Cricket

With Kohli unavailable, India had no reserve specialist batters in the Test squad, apart from KS Bharat and Dhruv Jurel, one of whom the head coach Rahul Dravid confirmed would play as the specialist wicketkeeper. Patidar is coming off 151 off 158 balls in the first four-day match against an England Lions attack that included

The physique is as lean as it ever has been. The tattoos now stretch across a sleeker canvas. The cheekbones protrude a little more. Only the beard looks burdened with extra heft. Blow the dust off the memes – Ben Stokes looks more like Vincent van Gogh than ever before. A cricketer’s appearance rarely, if

Defending champions Mumbai Indians and 2023 runners-up Delhi Capitals are set to kick off the 2024 edition of Women’s Premier League (WPL) on February 23 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. The five-team competition will have a total of 22 matches, with the final set to be played on March 17. After the entire

Australia are confident that Travis Head will be able to take his place in the second Test against West Indies despite having Covid since the end of the opening game in Adelaide. Head delayed his arrival into Brisbane by a day to give himself extra time to recover at home but was due to train

Widely regarded as one of most exciting batting talents in the country, Fraser-McGurk has enjoyed a breakout domestic season after moving from Victoria to South Australia. He hit a world-record 29-ball century in the Marsh Cup earlier this season and comes in for Maxwell who is being rested ahead of the T20Is against West Indies

Australia 95 for 6 (Weibgen 39*, Brassell 3-28, Badenhorst 2-29) beat Namibia 91 (van Vuuren 29, Vidler 4-17, Straker 3-16) by four wickets Australia’s fast bowlers, led by Callum Vidler, bundled Namibia out for under 100, before their captain Hugh Weibgen steered them through a tricky chase in their first game of the Men’s Under-19

Will Pucovski has passed a concussion test and been cleared to resume batting after earlier retiring hurt after being struck on the head playing a 2nd XI game for Victoria He was struck on the helmet attempting a hook shot from South Australian paceman David Grant in the latest scare surrounding the 25-year-old. Pucovski, who

Gary Stead, the New Zealand head coach, is “confident” of captain Kane Williamson recovering in time for the start of the first Test against South Africa on February 4 in Mount Maunganui. Williamson had played just two T20Is in the recent five-match series against Pakistan before he was sidelined with a hamstring injury. “I’m confident

Harry Brook has withdrawn from England’s Test squad to tour India for personal reasons. He is set to miss the entire five-Test tour, with England in the process of naming a replacement. The team were due to arrive in Hyderabad on Sunday, ahead of the start of the first Test on Thursday, but Brook will

The confidence from the 33,000 Optus Stadium crowd was justified given Scorchers’ knack of pulling out miraculous victories over the years. But when Hobson fell to a stunning return catch from Strikers captain Matthew Short, Scorchers’ bid for a historic hat-trick of titles was effectively over. Many of the glum fans could not bear to

India Undr-19s 251 for 7 (Adarsh 76, Saharan 64, Mridha 5-43) beat Bangladesh Under-19s 167 (James 54, Pandey 4-24, Musheer 2-35) by 84 runs Bangladesh Under-19s, who had beaten India Under-19s in the Asia Cup in December last year, threatened to cause another stir when left-arm seamer Maruf Mridha took five wickets in the Under-19

Adelaide Strikers 155 for 7 (Weatherald 56, Thornton 28*, Connolly 2-17, Hardie 2-24) beat Perth Scorchers 105 (Fanning 31, Pope 4-24, Boyce 3-20) by 50 runs Legspinners Lloyd Pope and Cameron Boyce starred on the traditional pace-friendly Optus Stadium surface as Adelaide Strikers ended Perth Scorchers’ historic bid for a hat-trick of BBL titles with

A lighter-than-expected workload for Australia’s three-format fast bowlers across the Test summer so far could allow the selectors to pick them for one or both of the upcoming T20I series against West Indies and New Zealand, which are the only six T20Is Australia play before the T20 World Cup in June. Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood

While South Africa were preparing for Dean Elgar’s final Test, his replacement – as both opening batter and captain – was being called up. Literally. “It was the morning of the first day of the Test in Cape Town that Shuks (Shukri Conrad, Test coach) called me and said, “You are in the team and

Sydney Sixers 152 for 8 (Henriques 59, Hughes 42, Neser 3-27, Johnson 2-14) beat Brisbane Heat 113 all out (Peirson 26, Dwarshuis 5-21, Kerr 2-18, Edwards, 2-26) by 39 runs Sydney Sixers secured a home BBL final after seamer Ben Dwarshuis tore into Brisbane Heat on a two-paced Gold Coast surface. Earlier, captain Moises Henriques

Joseph and McKenzie were the shining lights in West Indies’ ten-wicket loss at Adelaide Oval, which handed Australia a 1-0 series lead. Joseph became just the 14th player in Test history, and the first West Indian, to take a five-wicket haul and score more than 50 runs on Test debut having made 36 and 15

After Pakistan failed to reach the semi-finals of the 2023 World Cup, all three were in limbo as the PCB’s temporary management committee lacked the authority to relieve them from their duties. They have had their roles reassigned and none of them travelled with the team for their recent Test tour of Australia, with Mohammad

Toss Sri Lanka choose to bowl against Zimbabwe Sri Lanka have won the toss and chosen to bowl first in the deciding T20I of the series. Both of the previous matches have been won by the chasing team, in tight finishes. Sri Lanka captain Wanindu Hasaranga said dew also played a role in his decision.