2 for 3. If you’re an India fan, you probably saw flashbacks of 6 for 2 and 5 for 3 when you watched Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood cut through your top order on Sunday. Not again, you may have pleaded, beseeching whichever force you believe shapes the day-to-day destiny of the universe. Please, not

India 201 for 4 (Rahul 97*, Kohli 85, Hazlewood 3-38) beat Australia 199 all out (Smith 46, Jadeja 3-28) by six wickets The hosts and favourites for the 2023 World Cup are up and running. But as clinical as India’s six-wicket victory over Australia looks on paper, there was far more jeopardy out on the

Big picture “50-over World Cup is the biggest sporting event in cricketing history. So, for me, this is the biggest event that I will be part of.” You might share this sentiment, expressed by Rohit Sharma on Saturday, but you may not have seen too much evidence just yet that too many others do. Four

Rain played spoilsport in the men’s final at the Asian Games, meaning that only 18.2 overs were possible before the game was abandoned. India, by virtue of being the higher-seeded team, were awarded the gold medal in what proved to be an anti-climactic end to a competitive tournament. Earlier in the afternoon, India had won

Shubman Gill is set to miss India’s opening match of the 2023 ODI World Cup, against Australia in Chennai on October 8, after testing positive for dengue*. In Gill’s absence, Ishan Kishan is likely to open the innings with captain Rohit Sharma. Another option is KL Rahul. After Gill did not attend India’s training sessions

Rohit Sharma pursed his lips and furrowed his brow. Sitting cross-legged on a white sofa in the banquet hall of the Gujarat Cricket Association Clubhouse, he threw up his hands to take issue with the line of questioning. “That’s not my job, sir,” he said. “Declaring all this is not my job.” He had been

India will head into the World Cup without having played a single ball of warm-ups, with their practice match against Netherlands washed out in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday. Their first warm-up match, against England in Guwahati on September 30, was also called off without a ball bowled, though the weather did allow the toss to take

India 202 for 4 (Jaiswal 100, Rinku 37*, Airee 2-31) beat Nepal 179 for 9 (Airee 32, Jora 29, Avesh 3-32, Bishnoi 3-24) by 23 runs Yashasvi Jaiswal has had a memorable 2023 already. In May, he smashed the fastest half-century in the IPL off just 13 balls. In July, his old-school 171 in Dominica,

With Saurashtra in need of repairs, Arpit Vasavada produced a patient half-century. He first shared a 47-run partnership with Prerak Mankad for the sixth wicket and then put on 54 runs for the seventh wicket with Parth Bhut, who had completed a five-wicket haul in the morning. Vasavada hit just two boundaries in his 127-ball

Rest of India 298 for 8 (Sudharsan 72, Bharat 36, Bhut 4-85) vs Saurashtra All-new setting, same-old B Sai Sudharsan. A little over 24 hours after winning the championship with Surrey in Southampton in what was his maiden county stint, Sudharsan turned up in Rajkot via Mumbai and set himself up for another title with

Mo Bobat, England Men’s performance director, has been confirmed as the new director of cricket at Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, and will leave the ECB in February next year. Bobat, 40, has overseen the England Men’s pathway for the past four years, identifying and developing the players that have helped the team win

Hanuma Vihari has been named captain of Rest of India for the Irani Cup against Ranji champions Saurashtra beginning October 1 in Rajkot. Abhimanyu Easwaran, who made 798 runs in the Ranji season, misses out as he’s recovering from typhoid. The other surprise miss is Kerala allrounder Jalaj Saxena, who topped the wickets chart with

Offspinner R Ashwin has replaced left-arm spinner Axar Patel in India’s final 15 for the 2023 World Cup*. ESPNcricinfo has learned that Axar, who left the Asia Cup with a quadriceps strain, needs at least three more weeks to recover fully. Today is the deadline for teams to make changes – no questions asked –

Axar, who has been out with a left quadriceps strain since the Asia Cup and was in the squad only for the final ODI subject to fitness, is understood to be recovering well, and the team management expects him to be fit in time for the World Cup. He is currently recovering at the BCCI’s

Big picture: Can Australia avoid whitewash? The third ODI between India and Australia was expected to be a dress rehearsal for the teams’ opening game at the World Cup but some of the key characters will be missing on Wednesday. India will be without Shubman Gill, Hardik Pandya, Shardul Thakur, Axar Patel and Mohammed Shami.

