India

Big picture In 26 attempts across formats, Sri Lanka have never won a bilateral series in India. If you look at it through that lens, Sunday’s ODI in Thiruvananthapuram is inconsequential, with India having already taken an unassailable 2-0 lead. However, in a World Cup year, the teams would like to utilise every opportunity they

Suryakumar Yadav‘s incredible exploits in T20I cricket have propelled him into the Test arena, with the 32-year-old batter picked in a 17-member squad to play for India against Australia. The squad, picked for only the first two Tests of the four-match home series, includes another player who has made his name in the white-ball circuit.

India have left Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli out of their T20I squad for the upcoming home series against New Zealand. KL Rahul is also not in the squad, and while the BCCI put his absence – and that of Axar Patel, from both the ODI and T20I legs of the series – down to

Running the non-striker out while he or she is backing up – it’s in the laws, but is it a cheap dismissal or a wicket of skill? Andrew Fidel Fernando and Sidharth Monga join Karthik Iyer to discuss Rohit Sharma’s withdrawal of Mohammed Shami’s appeal to run out Dasun Shanaka on 98 in the first

Batting at No. 5 in ODIs has helped KL Rahul understand his game better. After his match-winning and unbeaten 64 against Sri Lanka in Kolkata which helped India seal the series, Rahul said that batting in the middle order allows him the time to read the match situation and relax before he walks out to

The BCCI is likely to unveil the names of the five franchises that will contest the inaugural Women’s Indian Premier League (WIPL), and the cities they will operate from, on January 25. The financial bids of these franchises, currently submitted in sealed envelopes, will be opened on that day. However, the BCCI has pointed out

Big picture: Can Sri Lanka stage a comeback? The last time India and Sri Lanka played an ODI at Eden Gardens, in 2014, Rohit Sharma smashed a world-record 264. He looked set for a big hundred in Tuesday’s ODI in Guwahati as well before getting out for a 67-ball 83. Still, it was a big

The opener hit 33 fours and a six, adding 123 runs for the first wicket with Musheer Khan and an unbeaten 200 for the third with Ajinkya Rahane, as Mumbai went into stumps on 397 for 2. Shaw was severe on Roshan Alam, thumping the left-arm spinner for 76 runs at a run-a-ball. This was

Play every game like it’s your last game, and be happy about it, not sad. That’s what Virat Kohli learned during his lean phase with the bat. Between November 2019 and September 2022, Kohli didn’t score a single international hundred. He ended the drought with his first T20I hundred during the Asia Cup last year,

Gayathri, a former cricketer whose career was cut short by injury, is currently officiating in the second round match between Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh in Jamshedpur. Janani, an ex-software engineer, is umpiring in Surat for the game between Railways and Tripura, while Rathi, a former scorer, is in charge for the Goa vs Pondicherry match in

There has been a debate going around if Hardik Pandya should replace Rohit Sharma as India’s T20I captain but Rohit said he has no plans to give up T20Is as things stand. After the 2022 T20 World Cup, both Rohit and Virat Kohli missed India’s next two T20I series, away against New Zealand and at

Jasprit Bumrah‘s India comeback will be delayed further after a decision was taken not to play him in the ODI series against Sri Lanka after all. ESPNcricinfo has learned that Bumrah might need another month to build up to match fitness after suffering another setback, casting doubts over his participation in the first Test against

India head coach Rahul Dravid has defended his side’s decision to bowl first in the second T20I, by pointing out that there was a lot of dew towards the end of the game and one could not take such decisions only on the basis of historical numbers. Sri Lanka put on 206 for 6 after

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

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

Chetan Sharma has been reappointed as the chairman of the BCCI’s national men’s senior selection committee. Chetan, who was in the same position in the previous selection committee, which had been sacked in November last year, will have Shiv Sunder Das, Salil Ankola, Subroto Banerjee and S Sharath as colleagues in the new panel. The

