Padikkal’s unbeaten 131 at Galle ended a stretch built on indecision, not a lack of talent. India shuffled seven batters through the No. 3 slot across 19 Tests since Pujara’s exit in June 2023, and none reached three figures until now. Padikkal was only a late replacement for the injured Sai Sudharsan, yet he batted […]
Padikkal’s unbeaten 131 at Galle ended a stretch built on indecision, not a lack of talent. India shuffled seven batters through the No. 3 slot across 19 Tests since Pujara’s exit in June 2023, and none reached three figures until now. Padikkal was only a late replacement for the injured Sai Sudharsan, yet he batted […]
Dot-ball percentage exposes the gap because it measures pressure in two different ways: pacers earn dot balls through physical threat; spinners earn them through sustained denial. A 60% dot-ball rate from a seamer and a 60% rate from a spinner describe entirely different problems for a batter. Economy rates for the format’s best bowlers now […]
Bangladesh are closing in on one of Test cricket’s most unlikely wins, and pace bowling is why. On Day 3 at Darwin’s Marrara Stadium, Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed, and Ebadot Hossain bowled Australia out for 198, their lowest-ever total against Bangladesh, and now lead by 228 runs with the hosts’ second innings wobbling at 161 […]
Both Trent Rockets sides topped their group tables this year, and it isn’t a coincidence. Across eight matches each, the men won six and the women won seven, the best combined record in the competition’s six-season history. On Sunday, both teams take the field at Lord’s within four hours of each other, a first for […]
India’s first Test tour of the island in nine years opened at Galle International Stadium, and Shubman Gill’s side arrived without two frontline options, Jasprit Bumrah injured and Washington Sundar unavailable for the opener. What they brought instead was an unusual blueprint: three left-arm spinners in Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, and debutant Manav Suthar, a […]
Jadeja and Kuldeep hold the answer already: bowl fuller for wickets early, then trust what this cracked, dusty pitch does from day three onward. Both have proven Test records here that no other spinner in India’s squad can match. Jadeja managed 13 wickets in two Tests at this venue at 28.77, while Kuldeep took five […]
Gill holds together India’s captaincy, their No. 4 spot and three career milestones, so a lengthy injury layoff would have cost this side far more than one batting slot. He suffered an impact injury to his right ring finger on August 6 in Colombo, sat out the warm-up match’s first day as a precaution, then […]
India walk into the Galle Test with a bowling attack reshaped in a fortnight, after Washington Sundar’s hamstring injury in the England ODIs ruled him out and Jasprit Bumrah failed his fitness test over ongoing left-knee discomfort. Auqib Nabi replaces Bumrah in the squad, Saransh Jain steps in for Sundar, and bowling coach Morne Morkel […]
Yashasvi Jaiswal is the clearest answer right now, with selectors already treating him as the long-term option once Rohit Sharma steps aside. That plan looked settled until Rohit’s July innings at Lord’s reopened the conversation. His 138 off 110 balls was the first ODI century by an Indian at that ground, pushing selectors back toward […]
Gujarat Titans said no to only one part of Hardik Pandya‘s proposed return: the captaincy. The franchise was open to trading for him as a player, and Shubman Gill had agreed to the deal, but talks stopped once leadership became a condition. That refusal was never a verdict on Pandya’s ability. It was a decision […]
The ICC’s new three-stage system turns the 2027 World Cup opener into a survival test for the lowest-ranked qualifiers. Fourteen teams remain in the draw, but three of them must fight through a two-match knockout round before the group stage starts. South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia host the event in October and November 2027, with […]