Tri-series just another serving in never-ending feast of international cricket
It is tempting to think that there is more professional international cricket currently being played than at any other time during the history of the game.
Sri Lanka Sport News
India's pace revolution: The fast bowlers have joined the home party now
"To win a Test match you need to take 20 wickets" - that is something we have heard multiple times over the years, with the likes of Steve Waugh making it a point to stress that it's the bowlers who win a team Test matches. It's not that India didn't have great fast bowlers earlier, but cricket is a team game and individual brilliance can make you win battles (small passages of play), but not the whole war. Things started changing for the better towards the turn of the century when India started winning abroad regularly and also maintained their stranglehold at home. Indian spinners made touring batsmen dance to their tunes on dust-bowls to remain a formidable force at home. Indian pacers used to bowl with the red cherry just to take the shine off the ball and make it ready for the spinners to go for the kill. In the process if the pacers used to get any wickets, then it would be considered a bonus. Touring batsmen who were adept at playing spin, used to be successful with the willow. But things are changing. The trend over the last few years has been one of Indian pacers joining the party that is India enjoying prolonged long spells of Test wins at home. The two Test series win vs Sri Lanka recently was India's 15th consecutive Test series win at home. Let's analyse this closely, taking the Tests India have won over the last few years as the benchmark. The first period we considered was from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2016. In this time period Team India won 16 of 18 Tests played at home, with 2 draws If we look at the overall number of wickets taken in Test wins from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2016, the numbers tell us that the pacers took 68 wickets, while the spinners took 242 wickets.
IPL 2022: Kumar Sangakkara confident of turnaround with competent squad
Rajasthan Royals director of cricket and head coach Kumar Sangakkara believes they have a "very competent" squad at their disposal to script a turnaround after three dismal IPL seasons. Rajasthan finished 7th, 8th and 7th in the last three seasons. The IPL's upcoming edition begins on March 26. "We know we had quite a bit of work to do in the off-season with regards to our team. I think we managed to identify the key areas which needed our attention and having had a proper process when it comes to selecting players at the auction, we managed to kind of hit the markers that we set for ourselves," said the Sri Lankan legend in a team statement. "I think the franchise has done an amazing job to put this exciting and strong squad together," he added.
Record-breaking Babar Azam up there with the best after Pakistan heroics
Pakistan captain Babar Azam has long established his credentials in limited-overs cricket, but his 196 against Australia put him up there with some greats in the long form of the game too. Azam fought valiantly for 10 hours and seven minutes in an innings lasting 425 deliveries to help Pakistan salvage a draw on Wednesday in the second Test in Karachi. His heroic innings became the second-longest knock in the fourth innings of a Test, just 36 minutes behind Michael Atherton's 185 not out that ensured England saved the 1995 Johannesburg Test against South Africa.
Indian Premier League: Kumar Sangakkara Confident Of Turnaround in Fortunes of Rajasthan Royals
Rajasthan Royals director of cricket and head coach Kumar Sangakkara believes they have a "very competent" squad at their disposal to script a turnaround after three dismal IPL seasons. Rajasthan finished 7th, 8th and 7th in the last three seasons. The IPL's upcoming edition begins on March 26. "We know we had quite a bit of work to do in the off-season with regards to our team. I think we managed to identify the key areas which needed our attention and having had a proper process when it comes to selecting players at the auction, we managed to kind of hit the markers that we set for ourselves," said the Sri Lankan legend in a team statement.
Rohit Sharma Can Become Better Test Captain Than Virat Kohli: Former India Opener Wasim Jaffer
Rohit Sharma is basking in the glory of enjoying an unbeaten run in the recently-concluded home season for Team India and he has garnered huge praise from former India batter Wasim Jaffer who said that the Hitman can become a better Test leader than Virat Kohli. In the entire home season, Team India did not lose a single match as the side went on to win 14 straight games across all formats. Most recently, Team India defeated Sri Lanka 2-0 in the two-match Test series.
How Rishabh Pant combined impactful knocks with improved safe glovework
Man of the series Rishabh Pant showed against Sri Lanka that he had improved his glovework by leaps & bounds to add to his considerable batting skillsThere is an advertisement featuring India keeper-bat Rishabh Pant that shows him speaking about his reverence for former India skipper MS Dhoni and how he used to cut out his pictures from newspapers and magazines and store them without knowing that one day, he and Dhoni would appear in the same photograph. It's quite a symbolic ad. Every aspiring young Indian keeper-batsman in the last decade wanted to be MS Dhoni. Pant was no different. It proved to be quite a heavy cross to carry though. Pant felt it on his home ground at the Ferozeshah Kotla in New Delhi in an ODI vs Australia in 2019 where he fluffed chances and messed up on DRS calls and heard the crowd chant "Dhoni, Dhoni". It was a rude message about what the fans thought of his skills, especially with the gloves.
England's Joe Root has moved up the all-time list of Test centurions
Joe Root inched up the all-time list of Test centurions No 25 – one ahead of Greg Chappell, Viv Richards, Mohammad Yousuf, Kane Williamson and David Warner, and level with Inzamam-ul-Haq.