Cricket now

  Image :X What is sport without its fans? They are the ones who deify a human being and give him god-like status. They push the bar and make superheroes out of mortals. In the ultimate analysis, there is no sport without them. It is to them that MS Dhoni owes one final goodbye. They want him out there one final time at the Chepauk, to celebrate their Thala and the bond they share with him. Yes, it could well be that he is past his prime and isn’t really ready to play a full game. But the fact that he has trained all season does mean he nurtured ambitions of playing. So, it would not be a bad idea to push the tired body one final time for the legion of men and women who have travelled the journey with him and made him Thala . I am conscious that it could well be emotion speaking here more than reason. But then, what is sport without emotion? Neymar Jr has been picked in the Brazil team for the FIFA World Cup more on the basis of emotion than reason. And here, we are talking abo...

Mitchell Marsh (PC: IPL/BCCI) Jaipur’s Sawai Mansingh Stadium witnessed a fantastic innings from Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) batter Mitchell Marsh. Against the Rajasthan Royals (RR), Marsh smashed 96 off 57 balls at an impressive strike rate of 168.42. The LSG opener began his innings by scoring ten runs off just three balls, including two consecutive boundaries off Jofra Archer’s bowling. However, he slowed down in the third over against the same bowler’s deliveries. He regained his rhythm in the fifth over against Brijesh Sharma, smashing three boundaries — two fours and a six. By the eighth over, he was just four runs short of a half-century, and he brought it up by dispatching a back-of-a-length delivery from Brijesh for a six. Then came the 10.2-over mark, where Marsh reached his fifty off just 25 balls against Dasun Shanaka’s bowling. In the twelfth over, a misfield resulted in a boundary for the LSG batter, followed by two consecutive boundaries in the same over. By then, Mars...

Images ;X A couple of days ago, I came across a social media post where Arshdeep Singh made fun of Tilak Varma’s skin colour. Tilak seemed to brush it off, and it was all normalised on social media. But that is precisely the problem. We normalise such talk because we are not sensitive enough. Arshdeep perhaps does not have the understanding of what he can say and what he cannot, and this issue is not limited to him alone. It is a deeply Indian problem, and we have all come to terms with it and accepted it as “ eta ar ki emon byapar (this is no big deal).” Take the case of Dhanraj Pillay, for example. When he first burst onto the scene, he dazzled everyone with his brilliance. It was almost impossible to stop him, and the common refrain during hockey matches was “ kale ko pakad, kale ko pakad (catch the dark one)”. While narrating this to me, Pillay too did not think it was anything out of the ordinary. Rather, it was considered the norm and there was supposedly nothing wrong with i...

Saudi Cricket (PC: X) The announcement of the Dunes T20 League, scheduled to launch in Saudi Arabia in October 2026, represents another significant step in the Kingdom’s rapidly expanding sports ecosystem. Backed by the Saudi Arabian Cricket Federation along with partners like South Asian Network Ltd, Unique Sports Group and Prolithic Talent Agency, the six-team competition aims to combine global cricketing stars with emerging regional talent. Former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has already been unveiled as league ambassador. What makes this particularly interesting is the broader context. Saudi Arabia is not merely trying to host another T20 tournament. It is attempting to position itself as a serious long-term player in the global cricket economy, much like it has done across football, golf, Formula 1 and boxing under Vision 2030. The league is expected to be staged in Taif near Jeddah and could eventually become part of a larger Gulf cricket ecosystem that already includes ILT20...

Pat Cummins (PC: IPL/BCCI) Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) captain Pat Cummins took his 200th wicket in T20 cricket against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) during the 63rd match of IPL 2026 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. He became the 131st bowler in history to achieve the milestone in the 20-over format. After winning the toss and electing to bat first, CSK openers Sanju Samson and Ruturaj Gaikwad provided an impressive start. Cummins struck in the third over, dismissing Samson for 27 to deliver the first breakthrough. Cummins found the outside edge as Samson attempted a shot through the covers, and Ishan Kishan safely collected the catch behind the stumps. Young batter Kartik Sharma, who scored 32 runs, was dismissed after completely misjudging a wide short ball and slicing it straight into the hands of the sweeper-cover fielder. The milestone wicket came a few overs later when Cummins deceived CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad. He induced the CSK skipper into playing a pull shot, resulting in a s...

Parag walking back after smashing a fifty aganinst DC. (PC: BCCI) Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain Riyan Parag did not mince his words in criticising his team for falling short after their defeat at the hands of Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Sunday. RR played their first match after a break of more than a week. They batted well to post a total of 193, with half-centuries from Parag and Dhruv Jurel. However, the total proved insufficient as DC chased it down with five wickets and four balls to spare. There were several overthrows and missed chances in the field during the second innings when RR were defending. Parag was visibly animated, although he also made an error in the inner circle. Losing a match at such a crucial stage of the tournament did not sit well with Parag, as he vented his frustration during the post-match presentation ceremony. “After coming from a break, I feel what we’ve shown today, energy-wise, skill-wise, execution-wise, is definitely...