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Rohit Sharma. (Photo Source: BCCI) Ahead of the upcoming third Test against Australia , Rohit Sharma confirmed that they will be doing something different in the fourth Test in Ahmedabad to prepare for the potential World Test Championship (WTC) final. A win in Indore Test will confirm India's place in the WTC final but the Ahmedabad Test will be their final red-ball outing before the potential WTC final in June. India gained an assailable 2-0 lead in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 and home conditions played a big role in their dominance. However, the WTC final will take place at The Oval, London from June 7 to 11. The conditions will be totally different for India and to counter that the management is looking to use the Ahmedabad Test to simulate different conditions. In the first two matches against Australia, the Indian team played with three spin specialists and two pacers. But they might drop one spinner and replace him with a pace all-rounder, most probably Sha

Steve Smith. (Photo Source: BCCI) After suffering back-to-back defeats in the first and second Test, Australia have once again failed to clinch the prestigious  Border-Gavaskar Trophy . As per veteran batter Steve Smith, they had the situation under control in the second Test in Delhi but rushed things a little bit which saw the Pat Cummins-led side bundle out for 113 runs in the second innings of the match. India had no problem chasing the paltry total down as they won the match by six wickets. Meanwhile, when asked about his dismissal and Australia’s collapse in the second Test, Smith revealed that he was very angry with the way he got out. He shared his thoughts regarding where Australia went wrong in the match. “I've played 95 (94) Test matches…and I don't think there's been too many times I've walked off the field and I've gone, 'what the hell am I doing?' I was pretty angry. There hasn't been too many times in my career where I've actuall

South Africa Team (Photo Source: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images) South Africa and the West Indies are ready to take center stage for a multi-format series on the former’s turf. The action will get underway with a  two-match Test series on February 28 and then the focus will move to the white-ball leg from March 16 onwards. In the longest format of the game, both teams have many match-winners in their arsenal and one can expect an exciting contest. When South Africa last donned the whites, they were annihilated by Australia. The Proteas were quite mediocre in their outings and thus, succumbed to a 2-0 loss in a three-match Test series. Under the leadership of Temba Bavuma , the Proteas would look to put up a better showing in the forthcoming series against Kraigg Brathwaite & Co.  The hosts must be proud about their outstanding record against the West Indies in the longest format. They have faced the Windies in 30 Tests and have lost just three of them. South Africa would look t

Jasprit Bumrah. (Photo Source: Twitter) India cricketer Jasprit Bumrah might just not be able to make it to competitive cricket soon and seems that he might miss the upcoming IPL edition too as per several reports. Jasprit Bumrah has been out of action for India since September 2022.  Bumrah last played for India in a T20I match against Australia in September at home. He was initially ruled out of the Asia Cup 2022, though he was being considered for the T20 World Cup, which also he had to miss. He suffered a major back injury, which has been troubling him for months now. He hasn't played any cricket in 2023 yet. Twitter goes berserk over Jasprit Bumrah's continued delayed return The moment the news of the 29-year-old's delayed return went viral, netizens found it hard to keep calm, and in no time the micro-blogging site Twitter was abuzz with some of the most hilarious memes to describe the pace bowler's fate. Here is how Twitter reacted - If Jasprit Bumrah

Ravi Shastri and Ravindra Jadeja. (Photo Source: Twitter) Former India cricketer Ravi Shastri has opened up about a very interesting conversation he once had with current India cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, which he credits to have completely brought about a positive transformation upon him. Ravindra Jadeja has been in the form of his life in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 . India are already leading the four-match Test series against Australia by 2-0. In both the opening Tests, Jadeja played a crucial role to engineer India's victory, for which he was conferred upon with the Man of the Match award in both the matches. In the second Test, he showed his all-round skills to perfection, scoring a half-century and bagging ten wickets to completely dismantle Australia. While this coming-of-age transformation for Jadeja has been a cause of celebration for Indian cricket, former coach of the men's team and ace commentator Ravi Shastri has now revealed a conversation from 2

Tamim Iqbal. (Photo Source: Lee Warren/Gallo Images/Getty Images) Bangladesh ODI skipper Tamim Iqbal partly denied all the talks of a rift with Shakib Al Hasan when he came to attend the press conference ahead of the first ODI against visitors England slated to be played at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on March 1. Recently, the Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan mentioned that there is a rift between Tamim Iqbal and Shakib in an interaction with Cricbuzz. Tamim, during the presser told that he was ready for such questions and was not willing to shy away from talking about it. "I was prepared since yesterday." "I have never seen so many journalists in one room. I knew these questions would come. It would have been very easy for me to say "no comments, lets move forward", but I think it was important to give my message to the journalists and fans. This is why I was happy to answer," said Tamim as quoted by Cricbuzz. Tamim

