Posts

After being put into bat by the visitors, Rohit Sharma and Kishan made the most of the powerplay. Shreyas’ heroics at the death helped the Men in Blue set a 200-run target for Sri Lanka, who were never in the hunt and managed only 137 in their 20 overs. Here are India’s player ratings from the first T20I against Sri Lanka. India vs Sri Lanka 1st T20I: Rohit’s juggernaut rolls on in Lucknow Ishan Kishan: 9/10 After an indifferent series against the West Indies, Kishan struck form in the first T20I to smash 89 off 56 balls....

After winning the toss and electing to bat first, India were propped up by opener Gill, who hammered 208 in an innings where the next highest score was 34. New Zealand came close thanks to a stunning hundred from Michael Bracewell, but Shardul Thakur trapped the southpaw in front in the final over to seal the win. Here are India’s player ratings from their win over New Zealand in the first ODI....

Currently managed by British coach Stephen Constantine, India are placed 22nd among Asian teams with 217 points. This is India’s best ranking since August 2010. They have however, lost 13 points from last month’s total of 230 as they did not play any matches in the past two international windows. They played their last match on September 4 – an international friendly against Puerto Rico which they convincingly won 4-1 at the Andheri Sports Complex in Mumbai....

Immediately after the conclusion of the Test series, the Indian team will have to travel to United Arab Emirates for the Asia Cup which will take place between September 15 and September 30. Since the Indian players would be exhausted after the Test series, we could expect the BCCI to send a second-string squad for the Asia Cup, with some experienced players along with a few newbies and youngsters....

But most of these batting legends have played in the middle order. Although the Indian Test teams usually had very strong batting lineups, the opener’s slot, was a weak link, in most cases. Except for a brief period of 3-4 years, when Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir batted together, India never had a world class Test match opening pair. As a result, the team often suffered, especially in Test matches outside the subcontinent....

The Health Ministry reported 4,529 deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing India’s confirmed COVID-19 deaths to 283,248. There were also 267,334 new cases reported Wednesday. However, health experts believe these numbers are undercounted, especially in rural areas, due to weak data and the government’s late response. “The national story hid what was going on in rural India and it continues to be fairly invisible,” mathematician Murad Banaji told the Associated Press....

Scrappy first half as India took the lead Both the teams showed good commitment to passing football, with India lining up with a very strong side, as both Robin Singh and star striker and captain Sunil Chhetri started. The first half saw the ball staying in midfield more, with the teams striving to find the final ball. The first chance of the match fell to India, as Pronoy Halder sent a speculative shot wide....

In fact, he was even brought into the fold as a back-up for Wriddhiman Saha in the recently concluded Day-Night Test between India and Bangladesh at Eden Gardens. However, his List A record leaves a lot to be desired, thereby casting the BCCI’s decision as even more perplexing. In 51 games, he averages a shade over 28 and boasts a middling strike-rate of 69. Also see – World Test Championship points table...

The game also drew curtains on the Victoria Bitter ODI series which Australia won 4-1. Pandey, for his breathtaking effort, was adjudged the man of the match, while Rohit Sharma, with two centuries, and a 99 in this game- an aggregate of 441 runs- was given the man of the series award. India needed one victory in the 5-match series to retain their No. 2 position on the ICC ODI Rankings table, and with this win, they have managed to do so....

However, this time around, they have decided to cut down on the number of limited-over game time and play a short Test series as well. India had played 8 limited-over games in New Zealand in 2019 and they will play the same number of games this time around too. However, rather than 3 T20Is and 5 ODIs, they will play 5 T20Is and 3 ODIs which will, therefore, reduce the game time and allow the players to be mentally fresh for the Test series....

This unwanted record was previously held by Umesh Yadav who had missed 65 T20Is and had not played any T20 for India between 2012 and 2015. Samson was consistently a part of the India T20 squad for the part eight T20Is but was not able to get a look into the playing eleven. Samson had always been the kind of player who had the talent to make it big but lacked consistency....

