Author: Mishaal Mubarak

It’s all down to the last game now. Will Australia finally win a red-ball series against India after a decade? Or will India retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy once again? Will we have the final say on both WTC finalists by the end of this game? Or is another delay inevitable? The answers to all those questions lie in how the Sydney Test unfolds.  Australia have pinned India against the wall with a 2-1 series lead. But with the last match scheduled to be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground, which is the subcontinent’s embassy down under, the wall feels a…

Indian captain Rohit Sharma skipped the press conference ahead of the Sydney Test, to reporters’ shock, who saw Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir entering instead. When questioned about the captain’s whereabouts, Gambhir very briefly said, “The head coach is here. That should be enough.” Which, in all honesty, caused more intrigue than being ‘enough’ to the reporters’ question. This is not the first time Rohit has missed a media conference on this tour. Shubman Gill took the questions in his stead before the third Test as well. As the media were told, Rohit skipped the optional training that day and…

Many saw it coming yet many did not. Australia have decided to drop Mitchell Marsh for the final Test match against India to make way for the uncapped Beau Webster. Marsh has had a tough series both with the ball and the bat. Before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy started, Marsh had been Australia’s highest run-getter this year, accumulating runs at a brilliant average of 41.07. He was expected to continue churning runs the same way in the all-important series too, however, as luck had it, Marsh failed to cross even double figures in all but one of the seven innings he…

Australia have already run through one of their usual pacers. Josh Hazlewood was ruled out of the Australian squad after the third Test match for the remainder of the series following a calf strain. As huge a blow as it was, it would be minuscule compared to the damage Australia would bear in case Mitchell Starc is forced to the fringes. The Aussie pacer began experiencing discomfort in his back as early as the first innings of the Boxing Day Test. Despite that, Starc managed to bowl 41 overs throughout the game, and those too as well as he usually…

Saxton Oval last hosted an international game in 2023, when New Zealand hosted Bangladesh for an ODI game. Before that game, the venuepreviously saw action all the way back in 2019. That’s also when a T20I was played here. Coming into this dead rubber of a game, both teams will find Saxton Oval somewhat more unwelcoming than they would fancy. Sri Lanka, more so.  They have not found much to write home about on this tour so far. They have not been impressive with the ball and downright terrible with the bat. For the majority of the first T20I, Sri…

Mitchell Marsh usually makes headlines for the noise he makes rather than the lack thereof, as it happened in this Border-Gavaskar Trophy. All-rounders get to savor miracles and endure tragedy in the same thing, and that is the fact they can, both, bat and bowl. In the event they fail to turn up with the bat, they still have their bowling prowess to do write-home-about stuff. Or vice versa. But if they keep on faltering in one of their two jobs, the other becomes more of a part-time thing.  Marsh has been experiencing something similar. At the start of the…

Batsmen win you games. Bowlers win you tournaments. But none do anything alone. Cricket, as you must have figured out by now, is a team sport. Even if you field a bowler as lethal as Jasprit Bumrah, on a pitch as rewarding as the MCG’s, you would still fall short of victory if sufficient support is unavailable. India may not like it, but they are helping reinforce the belief that there is no savior in cricket.  To be Jasprit Bumrah right now might be the most desirable and undesirable thing at the same time. This year, Bumrah bowled as if…

Ask any Aussie player and they will have a story, or ten, of how Steve Smith loves practicing for his batting in the nets. It’s Christmas, yeah, but Smith has to bat. It’s 2 am. Does not matter, throw him his bat. It’s raining outside. Bummer! But not for Steve Smith, he will practice in the hotel hallways if he must.   Everyone loves a good success story. Seeing people start from nothing and go on to achieve everything gives a sense of second-hand fulfillment. But the path to success is not always straight and uncrooked. Ask Smith, who has seen…

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy this year has disappointed a little in terms of sledging and on-field drama but the fourth game tried to make up for that shortcoming when Virat Kohli was seen shouldering the 19-year-old debutant Sam Konstas.  This attempt to make the series a touch more interesting was made after the tenth over in the first session when both players ‘made inappropriate physical contact’ while walking across the pitch. A verbal altercation followed, prompting Usman Khawaja and on-field umpire Michael Gough to jump in as a mediators.  The replays of the contact showed that Virat Kohli had changed his…

If you need to know anything about Pakistan, they love to spoil parties. They also try to make everything about themselves. Getting whitewashed by Bangladesh at home meant that Pakistan’s chances of reaching the World Test Championship (WTC) final were dead and gone. But that is not the way they like things. They like to spice things up. Meet the table-toppers as the final boss. Make them fight for survival.  South Africa are only one win away from becoming the first team to qualify for the WTC final, but that they have to get past Pakistan for that is nothing…