Author: Kashish Chadha

India’s request to schedule a couple of tour games ahead of the five-match Test series versus England has been agreed upon by the England and Wales Cricket Board, reported Cricbuzz after confirmation from a top BCCI official. The ECB’s agreement follows direct communication regarding the Indian team’s request from BCCI secretary Jay Shah to ECB chairman Ian Whatmore and CEO Tom Harrison. The Cricbuzz report mentioned that a detailed schedule for the two tour matches is being worked out. The matches are likely to be played towards the end of July, with Durham emerging as the possible venue. The ground in Chester-le-Street is also set to host India’s pre-series…

While Hassan has returned to the annual list after missing out last year due to an injury, Rizwan has been promoted from Grade B to A after strong performances for the period running from July 1, 2021 till June 30, 2022. Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Nawaz and Nauman Ali are among the eight new faces handed the annual contracts. Their inclusion has meant the absence of Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Abbas, Naseem Shah, Shan Masood, Usman Shinwari, Haider Ali and Iftikhar Ahmed, all of whom had annual contracts last year. However, PCB chairman Wasim Khan said in a media release that “the door remains firmly open for…

Shakib Al Hasan and Yusuf Pathan are among the 11 countries to have registered their names for the Lanka Premier League 2 draft, the Sri Lanka Cricket has confirmed. The 2011 World Cup winner Yusuf bid adieu to international cricket earlier this year and is now up for grabs in LPL-2. Yusuf’s brother, Irfan Pathan, is already part of the LPL franchise Kandy Tuskers. Shakib’s inclusion for the draft is an interesting one since the BCB had denied its cricketers permission to participate in the inaugural season of LPL in Sri Lanka last year. The board seems to have relaxed its stance on the matter, allowing…

The inaugural season of ‘The Hundred’ in the UK, which has already had multiple names opt-out for different reasons, has now seen further additions in the list of withdrawals. New Zealand skipper and Pakistan speedster have also announced their unavailability for the event, joining a long list of players to initially sign deals in the tournament but take their names back at the last minute. Kane Williamson, who recently led NZ to victory in the World Test Championship final against India, is still in the UK but has withdrawn from The Hundred to better manage an elbow injury. He missed a home white-ball series…

After receiving written approval from the state government, Tamil Nadu Cricket Association is set to restart its annual T20 tournament after a one-year hiatus on July 19, reported Cricbuzz. TNCA is expected to make an official announcement in this context on Friday. The state association has put in place stringent COVID-19 protocols and guidelines for the smooth conduct of the TNPL, which was cancelled last year and had to be postponed from its traditional window even this season.  The association has made it mandatory for everyone involved to go through five negative RT-PCR tests and five-day quarantine before being allowed…

An outstanding half-century from skipper Kieron Pollard and a collectively brilliant bowling performance helped West Indies script a fantastic fightback and level the ongoing five-match T20I series against South Africa this Thursday. Pollard’s superlative 51 off just 25 balls allowed the hosts to post a score of 167/6 despite middle-order hiccups before Dwayne Bravo (4/19), and the rest of the bowling unit restricted the visitors to just 146/9. It brought West Indies back to winning ways. The visitors won the toss and opted to bowl first in hope to set up a manageable chase for themselves in the second half. And for…

Another dominant performance in either department helped England maintain their ascendancy over the struggling Sri Lankan side and go 2-0 up in the three-match ODI series at The Oval this Thursday. The hosts clinched their fifth consecutive victory over the visitors, having earlier pulled off a 3-0 clean sweep in the T20Is. Maiden five-fer from left-arm paceman Sam Curran and half-centuries by Jason Roy, Joe Root and skipper Eoin Morgan allowed England to retain their supremacy and clinch further crucial points in the ICC Super League. The three lions won the toss and opted to bowl first and, as they had done in the…

Quinton de Kock, Tabraiz Shamsi and Anrich Nortje helped set up the visitors’ win by a run in Grenada as South Africa took an impressive 2-1 lead over defending world champions West Indies in the ongoing five-match T20I series this Tuesday.  In another closely fought contest, noteworthy performances from opening batsman De Kock, wrist-spinner Shamsi and pacer Nortje allowed the Proteas to inch ahead and come out victorious by the nearest possible margin.  Much to the disappointment of the Windies, their lengthy batting unit once again failed to come to the party and conceded a series lead to the opposition. …

The Board of Control for Cricket in India is hoping to complete the entire selling process of having two new Indian Premier League teams on board by July for the league’s next year’s edition, says a report by Cricbuzz.  Having previously suggested it is looking to re-expand the IPL from the 2022 season, the Indian board is now planning to finish the selling of two new teams by next month. It would be the first time since 2011 that the IPL would again become a 10-team competition, expanding in number of matches and days.  The expansion, of course, would be…

There was an air of helplessness about the travelling Sri Lanka team heading into the first ODI against England in Durham on Tuesday (June 29) and the match went on much the expected lines with the visitors suffering yet another painful defeat on their trip. Having lost the T20I series 3-0 in embarrassing fashion, the Lankans, who were already missing quite a few of their experienced heads due to a fall out with their cricket board, lost three more first-choice picks in controversial circumstances before the ODI series started. The absence of Niroshan Dickwella, Danushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis, who…