Author: Anuraag Peesara

Touted as one of the future greats of football, Ansu Fati has received some big offers to leave the club but has remained adamant to succeed with the Catalan giants. Although there was an option to extend his previous contract by two years, his recent form after coming back from an injury has played a crucial role in persuading the owners to give him a long-term contract.  https://twitter.com/FCBarcelona/status/1442105869735391233 The intention has always been to get a new contract for Fati and youngsters Pedri and Gavi, but it was getting difficult for them to prove these players lucrative deals with the club’s current financial…

ICC has approved West Indies’ request to rope in left-arm spinner Akeal Hossain as a replacement for the injured all-rounder Fabian Allen, who had suffered an ankle injury after reaching the middle-east and he was ruled out of the tournament. Credi: T20 World Cup Hossain has played nine ODIs and six T20Is since making his international debut earlier this year. He was with the Trinbago Knight Riders in the 2021 edition of the Caribbean Premier League, where he picked up 13 wickets in 11 games at an average of 15.92. He was also working as a net bowler for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the United…

Pattinson has announced his retirement from international cricket, aged just 31. With the Ashes at home under two months away from commencing, it comes as a surprise that Pattinson has decided to hang up his boots, but he said he is happy with the decision he made. Pattinson revealed that he was keen on pushing for a spot in the Ashes squad, but with COVID-19 halting the Australian domestic season, he was unable to get a lot of game time. Subsequently, he felt that he did not have enough time to make a push, or even if he found a…

The Super 12 stage of the tournament will kick-start with a clash between two sides who have not been impressive in the T20 World Cup’s previous editions. While South Africa have never managed to reach the final of the tournament, Australia did so just once, where they lost to England in 2010. ICC trophies have proven to be a far-fetched dream for the Proteas, and there are no signs suggesting a change in fortunes this time. They have assembled a decent squad, but to miss out on some in-form players like Faf du Plessis might come to haunt them as…

MI have been one of the finest T20 franchises of all time, achieving results that are unprecedented for any team in the world. Rohit Sharma has been a pillar figure for them over the years and he is expected to be retained ahead of anyone else. However, he expressed disappointment over the fact that a lot of the players from their successful team of the last three seasons will be dispersed. Mumbai Indians had groomed and hosted world-class talents like Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Trent Boult, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Quinton de Kock among others. With the Indian Premier League heading into a reboot mode ahead of…

English opener Liam Livingstone picked up a finger injury in the warm-up game against India, when put down a catch in the deep. It sparked some panic about his involvement in the T20 World Cup, but he is expected to be fully fit before his side’s first game of the tournament against defending champions West Indies. In the 16th over of the run chase, Ishan Kishan smashed a length delivery from Chris Jordan straight to the mid-wicket boundary, where Livingstone did not pick the ball well, and it took it on his fingers. He was in severe pain immediately after…

Newcastle United have announced that their manager Steve Bruce has left his position after the club’s 3-2 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur. Having been in charge of the club since 2019, the Englishman was not seen as the club’s future manager ever since the Saudi-backed consortium took over the club. “He (Bruce) leaves the Magpies after more than two years in charge, having steered the club to 13th and 12th-place finishes in the Premier League and reaching the quarter-final stage in both the Emirates FA Cup and Carabao Cup during his tenure. Newcastle United would like to place on record its…

 In April, the European Super League was introduced by elite clubs in Europe, as an alternative to Champions League. This was seen as a revolutionary league to generate huge income for the involved clubs and was set to change the landscape of European football. However, with multiple protests erupting around Europe about the morality involved, nine of 12 clubs previously involved had backed out. Only Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus are still keen on going ahead with this project and are currently fighting it out in the European Court of Justice. As soon as they receive a verdict on the UEFA competitions case, which will…

Ahead of India’s highly anticipated voyage to add an ICC title to their cabinet in the T20 World Cup, their former strength and mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton said that every team against India plays with an underdog mindset. He feels that is how most teams end up playing with a great deal of freedom against India, as they know they are not the favourites to defeat them. Upton was alongside Gary Kirsten when the Indian side lifted the World Cup in 2011 and he says this tournament will be as difficult for the Indian side as the T20 World…

Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya always carries around a Caribbean swagger with him, and he enjoys the company of his Mumbai Indians teammates from the West Indies. Over the years, the 28-year-old has maintained a great relationship with his MI teammate Kieron Pollard and says he is pretty Indian in many things he does. As mentioned by Pandya in the interview he gave to Cricket Monthly, Pollard has plenty of attributes that make him a quintessential Gujarati. He said that Pollard is someone who thinks about investing money in property and growing his assets gradually rather than buying a car. Credit:…