The Ashes | With doubts over Starc and Hazlewood, Australia call up Scott Boland for Boxing Day Test

Ravichandran Ashwin opens up on considering quitting the game between 2018 to 2020

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has opened up on the times when he considered giving up on the game due to excessive pains he had to go through to play the game and it was becoming too much to handle for him. In an interview with ESPNcricinfo, Ashwin said he was weighing various options including quitting the game during the time period between 2018 and 2020 as he was not able to bowl even one over without extreme discomfort. "Between 2018 and 2020, I contemplated giving up the sport at various points," Ashwin was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo. "I thought I have put in a lot of effort, but it is not coming through. The harder I tried, the farther it felt. Especially with athletic pubalgia and the patellar tendonitis - I used to bowl six balls and then I used to be gasping for breath. And there would be pain all over the place." Thankfully for both India and Ashwin, he got hold of the injury and bounced back admirably from the career-threatening scare. He bowled beautifully on the tour of Australia and at home against England and New Zealand earlier this year to help India continue their dream run in the longest format. He has embarked on another overseas tour of South Africa and his role will be crucial if India have to have any chance of winning their first ever Test series in the rainbow nation.

The Ashes | Ricky Ponting lambasts Joe Root, questions his lack of authority over bowlers

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting, who has also earned a name for himself with his eye for details as coach and broadcaster, has lambasted England skipper Joe Root after his comments on the bowlers’ inability to learn from their mistakes in the post-match presentation ceremony in Adelaide. Ponting was very critical of Root’s admission and feeling of being helpless at the hands of indisciplined bowlers and questioned his authority over the side if he can’t even influence bowlers into bowling line and length that he believes is most suited to the conditions. He also urged Root to take control of the situation and not to get swayed by the weight of experience the bowling attack has. He asked Root to let his bowlers know of what he expects of them and take decisive decisions such as taking them off after their inability to deliver instead of letting things happen and then making an analysis after the conclusion of the game. "I nearly fell off my seat when I heard that. Whose job is it then to make them change? Why are you captain then? If you can't influence your bowlers on what length to bowl, what are you doing on the field?” Ponting said of Root's post-match remarks. "Joe Root can come back and say whatever he likes but if you're captain, you've got to be able to sense when your bowlers aren't bowling where you want them to. And if they're not going to listen, you take them off, simple as that.” "Give someone else a chance that is going to do it for you. Or you have a really strong conversation with them on the field to tell them what you need. That's what captaincy is all about.” England slipped to another big defeat in the Day-Night Test in Adelaide and things are not looking any better for the tourists in the next three Tests of the series with the expected return of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood for Australia.

Pakistan's Yasir Shah faces FIR in rape and sexual harassment charge

Pakistan leg spinner Yasir Shah could find himself in trouble as Lahore Police have registered an FIR against him for aiding alleged sexual harassment and rape of a 14-year-old girl. The FIR was registered at the Shalimar police station in Lahore after the girl complained of being kidnapped at gunpoint and raped by one of Yasir’s friends named Farhan. She also alleged that his friend made videos of her and later both Yasir and Farhan made threats to her against raising her voice. The girl also alleged that Yasir offered her flat and monthly expenses for a period of 18 years if she wouldn’t raise her voice against the rape and sexual harassment. Yasir is yet to issue any statement on the issue but the Pakistan Cricket Board has issued a statement. “We have noted that some allegations have been levelled against one of our Centrally Contracted players. The PCB is presently gathering information at its end and will only offer a comment when in possession of complete facts,” PCB said in the statement.

The best I have seen him bowl in a while: Stand-in skipper Smith showers praise on Starc

Mitchell Starc claimed a few records on his way to a match twinning figures of 6 for 80 from 43.1 overs in the second Test of the Ashes 2021-22 in Adelaide. Bowling with the pink ball, he became the first bowler to get past the 50 wicket mark in Day-Night Tests as he took four wickets in the English first innings. Steve Smith, the stand-in skipper of the Australian team for the Day-Night Test was mighty pleased with the way, the senior-most fast bowler in the playing XI in absence of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood took over and controlled the attack. "I think that's the best I've seen him bowl in a while. He summed up the conditions well, he realised it wasn't swinging and was just able to hit a nice line and length and did it all game. [I] Thought he bowled exceptionally well and led the attack,” Smith said in the post-match press conference. Starc removed opposition skipper Joe Root in the wee hours of the fourth day’s play and the way this Test panned out with Jos Buttler fighting till the end, it might have been the biggest wicket of the match. Agreeing to it, Smith said, "To have got [Root] out last night was huge for us; he was obviously in a fair amount of pain, but I won't take anything away from how Starcy bowled either. He set him up nicely, came round the wicket because he was leaving him pretty well." In this very game, the 31-year-old left-arm pacer also went past Australian legend Jason Gillespie into eighth on Australia's all-time list and now has 264 wickets at an average of 27.35. Starc would have removed Buttler as well if the wicketkeeper held on to catch when Jos was on nought early on day five. "He's a class bowler; he has been for a long time," Smith said. "His strike rate is up there with some of the best who have played Test cricket. I just really liked the way he went about his business this week,” Smith said about the quality of Starc’s bowling. Though he was captain for this game and enjoyed the opportunity to lead after quite some time, Smith said that it is Cummins’ team and he would be more than happy to help him in any way possible. "It's been an enjoyable week leading the team in Pat's absence and carrying on what we started at the Gabba. It brought back some old memories, I guess, I had fun out there. It's Patty's team and I'm the vice-captain and I'll help Patrick in any way I can. That's my job, and I'll continue to hopefully lead with the bat,” he said.