Author: Mishaal Mubarak

Nepal’s journey to the upcoming T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka next year will now take an important stop in Australia’s Northern Territory. The side has been named as the first participant of the Top End Series, which will be played in Darwin between August 14 and 24. Nepal, who must battle eight other sides in the Asian Regional Finals in October to secure one of three spots in the World Cup next year, were given a bye to the Asia/EAP Regional Final because they participated in the previous edition of the T20 World Cup. Currently, they, along…

Najmul Hossain Shanto has decided to step down from his position as Bangladesh’s red-ball captain after the team lost the series 1-0 against Sri Lanka on Saturday. The loss marks their first defeat of the current World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. Shanto announced his decision during the post-match conference after the second Test in Colombo and said he had already informed the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) before going public. “I have an announcement to make,” Shanto told reporters. “I am stepping down from the Bangladesh Test captaincy. I don’t want to continue as captain in this format, and I want…

Zimbabwe’s cricket calendar is anything but light this year. In the latest addition, they are set to host Sri Lanka in Harare for a white-ball tour in late August. This will be the first time since 2016 that Sri Lanka will play a bilateral in Zimbabwe. The series, which was squeezed to fit in Zimbabwe’s already demanding schedule, will see both teams play two ODIs, instead of three games as part of the Future Tours Programme (FTP), and three T20Is between August 29 and September 7. The tour in its entirety will be played at the Harare Sports Club. Zimbabwe’s…

Jofra Archer might make his long-awaited comeback in whites next week, following England’s announcement of a 15-man squad, which features him, for the second Test game against India, set to be played at Edgbaston. Archer, if he plays, would return to the red-ball format after a four-year-long enforced hiatus owing to his injuries. He last played a Test in April 2021 during England’s tour of India. Since that tour, the English pacer has come face-to-face with a series of frustrating injuries that have kept delaying his return. His injury run began with a strain in his right elbow, of which…

New Zealand will play a T20I tri-series in Zimbabwe involving South Africa, themselves, and the hosts. The series, which is set to begin next month, will feature Adam Milne and uncapped Bevon Jacobs joining the side. Jacobs was a part of New Zealand’s Sri Lanka-bound squad in December last year but remained on the bench. However, following his signing by Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL), where he didn’t get any game time either, he is likely to get his debut cap during the tour, as confirmed by the newly hired Kiwi coach Rob Walter. “Bevon’s been an…

Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna had a full-of-horrors Test match in Leeds. Shardul, who returned to the side after 18 months, was expensive in his spells and could only grab a couple of wickets across both innings. And while Krishna was a tad more lethal, having taken five wickets throughout the game, he was equally expensive, if not more. He bowled at more than a run-a-ball in both innings and was naturally at the centre of the slamming post-match. Krishna, who took six wickets in the Sydney Test earlier this year, was selected for his ability to hit the deck…

The first real test of your self-restraint begins when you realise the alternatives you have are miles behind the thing you vowed to avoid. Right that moment, you have two options. The first, the more ideal one, is not to give in to your hankerings, no matter how bad the situation is. The second is to start negotiating with yourself to loosen the restrictions. India stand at the same crossroads right now. They are not only one down, just a game into the series, but also have several things to fix, things which would take some time to fix. And…

India were sailing ahead of England almost the entire Test, but at times they didn’t; turned out to matter more in the end. As Shubman Gill recounted, the difference between what India aimed to score in the third innings and what they actually put up was jarring. The latter half of the Indian batting lineup was cleared for just 29 runs. The first half wasn’t too impressive either. Barring Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul, both of whom scored centuries, India’s highest individual score while setting the target was 30. “I think yesterday we were thinking that we’re going to give…

Australia are beginning their new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle on a soil they haven’t played a Test game on since 2015. With a top-order that is so unlike what has been their regular since 2018. And at a venue that has not hosted any longest format game in the last three years. There is uncertainty for them, no matter how you look at this series. Uncertainty, it is, for West Indies, too. In fact, they decided to go one better than Australia by handing the captaincy duties to Roston Chase, who has not played in whites since 2023. In…

Roston Chase hasn’t played a Test game in over two years, but now, when he returns, he will have a team to lead against a side as huge as Australia. Surely, his name as the side’s captain comes as a surprise to many. And rightly so. He has only ever captained the West Indies’ white ball side, that too in just two games. But Chase has the assurance that he has what it takes to be a ‘good leader’. “I’ve never captained a senior team in terms of the West Indies team or Barbados team [in Tests]. But I’ve captained…