Month: May 2022

May 4: RCB vs CSK, 49th Match, MCA Stadium, Pune Safe XI: Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Virat Kohli, Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Dwaine Pretorius, Josh Hazlewood (vice-capt), Wanindu Hasaranga, Mukesh Choudhary, Maheesh Theekshana Captain: Ruturaj Gaikwad Gaikwad looks like he is back to form after starting the season slowly. Once he gets to the middle overs, he has been sensational, scoring 127 runs at a strike rate…

The IPL playoffs – one eliminator, two qualifiers and the final – will be held in Kolkata and Ahmedabad between May 24 to May 29, the BCCI confirmed via a press release. As reported by ESPNcricinfo, Eden Gardens will play host to Qualifier 1 on May 24, followed by the Eliminator the next day, on May 25. Qualifier 2 will take place at Narendra Modi Stadium, in Ahmedabad on May…

Nicholas Pooran has been appointed as the captain of the West Indies white-ball sides, the board said in a release on Tuesday. Shai Hope will be his deputy in both the ODI and T20 formats. The move comes after Kieron Pollard announced his retirement from international cricket last month. Pooran was the vice-captain in white-ball cricket for West Indies in the last year with Pollard leading the side. In Pollard’s…

Jackson Bird will undergo treatment back in Australia after a shoulder injury limited his 2022 County Championship stint to just three appearances for Kent. The club confirmed on Tuesday that right-arm seamer Bird had been advised by a specialist to fly home to begin rehabilitation on the torn tendon which forced him from the field during their Division One innings defeat to Hampshire last month. Bird’s injury prompted Kent to…

Big picture Good planning and clarity of roles can often bring confidence and favourable results for sports teams. Nine games into their IPL 2022 campaign, Chennai Super Kings finally look like they know what they are doing – though the sample size is just one match – and it has coincided with the return of their Thala at the helm. Against a strong Sunrisers Hyderabad, they stuck to what has…

Ben Stokes, England’s new Test captain, says he expects a team of “selfless” cricketers to take the field alongside him, starting with next month’s first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s, as the squad begins the process of turning around a run of form in which they have achieved one victory in their past 17 matches. Stokes, who was officially unveiled in his new role at a press conference in…

New Australia coach Andrew McDonald insists there was never a risk he would have pursued the England job due to his firm belief that international coaches should oversee all three formats, with England set to split the roles down white and red-ball lines. There was interest from England in both McDonald and Langer prior to Rob Key being appointed as new ECB managing director of men’s cricket. But Key’s desire…

ESPNcricinfo experts Daniel Vettori and Imran Tahir have called for wides and height no-balls to be available for reviews even if they haven’t resulted in a dismissal. Vettori originally made the statement on the show Mute Me last week, and repeated it on the T20 Time:Out post-game show on Monday night, after the 19th over of Kolkata Knight Riders’ chase left Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson frustrated with umpire Nitin…

Kolkata Knight Riders 158 for 3 (Rana 48*, Rinku 42*, Shreyas 34) beat Rajasthan Royals 152 for 5 (Samson 54, Hetmyer 27*, Southee 2-46) by seven wickets Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh offset an early wobble and ensured Kolkata Knight Riders chased down 153 to snap their five-match losing streak, on a slow, grippy Wankhede Stadium track. After Trent Boult and Prasidh Krishna had made early inroads for Rajasthan Royals,…

Sana Mir isn’t too sure if she still knows how to bowl a cricket ball, but the next fortnight will tell. The former Pakistan captain has come out of retirement to lead Sapphires at the FairBreak Invitational T20 competition and has temporarily swapped her commentator’s microphone for time in the middle, in the hope of inspiring a new generation of women’s players. “From the very start, I loved the concept…