Author: Mishaal Mubarak

It’s that time again. The teams have started giving the forsaken and forgotten format a little more importance. With the Champions Trophy 2025 awaiting just a few months from now, the sport will start shifting more towards the ODI format. During any other time, a five-match ODI series would have been an utterly horrendous idea, but not now. Especially, keeping in view how the ODI World Cup in India last year unfolded for England, they would be desperate to rub out those memories with a successful Champions Trophy campaign. Australia, too, would share the same sentiment but of course, not…

Even for a visiting team on a winning spree, Indian conditions are utterly unforgiving. Bangladesh would do an astounding level of injustice to them if they came with a mindset that having beaten Pakistan just across the border would help them in their battle against India, who have called all the big guns back into the squad. That being said, the victories against Pakistan were not by fluke, Bangladesh deserved every ounce of that triumph. However, winning so much as just one match against the men in blue would require Bangladesh to be far more strict in their approach and…

Hollywood actors, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny have shown interest in buying a stake in Welsh Fire, one of the teams of the Hundred tournament. This is not the first time both actors have made offers in the sports teams representing Wales. A couple of years ago the actors acquired the co-ownership of the Wrexham football club through their company RR McReynolds. Since their takeover, the football club has seen many ups. Glamorgan County, which is represented by the Welsh Fire in the Hundred, would hope for a similar situation to unfold for them.  Earlier, the England Cricket Board (ECB)…

Indian quick, Mohammed Shami, has almost recovered from the ankle injury he picked during the ODI World Cup in India last year. Since then, he has been out of the team, ensuring his rehabilitation goes smoothly before returning to the team. Some reports state that the pacer struggled with this injury throughout the World Cup which made it worse, hence the time it took him to recover. Shami, however, does not want to take any more risks. Speaking at the Cricket Association of Bengal’s (CAB) annual awards ceremony, the right-arm fast bowler said that he wants to be fully recovered…

England’s white-ball captain, Jos Buttler, is set to miss out on the ODI home series against Australia owing to the calf injury he picked during the training for the Hundred a few weeks ago. Buttler was added to the squad, keeping the prospects of his participation in grey. However, with the ODI series starting in a few days, England have announced the young batter Harry Brook as his stand-in captain. Brook, who debuted in the ODI format in January last year, will be captaining the senior team for the first time.  Having captained the Under-19 team during the 2018 Under-19…

The recent game between Australia and England seemed as if its script was written and approved by a compulsive gambler, who likes to bet on every player getting something to reduce the risk of losing. Matthew Short would get a five-wicket haul, Jake Fraser-McGurk would play a firing inning, Liam Livingston would forget that he is not playing a video game, and Jacob Bethell would wield the willow like a seasoned player. He might be a compulsive gambler but his bets show that he is not a realistic one. Because what transpired in Cardiff that night was nowhere near realistic.…

Nation-wide protests followed by an internet blackout and the killing of hundreds of Bangladesh citizens led to the dissolution of Parliament after Sheikh Hasina Wajid’s government fell. Hasina fled the country, prompting an interim government to be formed and arrange the general elections for the new government. It would be far from the truth to say that the developments in the political landscape of a country have little to no effect on sports in the country. Whoever disagrees has Bangladesh’s example to refer to.  The political crisis led the Women’s T20 World Cup to be shifted from Bangladesh, despite the…

There is a lot going on, like always, in Pakistan cricket. In one place, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is racing against time to upgrade the stadiums before the Champions Trophy begins. The other part of the board is busy ensuring the new-born domestic tournament, the Champions Cup, goes smoothly. Amidst all this fuss, the scheduling issues for the upcoming Test series against England remain a potential head-scratcher for the team.  The construction work in the National Bank Cricket Arena, Karachi, renders the venue unable to host any match. Recently, the second Test match against Bangladesh was shifted to Rawalpindi…

David Warner’s retirement from cricket has toiled hard on Australia at least in Test cricket. Australia have moved probably their best batter, Steve Smith, to the opening position but this has only increased the worries for them. Not only has Smith, so far, failed to play as impactfully as he does often, but the lack of runs up top has been causing trouble for the team as a whole. Australia are a couple of months away from facing the team that is likely to be their toughest opponent in this World Test Championship cycle, India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Before…

After Australia triumphed over England in Southampton, England have this one opportunity to save the series from going into their rivals’ kitty. It would take quite a lot to stop the Australian batters, especially the top order, from firing the way they have been ever since they landed on the continent. But the defeat in the first T20I would definitely have taught the hosts a few things, one of which would be that the batters need to stick longer. While the bowlers, barring Sam Curran, did a pretty impressive job in stopping Australia from breaching the 200-run mark, without substantial…