Pakistan Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq will quit international cricket after the three-Test series in West Indies beginning later this month, the veteran batsman announced on Thursday.
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar believes that the youngest entrant in the illustrious 10,000 Test run club, Alastair Cook can challenge batting legend Sachin Tendulkar's all-time Test run record. Cook became the first England cricketer to cross the 10,000-run mark in Test cricket, and the youngest overall, beating Tendulkar's record by five months by reaching the milestone at the age of 31 years and five months. Tendulkar -- Test cricket's most prolific batsman with 15921 runs -- was 31 years, 10 months 20 days old when he scored his 10,000th run in 2005. "Well the big advantage that England always has is that they are always playing a minimum of 11-12 Test matches on an average in a year. In 11-12 Test matches even if you score 50 runs per Test match you are getting about 500 runs every year," Gavaskar said.
Former leg-spin great, Abdul Qadir has advised flamboyant Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi to say goodbye to cricket and slammed Umar Akmal, saying he lost his place in the national team because of his own mistakes. Qadir, known for his candid comments, said at a function in Lahore that Afridi had aged and was no longer fit for top level cricket. "I don't think cricket is any longer the forte of Afridi and he should say goodbye," Qadir said. He also didn't mince any words on the exclusion of batsmen Ahmed Shehzad and his son-in-law Umar Akmal from the list of probables for the tour to England. "To me Shehzad is simply more of an actor than a cricketer while Umar Akmal has lost his place in the team because of his own mistakes," he added. Umar, who is married to Qadir's daughter, has in recent months been at the centre of controversies raising questions over his commitment to the game.
'But I suppose that's why I can be quite proud... Going to the well again and delivering a performance like that was pleasing.'
West Indies great Vivian Richards has called Mahendra Singh Dhoni's side a "powerful force" but still feels that India will have trouble defending their World Cup title due to their "inconsistent" bowling.
A selection of musings from around the cricket World Cup.
Former captain Sunil Gavaskar has advised Indian batsmen to show patience and lauded Ajinkya Rahane for his unbeaten 89-run innings which helped India end the opening day at 231-7 against South Africa in the fourth and final Test in New Delhi.
Australia captain Steve Smith reached a career-high 939 rating points which are the sixth-best ever after Don Bradman (961), Len Hutton (945), Jack Hobbs and Ricky Ponting (both 942) and Peter May (941).
Powell feels that hitting sixes for fun is the new normal.
Sachin Tendulkar is the only Indian in former New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum's all-time cricketing eleven, which is led by West Indian great Vivian Richards.
Former India captain Kapil Dev says the iconic Sachin Tendulkar "did not know how to make double hundreds, triple hundreds and 400 though he had the ability" to scale such peaks and was "stuck in the Mumbai school of cricket".
Kapil Dev's running catch at the boundary, to dismiss Viv Richards, is widely remembered by fans and cricketers alike, but Martin Crowe's effort to pocket a lunging catch and dismiss Zimbawe's Dave Houghton in the 1987 Reliance World Cup will always be special, reckons Siva Sankar
Rajneesh Gupta has interesting numbers from the fourth ODI between India and Australia in Canberra. Check them out.
India's head coach Ravi Shastri says the two batting greats have a lot in common and even went on to compare Kohli with Viv Richards
From Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards, Imran Khan and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, these cricketers, among others, etched their names in the annuls of cricketing history with heroic efforts that helped their teams clinch the big prize of One-day cricket. With the 2015 edition of the cricket World Cup starting on February 14, we bring you a brief history of finals from 1975-2011...
The weather gods gave West Indies a lifeline in their quest to avoid defeat in the second Test against India when rain washed out the final session of day three in Kingston, Jamaica on Monday.
Virat Kohli became the first Indian captain to post a Test double century overseas as the tourists played their way into a virtually unbeatable position on the second day of the first Test against West Indies in Antigua on Friday.
