Author: Mishaal Mubarak

In a squad revamp ahead of the three-T20I leg of their ongoing tour of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh have decided to omit Najmul Hossain Shanto. Shanto, who until January was leading the side in the shortest format, has had a pretty dismal time in the format lately. Since the start of 2024, only one of his appearances came this year against the UAE in Sharjah, and his returns with the bat have been thin. Playing 22 T20Is since then, he has scored at a gloomy average of 18.3. Mohammad Naim, who was the highest run-getter in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL)…

For the first time in many years, Australian red-ball players might, at last, have a clear chance to make a comeback in the Big Bash League, with the upcoming season landing right at a sweet spot in their schedule. The Australian side are scheduled to host the Ashes series this year, following which a fortnight-long window is set to open, allowing many Australian players to feature in the league without any scheduling hurdles. The newly released schedule reveals that the season will kick off on December 14 with a game between the Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers. The Ashes, which…

Taskin Ahmed thought Bangladesh were on track to win the game with a few overs to spare. The worst-case scenario, in his mind, would have been taking the game to the last ten overs. But little did he know that by the time the game ended, the visitors would have witnessed one of their worst collapses. Bangladesh started grand. They had the hosts against the wall with three Sri Lankan batters back in the hut for just 29 runs in 6.3 overs. But they couldn’t build on this dominance, and a brilliant Charith Asalanka century somehow helped Sri Lanka put…

In every series, for a few sessions, Australia allow the opposition to feel they are ahead in the game, only to push them into oblivion and win the game themselves. Australia and West Indies were neck and neck for the first two (and a half) innings, but a series of events, which included some bizarre umpiring decisions, resistance from the Australian middle order, and a lack thereof from their West Indian counterparts, saw the game shift drastically in the visitors’ favour. As much as Australia were incredible, it takes nothing away from West Indies standing their ground and using the…

Steve Smith is set to feature in Australia’s second Test against West Indies in Grenada after completing an entire training session. However, he will not be able to stand in the slip cordon, a position he has fielded in many games, with his finger still in a splint. This is the first time he has completed a training session since he suffered a compound dislocation in his right little finger during the WTC final at Lord’s. The Australian top-order batter linked up with the squad after staying a week in New York, where he kept knocking with a tennis ball…

Bangladesh and Sri Lanka meet with contrasting goals to achieve in this series, but goals that, at some point, intersect with each other. It’s the start of a new period for Bangladesh, which not only has a new captain but also an entirely new leadership group, or what would one day become it. This will be their first one-day game without Mahmudullah and Mushfiqur Rahim, which officially marks the end of the era of what was once called Ponchon Pandob, including, besides the pair, Mashrafe Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan, and Tamim Iqbal. With the next ODI tournament more than 18…

In Leeds, India lost a match that definitely wasn’t there to do so. They had stayed ahead of England almost the entire game but still managed to lose the momentum. As much as it is true that you win and lose as a team, it is justified to sometimes tilt the onus towards one side. India were 430 for 3 in one innings and 340 for 4 in the other. On both occasions, what followed was a sudden free fall. The lower order fell without putting anything significant on the board. But for Indian captain Shubman Gill, the rot did…

Jofra Archer would need to wait longer for his comeback as England have decided to stick with the same playing XI that defeated India at Headingley for the second Test. Archer, who last played a red-ball game in April 2021, was in line for a comeback, having played in Sussex’s away game against Durham, where he bowled 18 overs and grabbed a scalp for 32 runs. A prolonged run of elbow and back injuries kept him away from any form of cricket for a major part of the last four years. But now that he is fit to play, England…

The thing about being in your late teens is that you are constantly oscillating between acting like a teenager and acting like an adult. Sam Konstas came face-to-face with this reality after the Barbados Test, where he scored 3 and 5 in two innings. It was a tricky pitch. He was playing only his third Test. But this is an Ashes year, which means he will not get more time on the teenage quota – that is, unless he pays the selectors for their trust in him in the remaining series. In a sense, both Australia and Konstas are similarly…

Steven Smith’s return to the team is starting to look like a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’. It’s hardly been over a week since he was knocking balls in New York with a tennis ball and an incrediball, but the kind of character he is, he’d want to hit the ground running as soon as he can. Smith suffered a compound dislocation in his little finger during the World Test Championship (WTC) Final at Lord’s while attempting a catch off Temba Bavuma in the slips. He opted out of surgery to ensure he doesn’t lose much time off the…