Cricket has seen mystery spinners before the Mendis curveball, the Narine enigma, the Rashid revolution, but Pakistan may have stumbled upon something stranger: a bowler who pauses mid-action long enough for a batter to check his phone notifications. Usman Tariq’s exaggerated two-second freeze before sling-releasing an off-break looks like an error in a video game […]
Cricket has seen mystery spinners before the Mendis curveball, the Narine enigma, the Rashid revolution, but Pakistan may have stumbled upon something stranger: a bowler who pauses mid-action long enough for a batter to check his phone notifications. Usman Tariq’s exaggerated two-second freeze before sling-releasing an off-break looks like an error in a video game […]
If there’s one thing Chennai Super Kings have mastered over the years, it’s the art of buying the right chaos. Not the reckless kind, the calculated, Dhoni-coded kind where an all-rounder doesn’t just fill a slot but expands an entire tactical universe. Yet ahead of IPL 2026, CSK walks into the auction hall without Jadeja, […]
The strangest thing about Australia’s thumping two-day win over England in Perth wasn’t the margin; it was the timing. For once, victory came too early. Pat Cummins, meant to bowl a crucial rehab spell on day four, suddenly had no day four to work with. The captain, who wasn’t actually captaining because Steve Smith had […]
The Indian cricket team is not known for gradual changes to its lineup. The changes that are made tend to be very dramatic, usually during the middle of a series, in the middle of an injury crisis, or at a time when the team is having major issues with performance. So it comes as little […]
Every year’s IPL auctions create an irresistible headline story: the under-the-radar cricketer who can turn a single impressive, international display into a bidding frenzy from a franchise. The potential 2026 headline could come from Senuran Muthusamy of South Africa. His century in Guwahati was not “a feel-good, one-day wonder” as he survived for 206 balls, […]
Many debutants have followed their script. A day earlier than lunchtime, Jake Weatherald had shredded his script. He had been presented with his Baggy Green by David Warner. He had been overcome by feelings from his childhood and had dreamed of an innings to launch his Test career. But he had only batted for two […]
Ask a cricket romantic about Test cricket in India, and he’ll tell you the same thing: spin bowlers are ruling the roost; touring teams are running in circles while trying to survive the hours of each day’s play; and away batsmen look like they’re frozen into statues “as cool as an ice cube on a […]
Some cricketing divorces are mutual. Some are messy. And then there’s Kolkata Knight Riders parting ways with Andre Russell, a breakup that feels like waking up to a text saying, “We need to talk,” after 11 years of fireworks, trophies, and near-mythical six-hitting. Russell isn’t just another T20 all-rounder; he’s a full-blown era. 139 […]
There is a particular type of pain that is unique to England in Australia, an amount of pain which builds up with hope as high as a mountain and then crashes down into a singular session, most often by the time of tea. The recent Test match fits the Ashes mould to an almost frightening […]
Ashes openers rarely behave. They wobble, they tease, they ignite, but Day 1 at Perth delivered something stranger: England bowling with such raw speed that the Australian top order looked like they had walked into the wrong decade. Nine down for 123 chasing a modest 172, and suddenly every British newsroom rediscovered hope like it […]
Every T20 World Cup brings one unavoidable argument: Who got the lucky draw? This time, the debate started even before the ICC could finish unveiling the fixtures. India the world No. 1 and the co-host are in an area that quietly feels like an airport express lane: USA (No. 18), Namibia (No. 15), Netherlands […]