Formal announcement on Bengaluru's Chinnaswamy Stadium's replacement for women's World Cup in a couple of days
With the Karnataka State Cricket Association informing the Board of Control for Cricket in India of its inability to obtain the requisite clearances to stage matches, the International Cricket Council, in consultation with the tournament host BCCI, has been trying to finalise the replacement venue for the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
With the World Cup opener barely six weeks away, time is running out to finalise the logistics. The Hindu understands that Thiruvananthapuram has emerged as a front-runner, with Guwahati in contention to host additional matches.
According to a source in the know of things, a formal announcement will be made 'in a couple of days'.
With Bengaluru having been deemed unfit following the stampede outside the stadium a day after the Indian Premier League final in June, the World Cup matches, including the final on November 2, will have to be rescheduled.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Economic Times
26 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Kuldeep Yadav slips to third as Maharaj regains number one spot in ODI rankings
India wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav has slipped to third place in the latest ICC ODI rankings for bowlers released on Wednesday with South African tweaker Kehsav Maharaj reclaiming the top position. Maharaj regained the top position after helping his team beat Australia by 98 runs in the first ODI of their three-match series in Cairns. The 35-year-old left-arm spinner, who was named Player of the Match after grabbing five for 33, overtook Kuldeep and Sri Lanka's Maheesh Theekshana to the top spot, which he had earlier held briefly in November and December 2023. Apart from Kuldeep, Ravindra Jadeja is the only Indian bowler who is in the top 10 in the updated list. The Indian team has not played an ODI match since their title triumph in the Champions Trophy. West Indies fast bowler Jayden Seales was another one to make huge inroads in the bowling rankings after his superb haul of six for 18 in the final game of their three-match series against Pakistan, moving up 15 spots to 18th position. Pakistan leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed (up 15 places to joint-39th) and West Indies off-spinner Roston Chase (up five places to 58th) are others to move up the list. In the men's batting rankings, Shubman Gill continues to top the list with 784 points, with Shreyas Iyer being the other Indian in the top 10 at sixth position. West Indies captain Shai Hope is up two places to ninth position after scoring 120 not out in the final ODI against Pakistan while Aiden Markram (up four places to 21st), Temba Bavuma (up five places to 23rd) and Mitchell Marsh (up six places to 48th) are the others to progress. In the men's T20I rankings, India's Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma remained on the top two places with skipper Suryakumar Yadav in the sixth spot and Yashasvi Jaiswal in 10th position. South Africa's Dewald Brevis continues his upward movement, gaining nine spots to reach 12th position while Australians Marsh and Glenn Maxwell have progressed four and 10 spots, respectively, to reach 25th and 30th positions. The T20I bowling rankings see Australia seamers Nathan Ellis (up three places to ninth position) and Josh Hazlewood (up two places to 18th) make significant gains, with South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada moving up from 44th to 37th position.
Indian Express
26 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Asia Cup: How Shubman Gill completes India's T20 batting puzzle
After the 2023 IPL, where Shubman Gill amassed 890 runs, he had made a compelling case to be considered as an opener for the 2024 T20 World Cup. He wasn't able to replicate a similar form in India colours and lost his spot for the tournament in the US and Caribbean. This time, 650 runs – which was not even the highest for a Gujarat Titans player, has proved enough to make India's T20 cut not just as another batsman but with a vice-captain designation next to his name. So what has changed between 2024 and now? There were Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli then, and having Gill would have been having three batsmen in a similar mould in T20s. Especially Virat and Gill. The one aspect that India was missing in their T20 batting ranks, filled with aggressive stroke-makers, since the retirement of the big two, was a batsman who could bat in different gears. Gill's inclusion now takes care of that aspect as well. Apart from offering leadership material, India's team management also seems to have weighed in what Gill's batting brings to this set-up with his approach, where he has shown in the last IPL that he is capable of being aggressive without taking way too many risks and ability to bat in different gears. In the past, Gill has come across as a T20 batsman for whom, manoeuvring through different phases by altering gears isn't easy. However, last IPL, with Gujarat heavily dependent on top three, Gill had shown he has come of age in T20s. It was not just a case of him beginning slow and gradually catching up by shifting gears. He showed he can start on top gear, slow down and play catch up and go full throttle, the entire distance. He did all of it by not embracing a high-risk approach, but merely by backing his own game, where instead of power-packed sixes, he was hurting teams by creaming boundaries after boundaries. That Gill's accumulation mastery had unlocked new levels wasn't only reflected by the volume of runs this year, but also the synchronous uptick in middle-overs striking and scoring across venues, all done while remaining rooted to his core principles. For the three years between 2022-24, Gill's T20 game largely revolved around his incredible success at his IPL home ground in Ahmedabad. Of the 2637 runs he scored in the period, 1027 runs were piled on at the Titans' base with a jaw-dropping 79.00 average and 166.99 strike rate in 17 innings. Outside the Narendra Modi Stadium, Gill's shares were middling, restricted to 1610 in 55 innings, scoring about 31 runs per dismissal at a 135.97 SR. Notably, the most recent IPL saw a dramatic shift in this regard, with Gill doubling his scoring (446) outside Ahmedabad (204) at a significantly higher average. Gill arguably clocked his best ever middle-overs (7-16) striking this year, glimpsing his evolving aptitude. Only two batters (Suryakumar Yadav and Jos Buttler) recorded more runs at a higher strike rate than Gill's 323 at 163.13 