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1 month ago | 
espn.in | Himanshu Agrawal |Nagraj Gollapudi |Namooh Shah
Big Picture: Samson to start as batterIn a video uploaded by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Friday, Heinrich Klaasen, batting in the nets, belts every ball he faces out of sight. Travis Head, his equally big-hitting team-mate, keeps swinging his his head around to try and follow the ball into the distance. Leading into IPL 2025, it was a throwback to Klaasen, Head and Abhishek Sharma's merciless six-hitting last season.
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1 month ago | 
espn.in | Namooh Shah |Nagraj Gollapudi |Varun Shetty |Hemant Brar
As IPL 2025 gets underway, some of the league's biggest names are on the verge of topping a number of records. From Rohit Sharma inching closer to an all-time batting milestone to Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja chasing bowling feats for their respective franchises, the upcoming season is set to witness several record-breaking moments. Here's a look at a few of the key milestones that could be achieved over the next two months and a bit.
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1 month ago | 
espn.in | Vishal Dikshit |Sruthi Ravindranath |Namooh Shah
Gujarat Giants (GG) had so many bloopers on Thursday night that it was hard to keep count. These errors - while fielding and running between the wickets - combined cost them the WPL 2025 Eliminator against Mumbai Indians (MI), who were sharp in the field, by 47 runs. Their coach Michael Klinger summed it up thus: "probably minus 20 to us [for the lapses] and plus 20 to them".
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1 month ago | 
espn.co.uk | Alex Malcolm |Andrew McGlashan |Namooh Shah
In 2024, Cricket Australia held a fan poll to rename their One-Day domestic competition after one of it's greatest 50-over players. Criteria included performances both domestically and internationally. As a current player, Steven Smith wasn't eligible in the vote (Dean Jones was the worthy winner) but upon his retirement from the format it is worth reflecting on a formidable 50-over record that has sometimes slipped under the radar.
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1 month ago | 
espn.co.uk | Andrew McGlashan |Alex Malcolm |Namooh Shah
101 vs Pakistan, Sharjah, 2014This is probably not an innings that will leap into the memory of many, but it was a very significant moment in Steven Smith's career. It was his first ODI hundred (and, in fact, in List A cricket as well) having not passed fifty in 27 innings to this point as he was shuffled around the middle order. Smith had moved to No. 3 a few weeks previously in Zimbabwe and in this innings came in to bat in just the second ball of the match.
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1 month ago | 
espn.co.uk | Namooh Shah |Andrew Fidel Fernando |Alex Malcolm |Sidharth Monga
5369 - Steven Smith's runs in ODIs since being promoted to the top order during the 2014 tri-series in Zimbabwe. He averaged 47.51 in 129 innings since then. Before that Smith had scored only 431 runs in 25 innings at an average of 20.52 and a high score of 46*. 52.01 - Smith's average at No. 3 is the highest for any Australian with a minimum of ten innings at that position. Overall, only five men average more than Smith at No. 3 in ODIs for a minimum of 50 innings.
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1 month ago | 
espn.co.uk | Shashank Kishore |Namooh Shah
It seemed a no-brainer Royal Challengers Bengaluru would open the batting with Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh to knock off the nine runs they needed to win in the Super Over against UP Warriorz on Monday night. And while they were in discussion, Sophie Ecclestone quickly yanked her pads and gloves off and was ready to go again. As Deepti Sharma stood beside head coach Jon Lewis, Ecclestone walked across with ball in hand, having been the very reason the game had gone this far.
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2 months ago | 
espn.in | Sidharth Monga |Andrew Fidel Fernando |Sampath Bandarupalli |Namooh Shah
India 231 for 4 (Gill 101*, Rahul 41*, Rishad 2-38) beat Bangladesh 228 (Hridoy 100, Jaker 68, Shami 5-53) by six wicketsShubman Gill dug deep for his slowest ODI hundred and India's slowest in the last six years to see India through a tricky chase of 229 that must have brought back memories of their 3-0 series defeat to Sri Lanka last on similarly slow tracks.
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2 months ago | 
espn.co.uk | Andrew Fidel Fernando |Sidharth Monga |Sampath Bandarupalli |Namooh Shah
Eventually we all get old and the body just ain't what it used to be. Joints feel weird in rooms where the air conditioning is too strong. You twinge an oblique muscle reaching for the remote. You dislocate a kneecap and make up a story about how you did it playing football, when really you had slipped in the shower.
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2 months ago | 
espn.co.uk | Sidharth Monga |Sampath Bandarupalli |Namooh Shah
India captain Rohit Sharma rued putting down an "easy" catch at slip to deny Axar Patel a hat-trick in his side's win against Bangladesh in the Champions Trophy. "That was an easy catch, I should have taken that," Rohit said at the presentation. "The standard I've set for myself for standing in the slips... That was a little disappointing, but these things happen, I do understand that. But again, the way these guys bowled that set the game for us.
