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Lily Bassingthwaighte for Brisbane Heat (PC: Lily Bassingthwaighte) Defending champions Hobart Hurricanes’ nightmare season continued as they suffered their fourth consecutive defeat in the ongoing WBBL. After posting a modest 116/9 on Saturday, they failed to defend the total as Brisbane Heat registered a four-wicket win in Brisbane. Despite completing the chase, the Heat did not have a convincing outing, having been reduced to 89/6 at one stage. However, Annie O’Neil held her nerve, remaining unbeaten on 32 to guide her side to victory with 10 balls to spare. Yastika Bhatia struggled once again, scoring 22 off 23 balls. The real difference, however, was made earlier with the ball by 19-year-old pacer Lily Bassingthwaighte. The youngster impressed with the new ball, generating pace and swing to dismiss all three of the Hurricanes’ top-order batters. Having already removed Lizelle Lee and Kate Pelle, she then produced a beauty to dismiss Chamari Athapaththu. The delivery pitched o...

Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir (Image: Debasis Sen) Around 1 pm local time, India were yet to turn up at Eden Park for their matchday-minus-one training session. A sizable gathering of the Indian diaspora had already assembled outside Gate J. “Can you please arrange a picture of Virat Kohli?” was the collective request. About a couple of hours later, when the former India captain stopped in front of the gate to oblige the fans, “Kohli, Kohli” chants reverberated in the air. By then, the gathering had swelled into a crowd. Rohit Sharma, meanwhile, was having a light-hearted conversation with the Indian team support staff after finishing his session. Sukoon is writ large on his face. He is in calmer waters now. Ajit Agarkar is gone, the new selection committee chairman, Pragyan Ojha, is unlikely to rock the boat, and Rohit is no longer on a slippery slope. If he stays fit, he will play the 2027 World Cup. A five-match ODI series in the context of modern-day cricket, and especially i...

Image: @ProteasMenCSA At some point during the Newlands Test, I found myself watching the mountain rather than the cricket. Table Mountain does that to you, with Devil’s Peak forming its eastern flank, clouds gathering over the heights and that extraordinary white tablecloth spilling over the mountain’s edge. I have visited Table Mountain, and the television pictures brought back memories of standing before something whose scale a photograph can never quite capture. At Newlands, even the most devoted spectator must occasionally forget to watch the bowler. South Africa made 329, conceded 429, recovered to score 387 and then dismissed Australia for 111. A 176-run victory, a series won 2–1 and the world’s No. 1 Test ranking reclaimed. For much of this match, Australia had good reason to believe they would win. South Africa had surrendered a promising first-innings start and fallen 100 runs behind. Ryan Rickelton and Wiaan Mulder’s sixth-wicket partnership of 154, with Rickelton making 1...

Mitchell Santner ahead of first ODI (PC: RevSportz) Ahead of the five-match ODI series opener against India at Eden Park, New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner confronted a packed press room with his trademark dry candor, dissecting everything from squad concussions and tactical shifts to the looming shadow of India’s veteran titans. Chief among New Zealand’s immediate concerns is the fallout from a bruising training-ground collision between Devon Conway and Matt Henry. Santner confirmed that Devon Conway’s participation hangs by a thread. “Matt (Henry) went through his concussion thing, he seems okay. But Dev’s been raced off premises, so, yeah, it didn’t look too good actually, the collision,” Santner admitted, ruling out an early lineup announcement.  “It’s one of those ones you want to take very seriously, obviously head knocks. We have a backup batter in line just in case, but yeah, we’ll wait and see how he pulls up.” Should C...

Shreyas Iyer. Image: BCCI India T20I captain Shreyas Iyer reviewed his team’s performance after the 3-2 T20I series win against New Zealand and highlighted the areas that need improvement going forward. New Zealand won the last two T20Is to deny India a series whitewash after the visitors had won the first three games. The hosts ended the series on a high with two back-to-back wins. Reflecting on the final T20I and the series, Iyer said: “We were a bit sloppy. But great learning. I think coming overseas, coming to New Zealand, getting to play on such different occasions, different grounds. We have to work on a couple of things, especially fielding. That is one aspect of the game we need to improve on. But honestly, it’s not that easy when you come under such dark lights, clear skies. We don’t get that much in India. But yeah, great learning curve.” Iyer underlined India’s struggles in the fielding department, an area of concern that continues to persist. Alth...

Indian Women’s Cricket Team with ODI World Cup title (PC: BCCI Women) Today marks the first anniversary of the Women in Blue’s historic maiden Women’s ODI World Cup triumph. On this day in 2025, India defeated South Africa in the final at the D.Y. Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, lifting their first-ever ICC Women’s ODI World Cup title in front of a packed home crowd. The writer was among the fortunate media personnel present to witness the historic moment. Thousands of fans singing ‘Vande Mataram’ together and chanting ‘India, India’ created an atmosphere that will remain etched in memory for years. India’s journey to the title, however, was far from straightforward. Two wins to begin the campaign were followed by three consecutive defeats before the Women in Blue staged a remarkable comeback. They beat New Zealand in the group stage to qualify for the semi-finals, overcame the mighty Australian challenge in the semi-final and eventually defeated South Africa in the summit clash....