All defending champions walk into the next year of competition, holding a trophy as evidence of their previous success, and a bullseye on their back. It’s no surprise to anyone who has competed at this level, but the Dubai Capitals are well aware of what it is like to be a defending champion. With their […]
All defending champions walk into the next year of competition, holding a trophy as evidence of their previous success, and a bullseye on their back. It’s no surprise to anyone who has competed at this level, but the Dubai Capitals are well aware of what it is like to be a defending champion. With their […]
There’s a certain inevitability about Virat Kohli in ODI cricket. His latest masterpiece, a polished 102 off 93 balls in Raipur, wasn’t just another century. It was his 53rd ODI ton, his second in consecutive matches, and remarkably, the 11th time he has reeled off back-to-back hundreds. Historically, India’s dominance in ODI cricket is based […]
On most days, when a team shells out 358 for 5, its second-highest ODI total against South Africa, the statisticians pack up early, the broadcasters rehearse victory lines, and fans quietly settle the “Kohli vs Tendulkar” debate for the 900th time. But Raipur had other ideas. A 195-run stand between Virat Kohli and Ruturaj […]
In the high-volatility stock market that is the IPL, Jake Fraser-McGurk is the equivalent of a speculative cryptocurrency. In 2024, he was the gold standard of modern T20 batting, bludgeoning 330 runs in just nine matches at a ludicrous strike rate of 234.04. Fast forward to 2025, and the bubble seemingly burst. He scraped together […]
There is an interesting form of pressure within the sport of cricket when the high-stakes auctions are roughly two weeks from happening. This is the sound of players not competing solely for a championship trophy, but for their future financial well-being. The fourth season of the International League T20 (ILT20) is getting underway today, Tuesday, […]
Cricket can sometimes generate an inquiry that feels less of a puzzle than a trick from the universe: What is the way to keep Virat Kohli from hitting? Coaches will write out a plan, analysts will create wagon-wheel charts and diagrams for their fielding positions, and captains will position players in unorthodox ways, but when […]
One of the most disconcerting examples of cruel fate in the way that teams manage the dynamics of an IPL auction is that a player can go from being a god for his team to being a burden for his team in one season. Enter David Miller, the South African left-handed batsman who was once […]
The First Pink Ball in Test Cricket Ten years ago, Mitchell Starc bowled the first ever pink ball (to Martin Guptill) at the Adelaide Oval. For one instant, it felt as if we were watching the beginning of an inevitable trend toward the use of pink balls in all test cricket. The elements of the […]
The IPL mini-auction usually throws up a surprise or two, but this year’s shocker didn’t come from the 1,355-player registration pile or the 43 names parked at the ₹2-crore bracket. It came from the one name missing. Glenn Maxwell, a man who has treated the IPL like his personal chaos laboratory, has pulled himself out […]
India opted for a six-bowler strategy and placed Washington Sundar and Harshit Rana at the top of their batting lineup, but they were still concerned about who would provide reliability in the middle order. There seemed to be less of a thought process behind this selection and more of a puzzle without the last piece […]