South African cricket has a funny way of producing left-handed batters who flirt with greatness at franchise level, then run into a brick wall of international expectations. Ryan Rickelton might be the latest case study. A year ago, he was the poster child of the SA20 revolution, the league’s leading run-scorer in 2024, the guy […]
South African cricket has a funny way of producing left-handed batters who flirt with greatness at franchise level, then run into a brick wall of international expectations. Ryan Rickelton might be the latest case study. A year ago, he was the poster child of the SA20 revolution, the league’s leading run-scorer in 2024, the guy […]
There’s a strange irony in elite sport: sometimes the harder you try, the worse it gets. England walked into Brisbane believing five intense training days would sharpen their edge. Instead, they emerged looking like a team whose batteries had been left charging for too long, overheated, overloaded, and ultimately blown out. An eight-wicket defeat, five […]
At times, an otherwise unassuming cricket team will send a subtle message that something is fundamentally going to shift. A quiet yet unmistakable signal of change was what Bangladesh’s week-long T20 batting camp at the BCB Academy had to offer: a low-key, non-dramatic experience. There were no last-minute drills, no last-second power-hitting or slogging rehearsals. […]
Each home season has its single round, the type that turns stories around, upends auction lists, and gets a couple of players’ names in selectors’ notebooks underlined twice. The sixth round of the 2025–26 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy was very much that. With all the century-making from the first half of the tournament, the bowling […]
There’s something almost mystical about India’s No. 3 spot in ODIs, a batting position that has produced both classical run-sculptors and cold-blooded chase-machines. And right now, Virat Kohli is reminding the cricketing world why this slot is more throne than batting position. With 237 runs in just two innings against South Africa, including 135 in […]
The IPL loves irony. The moment you call something mini, it finds a way to become anything but. And the 2026 auction set in Abu Dhabi is shaping up to be the kind of “mini” event that drains major franchise wallets and ignites bidding wars with the subtlety of a T20 powerplay. The twist […]
There are Test matches that explode into legend because of miracle comebacks, Kolkata 2001, Edgbaston 2005, Gabba 2021. Christchurch 2025 does the opposite: it slows its way into memory. No late surge. No counter-punching innings. Just two men, one a rising batting force, the other a veteran fast bowler with a tailender’s reputation, choosing to […]
South Africa has spent years living in the strange twilight zone of global tournaments good enough to excite, flawed enough to disappoint, and forever haunted by the mythic “what if.” Yet as the 2025 T20 World Cup looms, something feels different. The calendar, the form cycle, the squad maturity curve, everything has quietly aligned in […]
The desert vipers have recently been a thorn in the side of franchises competing against them in the knockout round of each of the past three ILT20 seasons. Two final appearances in three years may be no accident, but they are a statement. As we enter ILT20 2026, that statement will grow louder, sharper, and […]
Every World Cup cycle has its sacrificial lamb, a player who does almost everything right, but still ends up wearing the unlucky tag because the team room suddenly gets crowded. For India in late 2025, that player is Rinku Singh. The same Rinku whose strike-rate reads like an IPL highlight reel. The same Rinku who […]