Author: Sandip Pawar

Tamim Iqbal will not feature the ODI series versus India, which is set to begin on December 4 in Mirpur. The player suffered a groin injury and could miss the first Test as well, which is slated for December 14 in Chattogram.  The opening batter sustained a grade 1 strain on his right groin in a warm-up match on Wednesday, which puts him out of action for two weeks. While confirming the news, Bangladesh team physio Bayjedul Islam Khan also said Tamim’s fitness could be doubtful for the Test series as well. “Tamim has a Grade 1 strain on his right groin…

Ben Stokes left the door open for coming out of ODI retirement for the next year’s World Cup. The Englishman had dropped a bombshell in July when he announced his retirement from the fifty-over format. With the ODI World Cup in India coming next year, the England all-rounder could be tempted to reverse the decision as the world champions try to defend their crown. Stokes, 31, retired from ODIs to focus on other two formats and to manage his workload, which has become increasingly hard with the schedule getting more and more cluttered. While doing so, he had said playing…

Australia will play their strongest XI, comprising their star pace trio, when they take on West Indies in the first Test at Perth on November 30th. No surprising calls were made as Australia return to their pace-heavy bowling attack on the home turf. Captain Pat Cummins announced the playing XI on Tuesday, believing that it will be a fast and bouncy pitch at Optus Stadium. Scott Boland and Marcus Harris are the two players to miss out from the 13-member squad, whereas Mitchell Swepson, who featured in the side’s previous Test in Sri Lanka, was left out of the side. Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc form the pace battery,…

Afghanistan became one of the eight teams to secure direct qualification for the 2023 ODI World Cup in India after a no result in the second game against Sri Lanka at Pallekele. They now have 115 points from 14 matches, winning 11 of those. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s chances of automatic qualification took a hit. The second One-Day International was called off after 2.4 overs into the Sri Lankan chase. Earlier, their spinners did a fantastic job in the middle overs before Kasun Rajitha finished things off. After losing Ibrahim Zadran early, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Rahmat Shah put on 112 runs for the second wicket. Gurbaz scored 68 while…

Sri Lanka Cricket has invited the ICC anti-corruption unit to investigate the match-fixing allegations earlier made in the Sri Lanka parliament. The encounter in question is the first Test of Pakistan’s tour in July, in which Pakistan chased down 342 in the fourth innings to take a 1-0 lead. Defending the target, Sri Lankan bowlers could only pick six wickets on the fourth and fifth day turning pitch. The member of parliament Nalin Bandara had made the allegations in the parliament last month. “In the last Pakistan series, our team scored 400-odd, and still lost in the last innings. From the person…

Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and – one of the best T20 batters in the world – was awestruck by the sheer genius that is India’s Suryakumar Yadav, who has been playing ridiculously well with great consistency recently. Maxwell said the consistency at which the Indian batter is scoring the runs sets him apart. Speaking on The Grade Cricketer Podcast, he went on to say that no one in the world is close to what Yadav has been doing. “Suryakumar Yadav is doing it in such a bizarre, ungainly way where he’s hitting the middle of the bat by just stepping…

Batsman Martin Guptill became the latest New Zealand player to be released from the central contract after he lost his spot in the limited overs side recently. Last week, pacer Trent Boult had opted out of the central contract to explore other opportunities.  The 36-year-old Guptill was part of the Kiwis’ T20 World Cup squad but did not play any game, with Finn Allen being preferred ahead at the top of the order. Notably, he was left out of the squad for the ongoing series against India. Guptill has not retired from international cricket and has expressed his desire to play for the…

The current fifty-over and newly crowned T20 champions England were hammered by 3-0 at the hands of Australia in the recent ODI series. Nevertheless, captain Jos Buttler isn’t bothered about the results as there wasn’t much to play for in the cramped schedule. The three-match ODI series, which was not part of the ICC CWC Super League, started just four days after England lifted the T20 World Cup trophy. Their majority of top players had left for Abu Dhabi, where they joined a training camp in preparation for the three-match Test series in Pakistan. Playing with a second-string side, England…

West Indies wicket-keeper batsman Nicholas Pooran has decided to step down from the limited-overs captaincy owing to a disastrous T20 World Cup campaign in Australia. The men in maroon suffered defeats against Scotland and Ireland in the first round and failed to make it to the Super 12 stage. Pooran was handed over the reins as the captain of the ODI and T20I sides after Kieron Pollard announced his international retirement in April. He was the stand-in skipper in the white-ball series against India when Pollard was injured and then took over the role permanently. Pooran began his captaincy stint on a…

Pakistan fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi is feeling better after the surgery while he is also in rehab for knee injury currently. The 22-year-old shared a picture from hospital after undergoing an appendectomy surgery on Sunday. “Had an appendectomy today but Alhamdulillah feeling better. Remember me in your prayers,”he wrote in a caption. During the T20 World Cup final against England at the MCG, Afridi had to hobble off the field after experiencing some discomfort in his knee, at a crucial juncture. He looked in pain after taking a sliding catch to dismiss Harry Brook, as he appeared to have hurt his knee.…