With England heading to Manchester's Old Trafford Stadium with a 2-1 lead, the hosts will be hoping that 'Big Match Stokes'-who has been exceptional and all guns blazing with the ball-shows up with the bat as well.
When I asked UAE Skipper Muhammad Waseem why his team did not appeal for a walkover, he said his team had come to play, and that they had decided to wait as per the request from the authorities. Would any Test-playing country have waited and remained sporting enough to sacrifice their opportunity to play in the knock-out stage?
Jasprit Bumrah continues to dominate the ICC Test bowling rankings, retaining his position as the No. 1 bowler.
Former New Zealand batter Ross Taylor on Friday said the depth in India's T20I squad for the Asia Cup allowed the national selectors to leave out a player of Shreyas Iyer's calibre, who was ignored for the continental tournament.
Rohit called time on his red-ball career with immediate effect, bringing the curtains to a remarkable journey.
India opener Rohit Sharma has progressed six places to a career-best eighth position in the MRF Tyres ICC men's Test player rankings after a fine performance in the low-scoring third Test against England in Ahmedabad.
A draw in the fifth and final Test of Ashes series helped England leapfrog India to move into second position in the latest ICC Test Team Ranking chart, which is still headed by South Africa.
Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, is the other Indian giving Bumrah company in the top-10, having climbed a spot to be joint-ninth.
Manjrekar however, did flag India's overseas batting fragility.
Former wicketkeeper Vijay Dahiya feels Shreyas Iyer was unlucky to be left out of India's Asia Cup squad but said some players will always miss out due to the depth of talent in the country.
'The most important thing for India is to throw the counter punch almost immediately.'
Both Arshdeep and Khaleel have previously featured in India's limited-overs squads.
'I think for anyone who's starting out their Test career, you are kind of picked for a reason and...we know he's good enough.'
ICC apologises after incorrectly naming India as No.1 Test team over Australia
'Honestly, I realised this is going to be my career when I was 11. Like, a moment happened. There was a camp going on of under-23 Indian fast bowlers, and I was only 11.'
At The Oval, it was Siraj who delivered a comeback spell, reducing England from a dominant position of 301/4 to 367 all out while chasing 374, bowling brilliantly and relentlessly in tandem with Prasidh Krishna.
Legendary Sunil Gavaskar on Saturday said he was at a loss for words and overwhelmed after his statue was unveiled during the inauguration of the MCA Sharad Pawar Cricket Museum at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Since he took over, head coach Gautam Gambhir has stressed on multi-skilled players across formats, especially those who can add batting depth.
Gill was met with a rousing reception from the Bharat Army, who serenaded their new captain with a specially composed chant
Stokes' comments on the over rate came after both England and New Zealand were fined three points each from their World Test Championships tally
Virat Kohli has broken into the top-20 of ICC Test rankings at 16th after his stupendous back-to-back hundreds in the opening Test against Australia in Adelaide.
Varma's current rating of 832 points is the fourth-highest ever achieved by an Indian batter in T20I history, behind only Suryakumar Yadav, Virat Kohli, and KL Rahul.
England pacer James Anderson reclaimed the number-one ranking from India's Ravichandran Ashwin in the ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers released on Monday after the end of the Edgbaston Test.
Indian men's team to play 5 T20s, 3ODIs in England in 2026; women to feature in 3 T20Is, one Test
New Zealand beat Zimbabwe by nine wickets to win first Test
When the Indian team entered the ICC Cricket Academy Arena for their evening net session ahead of the Asia Cup, Samson was the first to start his solo keeping drills with fielding coach T Dilip, even as others were just about lumbering up.
The second T20 will be played on Tuesday.
In the recently concluded five-match Test series against England, India's star wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant stood tall as a beacon of determination, battling through injuries to deliver a string of gutsy, crowd-pleasing knocks that underlined his value to the side.
Siraj, who bowled 185.3 overs in five Tests, ended with 23 wickets and his nine-for in the final Test at the Oval earned India a memorable series levelling six-run win over England.
Kohli edged Warner to take fifth position after completing his 50th international century in the first match of a three-Test series against Sri Lanka in Kolkata on Monday.
Pakistan has slipped from second to fourth position in the ICC Test Team Rankings after its 2-0 loss to New Zealand in their two-match series which culminated with a 138-run verdict in Hamilton on Tuesday. Pakistan, which went into the series with 109 points in the team rankings led by India (115), is now on 102 points and tied with South Africa but ahead on decimal points. England and Australia are both on 105 points with England ahead on decimal points.
'I woke up in the morning and checked google on my phone and took out a 'Believe' emoji wallpaper and told myself that I will do it for the country.'
Kohli gained two points for his half-century to get to 888 while Smith (911) lost 10 points in the table after scoring 1 and 1 in his two innings.
Batting under lights on a lively track, Australia then suffered a collapse of their own and finished day two on 99-6 for an overall lead of 181 as they look to complete a series sweep.
India may not have played a Test match for more than three months now but off-spinner R Ashwin held on to his eighth spot in the ICC Test bowlers' rankings led by South African paceman Dale Steyn.
Shaheen Shah Afridi's Test future is under scrutiny after he was sidelined for the two-Test series against the West Indies at home.
Shah, the leading run-scorer for Afghanistan in Tests and ODIs, wanted to give the Kiwis, the inaugural WTC champions, a tough time.
Virender Sehwag on Friday slipped to fifth position, loss of one place, in the ICC ranking for the Test batsmen but his fellow opener Gautam Gambhir held on to his top position.
Jasprit Bumrah bettered spin stalwart Ravichandran Ashwin's all-time rating-point record by an Indian in the latest ICC rankings.
The over rate regulations must be modified according to the playing conditions in different continents, England Test captain Ben Stokes said on Tuesday, arguing that current rules unfairly penalise pace-heavy attacks.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances