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He will re-unite with Dravid, not long after they lifted the T20 World Cup this year

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Sep-2024Vikram Rathour, the former India batting coach, will once again team up with Rahul Dravid as he joins the support staff at Rajasthan Royals in a similar capacity. Dravid was named the RR head coach earlier this month.Rathour’s association comes on the back of a five-year stint with the Indian team, where he worked alongside Ravi Shastri and later Dravid. In June, Rathour’s contract ended soon after India’s triumph at the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean.”Having worked closely with Vikram for many years, I can confidently say that his technical expertise, calm demeanor, and deep understanding of Indian conditions make him a perfect fit for the Royals,” Dravid said in a statement.Related

Sairaj Bahutule appointed Rajasthan Royals' spin-bowling coach for IPL 2025

Herath, Rathour join NZ Test team for short-term roles

Dravid to return to Rajasthan Royals as head coach

“Together, we’ve built a strong rapport, guiding India to key successes, and I’m thrilled to reunite with him. His ability to nurture young talent and elevate players’ potential will be invaluable as we aim to further strengthen our squad and continue building a world-class team here at Rajasthan Royals.”This will be Rathour’s second IPL stint, having earlier been part of the coaching set up at Punjab Kings. He has also been the director of cricket at Himachal Pradesh previously.Earlier this month, Rathour was part of New Zealand’s coaching set-up as batting consultant in Greater Noida, as part of their preparation for six Tests they were to play in Asia.”The opportunity to work again with Rahul, and now with a talented group of young cricketers, is hugely exciting,” Rathour said. “I look forward to contributing to the team’s vision and working toward our goal of developing top-class players for the Royals and for India which can help in winning championships.”Back in the day, Rathour was a prolific scorer for Punjab, scoring a majority of his 11,473 first-class runs for them. His international career was very brief; he played six Tests and seven ODIs between 1996 and 1997.

أعرب الأرجنتيني دييجو سيميوني، المدير الفني للفريق الأول لكرة القدم بنادي أتلتيكو مدريد، عن غضبه واستيائه من الهزيمة أمام ليفربول ضمن منافسات بطولة دوري أبطال أوروبا.

وحقق ليفربول فوزًا مهمًا على حساب أتلتيكو مدريد بثلاثية مقابل هدفين في المباراة التي جمعتهما مساء الأربعاء، في الجولة الأولى من مرحلة الدوري لبطولة دوري أبطال أوروبا، على “آنفيلد”.

وتحدث سيميوني عن المباراة في تصريحات نقلتها صحيفة “آس” الإسبانية: “هناك عدة أمور، لم يبدأ الفريق بشكل جيد، لم يحالفنا الحظ بتسجيل ليفربول هدفا مبكرا، مما أخرجنا عن الطريق، ثم جاء الهدف الثاني، وكان هدفًا رائعًا لكن الفريق بروحه المعنوية وعمله المخلص وجودته العالية، بدأ في معادلة النتيجة، وخلق فرصا هجومية، وأثبتنا أننا قادرون على ذلك”.

وأكمل: “أنهينا الشوط الأول بنتيجة 2-1، وهو أمر مشجع، وفي الشوط الثاني رفعنا مستوى لعبنا أيضًا، وكنا أكثر هدوءً، واجهنا بعض الهجمات المرتدة لكننا حافظنا على هدوءنا، انتهت النتيجة بالتعادل 2-2 ثم سجل فان دايك هدفًا رائعًا، هذا يترك لنا مرارة الهزيمة ولكن أيضًا الروح التي نحتاجها للعب مع أتلتيكو”.

اقرأ أيضًا | فان دايك يكشف لغز أهداف ليفربول في الدقائق الأخيرة.. ويصرح: لاعبو أتلتيكو مدريد عدوانيون

وعما حدث للجمهور بعد هدف فان دايك، أردف: “دائمًا ما يتحدثون عن الاهتمام والاحترام لكنهم يهينونك من وراء الكواليس طوال المباراة، لا أستطيع قول أي شيء لأني المدرب، رد فعلي غير مبرر لكن بعد 90 دقيقة من الإهانات لم يكن الأمر سهلًا، أخبرني الحكم أنه فهم الموقف، آمل أن يتحسن ليفربول في هذا الجانب وعندما يحددون هوية الفاعل، ستكون هناك عواقب”.

