Author: Kashish Chadha

The former India wicketkeeper Saba Karim has denounced claims that premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s selection for the T20 World Cup is a case of the bowler being offered a “consolation” for his absence from the playing XI for Tests versus England.  Notably, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar had called Ashwin’s return to the T20I side and his selection for the coming ICC event a “consolation” for him following his absence from all four Tests that India played for the Pataudi Trophy in the UK.  Credit: India Today Karim, who has been a part of the national men’s selection panel in the past, disagreed with Gavaskar and threw…

Indian women’s team got off to a losing start to their tour of Australia, going down by 36 runs against the home side in a one-day warm-up encounter in Brisbane on Saturday. Responding to Australia’s challenging 278 with only 242 of their own, the visitors lost the match by 36 runs. As it happened, innings of substance from the Aussie trio of Rachael Haynes (65), Meg Lanning (59) and Beth Mooney (59) allowed the hosts to cross the 270-run mark with nine wickets lost in their allotted 50 overs. Leg-spinner Poonam Yadav (3/28) and experienced seamer Jhulan Goswami (2/36) were the pick of the bowlers for the Indians. Sneh Rana (1/38) and Ekta…

Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper has welcomed the inclusion of Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga and Dushmantha Chameera to his team for the second half of IPL 2021 with open arms. Virat Kohli believes the presence of the incisive spinner and his fast-bowling countryman will be of “huge help” to the RCB in conditions in the UAE.  The know-how of the conditions, Kohli strongly indicated, is partly why RCB brought the talented Hasaranga and Chameera to their camp as replacements for Kane Richardson and Adam Zampa. “The replacements we have got for those guys are two players who know these conditions,” The conditions in subcontinent this time of…

Another short-format tournament for the retired cricketers has been launched by Absolute Legends Sports (P) Ltd. The T20 tournament named ‘Legends League Cricket’ is set to be unveiled to cricket fans all over the globe. The competition will be played in the T20 format and will have a unique tournament design, as it will be played twice in a year. In the first edition, a tri-series will be conducted, with the participating teams being an Indian team, one team representing the rest of Asia and one of the rest of the world. The three sides will play six league games each before the two…

SRH have an arduous task ahead of them in the UAE leg of the Indian Premier League 2021, starting September 19. The Sunrisers are easily the most precariously placed franchise heading into the second half of the season. The 2016 champions have played anything but like a former champion side in this year’s edition of the IPL. During the Indian leg of the competition, SRH won just one of their seven matches, losing the rest six. In a campaign offering a grim reminder of the perennial problems in both the batting and the bowling departments, the side have looked in…

Former India all-rounder has given a strong indication that the coming T20 World Cup in UAE and Oman will be his last assignment as the national team head coach. Ravi Shastri’s tenure, which was extended in 2019 for another two years, will come to a close with the forthcoming ICC event, to be played from October 17 to November 14 in the Middle East. There would have been a possibility of getting his contract extended with the BCCI, but given that the board’s eligibility rules don’t allow a person of 60 years or above to hold a post, that is highly unlikely. Shastri…

Yuzvendra Chahal took a sly dig at the Indian selectors after losing his place to Rahul Chahar for the T20 World Cup 15-member squad. Chahal was one of the unfortunate ones to miss out on the flight to the UAE, where the WC is slated to take place. The leg-spinner didn’t take the exclusion too kindly and took a dig at the selectors while replying to the former Indian cricketer turned commentator Aakash Chopra. Chahal is India’s highest wicket-taker in the shortest format of the game for India, and his exclusion from the WC squad came as a massive surprise to…

As New Zealand made a last-minute withdrawal from their limited-overs tour of Pakistan on Friday, Pakistan Cricket Board’s newly-appointed chairman Ramiz Raja lashed out at the tourists for their attitude. In a highly dramatic turn of events, New Zealand Cricket opted out of the series on the day of their opening game on tour citing a “security alert” from their government back home. But with the details of the alert not shared with the PCB in a decision taken on their own, Ramiz said it is “frustrating” for his regime, Pakistan cricket and its fans to have a visiting team depart like this and warned the…

With Rohit Sharma likely to be appointed India’s new T20I skipper, batting legend believes KL Rahul can be made his deputy and be groomed as the potential next full-time captaincy material for India. Gavaskar gave his opinion on the captaincy front after India’s contemporary all-format captain Virat Kohli decided to relinquish his post from the shortest format of the game on Thursday citing workload concerns going forward. Talking on Sports Tak, former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar lauded the BCCI for “looking ahead” to the future: “If India are looking to groom a new captain, then KL Rahul can be looked at. He has performed well. Even now in…

Having already taken an unassailable 3-0 lead, South Africa extended their edge over West Indies in the ongoing women’s ODI series this Thursday. The visitors won the low-scoring penultimate game of the five-match series in Antigua by 35 runs and inched closer to a complete whitewash. Middle-order batter Mignon du Preez played the most significant part on the batting front for the South Africans, as she made 65 off 91 in a team total of 185/6. Walking into bat at 57/3 after the 20th over, she controlled the rest of the innings from an end with an unbeaten half-century.  Credit: Twitter /…