MI should look outside the club and keep Kieron Pollard as a specialist batting coach. Mahela Jayawardene left on 17 October 2026, weeks after a ninth-place IPL 2026 campaign that produced only four wins from 14 games, and nobody has been appointed to replace him. Pollard has run one team for one season, at MI […]
MI should look outside the club and keep Kieron Pollard as a specialist batting coach. Mahela Jayawardene left on 17 October 2026, weeks after a ninth-place IPL 2026 campaign that produced only four wins from 14 games, and nobody has been appointed to replace him. Pollard has run one team for one season, at MI […]
The last seam spot should go to Auqib Nabi. Sixteen players were picked on 16 October for the New Zealand Tests, and the final pace place went to Anshul Kamboj even though Nabi topped the Ranji Trophy for 2025-26 on 60 wickets. His strike rate and average make the strongest case for a change, and […]
Australia needs Scott Boland more. His seam movement and an 18.58 Test average make him the safer wicket-taker in a series Australia lead 1-0, while Nathan Lyon has struggled across nine Tests in South Africa. Dropping the off-spinner for Gqeberha was a bold call, and the opening day backed it up. Yet the ground has […]
Bhuvneshwar Kumar gives India experience and a proven new-ball option, so he should anchor the attack rather than merely join it. His recall for India’s five T20Is in New Zealand ends a gap of nearly four years, with his last appearance against the same opponents on 22 November 2022. Twenty-eight IPL 2026 wickets earned him […]
Naman Dhir should get the No. 6 spot on current evidence, because he offers off-spin overs and late hitting in one package. Shivam Dube remains the better-proven power hitter after a strong T20 World Cup, but a quiet West Indies series has weakened his claim. Dhir impressed with five wickets and an unbeaten 24 off […]
Karun Nair’s unbeaten 155 was the better innings, though Madhav Kaushik’s 150 was the more productive one. Nair arrived with Karnataka wobbling at 43 for 3 against a strong Andhra attack and saved Karnataka from defeat, while Kaushik built a platform that carried Uttar Pradesh to an innings win over Bihar. Neither batter is in […]
Breetzke replacing Stubbs is a big gamble because South Africa swapped a struggling middle-order regular for a batter with only 14 Test runs. Stubbs went after scores of 32 and 1 in the 214-run defeat at Durban, and Breetzke steps in at No. 5 for the second Test in Gqeberha. His ODI form is excellent, […]
Because he scores faster and more reliably than anyone else in the middle order. Bedingham averages 36.92 at a strike rate of 67.42 after 16 Tests, ahead of Markram, Mulder and Rickelton, and he top-scored with 49 when South Africa were bowled out for 284 in Durban. Australia’s seamers will bowl at him again from […]
Mohammed Siraj is the clear answer. With 51 one-day matches, 77 wickets and an economy rate of 5.15, he owns the strongest record among the senior seamers, and Jasprit Bumrah is missing from both squads for a series that starts in Auckland on 4 November. Every alternative carries a question, from fitness to inexperience, so […]
South Africa’s tail wins the argument on paper, but Australia’s tail won the match. Over two Durban innings, the hosts’ bottom five collected 172 runs against 156 from the visitors, and since January 2024 they average 25.82 per wicket to Australia’s 24.04. Even so, one ninth-wicket stand of 134 helped Australia take the opener by […]
Australia’s top-order puzzle has no settled answer, and Durban only made it messier. Matthew Renshaw hit 190 and 82 from No. 5, yet Travis Head, opening alongside Nic Maddinson, managed just 20. The second Test in Gqeberha begins on 18 October, so selectors must choose who walks out with Head and whether Renshaw’s middle-order form […]