in the phase, with 82 percent of those runs made outside Ahmedabad. Playing 198 balls, Gill's 80.90 average also ranked the highest among the nine Indians who had scored at least 250 middle-overs runs in the 2025 season. Although Gill had aggregated higher in the middle overs (454) in 2023, he had yet to set the charts on fire away from home, a significant box ticked in his second year as GT skipper. This versatility is a luxury that India believe they will need as they are putting together a squad keeping the next year's T20 World Cup in mind. One of the reasons why India's team management was averse to make any huge changes to the batting line-up was it felt more than any other format, in T20s batsmen needed to be given a long rope. Having adapted a high-risk approach, dropping a batsman in case of a failure in search of aggressive intent, could have an adverse impact as they could potentially slow down and look for runs to cement the spot. However, with the T20 World Cup being part of the big picture, there were also enough reasons to have a batsman of Gill's calibre, one who could score without taking high-risks. In the last IPL, where he finished fourth in highest run-scorers list, he showed he can inflict damage at the top in boundaries alone. In that list, his strike-rate of 155.87 was higher than that of only Virat Kohli (retired) and KL Rahul (not in T20 frame) is also a point worth taking into consideration as he still has plenty to improve in that aspect. But for now, India are in a position to accommodate him as they have enough strikes around him. For the T20 World Cup at home, if India happen to play on pitches that are not on a flatter side, then they will surely need a batsman to play the situation rather than go in search of intent. In that regard, there is no better option than Gill. With Gill now certain to bat at the top, India will now have to slightly shuffle their batting. If they are not keen on disturbing Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson at the top, slotting Gill at No 3 could be a way forward with Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel and Rinku Singh to follow. If India believe Gill needs to be slotted at the top, then it alters their batting dynamics a bit. With Samson being a top-order batsman and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar revealing that he stepped in because Gill wasn't available, there is a strong chance that India now look at a wicketkeeper who can bat in the lower middle-order. It is with this complex situation in mind that the selectors preferred Jitesh Sharma over Dhruv Jurel, who had been India's second wicketkeeper in the T20 squad. While India have shown no signs of not compromising on batting depth — most teams with high-risk approaches embrace similar strategy – Gill's inclusion could change that as well. Unless India see Hardik Pandya as their new ball bowler, they need room for at least two seamers and two other slots to include Varun Chakaravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav – two X-factor spinners. When that happens, it automatically compromises on batting depth – and Gill's solidity becomes all the more vital. It could mean a slight change of approach, but India feel it is better to test it now rather than close to the T20 World Cup. — With inputs from Lalith Kalidas
Indian Express
26 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli reappear in ICC ODI rankings, Babar Azam pushed back to third place
India veterans Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are back in the International Cricket Council's ODI rankings after a brief disappearance earlier on Wednesday. The pair had disappeared from the standings in the latest update in which Pakistan's Babar Azam took the second spot that Rohit wasn occupying and New Zealand's Daryl Mitchell replaced Kohli at fourth spot. While the ICC's statement on the rankings, which they had posted on X at 1.33pm IST, didn't make a mention about the pair being dropped, it had caused a flurry on social media. Rohit and Kohli were then back in the rankings a few hours later and the ICC is yet to say anything about the sequence of events. Rohit remains in second spot, thus pushing Babar back down to third place, while Kohli has returned to fourth and pushed Mitchell back down to fifth. The 38-year-old Rohit and 36-year-old Kohli have both retired from T20Is and Test cricket, making ODIs the only format of international cricket that they are still active in. With the frequency of ODI matches nosediving in recent years, it has led to a lot of speculation over whether they still remain in Indian selectors' plans going into the swing of games for the 2027 World Cup. Rohit remains India's captain in ODIs. He had retired from Tests during the 2025 IPL and Kohli did the same towards the end of the season. Both players retired from T20Is after powering India to victory in the T20 World Cup last year. The last time they played any form of international cricket was the final of the Champions Trophy against New Zealand on March 9, which India won by four wickets, Rohit was declared player of the match for his 76 off 83 balls. India wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav has slipped to third place, with South Africa's Keshav Maharaj returning to the top spot. Maharaj regained the top position after helping his team beat Australia by 98 runs in the first ODI of their three-match series in Cairns. The 35-year-old left-arm spinner, who was named Player of the Match after grabbing five for 33, overtook Kuldeep and Sri Lanka's Maheesh Theekshana to the top spot, which he had earlier held briefly in November and December 2023. In the men's batting rankings, Shubman Gill continues to top the list with 784 points. He is one of four Indians in the top 10 of the rankings, with Shreyas Iyer being the other Indian apart from Rohit and Kohli. Iyer sits at sixth place. West Indies captain Shai Hope is up two places to ninth position after scoring 120 not out in the final ODI against Pakistan while Aiden Markram (up four places to 21st), Temba Bavuma (up five places to 23rd) and Mitchell Marsh (up six places to 48th) are the others to progress. In the men's T20I rankings, India's Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma remained on the top two places with skipper Suryakumar Yadav in the sixth spot and Yashasvi Jaiswal in 10th position. South Africa's Dewald Brevis continues his upward movement, gaining nine spots to reach 12th position while Australians Marsh and Glenn Maxwell have progressed four and 10 spots, respectively, to reach 25th and 30th positions. (With PTI inputs)
