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“He Is a Phenomenal Player”: Rutherford Hails Hope After Stunning Chase Against India

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Shai Hope. (PC: X/ICC) Wicketkeeper-batter Shai Hope led from the front with an unbeaten century as the West Indies pulled off a stunning six-wicket win over India while chasing a daunting target of 250 in the second T20I in Ranchi on Friday. Hope remained unbeaten on 102 off just 45 balls, smashing six boundaries and nine sixes at a strike rate of 226.66. The West Indies captain carried his excellent form into the T20I series after scoring two centuries in the preceding ODI series. He made 104 in the second ODI in Guwahati before remaining unbeaten on 162 in New Chandigarh. He also scored 52 in the first T20I in Lucknow. During the post-match presentation, Hope, who was named Player of the Match, reflected on the challenge of chasing such a huge target. “We knew that it was going to be a tough chase,” he said. “It was always going to be challenging. When we got that partnership between me and Rovman [Powell], and then Sherfane did what he did.” Hope shared a crucial 120-run partn...
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Experience Over Youth Could Be Behind Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s T20I Recall

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Bhuvneshwar Kumar (PC: IPL/BCCI) Wealth of experience might be one of the reasons why Bhuvneshwar Kumar has earned a recall to India’s T20I side, according to India’s batting coach, Sitanshu Kotak. He also feels that the conditions in New Zealand, where India willplay their next T20I series, will have further strengthened the pacer’s case. Bhuvneshwar returned to the national team after a four-year hiatus, having been named in the squad for the five-match T20I series against New Zealand. Following two successful seasons in the IPL, the veteran pacer has earned his place inthe side. In the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, the T20I side needed an experienced bowler for the away tour, and Bhuvneshwar’s selection provides just that. “One thing, obviously, is that it’s the selectors’ choice,” Kotak said at a press conference ahead of the second T20I againstthe West Indies in Ranchi. “But I can still give you an answer about what I think. In England, I also personally felt th...
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The return of Bhuvneshwar Kumar — ‘At some stage you need experience’

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Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Image: IPL Beyond Jasprit Bumrah, India’s pace attack in white-ball cricket doesn’t inspire confidence. Prasidh Krishna made his international debut in 2021, six years after cutting his teeth in first-class cricket. But even after so many years, he has failed to come of age. The Karnataka seamer is not in the T20I scheme of things at the moment. Arshdeep Singh has played 95 T20Is, taking 141 wickets. On the face of it, this is impressive. But the left-arm quick hasn’t grown into the role of leader of the pace pack. The likes of Gurnoor Brar, Mayank Yadav, Prince Yadav and Yash Thakur are spring chickens and fall into the emerging fast bowlers category. It’s a different ball game when Bumrah is bowling from one end and when he isn’t playing. The England tour in the summer laid bare the tattered fabric of India’s back-up seam bowling in Bumrah’s absence. Going ahead, the great man is unlikely to feature much in bilateral T20...
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India vs West Indies, T20Is: How Shreyas Iyer found his mojo

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In sport, an athlete doesn’t have a guarantee card that could assure their existence in top-flight competitions for years together. Elite-level sport demands continuous evolution. Shreyas Iyer, the India skipper in the shortest format, is someone who has looked to constantly upgrade his game. Over a decade or so, he seems to have tinkered with his methods and reaped the rewards in the abridged versions. Since returning to the T20I set-up, Iyer seemed a tad uncomfortable at the crease while landing the big shots. Incidentally, before he crunched a hundred in the Lucknow T20I against the West Indies, Iyer’s strike rate was hovering in the mid-130s during that phase. However, on the given day, he crunched a 43-ball 102 in conditions where a majority of the batters couldn’t find their top gear. Just skim through the outer layer of his power-hitting manual, and it could be seen that he had tweaked his bat-lift angle and trigger movement against pace. As it turned out, it...
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Ranji Trophy Needs Its Stars

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Ranji Trophy in the frame (PC: BCCI) The Ranji Trophy begins on 11 October, and a number of India’s key players will be in action in the opening round of matches. I am particularly looking forward to watching Mohammed Shami and Mukesh Kumar bowl for Bengal, and that augurs well for Indian cricket. One of the key changes in Indian cricket following the Border-Gavaskar Trophy loss in 2024-25 has been this: national team players, including the stars, are once again part of the domestic calendar. It was a tough decision to implement, but the BCCI has done a good job of enforcing the rule, and this is one area where Indian cricket is doing much better than what we are seeing in Australia and England. There is little doubt that when star players turn out for their domestic sides, interest levels rise. People will flock to watch Shami, Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma or Shubman Gill, and their presence adds glamour to the Ranji Trophy. More importantly, it keeps the competition relevant. F...
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What does the future hold for Nitish Reddy in ODIs?

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Nitish Reddy   Whenever Nitish Kumar Reddy plays for India in limited-overs cricket, there is an asterisk attached to his name: he isn’t a like-for-like replacement for the injured Hardik Pandya. In fact, that asterisk seems to crop up almost every time Nitish has a bat or a ball in his hand. In such circumstances, it must be difficult for a cricketer to shut down all the outside noise and perform.   In the present context, the Indian management is hoping to pigeonhole Nitish as a back-up to Hardik. Question marks, however, remain over whether Nitish can perform the role of bowling enough overs, especially in the ODI format.   That could be the very reason why the Indian management looked to utilise Nitish as a new-ball bowler in the Trivandrum ODI against the West Indies. The logic behind it was a straightforward one: give Nitish the opportunity to take advantage of bowling with a brand-new ball. But we live in times when the white new Kookaburra ball ...
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Getting picked for India A is a huge opportunity for me: Mukesh Kumar

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    PC: Debasis Sen Debasis Sen, Kolkata Bengal speedster Mukesh Kumar was at the Cricket Association of Bengal’s indoor facility on Wednesday morning, putting in the hard yards in the gym as he continued to prepare for a busy domestic season ahead. While most of his state teammates stayed away from Eden Gardens because of a mock drill by National Security Guard (NSG) commandos ahead of Sunday’s Mahalaya event, the 32-year-old pacer remained focused on his fitness and training. Mukesh’s impressive run with the ball in the Duleep Trophy and Irani Cup has earned him a place in the India A squad for the three-match multi-day series against New Zealand. The pacer from Gopalganj has picked 20 wickets in the four domestic matches he has played so far, including a match-winning 6/33 in the second innings of the Irani Cup against Jammu & Kashmir. He will now be part of a formidable three-pronged pace attack for Bengal, alongside Mohammed Shami and Akash Deep, in the Ranji Tr...
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