Cricket News

Gujarat Giants have acquired India pacer and ICC 2025 Women's World Cup winner Renuka Singh Thakur for ₹60 lakh in the ongoing Women's Premier League (WPL) 2026 player auction. Renuka had won the WPL title with Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2024. She has picked up 13 wickets in 23 matches in WPL, including 10 wickets for RCB last season.

Australia Women captain Alyssa Healy went unsold in the first round of the ongoing Women's Premier League (WPL) 2026 auction. The eight-time World Cup champion, who had a base price of ₹50 lakh, could still find a franchise later during the accelerated round. Healy, who represented UP Warriorz, had missed the last WPL season due to a recurring foot injury.

South Africa skipper Laura Wolvaardt has been acquired by Delhi Capitals for ₹1.10 crore in Women's Premier League (WPL) auction. Wolvaardt, who had represented Gujarat Giants in WPL, had a base price of ₹30 lakh. Notably, Wolvaardt who led South Africa to 2025 Women's World Cup final, was the highest run-scorer in the tournament with 571 runs in nine matches.

Lauren Bell, who became RCB's most expensive buy in WPL 2026 mega auction at ₹90 lakh, is a six-foot-two-inch tall English fast bowler who was born on January 2, 2001 in Swindon. She has played 5 Test matches, 31 ODIs and 36 T20Is for England, taking 112 international wickets. She used to be footballer before opting for cricket at 16.

Australia defeated England by eight wickets in the second Ashes Test at the Gabba to take 2-0 lead in the five-match series. With the win, Australia are on top of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-2027 points table with 100% of points won. England have slipped to the seventh position, with 30.95% of points won. South Africa are second.

India have slipped to sixth position on World Test Championship (WTC) points table. This comes after New Zealand defeated West Indies by nine wickets in the Wellington Test to move to the third spot on the table with 66.67% of points won. India are sixth with 48.15% of points won. West Indies are placed ninth with 4.76% of points won.

The first-ever IPL auction took place on February 20, 2008. Richard Madley, who conducted the auction, later shared the picture of the "first-ever auction sheet" after MS Dhoni's sale in the auction. Dhoni was bought by CSK in the auction for $1.5 million. "A rare piece of cricket memorabilia," Madley had captioned the picture.

Pakistan's Plan B in case they boycott T20 World Cup 2026 has been leaked. In case they don't get clearance from their government to participate in T20 World Cup, a domestic tournament will be played to ensure players get competitive exposure, reports said. Pakistan team, Pakistan Shaheens and Under-19 will play the tournament in Lahore, reports added.

Among the T20 World Cup 2026 teams, India are top-ranked. Australia are placed second, followed by England (third), NZ (fourth), SA (fifth), Pakistan (sixth), WI (seventh), SL (eighth), Afghanistan (10th) and Ireland (11th). Zimbabwe are ranked 12th, followed by Netherlands (13th), Scotland (14th), Namibia (15th), Nepal (16th), UAE (17th), USA (18th), Canada (19th), Oman (20th) and Italy (27th).

New Zealand's Finn Allen scored 33-ball 100 against South Africa, the fastest century in T20 World Cup history. The fastest hundred in T20I cricket was smashed by Estonia's Sahil Chauhan, hitting 27-ball ton against Cyprus. He is followed by Turkey's Muhammad Fahad, who scored 29-ball 100 against Bulgaria. Namibia's Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton and Zimbabwe's Sikandar Raza had hit 33-ball tons.

Australia's Charles Bannerman's record for the highest percentage of runs by a batter in an all-out Test innings set in the first-ever Test that started on March 15, 1877 is still unbroken. Bannerman scored 165*, constituting 67.34% of Australia's 245. Further, England's James Southerton, who featured in the Test, is still the oldest debutant at 49 years and 119 days.

The bat MS Dhoni used to hit the 2011 World Cup final-winning six held the record for being most expensive cricket bat in history till December 2021. Dhoni's bat was bought by Mumbai-based brokerage firm RK Global for £100,000 (then ₹72 lakh) at a London charity dinner, three months after the final. The proceedings went to Dhoni's wife's charitable organisation.

RR and LSG have faced each other on six occasions in the history of IPL. RR won four while LSG won two games in the matches played between the two teams. The highest scores made by RR and LSG in their games are 199 and 196 runs respectively. The two teams will face each other on Wednesday.

A video of Neymar reacting to his call-up to Brazil's FIFA World Cup 2026 squad has gone viral. The clip, posted by his close friend Cris Guedes, shows the forward getting visibly emotional before breaking into a wide grin as he hugs Guedes. This will be Neymar's fourth World Cup after previously featuring in the 2014, 2018 and 2022 tournaments.

India pacer Jasprit Bumrah broke the world record for scoring most runs in an over in a Test on July 2, 2022. He scored 29 runs off England pacer Stuart Broad's over in first innings of Edgbaston Test. Bumrah slammed four fours and two sixes, and took a single. Broad conceded 35 runs in the over, including six extras.

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, who turned 77 on Friday, was almost exchanged at birth after a nurse accidentally placed him next to a fisherwoman in the hospital. Gavaskar's uncle had noticed a birthmark near his ear and when he didn't see it in the other child, he brought the matter to the parents' notice, following which Gavaskar was returned.

India have lost the world number one spot in the ICC Men's T20I team rankings, with England moving above them after completing a 3-0 whitewash of Sri Lanka. England won the third T20I by eight wickets at Old Trafford on Saturday. They chased down 125-run target with 62 balls remaining.

Australia remain on top of World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 points table with a points percentage of 75%, despite their innings-and-31-run defeat to South Africa. New Zealand are second with 72.22%, while South Africa remain third with 66.67%. Bangladesh (55.56%) are fourth, followed by India (51.52%), England (38.54%), Sri Lanka (33.33%), West Indies (20.83%) and Pakistan (4.63%).

New Zealand have climbed to the top of World Test Championship 2025-27 points table following South Africa's victory over Australia in Cape Town. New Zealand lead with 72.22% of points won, followed by South Africa (71.43%) and Australia at (69.23%). India occupy fourth place with 51.52%. South Africa won the final Test by 176 runs to clinch three-match series 2-1.

India are fourth on WTC 2025-27 points table. India can reach a maximum points percentage of 70.37 by winning their remaining seven Tests. Six wins and draw would take them to 66.67%, while six wins and a defeat would leave them at 64.81%. Historically, 60% mark is enough for qualification. However, India would also need favourable results involving other teams.