Rugby is a bigger deal than cricket in New Zealand and South Africa. Small wonder: the All Blacks or the Springboks have won seven of the 10 men's World Cups yet played, even though the Boks weren't at the first two because of apartheid. So there will be no avoiding in Pune on Wednesday the echoes of this year's final between rugby's giants, which was played in Paris in the early hours of Sunday morning (IST). The South Africans claimed a...
Six rounds of league games done and dusted, we are yet to have a team to confirm their semifinal spot or book their return tickets. The current top four, who have settled in those spots for at least a week, are well placed to go through to the semis with enough buffer with the six bottom-placed sides. As for how things stand, 14 points assure teams of qualification while anything under eight points won't suffice either. With two thirds of...
Pakistan head coach Grant Bradburn lamented that his team doesn't always get to play the top teams, especially India, between ICC events. Bradburn was responding to a question on the eve of the Bangladesh clash about the fortunes of his team that has plumetted in the last month when they've gone from being the top-ranked ODI team to now needing something short of a miracle to make the final four of the ongoing World Cup. Bradburn refuted the assertion that Pakistan...
Bangladesh are hopeful of a strong comeback in the ongoing ICC World Cup after a poor start saw them lose five games in the tournament. Bangladesh's qualification for the 2025 Champions Trophy is at stake as the ICC announced that the top seven sides at the end of the league stage will qualify for the tournament along with hosts Pakistan. Bangladesh are currently placed ninth in the league table and are scheduled to take on Pakistan in their next game on...
The turmoil within the Pakistan team continues to persist, with Inzamam-ul-Haq resigning from his position as the chief selector of the national team. Simultaneously, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has formed a five-member committee to investigate allegations of conflict of interest in the World Cup squad selection process. The PCB on Monday said it has set up a panel to inquire following which Inzamam, a Pakistan legend and a former captain, said he would like to step aside pending inquiry. The PCB...
Qualifications for the next edition of the Champions Trophy in 2025, set to be played in Pakistan, is on the line for teams currently partaking in the ongoing men's ODI World Cup 2023. Teams that finish top-seven in the league phase will feature in the eight-team event alongside the hosts - Pakistan - in the ICC event. England captain Jos Buttler said during the post-match presentation after the defeat to India that he was aware of this rule but their head...
Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hasan said on Sunday (October 29) that they are with their cricketers during this critical time following their dismal performances in the ongoing ICC World Cup. Bangladeshi cricketers are at the receiving end both on and off the field following their five losses on a trot in the tournament and the most recent loss against Netherlands came as a killer blow. Even the skipper Shakib Al Hasan claimed that their campaign is the worst in recent...
Bangladesh Cricket Board is likely to make wholesale changes in their coaching set-up following the ongoing ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2023. A BCB source confirmed the development to Cricbuzz and added that future of head coach Chandika Hathurusingha and assistant coach Nick Pothas is not under cloud at the moment since they only joined the team in the months leading up to the World Cup. That said, there is no guarantee that will remain the case if the pair...
During the 30th match of the 2023 World Cup, the camera panned towards the Afghanistan dugout from time to time and it was hard not to notice a white board in front of head coach Jonathan Trott. The board had mini targets of where Afghanistan needed to be at the 10th over of the chase, 20th, 30th and so on. The target on the white board displayed 50 at the 10th over mark in blue colour, and next to it,...
Now here's a contest that might have looked quite different before the start of the World Cup. Pakistan may have expected to strongly be in the running for a top-four slot in the second-half of their campaign and Bangladesh would have represented that tricky opposition, playing not too far away from home and backed up by some of the most varied spin bowlers in the game. But there's something about this fixture that doesn't quite feel the same now. Bangladesh's rise...
