Cricket is Life

Stand-in captain, stand-in blazer," he said with a smile when asked if he'd had one cut to fit his own shoulders yet. This was in 2008: India were still chasing Australia for the number one spot in the ICC's Test rankings and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, in Anil Kumble's absence, was leading the side for only the second time in the longer format. And while he had walked out for the toss wearing a...

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has nominated Shozab Raza, an umpire with experience of less than 20 first-class matches for the International Cricket Council (ICC) Panel of TV umpires for next 12 months, while retaining below-par Zameer Haider in the panel of field umpires with Ahsan Raza joining him as a replacement for Nadeem Ghouri.Initially seven umpires were selected for the interview —...

Former Indian Twenty20 greats have blamed excessive importance given to Tests and ODIs for India's decline in the format, criticising veterans Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman for ignoring T20 commitments in order to prolong their Test careers."The loss to England in the recent T20 international is a sign of our decline from being world champions to also-rans," said Joginder...

The International Cricket Council announced an inquiry overnight after considering the report from match referee Chris Broad of England who described the pitch as poor. ICC cricket manager David Richardson and chief match referee Ranjan Madugalle will now consider all the evidence, including video footage of the match and submissions from the hosts.The match ended a day and rival captains...

Former England cricket captain Nasser Hussain's "donkey" remark about Indian fielders has upset Amitabh Bachchan. "Did not like Nasir Hussain, ex-cricket Captain of UK (Britain), refer to Indian fielders as 'donkeys', as he commentated on tour of our team, ? Big B posted on micro-blogging site Twitter. Hussain had equated some of the Indian fielders to "donkeys" during the Twenty20 match played...

Pakistan cricket and controversy are the two sides of same coin. Every sports lover not only in Pakistan but internationally accepts that Pakistan cricket team is blessed with so many natural stars who can turn around the game in a short span of time. But on the other hand it is also true that Pakistan team is known for its blunders and throwing away matches against the much weaker oppositions....

England is set to dominate Test cricket after climbing to the top of the world rankings with a 4-0 whitewash of India, who face a long road back from the "embarrassing" loss, British newspapers said on Tuesday. "India simply weren't up for the fight," Steve James wrote in The Daily Telegraph. "England have embarrassed them. There are insufficient superlatives to describe their performance in...

India will arrive in Pakistan and play three back-to-back Twenty20s from November 18 to 20 in Lahore. These matches will be followed by the two teams contesting the three 50-over games from November 22 to 26 in Islamabad. The Pakistan Blind Cricket Council President Syed Sultan Shah was delighted at hosting the series. “Although we aren’t as rich as the Pakistan Cricket Board, our dedication is...

Indian skipper MS Dhoni is not a man for tokenisms. He is not a man for excuses either. He cited exhaustion as the reason when the Indian team got knocked out in the Super Eights of the 2009 and 2010 World T20 tourneys in England and South Africa and even earned reprimands from the high and mighty in the BCCI. This time though, even if the BCCI bigwigs pretend to be deaf, Dhoni's words might...

The selectors announced squads for the two Twenty20 and five ODI games and will announce the Test side this month. White has struggled of late, failing to score more than 22 in the world cup and losing his place during the tour of Bangladesh.The big hitting Victorian averaged 35 across 87 ODIs including two centuries and 11 50s. “Cameron White is unlucky to be omitted from the one-day squad...

Kaneria and fellow Essex bowler Mervyn Westfield were arrested last year on charges of spot-fixing during a Pro40 match against Durham in 2009. Kaneria was later released without being charged but Westfield faces criminal proceedings.Kaneria featured in Pakistan’s Test series against England last year but has not been selected since for international matches because he has not been formally...

India will host Pakistan for three Tests and five One-Day Internationals in March-April 2012 for the first time since 2007, according to the Future Tours Programme (FTP) of the International Cricket Council (ICC). The details of the tour are yet to be finalised as it is subject to government clearance. The tour will be preceded by India's three-month tour to Australia, from December, during...

Cricket's governing body has begun its four-day annual conference in Hong Kong with all eyes on the controversial proposal, which caused outrage among the smaller nations. ICC president Sharad Pawar has asked his board to discuss the matter at the conference, with the governing body looking to avoid a repeat of the seven-week World Cup, deemed by some critics as unnecessarily lengthy.ICC...

Former cricket captain Shahid Afridi met Chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ijaz Butt in Islamabad and reached an out of court settlement, our sources reported. According to the sources, important government officials were also present in the meeting.Former skipper agreed to withdraw the case against the PCB and also to appear before the disciplinary committee of the board. The PCB will...

Pakistan coach Waqar Younis says the lack of home internationals is a major hurdle to his young team's hopes of climbing up the international cricket rankings. Pakistan's second-test victory over West Indies on Tuesday secured a drawn series and ensured it stayed in sixth position, one spot ahead of the Caribbean men.In the past year, Waqar's charges have played "home" test series against...

Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Ijaz Butt, brushed aside all the media speculations about his talks with Shahid Afridi saying he has not given any assurance to the all-rounder for keep leading Pakistan in the One Day Internationals.Some media groups had earlier reported that Shahid Afridi had talked to Ijaz Butt and during the conversation he made himself available to the Ireland tour....

Australian legspin legend Shane Warne has reportedly apologised for his part in a bust-up with a cricket official after a recent Indian Premier League match. Warne, captain of the Rajasthan Royals IPL team, was involved in an angry exchange with Sanjay Dixit, secretary of the Rajasthan state cricket association, following his team's defeat at home to Bangalore on Wednesday. The prolific...

Wicket keeper of National Cricket Team Kamran Akmal denied the statement of Zulqarnain Haider about involvement of his father-in-law in gambling. Kamran said that statement of Zulqarnain is wrong and he has to provide the evidences otherwise; he would have to face court of law. He said that any member from his family even could not think about this cheap activity. Talking to a private TV...