Big picture When India announced their squad for the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka, their seam bowling looked thin on experience. Arshdeep Singh, who made his international debut less than six months ago, was the leader of the pack, which had Umran Malik and two uncapped bowlers in Shivam Mavi and Mukesh Kumar. Then, on the day of the first T20I, Arshdeep was unavailable as he failed to recover…
Hardik Pandya is not afraid of putting his side in difficult situations during bilateral T20Is, long-term gains being more important than short-term ones – he said as much at the toss during the first T20I against Sri Lanka and reiterated it after the game. The record at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium favoured chasing sides, who had won 24 of the 41 T20s played there in the last two years before Tuesday’s…
Marcus Stoinis has become the latest big-ticket T20 player to join the UAE’s ILT20, signing with Sharjah Warriors for the month-long tournament starting on January 13. He is the second Australian cricketer in the inaugural edition of the tournament after Chris Lynn, who will link up with Gulf Giants after playing 11 games for Adelaide Strikers in the ongoing BBL. Whether Stoinis’ arrangement will be similar to Lynn’s – split…
ESPNcricinfo Ltd Ballance, the 33-year-old left-hand top-order batter who played 23 Tests and 16 ODIs for England between 2014 and 2017, signed the contract with Zimbabwe, the country of his birth, in December last year following his release from county cricket side Yorkshire. “I’m thrilled to be joining Zimbabwe Cricket and can’t wait to start work with some great coaches and talented players,” Ballance said at the time. “The opportunity…
When does it start? Who are the biggest names in attendance? Why the talent jam this year? We’ve got all your questions on BPL 2023 covered./i> So yet another franchise T20 league…Yes, the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) returns for its ninth edition from January 6. It has seven franchise teams that will play 46 games across three cities – Dhaka, Chattogram and Sylhet. The final will be played on February…
Brisbane Heat 147 for 6 (Neser 45*, Munro 38, O’Keefe 3-26) vs Sydney Sixers – No result Rain prevented a run chase for Sydney Sixers after big-hitting cameos from Colin Munro at the start and Michael Neser at the end powered Brisbane Heat to 147 for 6 off 13 overs at North Sydney Oval. Persistent drizzle before the game returned near the end of the Brisbane innings and did not…
South Africa were adamant that Simon Harmer‘s catch in the slips off Marnus Labuschagne, which was ruled not out by the third umpire, had been cleanly taken. But they could at least sleep a little easier knowing it had not been hugely costly thanks to the persistence of Anrich Nortje. On 70, Labuschagne edged Marco Jansen low to Harmer at slip with the catch immediately being claimed. However, Labuschagne stood…
Rishabh Pant is being airlifted from Dehradun to Mumbai because one of the two ligament tears in his knee needs immediate intervention. In Mumbai, Pant will be under the care of Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, who has previously worked with Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja and also with Olympics athletes. Pardiwala is the director of arthroscopy, sports orthopaedics and centre for sports medicine at Kokilaben Hospital in Andheri,…
South Africa’s six venues for the SA20 will be required to ensure they have an electricity supply independent of the national power utility to keep the lights on for the duration of the tournament. South Africa experienced its worst power cuts in 2022, with more than 200 days affected by interruptions to the electricity supply. It is expected to get worse in 2023. As things currently stand, the country is…
Lunch Pakistan 224 for 4 (Shakeel 43*, Sarfaraz 27*, Southee 1-42) trail New Zealand 449 by 225 runs Imam-ul-Haq missed out on a century for a second successive time, falling for 83 in what was Pakistan’s only loss of the first session on the third day. Tim Southee broke the solid 83-run stand between Imam and Saud Shakeel when he forced the former to play away from his body as…