واستطرد: “تلقينا إهانات طوال المباراة وإيماءات أيضًا، أنا من يجب أن أحافظ على هدوئي ويجب أن أتحمل الإيماءات والإهانات وأي موقف لماذا؟ لأنني في وضع يسمح لي بتحملها”.

وعن الجانب الإيجابي من المباراة كشف: “الروح المعنوية كانت ما نحتاجه، هناك الكثير من اللاعبين الجدد يتأقلمون، لعبنا على أرضية صعبة ضد خصم شجاع، يتقدمنا ​​2-0 في البداية، لم يكن متوقعًا أي شيء جيد لكننا استطعنا العمل والقتال وبذل أقصى جهد ممكن في المباراة، إذا كان علينا الخسارة، فلنخسر هكذا”.

Birmingham City co-owners Tom Wagner and Tom Brady are now in very advanced talks to sign a £10m+ star for Chris Davies, according to a new transfer report.

Birmingham City seal Demarai Gray return

It has been a busy summer transfer window so far for the Blues ahead of their Championship return, with a number of new players arriving at St Andrew’s ahead of the 2025/26 season.

One of the latest additions is former academy star Demarai Gray, who has returned to Birmingham nine years on after leaving for Leicester City. The winger joins from Saudi Arabian side Al-Ettifaq and has penned a three-year deal with the Blues.

Talking after returning to the club, Gray said: “To be back here now means a lot and having tasted success a bit throughout my career, I’m hungry and I really want to do it here with Birmingham and try and help the team get back to where we belong.

“It’s something I’ve wanted for a long time. Seeing some old faces is always nice, to be back around the stadium brought back a lot of feelings and I can’t wait to get going now, get back in front of the fans and see where this season can take us.”

Birmingham City enter race to sign £6m "monster" ahead of Sheffield United

The Blues have joined the race to sign a defender from a Premier League club.

2 ByBrett Worthington Jul 2, 2025

Wagner and Brady aren’t showing any signs of stopping, though, and there has been a promising development in the club’s pursuit of Rennes forward Kyogo Furuhashi.

Birmingham City in “very advanced” talks for £10m+ Kyogo Furuhashi

According to reliable French outlet L’Équipe, Birmingham City are now in “very advanced” talks to sign Furuhashi from Rennes.

A deal is ‘close to being concluded’ and it may be worth a total of €12m (£10.3m), the same figure Rennes paid Celtic for the Japan international earlier this year.

Furuhashi has struggled in France after leaving Glasgow, however, he certainly enjoyed his time in the UK, scoring on a regular basis and winning numerous honours with the Scottish giants.

Games

165

Goals

85

Assists

19

Minutes played

10,741

Trophies won

9

Called an “elite striker” by Brendan Rodgers during his time at Celtic, whereas Ange Postecoglou also waxed lyrical of the forward when he was Hoops manager.

Now, it looks as if Davies could have the hard-working striker at St Andrew’s potentially lining up alongside Gray and Jay Stansfield in the Championship.

In January, Manchester City made a handful of signings who could become the cornerstones of a team entering a new era under Pep Guardiola next season.

With only the FA Cup winnable this season, it has been one of transition for the Spaniard. He did sign a new deal last November, however, indicating that he is looking ahead to a new challenge starting this summer.

The likes of Vitor Reis, Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez and Abdukodir Khusanov have all proven over the previous few months that they have the required tools to perform for a club like City.

One player who will be departing the Etihad this summer is Kevin De Bruyne, who will end his ten-year association with City when his contract expires.

Guardiola has taken the club to new levels since he arrived in Manchester in 2016 after spells with Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

It could also be argued that the main reason he led the team to such heights was having someone like De Bruyne in his squad to begin with.

The numbers behind De Bruyne's staggering Etihad career

Given what the Belgian has achieved with the club since moving to England from Wolfsburg ahead of the 2015/16 season, the playmaker might be one of the most important players in their history.

Think back to Paul Merson’s verdict on the midfielder in 2015, who said: “I like the signing of Fabian Delph, but I think Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne are pathetically overpriced. They have spent £54.5m on De Bruyne – and he’s a player they don’t really need.”

