No Mohammad Nabi & Naveen-ul-Haq for Afghanistan against Netherlands

The Ashes | Joe Root leaves Australia without scoring a single hundred

Joe Root’s woes in Australia continued after he had to sign off his final Test innings of the Australian summer without scoring a century. In his final outing at Hobart Root was at the end of a unfortunate dismissal, where the ball kept very low before crashing into the stumps. Root had scored 11 off 31 balls at that point. The English captain, who has been in prolific form throughout the season signs off from Australia without a hundred after playing 14 matches where he has scored nine half centuries. He came agonisingly close to a hundred in the first match in Brisbane where he scored 89 runs. Since the introduction of Scott Boland in the Australian line-up, Root has not been able to score runs and has been taken out by Boland on most occasions. This could well be the last Ashes series for Root after being drubbed 0-4 in a five match series where his batting department could not show up even once to put on a commanding performance. At the time of writing this piece, England were 6 down for 107 runs, heading towards a huge defeat in Hobart on day 3.

The Ashes | England hopes fade away after yet another batting collapse

England were once again left down by their batting order despite a steady opening partnership on the third day of the final Test match at Hobart. Chasing 271 in the final innings against the pink would have been a daunting task in the first place, but the openers gave a fairly good start against the Australian bowling. There were quite a few close chances in the first hour, but Zak Crawley and Rory Burns added 68 runs for the first wicket in 16 overs. From there it was the same story once again as England were brought down to 92/4 in the next 11 overs. None among Ben Stokes and Dawid Malan could apply themselves and got out to completely avoidable shots. At the time of writing England had just lost Joe Root in an extremely unfortunate dismissal against Scott Boland and England were reeling at 101/5 with Sam Billings and Ollie Pope in the middle.

BBL left frustrated by the withdrawal of Pakistan players

The Covid-19 hit Big Bash League were left mud by the Pakistan players who were forced to withdraw from the league to prepare for Pakistan Super League which begins on January 27. Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ramiz Raja has made it abundantly clear that the national players will have to focus on local products and leagues to make Pakistan a formidable cricketing nation once again. Important players for their individual teams Haris Rauf, Shadab Khan and Fakhar Zaman will all be flying back before completing their quota of games, reducing the team strength further after BBL was massively affected by Covid-19 situation in the country. Brisbane Heat put out a statement stating that the club and the player Zaman, both were disappointed in the departure before completing the full quota of games. The pakistan players will be playing in two halves in the PSL with the first one beginning from 27 January. The tournament will be played in Karachi till February 7 before shifting to Lahore for the second phase of the league.

You did good, I am proud of you | Anushka Sharma pens emotional letter after hubby Kohli’s resignation

Bollywood actress and wife of outgoing India Test skipper Anushka Sharma has penned down an emotional letter in support of her husband. In the letter, the actress, who tied the knot with the then all formats skipper of India in 2017, said that she has seen immense growth within and outside of Kohli after being named the Indian skipper in 2014. “I remember the day in 2014 when you told me that you have been made the captain as MS had decided to retire from test cricket,” she said in a post on her Instagram handle. Talking about the time when Kohli got the captaincy and the discussion she had with him as a partner and how even MS Dhoni, the then outgoing Test captain was also involved in it, Anushka said, “I remember MS, you & I having a chat later that day & him joking about how quickly your beard will start turning grey. We all had a good laugh about it. Since that day, I’ve seen more than just your beard turning grey. I’ve seen growth. Immense growth. Around you & within you." "And yes, I am very proud of your growth as the captain of the Indian National Cricket team & what achievements the team had under your leadership. But I’m more proud of the growth you achieved within you," added the 33-year-old. Below is the full letter. "In 2014 we were so young & naive. Thinking that just good intentions, positive drive & motives can take you ahead in life. They definitely do but, not without challenges. A lot of these challenges that you faced were not always on the field. But then, this is life right? It tests you in places where you least expect it to but where you need it the most. And my love, I am so proud of you for not letting anything come in the way of your good intentions. You led by example & gave winning on field every ounce of your energy to the extent that after some losses I’ve sat next to you with tears in your eyes, while you wondered if there's still something more you could have done. This is who you are & this is what you expected from everyone. You've been unconventional & straightforward. Pretence is your foe & this is what makes you great in my eyes & the eyes of your admirers. Because underneath all this were your pure, unadulterated intentions always. And not everyone will be able to truly understand that. Like I’ve said, truly blessed are those who tried to get to know you beneath what meets the eye. You are not perfect & have your flaws but then again when did you ever try to conceal that? What you did was to always stand up for doing the right thing, the harder thing, always! You held on to nothing with greed, not even this position & I know that. Because when one holds on to something so tightly they limit themselves & you, my love, are limitless. Our daughter will see the learning of these 7 years in the father that you are to her. You did good ❤️ ," Anushka signed off. Earlier on January 15, Virat had decided to quit as Test captain after India lost the series 1-2 to South Africa. He had already quit the captaincy of the T20I side of the nation and was then removed unceremoniously from ODI captaincy before the team for the South Africa series was announced.