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Siraj five seals Oval epic as India level series 2-2

officialsquarexsportsAugust 5, 2025August 5, 202505 mins

Mohammed Siraj starred in a stunning come-from-behind win at The Oval as India levelled the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2-2 with a thrilling six-run victory on an overcast fifth morning in London. England needed 35 runs with four wickets in hand, one of which was Chirs Woakes with a dislocated right shoulder. Siraj, however, got the ball to swing as much as two degrees amidst a drizzle, and picked up three wickets in a testing spell with the old ball to finish with a fifer that scripted a memorable win. It was Harry Brook and Joe Root’s hundreds, and a 195-run stand, on Day 4 that gave England the upper hand before a short sharp spell of rain shortly after Tea forced action to spill into the fifth day. Prasidh Krishna resumed his over from last evening with a short ball first up, and Jamie Overton pulled him confidently to the fence to begin with a boundary. He almost chopped on the next ball, but the edge snuck over the stumps and into the fine leg ropes for four more. India’s comeback started at the other end where Jamie Smith was beaten twice by Siraj before he finally nicked one behind without adding anything to his overnight score of 2. Siraj, and India, could have had a second wicket in as many deliveries but Gus Atinkson lucked out when the edge dropped just short of KL Rahul at second slip. Overton’s luck then ran out. Siraj had him trapped in front of middle and leg with a nip-backer and saw umpire Kumar Dharmasena raise his finger after a moment of deliberation. Overton availed a review, only to find ‘umpire’s call’ on wickets and see the finger raised again. The review came to Josh Tongue’s rescue in the following over when he was adjudged LBW, off Prasidh, but the tracking found the ball to be going down leg. Tongue, after a bunch of play-and-a-miss against Siraj, was then cleaned up by a pinpoint yorker from Prasidh, leaving England 17 away with no option but to call on the injured Woakes. The allrounder walked out to a rousing applause – bat in the left hand and his dominant arm in a sling. Atkinson did his part in ensuring Woakes stayed at the non-striker’s end. It involved refusing singles until the last deliveries of the overs, and targeting big hits – the very first attempt at which could have been caught in the deep but Akash Deep palmed it over for a six instead. Fittingly, it was Siraj’s tenacity that prevailed over England’s last pair’s valiant fight. The pacer nailed a yorker to clean up Atkinson on 17, propelling India to a momentous win in front of a near capacity Oval. Brief scores: India 224 (Karun Nair 57; Gus Atkinson 5-33, Josh Tongue 3-57) & 396 (Yashasvi Jaiswal 118, Akash Deep 66, Washington Sundar 53, Ravindra Jadeja 53; Josh Tongue 5-125, Gus Atkinson 3-127) beat England 247 (Zak Crawley 64, Harry Brook 53; Prasidh Krishna 4-62, Mohd. Siraj 4-86) & 367 (Harry Brook 111, Joe Root 105; Mohd. Siraj 5-104, Prasidh Krishna 4-126) by 6 runs.

