Livecricket.is

England pacer Mark Wood has been ruled out of competitive cricket for four months after undergoing left knee surgery in London on Wednesday. The four-month recovery timeline will see him miss England’s five-Test home series against India in June. However, he is likely to regain fitness before the Ashes series down under later this year. Wood was taken out of England’s Champions Trophy campaign and remained warming the benches with a heavily strapped leg after limping off the field in the group stage game against Afghanistan. He was four balls into his fourth over when he appeared to be in…

After months of anticipation and wrong judgments by fans and pundits, the defending Champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) named Ajinkya Rahane as their captain. Shreyas Iyer, who led the side to victory last year, was neither retained nor repurchased during the mega-auction in Saudi Arabia. This meant the KKR management had to find an equal replacement, which, many thought, would be Venkatesh Iyer, KKR’s most expensive buy this season. However, the franchise went with Rahane instead to lead the team, which has nearly the same core as last time, albeit with a new captain and coaching staff.  Gautam Gambhir mentored…

Back in 1877, Melbourne witnessed two teams contest each other in what was an unusual sport at that time, which stretched over several days. They called it Test cricket, for reasons no one cares to remember now. The same Test cricket will turn 150 years old in 2027, and to commemorate that, England and Australia will play a Test match on March 11 that year, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, exactly a century and a half later. But that anniversary Test game will be nothing like the first-ever long-format game. In fact, it will not be like any men’s Test…

At this point, Pakistan and New Zealand are in a long-distance relationship. Neither wants to let go of the other. New Zealand could lose an ICC final one week and still find a way to face Pakistan the next. Pakistan could very well be stuck in the middle of their existential crisis, yet would still ‘roger’ any opportunity to play the Kiwis.  In addition to death and taxes, Pakistan vs New Zealand bilaterals are the new certain in this world. Something many of the players who faced India in the final on Sunday would also nod to, as they gear…

Harry Brook has opted out of the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the second consecutive year. While no official announcement has been made by his franchise, Delhi Capitals, the ECB, or the BCCI, Brook confirmed his exclusion via a tweet. This decision puts him at risk of getting a two-year ban from the cash-rich league due to a new rule introduced ahead of last year’s mega-auction in an IPL governing council meeting. Brook is currently the leading contender to take over England’s white-ball captaincy after Jos Buttler stepped down following the team’s early exit from another…

Tomorrow in Dubai, India will make their third consecutive appearance in a Champions Trophy final. They have won one of the first two and lost the other. Irrespective of the results, they entered both as favorites. There is plenty that makes them the favourites this time, too. They are more familiar with the venue than any of the participating teams, their players are better-suited to the conditions, and their opposition lacks juju in knockouts. But from what has been seen over the years, finals and history, don’t respect any of that. All that matters once both teams have stepped off…

In an alternate universe, Lahore and Auckland sit in each other’s laps. They both thrive together, with their very similar cultures. Boats from Auckland sail to Lahore every hour. No, even better. There are no boats between them. There is nothing between them. Not land, not water, not anything. They are one. Just as they were, momentarily, yesterday when Miller ran a couple off the last ball, it was in vain. He ran for nothing. New Zealand would have won the game anyway. Because alternate universe or not, New Zealand did see Auckland at an arm’s length while standing in…

Pakistan have cycled through four captains in T20Is since the start of 2024. If there is one thing Pakistan have adhered to consistently, it is inconsistency. Mohammad Rizwan’s appointment as the skipper, at least, did look like the last entry through the revolving door for some time to come. But turns out a dismal title defense was all it took for the PCB to turn towards someone new once again. Salman Ali Agha is that someone. For how long will he stay? No one can say. But while he is here, Agha wants to introduce a high-risk brand of cricket,…

South Africa and New Zealand are cricket’s greatest not-quites. They are the reason the world respects the fine line between not winning titles because a team was not good enough and not winning titles because a team was almost good enough. Surely, a day must come when one, or both, breaks free of this curse. And it’s certainly not as though they don’t get the chances to understand the dynamics and stakes involved in semi-finals and finals. Going by how often they have featured in knockouts in the recent past and how frequently the ICC has started organizing mega-events, the…

For every bully, there is a bigger bully. Every final boss is eventually outdone. Every hunter becomes the hunted. No one is at the top for long, especially when faced with an opponent of equal might. For a team like India, which has only known sheer invincibility lately, no time would have been better than a semi-final to face an opponent like Australia, who match their every high to perfection.  In the context of the Champions Trophy, this game could do two things. First, it could close the Dubai chapter and, consequently, the constant back-and-forth between Pakistan and the UAE.…