
ZIM Vs NZ, 2nd Test: Brendan Taylor Eyes 10000-Run Club On International Return
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


India.com
16 minutes ago
- India.com
WTC latest points table after New Zealand thrashes Zimbabwe, India's current position is...
New Zealand's overwhelming victory over Zimbabwe in Bulawayo by an innings and 359 runs grabbed attention for its dominance but does not affect the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2025 points table, and thus has no direct impact on India's current position. This is due to Zimbabwe's exclusion from the WTC cycle, despite being a full member of the ICC. Only the top nine Test teams as of March 31, 2018, were eligible to compete in the tournament when it started in 2019. Afghanistan, Ireland, and Zimbabwe were left out and are still not part of the competition. The nine participating teams in the tournament are Australia, England, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, West Indies, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. India ranks third on the WTC points table With a points percentage of 46.67, India ranks third on the WTC table after the Anderson–Tendulkar Trophy series. With 43.33, England is in fourth place, just behind. With a perfect 100 points from their first games, Australia holds the top spot, followed by Sri Lanka with 66.67. At this point, New Zealand's outcome has no bearing on India. The WTC 2025–27 campaign, which starts in December with a three-Test home series against the West Indies, has not yet begun for the Kiwis, who won the first 2019–21 cycle. New Zealand secured overwhelming victory over Zimbabwe But the Bulawayo match was historic. After declaring themselves at 601 for three, New Zealand easily defeated Zimbabwe twice, with Zak Foulkes taking five wickets in the second innings to secure the third-largest innings victory in Test history. Although this won't affect the current WTC standings, performances like this serve as a reminder that when New Zealand enters the competition, they could become one of India's toughest challengers on the way to the 2027 final.


Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Test leadership ticked, how about Gill as all-format captain?
Kolkata: It might be too early to discuss, but there can never be a right time to debate what India's cross-format leadership should look like. Suryakumar Yadav leads the T20 side and Shubman Gill the Test team but there remains some doubt over whether Rohit Sharma would continue being the ODI captain. Sharma is 38 and keeping in mind India's white-ball leadership discussions are more or less event-oriented, he should be pushing 40 by the time the ODI World Cup arrives in India in 2027. One captain for T20Is and another for ODIs has never been the approach of BCCI. And since Surya wasn't picked for the Champions Trophy earlier this year, his chances of bridging that gap have become slim. India's player of the series India's captain Shubman Gill in their five-match Test series against England at The Kia Oval in London, Monday. (AP) Gill as India's all-format captain however has a nice ring to it. At 25, he has the age advantage that gives India a solid ICC events outlook of at least a decade. His Test captaincy baptism in England was possibly the most rigorous in the past decade, but it can't help but be seen as one that made Gill stronger than ever. Few wrinkles exist, like the thought process behind spreading out the field on the final day of the Oval Test, or some of the non-directional bowling strategies in the earlier Tests. Keeping in mind that this was Gill's first series as captain, one can only expect improvements from here. Of course, the success Gill the batter has had is another story. When the batter inside a captain feels as good as Gill after taking down a long-standing record of Don Bradman, it's bound to leave a heightened sense of belonging at this level. Not only because the success in England came across as quantitatively better than his contemporaries, but also because it was more worked for while anchoring a batting order that was tweaked every game. Gill knows what works for him, but more importantly he knows what doesn't work. And since India have equated good captaincy with the ability to keep churning out runs as batters, Gill seems good to go on that front. What somehow doesn't get enough traction is how good a batter Gill is in other formats. He has a double hundred in ODIs and a hundred in T20Is — the gold standard for batsmanship these days. Not to forget how a disrupted white-ball career can't take away from Gill a sterling average of nearly 60 in ODIs and a strike rate of almost 140 in T20Is. He was probably the only top-order batter to miss out on a hundred in the 2023 ODI World Cup at home, but at that time it didn't matter because India had all the bases covered till No.7 in the batting order. A tournament average of 44, thus, doesn't look bad at all. Two years later, he averaged 47 in the Champions Trophy, breaking his hundred drought at ICC ODI events with a steady century against Bangladesh in the tournament opener. This, mind you, while juggling batting duties at two different positions, a stance Gill may not tinker with in future. Sure, opening in white-ball format may look easier with a new ball in operation from both ends on primarily flat pitches, but if Gill continues to open after becoming captain he risks being judged through a single prism with very finite possibilities. If he doesn't score heavily, he may be termed a liability, a hastily drawn conclusion no opening batter captain (Rohit, Sourav Ganguly come to mind here) has been able to escape till date. And if Gill scores, it will only be considered a value enhancer. It's a double-edged sword he willingly took on when Rohit and Virat Kohli announced their Test retirements in May. Think harder though, and you will find Gill had embraced this way of life a year earlier — with the Gujarat Titans for a good 50 days or so across 15 IPL matches — only because Hardik Pandya chose to move back to Mumbai Indians. This is franchise cricket by the way, where a testing annual appraisal ensures there is very little scope for a cricketer to grow into a role. Do or die is the mandate and Gill seemed fine by it when he accepted the challenge. Forty of those 50 days Titans were leading the table while Gill was scoring heavily, before they lost their way a bit towards the end and fell just short of making the final. Till that stumble, Gill ensured an unprecedented batting superiority in the form of a record seven 200-plus IPL totals for Titans. A scintillating strike rate of 155, 650 runs, six fifties and a nearly there finish — Gill had unwittingly checked most of the boxes in the India T20 captaincy wishlist. With the T20 World Cup barely six months away, it remains to be seen how long it takes to zoom in on Gill as an all-format captaincy contender.


Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
AUS vs SA, 1st T20I: Glenn Maxwell's gravity-defying catch seals Australia's win over South Africa
Glenn Maxwell of Australia (Photo by) Glenn Maxwell pulled off a breathtaking boundary-line catch to help Australia seal a 17-run victory over South Africa in the first T20I in Darwin on Sunday. The stunning effort, which combined athleticism, quick thinking and perfect timing, came in the final over and ended Ryan Rickelton 's defiant innings of 71, all but confirming Australia's win. — cricketcomau (@cricketcomau) With South Africa needing 21 from 5 balls, Rickelton launched a Ben Dwarshuis delivery towards long-on. Maxwell, stationed at the rope, leapt into the air beyond the boundary, flicked the ball back over his shoulder into the field while airborne, landed outside the playing area, then quickly jumped back inside to complete the catch. The moment drew loud cheers from the Darwin crowd as Australia celebrated its ninth consecutive T20I win. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! Earlier, Tim David's explosive 83 from 52 balls, featuring eight sixes, powered Australia to 178 all out after a shaky start that saw five wickets fall inside seven overs. Cameron Green (35 off 13) added quick runs, while South Africa's teenage pacer Kwena Maphaka shone with figures of 4-20, becoming the youngest bowler from an ICC full member nation to take four wickets in a T20I. Poll What was the most impressive aspect of Glenn Maxwell's boundary catch? Athleticism Quick Thinking Perfect Timing All of the Above Josh Hazlewood 's 3-27 and Dwarshuis' 3-26 ensured Australia stayed ahead despite a 72-run stand between Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs (37). Hazlewood's double blow in the 15th over halted the chase before Maxwell's spectacular boundary magic sealed a memorable night in Darwin. The second match of the series will be played on Tuesday, also in Darwin. Catch Rani Rampal's inspiring story on Game On, Episode 4. Watch Here!