Hardik Pandya has credited Ashish Nehra, his coach at Gujarat Titans in the IPL, for making “a big difference” to his captaincy. When Hardik was named Titans’ captain ahead of IPL 2022, he had led only once at the senior level – in a tour game against Australia in 2017. But he led Titans to the title in their first season itself. Since then, he had led India’s T20I side…

Lunch South Africa 244 for 7 (Maharaj 49*, Harmer 45*, Cummins 3-53, Hazlewood 2-45) trail Australia 475 for 4 dec by 231 runs Simon Harmer and Keshav Maharaj combined for an outstanding partnership as South Africa mustered belated fight on day five to thwart Australia’s push for an improbable third Test victory at a sunny SCG. At lunch, South Africa needed 32 runs to avoid the follow-on target with Maharaj…

As a rejuvenated BBL heads towards the pointy end of the season, teams will look markedly different with a number of high-profile players heading to new cashed-up leagues in the UAE and South Africa. But several Australia Test stars will return before heading to India to whip up plenty of interest ahead of the finals. Adelaide Strikers Departing Chris Lynn, Rashid KhanReturning Alex Carey, Travis Head It’s mixed news for…

New Zealand fast bowler Matt Henry has been sidelined from the upcoming ODIs in Pakistan and India with an abdominal strain. He will return home with the other members of the Test squad who are not in the white-ball mix. New Zealand are yet to name a replacement for Henry. Henry’s absence could potentially open up a spot for uncapped bowling allrounder Henry Shipley who has been in excellent form…

Perth Scorchers 173 for 3 (Bancroft 76*, Hardie 57) beat Brisbane Heat 171 for 9 (Munro 45, Brown 34, Kelly 2-28) by seven wickets Cameron Bancroft and Aaron Hardie cracked quick-fire half-centuries to power Perth Scorchers to a seven-wicket win over Brisbane Heat at Optus Stadium. In reply to the Heat’s 9-171, the Scorchers reached the victory target with 21 balls to spare, courtesy of big knocks from Bancroft (76…

In a night game in Rajkot, you expect any captain to bowl first should they win the toss. But in the decider of the T20I series, both India and Sri Lanka captains said they wanted to bat first. At the toss, Hardik Pandya got his pick as Dasun Shanaka called wrong. The pitch is expected to be tacky at the start but Hardik said they were expecting some swing at…

The PCB has appealed against the ICC’s decision to award a demerit point for the Rawalpindi pitch used for the first Test against England last month. That surface was eventually declared “Below par” by match referee Andy Pycroft, the second successive Test pitch at that venue to have been given that assessment. At the time, Pycroft said: “It was a very flat pitch which gave almost no assistance to any…

The BCCI-organised T20 franchise competition for women, on the lines of the IPL, is likely to be called the Women’s T20 League and the five teams – the applications for which have been invited – will be formed via a player auction that will be held in February. The deadline for Indian players to register for the auction is at or before 5pm IST on January 26. The competition will…

Chetan Sharma, Shiv Sunder Das, Salil Ankola, Subroto Banerjee and S Sharath have been appointed to the senior men’s national selection committee. The five men were chosen, with Chetan the chairman, by the BCCI’s cricket advisory committee of Ashok Malhotra, Sulakshana Naik and Jatin Paranjape after “around 600 applications” came in. Source: ESPN Crickinfo

Melbourne Renegades 164 for 4 (Harper 89, Guptill 36, Ellis 1-17) beat Hobart Hurricanes 162 for 8 (Jewell 28, McDermott 28, Richardson 2-20, Rogers 2-40) by six wickets Sam Harper made a stunning return to form with a career-best innings to lead Melbourne Renegades to a six-wicket BBL win over Hobart Hurricanes. Harper had struggled in five previous digs this BBL season, averaging 5.40 with three ducks to his name….