IPL poetic justice for Virat Kohli, finally

officialsquarexsportsJune 4, 2025June 4, 2025011 mins

Is there a case for comparison between Virat Kohli and Lionel Messi? The Argentine won nearly every major football trophy at both club and individual levels – multiple Champions League titles, multiple Ballon d’Ors, multiple domestic league crowns, and even a continental triumph with Argentina. But for years, the FIFA World Cup remained the elusive piece of silverware – until the 2022 FIFA World Cup happened. Kohli’s case was similar but presented a kind of reverse vacuum. He had won it all – the ICC U-19 World Cup in 2008, the ODI World Cup in 2011, Champions Trophies in 2013 and 2025, multiple Asia Cups, the ICC Test Mace (for three consecutive years), and the T20 World Cup in 2024. One trophy, though, continued to elude him – the IPL. That was only till Tuesday night. That gap too was filled, just as Messi completed his legacy journey in 2022. “For him it’s all about winning games for RCB,” said Mike Hesson, hailing Kohli for his passion, longevity, intensity and loyalty. Kohli is one of the four players active since the IPL’s inception in 2008 – MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and Manish Pandey being the other three – and the only one to have stayed with the same franchise for all 18 seasons. Even Dhoni and Rohit do not have that distinction. The IPL glory is poetic justice. “I for one am absolutely delighted for him. I don’t think anyone deserved it more for the amount he’s given and the dedication and the patience, I guess the patience and commitment to RCB to keep pushing to win that first title. So there was a real desire, hunger and genuineness about it. So yeah, I watched it from afar and egged on RCB. I’m as happy as anyone,” Hesson stated. Most runs in the IPL (8661, leads the second placed batter by more than 1500 runs), most 500-plus runs (eight) in an IPL edition, third most IPL caps (267), 10 appearances in the IPL play-offs, four final appearances, most hundreds (eight), most fifties (63), maximum runs in a season (973 in 2016) and most fours (771) – few players are more deserving of the IPL honours. After his 43 in the final versus Punjab Kings, Kohli has taken his runs tally to 657 runs, third highest of the season. “Look, when I think about Virat, I talk about the intensity that he brings from a team perspective,” Hesson, who worked with Kohli for three years at RCB as coach, remarked. “And that to me, along with the fact he’s had five seasons of 600-plus runs… they dictate the outcome of the games.” One of the most extraordinary aspects of Kohli is his evolution – he has stayed relevant to the league from Season 1 in 2008 to Season 18 in 2025 even as the cricket itself, more so T20 cricket, kept changing. “He’s evolved with the game. So the fact the game pace has changed, scores are higher, he hasn’t got lost in that. You know, he’s actually just, he’s just pushed himself and he’s got better and you know, strike rates have improved.” Every new generation is known to bat faster than the previous one – like Dhoni and Rohit batting faster than Sachin, Jaiswal batting faster than Rohit and now the likes of Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Ayush Mhatre bat faster than Jaiswal. Even as the new generations started dominating, Kohli kept evolving and kept bucking the trend and kept staying relevant to the team’s cause. His strike rate over the last two seasons is higher than his career strike rate. He is like an avalanche, says R Sridhar, a former India fielding coach, who has worked with him for eight years. “What stands out most about Virat are his passion, longevity, and unwavering intensity. Even after 18 years, he brings the same fire, the same impact, and the same fierce commitment that marked his debut season. His intensity becomes even more evident when compared to others who’ve been around since the early years – it simply hasn’t dimmed. And Virat’s influence extends well beyond RCB. His dedication to fitness and discipline has inspired others across teams to adopt similar regimens. He’s like an avalanche – starting small, but eventually growing into a towering force.” Virat Kohli has never shied away from speaking out about the heartbreak of 2016. Recently he dwelt on the dual setbacks of the season – losing to the West Indies in the T20 World Cup semifinal and loss in the IPL final to SunRisers Hyderabad. “It took me a few days to get over the WT20 loss, because I was in such a position that I thought I could do it for India,” he said and recalled how everything was set up for their IPL celebrations that season. “Yes, I understand why 2016 still stings for him. We needed just 69 runs from 44 balls with nine wickets in hand with Kohli still batting. Everything was in place – a theme party had been arranged, a victory caravan was lined up, fan celebrations were planned. And then, suddenly, it all slipped away. We had Virat, Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Shane Watson, KL Rahul. That was a golden opportunity,” Bharat Arun, a former India bowling coach who was part of the RCB support staff that season recalled. “I’m certain he’s spoken in the dressing room, maybe even in the pre-match huddle. With 18 seasons under his belt – remarkably, all with the same franchise – he brings unparalleled continuity and experience,” Arun continued. “Is he desperate? I’m not so sure. After all, he’s already won everything else there is. An IPL trophy would be the icing on the cake – not just for him, but for the loyal RCB fans who’ve stood by him all these years.” Same was the view of Sanjay Bangar, who has worked with Kohli in different stages for about 10 years. “There was perhaps more desire than desperation. For…