Zimbabweans have certainly found it extremely difficult to get going so far against a young Indian Cricket side oozing with talent but they would love to turn it around in the 3 match T20 series beginning on Saturday. They were absolutely decimated by the Indians in the ODI series and a change in format might just lift their sagging spirits a wee bit as they would fancy themselves to do better in the shortest format of the game in well-known home conditions....

All eyes are on P. V Sindhu however since World No.10 has immensely improved her game recently after an outstanding performance at the Uber Cup held earlier this this year and a stupefying amount of nerve displayed defeating World No.3 Wang Shixian and clinching that bronze medal for India at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. She is one teammate Saina must be careful of. However, they as a team have immense potential to improve India’s medal tally combined with Commonwealth Games gold medal contender Parupalli Kashyap and upcoming Kidambi Shrikanth....

Virat Kohli used the picture of himself taking a one-handed blinder in the slip cordon in the Perth Test match in the 2018-19 series in Australia to troll Cheteshwar Pujara who was left admiring the spectacular catch. A post shared by Virat Kohli (@virat.kohli) on May 5, 2020 at 9:38am PDT Both Kohli and Pujara are proven slip catchers in the Indian cricket team, with the latter going through mixed phases in between....

A total of 23 referees and assistant referees were felicitated in conjunction with the AFC Referee Assessors Seminar, on Thursday, 19th January. The eligibility criteria was that the recipients must have served at least five years on the AFC Elite Panel and participated in more than 30 matches. “While we will miss them on the field, I hope that they will continue to share their knowledge and expertise to develop the younger referees," expressed AFC General Secretary Dato Windsor in his speech....

India are close to appointing a coach a full 115 days after Stephen Constantine announced his resignation following India’s dismal performance in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. In those 115 days, India missed out on playing friendlies in the March international window and participated in the AFC U-23 Championship Qualifiers with a temporary coach, who failed to guide the team to the next stage. The first task for the new coach would be to steer India to victory in the 2019 King’s Cup in Thailand....

Squad Goalkeepers: Peter Thangaraj (East Bengal Club), C. Mustafa (Mohammedan Sporting Club). Defenders: Jarnail Singh (Mohun Bagan AC - CAPTAIN), Chandreshwar Prasad (Bengal), Syed Nayeemuddin (Bengal), Altaf Ahmed (East Bengal Club), Arun Ghosh (Bengal). Midfielders: Ajoy Kajal Mukherjee (Bengal), Prasanta Sinha (Bengal), Yousuf Khan (Andhra Pradesh), Krishnaji Rao (Mysore). Forwards: Ashok Chatterjee (Bengal), P.K. Banerjee (Railways), Parimal Dey (East Bengal Club), P.X. Kannan (Bengal), Arumai Nayagam (Mohun Bagan AC), Inder Singh (Leaders Club, Punjab)....

Speaking to Sportskeeda regarding his decision to stay at Chennai City FC, Ajith Kumar Kamaraj said, “It has just been my first year in a national league. As a footballer, I need to gain more exposure before going to next level (ISL) and this is the primary reason. Moreover, Chennai City FC have shown extreme faith in me and a way in my life! With such love and support, I feel that I need to play for CCFC one more season....

Masih Saighani played for Abahani Limited Dhaka in the Bangladesh Premier League and AFC Cup last season, where his extra-time header in the last group stage match against Minerva Punjab ended Chennaiyin’s chances of progressing through to the knockout stages of the tournament. The 32-year-old performed brilliantly against the ISL side in the competition and rumours began to surface that he would be joining them next season. Dhaka Abahani registered their list of foreigners for their home and away tie in the AFC Cup against North Korea’s April 25 S....

The match began neck and neck with Hong Kong leading by a slender four points at the end of the first quarter. Hong Kong did an excellent job of keeping the Indian offense at bay, restricting India to just 22 points in each half. Rutuja Pawar top scored with 19 points, to go along with her nine rebounds, while for Hong Kong, three players scored in double digits. Yet again, India was guilty of turning the ball over too often (27 versus Hong Kong’s 13) leading to significantly higher field goal attempts for their opponents....