Author: WebDesk

Jonny Bairstow has been included in England’s Test squad, in place of Ben Foakes, wicketkeeper-bat, for the one-off Test against Ireland at Lord’s, commencing on June 1. James Anderson, the 40-year-old pace bowler who is closing in on 700 Test wickets, has also been picked in the squad, despite sustaining a mild groin strain while playing county cricket for Lancashire. Meanwhile, Jofra Archer, English cricket’s prodigal fast bowler, was ruled out of the entire summer because of a recurring elbow problem. Bairstow hasn’t played for England since he suffered a freak leg injury in September last year while playing golf.…

Not too many will recall the last of Mumbai Indians’ five Indian Premier League (IPL) titles. In November 2020, the world was still coming to grips with words and phrases like ‘pandemic’, ‘lockdown’ and ‘social distancing’. The final, at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, was worlds removed from the usual razzmatazz and hype. Without thousands of fans whirling and swirling like dervishes in the stands, it wasn’t even half the spectacle. In retrospect, that was also the end of the road for a great team. It was Mumbai’s fifth title in eight years, and a third in four seasons. The…



This was meant to be the year when Rajasthan Royals took that excruciatingly difficult final step. Runners-up to Gujarat Titans in 2022, they came into this season with a squad capable of going the distance. And when they racked up hugely impressive away wins over Chennai Super Kings, contenders again after the 2022 blip, and Gujarat in back-to-back games, many experienced onlookers had them down as favourites. Just over a fortnight into the season, Rajasthan sat pretty with a 4-1 record. Trent Boult was picking up new-ball wickets, Sandeep Sharma was outfoxing no less a finisher than MS Dhoni with…

The atmosphere at the East Bengal ground for Bollywood superstar Salman Khan’s live show was electrifying on Saturday night. Salman, visiting Kolkata after 13 years, was accompanied by stars like Sonakshi Sinha, Jacqueline Fernandez, Prabhu Deva, Pooja Hegde, Ayush Sharma and Guru Randhawa as part of the “DA-BANGG TOUR – RELOADED” live performance. The Bhaijaan of Bollywood enthralled his fans by dancing to chart-busting tunes. The Bollywood heartthrob was felicitated by the club with a specially minted gold coin as part of its centenary year, along with a red-and-yellow jersey with his favourite No. 27. He was also given…

Written by Vaibhav Tripathi Faf du Plessis, the captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), was delighted with the team’s emphatic 112-run triumph over Rajasthan Royals in a crunch game at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium. After batting to score 171, RCB skittled the Royals for just 59, the third-lowest score in IPL history. “Really good for our NRR,” said du Plessis at the post-match presentation. “Tough pitch. We batted first and assessed the conditions. We batted in the powerplay and thought 160 will be a good score. We have had a good set-up till the 15th over. But we managed…

Overview Gujarat Titans won’t just look to get back to winning ways when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Narendra Modi Stadium. They would also have an eye on progressing to Qualifier 1 of the playoffs. Gujarat’s smooth journey suffered a bit of blip when Suryakumar Yadav’s heroics at the Wankhede resulted in a heavy defeat. However, they would believe that they have the required artillery to put that setback behind them. The Gujarat camp do have a few worries to think of. One of them is Wriddhiman Saha’s up-and-down season. It is true that he made a significant…

Ravi Shastri, former India coach and captain, has suggested that the incumbent T20 captain Hardik Pandya would play a pivotal role in the selection of the squad for the next T20 World Cup in 2024. “The T20 World Cup is coming up and there is lot of talent among youth,” said Shastri in a chat on ESPNCricinfo. “This year’s IPL, we have seen some refreshing new talent. There will be new faces, not a new team. He (Hardik) is already captain of India, so he will continue unless he is not fit.” Shastri stressed on the parallels with 2007, when…

Picture this scene. An Indian Premier League (IPL) match featuring Sunrisers Hyderabad, the hometown team, and Lucknow Super Giants, one of the expansion sides added to the competition in 2022. Hyderabad is around 500km away from Bangalore, while roughly the same distance separates Lucknow and Delhi. Yet, when the Hyderabad fans were upset about an on-field incident, they chose to heckle a member of Lucknow’s support staff by chanting “Kohli, Kohli!” Virat Kohli is a Delhi boy, who has spent each of the 16 IPL seasons playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore. He had no ostensible connection with either side…

Overview Both Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have had plenty of individual highlights to savour already this season. The batting of Yashasvi Jaiswal and, at times, Sanju Samson has been a joy to watch, while Bangalore’s Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli are both very much in the mix for the Orange cap. RCB have also seen some fabulous new-ball spells from Mohammed Siraj, and Rajasthan have witnessed the same from Trent Boult. For the Royals, both Yuzvendra Chahal – once of RCB – and R Ashwin have been immense, while Harshal Patel and Wanindu Hasaranga have…