How wrong was he? At the time of writing, De Bruyne has played 415 matches for City, registering 284 goal contributions – 107 goals and 177 assists – in the process. This is a staggering number for the attacking midfielder, meaning he recorded a goal involvement once every 1.46 matches.

During that time, he helped City win six Premier League titles, two FA Cups and the Champions League in 2023. With City getting closer and closer to glory in the latter competition, De Bruyne took matters into his own hands that season, registering eight goal involvements, creating eight big chances and averaging 2.2 key passes per game as they eventually defeated Inter Milan in the final.

He may not have reached this sort of level over the previous two seasons, as injuries have begun to hamper his involvement. Indeed, the midfielder has missed 48 games since August 2023.

Regardless, the 33-year-old is up there among the pantheon of City greats for his contribution over the previous decade.

The question now for Guardiola is, who comes in to replace him next season? And will the club have to pay a fortune for the privilege? Considering the recent news, they might just have found a perfect heir to the Belgian maestro.

Manchester City's perfect De Bruyne replacement

According to the Mirror, officials from Bayer Leverkusen made a visit to the Etihad last week in order to enquire about the availability of duo James McAtee and Stefan Ortega.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

The German side are keen on landing both players during the summer transfer window. As a result, this may give Guardiola an advantage in their pursuit of Florian Wirtz with it being made known during those meetings that City would like to bring him to England.

He has been valued at around £100m by the club, who would prefer him to leave Germany if a deal was reached to sell him, rather than joining Bayern Munich, who are also keen.

City could use McAtee and Ortega as makeweights regarding any prospective deal and, given his success already on the continent, Wirtz could have the same sort of impact that De Bruyne made.

Wirtz has the same sort of qualities as another City legend – David Silva – and if he manages to make a quick impact upon a move to the Premier League, he has the potential to replicate Silva’s success with the club.

Why Florian Wirtz could be City's next David Silva

If De Bruyne took City to new levels during his career with the club, Silva was arguably the catalyst for their golden era.

The diminutive Spaniard may have taken a few months to properly settle into life in Manchester, but he ended his first season with 19 goal contributions as the club won the FA Cup.

From there on, Silva went from strength to strength. Not only did he have an eye for goal, scoring 77 times for the club, but the midfielder was at his best creating chances for others, as evidenced by his 130 assists in 436 matches for City.

Aided by his small centre of gravity, Silva used this to his advantage, getting into dangerous positions with ease. Wirtz could offer something similar to City should he make the move to England this summer.

Hailed as a “mastermind” by talent scout Jacek Kulig during Leverkusen’s stunning 2023/24 campaign, Wirtz has plenty of qualities that are similar to Silva.

Best in an attacking midfield role, just like the Spaniard, Wirtz has the capability to both score and create in equal measure.

Indeed, since making his Leverkusen debut back during the 2019/20 season, the German international has scored 56 goals and grabbed 63 assists in that time.

His club might not win any silverware this season, but the 21-year-old has still managed to create 15 assists in the Bundesliga, along with averaging 1.9 key passes and succeeding with 2.8 dribbles per game.

The transition from an incredible prospect to a genuine world-class talent is now complete. Like Silva before him, Wirtz can take the next step in his career by moving from the continent to England this summer. Just who knows what he might have achieved at this stage next term.

Man City have a "quality" striker to replace Haaland & it's not Marmoush

With Erling Haaland sidelined for a while, Pep Guardiola must entrust Man City “quality” striker to deputise, and it is not Omar Marmoush.

By
Ben Gray

Apr 14, 2025

Newcastle United are on course to qualify for Europe for just the second time since the 2012/13 season.

The Champions League campaign in 2023/24 didn’t quite go to plan for Eddie Howe’s side, but if they do return, the club will be more mature in their bid to reach the knockout stages.

Prior to this, the last time Newcastle played on the continent was in the Europa League during the 2012/13 season, reaching the quarter-finals of the competition.

Their star player back then was Yohan Cabaye and the Frenchman became something of a cult icon during his spell at the club.

Why Yohan Cabaye was a cult figure for Newcastle

In the summer of 2011, the Magpies signed Cabaye from Lille for a fee in the region of just £4.3m, and it soon proved to be a bargain.

His first season was a magnificent success, registering four goals and grabbing six assists in the Premier League as the Toon secured European qualification for the first time in nearly a decade after a fifth-place finish.

