Author: Kashish Chadha

Spin allrounder Deepti Sharma will be replacing batting stalwart Mithali Raj as captain of team Velocity in the Women’s T20 Challenge, BCCI confirmed on May 16. Sharma will switch from Trailblazers to Velocity, with Raj’s absence leaving a captaincy void for the side. Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur will continue to lead Trailblazers and Supernovas, respectively. The BCCI confirmed the dates and venue, apart from the star-studded squads for the triangular event. Returning to the fold after a year’s gap, the Women’s T20 Challenge will be held in Pune from May 23 to 28, coinciding like its previous three editions with the final…

In a bizarre incident, a swarm of bees spread around the field and led to an unforeseen halt in a Division 2 County Championship game on May 15. The Leicestershire versus Sussex encounter played at Grace Road saw an unexpected delay after the bees decided to make the playing ground their arena for a while.  Since the sting of bees threaten to harm the players and match officials, all of them collectively went down on the turf and stayed there for a bit. Leicestershire county, the home club for the first-class encounter, tweeted a clip of the same, leading to…

MS Dhoni heaped effusive praise on Chennai Super Kings’ Sri Lankan recruit Maheesha Pathirana, calling him an “excellent” death-bowler after his mighty impressive debut in an IPL 2022 game against the Gujarat Titans on May 16.  Pathirana, hailed as Lasith Malinga 2.0 for his similar action with an even lower trajectory and the ability to nail the yorker, delivered a fantastic spell of 2/24 off his 3.1 overs in CSK’s loss against the Titans, emerging as one of their late positives in a season of doom and gloom.  Getting the prized scalps of Shubman Gill and Hardik Pandya through his…

Chennai Super Kings veteran Ambati Rayudu led to a massive stir on social media on May 14 by backtracking from his decision to retire from the Indian Premier League within 30 minutes from when he had announced the news.  “I am happy to announce that this will be my last ipl. I have had a wonderful time playing it and being a part of 2 great teams for 13 years. Would love to sincerely thank Mumbai Indians and Csk for the wonderful journey,” Rayudu had posted in his deleted tweet, a screengrab of which is doing the rounds.  Within half…

India and Rajasthan Royals veteran wristspinner Yuzvendra Chahal believes it’s time for the bails to go and for cricket to consider the contact with the stumps as a sufficient means for the batter to be out bowled. The 31-year-old raised the issue with the heavy bails sitting on top of the LED stumps, which refused to fall off on his bowling on May 11 even as his legbreak brushed the side of the stumps after Delhi Capitals batter David Warner went for an attempted drive. Batting on 22 off 20 balls at the time, the Australian went on to blast a critical 52 not out in DC’s run-chase, allowing them…

Australian wicketkeeper-batter Tim Paine’s future looks highly uncertain in the playing capacity. The 37-year-old doesn’t feature in Tasmania’s contract list announced for the 2022-23 Australian summer, leading many to believe the 37-year-old’s playing career is effectively over.  This, after he had resigned as Test captain and taken an indefinite break just prior to the last summer’s Ashes series after the revelation of his inappropriate backdated conversation with a woman.  The conversation was from the time Paine had returned to the Australian squad for the 2017-18 Ashes series at home, a few months prior to his appointment as the side’s captain…

Chennai Super Kings opener Devon Conway couldn’t ask for a DRS review after an on-field LBW call against him because of a rare power cut at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on May 12. The incident saw him fail to take the referral even as the ball appeared to be going down the leg side. It happened in the very first over of CSK’s marquee encounter against arch-rivals Mumbai Indians. Facing left-arm pacer Daniel Sams, Conway received a ball that thumped onto his pads, leading to a loud LBW shout from the entire MI fielding unit. Umpire Chirra Ravikanthreddy felt the New Zealand international…

Bangladesh allrounder Shakib Al Hasan has been ruled out of the first Test of the two-match series against Sri Lanka after testing positive for Covid-19 on May 10. Shakib, who was set to make his Test comeback with the game in Chattogram, returned positive following a PCR and a rapid antigen test.  These tests were made necessary by the medical team of the Bangladesh Cricket Board as part of the health safety protocols in place for the home series. The last thing the BCB think-tank would’ve wanted is for their premier allrounder to go down with a positive test.  Shakib…

Less than a week before he was due to appear for formal disciplinary hearings, former South Africa wicketkeeper-batter Mark Boucher has been relieved of all the charges of misconduct from his playing days and his tenure as head coach. In a massive u-turn, Cricket South Africa will no longer be seeking his dismissal from the men’s head coach’s post after tentative findings of differential behaviour and alleged racial misconduct against him in the Social Justice and Nation-Building committee report. Boucher has been “formally and unreservedly” relieved in the matter even as SJN hearings and report labelled allegations of misbehaviour and racial discrimination as a…

GT on May 10 became the first team to qualify for the playoffs of Indian Premier League 2022, beating LSG with a heavy margin of 62 runs in a low-scoring game in Pune. The Titans bundled out the opposition for just 82 in the run-chase after making a modest score of 144/4 in the first half themselves. On a two-paced track where pacers enjoyed steep bounce at times while the spinners got it to bite and turn sharply, batters from both sides struggled for flow and timing. But the Titans had less of an issue with the surface, posting what…