India to quarantine in Mumbai before leaving for Women’s World Cup

The Ashes | Green strikes at stroke of Tea to break England’s best opening stand of the tour

The Australian man with the magic-Cameron Green struck at the stroke of Tea on the third day of the fifth and final Ashes Test going on at the Blundstone Arena in Hobart. Calling him the man with the magic because it was a magical stand, the highest so far between the two England openers that he broke. Chasing a target of 271, after dismissing Australia for 155 in their second innings, England got off to a great start as openers Rory Burns and Zak Crawley put up the best opening stand of the tour for the England team. Having put on 68 for the first wicket and with just one over to negotiate before Tea, Rory burn was played down after deciding to leave Cameron Green delivery which was coming in, but by the time he decided to leave, the ball had made contacts with the bat and ricocheted on the stumps. Earlier in the second session, Australia, which started from 141-8, with Alex Carey and skipper Pat Cummins at the crease, managed to add 14 runs to their total before both Carey and Cummins were dismissed by Stuart Broad and Mark Wood respectively. Carey was the highest scorer of the innings for the Aussies as he got out one short of his fifty while Wood was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with his career-best figures of 6-37. Broad picked three wickets and Chris Wokes got one.

Inspiration for many: Pakistani cricketers to Virat Kohli’s resignation as Test captain

The sudden resignation of Virat Kohli as India Test captain has triggered some very emotional reactions among the fans and the cricketing fraternity in India. But as the day passed, it came to light that it wasn’t just India, but even the cricketers from across the border in Pakistan also felt that it is almost the end of an era as far as test captaincy is concerned. Ahmed Shehzad, one of the Pakistani batters, who was touted to be the Kohli of that country and whose looks were always compared to the Indian captain said that Kohli was one of the great ambassadors of the game as a skipper. Along with Shehzad, young pacer Naseem Shah also expressed his love for the Indian captain and called him an inspiration. Among the former cricketers from the nation of the great fast bowlers, Azhar Mahmood, who also played in the Indian Premier League against Virat Kohli and was part of the Pakistan support staff during the Champions Trophy of 2017 where Virat Kohli led India lost in the final to Pakistan, also expressed his admiration towards the outgoing India captain. Rashid Latif, former wicket-keeper batter of Pakistan and a keen observer of Indian cricket shared a video that was indicative that nobody stopped Kohli from resigning.

Coach Ravi Shastri calls it a sad day for him on resignation of Virat Kohli

Former India coach Ravi Shastri said that it is a sad day for him to see one of his favourite pupils, Virat Kohli step down as skipper of the Indian Test team. Shastri, whose tenure as coach of the Indian team ended with its dismal campaign in the T20 World Cup 2021, said that Kohli can go as his head held high as he has achieved what very few captains have in Test cricket. “Virat, you can go with your head held high. Few have achieved what you have as captain. Definitely India's most aggressive and successful. Sad day for me personally as this is the team 🇮🇳 we built together - @imVkohli,” Shastri wrote in his tweet which he posted on social media along with a photo with the captain. Shastri, who came to the Indian set up as Director of the team post the end of Duncan Fletcher’s tenure as head coach in 2104. But post the eight-month period, Anil Kumble took over. However, that did not go well and Shastri was reappointed as head coach post the 2017 Champions Trophy final loss to Pakistan. Since then remained coach for four long years and saw the main portion of Kohli’s captaincy. Thus Shastri is someone who had probably the best seat in the house to judge and see the evolution of Kohli as a player as well as a captain.

The Ashes | England poised to chase 271 after bundling Australia on Day 3

England are poised to chase 271 runs in the final innings of the fifth and final game at Hobart on Sunday, 16 January. The pace department of the visitors did a great job in the first session of the day, reducing the hosts to 121/8 in just 46 overs. Just when it looked like England will be chasing a competitive total a string of DRS decisions and inconsistent lines in the second session of the day, let Australia cut loose and post a crucial 30 odd runs before they were all out for 155. Alex Carey was the star of the show, despite being lucky enough to survive at least two dismissals on the day. For England, Mark Wood picked six wickets in a tremendous show of stamina, bowling deadly short balls to all batsmen in the line-up. He was aided by Stuart Broad who picked three wickets. At the time of writing, England have started steadily with Rory Burns and Zak Crawley who have successfully negotiated the first three overs and scored 12 runs.