Teenage Afghanistan off-spinner AM Ghazanfar has been ruled out of both the ICC Champions Trophy and the IPL due to a lower back fracture that will keep him on the sidelines for at least four months, the country’s cricket board announced on Wednesday ((February 12, 2025). Left-arm spinner Nangeyalia Kharote, originally named as a reserve, has replaced the 18-year-old in the main squad for Champions Trophy, which will be held in Pakistan and the UAE from February 19. The 20-year-old Kharote is a left-arm spinner and has played seven ODIs and six T20 Internationals since making his debut last year. Ghazanfar sustained the injury during Afghanistan’s tour of Zimbabwe late last year, sidelining him for “at least four months”. “AM Ghazanfar has been ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy due to a fracture in the L4 vertebra (located in the lower back), specifically in the left pars interarticularis,” the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) posted on ‘X’. “He sustained the injury during Afghanistan’s recent tour of Zimbabwe and will be sidelined for a minimum of four months, remaining under treatment during this period,” it added. The IPL is scheduled to take place from March 21 to May 25 and Ghazanfar was to make his maiden appearance at the event after being bought by Mumbai Indians. The ACB also informed that off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman will continue to miss ODI action “until he has fully recovered,” despite playing for Paarl Royals in the SA20 through January and early February. Mujeeb, who was not included in the provisional squad for Champions Trophy, last played an ODI during the 2023 World Cup. Afghanistan will begin their Champions Trophy campaign against South Africa on February 21 in Karachi, followed by matches against England and Australia. Afghanistan squad for Champions Trophy Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), Ibrahim Zadran, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah (vice-capt), Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Fareeh Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Nangeyalia Kharote, Naveed Zadran, Noor Ahmad.

Royal Challenger’s Bangalore (RCB) named Rajat Patidar as its new captain for the upcoming 2025 Indian Premier League season on Thursday (February 13, 2025). Former RCB skipper and star batsman Virat Kohli in a video message on X said, “Myself and the other team members will be right behind you.” “The way you have grown in this franchise and the way you have performed, you’ve made a place in the hearts of all RCB fans. This is very well deserved,” Kohli added. Patidar was signed up by RCB in 2021. The right-handed batter has represented the team in 27 IPL games, scoring 799 runs at an average of 34.74. Patidar was among RCB’s retained players ahead of the auction and has the experience of leading Madhya Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy. The 31-year-old Patidar had guided Madhya Pradesh to the SMAT final where they lost to Mumbai by five wickets. He was also the second-highest run-getter, behind Ajinkya Rahane, with 428 from 10 matches at an average of 61 and a strike rate of 186.08.

