to be undermanned. They announced that Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge will be out Wednesday night against the 76ers, in addition to star James Harden remaining sidelined.

The good news for Brooklyn is that Kyrie Irving is available to play after missing Tuesday's game against the Minnesota Timberwolves while attending to a family matter.

The Nets are also without guard Chris Chiozza. Chiozza, who started in place of Irving on Tuesday, had surgery on Wednesday to repair a fractured right finger. He sustained the injury against the Timberwolves.

Harden continues to be sidelined with a right hamstring strain, and Tyler Johnson is still working through right knee soreness.

Aldridge is being held out with a non-COVID-19 illness, and Griffin is on an injury-management day with an ongoing knee issue.

On Tuesday, Durant played 27 minutes against the Timberwolves -- even as the Nets' lead ballooned to 40 points. Coach Steve Nash said that the Nets want to continue to increase his playing time to the 30-minute range as he comes back from a hamstring injury, but it's a "tricky balance."

"He needs to play a certain amount of minutes for his benefit," Nash said Tuesday. "At the same time, when the game is that out of hand, you're caught, like, do we want to risk him being out there at this point in the game? In an ideal world he'd play close to 30 minutes, but at the same time, he's out there at the end of the game in meaningless minutes -- you want to be careful as well. We're trying to find that balance."

Durant said Tuesday that increasing his workload felt "good" and that he would determine his status for Wednesday after seeing how his body recovered and checking in with the team's training staff.

"I felt like my wind and legs were getting underneath me in each and every minute I'm playing, and that's the most -- that's really what I wanted out of this time," Durant said.

Durant said that the Nets were looking forward to facing the 76ers, who are jockeying with the Nets for the No. 1 spot in the Eastern Conference, but they're more focused on getting the entire team out on the floor together. After all, the Nets' big three have played just seven games together.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the fewest games played together by any NBA champion's top three scorers during the regular season is 10, when the Shaquille O'Neal-Kobe Bryant-Derek Fisher Lakers won in 2001. After Wednesday, the Nets will have just 17 games left in the regular season.

"I think for us, we want to get everybody healthy and acclimated to what we're doing out there, and I think that's just as important as circling the calendar for Philly," Durant said. "They're a great team, well-coached and I'm sure a team we're going to run into here soon, but for us at this point we want to continue to fine-tune what we do to get better at the things that make us who we are, and we'll see what happens down the line."

In the wake of Golden State Warriors star guard Stephen Curry setting a franchise record for points -- and passing Wilt Chamberlain in the process -- forward Draymond Green treated his longtime teammate to dinner Tuesday night in Oklahoma City to celebrate the two-time league MVP's latest achievement.

Making the meal even more special was the fact it included a bottle of 2015 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tache -- a French wine that can start at around $5,000 a bottle -- on Warriors owner Joe Lacob's tab.

Green, who offered to pay for the bottle himself, said he texted Lacob to make sure that was OK and Lacob was "all for it."

"Joe is incredible by the way," said Green, who posted photos from his dinner with Curry on social media. "That was a very expensive bottle of wine, but Joe let us get that one on the team bill, so we appreciate Joe for that. Not every day that somebody's approving a bottle of La Tache. So shoutout to Joe, man. We definitely appreciated that, but it was obviously for a great reason. I think I saw something where Reggie Miller said [Curry is] 'Mr. Warrior.' [There] is no better description than that."

The pair's dinner Tuesday night, in advance of Golden State's game against the Thunder on Wednesday, gave Green a chance to reiterate to Curry just how much he's meant to him and the Warriors organization through the years.

"To pass Wilt Chamberlain in anything is incredible," Green said Wednesday. "I remember like it was yesterday, my rookie year, Steph coming back in town, when he was coming off ankle surgery. And the whole front office, ownership, everybody was lined up on the sideline watching his workout because he was just coming off ankle surgery and they were discussing the extension -- it reminded me of a pre-draft workout ...

"I remember those days. Where he's come [from], where he is today, and all that he's gone through to get there. And to just share that moment with him and let him know, 'Nah, bro, you are appreciated. You are celebrated. As long as I'm around you're going to be celebrated.' I can't speak for other people, but I know as long as I'm around, it will be celebrated. And everybody around him that's going to be around when I'm around gonna celebrate him, too, because he's earned that. That was a great moment to just to share that bottle of wine."

The pair has won three NBA championships together and developed a strong bond in the process. Green and Curry shared a hug at the end of Monday's first quarter against the Denver Nuggets, minutes after Curry scored 21 points to overtake Chamberlain's mark. It was a moment that Curry remembered fondly as he reflected back on it after the game.

"He's contributed so much to this 17,818," Curry said Monday night. "The chemistry that we've developed and playing off of each other and elevating our games to the highest of highs, that was a special moment for sure to appreciate how he's poured into me, how I've poured into him and that bond that we'll always have. So we have a lot of new guys who haven't been around for a big stretch of my career, but Draymond and Klay [Thompson] have obviously been huge factors in my individual success and us as a team. Anything that you do individually where you're acknowledged, your first thought is, Who else contributed and made that possible with their efforts and their attitude and what they brought to the table? So that was a special moment for sure."

MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesota Twins shortstop Andrelton Simmons has tested positive for the coronavirus and was placed on the COVID-19 injured list Wednesday before the team's doubleheader against the Boston Red Sox.

Simmons has said he doesn't plan to get the COVID-19 vaccine, which was made available in a single-shot dosage to the team at Target Field last Thursday.

Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said Simmons was experiencing "very mild" symptoms and resting at home. The positive test result was received late Tuesday, after the Twins lost 4-2 to the Red Sox.

After the initial phase of contact tracing, the Twins determined no additional players needed to be quarantined.

Simmons was replaced on the roster by infielder JT Riddle, who was summoned from the alternate training site. Third baseman Josh Donaldson, out since the season opener with a strained hamstring, was expected back for the second game of the doubleheader.

The Twins held a meeting to remind players and staff to heed virus protocols, even though a majority of them have been vaccinated. The full immunization period isn't in effect yet.

"We're not out of the woods by any means on that front," Falvey said, adding, "Now is the time to be as vigilant as possible."

Simmons tweeted last month that he would not be getting the vaccine or advocating for it for "personal reasons and past experience," on which he declined to elaborate. He confirmed Sunday that he did not participate in the teamwide vaccination. Asked if he planned to get the shot in the future, Simmons said he didn't know.

"We want to continue to educate people in the environment. This is real. This is something that can enter. We know that," Falvey said. "Sometimes no one really knows exactly how it can come at different times. We know that from looking not just across our sport, but across all sports and across the country and the world. Our view of that is constantly reminding people of why we think it's a good idea to get vaccinated. Our docs have recommended that, and so we continue to provide them as resources to players, to learn as much as they can about this."