Sports
Underdogs Sri Lanka capable of pulling off surprises against South Africa
By Kanishkaa Balachandran Colombo, December 26 (NIA): Sri Lanka are unbeaten in their last five Test matches. Two of those victories came against Zimbabwe. Nothing remarkable there, but it’s the other three that stand out. They came against Australia, at the time the No.1 Test team. Yes, Sri Lanka were playing them at home, but few would have expected them to...
India really needs to talk about hosting day-night tests
It’s time India started hosting day-night matches, says Kanishkaa Balachandran in www.scoopwhoop.com Eight out of 13 Tests have been completed in India’s 2016-17 home season, but curiously, none of them are day-night games. The concept is gaining ground in other countries, with Dubai having hosted one recently, and Australia – the first to embrace the innovation – playing two back-to-back...
Mahindar Pal Singh aims to be the first Sikh to enter Pakistan cricket team
Peshawar, December 23 (The Express Tribune): Twenty-year old Mahindar Pal Singh, hailing from the warn-torn FATA, has become the first-ever member from his community to join the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore. Mahindar aims to be part of the Pakistan cricket team - the Green Brigade - soon. “I never thought I will be a part of this academy,...
India-England Chepauk memories
Previous Test matches between England and India in Chennai have produced some memorable anecdotes, both on and off the field, writes Kanishkaa Balachandran. For cricket starved fans in Chennai, the fifth Test against England at the MA Chidambaram Stadium was something to look forward to. There was a huge scare that the timing of Cyclone Vardah would shift the Test...
What’s in a hockey world cup tourney without Pakistan?
When Sweden failed to qualify for the 2014 football World Cup in Brazil, their skipper Zlatan Ibrahimovic famously said: “One thing is for sure, a World Cup without me is nothing to watch.” While Ibrahimovic is a self-indulgent and slightly delusional player, the words would not seem out of place if the Pakistan U21 hockey team said them, writes Taha...
Parthiv Patel always believed he’d be back in the Indian Test squad
Kanishkaa Balachandran recalls the vicissitudes in the keeper-batsman's career On Tuesday, Parthiv Patel was playing a Ranji Trophy match for Gujarat in Hubli when he got a call from the national selectors to join the Indian team for the third Test in Mohali against England. The wicketkeeper-batsman was a late inclusion after the regular keeper, Wriddhiman Saha, had to pull...
Amazing similarities between Kohli and Root
Kanishkaa Balachandran takes stock of the remarkable five year journey of two star batsmen In June 2011, three years after his first international match for India, Virat Kohli made his Test debut. A year and a half later, in Nagpur, Joe Root faced his first ball as a Test batsman. The Visakhapatnam Test that concluded yesterday (November 21) was coincidentally...
Bangladesh are learning “how to win”
Kanishkaa Balachandran In February 2014, this writer and two other journalists went to meet Mehedi Hasan outside the dressing room in Abu Dhabi. It was the Under-19 World Cup and Mehedi, all of 16, was one of the youngest players in that tournament, and quite certainly, the youngest captain. Bangladesh had just suffered a monumental collapse, losing a game to...
First and fabulous: Bangladesh’s first Test win against England
Mirpur, October 30 (The Daily Star): He was born the year Bangladesh celebrated its first major success on a cricketing plain. He was only three years old when the fledgling cricketing nation was granted Test status after that famous ICC Trophy triumph in 1997. And on Sunday the 19-year-old Mehedi Hasan, who has grown up loving and playing the game...
India defeat Pakistan to lift Asian Hockey Champions Trophy for second time
Kuantan (Malaysia) October 30 (ENS): When the referee blew his whistle, there were no theatricals. No hands were pointed accusingly towards the heavens as if to say 'I told you so'. Nobody collapsed and kissed the astroturf as if a war had been won. There was certainly no middle fingers to the crowd. Despite all the political turmoil back in the...
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