Author: Mishaal Mubarak

Pakistan’s stalwart batter and former captain, Babar Azam, has called it quits on his stint as the team’s white-ball captain. The news came as a surprise for the fans as the right-handed batter broke the news through a statement shared on his X account. However, the fact that Babar might be counting his last days as the leader of the team was not unknown to anyone. Ever since Pakistan’s horrible crash out of the group stage in the T20 World Cup in June this year, Babar’s flaws as a captain started getting highlighted more. His lean patch with the bat…

The English Test team is set to depart for Pakistan within the next 48 hours for a three-match Test series. However, England’s interim coach Marcus Trescothick expressed his concerns regarding the difference in weather in both countries. The Three Lions will leave a dark, relatively cold, and wet England to come to Multan where the temperature rises up to 40 degrees. Barring a couple of times, England have always toured Pakistan during fall or winter season. Those too, usually, in relatively cooler parts of the country. This time, however, things will definitely be difficult for England.  Talking in this regard,…

Cricket is a game that never quite had any regard for national boundaries. The taking over of a majority stake in Hampshire County by GMR, the co-owners of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, Delhi Capitals, makes a piece of good evidence for the statement. This deal has made Hampshire the first county to be owned by a foreign company.  As per the contract, GMR has agreed to the acquisition of control in stages. This will see the Indian infrastructure company initially holding a 53% stake in the county’s parent company, Hampshire Sport and Leisure Holdings Ltd, followed by a…

If you have watched so much as one cricket match, you would know that rain is kryptonite for the sport. Even the presence of grey clouds in the sky can force the teams to take covers, nulling out all and any cricket possible. The second Test match between India and Bangladesh saw something similar unfold. This is not unusual to witness entire days get washed out, thanks to rain. Especially, when the abandoning of all five days of the Test match between Afghanistan and New Zealand is still fresh in the memory. But what Kanpur witnessed was a tad strange.…

Merely hours after the Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced that the Proteas will play the two-match Test tour against Bangladesh as per the schedule, the board has unveiled a 15-member squad for the tour. It has been nearly a decade since the last time South Africa visited Bangladesh for a Test tour. Barring Temba Bavuma, no other player from the 15-man squad was a part of that series. In other words, the conditions would be increasingly difficult for the African team to play.  One thing is certain; Bangladesh will only curate pitches that suit their strongest skillset: Spin. Going down…

Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced earlier that it will make a decision, in consultation with the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA) regarding whether the national team will travel to Bangladesh for a scheduled two-Test match tour. The concerns regarding the red-ball tour, which was booked to be played from October 21 to November 2 in Bangladesh, started rising after the current political turmoil unfolded in the Asian country. Bangladesh had to see its parliament getting dissolved after then-Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina Wajid resigned and fled the country following weeks-long public protests. The protests saw hundreds of people getting killed and…

The Indian Premier League’s Governing Council met in Bengaluru on Saturday to announce new regulations for the IPL seasons from 2025 to 2027. The new regulations have put a stop to several debates regarding next year’s mega-auction. After the meeting an eight-point-long list of rules ahead of the 2025 season mega-auction, which is likely to take place by the end of this year. The continuation of the Impact player rule, Retentions and Right-to-Match, and a few other rules endured a few tweaks. Retention Limits: The ten franchises will be able to retain as many as six players from their squads…

Sky covered in clouds of the most mysterious shade of grey color, the waves crashing with the shore a few miles away, and the old-world fort stealing a peek with curiosity at what’s happening in the ground, now and then. There is also a similar scent in the air. This scent usually gives away the meant-to-be concealed love affair of the ground with a certain type of spinners. Quite a few times recently, the locals got to olfact this very scent. Each time, they did nothing but smirk silently to themselves, knowing exactly what caused it, as if taking pride…

Kamindu Mendis was batting on 182 with his namesake Kusal Mendis when Dhananjaya de Silva signaled them to return, declaring the innings as the scoreboard read 602. 18 runs short of a double century is not too far off, perhaps he should have allowed to breach the 200-run mark and add such a huge personal milestone to his bag. Unfair it would have been of Sri Lanka, had Kamindu not achieved an even greater milestone at that point. A record that equaled him to someone as incredible as Don Bradman. The maximum over Rachin Ravindra’s head pushed him to his…

Second that, Shakib. Especially, when you play them at home. It does not matter to them. Even if a black-soiled pitch pumps up the opposition bowlers to reduce them to 144 for 6. Teams like India find their way back to the game and somehow manage to win it by a whopping 280 runs on the penultimate day. The little sneak peeks they drop are, most of the time, to hoodwink the opposition into thinking that they have cracked the code to dominate India at their home. Only for them to find out halfway through the game, that they have…