Author: Kashish Chadha

There might be a growing voice in favour of putting Rishabh Pant’s T20I returns for India under the scanner, but head coach Rahul Dravid says the player is going nowhere and remains a crucial part of the team’s plans in the near future. Dravid termed Pant a “big” factor in India’s planning and preparations heading into the 2022 T20 World Cup in October/November and reinforced that the team management stands firmly behind their mighty talented but currently underperforming wicketkeeper-batter. A section of prominent faces outside the set-up have demanded better, consistent performances out of Pant or else for him to be shown…

Sri Lanka found batting heroes in the form of Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis to sail through a challenging run-chase in the third ODI against Australia in Colombo on June 19. Nissanka struck a century, while Mendis nearly pulled off a hundred of his own as the hosts impressively overhauled the visitors’ 291/6. Playing his 15th one-dayer for the Lankans with a poor record under his belt, Nissanka needed to assert his presence with a solid performance that justifies the patience from the selectors. And the right-hander did just that, scoring a terrific 137 off 147 balls that guided his national team through to…

The limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka has been earmarked as one where India’s women cricket team will look to fine-tune their plans and playing combination ahead of next month’s Commonwealth Games T20 in England and the T20 World Cup early next year in South Africa. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur said this is specially relevant on the bowling front, where the team will be without the legendary figure of Jhulan Goswami and also the experienced Shikha Pandey. The selectors have also decided to rest the incumbent Sneh Rana as they give the team management an opportunity to trial others. “I think if we talk about our bowling unit, this…

The Ranji Trophy semifinal round concluded on June 18, with Madhya Pradesh and Mumbai sealing their places in the tournament’s summit clash in the coming week. While MP surpassed Bengal in an outright victory, Mumbai dominated Uttar Pradesh in a one-sided draw where they sailed through on the first-innings lead. In the first of the two semis, MP won by an impressive margin of 174 runs after winning the toss and opting to bat first. On a typical Indian deck, where batting became progressively difficult, MP made scores of 341 and 281, either side of dismissing Bengal for 273 and 181, respectively. Bowlers were the obvious stars of…

Eoin Morgan’s men beat their previously held record for the highest ODI score in men’s cricket, blasting a jaw-dropping 498/4 in their 50 overs in a victory over the Netherlands that couldn’t have been more dominating for the tourists on June 17. In a power-packed performance with the bat, the visitors overhauled their previous highest score in ODIs and almost produced 50-over cricket’s maiden 500. They missed out by just two runs in the end of achieving the unprecedented and once unthinkable cliff in the game’s history. Flexing their muscles and batting depth after losing the toss and put into bat…

Playing a match-winning knock in Rajkot on June 17, Dinesh Karthik earned rich praise from his ex-India teammate and fast-bowler Ashish Nehra. The experienced wicketkeeper-batter received a word of applause from Nehra, who felt delighted seeing him produce his first innings of impact upon comeback to the T20I side. Karthik was in a mood to destroy the South African bowling attack on the night. Walking in at No.6, the right-hander blasted his way to a 27-ball 55, including 9 fours and 2 sixes. It was a game-changing knock as it took India to a score of 169/6 on a tricky surface in western India when the…

Last from Ireland’s golden generation of players that brought the country on the world cricket map in multiple World Cups, William Porterfield announced his retirement from all international and representative cricket with immediate effect. The 37-year-old ends his playing career with Ireland as their second-highest ODI run-getter in a journey that began way back in 2006. He stands only behind Kevin ‘O Brien in the list of 50-over run-scorers for Ireland men’s side and also in the most capped players’ list in the format. In one of the longest stints any player has had as captain of his nation, Porterfield led his…

Familiar batting problems held the Lankan Lions back even in the second ODI in Pallekele on June 16, but their bowlers came together and inspired a morale-boosting win against the Australians. In a rain-marred fixture, Sri Lanka could muster only 220/9 in the first half and yet won the game by a healthy margin of 26 runs on DLS. The game was readjusted to a 43-over fixture, with the tourists chasing a score of 216 before Sri Lanka’s pacers and spinners combined to trigger their downfall. Allrounder Chamika Karunaratne (3/47) emerged with the most wickets for the night, while Dushmantha Chameera (2/19), Dhananjaya de Silva (2/26) and…

Cricket West Indies has announced captains and playing contingents for the three teams set to participate in the first-ever Women’s Caribbean Premier League. Established female Caribbean stars Hayley Matthews, Stafanie Taylor and Deandra Dottin will be leading Barbados Royals, Guyana Amazon Warriors and Trinbago Knight Riders in the tournament, respectively. https://twitter.com/ESPNcricinfo/status/1537495227866439681 The three-team competition, running concurrently with the men’s CPL T20, will begin on April 30. Hosted by St Kitts, the tournament has seen its initial squads decided via a draft procedure where 33 top West Indies cricketers – 11 apiece – have been allocated teams. The remaining three slots in the 14-member squads have been left vacant for overseas inclusions. Three overseas stars will…

An allround display, including a collective bowling effort, helped India finally assert their presence in the T20I series against South Africa as they pulled off a victory in Vizag on June 14. The hosts came out triumphant by 48 runs and took the scoreline for the five-match rubber to 2-1. Having lost in Delhi in the opening T20I despite posting a giant score of 211, India’s bowling unit had a timely revival and unveiled their first dominating act for the series by restricting the Proteas to just 131/10 in response to their own 179/5.  As usual, lead pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar showed India the way with the…