Cricket

India and Mumbai batter Shreyas Iyer, the second-most expensive player in the player auction, has been appointed captain by Punjab Kings for IPL 2025. The announcement was made on Sunday night on reality TV show Big Boss, where Iyer appeared as a guest alongside PBKS team-mates Yuzvendra Chahal and Shashank Singh. “I am honoured that

Bangladesh have left Litton Das out of their squad for the Champions Trophy. The high-profile axing follows a string of low scores from the wicketkeeper-batter in ODIs: he has not made a half-century in his last 13 innings, and has been dismissed six times for single-digit scores in his last seven innings. Shakib Al Hasan

Steven Smith has set his sights on the 2028 Olympics, declaring he wants to prolong his short-form career and return to Australia’s T20 team for the Los Angeles Games. Smith produced one of the finest T20 innings of his career on Saturday, smashing an unbeaten 121 from 64 balls for Sydney Sixers against Perth Scorchers

Mohammed Shami has finally made a comeback to the India squad with his selection for the five T20Is against England starting on January 22 in Kolkata. He returns after last playing for India in the ODI World Cup final in November 2023, after which he had ankle surgery and also suffered from knee-related niggles. The

Sydney Sixers 220 for 3 (Smith 121*) beat Perth Scorchers 206 for 7 (Turner 66*, Abbott 4-43) by 14 runs Steven Smith sent an emphatic reminder of his T20 worth, smashing a masterful 121 not out to hit the Sydney Sixers to a 14-run win over Perth Scorchers. In one of the best BBL innings,

Hobart Hurricanes 165 for 4 (David 68*) beat Sydney Thunder 164 for 6 (Warner 88*) by six wickets Tim David fired for the second time in as many matches to steer Hobart Hurricanes to a convincing win over Sydney Thunder and top spot on the BBL table. Hurricanes ran down Thunder’s 164 for 6 at

James Anderson looks set to make a professional comeback in Division Two of the County Championship next season, after it was revealed he is in talks with Lancashire about an all-format return that will take his career past his 43rd birthday. Anderson played his 188th and final Test against West Indies at Lord’s in July

Mickey Arthur, Derbyshire’s head of cricket, is set to combine his duties at the club with a new role as director of cricket at Northern Superchargers. Derbyshire finished rock-bottom of the County Championship in 2024, with one win in 14 matches in Division Two, and failed to reach the knock-outs in either the T20 Blast

Fast-bowling allrounder Cherry-Ann Fraser and uncapped quick Jannillea Glasgow have earned call-ups to the 15-member West Indies squad for the six white-ball fixtures against Bangladesh at home. The series will begin with the first of three ODIs on January 19 and conclude with the last of three T20Is on January 30, with St Kitts hosting

South Africa’s sports minister, Gayton McKenzie, has added his voice to the growing backlash at Afghanistan’s participation in next month’s ICC Champions Trophy, comparing the Taliban regime’s treatment of women in the country to Apartheid, and saying it would be “hypocritical and immoral to look the other way”. McKenzie’s intervention comes with South Africa due

Australia hope to have Cameron Green back available for the World Test Championship final, while preparing for him to return as a batter only. Green posted a video of himself running on social media on Wednesday, almost three months after undergoing season-ending surgery on his back. Chief selector George Bailey confirmed on Thursday he was

Left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann and offspinner Todd Murphy will join Nathan Lyon to provide three frontline spinners for what are expected to be favourable conditions in Galle which will host both Tests. However, the Test career of Mitchell Marsh is now in significant doubt after he couldn’t find a place among the 16 names following

T20 franchise leagues that do not field a majority of locally based players are “not good for the game”, according to SA20 commissioner Graeme Smith. Speaking ahead of the league’s third season, which, once again, clashes directly with the UAE’s ILT20, Smith argued that what sets the SA20 apart is how rooted it is in

Toss Sri Lanka chose to field vs New Zealand Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bowl first under cloudy skies in Hamilton, after rain delayed the start of the second ODI by two-and-a-half hours. The match will now be a 37-overs-a-side contest, with the first powerplay eight overs long, and two bowlers allowed

Ben Stokes, England’s Test captain, has described himself as “the Bionic Man” after undergoing scheduled surgery on his torn left hamstring. Stokes, 33, suffered a recurrence of the injury while bowling during England’s third Test against New Zealand in December, having first torn his hamstring while batting for Northern Superchargers against Manchester Originals in the

Devajit Saikia and Prabhtej Singh Bhatia will be elected unopposed as BCCI secretary and treasurer, respectively, on January 12, as the only two names featuring in the final list of contesting candidates. The list of contesting candidates was prepared by the BCCI electoral officer and former Chief Election Commissioner of India, Achal Kumar Joti, on

Richard Gould, the ECB’s chief executive, has rejected calls from a group of British politicians for England to boycott their upcoming Champions Trophy clash with Afghanistan in February, saying that the Taliban regime’s clampdown on women’s rights is a matter that requires a “co-ordinated, ICC-led, response” rather than unilateral action from individual countries. England are

Pakistan captain Shan Masood believes a ball-tracking failure was at fault for his being given out lbw on the fourth and final day of the Cape Town Test match against South Africa. Masood, who scored 145 in Pakistan’s second innings, was ruled not-out by umpire Nitin Menon off the left-arm quick Kwena Maphaka‘s bowling, and