Perception matters. It’s not just about winning matches but also how you win them. On Wednesday at the Narendra Modi Stadium, India showed, yet again, how this was done with a masterful 142-run thrashing of England in the third and final ODI. If a settled batting unit led by the sublime Shubman Gill (112, 102b, 14×4, 3×6) put on a mammoth 356, a rejigged bowling line-up – Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav and Arshdeep Singh coming in for Varun Chakaravarthy (sore calf, precautionary), Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami (both rested) – dismissed England for a paltry 214 to complete a 3-0 whitewash ahead of the Champions Trophy. For a third straight time this series, England was off to a racy start with Ben Duckett (34, 22b, 8×4) and Phil Salt (23, 21b, 4×4) scoring at 10 runs an over in the first six. But Arshdeep excised both batters in successive overs with excellent slower deliveries. Tom Banton (38, 41b, 4×4, 2×6) and Joe Root (24, 29b, 2×4) resisted, with the former playing a couple of audacious reverse sweeps. But Kuldeep had Banton edge behind a flighted wrong’un before Axar Patel forced Root to chop one on. When frontline pacer Harshit Rana returned to send back Jos Buttler and Harry Brook, it was all over. After being put in to bat, India rode on Gill’s seventh ODI ton. It appeared like he knew the Modi Stadium like the back of his hand, for he has now scored hundreds in all three formats here. And this reflected in the way the 25-year-old explored every area of the ground, driving, flicking, jabbing and even late-cutting his way through. Initially, Gill routinely stepped out to negate the appreciable seam movement. And once he settled, he blossomed. Speedster Gus Atkinson was straight-driven and lofted over his head while spinners Liam Livingstone and Adil Rashid were whipped, steered and milked all over the ground. Such was Gill’s onslaught that 77 of the 112 runs he scored came off the trio. If a sweetly driven boundary to the extra-cover fence off Rashid brought Gill his fifty, the hundred was had with a majestic flick to the mid-wicket fence off Mark Wood. Virat Kohli (52, 55b, 7×4, 1×6) and Shreyas Iyer (78, 64b, 8×4, 2×6) supported their vice-captain well, combining for 116 second-wicket runs and 104 for the third respectively. Kohli was not at his imperious best but he is at a stage where he will take runs whichever way they come. But he did execute a couple of pleasing drives and a trademark whip in the mid-wicket region. Shreyas’ best strokes were the pick-up shots he hit behind square on the leg-side. Rashid was England’s most threatening bowler (four for 64), but he was far from steady, zoning in and out. He bowled magic deliveries to have Kohli caught-behind and Hardik Pandya bowled but also landed rank bad half-volleys and short balls that were deservedly flogged. The visitors did pull things back in the final 15 overs by limiting India to 356 after the latter was 226 for two in the 35th over. But with another below-par batting effort, they shot themselves in the foot.

Prolific Saurashtra batter Sheldon Jackson on Tuesday (February 11, 2025) retired from professional cricket after a career spanning 15 years, his last outing ending in a defeat to Gujarat in the Ranji Trophy quarterfinal in New Delhi. Jackson, 38, retires with more than 7200 runs in 105 first-class matches with a highest score of 186, 21 hundreds and 39 half-centuries. That he ended his career with an average of over 45 speaks volumes about his consistency in first-class cricket. Jackson has been a multidimensional cricketer and besides being a reliable batsman and an excellent fielder. He also kept wickets for Saurashtra in the limited-over competitions. In the longer format, however, he was not required to do the duty thanks to Sagar Jogiyani’s presence. He scored 14 and 27 in his final two outings as Gujarat won by an innings and 98 runs. Jackson, who was once part of the Kolkata Knight Riders set-up after being spotted by former Bengal player Joydeep Mukherjee, made his debut for Saurashtra in December 2011. After being on the fringes of selection for his state team Saurashtra for three years, he made his debut in December 2011. He made four fifties and three hundreds in the 2012-13 Ranji season, including back-to-back centuries in the quarter-final and semi-final against Karnataka and Punjab respectively, to help Saurashtra qualify for the final for the first time. Owing to his excellent run with the bat that year, he broke into the India A team for the series against West Indies A at home. He was also a prominent member in Saurashtra’s second charge towards a Ranji Trophy title in the 2015-16 season. Last month, Jackson had called time on his limited-overs career after scoring 2792 runs in 84 innings, with his highest being an unbeaten 133 during the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2022. In the limited-overs game, he struck nine centuries and 14 half-centuries in all.

Ravindra Jadeja is pleased that India’s spin department has been doing well in the build-up to the Champions Trophy. Left-arm spinners Jadeja, Axar Patel, chinaman Kuldeep Yadav, leg-break bowler Varun Chakaravarthy and off-spinner Washington Sundar have provided options as well as variety to Indian captain Rohit Sharma in the ongoing ODI series against England. While four of them were given some game time, Washington may get an opportunity in the final ODI in Ahmedabad. So far, the spinners have provided crucial breakthroughs and contained the England batters in the middle overs. Depending on the team’s requirement in Dubai, the Indian team management may consider Varun as backup to the Champions Trophy squad. “It’s good considering where we are going to play, it is likely to be hot, so we’ll only know about the pitch once we get there. Our spin department is doing well. In the middle overs, we need to either take wickets or restrict runs and not give away easy boundaries because five fielders remain inside the circle. As a team, both our fast bowlers and spinners are performing well together as a bowling unit in every match, which is a good sign,” said Jadeja after India secured a four-wicket win and sealed the series at the Barabati Stadium here on Sunday night. Jadeja said playing domestic cricket prior to the ODI series helped him. “It feels really good (to play ODIs again), especially after almost two years since the World Cup. Coming back into this format requires quick adaptation, but I believe the domestic matches I played helped me a lot. In those matches, I bowled over 30 overs, which helped me maintain my rhythm. “Like Tests, I tried to maintain a similar line and length in ODIs. The rhythm remained intact because the break wasn’t too long,” said Jadeja, looking forward to a fruitful outing in the Champions Trophy.

