English cricket has landed a multi-million pound windfall after a Silicon Valley tech consortium won a bidding war with the Sanjiv Goenka-owned RPSG Group for a 49% stake in London Spirit, the Hundred team based at Lord’s. The winning bid made by the consortium, headed by Nikesh Arora of Palo Alto Networks, valued the Spirit at £295 million, more than twice the price paid by Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) for…
NFL legend Tom Brady could soon be seen at Edgbaston after Knighthead Capital Management LLC, where the former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay quarterback has a business partnership, picked up a stake in Hundred franchise Birmingham Phoenix. ESPNcricinfo has learned that Knighthead made a winning bid of £82 million on Thursday, the opening day of the ECB’s sale of the eight Hundred franchises. The amount Knighthead bid was equivalent…
There was scrutiny around India’s move to bring on Harshit Rana as a concussion substitute for Shivam Dube during the fourth T20I against England, with England captain Jos Buttler saying after the match that this did not fit the definition of a like-for-like replacement. The television commentators who were on air at the time of the substitution – Kevin Pietersen and Nick Knight – had also questioned the swap. Dube…
India 181 for 9 (Hardik 53, Dube 53, Mahmood 3-53) beat England 166 (Brook 51, Bishnoi 3-28) by 15 runs England will be wondering how they managed to lose in Pune. They squandered a chance to take the series into a decider after winning the toss, reducing India to 12 for 3 and then 79 for 5, got off to a flying start on a flat pitch and heavy dew…
Sanjay Govil, the US-based tech entrepreneur and owner of Washington Freedom, is set to buy a minority stake in Welsh Fire, the Cardiff-based team in the Hundred. ESPNcricinfo understands that Govil submitted the higher of two sealed bids in a process on Friday evening which was delayed by the three-hour bidding war for London Spirit. ESPNcricinfo understands that the winning bid valued 100% of the Fire at approximately £65 million,…
The last round of league matches in Ranji Trophy 2024-25 is up and running. Here are the highlights from the second day. Kohli’s short stayIt lasted all of 15 deliveries in which he made six. Virat Kohli was beaten twice outside off, once to a full delivery that left him late and then a length ball that he jabbed and missed. He brought out a delightful straight drive in the…
Fakhar Zaman has been named in Pakistan’s squad for the Champions Trophy, marking his return after he fell out with the PCB over a social media post in October 2024. In a squad that PCB called “horses for courses”, Faheem Ashraf, who last played international cricket in 2023, has also been called up. Khushdil Shah and Saud Shakeel are also included. The same squad will also play the ODI tri-series…
Sachin Tendulkar is set to receive the Colonel CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award at the BCCI’s annual awards ceremony on February 1. Jasprit Bumrah has been chosen for the Polly Umrigar Award for the best international cricketer for 2023-24 in the men’s category while Smriti Mandhana has been picked for the corresponding women’s trophy. Tendulkar will be the 31st recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, which was instituted in 1994…
Pressure is mounting on the ICC to act amid the announcement of fundraising efforts to support Afghanistan’s exiled women’s cricketers, who played their first match together this week. The Pitch Our Future campaign, led by former Australia cricketer turned commentator Mel Jones, launched on Friday aimed at attracting online donations to support the players’ sporting, physical and mental needs so that they can continue to compete regularly as a team….
PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi has announced that the redevelopment of the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore is “in its final stages”. At a press conference held within the ground itself, Naqvi praised everyone involved in the construction of the stadium, saying it had been completed in record time. “The Gaddafi Stadium will be inaugurated on 7 February by the Prime Minister [Shehbaz Sharif],” Naqvi said. “It’s in its final stages and…