Virender Sehwag has announced his international retirement. The batsman made the announcement in Dubai on Monday, ahead of joining the Masters Champions League.
Sunil Narine and Kieron Pollard made triumphant returns to the West Indies team in a comfortable victory over South Africa in the opening match in a triangular one-day international series.
Shimron Hetmyer said he looked up to the great Brian Lara and thanked his country's legends for backing youngsters like him.
Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are among five leading contenders vying for the title of 'Greatest ODI cricketer' of all-time. Australia's Adam Gilchrist, Pakistan's Wasim Akram and West Indies great Viv Richards are the other three nominees, as per an exercise conducted by ESPNcricinfo's magazine Cricket Monthly.
Reaction to South African AB de Villiers smashing the fastest ever one-day century in 31 balls against the West Indies at The Wanderers on Sunday.
With Virat Kohli set to eclipse the 1,000 runs' barrier, Rajneesh Gupta presents the top scorers in a series/tournament and the run-machine's performance in IPL-9.
As Virender Sehwag called time on his international career, Harbhajan Singh recalls the memories of playing alongside the swashbuckling right-hander, whom he met a long time ago during the Under-16 days and has been good friends since then.
The leaden-footed Australians found themselves bamboozled by Pakistan's wily spinners and their trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand can expect similar treatment from Misbah-ul-Haq and his men in a three-Test series starting in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
Who do you feel is India's best bat for the No. 3 slot in the second Test against Sri Lanka, starting on Thursday, August 20.
Batting great Viv Richards has come out in support of Darren Sammy after the West Indies Twenty20 skipper criticised the country's cricket board (WICB) for lack of support during the team's triumphant campaign in the World T20 in India.
'Ravi Shastri's contract has ended. We are looking at a full-time coach.'
Brendon McCullum blasted the fastest Test century to rescue New Zealand before Australia were reduced to 57 for one by the close of day one of the second Test on Saturday.
Can anyone out there solve the mystery of the missing cricketers on matchbox labels, asks Gulu Ezekiel.
India crushed West Indies at the third Test in St Lucia on Saturday, clinching the series and prompting captain Virat Kohli to say his team are going from "strength to strength".
West Indies are reeling at 90 for the loss of three wickets at lunch on day 3, as India extended their advantage in the first Test at Antigua on Saturday. Pacer Mohammed Shami bagged his second wicket of the innings after dismissing Darren Bravo (11) at the stroke of lunch.
Joe Root completed his first one-day international century to help guide England to a 25-run victory over West Indies on Wednesday in the deciding match of their three-game series in Antigua.
India's stand-in skipper Virat Kohli on Sunday credited his bowlers for the series clinching six-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the third ODI, and said the home team's bowling unit dished out a 'brilliant performance' to restrict the visitors to 242 in Hyderabad.
New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum broke the world record for the fastest Test century held jointly by his idol Viv Richards on Saturday without ever being aware he was about to make cricket history.
Steve Smith and George Bailey's brilliant knocks overshadowed Rohit Sharma's magnificent 171 as Australia beat India by five wickets in the first ODI of the five-match series in Perth on Tuesday.
'Good shot, yaar; but why are you batting so aggressively, almost angrily?' Amarnath wants to know. 'Jimmy pa, you don't know, he swore at me in Madras. I have been waiting for an opportunity to give it back!' Yashpal responds.
A rampaging David Warner smashed a run-a-ball century to fire Australia to 278 for two and wrest back the momentum from Pakistan after Azhar Ali's unbeaten double-century buoyed the touring side on day three of the second Test on Wednesday.
James Faulkner has earned his reputation as Australia's man for every occasion the hard way. Whether it's with bat or ball, the all-rounder has become the player Australia's team can always rely on to get them out of pickle.
The right-handed opener is regarded as one of the greats of Indian cricket and was one of their biggest match-winners, especially in Test cricket, where he scored 8,586 runs in 104 matches, with a strike rate of 82.23 and an average of 49.34, with 23 centuries, including two triple hundreds.
