Author: Sandip Pawar

Paul Stirling and Harry Tector smashed hundreds, but the hosts fell one short of the New Zealand target, chasing 361 in the third ODI on July 15. New Zealand held off Ireland’s record-breaking charge as they claimed the dramatic third One-Day International in Dublin by the barest margin of one run. With that, the visitors completed a 3-0 sweep over Ireland in the ODI series. “It was an amazing game. A bitter pill to swallow, but it was great,”said the Ireland captain Andy Balbirnie.  Needing 10 runs in the last over with two tailenders at the crease, Blair Tickner conceded one off the first two…

International Cricket Council has banned Bangladesh seamer Shohidul Islam for 10 months after failing a dope test in March. The player admitted to breaching Article 2.1 of the ICC Anti-Doping Code and accepted the sanction. His suspension will lift on March 28 next year, after the sanction was backdated to May 28. Shohidul had given a urine sample for an out-of-competition testing programme on March 4. A substance named Clomifene, which comes under WADA’s prohibited list was found in the sample. It is understood that the substance was found in medicine his doctor had prescribed earlier this year. The ICC made it…

Virat Kohli has been going through a bad patch for a couple of years, but captain Rohit Sharma has backed the batter to come good and said he doesn’t understand why there is a debate. One of the greatest players in the world, Virat has found himself in a situation where question marks have been raised over his place in the national team’s squad. Indian captain Sharma, however, does not feel the need to debate this topic and publicly defended Kohli for the second time in recent times. https://twitter.com/babarazam258/status/1547657073587933190 Kohli, who has 70 hundreds in international cricket, has been going through a…

Having lost the Test and T20 leg of the tour, Bangladesh bounced back in style to take an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the ODI series on July 13. The visitors hammered West Indies by nine wickets in the second match, winning it by 29.2 overs to spare. Nasum Ahmed and Mehidy Hasan were the wreckers in chief as they shared seven wickets between them to shoot out the hosts for just 108 in 35 overs. Skipper Tamim Iqbal then hit an unbeaten fifty to complete a dominant victory.  Credit: BCB As it happened, Bangladesh won the toss and elected to field first. On a deck that’s historically been…

India’s off-spinning all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin says going back to one ball per innings could help the One-Day format retain its own identity, which he believes it lacks at the moment as an extended version of T20s. The player revealed that he switches off telly after a point while watching ODI games, feeling the lack of ebbs and flows. Speaking on the Vaughany and Tuffers Cricket Club podcast, Ashwin, who is currently not part of India’s limited overs side, said the fifty-over format has become an extended version of T20 cricket. “I’m an absolute cricket badger, a nut, and I switch…

The Proteas have put their hopes of direct qualification into the 2023 ODI World Cup in jeopardy, having withdrawn from the ODI series against Australia. Cricket South Africa had requested their Australian counterparts to reschedule the three matches originally planned for January 12-17 due to a direct clash with their new franchise T20 league. On July 13, CA announced that they were unable to find alternative dates. The series was part of the CWC Super League, where the top eight teams will directly qualify for next year’s World Cup while the remaining five teams compete in a qualifying tournament with…

England may be the world champions but India have dominated them in limited overs cricket over the last few years. India annihilated the hosts in the first ODI on Tuesday by 10 wickets to go 1-0 up in the series. The second match will take place on Thursday at Lord’s in London.  England had no answer to one of the best spells in ODI cricket by Jasprit Bumrah in the first game. Arguably India’s greatest bowler claimed his career-best figures of 6 for 19 while Mohammed Shami picked 3 for 31 as they dismantled England for just 110.  The hosts,…

Coming on the back of a series win in Pakistan and a dominant win over Sri Lanka in the first Test, the Aussies were subjected to a thrashing by an innings and 39 runs in the second game. Captain Pat Cummins thinks this loss was a reality check to the Australian team aiming to improve in Asian conditions. “Some batters went out with a really clear plan, and you just get a ball with your name on it earlier than you would’ve liked. It’s a good reality check for people touring over here that it’s really hard. So many positives…

India women have announced a 15-member squad led by Harmanpreet Kaur for the upcoming T20 competition in Commonwealth Games, which start on July 29 in Birmingham. Offspinning all-rounder Sneh Rana, who was rested for their white-ball tour of Sri Lanka, returns back. Rana, who returned to the side in 2021 after five years of gap, has done well across formats. Head coach Ramesh Powar had stated ahead of the Sri Lanka tour that Rana had been rested to manage the workload. “Sneh has been rested for this series and she is in the NCA working on her fitness. Moving forward, the FTP…

Having beaten England in the T20I series by 2-1, India will face the same opposition in the first of the three ODIs at Kennington Oval in London on July 12. The two sides are set to lock horns in a three-match ODI series as a part of the ICC CWC Super League. The two teams will be nearly full strength as they face off in the first ODI at the Oval on Tuesday. England’s new era under the leadership of Jos Buttler didn’t get off to a good start as they lost the T20 leg by 2-1. The 17-run victory in the third…