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PC- RevSportz After Abhishek Sharma’s blazing 30-ball hundred in the third T20I against Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi, Gautam Gambhir, India’s coach, said the bigger positive was the impact created rather than the milestone itself. “Look, I’ll tell you one thing. I just want to say one thing: it’s not about the hundred that he scored today,” he said at the post-match press conference. “I can sit here and keep talking about his hundred, but it’s just the impact. “The only thing that we talk about in that dressing room is how much impact can we create with the bat and how much impact can we create with the ball. And that has been our ideology, that has been our philosophy for the last two, two and a half years. “T20 cricket is not about runs or wickets, it’s about how much impact you can create. And for both Sanju [Samson] and Abhishek, I think you can easily sit here and say one got a 50 and the other one got a 100. But for me, I think the biggest positive was...

Mohammad Rizwan in press conference (Photo: RevSportz) Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan has challenged the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) after being summoned for questioning following Pakistan’s disappointing Test tour of England. Rizwan appeared at the NCCIA office in Lahore last week along with Imam-ul-Haq. Both players were questioned and were also given detailed questionnaires on their travel, financial history, personal details and cricket careers. While Imam have submitted his answers by the September 15 deadline, Rizwan questioned the basis of the investigation. He also raised concerns about the NCCIA’s jurisdiction and the lack of any specific allegation against him. Rizwan has now taken the matter to the Lahore High Court, challenging the agency’s decision to summon him for questioning. The decision comes after Pakistan suffered a 3-0 Test series defeat in England. Rizwan and Imam were among the seven players removed from the squad after th...

Shikhar Mohan. PC – TNCA   With East Zone’s score reading 133 for 2 in the Duleep Trophy final, the left-hand batter from Jharkhand, Shikhar Mohan, cracked a punch that exemplified his promise. The downswing was straight, and at the nth moment, he closed the bat face ever so slightly as the ball rocketed away wide of long-on. Another salient feature of his innings was how he dismantled Tripurana Vijay’s spin threat with lofts down the ground.   The macro picture was that of a batter who strode out to the middle with a confident gait and composed a fluent knock of 85. Just delve deeper into his fledgling career, and you will unearth a few anecdotes to gauge his self-belief, which was on display in the sweltering heat of Chennai.   For a moment, let’s revisit a Cooch Behar Trophy game, where Mohan showed resilience to overcome poor form and pain.   “In the Cooch Behar Trophy, in three matches I didn’t score runs,” he s...

PC: X (Mithun Manhas) A week before India and Japan meet each other on the ground for the inaugural Suzuki Cup T20I on September 22, BCCI president Mithun Manhas and the Indian men’s cricket team met Japanese Ambassador to India, Ono Keiichi in New Delhi. This meeting celebrated the sporting partnership between the two nations with the one-off T20I set to be played at the Sano International Cricket Ground in Tochigi. The fixture will create cricketing history as it will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the two countries, and officially mark the launch of ‘Sports 75’ – an initiative aimed to boost sports cooperation. While sharing the photographs on X, Manhas described the occasion as an important milestone for the game’s global journey, as he wrote: “It was a pleasure to meet His Excellency Mr. Ono Keiichi, Ambassador of Japan to India, along with Team India in Delhi today. This is a special moment as cricket reaches a new audience ...

  Ishan Kishan and Ms Dhoni, PC: Ishan Kishan on Instagram   East Zone’s 2026 Duleep Trophy triumph put several Jharkhand cricketers into the spotlight. Led by Ishan Kishan, East Zone ended a 13-year wait for the title, with Kishan producing a massive 270 in the final and Kumar Kushagra compiling a century. Shikhar Mohan, meanwhile, also made an impression during the tournament, scoring 85 and picking up wickets.   The performances once again highlighted the depth of talent coming through Jharkhand cricket. But behind the performances is a question that naturally comes up whenever Jharkhand’s young cricketers are discussed: what kind of influence does MS Dhoni continue to have on them? Long after he stepped down as India captain, Dhoni still walks into the Jharkhand State Cricket Association’s academy in Ranchi like any other member, except everyone around him knows who he is. What they’ll tell you, almost in unison, is that he never lets them fe...

  Image :BCCI Srishti Bhattacharya, New Delhi Sanju Samson has seen both sides of the noise that comes with playing for India. When he scores, the celebrations are loud. When a few innings do not go his way, the questions around his place in the team quickly follow. On Tuesday, against Afghanistan, Samson had the perfect response. After scoring only 10 runs in the first T20I, he walked out to open again in the second game and produced a blistering 57 off just 22 balls. He brought up his half-century in only 20 deliveries, helping India race through the chase and seal the three-match series 2-0. It was the kind of innings that reminded everyone why Samson remains such a dangerous T20 batter. But more than that, it came at a time when he was once again trying to find his way back after a difficult period. To understand why this knock mattered, it is important to go back to the start of the year. At the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, Samson was not part of India’s playing XI at...

  Harmanpreet Kaur. Image: BCCI Women The Indian women have won the Asia Cup and, as my readers read this, are about to land in Nagoya for the Asian Games. There is no doubt India will start as overwhelming favourites for gold, with the same opponents present in Nagoya. But despite the Asia Cup win, questions remain, and many of them surround the batting form of skipper Harmanpreet Kaur. For years, Harmanpreet has been the mainstay of the middle order. One expects her to play the big shots, control the middle overs, add to the scoring rate and set things up for finishers like Richa Ghosh. But over the last few months, apart from the one-off innings against Australia at Lord’s on 28 June, which was brilliant, Harman has struggled for momentum with the bat. In the Asia Cup, there was not a single occasion when she actually looked good. In the final, her decision to come up the order was the correct one. After a fantastic start, the stage was set for her to dominate. But then came...