Cricket news
IND vs ENG: Edgbaston jinx, new captains, curtains rise for the final Test
The five day match is being played at Birmingham’s Edgbaston. England has won the toss and elected to bowl first. Cricket lover can enjoy the match on Sony Sports Network – Sony Six and Sony Six HD. Digital broadcast will be available on SonyLiv app.
By Sakshi Verma
This time it’s a new Team India and a new England side. A lot of water has flown down the Thames since these two teams met each other the last time. While the whole Virat Kohli vs BCCI episode forced the former skipper to step down from Test captaincy, the new Test captain Rohit Sharma is still battling health issues. After testing positive for Covid-19, the 34 year old is out of the decider match and even his deputy KL Rahul has had surgery, forcing an Indian fast bowler to lead Team India in Test cricket after 35 years. Call it superstition or an evil eye, the Indian team has gone through some major changes.
On the other hand, England’s best Test captain Joe Root is no more captain with Ben Stokes leading England against India after white-washing New Zealand 3-0 with former Kiwi cricketer Brandon McCullum as the new head coach of England.
This is not even the same Indian team that started the battle and it is not the same English side that were losing the fight but one thing that has remained constant in these nine months is the anticipation among fans and cricketers.
Read Also: IND vs ENG: BCCI announces Indian squad for ODI and T20 series against England
The longest format of cricket is the hardest for athletes and the five-day match does not only bring out the best in you but also makes the world see your vulnerability. Henceforth, the game will be tough. These five days are important for both the sides but the fight between the giants will be worth the wait. While India holds a 2-1 lead, a fact is that India has never won a match in Edgbaston, the venue of this Test.
So, here’s what’s going to happen: Either India is going to leave its Edgbaston history in the trash just like they did at the Gabba or England will win the last match and draw the series. For new England captain Ben Stokes vs new India captain Jasprit Bumrah, for Kohli vs Anderson and for the attacking Indian bowlers vs English batters in fine nick, especially Jonny Bairstow.
The match has already begun at Birmingham’s Edgbaston and India are batting first after losing the toss. Cheteshwar Pujara has opened the Indian innings with Shubman Gill, it will be interesting to see how the Indian batter will perform against the ruthless English bowling attack.
IND vs ENG Test: BCCI announces Jasprit Bumrah as captain, Rishabh Pant deputy
Cricket news
IPL 2024: Kolkata Knight Riders beat Mumbai Indians by 24 runs
Venkatesh Iyer was the top scorer for Kolkata Knight Riders with a 70-run knock which took his side to the score as Manish Pandey scored 42 runs off his bat. Suryakumar Yadav was the lone ranger scoring 56 runs which gave Mumbai Indians some hope.
Kolkata Knight Riders registered a 24-run win against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Friday in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League. KKR were restricted for 169 runs in 19.5 overs by the Mumbai Indians pace bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Nuwan Thushara’s three-fers. The Mumbai Indians in response were wrapped up for 145 runs as Mitchell Starc picked up a 4 wicket haul.
Venkatesh Iyer was the top scorer for Kolkata Knight Riders with a 70-run knock which took his side to the score as Manish Pandey scored 42 runs off his bat. Suryakumar Yadav was the lone ranger scoring 56 runs which gave Mumbai Indians some hope, but once he was dismissed the hosts batting order was folded by the KKR pace bowlers to pick up their 1st win at the Wankhede stadium in 12 years.
The Kolkata Knight Riders set a target of 170 runs for the Mumbai Indians. It was a disastrous start for KKR as they lost 4 important wickets in the powerplay itself and then another wicket fell in the very first ball after the first six overs. But the impact sub, Manish Pandey played the supporting role along with Venkatesh Iyer and brought the innings back to normal as the latter went on to finish with 70 runs in 52 balls to put the visitors in contention.
For Mumbai Indians, Nuwan Thushara gave outstanding bowling performance in the power play and picked up 3 important wickets. Hardik Pandya also supported in the middle overs by picking up 2 important wickets along with the lone wicket by Piyush Chawla. Jasprit Bumrah showed his class at the death overs by taking 3 important wickets in the latter stages of the innings as Mumbai Indians needed 170 to win the match. Mumbai Indians only needed 51 runs off the last 5 overs, but a superb effort from KKR’s bowlers put an end to their hopes.
Cricket news
ICC annual team rankings: India maintains top in place both white-ball formats
India continues to be ranked at the top in men’s ODIs and T20Is following the yearly update that the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Friday. India is currently ranked second in the Test rankings, with Australia holding the top spot.
According to the ICC, all series finished since May 2021 are reflected in the annual update for the Test rankings, which excludes results from the 2020–21 season. With 124 rating points, Australia, the victors of the World Test Championship, are currently top of the table.
India, who lost the top spot to them, is only four points ahead of third-place England and fifteen points ahead of them. With 103 points, South Africa is the fourth team above the 100-point threshold. India’s decline was primarily caused by their 2020–21 2-1 series win in Australia being removed from the rankings.
The teams that placed third through ninth are still in the same order. There are currently just nine countries in the rankings because Afghanistan, Ireland, and Zimbabwe have not played enough Test matches. Zimbabwe has only played three Test matches in the last three years. To be listed on the rankings table, a team must participate in eight Test matches within a three-year period.
India leads the ODI and T20I standings in terms of white-ball matches; according to the annual update, matches played before May 2023 are worth 50% of the total points, and matches played after then are worth 100%.
Despite losing to Australia in the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup final, India now leads the standings with 122 points, up from three points to six. The top ten remains unchanged, however Ireland has moved up to the eleventh spot, surpassing Zimbabwe.
In other changes, Scotland moved up to 12th place, surpassing Zimbabwe, and Pakistan fell two spots to seventh. Outside the top 20, Spain (moving up from 33rd to 30th), the Isle of Man (moving up from 44th to 41st), and Switzerland (moving up from 50th to 45th) have had the largest rating increases.
Cricket news
Rohit Sharma breaks silence on losing MI’s captaincy to Hardik Pandya, says it is part of life
India captain Rohit Sharma has finally broken the silence on losing MI’s captaincy to Hardik Pandya in the Indian Premier League.
India’s star cricketer and Mumbai Indians former captain Rohit Sharma on Thursday finally opened on why MI’s captainship was given to Hardik Pandya before the beginning of IPL 2024.
Rohit Sharma acknowledged this by saying that not everything goes your way. Being removed from Mumbai’s captaincy was a shock to many in the cricket world and a bitter pill to swallow for Rohit’s horde of fans, many of whom also booed Hardik during the team’s opening games this IPL season.
The roles of Hardik and Rohit Sharma will be switched during the T20 World Cup, which will begin on June 2. As part of MI’s significant leadership transition, which has not gone as expected, Rohit is currently playing under Hardik. He will return as Pandya’s captain for the crucial ICC match. For the majority of his career, Rohit has served as Hardik’s captain and senior, but the events of the last month and the upcoming 30 days threaten to alter the relationship.
Rohit emphasized, but not in a bad way, describing how playing under Hardik before returning to captain him would not throw off the rhythm. He also said, it is part of life. When questioned by the media about his experience playing in the ongoing Indian Premier League under Pandya, the Indian captain responded, it has been a great experience.
The 37-year-old received criticism for not scoring enough runs with the willow in the preceding three seasons, but in the competition’s 17th edition, he had an entirely different appearance. Whatever is there and you go by it and then try and do what is required from you as a player. He said he has only tried to do that in the last one month. In 10 IPL 2024 innings, India’s skipper Rohit has already scored 314 runs.
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