The PCB has expressed strong displeasure to the ICC over the delay in visas being issued to the Pakistan team, and warned of the adverse impact on the team’s preparations for the World Cup. With the team scheduled to fly out of Pakistan early morning on Wednesday, visas had still not been issued to the

India 52 for 2 (Rodrigues 20*, Shafali 17) beat Bangladesh 51 all out (Nigar 12, Vastrakar 4-17) by eight wickets Pooja Vastrakar could have well been watching the Asian Games back home on TV. She was only initially named as a non-travelling reserve in the squad, who was to fly back home after a week-long

Big Picture: Last dance before big names return With key senior players from India and Australia set to slot into their respective XIs for the third ODI in Rajkot later, Sunday’s fixture in Indore is perhaps the final chance for any fringe player to make an impression. Australia’s situation is a tad more complex than

India have moved past Pakistan to become the No. 1 ranked team in ODIs ahead of the World Cup at home. As a result, they now occupy the top spot across formats, having already been No. 1 in Tests and T20Is. India are only the second team in men’s cricket history to achieve this feat

Australia 276 (Warner 52, Inglis 45, Shami 5-51) vs India At 248 for 5 halfway into the 47th over, Australia seemed headed for a total around 290. Josh Inglis and Marcus Stoinis were putting on a rapid partnership, but Mohammed Shami grabbed three wickets off his next nine balls to check their momentum. That earned

India strongly back Suryakumar Yadav to bring his game-changing ability to the World Cup despite the slow start to his ODI career. Suryakumar is the No. 1 T20I batter on the ICC rankings, but he hasn’t yet found the same gear in ODIs, where his first 25 innings have only brought two fifties and an

Big Picture: Will Australia test out Short? The World Cup is nearly here, but not quite. These two teams will meet to open their campaigns on October 8 in Chennai, but first there are three games in six days that, while useful for fine-tuning plans, and for a number of key Australia players returning to

Siraj has climbed eight positions to the summit of the rankings following his Asia Cup haul of ten wickets at an average of 12.20. The highlight of that performance was the spell of 6 for 21 that dismantled Sri Lanka for 50 all out in the final. That spell – “like a dream”, according to

India seamer Deepak Chahar is determined to get his place back in the national team, having fully recovered from hamstring and back issues. Chahar, 31, last played for India in December last year and has been bogged down by multiple injury concerns in the past. He picked up a hamstring injury earlier in the season

Rishabh Pant won’t be fit to play the upcoming World Cup but former Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist is still fascinated by the impact he has had in his six years with the Indian team. Pant, 25, made his international debut in February 2017 and has risen to be one of the first names down on

India have included both R Ashwin and Washington Sundar in their 15-member squad for the three-match ODIs series against Australia. Ashwin last played an ODI more than 18 months ago, and his selection is a chance for the team management to have him ready, along with Washington, should they need a replacement for Axar Patel,

Kuldeep Yadav is riding a wave of confidence following a Player-of-the-Series effort at the Asia Cup. Ahead of the World Cup, the Indian team management is doing all it can to “preserve” its lone wristspinner in the squad, and not “expose” him much against Australia, by resting him for the first two ODIs. “Kuldeep is

Shreyas Iyer wasn’t fit for much of the Asia Cup, but he has ticked off most of the boxes the team management had set for him as he came back from injury and attempted to prove his match fitness for the World Cup, which is now less than three weeks away. “Shreyas was not available

India 51 for 0 (Gill 27*, Kishan 23*) beat Sri Lanka 50 (Siraj 6-21, Pandya 3-3) by 10 wickets After a couple of tight games, it seemed like the 2023 Asia Cup was heading towards an exciting finale but the title bout turned out to be an anti-climax as Mohammed Siraj singlehandedly demolished Sri Lanka

“Arre! World Cup jeetne ke baad phodo, yaar.” (“Burst these firecrackers after winning the World Cup!”) The sound of firecrackers boomed through the walls as Rohit Sharma sat patiently for his post-match press conference, wearing a smile that seldom left his face for much of Sunday’s short Asia Cup final that culminated in India winning