Month: July 2024

The decision to appoint Suryakumar Yadav as India’s full-time T20I captain, and hand vice-captaincy in the limited-overs formats to Shubman Gill over Hardik Pandya was taken with a view of having players in leadership positions available to play as many matches as possible, India’s men’s team chief selector Ajit Agarkar said in a press conference on Monday. “Why Surya was made the captain, because he is one of the deserving…

Toss Sri Lanka chose to bat vs Malaysia Chamari Athapaththu, the Sri Lanka captain, elected to bat first against Malaysia with a semi-final spot in the women’s Asia Cup well within their sight. Sri Lanka made as many as four changes to the XI that beat Bangladesh two nights ago. Sugandika Kumari, Udeshika Prabodhani and Achini Kulasuriya were among those who have made way as they made sweeping changes to…

India made significant gains during the two-and-a-half year period where Rahul Dravid was their head coach, making the finals of a world event in each of the three formats and winning the T20 crown. Now the focus is on building on those gains over the last 12 months and the man leading them forward will be Gautam Gambhir, their new head coach, who understands he has “big shoes to fill”….

We are getting into the Gautam Gambhir era in Indian men’s cricket, starting with the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who retired from T20Is after the World Cup last month, are in the ODI squad, but they are both past 35. How long will they be around? Gambhir has left that decision to the two players themselves but feels both of them “have a lot…

Viv Richards and Carl Hooper have strongly hit back at former West Indies team-mate Brian Lara for “gross misrepresentations” in his book – Lara: The England Chronicles. In a joint statement released on Sunday, both former West Indies captains have rejected Lara’s “claim” that Richards made Hooper “cry once a week”, describing it as “categorically false”, and asked the latter to “issue a sincere apology for the harm caused.” “Sir…

Ben Stokes, England’s captain, praised Shoaib Bashir for “showing the world what he’s about today”, after his five-wicket haul rushed West Indies to a 241-run defeat on the fourth afternoon at Trent Bridge. Bashir, 20, finished with figures of 5 for 41 for 11.1 overs as West Indies – chasing an unlikely 385 to square the series – collapsed from a comfortable 61 for 0 shortly after tea to be…

Rilee Rossouw bludgeoned 106 off 53 balls, Kusal Mendis crashed 72 off 40 of his own, and together sent Jaffna Kings soaring to a target of 185, inside 16 overs. It was a record-breaking chase on at least two fronts. Their unbroken stand of 185 (Pathum Nissanka had been out first ball), was the highest for any wicket, across all LPL seasons. Kings’ chase was the highest in any LPL…

Several other questions, though, remain. ESPNcricinfo has gone behind the scenes to bring you the answers, a day before newly appointed head coach Gautam Gambhir and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar address India’s pre-departure press conference. Related Where does the elevation of Gill and Suryakumar leave Hardik? Axar: When the team needs someone to stand up, they bank on me Suryakumar confirmed as India’s T20I captain for Sri Lanka tour…

Toss Pakistan chose to bowl vs Nepal Pakistan captain Nida Dar won the toss and opted to bowl first against Nepal in a must-win game for her side at the Women’s Asia Cup 2024. Dar said that since Pakistan had lost batting first against India, they wanted to bowl first here. They made one change, bringing in allrounder Omaima Sohail for middle-order batter Iram Javed. Nepal, too, strengthened their batting….

England 416 and 348 for 6 (Brook 109, Root 81*, Duckett 76, Pope 51) lead West Indies 457 (Hodge 120, Da Silva 82*, Athanaze 82, Woakes 4-84) by 307 runs Harry Brook‘s century and Joe Root‘s unbeaten 81 extended England’s lead to 307 runs at lunch on the fourth day but three quick wickets kept West Indies in the second Test at Trent Bridge. Two strikes late in the morning…