As England let Australia off the hook on Day 2 after being bundled out for a paltry first-innings score, former skipper Michael Atherton said the team would be ruing the number of missed chances after allowing Australia to stretch their lead past 200. England dropped catches and bowled no-balls, one of them when a dismissal was inflicted, in the pre-lunch session on Day 2 of the Gabba opener when Australia were still finding their feet as a batting unit. Australia were 10/1 but raced to 166 in just over 40 overs via a partnership between David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne, entering the lead. But the visitors got a glimmer…
Author: Kashish Chadha
Kashish Chadha
Kashish Chadha is a cricket analyst and writer by heart and profession. You can find his works featured on such websites as CricXtasy, Circle of Cricket, and Cricfit.
Amidst furore around Virat Kohli’s controversial sacking as ODI captain, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has explained the rationale behind the move and the appointment of Rohit Sharma as the new 50-over India captain. The BCCI contentiously held no press conference and offered no official explanation in its statement issued on December 8, containing the Test squad picked for the tour of South Africa. Beneath it was a column where the news was broken that Rohit, who became India’s new T20I skipper after Kohli’s decision to quit after the T20 World Cup, will also be the team’s ODI captain “going forward”. Credit: BCCI…
New Zealand captain Kane Williamson is “unlikely” to go through surgery for his persistent elbow issue but would require a sustained rehab to recover soon and get back on the park, said team head coach Gary Stead. Stead said the player could be out of action for the best part of next two months, which would mean him missing the two-match Test series against Bangladesh and also the white-ball visit by neighbors Australia. If the rehab goes well, Williamson would be eyeing a return in time for the home series against South Africa in mid-February. But Stead said that is not a certainty yet, and…
After opting to rest James Anderson, England took another big call at the start of the Ashes 2021-22, deciding to leave out experienced pacer Stuart Broad from the series opener at the Gabba. Broad’s absence made it the first time since 2006 that England entered a Test match without him and Anderson in the playing XI. England’s greatest new-ball pairing in modern-day Test cricket, Anderson and Broad have been given a break at the start of a busy Ashes series, which has five Tests cramped inside six weeks from December 8 to January 18. The omission of England’s two highest ever Test wicket-takers…
West Indies allrounder Kieron Pollard may be regarded as one of the world’s most impactful white-ball cricketers, but for former New Zealand pacer Danny Morrison he is an “overrated player”. Morrison’s shocking comment came during an interaction with Sportskeeda. In a video interview, when asked to name who he believes is an overrated cricketer, Morrison said “I am gonna go with Kieron Pollard”, a statement that would certainly not go down well with Pollard’s large fanbase across the world. The cricketer has been outstanding in T20 cricket over the years, with his Indian Premier League exploits being the most exceptional. Pollard has been…
South Africa have recalled pacer Duanne Olivier to their Test squad for the forthcoming three-match series against India, starting December 26 in Centurion. Back in 2019, Olivier had put his South African career to a halt back in 2019 to pursue a Kolpak deal with Yorkshire, made a return to domestic cricket earlier this summer after Brexit. The right-arm pacer has been dominating the bowling charts in first-class cricket for the summer, taking 28 wickets from his four games for Lions at a jaw-dropping average of 11.14, including two five-wicket hauls. Before going ahead with his Kolpak deal, Olivier had picked up 48 wickets in his…
The Gandhi-Mandela Trophy will start off the much-awaited India tour of South Africa, with Centurion hosting the first Test, a Boxing Day Test, from December 26, followed by Test matches in Johannesburg and Cape Town. A rejigged itinerary for the tour was confirmed by the BCCI and CSA on December 6, which sees the three ODIs be played in Paarl and Cape Town from January 19 to 23. The ODIs, however, won’t be part of the ODI Super League, as the initial statement from CSA had incorrectly recorded about the tour, raising doubts if India are playing their ‘home’ Super League series with South Africa in South Africa. …
Indian skipper Virat Kohli spoke glowingly of the trio of Mayank Agarwal, Mohammed Siraj and Axar Patel as they made great impact in the 1-0 Test series win over New Zealand and strengthened their cases with the difficult tour of South Africa coming. Opening batter Agarwal, who had fallen in the pecking order to KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma and potentially even young Shubman Gill, was under great pressure to deliver the goods in the second Test in Mumbai. After being dropped in Australia last year, the Kanpur Test was Agarwal’s comeback game, and he failed in both innings, scoring 13 & 17. Come Mumbai,…
England have decided to rest their spearhead James Anderson for the first Ashes Test at the Gabba, starting December 8, as part of his workload management. The 39-year-old will be eyeing a return for the second Test, a pink-ball D/N affair in Adelaide, from next December 16. The decision is not based on an injury or niggle, confirmed the England and Wales Cricket Board, but the workload as England approach a demanding away Ashes with five Tests cramped inside six weeks amid restrictive Covid-19 environment. This means the first Test in Brisbane will now be the fifth successive Ashes Test that Anderson won’t…
Before even reaching Pakistan for an important trip, Windies have suffered a big blow, losing their limited-overs skipper and experienced allrounder Kieron Pollard for the T20Is and ODIs to be played against the Asian giants. Cricket West Indies confirmed the news on December 5, informing that Pollard hasn’t managed to recover from the hamstring injury that he picked up during the T20 World Cup in the United Arabic Emirates. “Pollard will undergo rehabilitation work in Trinidad, under the supervision of CWI’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Israel Dowlat, and will be reassessed in a few weeks ahead of the upcoming home tours against Ireland…