India 228 for 5 (Suryakumar 112*, Gill 46, Madushanka 2-55) beat Sri Lanka 137 (Mendis 23, Arshdeep 3-20, Hardik 2-30) by 91 runs Suryakumar Yadav‘s sublime century – his third in only 43 T20I innings – set up a series win for India against Sri Lanka. Batting first in the decider, India scored 228 out

Rishabh Pant has undergone a successful knee ligament surgery, conducted at Mumbai’s Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital on Friday, BCCI sources have confirmed. “Rishabh Pant has successfully undergone a knee ligament surgery on Friday. He will be under observation. Further course of action and rehabilitation will be advised by Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala and followed by the

Rohan Jaitley, the Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) president, has sacked the state’s senior selection committee a day after reports of infighting within the panel and “dubious selection” emerged. He has voiced out his “disapproval of the manner in which the men’s selection committee is discharging its duties”. On Tuesday, selectors Gagan Khoda, the

Big picture: SL eye first T20I series win in India The last time India lost a bilateral T20I series at home was in 2019 when Australia beat them 2-0. Since then they have been on an 11-series unbeaten streak. But that could change on Saturday. After running India close in the first T20I, Sri Lanka

Shikha Pandey, the India allrounder, has credited former Australia captain Belinda Clark for making her feel “worthy” and “special” during her time away from the national team. In September 2022, Clark facilitated a three-week stint for Pandey in Brisbane, where she played club cricket. That stint nearly paved way for a maiden Women’s Big Bash

Sri Lanka 206 for 6 (Shanaka 56*, Kusal 52, Malik 3-48, Axar 2-24) beat India 190 for 8 (Axar 65, Suryakumar 51, Shanaka 2-4, Rajitha 2-22) by 16 runs Axar Patel tried his absolute best with both bat and ball, but Dasun Shanaka continued his all-round domination of India to bring up a 16-run win for Sri Lanka

Similarly, the board would’ve had to anyway appoint a new selector from West Zone as the Chetan Sharma-led selection panel was reduced to four members in late 2021 after Abey Kuruvilla, the former Mumbai and India fast bowler, completed the maximum tenure of five years. While Kuruvilla moved on to the role of BCCI general

When India announced their squad for the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka, their seam bowling looked thin on experience. Arshdeep Singh, who made his international debut less than six months ago, was the leader of the pack, which had Umran Malik and two uncapped bowlers in Shivam Mavi and Mukesh Kumar. Then, on the

While Samson did not wear the wicketkeeping gloves in the first game, Jitesh has been added to India’s squad as a cover for Ishan Kishan for the next two T20Is. Jitesh had a good season for Punjab last year in the IPL, where he scored 234 in 12 outings with a strike rate of 163.63.

Rishabh Pant is being airlifted from Dehradun to Mumbai because one of the two ligament tears in his knee needs immediate intervention. “Rishabh will undergo surgery and subsequent procedures for ligament tears and will continue to be monitored by the BCCI Medical Team throughout his recovery and rehabilitation,” the BCCI said in a statement. “The

Gautam Gambhir, the former India batter, says the team needs to identify a back-up for seam-bowling allrounder Hardik Pandya as a priority as they build towards the 50-over World Cup at home this October-November. “They need to quickly identify a back-up for Hardik; if something happens to him, India will be in serious, serious trouble,”

The BCCI has invited applications for “the right to own and operate” teams at the inaugural women’s IPL, which is expected to start in March and get over before the men’s IPL begins. A press statement from the BCCI on Tuesday asked for “reputed entities” to make a non-refundable payment of INR 5 lakh (USD

Jasprit Bumrah has been added to India’s ODI squad for the three-match series against Sri Lanka. The fast bowler has been out of action since September last year because of a stress reaction in his back, and he’s been rehabilitating at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru since then. When India’s squads for the T20I

Big picture In an ODI World Cup year, a bilateral T20I series may have the same appeal for fans as a New Year party has for an introvert. It just feels like something you can do without. India and Sri Lanka, though, will be looking at the bigger picture. Having reflected on what went wrong