India

Asked to bat on a green top after a delayed start at home in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh’s first innings lasted just 20.5 overs. Mohammed Shami’s younger brother Mohammed Kaif was the star for Bengal, claiming 4 for 14 in his 5.5 overs. But what unfolded thereafter was a Bhuvneshwar masterclass as he marked his first-class

Big picture: Virat Kohli returns to T20I action For Afghanistan, Rashid Khan has been ruled out of the entire three-match series, but they can still be a dangerous T20 team on their day. Six players in the XI that played on Thursday have IPL contracts and almost all their players feature in franchise T20 –

Prasidh Krishna picked up a left quadriceps injury on the first day of Karnataka’s Ranji Trophy 2023-24 match against Gujarat in Ahmedabad on Friday, and was subsequently left out of the India squad for the first two Tests of the five-match series against England at home. Prasidh hobbled off the field after bowling 14.5 overs,

Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel are back in India’s spin-heavy squad for the first two home Tests against England. Mohammed Shami, who is working his way back from an ankle injury, is a notable absentee, though. Vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar and Avesh Khan make up the seam attack while R Ashwin and

The BCCI has shortlisted Bengaluru and Delhi as venues to host the 2024 Women’s Premier League (WPL). The BCCI has also tentatively pencilled in a window between February 22 and March 17 for the second season of the tournament. ESPNcricinfo has learned the first part of WPL 2024 will be played in Bengaluru while Delhi

Shami was included in India’s Test squad for the two matches in South Africa, subject to fitness. He did not travel with the team and was subsequently withdrawn from the series, which India drew 1-1 by winning the second Test in Cape Town, after not recovering in time. He was not named in India’s T20I

Toss: India opt to bowl vs Afghanistan India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl in his first T20I in more than a year. Rohit last featured in T20Is during the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. India picked just two frontline quicks in Arshdeep Singh and Mukesh Kumar on a greenish

Virat Kohli will miss the first T20I against Afghanistan in Mohali on Friday. India coach Rahul Dravid confirmed on the eve of the match that Kohli would be unavailable for personal reasons, and would be back for the second and third games of the series in Indore and Bengaluru. “Virat Kohli will miss the first

“As of now, we will be certainly opening with Rohit and Jaiswal,” Dravid said. “But when you have a squad, you have to have that flexibility to do whatever is required if that is in the best interest of the team, and gives us the best chance to succeed. So nothing is closed. But certainly,

Big picture: Final rehearsal for India In less than five months, India will face Ireland in their opening game at the 2024 T20 World Cup. While there is the IPL before that, the three-match series against Afghanistan, starting in Mohali on Thursday, is India’s only T20I assignment in between. Incidentally, this is the first time

Shreyas Iyer will be part of the Mumbai squad for their second round match of the Ranji Trophy 2023-24 against Andhra beginning January 12. It will mark his return to the Mumbai XI for the first time in the Ranji Trophy since the 2018-19 season. The home game at the Sharad Pawar Cricket Academy in

Ravi Bishnoi‘s four-wicket haul in the first innings helped Gujarat overcome a 14-run deficit to clinch a thrilling win over Tamil Nadu in Valsad. Gujarat’s 236 seemed quite massive when TN were tottering on 119 for 8 in the first innings. M Mohammed and Sandeep Warrier then put on 116 for the ninth wicket to

Australia 149 for 3 (Healy 55, Mooney 52*, Vastrakar 2-26) beat India 147 for 6 (Ghosh 34, Sutherland 2-12, Wareham 2-24) by seven wickets Alyssa Healy hammered a 38-ball 55 in her 150th T20I appearance to seal Australia’s come-from-behind 2-1 series win against India. Her initial assault put Australia well ahead at the ten-over mark,

The ICC has handed an “unsatisfactory” rating and one demerit point to the pitch that hosted the New Year’s Test between South Africa and India at Newlands in Cape Town. Cricket South Africa has confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that it will not appeal the sanction, which an official called a “fair” assessment of the surface. The

Cheteshwar Pujara has scored his 17th double-century in first-class cricket, in the opening round of the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy season, against Jharkhand. Batting overnight on 157, Pujara went past 200 in the first session of the third day and remained unbeaten on 243 after lunch, when Saurashtra declared on 578 for 4, with a massive

Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya will not be part of the Indian squad for the three-match T20I series at home against Afghanistan that starts on January 11. Ruturaj Gaikwad is also unavailable with a finger injury, and is likely to miss the first part of the England Test series as well. The squad for the

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have returned to India’s T20I squad after an absence of more than a year from the format for the three-match series against Afghanistan, India’s last T20I series before the T20 World Cup in June. Rohit and Kohli have not played T20Is since India’s semi-final defeat to England in the T20

Australia 133 for 4 (Perry 34*, Healy 26, Deepti 2-22) beat India 130 for 8 (Deepti 30, Wareham2-17, Sutherland 2-18, Garth 2-27) by six wickets A disciplined bowling effort and a memorable cameo from Ellyse Perry, on her 300th international game, handed Australia a six-wicket win in the second T20I against India, helping them level

Former South Africa captain AB de Villiers is annoyed that India and South Africa played only a two-match Test series and blamed the rise in T20 leagues for the situation. De Villiers advocated for longer Test series and reckoned that “something has to change” if the best team in the world is to be identified.

Abhimanyu Easwaran will lead India A in the visiting England Lions’ first two fixtures in Ahmedabad later this month. The shadow tour to the five-Test series between India and England starts with a two-day warm-up game on January 12-13, followed by a four-day first-class fixture on January 17-20, both in Ahmedabad. Abhimanyu was reserve opener

The beginning of the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy brought crowds in big numbers to Patna’s Moin-ul-Haq Stadium – a venue that once hosted World Cup fixtures in 1996 – and hosts Bihar gave the people plenty of reasons to cheer. Mumbai, the 41-time champions, had been reduced to 235 for 9 on the opening day of

Before the latest update, both Australia and India had a rating of 118 each, but India were ahead on points. However, India lost one rating point after they drew their two-match series in South Africa 1-1, and are now placed second. Australia, meanwhile, beat Pakistan in the first two Tests to stay on 118 rating

India 153 (Kohli 46, Rohit 39, Ngidi 3-30, Rabada 3-38, Burger 3-42) and 80 for 3 (Jaiswal 28, Jansen 1-15) beat South Africa 55 (Verreynne 15, Siraj 6-15) and 176 (Markram 106, Bumrah 6-61) by seven wickets Jasprit Bumrah‘s 6 for 61 paved the way for India’s seven-wicket win on the second day of the

Rohit Sharma has called out the ICC and the match referees for what he sees as double standards at rating pitches. After winning the shortest Test in the history of the game, thanks to a lottery pitch loaded too heavily in the favour of the seam bowlers, Rohit was scathing about the slander against pitches

Dean Elgar was dismissed twice on the first day, in his last Test match. After opting to bat, he was bowled by Mohammed Siraj off an inside edge for 4 in the first innings, where South Africa folded in 23.2 overs. Siraj’s new-ball spell of 9-3-15-6 skittled South Africa for 55 – the lowest total

Ravindra Jadeja is fit and available for selection, giving India more batting depth and options when it comes to bowling combinations. He is also the only left-hand batter outside opener Yashasvi Jaiswal. Jadeja had missed the first Test with spasms in the upper back on the morning of the match. While confirming Jadeja’s return to

0.2, Renuka to Litchfieldlooks like a dropped catch! Yup, Amanjot there. Short extra cover dives to her left, and palms the ball wide of mid-off, as Litchfield gets off the mark. The length of this ball was fuller, and the line wider too, as she drove with a flat bat 4.6, Renuka to Litchfield dropped by Mandhana at

Gill endured back-to-back failures in Centurion in the first Test against South Africa. He was caught down leg when he looked to glance a wide delivery from Nandre Burger that reared up on a spicy opening-day pitch in the first innings, and got knocked over by Marco Jansen when he tried to play across the

India allrounder Shardul Thakur suffered a blow on his shoulder on Saturday in Centurion, while batting at the nets. How serious the hit was is yet to be ascertained, and scans will be carried out if required. As of now, there’s no confirmation that scans are needed – while Thakur seemed in considerable discomfort when

Deol, who bowls spin but is primarily a batter, was considered a like-for-like replacement for Rana, who is an offspinner primarily and a lower-order batter. Deol’s last ODI outing was against Bangladesh in Mirpur in July, when she scored 77 in a tied game and was named Player of the Match.