Cricket

On this day, in 1993, legendary Australian spinner Shane Warne stunned the cricket world with a delivery that bamboozled and impressed England batsman Mike Gatting at the same time. Warne got the ball for the first time at Manchester, his first ever on English soil. The pitch was damp and there were a few patches as well. Bowling over the wicket, Warne bowled a massive leg spinner which pitched way outside the leg stump and went on to hit the top of off

Cricket returns to competitive action in Australia this weekend with a T20 carnival in Darwin that marks an important milestone for the game amid the COVID-19 pandemic. And not only will cricket be back on the field, fans will also be in attendance. The CDU Top End T20 is a round-robin carnival that will see 15 games played across the Queen's Birthday long-weekend on June 6-8. The tournament will feature the seven Darwin Premier Grade clubs, with the eighth team an Invitational XI

Even as most bowlers around the world have been left sweating over his panel's decision to ban the use of saliva due to medical reasons in cricket post Covid-19, Anil Kumble has dropped in a couple of key words that may offer them succour: 'helpful pitches.' He feels it's not just pacers, but even spinners who could find themselves back in the game if they get "roughed up" surfaces. The ICC cricket committee, which is chaired by the leg spin great, has been

After paying tributes to Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble, it was Rahul Dravid’s turn to be at the receiving ends of VVS Laxman’s kind words. Laxman, who has shared Indian cricket’s most memorable partnership in Tests with Dravid – a 376-run stand against Australia at the historic Eden Gardens Test in 2001 – called his former India teammate the “ultimate team man” and the “most committed student.” “The game’s most committed student, Rahul was the ultimate team man, responding to every

After waiting and waiting for a resumption of international cricket following Covid-19, there is now a very real possibility that England captain Joe Root may miss the first Test against West Indies at the Ageas Bowl next month. His wife, Carrie, is due to give birth to their second child at the start of July and the first Test in Southampton will begin, subject to government approval, on July 8. Quite understandably, Root says he will be at the birth come what may

Virat Kohli and Steve Smith are undoubtedly two of the best batsmen going around in world cricket and on numerous occasions they have been pitted against each other by fans and pundits. The debate has raged on as to who is better and while that might take some time to be settled, one thing there is no debating about is that the duo have immense respect for each other. Virat Kohli has spoken about his admiration for Steve Smith, even gesturing to fans

Back in 2007, when the ultimate Indian Premier League (IPL) was not introduced, the 1983 World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev started a league named the Indian Cricket League (ICL). The former India skipper started ICL with a motive to bring all veteran international players under one roof. However, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) refused to recognize ICL as a cricket tournament and termed it as the rebel league. The apex cricketing body saw Kapil’s association with ICL as a

Kohli, 31, replaced Dhoni as Test captain in 2014-15 and took over the limited-overs reins in early 2017, becoming India’s all-format leader as well the team’s batting mainstay. Fielding in the slips, Kohli had easy access to wicket-keeper Dhoni and he felt their chats in between deliveries earned him the trust of the former skipper. “You start talking to the captain regularly,” Kohli told team-mate Ravichandran Ashwin in a chat on YouTube. “I was always in MS’s ear, standing next to him and

The ECB has welcomed the UK Government's go-ahead for the return of professional sport behind closed doors as it presses ahead with plans to host international cricket this summer, and stage a domestic season. In a further easing of lockdown restrictions imposed because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Oliver Dowden announced government health and safety guidance on Saturday for elite athletes and professional sportspeople to return to competition in the absence of spectators from June

Steven Smith suggested that he would be willing to miss the early part of the Australian domestic season to take part in the IPL should this year's T20 World Cup be postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic and leave room for a delayed edition of the world's most lucrative domestic T20 event. Contracted to Rajasthan Royals, where he was named captain for the 2020 tournament, Smith said that while international cricket took priority for him, he could see the sense in travelling to

Cricket West Indies (CWI) has given its approval in principle for a test series in England, the body said on Friday. West Indies had been scheduled to visit England for three tests in June but the tour was pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is now looking at hosting the series in July. “CWI … received and reviewed detailed plans for players and staff to be kept in a bio-secure environment for the duration of

On Friday, American business magazine Forbes released their annual list of the Top 100 richest athletes in the world, commonly known as Forbes’ 100, and Indian Cricket Team skipper Virat Kohli turned out to be the only cricketer in the list, with his earnings for the calendar year 2020 estimated to be a total of $26 million, endorsements included. According to the magazine, Kohli earned a whopping $24 million from his endorsements, while just $2 million of the total estimate came from his

On Friday Cricket Australia had announced that the schedule for the upcoming India's tour Down Under. The four Tests of the much-anticipated series will be played at Gabba, Adelaide Oval, MCG and the SCG respectively starting December 3, the CA had said on Thursday. Additionally India were to play a T20I series in October in Australia, but according to a report in Mumbai Mirror, that might not happen after all, seeing the global lockdown due to coronavirus. It now looks almost certain that

Cricket Australia on being asked about their preference if the 2020 edition of the T20 World Cup doesn’t go ahead, has said that it would want to hold the 2021 edition rather than getting hosting rights in 2022. The 2021 edition of the tournament is currently for India to host. According to a report in The Australian, a letter from Cricket Australia chairman Earl Eddings was sent to ICC’s Financial and Commercial Affairs Committee on Thursday calling for the tournament to be shifted

Legendary English all-rounder Ian Botham says captain Virat Kohli is the "right guy" to take Indian cricket forward but rates Ben Stokes as the world's best player at the moment. "Virat takes the game to the opposition, he takes a stand for his players. I would have loved to play against him. He is the right guy to take Indian cricket forward," Botham said during an online chat session with Playwrite Foundation. One of the game's finest all-rounders, Botham has represented England with

Cricketers go through a lot of ups and downs throughout their career. There have been many cricketers whose career faced the saddest of endings. Here, we bring you a list of 8 cricketers who faced a tragic end to their career. Have a look: Navjot Singh Sidhu: Navjot Singh Sidhu is a person, who is always ‘high on emotions’ and his retirement was very saddening. Well, if reports are to be believed than Navjot Singh was left heartbroken when Wadekar called him ‘unfit’

India is not at risk of losing hosting rights for next year's Twenty20 World Cup despite its cricket board's failure to secure a tax exemption for the event, a key BCCI official has told Reuters. Tax exemptions for International Cricket Council (ICC) events are listed as a requirement in host agreements and the BCCI was supposed to confirm they had secured one by May 18. ESPNcricinfo, citing correspondence between the two bodies, has reported that the ICC has threatened to shift the tournament

Cricket Australia has finalised four venues for hosting the Test series against India later this year. Earlier, it was being speculated that whether the series against India will go ahead or not due to the coronavirus, but Cricket Australia seems to have worked out a potential schedule for the series. Brisbane has been picked to host the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India and the match will take place from December 3-7, cricket.com.au reported. The second Test of the series will

England white-ball skipper Eoin Morgan admitted that he would be surprised if the T20 World Cup went ahead given the complications that could arise with having to accomodate 16 teams and their support staffs across a number of venues. "I'd be surprised if it goes ahead. My reasons for that would be if you look at how Australia have handled the pandemic, they've shut down the borders pretty early, had a limited number of cases and deaths in comparison to the rest of

The postponement of this year's T20 World Cup in Australia to 2022, which might open up a window for the lucrative Indian Premier League in October, is expected to be formalised when the International Cricket Council's all-powerful board holds a tele-conference on Thursday. The decision, if it is formalised, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic will give members a chance to chalk out their bilateral blue-print in the coming months. "There is a good chance that postponement of World T20 will be decided during