Month: December 2023

Hasan Ali managed to get through Usman Khawaja’s doggedness  •  Getty Images The scorecard might not suggest too much reason for optimism, but Pakistan fast bowler Hasan Ali has always tried to look at the brighter side. And on a gloomy Boxing Day in Melbourne where Pakistan toiled hard for the reward of just three wickets in 66 overs despite prodigious swing and several passages of play where Australia’s batters looked shaky,…

David Warner has given a strong endorsement for Marcus Harris to replace him as Australia’s next Test opener after a day where he and Usman Khawaja showed the value of having specialists do the job, sharing a 90-run opening stand in difficult conditions against Pakistan to help Australia weather the storm. Warner and Khawaja batted almost through the opening session after they were sent in by Pakistan captain Shan Masood…

Former Australia batter Michael Hussey has cautioned the Australian selectors on picking a makeshift opener as David Warner‘s replacement, saying he would prefer a specialist opener who has dominated Sheffield Shield cricket to be rewarded. Hussey, however, stopped short of naming a candidate. Hussey was speaking ahead of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG after he was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame alongside former Australia women’s…

Toss Pakistan chose to bowl vs Australia Captain Shan Masood won the toss and elected to bowl as rain threatened to spoil the opening day of the Boxing Day Test between Australia and Pakistan at the MCG. A new-look Pakistan attack hoped to make early inroads in overcast conditions in Melbourne on a surface with only six-seven millimetres of grass on it. Masood expected lateral movement from the pitch throughout…

The Afghanistan Cricket Board has sanctioned Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Naveen Ul Haq for “prioritizing their personal interests over playing for Afghanistan,” a board statement said on Monday. The board has therefore delayed their 2024 annual central contracts and also announced no NOCs (no-objection certificates) for the trio for the next two years, including the revokement of any NOC they currently possess. According to the ACB statement, the…

The last one month and six days have been pretty challenging for Rohit Sharma. He has had to find the strength to move on from the World Cup final loss that must have felt at that point like the end of the world. He has since lost his Mumbai Indians captaincy even as there have been talks of him making a T20I comeback as the India captain. He hasn’t played…

Big picture: India chase history The final frontier. That’s what South Africa has proven to be for India. Since South Africa’s readmission to international cricket, India have made eight Test tours to the country. The closest they came to winning was in 2010-11 when the three-match series ended 1-1. Two years ago, players and experts alike felt that it was India’s “best opportunity” to win a Test series in South…

India have named a T20I squad unchanged from the one that took on England at home earlier this month for the upcoming games against Australia, but have rung in the changes for the ODIs. As many as eight players have gone out from the squad that toured Bangladesh in July, when India last played ODIs, and six players – Richa Ghosh, Saika Ishaque, Shreyanka Patil, Mannat Kashyap, Renuka Thakur and…

There’s been another change in the Pakistan coaching set-up, with Yasir Arafat joining the crew for the side’s five-match T20I series in New Zealand. Arafat has been appointed high-performance coach, and will replace the current man in the role, Simon Helmot. ESPNcricinfo understands it was a relatively late decision on the part of the PCB, and Arafat will fly directly to New Zealand with Pakistan’s T20I specialists. It is understood…

It follows a difficult Perth Test for Sarfaraz, particularly with the bat, after he scored 7 runs across both innings, struggling particularly against Mitchell Starc’s pace. It’s one of at least three changes Pakistan will make for the second Test at the MCG after they named a 12-man squad, which will be cut to 11 on matchday. Khurram Shahzad has been ruled out of the series while all-rounder Faheem Ashraf…