Cricket now

Pathum_Nissanka (PC:X/ Sri Lanka Cricket) Sri Lanka crushed Zimbabwe by nine wickets with 22 balls to spare in the fifth T20I of the tri-series in Rawalpindi courtesy of Pathum Nissanka’s brilliance with the bat. Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat first at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. They had a poor start losing two wickets within the third over. However, Brian Bennett’s two partnerships of 36 runs with Brendan Taylor and Sikandar Raza stabilized Zimbabwe’s innings. Ryan Burl’s unbeaten 37 off 26 balls lower down the order was instrumental in taking Zimbabwe to a score of 146/5 in 20 overs. Captain Sikandar Raza contributed 37 runs while Bennett scored 34 runs. For Sri Lanka, Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga took two wickets each.  In reply, Sri Lanka had a blazing start as their openers Nissanka and Kamil Mishara added 59 off 34 balls. Mishara got caught by Wellington Masakadza off Brad Evans after scoring 12. Whereas Nissanka kept on playing his shots and ...

Shanta Rangaswamy and Venkatesh Prasad. RevSportz. Venkatesh Prasad could take over as the next president of the Karnataka State Cricket Association unopposed, in the aftermath of KN Shanth Kumar’s nomination papers being rejected during scrutiny. The highly anticipated election is scheduled to be held on December 7. Shanth Kumar, who belongs to ‘Team Brijesh’, is currently a director of The Printers (Mysore) Private Limited and the president of the DH and PV Sports Club. Shanth Kumar is said to have defaulted on the club’s annual subscription for a period of four years, which in turn goes against the KSCA’s bylaws. A couple of other nomination papers belonging to Dr Srikanth Rai and Mruthyunjaya were also made invalid on the grounds of defaulting on dues and the absence of an affidavit. Both belong to Prasad’s ‘Team Gamechangers’. Incidentally, in a press meet, Prasad had come down heavily on ‘Team Brijesh’: “By saving so much money, you have neglected the sport which has given...

KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant (Image: Debasis Sen) There is no excuse—no pitch, no nothing. Inept batting, pure and simple. On a pitch with no demons, where the opposition scored nearly 500, you collapse for 201 after being 95 for 1. Let’s look at the dismissals. Yashasvi Jaiswal was caught in two minds to a ball that turned, playing a half-hearted shot that looped to Marco Jansen. Sai Sudharsan could have hit the ball anywhere and instead ended up giving a catch to Ryan Rickelton. As if things weren’t dire enough, Dhruv Jurel—who got rare back-to-back opportunities—played a horrendous shot off Jansen to be caught by Maharaj. At lunch, India were four down and already sliding. Rishabh Pant, skipper and lead batter, played a shot that Dale Steyn described as a “brain fade”. Pant has more than enough ability to milk the bowling and keep scoring, yet he attempted a shot that might be understandable on a horrible SCG wicket, but not in Guwahati on a decent third-day pitch. Nitish Reddy ...

Washington_Sundar (PC:X) Former India spinner Anil Kumble believes that the Indian team needs to find stability in the top order following the retirement of some of the veterans like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli while providing longer rope for the young batters from the current crop of players. “The other aspect of also, you know, I want to bring this point about India’s batting. Over the last three or four years, you’ve seen four batters in the top five either retired or not be picked,” Kumble told JioHotstar. “You know, if it is, you know, Virat Kohli is retired, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, then you have, of course… Rahane. So four out of five, plus Shubman Gill is not in this lineup. Yes, India did miss Shubman, the captain, but also, more importantly, missed him as a batter. So when you don’t have that, you need to have a settled, sort of, lineup going through. They need to give them opportunities.” After failing to chase 124 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata in the first T...

Gavaskar (PC: X) Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has raised his voice in the ongoing pitch debate by calling out unfair criticism of subcontinental wickets compared with those in SENA nations (South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia). His remarks came after two Tests — one in Perth and another in Kolkata — ended early, but only the Eden Gardens pitch in Kolkata faced heavy backlash. Gavaskar pointed out the hypocritical nature of some former cricketers and experts after the first Ashes Test in Perth finished inside the first two days. “The Perth Test match has ended in less than two days, with 32 wickets having fallen, including 19 on the first day, but as yet there’s not a word of criticism about the pitch there,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-Day. “Last year too, 17 wickets fell on Day One at Perth between India and Australia, and I can’t recall a critical word about the pitch, which had more grass on it than usual.” Gavaskar further explained his point, s...

Shubman Gill (Image: Debasis Sen) Shamik Chakrabarty in Guwahati Shubman Gill is steadily improving and is on his way to the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (COE) in Bangalore for neck rehabilitation, it is learnt. After missing the ongoing Guwahati Test, Gill has also been ruled out of the three-match ODI series against South Africa starting on November 30. Whether he can feature in the five-match T20I series against the Proteas that follows will be based on his progress. The T20I series commences on December 9. On Sunday, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee announced a 15-member squad for the ODIs against South Africa and, in the regular skipper’s absence – vice-captain Shreyas Iyer is also out injured – KL Rahul has been given the stop-gap role. As RevSportz has reported, Gill has no nerve injury and it’s not serious either. According to the specialists, his issue is cured by adequate rest, but injections are used to quicken the recovery process. Gill sustained a neck injury...

Pakistan_Shaheens_won_the_title (PC:X) Pakistan Shaheens defeated Bangladesh A in a Super Over at the West End Park International Cricket Stadium in Doha in the final of the ACC Men’s Asia Cup Rising Stars 2025. Ahmed Daniyal’s brilliant spell under pressure earned him the Player of the Match award as Pakistan Shaheens were crowned champions. Bangladesh A won the toss and chose to bowl first. The Shaheens lost opener Yasir Khan on the first ball of the innings. Their innings never settled and they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Saad Masood scored 38 off 26 balls, including three fours and three sixes at a strike rate of 146.15.  Bangladesh A bowlers kept the pressure throughout the innings, and Pakistan Shaheens could only manage 125 runs in their 20 overs. For Bangladesh, Ripon Mondol shone again with the ball, picking up three wickets, along with Rakibul Hasan’s two wickets and one wicket each from SM Meherob, Jishan Alam, and Abdul Gaffar Saqlain. In reply, Ban...