Author: Kashish Chadha

Yuzvendra Chahal was back with ‘Chahal TV’ for the BCCI site and straightaway went after India’s match-winner from the second ODI against the West Indies on July 24: Axar Patel. Chahal indulged in a funny conversation with the teammate, who joined in with his sarcasm as well. The clip was posted by the BCCI on their official Twitter handle, with Chahal seen telling Patel that the quality of his batting in Trinidad reminded the veteran wristspinner of his “younger days” when he used to smash the bowling in a similar fashion. Patel said since he didn’t want Chahal to feel stressed over…

Patel’s career-best 64 not out off 35 deliveries proved to be a match-winning hand as India kept a spirited West Indies side at bay again and clinched victory by two wickets in the second ODI of the three-match series on July 24. Patel came up with his most explosive knock for India when the visitors had their chips down, feeling the heat at 205/5 in the 39th over and needing over 10 runs an over. But the spin allrounder kept India in the hunt with a flurry of boundaries. He hit three fours and five sixes in total, including a…

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has come up with a radical suggestion to safeguard the future of Test match cricket in the sport’s future calendar. He believes one way to ensure the long-form game survives is to put emphasis on quality above quantity and reduce the number of Test playing nations to six. With the inclusion of Afghanistan and Ireland back in 2018, the list of Test-playing countries increased to 12 from 10 as it stood since 2000 when Bangladesh were awarded the status amidst consideration of the huge popularity that the sport enjoys there. Till 1952, when Pakistan played their…

Mushfiqur Rahim’s comeback headlines Bangladesh’s squad named for the three-match ODI series on the tour of Zimbabwe scheduled for August. The former captain skipped the series in the Caribbean against the West Indies, which the tourists won 3-0. Rahim had opted out of the West Indies trip for religious reasons as he performed the Islamic Hajj pilgrimage. The cricketer will be giving the T20I leg of the Zimbabwean trip a miss but will be back in the national side in time for the ODIs that follow. The veteran right-hander last played the 50-over version in March during Bangladesh’s historic 2-1 series win…

Mohammed Siraj delivered a superb final over for India, saving the day for the tourists despite a spirited batting effort from the West Indies’ lower-order in the opening one-dayer of the three-match ODI series on July 22. Defending 15 off the last over, Siraj kept the damage down to 11 runs and ensured a three-run win for the visitors in a high-scoring encounter. With five needed off the final ball, he bowled a perfect yorker past an in-form Romario Shepherd, giving away only a single off a bye which was collected safely by wicketkeeper Sanju Samson.  Credit: Windies Cricket The Siraj-Samson duo…

Leading mobile e-commerce company Paytm, which held the rights to every India home series till 2023, has withdrawn from an agreement with the Board of Control for Cricket in India, with the Indian board asking Mastercard to step up for the forthcoming season. A board official privy to the sponsorship change told Hindustan Times about the Mastercard switch on July 21 upon the conclusion of the board’s apex council meeting in Mumbai, declaring the end of Paytm’s longstanding association with Indian cricket. “Mastercard will be coming on board on the same terms,”said the official, with the “same terms” referring to Paytm’s INR 3.8…

Rahul’s much-awaited India comeback could be delayed as he is hit by COVID-19, confirmed BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on July 21. The player has contracted the contagious virus and is now a doubtful participant in the five T20Is against the West Indies. Ganguly confirmed the news on Rahul after BCCI’s apex council meeting in Mumbai, stating that the player picked up the coronavirus in Bangalore, where he is at the National Cricket Academy, going through a final round of rehabilitation for his groin injury. “He was undergoing rehab in Bengaluru when his results came positive,”  he told the press. Rahul,…

Glenn Phillips and Lockie Ferguson were the stand-out performers in New Zealand’s dominating win over Ireland in the first of three T20Is in Belfast on July 18. The middle-order batter and Kiwis’ superquick pacer came up with exceptional acts in their respective skills to enable the visitors’ 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Phillips played the knock that perhaps took the match away from a fighting Irish unit as his measured 69 off 52 deliveries helped the Kiwis push their score to 173/8 batting first. The tourists may have finished well below that if not for Phillips playing their guiding light with bat in hand. The…

England captain Jos Buttler rued a costly missed stumping of Rishabh Pant at a critical stage of the game after his team’s painstaking 2-1 ODI series loss to India in Manchester on July 17. For him, the moment that Pant missed his attempted big stroke and he shelved the stumping opportunity was a game-changing one in the context of the chase and the series. With India finding themselves in a position of great strife at 72/4 chasing the target of 260 on a bouncy Old Trafford surface that got progressively better for batting, Pant played one of the finest one-day…

India overcame a painstaking defeat in the second one-dayer and bounced back from a position of strife during the decider on July 17 to achieve an exceptional 2-1 ODI series win over England. The visitors emerged victorious by five wickets in Manchester, heading back home with their first series win in the format in the UK after eight years. And that won’t have been possible without their star performers and game-changers, Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant, who were simply outstanding. Pandya had a perfect allround game, while Pant smashed what will go down as one of the great hundreds made in the 50-overs…