Rohit Sharma To Open, Bumrah Equals Ashwin, Rashid Khan Out – December 25 Cricket Highlights

Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah [Source: AP, @ICC/x]

Jasprit Bumrah emulated legendary off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for a huge feat in ICC Test rankings. Rohit Sharma is set to return to his usual opening position against Australia, while in Pakistan, the Champions T20 Cup 2024 season came to an end with an exciting finale in Rawalpindi.

Capping an eventful day in the world of cricket, here we take a look at five of the biggest news that emerged out of Wednesday, December 25.

Jasprit Bumrah Equals Ravi Ashwin In Test Rating Points

Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah equalled legendary off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for the highest rating points on ICC rankings among all Indian bowlers. Bumrah recently achieved 904 rating points on the latest ICC charts following the conclusion of India’s third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 Test series against hosts Australia.

Interestingly, Ashwin, who recently retired from international cricket, also achieved 904 rating points back in December 2016. Among all Indian bowlers in history, both Ashwin and Bumrah hold the highest rating points at a single point, and they are closely followed by Ravindra Jadeja (899 points), former captain Kapil Dev (877 points) and legendary spinner Anil Kumble (859 points).

Former Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan continues to lead the all-time rating charts with 920 points.

Stallions Lift Maiden Champions T20 Cup 2024 Title

The Stallions, led by Mohammad Haris, won the inaugural edition of the Pakistan Champions T20 Cup by defeating Markhors in a one-sided finale on December 25. Batting first, blistering opener Yasir Khan tonked a 57-ball century to blaze the Stallions to a competitive 199-5 from 20 overs.

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In response, the Markhors folded up for just 124 in 19.1 overs to fall 75 runs short of their target. Muhammad Faizan at number three himself cracked 43 of those runs from just 33 balls with three boundaries and three sixes. For the Stallions, in-form fast bowler Mohammad Ali unfurled the innings of the match with figures of 3-19 to hog the limelight with the ball.

Cricket Australia Announce Playing XI For MCG Test vs India

The Australian cricket team announced their playing XI for the impending Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 Test match against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Travis Head was declared fit for the match despite suffering a groin injury earlier in the series. Josh Hazlewood was ruled out of the XI due to an injury and he was replaced by Scott Boland.

Struggling opener Nathan McSweeney was replaced by fellow rising star Sam Konstas at the top of the order for Australia. The rest of the Australian XI pretty much remained the same, with Usman Khawaja opening the innings while Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh and wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey forming the team’s middle-order.

Rohit Sharma To Open For India At MCG

Rohit Sharma is set to return to his usual opening position for the Indian team in the upcoming fourth Test of the five-match series against Australia. Sharma, who missed the first Test of the tour for personal reasons, demoted himself down to number six position in the next two matches in favour of an in-form KL Rahul.

However, the move did not work for the Indian captain as he managed to accrue just 19 runs in three innings since his landing in Australia. The fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 Test series will commence from December 26 onwards at the MCG.

Rashid Khan Out Of Afghanistan Squad For ZIM Test

Seasoned spinner Rashid Khan was ruled out of Afghanistan’s squad for the upcoming first Test of the two-match series against hosts Zimbabwe. Citing personal reasons for his absence, the cricketer is slated to attend a charity event instead.

Rashid played the last of his five Test matches for Afghanistan back in March 2021 against Zimbabwe at Abu Dhabi. AM Ghazanfar was announced as his replacement in the line-up, as the two teams brace themselves for the series-opener at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo.

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