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

“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,

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

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

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

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 He did not travel with the team and was subsequently withdrawn from the series, which India drew 1-1 by winning the second Test in Cape Town, after not recovering in time.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

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

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. ESPNcricinfo has learned that

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

India’s Test series in South Africa was being billed as the “final frontier”, but when a team loses the match in 210 overs, questions are bound to be around the preparation. India’s preference for an intra-squad game over a proper first-class match or practice match came into question after their defeat in the first Test

50 overs India 282 for 8 (Rodrigues 82, Vastrakar 62*, Bhatia 49, Wareham 2-55, Gardner 2-63) vs Australia The notable absentee from India’s XI was vice-captain and opener Smriti Mandhana, who was unwell and unavailable for selection. However, Bhatia, who opened in her place alongside Shafali Verma got India off to a decent start when

South Africa 256 for 5 (Elgar 140*, Bedingham 56, Bumrah 2-48) lead India 245 (Rahul 101, Rabada 5-59) by 11 runs If there is one shot a batter must master, its Dean Elgar‘s play and miss. More so if they harbour dreams of opening the innings. It really is a life-saver and as it turns

KL Rahul has spoken of his struggle with online abuse and how it had begun to change him as a person. After he capped off his international comeback with a superlative century, his sixth away from Asia out of eight in all, this one with the added responsibility of keeping wicket, Rahul spoke of the

India 208 for 8 (Rahul 70*, Kohli 38, Rabada 5-44) vs South Africa South Africa were poor. India were unlucky. Kagiso Rabada was sublime. KL Rahul was bullish. Thirty-one boundaries were hit. Eight wickets were taken. The stadium was full(ish). The vibe was great. This was Boxing Day with a point to prove. After 59

The last one month and six days have been pretty challenging for Rohit Sharma. He has had to find the strength to move on from the World Cup final loss that must have felt at that point like the end of the world. He has since lost his Mumbai Indians captaincy even as there have

Big picture: India chase history The final frontier. That’s what South Africa has proven to be for India. Since South Africa’s readmission to international cricket, India have made eight Test tours to the country. The closest they came to winning was in 2010-11 when the three-match series ended 1-1. Two years ago, players and experts

Saika Ishaque, Shreyanka Patil, Mannat Kashyap and Titas Sadhu have received their maiden ODI call-ups for the Australia series starting December 28 in Mumbai. Renuka Singh and Richa Ghosh also returned to the ODI set-up after missing the Bangladesh tour in July; Renuka was injured then and Ghosh had been dropped for Uma Chetry, who

KL Rahul has started only one first-class match as the designated wicketkeeper, but that doesn’t seem like it will hold India back from playing him as a wicketkeeper in the two-Test series in South Africa. Two days before the first Test in Centurion, coach Rahul Dravid spoke at length about the challenge for Rahul but