While the following season saw the club drop to 16th in the top flight, Cabaye continued to impress, and he was beginning to attract plenty of attention.

This ability to both score and create chances caught the eye of PSG, who swooped to sign him in January 2014 for £20m, ensuring Newcastle made a profit on the player.

18 goals and 12 assists in 93 matches for the club was impressive indeed but has Howe now found the club’s new Cabaye?

Newcastle's next Yohan Cabaye

Newcastle have made plenty of superb signings since PIF completed their takeover of the club, notably Alexander Isak and Bruno Guimaraes.

However, the underrated Sandro Tonali deserves his flowers too having now proven himself to be one of the best signings the club has made in years when he joined from AC Milan two years ago.

That being said, it did not start in the best possible way. Indeed, a ten-month ban came into force in October 2023 after he was found guilty of betting on matches involving Milan.

Since returning to the first-team fold earlier this season, however, Tonali has been in excellent form, proving himself to be well worth the reported £55m fee they shelled out.

Goals

3

Assists

1

Big chances created

1

Key passes per game

0.4

Total duels won per game

3.7

Tackles per game

1.5

Across 38 matches in all competitions for the club, the Italian has scored five times and chipped in with two assists, the last of which came on Sunday against United.

Cabaye was the fulcrum for Newcastle during 2011/12 as they finished fifth, and it appears as though Tonali is embracing a very similar mantle under Howe, aiming to drive the Toon towards another stint in continental football..

The £120k-per-week midfielder has been dubbed as a “big game player” by talent scout Jacek Kulig previously, and he is exuding these talents this term.

His three league goals have all come during vital wins over Southampton, Brentford and Manchester United this season, highlighting how good he is when the pressure is on.

If he continues his recent form over the final few games of the campaign, Newcastle will secure a spot in the Champions League group stages for the second time in three seasons.

It’s safe to say they struck gold on this one.

8/10 Newcastle star who won 100% duels was even better than Barnes

Newcastle sealed a 4-1 win over Manchester United on Sunday evening.

ByConnor Holden Apr 13, 2025

His 29-ball fifty against Mumbai Indians was his quickest in seven years

Dustin Silgardo07-Apr-2025In 30 balls vs Kolkata Knight Riders, 2nd innings, Kolkata, 2025
In the IPL 2025 season opener, RCB were chasing 175 at Eden Gardens. Kohli watched his new opening partner, Phil Salt, race to 44 off 19 before joining in on the fun, hitting Spencer Johnson for consecutive sixes back over his head. He spent a lot of the innings watching from the other end but was aggressive whenever on strike. He hammered two slog-sweeps off Varun Chakravarthy and brought up his fifty in the 13th over, with a lofted shot over the covers off Harshit Rana. He remained unbeaten as RCB finished the chase within 17 overs.Related

• Stats – Kohli becomes first Indian to 13,000 T20 runs; Bhuvneshwar overtakes Bravo

• Patidar lauds Krunal's 'courage' after triple-wicket final over

• 'Welcome, Mufasa' – No-nonsense Bumrah returns with typically no-nonsense Bumrah spell

• By the numbers: How RCB became the fastest-scoring team in the IPL

• Kohli, Patidar, Jitesh power RCB to 221

In 29 balls vs Mumbai Indians, 1st innings, Mumbai, 2025
Kohli started off strongly, hitting three of the first nine balls he faced for boundaries. He then made a statement when he hit a returning Jasprit Bumrah’s second ball for a six over midwicket. In the next over, he hit Will Jacks for two boundaries to get to 35 off 18. His next 15 runs took 11 balls, but it was still his fastest fifty in the IPL since 2018. He got to the half-century with a big hit over long-on off wristspinner Vignesh Puthur.Virat Kohli celebrates his 113 against Kings XI Punjab in 2016•BCCIIn 28 balls vs Kings XI Punjab, 1st innings, Bengaluru, 2016
In one of his most famous IPL knocks, Kohli, batting with nine stitches on his left hand, slapped his first ball from Sandeep Sharma for a four through the covers. There were powerful shots off the spinners, a cheeky reverse-paddle and more thumping hits through the covers off the seamers as Kohli raced to his fifty in the ninth over. From there, he accelerated further to set up a total of 211 in the 15-overs-a-side contest. RCB eventually won by 82 runs.In 28 balls vs Chennai Super Kings, 1st innings, Bengaluru, 2013
RCB’s must-win game against CSK at the end of the 2013 league phase was reduced to eight overs a side because of rain. Kohli took down R Ashwin and Chris Morris early to give his team the start they needed before smacking Dwayne Bravo for 16 in the final over. RCB’s 106 was enough to win the game, but Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) ended up taking the final playoff spot with a win in their last game.Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers scored fifties in the 2018 match against Delhi Daredevils•BCCIIn 26 balls vs Delhi Daredevils, 2nd innings, Delhi, 2018
In an important game for playoffs qualification, RCB were 18 for 2 in their chase of 182 when Kohli laid into South African seamer Junior Dala in the fourth over. A pull, a wristy flick for six, and a drive through the covers got Kohli on his way, and along with AB de Villiers, he made the chase look comfortable from then on.In 26 balls vs Rajasthan Royals, 2nd innings, Bengaluru, 2018
A couple of smacks through and over the covers set Kohli on the way to his fastest IPL fifty in a chase. He hit Ben Stokes for a couple of boundaries and went hard against the spinners before pulling Shreyas Gopal to deep midwicket in the 11th over. RCB ended up falling 19 runs short.

And who has the highest individual score on IPL debut?

Steven Lynch04-Apr-2023Mark Wood took five wickets in his first IPL match the other day. Was this a record? asked Brian McMaster from England

The England fast bowler Mark Wood took 5 for 14 – his best figures in all T20 cricket – for Lucknow Super Giants against Delhi Capitals in Lucknow last weekend. However, it wasn’t Wood’s IPL debut – he played one match for Chennai Super Kings against Mumbai Indians in 2018 (he failed to take a wicket, and his four overs cost 49).In any case, the best figures on debut in the IPL are 6 for 12, by the West Indian Alzarri Joseph for Mumbai Indians against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Hyderabad in 2019. Those are actually the best figures overall in IPL history: Wood currently sits joint eighth on that list.There was one notable record though: Wood’s figures were the best by an English bowler in the IPL, beating 5 for 25 by Dimitri Mascarenhas for Kings XI Punjab against Pune Warriors in Mohali in 2012.Has anyone made a higher score in the IPL season curtain-raiser than Ruturaj Gaikwad’s 92? asked Nilu Banerjee from India

That six-packed 92 from Ruturaj Gaikwad for Chennai Super Kings against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad the other day was actually the third-highest individual score in the opening match of an IPL season. Back in April 2008, in the very first IPL game of all, Brendon McCullum lit up the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru with an undefeated 158 (still the second-highest in IPL history) for Kolkata Knight Riders against RCB. And in 2015, Rohit Sharma made 98 not out in the opening match for Mumbai Indians against KKR in Kolkata.Kyle Mayers hit 73 in his first IPL match the other day. What’s the highest score on IPL debut? asked Joseph Findlay from Barbados

Kyle Mayers hit 73 in his first match for Super Giants against Delhi Capitals in Lucknow at the weekend. That’s the highest score on IPL debut by anyone since the Brendon McCullum innings mentioned above – 158 not out for KKR against RCB in Bangalore in 2008, in the very first IPL match of all.Two others have made higher scores on IPL debut than Mayers’ 73 – both Australians, and both also in that inaugural season of 2008. The day after McCullum’s blitz, Michael Hussey hit 116 not out for CSK against Kings XI in Mohali, and a few days later Shaun Marsh made 84 not out for Kings XI vs Deccan Chargers in Hyderabad. So Mayers’ 73 was the fourth-highest individual score on IPL debut, and the highest since the first season.Travis Head is one of three batters to make five hundreds at home and none away•Getty ImagesI noticed that Mayank Agarwal has scored four Test centuries, all of them in India. What’s the most that one batter has made without any away from home? asked Devang Patel from India

At the moment there are three men who have scored five Test centuries, all of them on home soil: the old England captain Stanley Jackson, whose five hundreds all came against Australia, India’s Chandu Borde, and the current Australian batter Travis Head, who will no doubt be hoping to escape this particular list during the Ashes series in England later this year.Mayank Agarwal is one of five batters whose four Test centuries all came at home, along with Joe Hardstaff junior of England, Zimbabwe’s Guy Whittall, and the Sri Lankan pair of Roshan Mahanamaand Arjuna Ranatunga.What’s the lowest highest score in a completed Test innings? asked Jamie Lewcock from Ireland

