Series win of 3-0 against a team that is a part of pig-4 is unexpected and a huge morale booster for the Bangladesh national team. But they need to win more matches in SENA nations. I am not taking away anything from their win, but it was supported by helpful conditions where the spinners could trouble the opposing batsmen. Bangladesh has performed poorly in major ICC tournaments. The next T20 World Cup is scheduled for 2024 (hosted by West Indies and the USA), and hopefully they will be able to perform better next year.

I agree. Qalandars are much better than Multan, as far as bowling is concerned. The problem is that their bowlers are not very inexperienced. I am talking about Izharulhaq Naveed, Abbas Afridi, Ihsanullah and Usama Mir. On the other hand, Qalandars have some of the most experienced players in their lineup, including Haris Rauf, David Wiese and Rashid Khan. Each of these players have at least a decade of experience with top level cricket. And in franchise league cricket, experience matters a lot, especially under pressure situations.

Papua New Guinea is at 71/3 after 21 overs. Given the brittle state of United Arab Emirates' batting lineup, I would say that a total of 220-230 maybe enough for PNG to win. This is the last match in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 for Papua New Guinea, and there is no guarantee that they will feature in the next edition, given their position in the points table. For the UAE, they have one more match remaining, against Nepal tomorrow. But even if they win both the matches, they will be ending up at 6th position in the points table.

I would rather favor Multan Sultans for today's match, since they have won their last two matches and therefore have the momentum. On the other hand, Lahore Qalandars lost their last match to one of the weakest teams in the tournament (to be fair, the absence of Shaheen Shah Afridi negatively impacted the fortunes of Lahore). David Wiese's captaincy also didn't clicked during the last match. Now Afridi is back as the captain, and the bowling department is also boosted. He will be up against Mohammad Rizwan (top run scorer in this season so far) and Rilee Rossouw.

Hmm.. I forgot about Joško Gvardiol. Yesterday Yussuf Poulsen termed him as one of the best young defenders in the world. Also, he was one of the favorites to win the FIFA Young Player Award (lost to Enzo Fernández in the end). Still, I believe that Croatia will be significantly weakened if all of the senior players are gone. Other players may be replaced, but I don't know how they are going to replace Luka Modrić in mid-field and Ivan Perišić in the attack. Anyway, Perišić will be around for a couple of years more, so that means less headache for Zlatko Dalić.

ICC guys are not going to be happy if both of their blue-eyed boys (United Arab Emirates and United States of America) finish behind Nepal. If Nepal receives a fraction of the funds that are being spent on these two countries, then they would be able to perform at the same level as Ireland and Zimbabwe (if they are not already up to that level). Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) did the mistake by omitting their best player (Sandeep Lamichhane) from the squad for many months. He is the backbone of the team and now they are performing exceptionally well since he is back.


As I already explained. Asia Cup and World Cup are organized by two different entities. ICC can't intervene if India (BCCI) refuses to travel to Pakistan for the Asia Cup. Because it is being organized by the ACC, and not by the ICC. But in case Pakistan refuses to participate in the ODI World Cup, then the ICC will initiate punitive actions against them.

In sports, sometimes the decision goes in your favor, and sometimes that doesn't happen. But still sports is just for entertainment and after the match everything should be forgiven. A lot of controversy was generated after that ISL incident involving Sunil Chhetri. Irrespective of what he did during that match, fans need to remember that he is the captain of the Indian national team. And same with Kohli as well. Back then, he was the captain of the Indian team. Reacting in such a manner for not selecting a player is illogical. And I don't think that it will do any good for Samson.

Anyway, I agree with the first part. This is not the first time. There were similar incidents in Mumbai and Chandigarh. Overall, the fans need to treat sports as just an entertainment medium. No need to get too emotional.

Once again, Bangladeshi bowlers had the advantage in playing under familiar conditions, while England was unprepared and didn't got enough time to adjust. The reason why Bangladeshi pacers performed so well (Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman) is that they knew how to bowl on the Mirpur pitch. And Mustafizur Rahman in particular was mixing up slower balls during his spells. And then England squad contained several players, who didn't had any experience in playing on spin-friendly tracks. I am talking about players such as Ben Duckett and Phil Salt.

In the end, the ICC benefited from the bidding process. If it was e-auction, then in all probability they would have received around $1 billion less. And they may continue the same system for the next cycle (2028-2031). A lot will depend on how much money Disney-Star (as well as ZEE) will make during the current cycle). E-auction system has its own benefits and disadvantages. The disadvantage is that since there are only 2-3 serious bidders, it is easy for them to enter into some sort of a backend deal and lower the auction amount. E-auction works when there are at least half a dozen active bidders. That was not the case during last time.

In the US, opinion polls are usually very reliable. One notable exception was during the 2016 election, when the polls went completely wrong. And the reason was the last minute decision by several of the Sanders supporters to stay at home, which reduced the overall turnout, and helped Donald Trump to virtually sweep the rust-belt states such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. However the pollsters adjusted their methodology in 2020 and the opinion polls closely matched the actual results for POTUS elections that year.

