Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat in the second T20I against West Indies in Dambulla. West Indies lead the three-match series 1-0, having won the first game by five wickets. Charith Asalanka is hoping to see more assistance for spin than there was in the first game. The Sri Lankan captain expected the par score to be 170 or so. Rovman Powell said his team happy to…
Rohit Sharma wants to injury-proof the Indian cricket team, and has called for expanding their bench strength, particularly the fast-bowling department so that they have eight or nine players ready to step into the first XI at any given moment. “We want to create a bench strength where tomorrow if anything happens to anyone, we are not worried, and we don’t want to be worried or too heavily reliant on…
Yashasvi Jaiswal has received a ringing endorsement from his captain and opening partner Rohit Sharma who is not one bit surprised by the youngster’s meteoric rise and expects him “to do wonders for the team” across formats. Jaiswal made his international debut in a Test match last year against West Indies where he smashed 171 in his maiden innings. The 22-year-old has already scored 1217 runs in his 11-Test career…
Under Hathurusinghe, Bangladesh put up underwhelming performances during last year’s ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup campaign this year. His best achievement during this term was Bangladesh’s 2-0 Test series win against Pakistan this year. It was their maiden win in Pakistan, and first overseas Test series win in 15 years. However, in the India tour that followed, they lost 2-0 in the Tests and 3-0 in the T20Is…
Big picture – India look to continue WTC march When they started their home season, India needed seven wins out of their ten remaining Tests to put beyond reasonable doubt their qualification for the World Test Championship (WTC) final. In certain scenarios, even five wins would be enough. With five of these Tests in Australia, India wanted to go there with the five minimum wins already in the bag. Rain…
India captain Rohit Sharma confirmed that senior quick Mohammed Shami‘s return to the international fold might get further delayed after he suffered another “recent setback”. Shami, who underwent surgery on his right Achilles tendon in February this year, has now developed a swelling on his knee which has “put him back a little bit in his recovery”, according to Rohit. “Right now, it is pretty difficult for us to make…
Babar Azam‘s dropping from the Pakistan squad has seen Fakhar Zaman entangled in a dispute with the PCB, with the cricket board issuing him a show-cause notice for a social media post. After news of Babar’s omission from Pakistan’s squad for the second and third Test broke, Fakhar took to X (formerly Twitter) before the PCB had officially announced the squad. He described the development as “concerning” saying “sidelining arguably…
Persistent and occasionally heavy rain in Bengaluru has forced the cancellation of India’s training session the day before the first Test against New Zealand at the city’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium. The session, originally slotted for 9.30am, was first postponed by an hour and then cancelled altogether with the rain showing no signs of relenting. New Zealand’s training session is scheduled for 1.30pm, but there’s a good chance that will be…
Ben Sears, one of four frontline fast bowlers in New Zealand’s Test squad for their tour of India, will not be taking part in the three-match series because of a knee injury. Jacob Duffy, uncapped in Tests, has been called up as Sears’ replacement, and will leave for India on Wednesday morning, the first day of the first Test of the series. “Sears experienced pain in his left knee while…
The WBBL will have a third umpire available in every game for the first time and an increase in matches with the full DRS in use for its tenth season. There will also be an innings timer in operation for the tournament to mirror the BBL with 73 minutes available to be ready to bowl the first ball of the 20th over, otherwise a fielding penalty is implemented which requires…