After criticising Misbah-ul-haq severely in the recent past, former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar took a U-turn.
Left-handers Kumar Sangakkara and Lahiru Thirimanne struck fluent centuries to help Sri Lanka outplay a hapless England by nine wickets in a Pool A match of the ICC World Cup.
You don't prep for 2028 but for 2040, or even 2044. Sustained sporting excellence is based on mass support, grassroots development, and funding - and it is this trifecta India needs to work on, systematically, asserts Prem Panicker.
Australia wicketkeeper-batsman Brad Haddin has been slammed on social media for sledging a couple of New Zealand batsmen while sending them back to the pavilion following their dismissal during their World Cup win over Brendon McCullum's men on Sunday.
'Are we so ready to believe that in this country whose virtues we constantly shout from the rooftops, there is no single person -- other than Modi -- in a minimum of 272 elected MPs with the talent and ability to lead this country?' asks Prem Panicker.
The best-case scenario is that the BJP will top out at around 50 seats in UP -- a drop of 12 from the 62 it had won in 2019. Taken in tandem with Maharashtra and Karnataka, this is what is likely to put paid to the BJP's ambitions of a third term for Modi, argues Prem Panicker.
The best they can do, in the event they defeat Australia and line up for the semi-final in Sydney, is summon spinner Saeed Ajmal.
We asked colleagues, present and past, to reflect on a man who has made such a difference to their lives and careers. Here it is then, a rich collection of memories that offer enchanting glimpses of the enigmatic Ajit Balakrishnan.
This time Modi has no emotive message to take to the stump. Muscular nationalism doesn't work against the backdrop of China's successive inroads into Indian territory. Rising prices is a sore point that cuts across class and caste barriers; unprecedented levels of unemployment has the youth in a ferment. This has reduced the BJP campaign to a laundry list of recycled grievances and thinly veiled communal appeals, neither of which are working as well as they have in the past, argues Prem Panicker.
To understand Modi, listen to what he does not say -- vide NRC, suggests Prem Panicker.
As the tournament gets to the business end here's a chance to predict the winner. Listed below are the eight quarter-finalists. Pick four who you think will make the semi-finals.
In Phase 6, indications are that the BJP, which is defending 40 seats, will lose in double digits and gain in single digits. Not good, if you are the ruling party scrambling to earn a working majority, with just one phase left to go, argues Prem Panicker.
While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
2019 was the Bharatiya Janata Party's breakout year, when it stretched the boundaries of what was thought possible and ended up with 303 seats on its own steam. Now it is forced to play defence, on a pitch queered by too many variables, asserts Prem Panicker.
Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza expressed displeasure at a few decisions going against his side in their 109 runs' thrashing by India in the cricket World Cup quarter-finals at the MCG on Thursday though he did not say it in so many words.
As if not enough with their embarrassing 130-run loss to India, South Africa were fined for maintaining a slow over-rate.
Pakistan look to get their so far lacklustre World Cup campaign going with a win over Zimbabwe.
Dhoni praised every aspect of Ashwin's performance.
Former Australia skipper Kim Hughes is not a great fan of Mahendra Singh Dhoni's leadership style and feels that Virat Kohli's elevation to captaincy should not only be in Tests but also across all formats to bring in more purpose to the top job.
There's wisdom to be found in an unfairly treated man's short and sweet concluding words -- a nation is only as great as our appreciation of the people who make it great, notes Sukanya Verma.
crowd of 80,000 flocked to the MCG for Thursday's sudden-death encounter.
The second part of our exclusive interview with Farhan and Javed Akhtar.
For New Zealand, the tournament is still a great success. They had never played in a World Cup final before, reaching the semi-finals six times but losing on each occasion, and were unbeaten going into the final.
New Zealand and South Africa played their hearts out in the first semi-final of the ICC World Cup at the Eden Park in Auckland on Tuesday, but it was the Black Caps who emerged triumphant by four wickets.
The International Cricket Council has backed match officials criticised by the governing body's own president over a controversial no-ball decision in Thursday's World Cup quarter-final between India and Bangladesh.
Alastair Cook believes England were wrong to sack him as their one-day captain.
The hits and misses of the week.
What does Gideon Haigh, widely considered the finest cricket writer of our time, think of the man currently acclaimed as the finest cricketer on the planet?
Michael Clarke signed off from One-day cricket on a high on Sunday after his team beat New Zealand by seven wickets in the World Cup final at the MCG and fittingly dedicated the triumph to Philip Hughes, who tragically lost his life in a freak on-field accident.
A selection of musings from around the cricket World Cup.
A selection of musings from around the cricket World Cup.
India's captain feels the roller-coaster ride he witnessed all these years makes cricket a "great leveller".
A selection of musings from around the cricket World Cup
The hits and misses of the week.
Australia's players said they had saved their best performance until the end of the tournament.
Outraged by the quality of umpiring in Bangladesh's World Cup quarter-final loss to India in Melbourne, the country's Cricket Board is all set to lodge a protest in the ICC and has got the backing of the governing body's President AHM Mustafa Kamal, who said the on-field officiating was "very poor".
Hundreds of Bangladesh cricket supporters burnt an effigy of Pakistani cricket umpire Aleem Dar and marched in the capital, Dhaka, after the country was knocked out of the World Cup
Australia will continue to experiment with their batting line-up against Scotland on Saturday as they attempt to give players some time in the middle before the knockout phase, captain Michael Clarke said.
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