If I’ve understood the question correctly, the answer is 7 – when South Africa were bowled out by England for 30 at Edgbaston in 1924, the highest individual contribution was 7, by their captain Herbie Taylor.The only other completed Test innings to include 11 single-figure scores was India’s 36 against Australia in Adelaide in 2020-21, when the biggest contribution was Mayank Agarwal’s 9.There have been several instances of ten batters failing to reach double figures in a Test innings. It includes Australia’s 35 for 8 at Old Trafford during the 1953 Ashes series.Use our feedback form, or the Ask Steven Facebook page to ask your stats and trivia questions

The governing body, in order to win a contracts dispute, has compromised team unity and here’s how

Andrew Fidel Fernando16-Jul-20211:11

Dasun Shanaka: I’m ready for my ‘new duty’ as Sri Lanka captain

Dasun Shanaka, 29 years old, is Sri Lanka’s newest men’s limited-overs captain. He is a cricketer of significant promise, and one that has previously captained Sri Lanka (in a stand-in capacity) to a 3-0 victory over Pakistan in T20s, so you hope he will make a fist of it. Better yet, that he can inspire a team that has lost seven of the eight completed ODIs they’ve played in 2021, and 12 of their last 13 T20 internationals. But can he?Shanaka has not been a consistent member of the Sri Lankan XI for the past three years. In ODIs, he has 28 appearances, 611 runs, and 10 wickets. In T20Is, those numbers are 43 games, 548 runs and and 11 wickets. These are not particularly encouraging statistics.There is a train of thought within the Sri Lanka team that Shanaka has only been made captain because he cut a deal with either the cricket board or its technical advisory committee in agreeing to sign the tour contracts the board was offering. This is after Sri Lanka’s cricketers had spent months defying the contracts on offer. After it was clear that the deadlock between the board and and the players had been broken, but long before SLC officially announced Shanaka’s captaincy, his team-mates knew the announcement was coming. Whatever the exact nature of Shanaka’s relationship with the board, whatever his own motivations, he is now due to lead a team that does not fully believe he is in charge for purely cricketing reasons.But it is natural for players to be ambitious. Commendable, even. Innumerable sports people across history, have coveted their team’s captaincy. But it is rarer that a governing body acts with such self-serving shortsightedness, that in order to win a contracts dispute, it chooses a course of action that would inevitably sow discord within an already-ailing team. No one can be surprised, though. Diplomacy, tact, basic competence – these have long been imperiled resources among the top brass at the SLC.This is, after all essentially the same set of administrators that over the last five years, presided over the change of ODI captains from Angelo Mathew to Upul Tharanga (in mid-2017), from Tharanga to Thisara Perera (in late 2017), from Thisara back to Mathews (in early 2018), from Mathews to Dinesh Chandimal (in late 2018), from Chandimal to Lasith Malinga (in early 2019), from Malinga to Dimuth Karunaratne (just ahead of the 2019 World Cup), from Karunaratne to Kusal Perera in early 2019, and now from Kusal to Shanaka. Some captains have come in promising discipline. Others commitment in the field. One has championed sensible batting. Another batting fearlessly. During all this, since July 2016, Sri Lanka have lost 60 ODIs to the 26 they have won.Shammi Silva, the SLC president•SLCSri Lanka have not just rifled through captains, searching desperately for results no one could deliver given the paucity of the country’s domestic cricket, it’s the same with coaches. There was Graham Ford, then Nic Pothas (though briefly), then Chandika Hathurusingha, and now Mickey Arthur (there are already rumours the board is fixing to replace him). Meanwhile, Shammi Silva has been either vice-president or president of SLC (elected uncontested this year for his second two-year stint as head honcho) since late 2015, and Ashley de Silva has been CEO for the better part of a decade.It is possible that over the next few weeks, these two men – who along with others such as Thilanga Sumathipala and Nishantha Ranatunga have overseen the galling decline of Sri Lanka’s top-flight cricket – will take their places on a dais, and wearing their grumpiest expressions, hand out lengthy suspensions to Danushka Gunathilaka, Kusal Mendis and Niroshan Dickwella, for their breaking of the bio-bubble during the England tour.The absence of those three players, along with Kusal Perera’s shoulder injury, means the most experienced player in Sri Lanka’s 25-strong first-choice ODI squad is Dhananjaya de Silva, who has played 50 matches. Shikhar Dhawan, the captain of India’s second-string team, has played 142 ODIs. India have also been training for weeks in Sri Lanka; the hosts have only been able to come out of isolation over the past few days.Can Shanaka pick his team-mates up, help devise world-class game plans against better drilled opposition, show tactical acuity in game-breaking situations, communicate effectively, and raise his team’s performance by, I dunno, a 1000%? Although this team’s decline has been almost staggering since 2015, the one thing you could still say about Sri Lanka is that they do occasionally do a good line in miracles.If they lose, SLC’s board members will likely blame the team or its coach. They may question commitment, they may cast aspersions on discipline. If they keep losing, the captain could be under threat again. For the third time in succession, a coach may get sacked by the same people who hired him.But if they look like winning, oh man, what a party: a call will go out to the broadcasters, a camera will be trained on the front row of the board president’s box, allies in commentary who are happy to criticise players but almost never turn the spotlight on administrators will recite their names on air, and the bum-patting carousel of middle-aged men in suits will go on until the nation is nauseated.