In terms of skills and quality, I would rate Venezuela as a team that is much stronger than Japan. But Venezuela is unlucky to be included in the CONMEBOL grouping and therefore they almost never manages to qualify for the FIFA World Cup. On the other hand, Japan is included in a relatively weak confederation (AFC) and it is easier for them to quality. And in 2026, the chances of qualifying get even brighter for Japan, as the slots from AFC are increased by a significant amount. But this is one of the drawbacks of the qualification system. Strong teams from CONMEBOL and UEFA sometimes lose out, while weaker teams from CAF and AFC gets the entry.

I am in favor of the new format. And I welcome the decision by FIFA to have 12 groups of 4 teams each (rather than the previous suggestion of having 16 groups with 3 teams each). And regarding the duration of the tournament, I guess it may not have any negative consequences as the world cup happens only once every 4 years. The 2022 FIFA World Cup was over too soon.. but then there is a counter argument that the Olympics get over in 2-3 weeks and the duration of FIFA World Cup is too long. But in order to accommodate so many teams, I feel that at least 5-6 weeks is needed.

The problem is that the world cup is being organized by the ICC. Pakistan (PCB) boycotting the world cup will be like the Americans imposing sanctions on Belarus for Russians invading Ukraine. If they boycott the tournament, it will result in losses for the ICC and it may not impact the BCCI negatively. On top of that the ICC may refuse to transfer the annual funds to PCB if something like this happens. Similarly, if the BCCI boycotts the Asia Cup, then ACC will be impacted since they are the ones organizing this tournament.

For the fans, it would mean more expenses in the form of flight ticket and multiple hotel bookings. Already the ticket rates are so expensive, and only the elite can watch the matches on ground. Imagine a fan travelling from Vancouver in Canada to Miami in the United States just to watch the matches involving his favorite team. The flight ticket alone is going to cost around $450 per head. And the few direct flights that are available will take a minimum of 6 hours (now add in time for security check and boarding). The same is applicable for fans who need to travel from Boston or New Jersey in the United States to Guadalajara in Mexico.

Well... we discussed about this before. Right now, BCCI is completely dominating the ICC and they can do whatever they want. Pakistan is essentially isolated among the full members. The only viable option for Pakistan is to move Asia Cup to a neutral venue, and it maybe some of the cities in the United Arab Emirates. But doing so means that the PCB will lose a large share of revenue. PCB should try for a deal with ACC, which will force the BCCI to pay a monetary compensation. Afterall, the last minute decision to pull out was taken by the BCCI.

Poms can always give the justification of hostile ground conditions. But then, they were not up against world-class spinners. And this is exactly the same track where Litton Das made 73, to guide Bangladesh to a total of 158. Even Rony Talukdar playing his first international series after almost a decade made a decent score. And none among the English spin triad (Adil Rashid, Rehan Ahmed and Moeen Ali) could make an impact. They bowled a total of 8 overs, and picked up just one wicket (that of Rony Talukdar, picked up by Adil Rashid).

Well.. Shashi Tharoor has reasons to support him. Elections are due in 12 months from now, and Sanju Samson is a resident of the parliamentary constituency that he represents. Despite being given so many chances, neither Samson nor his fans are happy. They keep asking for even more chances, despite not performing up to the mark. Fans in Kerala, be it the cricket fans or the football fans, behave in a boorish way when things don't go in their favor. Booing the Indian captain during an international match is a strict no.

I am also in favor of giving more chances to Bharat. Obviously Sanju Samson fans are not going to be happy, as they believe that their player is the sole heir to the throne of Indian keeper. During one of the matches held in Kerala, his fans booed Kohli since Samson was not included in the playing XI. I am actually surprised. He was given far more chances than any of the younger players, and still wasted all of those chances. I would prefer Bharat over Samson at any day of the year. If Bharat is unable to perform, then the other younger players like Anuj Rawat should be considered for selection.

England already lost the series by 0-2 and now the result of the third match is not going to change anything. Although this series is played in T20 format, for England, it is a worrying signal ahead of the ODI World Cup later this year, which will be hosted by India in similar pitches. Their batsmen are simply unable to adjust themselves in spin-friendly conditions. If they fail against bowlers like Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Najmul Hossain Shanto, then how can we expect them to perform against Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindrasinh Jadeja?

Disney-Star still believes that they will make a profit out of the deal. The same can't be said about SKY sports in the United Kingdom. UK is a stagnant market, while India is a rapidly growing one. The deal runs from 2024 to 2027. And by 2027, I expect the OTT market in India to grow manifold. In the end, they can't complain much. ICC set the terms and they have to abide with it now. Previously there were times when Star was favored by the ICC over other providers for media rights. They won bid at times, despite quoting lower prices.