Title contenders and defending champions Mumbai will have both form and pedigree on their side when they take on a spirited Haryana outfit that is seeking to prove a point in their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal starting in Kolkata from Saturday (February 8, 2025).. The shifting of the match to the iconic Eden Gardens from Lahli, Haryana’s home venue, has affected the travel plans of both the teams, especially the hosts since the BCCI has not officially provided them any reason for the switch. While Haryana will not enjoy the advantage of playing in the familiar environs of the Bansi Lal Stadium, Mumbai are too professional a side to take any team lightly, more so in a knockout game of the country’s premier domestic tournament which they have won an unprecedented 42 times. As they brace up to take on a formidable opponent, Haryana would not like to read much into the shifting of their home match to a neutral venue, and would rather focus on the job at hand. With India’s T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav and big-hitting all-rounder Shivam Dube joining an already strong and settled Mumbai team, Haryana know they will have their task cut out over what promises to be four days of intense battle. Mumbai will not be short on confidence having registered their biggest win — by an innings and 456 runs — against Meghalaya in their last group match to qualify for the knockouts. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that Mumbai skipper Ajinkya Rahane has too many resources at his disposal and zeroing in on the playing XI is not going to be an easy task for the seasoned leader. Mumbai had three centurions in Siddhesh Lad, Akash Anand and Shams Mulani with Rahane himself making 96 in their previous game and it will be interesting to see who are the two players making way for Suryakumar and Dube in the XI. Even pacer Shardul Thakur slammed a 42-ball 84 at a strike rate of 200.  Suryakumar, Dube included in Mumbai squad for Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against Haryana While Shardul, along with left-arm spinner Mulani and in-form off-spinner Tanush Kotian, are certain to shoulder the bulk of the bowling load, the Mumbai think tank could be forced to drop two among openers Ayush Mhatre, Amogh Bhatkal and Suryansh Shedge from their much-vaunted batting line-up. Both Suryakumar and Dube, who recently featured in India’s five-match T20I series against England, have played one match each in Mumbai’s title defence this season. Suryakumar led India to a 4-1 series victory over England, but his own form left a lot to be desired as the batter was found wanting against the pace and bounce of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, managing just 28 runs across five innings. Having got out multiple times while trying to play the flick shot, Suryakumar would want to use this match to address his batting woes. In skipper Ankit Kumar, Nishant Sindhu, Himanshu Rana and Yuvraj Singh, Haryana have the batting to put up a big total and then look up to the likes of Anshul Kamboj, Anuj Thakral and Jayant Yadav for breakthroughs with the ball. Vidarbha optimistic against Tamil Nadu Having entered the quarterfinals with 40 points and six outright wins in seven games — the most by any team in the group stage this season — Vidarbha will fancy their chances against an equally determined Tamil Nadu in their match that will take place at Civil Lines Stadium in Nagpur. Tamil Nadu finished on top of the table in Group D with three wins and three draws in seven matches. Vidarbha, on the other hand, toped Group B. As far as Vidarbha batting is concerned, the onus will be on in-form Karun Nair to lead the way, while Tamil Nadu have seasoned campaigners such as N Jagadeesan, Baba Indrajith and Vijay Shankar to do the job for them with the willow. J&K face Kerala in Pune Like Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, too, won’t enjoy home advantage after their quarterfinal against Kerala was shifted from Jammu to the MCA Stadium in Pune. In this case though, the switch came about after the Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) expressed its concerns to the BCCI about the ground conditions following a harsh winter. Excellent comeback inspires Saurashtra Struggling at the bottom of the table halfway into the Ranji season with four points in four games, Saurashtra staged a remarkable comeback with three successive bonus-point wins to enter the knockouts and set up a quarterfinal meeting at home (Rajkot) with Gujarat. Coming off an incredible run, the Jaydev Unadkat-led Saurasthra have now given themselves a real chance of winning their third Ranji title in five years. Gujarat (32), who have the third highest points in the group stage, are certainly no pushovers but Saurashtra are banking on their collective might to continue their progress.