Could this World Series end any other way? The Dodgers forced a Game 7 with a thrilling 3–1 win over the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre Friday. Toronto nearly pulled off a miraculous ninth-inning comeback when Addison Barger hit a controversial ground-rule double to left-center field after the ball was wedged between the warning track and the padded wall.

The ground-rule double took a run away from the Blue Jays as Myles Straw would have easily scored from first base, but he was put at third with the call. After Barger’s extra-base hit, the Dodgers went to Tyler Glasnow (who was due in the rotation to start Game 7) to work themselves out of the jam with no outs and two runners in scoring position.

Glasnow remarkably needed just three pitches to record the save and have the Dodgers escape with the win. Game 6 ended with a wild double play off a liner from Andrés Giménez where outfielder Kiké Hernández played shallow and was able to make the catch and double off Barger at second.

Following the game, the Jays’ right fielder admitted he didn’t read the ball well off the bat, which caused him to drift closer to third and get caught on the base paths.

“I was pretty surprised he got to it,” Barger said postgame via ESPN’s Jesse Rogers. “Off the bat, I thought it was going to go [right] over the shortstop's head. I didn't think it was going to travel that far. It was kind of a bad read.”

It was a smart play by Hernández and maybe even a better scoop by second baseman Miguel Rojas. This year’s Fall Classic continues to deliver. It’s only right it ends with a Game 7, with first pitch scheduled 8 p.m. ET at Rogers Centre Saturday.

The MP captain will be available from the third round of SMAT matches on November 30

ESPNcricinfo staff27-Nov-2025Rajat Patidar has recovered from a left-knee niggle and been cleared to play by the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence. He will rejoin the Madhya Pradesh squad in Kolkata on Friday and be available from the third round of matches of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy from Sunday (November 30).Patidar, who is the MP captain, hasn’t played competitive cricket for four weeks. Following his appearance for India A in the first unofficial Test against South Africa A (on October 30), he missed the last two weeks of the Ranji Trophy due to persistent knee pain, which he first experienced during the MP’s first round Ranji fixture against Punjab on October 15.ESPNcricinfo understands Patidar completed a 10-day rehabilitation programme, and was given the RTP certificate (return to play) by the CoE’s medical team. He has resumed batting.Related

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Patidar was in excellent form prior to picking up the niggle. He started the Ranji season with a double century against Punjab, also scoring two centuries and two half-centuries during the course of a title-winning run as Central Zone captain in the season-opening Duleep Trophy.SMAT 2025-26 will be his first white-ball games since the conclusion of IPL 2025, where he led Royal Challengers Bengaluru to their maiden title. Since then, Patidar has been elevated to all-format captaincy for his state side, replacing Shubham Sharma.MP were runners-up in the previous SMAT season, with Patidar contributing significantly to their campaign. He was the second highest run-getter, hitting 428 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 186.08. Patidar’s 27 sixes were the most that season.