Pakistan cricket’s Najam Sethi. (Photo credit AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty Images) The ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) will continue to run as planned in Rawalpindi and Lahore as the Pakistan Cricket Board and the Punjab government have come to a mutual agreement after hours of deliberation. PCB chief Najam Sethi shared the news with fans as he put out a tweet on the micro-blogging site Twitter regarding the same. "Good news: CM Punjab Mohsin Naqvi Saheb has been kind enough to agree to share cost of lighting routes during PSL matches in Lahore. HBl PSL8 matches in Lahore and Pindi shall continue as scheduled," the tweet read. Good news: CM Punjab Mohsin Naqvi Saheb has been kind enough to agree to share cost of lighting routes during PSL matches in Lahore. HBl PSL8 matches in Lahore and Pindi shall continue as scheduled. — Najam Sethi (@najamsethi) February 26, 2023 PCB chief also went on to thank the prime minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif for helping in settli

Paul Collingwood. (Photo Source: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images) England are on the verge of sealing another Test victory, their seventh on the trot, despite a valiant showing by the Kiwi batters in the second innings of the ongoing second Test in Wellington. Although Ben Stokes' side are quite ahead of their opponents, his decision to enforce the follow-on was questioned by a contingent of fans. Former England all-rounder and current assistant coach of the Test team, Paul Collingwood, backed the decision of English skipper to invite the home side to bat again after bundling them out for 209 runs in the morning session of the third day. Collingwood revealed that Ben Stokes was always going to enforce the follow-on and it was the right decision too. "We're ahead of the game. We felt as though we could cause a lot of problems, which we did, but we didn't get the rewards for it. There were a lot of great things from today. It's the aggressive approach and that's

Sandeep Lamichane (Photo by PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP via Getty Images) The star Nepali cricketer Sandeep Lamichhane has been excluded from the country's 15-member squad that is touring the United Arab Emirates for the Cricket World Cup League 2 tri-series, which will commence from February 27, 2023. Sandeep Lamichhane was reportedly accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl in a hotel room in Kathmandu. Lamichhane is currently out on anticipatory bail, and he had appealed to the apex court to grant him permission to travel abroad to play cricket, which has been refused. Supreme Court rules against Sandeep Lamichhane's plea The Supreme Court has decided to act against the demands of the 22-year-old. A single bench of Justice Ishwor Prasad Khatiwada said that it was extremely neccessary to undergo a final hearing on Lamichhane's case, referring to the gravity of the crime as extremely heinous. “It is deemed necessary to conduct hearing of the petitions from Lamich

Mike Hussey. (Photo Source: Paul Kane - CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images) Former Australian cricketer and batting icon Mike Hussey has urged the Australian batters to learn from Indian skipper Rohit Sharma's batting strategy ahead of the third Test against India. The Australian batters have struggled against the Indian spinners, but Hussey is hopeful of an unlikely comeback by the tourists in the upcoming Test in Indore. The cricketer turned coach Mike Hussey has cited the example of Rohit Sharma to the Australian batters amidst their woes against the Indian spinners. Rohit has arguably been the most effective batter in the series, with 183 runs in the two Tests so far, despite the pitches not favouring the batters. “Obviously, the Australians can take a leaf out of Rohit Sharma’s book and have a look at the way he has batted so far. The way Rohit has gone about his job is certainly a good way to tackle spin, and score runs in such conditions. The Indian batsmen have gr

Ollie Pope. (Photo Source: Twitter) England's Ollie Pope turned out to be an absolute livewire on the field on Day 2 of the ongoing Test between hosts New Zealand and England at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. After posting 435/8d on the board, England were in the hunt for quick wickets and they got the same on Day 2 and have reduced the hosts to 138/7 in just 42 overs. Traditionally, it's rare to see a finger spinner dominate the proceedings on Day 2 in New Zealand but it wasn't the case this time around as England's left-arm orthodox bowler Jack Leach was in control on Day 2 and made life extremely difficult for the Kiwi batters in the middle. He bagged three scalps to put England on top and had Pope by his side as the latter pulled off some stunners while fielding next to the batters at silly point and short leg. The first batter who fell prey to Pope's acrobatic effort turned out to be Henry Nicholls. In the 25th over of New Zealand's first innings,

