Author: Mishaal Mubarak

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy has increased significantly in importance for India ever since their series defeat against New Zealand. The men in blue need to be at the top of their game and win at least three out of the five Test matches due to be played during the tour. Although Rohit Sharma’s men are on a three-year winning streak in Australia, the stakes are higher than ever with India’s World Test Championship (WTC) final chances hinging on how they perform down under.  For warming up before the big series, India had earlier opted to play a three-day intra-squad game against…

Just a fortnight ago, things were different from how they are now. India’s unbeaten home run was still intact. They were undisputedly on the way to yet another World Test Championship (WTC) final. Their bowling attack was diabolically cruel to the visitors. But all of that has become a relic of the past now. With New Zealand having a shining 2-0 next to their name, India have a pressing job at their hand, to minimize as much damage as they possibly can.  In a series of two or more Test matches in India, no team has ever done what Tom…

All of the IPL teams have submitted lists of their retained players ahead of the mega-auction, which is likely to take place during the last week of November. Each team was allowed to retain six players, of which five, at most, could be capped internationals and at least two could be uncapped. All teams except Rajasthan Royals and defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders have retained less than six players which means that they are eligible to use the Right-to-Match (RTM) option during the mega-auction. Every team that has retained five players will have one RTM option. Similarly, those who retained…

Despite the reluctance from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to send the national team to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has not budged on its decision to host the mega-event entirely within the country. As per reports, PCB had devised a plan to move the Indian team from and back to India after each of their matches. All of India’s games will be played in Lahore, a city that borders Indian state of Punjab, making it easy for logistics. It is also understood that the board will give 17000 visas to…

Gary Kirsten’s resignation as Pakistan’s white-ball coach means many things for Pakistan. Number one, they need to hire a new coach as early as the upcoming Zimbabwe tour later next month. Number two, international coaches and supporting staff might be more reluctant than usual to be a part of Pakistan cricket. Even before Kirsten’s resignation, Pakistan’s image as an employer was far from ideal. PCB had to introduce a new form of coaching altogether to get Mickey Arthur to coach the team just last year. Shane Watson and Darren Sammy have already turned down coaching offers from the board. From…

Border-Gavaskar Trophy is less than a month away but Australia’s opening debate is nowhere near settling. Following David Warner’s retirement, Steve Smith was promoted to the top position after his keenness to try his luck there. This reshuffle opened a spot at No. 4, which was quickly filled by Cameron Green who struck an unbeaten 174 first thing after his return to the side. However, Smith could not quite work his characteristic magic at the top spot. A paltry 28.5 batting average across four innings, saw many calling for restoring Smith to his original position. This shift became inevitable when…

Australia are scheduled to host Pakistan for a white-ball tour starting next week. The tour, which will see both teams playing three One-day internationals followed by as many T20I games, will culminate on November 18, just four days before Australia are set to play a five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India.  Keeping that in view, Cricket Australia (CA) has decided to rest main players including Mitchell Marsh, Travis Head, and Pat Cummins among others for the T20I part of the tour.  George Bailey, Australia’s chief selector, said that the players will meet for the first time in a while for training…

Just a day after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced the squad for white-ball tours against Australia and Zimbabwe, Pakistan’s white-ball coach, Gary Kirsten, resigned from his role. Kirsten, who joined Pakistan Cricket on a contract of 24 months in April 2024, has stepped down merely 6 months after his appointment. Reportedly, his resignation came as a result of a dispute between him and PCB. Following the forgettable defeat against England in the first Test match, PCB formed a new selection committee consisting of recently retired ICC Elite umpire, Aleem Dar, and former cricketers Azhar Ali and Aaqib Javed. The…

Losing a series is one thing. Losing in a way that your team’s weakness gets exposed to the entire world is definitely another. Ben Stokes’ England were on the receiving end of Pakistan’s absurd revolution which brought a surprising series win with it. While Pakistan should be praised for the way they made a comeback from nowhere, the hindsight is shifting the fans and pundits’ focus on the points where England faltered. Ben Stokes, England’s red-ball captain, was not at his best and what is worse is that it was painfully evident. After he joined the team back in the…

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced central contracts on Sunday, awarding the contracts to 25 International cricketers. The announcement of the contracts comes four months after the expiry of the previous contracts on June 30. These contracts have been backdated to be effective from July 1. Retaining their category, Babar Azam and the newly-appointed white-ball captain Mohammad Rizwan are the only ones in Category A, which is also the top category of the contracts. Shaheen Shah Afridi, who was also a Category A player previously, has been demoted to the second category. Naseem Shah and Pakistan’s red-ball captain, Shan Masood, are…