BCCI hopeful of swift IPL 2025 resumption amid border tensions

officialsquarexsportsMay 10, 202506 mins

Since the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the suspension of the IPL, the rumour mills have gone into overdrive speculating about a possible window to complete the remaining matches of season 18. August, when India are to tour Bangladesh, and September, when the uncertain Asia Cup is scheduled, are being identified as potential options. But ask the right people in the BCCI, and they might point to a timeline that is not beyond May. “We have suspended the league for one week. We are not looking beyond that at this stage,” a highly-placed source in the BCCI told Cricbuzz on Friday (May 9) night. “We are serious about it. Watch out for the next three days.” Verbatim the BCCI statement reads like this: “The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to suspend the remainder of the ongoing TATA IPL 2025 with immediate effect for one week. Further updates regarding the new schedule and venues of the tournament will be announced in due course after a comprehensive assessment of the situation in consultation with relevant authorities and stakeholders.” If one were to closely consider that detailed statement, it could suggest that the BCCI is hopeful, or perhaps quietly confident, that the border tensions, which led to the suspension, might ease in the near future. In any case, it reflects a positive outlook. The board plans to complete the remaining 16 matches within a tight 12-day window, with its focus firmly on the current month. Should there be a ceasefire in the border in the next few days – which of course is the prerequisite for the IPL to resume – the board will fast-track the schedule with few double headers. However, if tensions do not ease soon, the situation could well be deemed a force majeure. For the record, the decision was taken at the Governing Council, which met briefly at around 10.45 am online, on Friday. But it is not difficult to see that the government has been consulted. There remains a serious question mark over whether overseas players, many of whom are either already departing or set to leave soon, would return if the league resumes within a week. However, the BCCI views this as a matter for the franchises to handle. At this stage, the BCCI is surely not looking at an August window (by cancelling the tour of Bangladesh) which will overlap with The Hundred (nine Englishmen are part of various IPL squads). The English league will run this year from August 5 to 31. A September window will clash with the Caribbean Premier League (currently there are eight West Indians involved in the IPL) which is from August 14 to September 21. It is not unprecedented for the CPL to accommodate a BCCI request and alter its dates but at this stage the Indian board is not looking that far, whether or not the Asia Cup takes place. The BCCI went on to say that the nation’s sovereignty is more important than cricket. “While cricket remains a national passion, there is nothing greater than the Nation and its sovereignty, integrity, and security of our country. The BCCI remains firmly committed to support all efforts that safeguard India and will always align its decisions in the best interest of the nation.” Meanwhile, the IPL teams – Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals, production crew and officials reached Delhi by train. The BCCI kept the whole operation of their evacuation from Dharamsala totally under wraps. All of them were taken in buses to Jalandhar where they boarded the Vande Bharat Train.

Hardik Pandya And Natasa Stankovic Partition Reports Valid? We Know this

officialsquarexsportsMay 25, 2024May 25, 202404 mins

There have been a few reports encompassing Indian cricket crew all-rounder Hardik Pandya and his better half Natasa Stankovic in the beyond couple of days. There have been a few reports encompassing Indian cricket crew all-rounder Hardik Pandya and his better half Natasa Stankovic in the beyond couple of days. The tales guaranteed that the couple, who got hitched in May 2020 and are guardians to a 3-year-old child named Agastya Pandya, have isolated. These hypotheses were set off by Natasa eliminating the ‘Pandya’ family name from her Instagram handle. The hypotheses further heightened when a post named “Natasa and Hardik isolated” became a web sensation on Reddit where the client scrutinized her nonappearance from IPL 2024 matches and brought up that she has not posted any image with Hardik in the new past. The post additionally called attention to that she didn’t actually post something on his birthday. “This is simply theory. However, the two of them aren’t posting each other on stories (Instagram Stories). Prior, Natasa used to have Natasa Stankovic Pandya on her Instagram, yet presently she totally eliminated his name,” the post said. “Her birthday was on fourth Walk, and there was no post from Hardik on that day; she likewise eliminated all new posts of her and Hardik aside from the one where Agastya was with them. Likewise, she isn’t found in stands this IPL or post stories in regards to the group. While Krunal Pankhuri actually remark on her posts, something is most certainly off between the two of them,” it added. While the bits of hearsay have been doing the rounds via virtual entertainment, nothing official was conveyed from both Hardik or Natasa’s side. Accordingly, it remains just simple hypothesis right now. Coming to Natasa’s Instagram page, there actually exists photos of her and Hardik alongside the remainder of the cricketer’s loved ones. Accordingly, the reports of Natasa erasing all photos with Hardik are false. Hardik had a frustrating IPL 2024 season with Mumbai Indians yet he will prepare for the impending T20 World Cup 2024 where he will act as the bad habit chief of the Indian cricket crew.