Glenn Maxwell. (Photo Source: TOI/Twitter) Amidst the criticism of Australian players after a dismal showing in the second Test against India in Delhi, star all-rounder Glenn Maxwell has backed his compatriots to succeed in the subcontinent. Maxwell feels that the Australian players have shown tremendous fight in 'foreign' conditions, only losing the plot in a couple of disappointing sessions. Australia  had their noses in front after a couple of hard-fought days in the Delhi Test. But the visitors lost the plot in the morning session of the third day, losing nine wickets in one session. Maxwell feels that barring that session, the Australian players have been up for it in the series against a formidable team in Indian conditions.  "I think they've shown a lot of fight. Barring that one session I thought they were outstanding. It's bloody difficult over there - it's not an easy place to play, it's so foreign for us. But I feel like, apart from a coupl

Babar Azam. (Photo Source: Twitter) Peshawar Zalmi skipper Babar Azam stunned everyone after he gave a Rohit Sharma-like response to a question posed by a Pakistan journalist during the proceedings of the  Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2023 post-match press conference after match no. 12. Babar Azam is usually compared with India cricketer Virat Kohli, primarily because of the way Babar plays his shots, his batting stance and some of the very impressive world records that Babar has managed to earn quite early into his international career, which bear much resemblance to the current India great. But speaking of Babar, the 28-year-old has always displayed that he maintains and reserves the highest amounts of respect for his Indian counterpart and even Virat Kohli has praised Babar Azam on numerous occassions. Main coach thodi hu? - Babar Azam " Main unka coach thodi hu? Aapse mujhse puch rahe hai unke baare mein. Aj ke match ki baat karte hai   (Am I their coach? Why are you a

Jason Gillespie (Photo by Nick Wood/Getty Images) Australian skipper Pat Cummins will miss the upcoming third Test against India after extending his stay in Sydney after his mother needed palliative care. The influential pacer is in doubt for the series finale as well and former Australian cricketer Jason Gillespie expects Pat Cummins to miss the rest of the series. Jason Gillespie, who was part of the Australian team that defeated the Indian team in Test series in the subcontinent, feels there is nothing more important than family. He reckoned that Cummins should spend more time with his family since India retained the Border Gavaskar Trophy after winning the opening two matches. "Pat Cummins is a great bowler, no doubt, but some things are more important in life than a game of cricket.It wouldn't surprise me if we didn't see him on this tour [again]. With all due respect, the series is gone, we can't win the series, and there's series coming up this year …

Harmanpreet Kaur and Anjum Chopra. (Photo Source: ICC) Team India performed marvellously throughout the Women’s T20 World Cup . The Women in Blue gave it their all, but it just wasn't enough at the end as they faced a heartbreaking loss to Australia in the semi-finals of the tournament. The Aussies set a target of 173 for India to chase in the semis, but it was too tough for them in the end as they only managed to score 167 and faced an exit from the tournament. Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur played an inspirational knock of 52 off 34 balls to help give her side a chance, but she too fell short at the end. After her unfortunate dismissal, Kaur seemed livid with herself and was dejected after the loss. But it seemed that the India skipper finally felt at ease when former skipper Anjum Chopra gave her a hug after the match.  It was an emotional moment for both of us: Anjum Chopra Anjum Chopra talked about the incident after the match. She reflected on the fact that a hug was all s

Image from Twitter Virender Sehwag, Former India cricketer, feels sad over India Women's T20 World Cup and draws parallel of this defeat with that of the 2019 ICC Men's World Cup exit for Men in Blue. Both semifinals and the turn of events bear an eery resemblance. Though India Women put up a valiant fight against the Australia Women in the first semi-final of the  ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2023, they failed to cross the finishing line. At a time it seemed that India would cause cause an upset, but eventually lost to the mighty Women in Yellow by a slender margin of 5 runs. 'Had this heartbreak before': Sehwag draws a comparison  "Match winner at the crease and Run out in a semi-final. We have had this heartbreak before. Sad to see India out. Were running away with the game but Australia proved again why they are a v (very) difficult side to beat. Well tried girls", the 44-year-old posted a tweet on the micro-blogging site Twitter. Match winner a

Wasim Akram. (Photo Source: Twitter) Karachi Kings president, Wasim Akram was spotted kicking a sofa, which was kept right in front of him after his team lost to Multan Sultans by just three runs ( in match 11) in the ongoing  Pakistan Super League (PSL). Notably, it was Imad Wasim-led side’s fourth defeat in five matches and interestingly they have conceded three while chasing. Thus, the president was seen fuming as soon as the game got over. Meanwhile, the moment was captured on live television and instantly went viral across various social media platforms.  Wasim Akram is VERY angry😤 pic.twitter.com/k0jW5NQlhY — Haroon (@hazharoon) February 22, 2023 Mohammad Rizwan shines as Multan registers their fourth win  Courtesy of a phenomenal start by their openers Mohammad Rizwan and Shan Masood, Multan Sultans were always in the driver’s seat. Even though skipper Rizwan was unable to display his aggressive batting exploits in the initial overs of the match, he changed his gea

