Author: Tahir

Heather Knight has urged the cricket community to lend its voice to the Afghanistan women’s team amid concerns that the group had been largely “forgotten” until a row broke out last week over the England men’s team playing Afghanistan at the Champions Trophy.England are due to play Afghanistan in Lahore on February 26 in their second match of the tournament and the ECB has faced calls from UK politicians to consider boycotting the match. UK prime minister Keir Starmer and ECB chief executive Richard Gould have called upon the ICC to show leadership on the issue.Women’s cricket in Afghanistan has…

Shaun Pollock, the media representative of the ICC’s cricket committee, has said that the body is “working on something” to give bowlers “bit more leeway on wides”, particularly with batters often moving around the crease in limited-overs formats.”If a batter jumps across [at the] last minute, it doesn’t really work out for me,” Pollock told PTI on the sidelines of the SA20. “I think a bowler, at the start of his run-up, needs to know where he can bowl it.”The current rule tends to suggest that if he [the batter] moves and it’s that point of delivery where the batter…

Alyssa Healy will resume wicketkeeping duties for Australia in the Ashes series opener, Sunday’s first ODI against England in Sydney.But Healy, Australia’s captain who has been nursing a knee injury since mid-November, admitted that a tight schedule of seven matches – including a four-day Test – in the space of 22 days might mean some rotation of personnel through the series, which starts with three ODIs followed by three T20s.”Yeah, good to go,” a beaming Healy told reporters of her ability to keep after a practice session at North Sydney Oval, less than 24 hours before the series start at…

Australia captain Pat Cummins says he’s immensely proud to claim a trophy that “a few” of his team-mates didn’t have after Australia closed out the Border-Gavaskar series with a six-wicket win in Sydney.”Unreal. This was one that a few of us didn’t have,” Cummins said at the post-series presentation. “It’s been an amazing series. [We’re] immensely proud. We’ve spent a lot of time together as a group over the years, so we knew we weren’t at our best at Perth, but it was never as bad as it seems. So you stick tight and double down on what makes us…

Jasprit Bumrah, India’s stand-in captain, expressed disappointment at not being able to have a crack at Australia on what he described as “the spiciest wicket of the series” in Sydney.Bumrah didn’t bowl in India’s defence of 162 following back spasms that flared up during play on Saturday. Bumrah went for precautionary scans and didn’t return to take the field for the remainder of the Test. He finished the series with 32 wickets in nine innings at 13.06, to be named Player of the Series.”It’s a little frustrating, but sometimes you’ve got to respect your body, you can’t fight your body,”…

The Indians celebrated Usman Khawaja’s wicket forcefully in Konstas’ direction after he had exchanged words with Bumrah, and Australia coach Andrew McDonald called out their behaviour towards the 19-year-old, while adding the ICC had set a benchmark for what is acceptable by not handing down any punishment.”Look, it’s a tough sport played by tough men. You can’t be that soft,” Gambhir said after India’s defeat at the SCG. “That’s as simple as it can get. I don’t think there was anything intimidating about it.”He [Konstas] had no right to be talking to Jasprit Bumrah when Usman Khawaja was taking time.…

Rohit Sharma’s decision to sit out of the Sydney Test shouldn’t be misconstrued as a retirement decision, he has said. He is confident “things can change” and those with a “mic, pen or laptop can’t decide when we should retire.”Rohit was reacting to media reports in India that had brought his Test future into sharp focus following India’s loss in the fourth Border-Gavaskar Test in Melbourne, which all but ended their chances of qualifying for the WTC final.”This decision is not a retirement decision,” he told Star Sports during the lunch break on day two of the Sydney Test, in…

Australia 181 (Webster 57, Prasidh 3-42, Siraj 3-51) and 162 for 4 (Khawaja 41, Webster 39*, Head 34*, Prasidh 3-65) beat India 185 (Pant 40, Boland 4-31, Starc 3-49) and 157 (Pant 61, Boland 6-45, Cummins 3-44) by six wicketsAustralia regained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the silverware that had eluded them for a decade, and confirmed their spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) final alongside South Africa, after finishing off India inside three days at the SCG.India’s hopes of staying in contention for the WTC final rested on Jasprit Bumrah, but without him those faded away. For someone who had…

On a blustery Wellington day, an Antarctic chill blowing in with the southerly, New Zealand’s home advantage may have played a role in their victory. This is what Matt Henry thinks, after his 4 for 19 led the demolition of Sri Lanka’s batting order. Bowling first on a green pitch, New Zealand rolled Sri Lanka over for 178. And yet Sri Lanka’s seamers were unable to exert similar pressure, New Zealand winning by nine wickets, inside 27 overs.Though this is midsummer in New Zealand, the temperature was around 15 degrees Celsius in the morning. And as almost always at the…

Head coach Gautam Gambhir offered them support but left the big decision to the players.”I can’t talk about the future of any player,” Gambhir said at the press conference after the series. “It’s up to them as well. But yes, what I can say is that they still have the hunger. They still have the passion. They’re tough people. And hopefully they can continue to take Indian cricket forward. But ultimately, as we all know, that whatever they plan, they will plan for the best interest of Indian cricket.”Rohit has averaged 10.93 over his last eight Test matches with only…