Toss India chose to bat vs New Zealand India continued to challenge themselves by bowling in the night as they won the toss and decided to bat first in the ODI series opener against New Zealand, who said they would have bowled first anyway had they won the toss. India were always going to have a different look to their side with KL Rahul and Axar Patel taking a break….

It’s the new word doing the rounds in the cricket circuit these days: Sarfarazesque. It doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily as Bradmanesque does, but Sarfaraz Khan will take it. After all, his job, as spelt out by his father Naushad Khan, is “to keep scoring runs, for whichever team, all the time”. Since his second coming, so to say, he has been doing it in first-class cricket better…

Pakistan 125 (Brown 3-32) vs Australia Australia need 126 runs to wrap up the three-match ODI series after a disciplined bowling effort restricted Pakistan at the Allan Border Field. Electing to bat in Brisbane’s sunny conditions, Pakistan eyed a strong total in a must-win game two after losing the series opener by eight wickets in a rain-affected contest reduced to 40 overs per side. But they were shackled by relentless…

Shannon Gabriel could play his first Test in over a year after being recalled for West Indies’ Test squad to tour Zimbabwe later this month. Spinners Jomel Warrican and Gudakesh Motie will also come back into contention after being included in the 15-man party. Gabriel, 34, last featured in the Test side in Sri Lanka in November 2021. He was subsequently sidelined by a hamstring injury, and spent much of…

Trent Boult is currently in action for MI Emirates in the ILT20 in the UAE, having turned down his New Zealand central contract. And Tim Southee has been wrapped in cotton wool ahead of the home Test series against England in February. The last time New Zealand played an ODI without both Boult and Southee against a top-ranked team was back in 2016 against Australia in Hamilton. Ish Sodhi’s ankle…

Ishan Kishan is known for his big shots. He loves them so much he went to hit boundaries with the very first balls he played in ODI and T20I cricket. But now, having been brought into India’s Test squad, he knows the importance of playing within himself and not succumbing to what he called “youngsters’ trait”. Speaking to team-mate Shubman Gill on the BCCI website, Kishan said, “I do think…

The Pakistan women’s T20 league, meant to run alongside the PSL next month, will not go ahead as planned. The new PCB management committee, headed by Najam Sethi, decided to shelve the league, with the aim of holding it in September. The new league – which will bear a different name – will be a standalone tournament with four teams. The idea to launch the women’s T20 league was initiated…

Shadab Khan, the Pakistan allrounder, has signed to play for Sussex in this year’s Vitality T20 Blast As previously reported by ESPNcricinfo, Sussex have been working to land a number of overseas signings, with Shadab expected to be available for the duration of the Blast. Sussex will be the 24-year-old’s second county, having turned out for Yorkshire in the competition last summer. He could be joined at Hove by Sean…

Ian Salisbury, the former England legspinner, has joined Middlesex as a consultant coach, four months after his abrupt departure from Sussex due to a non-cricketing dispute with one of his players. Salisbury, 52, was placed on gardening leave at Sussex in September, where he had been co-head coach alongside James Kirtley, and left the club at the end of the season. He will now work alongside his fellow consultant Mark…

Dane van Niekerk has been left out of South Africa’s 17-member squad, led by legspinning allrounder Sune Luus, for the women’s T20I tri-series featuring India and West Indies. Experienced wicketkeeper-batter Trisha Chetty is also absent from the squad that has two uncapped players in Annerie Dercksen and Tebogo Macheke. Van Niekerk, who last played for South Africa in September 2021, was not considered after failing to meet fitness requirements as…