Shahid Afridi and Shaheen Afridi. (Photo Source: Twitter) Former Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi has expressed his opinions about current Pakistan cricketer and son-in-law Shaheen Shah Afridi, after his performance in the clash against Karachi Kings on Sunday, February 19, 2023. The Shaheen Shah Afridi-led Lahore Qalandars suffered a humongous 67-run loss to the Karachi Kings. The huge total of 185/5 posted by the Kings in their 20 overs seemed a bit too much for the Qalandars as they were skittled out for 118, courtesy of a brilliant bowling display by  Akif Javed (4/28). The match ended up being a massive disappointment for the Qalandars' skipper Shaheen Afridi, not only from the point of view of a leader but mainly as a bowler, as he conceded 39 runs in his four overs, managing to scalp only a solitary wicket. “He was trying too hard, which is why he was expensive during the death overs. He was trying to bowl too many Yorkers, which turned into full tosses and he got hi

Virat Kohli. (Photo Source: BCCI) Despite scoring only 44 and 20 in the first and second innings of the second Test in Delhi, Virat Kohli looked sharp with his bat. The former India skipper looked exceptional against Aussie spinners in the first innings but then, a controversial decision from on-field umpire Nitin Menon brought an end to his meticulously built innings.  However, former cricketers like Sunil Gavaskar and Gautam Gautam were very impressed with Kohli’s batting and believe that he is just an inch away from putting an end to his century drought in Test cricket. His last one in the longest format of the game came against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens in 2019. Now, despite not being able to score a lot of runs in the last two matches, Kohli on Day 3 of the second Test became the fastest cricketer to score 25000 runs in international cricket. The 34-year-old took 549 innings to achieve the feat, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar’s 577 innings. The list also features Ricky Po

Ajit Chandila will challenge BCCI’s decision in court. (Photo Source: Twitter) Former Rajasthan Royals player Ajit Chandila's life ban from cricket has been reduced to seven years by the ombudsman of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Vineet Saran. Ajit Chandila, along with two of his Rajasthan Royals teammates back in the IPL 2013, S Sreesanth and Ankeet Chavan, were handed lifetime bans from cricket after they were accused of indulging in spot-fixing. This was the biggest scandal which had completely rocked the sixth edition of the cash-rich league and brought about a massive havoc in the functionings of the IPL as well. BCCI issues order to reduce Ajit Chandila's life ban As reported by the Indian Express, Vineet Saran in his official order wrote in detail about all the allegations and charges which were levied on Chandila and also the proceedings that he had to undergo, and that the ban was being reduced. The order read, " The present matter arise

Indian Cricket Team. (Photo Source: BCCI) The Indian cricket team is likely to have Adidas, a leading sports apparel and equipment brand as their new apparel sponsor. Adidas is very close to getting the apparel rights of Team India. Currently, Kewal Kiran Clothing Limited (KKCL), the parent brand of Killer Jeans, holds the rights of the team kit. According to reports, the Adidas deal is expected to begin from June 2023 and will likely end in March 2028. The previous sponsor, Mobile Premier League (MPL) had signed a three-year agreement between November 2020 and December 2023, but failed to complete its full tenure. Killer Jeans came in as a filler after MPL pulled out of the deal. Prior to MPL, Nike had a five-year deal with The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) during which they paid ₹370 crores. The deal was in the period of 2016 to 2020, however Nike had been the sponsor for the team kit for a period of 14 years. Since the very beginning of the deal, the association

Marcus Trescothick, Brendon McCullum & England Test team. (Photo Source: (Photo Source: Gareth Copley/Getty Images, Philip Brown/Popperfoto/Popperfoto via Getty Images and Phil Walter/Getty Images) England batting coach, Marcus Trescothick, revealed his thoughts on the Bazball attacking methods of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes. He said that the main aim of this attacking method is to point pressure on bowlers. England recently defeated New Zealand by 267 runs in the pink ball Test, which was their 10th win in 11 Tests. “There is a bit more method to the madness. It’s not just about you know, 'Let’s go gung-ho and just be ultra-aggressive'. The mantra is (to) try and point pressure on bowlers and try and find opportunities that we can move the game forward,” Trescothick told SENZ radio. The batting coach said that the Bazball was started with head coach McCullum and it has also changed the playing style. He also mentioned that  Ben Stokes always wanted to make his s