Australia captain and pace spearhead Pat Cummins is “heavily unlikely” to be fit in time for this month’s Champions Trophy, head coach Andrew McDonald has revealed, opening up the possibility of either Steve Smith or Travis Head leading the side. Cummins hasn’t been able to resume training after he missed the Test series in Sri Lanka due to the birth of his second child, while also nursing an ankle problem, which flared up during the gruelling five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India. “Pat Cummins hasn’t been able to resume any type of bowling so he’s heavily unlikely, so that would mean that we do need a captain,” ICC quoted McDonald as saying on SEN Radio. “Steve Smith and Travis Head are the two that we’ve been having conversations with while we’ve been building out that Champions Trophy team along with Pat (Cummins) back home. They’ll be the two that we look at for that leadership post,” added McDonald. The Champions Trophy will be held in Pakistan and UAE beginning February 19 in Karachi. With Smith doing a commendable job in the first Test against Sri Lanka, leading the visitors to a massive innings and 242-run win at Galle recently, the onus could likely fall on him as he has served in leadership roles for a very long time before the ‘sandpaper-gate’ scandal broke out. Head too has been in sublime form, playing a pivotal role in Australia’s 3-1 series win in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy recently. “They’re (Smith and Head) the two obvious ones. Steve has done a great job here in the (first) Test match (against Sri Lanka). He’s done some good work in one-day international cricket across the journey as well. So it’s between those two,” said McDonald. Australia could be forced to make three changes to the Champions Trophy squad as experienced all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has already been ruled out due to a lower back injury, while pacer Josh Hazlewood too has not fully recovered from a side strain. “As I said, Patty (Cummins) is hugely unlikely, which is a bit of shame, and we’ve also got Josh Hazlewood, who is battling (to be fit) at the moment. So that medical information will land over the next couple of days and we’ll be able to shore that up and let everyone know the direction,” added McDonald. The ICC has set February 12 as the deadline to submit the final squads of 15 for the Champions Trophy. Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting recently proposed the name of uncapped all-rounder Mitch Owen too fill up for Marsh, while Sean Abbott and Spencer Johnson are other pace options which may be considered.

The legendary Ricky Ponting feels the quality of players and recent history make India and Australia the favourites to compete in the summit clash of the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy. The 50-over tournament will take place from February 19 to March 9 across three venues in Pakistan and one in Dubai. “It’s hard to go past India and Australia again,” Ponting told the ICC Review. “Just think about the quality of players in both countries right now, and you look back in recent history when these big finals and big ICC events have come around, and inevitably Australia and India are there somewhere,” said the former Australia captain. India and Australia are the only teams to have won the Champions Trophy twice. India secured the crown in 2013 and shared the trophy with Sri Lanka in 2002 after the final was washed out, while Australia clinched back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2009. Pakistan, the defending champions after winning the 2017 edition, will also pose a strong challenge, according to Ponting. “The other team that is playing some really good cricket at the moment is Pakistan,” said Ponting, who won two ODI World Cups and as many Champions Trophy titles as captain. “Their one-day cricket over the last little bit has been absolutely outstanding. We know they’re not always the most predictable team in those big tournaments, but they seem like they’ve sorted things out a little bit.” Pakistan won all the three ODI series they played last year, including a 2-1 comeback win in Australia and Zimbabwe, followed by a 3-0 whitewash of South Africa.