Lancashire said no to their own guy. Tom Bailey—nine wickets that season already—got ruled out for replacing Ajeet Singh Dale. ECB's injury sub trial? Dead on arrival.

Bailey's no rookie scrub (his economy sat at 2.8 in Division One spells, which tells you plenty). Lancashire wanted balance, not dominance—Gloucestershire match hung tight. ECB nodded to Ollie Sutton instead, greener but compliant. Teams game the rules from day one; policy crumbles under self-interest. County bowlers nod in the sheds—farce is the word, Bailey reckoned.

Trial aimed fair play. Injuries hit Dale mid-spell. Now squads hoard stars, bench fodder rotates. Championship paces ahead uneven. Next round, expect more dodges.

ICC's Anti-Corruption Unit opened a probe into Cricket Canada. They cite code breaches in a T20 World Cup match against New Zealand.

A documentary called 'Corruption, Crime and Cricket' spilled the details. Leaked tapes show selection rigged. The captain's over raised flags. Governance crumbled under admins.

Canada's game softened as players chased cash over runs. Officials picked sides for bribes. That T20 clash exposed it. ICC acts now. Matches lose bite without clean calls.

Emerging boards copy this mess. Funds flow in. Rules bend. Canada vs NZ wasn't isolated. Leaks prove patterns. Sport pays when boards rot from inside.

Josh Hazlewood stood at Chinnaswamy's end. He delivered 1 for 20 against LSG. Thirteen dots on a two-paced pitch. RCB won. Home streak intact.

Missing 151 days, he'd first hurt his hamstring. Achilles and tendon followed. Calf tore last. He rushed back for the Ashes. Wanted T20 World Cup spots too. Body rebelled. IPL start delayed. Early rust showed. Hard lengths fixed it. Rhythm returned.

Franchise schedules pile up. International windows clash. Players push limits. Recoveries shorten. Tendons snap. Calves rip. Management lags behind. Tours demand full squads. Boards eye cups. Bodies break. Hazlewood's haul hints at rhythm regained. Rush less. Heal properly.

Quinton de Kock stood tall at Wankhede. Unbeaten 112 off 60 balls. Eight fours. Seven sixes. Mumbai Indians posted 195 for 6. Punjab Kings chased it in 16.3 overs. Won by seven wickets. Prabhsimran Singh made 80 not out off 39. Shreyas Iyer added 66 off 35.

De Kock's knock beat Ryan Rickelton's claim. Both overseas openers. MI coach Mahela Jayawardene sees competition. Aaron Finch praised de Kock's mindset. Relaxed. Experience counts. Rickelton waits. De Kock delivered. Arshdeep Singh took 3 for 22 for PBKS. Marco Jansen 1 for 30. MI lost fourth straight.

PBKS top table. Four wins. Prabhsimran's bat flashed. Wankhede crowd quiet. De Kock walked off head high. Selection battle heats. Form versus pedigree. MI picks soon. One spot. Two contenders. Numbers talk. De Kock's eight sixes linger.

Sushma Verma scored 237 off 498 balls. Second-highest score in women's first-class cricket. North Zone took the Inter-Zonal multi-day trophy. First-innings lead sealed it.

Key partnerships held firm. She survived chances. Broke Mithali Raj's record. Fell two short of 242. Prep work paid off. Nets against pace bowlers. Focus stayed sharp. 'Lost it on two balls only,' she said.

Multi-day tests demand patience. 498 balls test endurance. South Zone couldn't break through. Trophy to North Zone. Her average climbs.

Lungi Ngidi leads DC's pace attack without Mitchell Starc. That dipping slower ball came from Dwayne Bravo. He refined it over years. The T20 World Cup tested it. IPL sharpened it further.

Batsmen now pick pure pace. Ngidi added flight and revs. The dip fools them. With Starc out, he steps up. DC trains at BCCI's CoE in Bengaluru—lights sessions, full camp—for next games.

Modern batting demands variations. Intent-driven batsmen smashed seamers flat. Ngidi's slower balls bite back. Bravo spotted the skill early. Ngidi listened. Data shows slower balls take wickets at 7.2 economy in IPL slogs. His run at 6.8.

Look, here's the thing. Kagiso Rabada grabs 3 for 29, two in the powerplay. GT restricts KKR to 180 at Motera. They chase it in 19.4 overs. Shubman Gill's 86 off 50 does the rest.

Rabada nails the bounce there. Pairs with Mohammed Siraj's 2 for 23. KKR's Cameron Green fights hard, 79 off 55. But he jams 4 off 11 late. Last four overs? Just 23 runs. GT smells blood early.

KKR winless in seven now. GT grabs third straight win. Rabada says bounce helped, strategy with Siraj set from ball one. Intent merchants like Green can't save death-over flops. Powerplay wins IPL games. GT knows it.

Washington Sundar snagged a wicket in the Powerplay. GT's opener. Crowd murmured.

That Impact Player rule? It's flipped his role upside down. Across four games for Gujarat Titans, he's sent down just four overs—way off his Pune stint back in 2017. Teams swap in specialists now. Allrounders aren't bowling as much. Sundar thrives batting up top. Ready for whatever. Loves those Powerplay bursts, he told the Times of India.

Look at the numbers. IPL allrounders used to average 5.8 overs a match pre-rule. Down to 3.2 now. Sundar dodged that early this season. Matthew Hayden's coaching him. Bat contributions too. His four overs? Economy under 6. Subs mean pure bowlers, pure batters. Sundar adapts. Bowls tight on call. Bats higher up.

The ball angled in from Hazlewood's hand, thudding into Patidar's pads just short of leg stump. First over back at Chinnaswamy after 151 days sidelined. RCB beat LSG while he found his hard lengths.

He leaked just 20 off four overs. Thirteen dots choked the chase. Variable bounce aided him; he stuck to back-of-length probes. RCB's unbeaten home run stretches on. Kohli came in as Impact Player again, knee and ankle taped, made 49 off 34. But Hazlewood's rhythm looked the sharper story—less rust than his debut suggested. Coach's faith in the Aussie quick pays early dividends.

Injury shadows lift slow in T20. Hazlewood gripped the old ball tighter by over three. RCB face DC next; Axar and Kuldeep wait. Patidar's middle-overs blitz looms large there. Hazlewood bowls over the wicket, stares down the variable strip. Chinnaswamy faithful remember his Gabba growl from the commentary box.

BCB rolled out lifetime 'Captains Cards' for 33 skippers since 1977. Tamim Iqbal pushed the plan through. Cardholders get event access, parking, health insurance—the works players receive.

That's every captain Bangladesh has had. Current ones included. He spotted the disconnect between board and former leaders. Now they hold permanent perks. No more waiting at Mirpur gates.

Bangladesh cricket shifts. Old guards link to the board's new welfare efforts. Skippers who led the team get lasting benefits. Tamim's step matches runs to leadership. Ethical observers nod. Others will follow.

Substitute rule in county cricket draws debate.

Peter Moores' Nottinghamshire grabbed it two rounds in. Gained an edge. The coach admits the laws sit too loose right now. Glamorgan's Kiran Carlson spots real problems too. Tactics twist games unfairly, he says (per BBC Sport).

Subs can jump in mid-match under the rule. Picture the IPL Impact Player, but counties skipped the guardrails. Batter slips in to bowl. Bowler pops up late to bat. Balance tips hard. Moores' crew snagged those key moments and won. Others aren't happy. Early numbers? Twelve subs so far. Seven flipped the outcomes.

Counties test T20 futures. Current rules allow role switches. Referees review before season deepens.