Harmanpreet Kaur. (Photo Source: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images) Former domestic cricketer, an experienced coach, and an expert of the game Amol Muzumdar shared his thoughts over the Indian Women's team's shoddy middle order, after the team qualified for the semi-finals of the ongoing  ICC Women's T20 World 2023 for the third time in a row. The Women in Blue have fared well in the group stages, though their middle-order vulnerabilities were thrown completely open in their clash against England. Also against Ireland in their last group stage game, India failed to bag any wickets apart from the two early jolts. If it had not been opener Smriti Mandhana's brilliant 87, the DLS method perhaps wouldn't have favoured India by five runs to allow them a top two slot on the points table . "It is a great achievement. If Smriti Mandhana is going through this form, it is important for Harmanpreet Kaur to fire. I feel there is a slight issue in the middle order as I am a l

Sunil Gavaskar . (Photo Source: WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images) Over the years, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been integral in mending relationships between players from different countries. The fiery battles on the pitch have been mellowed out due to players competing alongside one another. Former Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar came forward and talked about the same. He opined that over the past few years, the IPL has been integral in bridging the gap across the world.  "When two of the top-ranked teams play against each other, then sparks are bound to fly. However, since the IPL began, the animosity between players of the two teams has lessened considerably while the intensity hasn't reduced one bit, and that's how it should be," Gavaskar wrote in his column in Mid-Day. He also talked about the exclusion of Pakistani players from the IPL. Except for the first season of the IPL, Pakistani players have been banned from competing in the tournament due to

Michael Clarke  (Photo by Pramod Thakur/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) Team India retained the Border Gavaskar Trophy in fabulous fashion after dominating Australia in the second Test of the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy. After the hosts won the first game in Nagpur quite comfortably, a similar display was seen to be repeated in Delhi as well. After Australia fought back in the first innings, the visitors fell to the bowling attack of India in the second innings and lost the game. Former Australia skipper Michael Clarke recently came forward to talk about the mistakes made by Australia that led to them losing the two matches. Clarke also opined that the decision not to play any tour games prior to the start of the series came back to hurt the Aussies as they did not get enough time to prepare themselves for the conditions. "I'm not surprised by what I'm seeing because we didn't have a tour game. Major, major, major mistake. There should have been at least on

(Photo by WILLIAM WEST/AFP/Getty Images) Team India once again put in a dominant display against Australia to win the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India retained the trophy for the fourth consecutive time as Australia failed to continue on their good start in the second match in Delhi. Losing the first Test after being dominated by team India, the Aussies made some changes to their squad for the second match. The in-form Travis Head was not included in the first Test, and Matt Kuhnemann was brought into the squad after Australia lost the first game. Former skipper Ian Chappell had a lot to say on that front. "I don’t think there was any justification for some of the things they’ve done; their selections smacked of panic, If you want to look at panic, the dropping of (Travis) Head, playing (Matt) Renshaw (in the first Test ahead of Head), saying he’s a good player of spin bowling – and you bat him in the middle order," Chappell told Nine’s Wide World of Sp

Indian Cricket Team. (Photo Source: BCCI) The first two Test matches of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy ended in favour of India. India won the first Test against Australia by an innings and 132 runs in Nagpur. The hosts beat Australia in the second Test by six wickets and thus retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy . The win over Australia in the second Test has helped them inch towards the World Test Championship (WTC) final spot. After an emphatic win over Australia in the second Test, India hope to make it to the WTC final berth. India need to win one out of the remaining two matches of the series to seal the deal. After winning the Delhi Test, India’s points percentage has climbed from 61.66 to 64.06. India hold the second position and have won ten out of 16 matches, with four losses and two draws. Australia, on the other hand, need to avoid a 4-0 whitewash to keep their chances alive to qualify for the WTC final but if they lose 4-0 then they will be dependent on other results. Th

KL Rahul. (Photo Source: Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images) Former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh has expressed his thoughts on India cricketer KL Rahul after the latter's struggles with the bat continued in the second Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 against Australia. KL Rahul has been in talks, primarily because of his poor run with the bat, but what is more striking is that his name has been removed from the vice-captain's post, giving major indications that he might be looked beyond by selectors. Harbhajan stated that it was about time youngster Shubman Gill got a chance he well deserved within the team, and he was in good shape to score those crucial runs in the opener's slot, thus giving India the quality start they need in their batting currently. “Yes because he is no longer the vice-captain now. The team was announced and I feel the reason why he hasn't been named the vice-captain is because Shubman Gill will be picked for the next