Ajinkya Rahane said the positive and frank conversations between him and Virat Kohli helped the two forge crucial partnerships for India in Test cricket. Speaking on the Stick to Cricket podcast, Rahane said batting with the former India captain brought out the best in him. He scored 12 centuries and amassed 5,077 runs in 85 Tests for India.

Rahane added that Kohli always backed him to trust his instinct and play his natural attacking game. He credited Kohli's tenure as captain, with Ravi Shastri in charge, for India's dominance in the longest format where the team secured back-to-back series wins in Australia.

Rahane lamented India's woeful form in Tests at home, which has seen the side slump to series losses against New Zealand and South Africa. He said Test cricket needs at least seven senior players in the playing eleven and felt this Indian side had transitioned too fast after Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin retired.

Robin Uthappa thinks Vaibhav Sooryavanshi could have a bigger impact on white-ball cricket than Sachin Tendulkar, but the next five years will decide if he stays on track. He pointed to Vinod Kambli and Prithvi Shaw as talents who faded after early promise, and said Sooryavanshi has to stay focused until he turns 20.

Mohammad Kaif believes the 15-year-old should have debuted against Ireland rather than England. He thinks an earlier chance would have helped him settle after winning the Orange Cap in IPL 2026, and that sitting out those matches only added pressure.

Sooryavanshi scored 14, 13 and 15 in his first three T20Is against England before returning to form with 151 runs across three matches against Zimbabwe at an average of 50.33.

Former India batter Robin Uthappa believes Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has the potential to leave a bigger mark on white-ball cricket than Sachin Tendulkar. Uthappa warned that the 15-year-old's long-term success will depend on how carefully his career is managed.

Uthappa cited the examples of Vinod Kambli and Prithvi Shaw as talented players whose careers lost momentum. He said Sooryavanshi's first test will be staying focused on cricket over the next five years rather than getting distracted by fame and commercial opportunities.

Sooryavanshi was named Player of the Series after scoring 151 runs at an average of 50.33 in India's 3-0 T20I sweep of Zimbabwe. He jumped 230 places in the ICC T20I batting rankings to reach a career-best 48th position.

The Pakistan Cricket Board said players who appeared in the Asian Legends Cup in Zambia without approval could receive two-year bans from NOCs and PSL roles. Mohammad Irfan, Imran Nazir and Taufeeq Umar are on the list of those who played.

Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik and Wahab Riaz pulled out once they realised the event had no sanction. The tournament folded on Tuesday.

Any future overseas stint will need an NOC first.

Ireland open a five-match ODI series against Afghanistan on Wednesday, and automatic qualification for the 2027 World Cup is the prize. New head coach Gary Wilson called the side “laser-focused” on reaching South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

Ireland haven’t made a 50-over World Cup since 2015. Next year they’ll join a 10-team qualifier for one guaranteed berth, with three more sides moving into a Super Series.

It’s their first ODI cricket in 15 months.

Sunrisers Eastern Cape signed Mitch Marsh ahead of the SA20 season. They left Faf du Plessis, Rassie van der Dussen, Imran Tahir, Kieron Pollard and Trent Boult off the retention list.

The window closed this week. Those players now go into the draft or look for contracts elsewhere.

Marsh gives Sunrisers another all-round option as they try to defend their title.

FrogBox chief executive Rob Knee says the Australia-based service has posted more than three million clips from 1,850 clubs, mostly in the UK and Australia. Kits cost £2,380, and the current season is sold out with pre-orders open for next year. Partners include Cricket Australia, Cricket Scotland, Netherlands Cricket and the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Clubs use the footage to chase sponsors and funding, while parents watch their kids take their first runs or wickets. One clip went viral when a taxi driver hit a six into his own cab. The service auto-generates highlights from ECB live scoring data.

The Brian Devine finger-clicking incident at Saltburn showed how quickly a stream can turn into a public row. Knee says clubs choose whether streams are public or unlisted, and they must tell participants that audio is being recorded.

Manchester Super Giants captain Aiden Markram is leaving The Hundred for personal reasons. Jos Buttler steps in as replacement captain for what's left of the season.

Markram's exit removes the side's top run-scorer and its on-field leader. Buttler already filled the role last game after Markram left the squad.

The rest of the schedule stays the same, with no further changes reported to the Super Giants roster.

Mitchell Marsh will make his SA20 debut for Sunrisers Eastern Cape after the Australia captain joined the three-time champions for Season 5. The 19-player squads for Durban's Super Giants and Paarl Royals are already complete, leaving 19 slots to fill across the remaining four franchises ahead of the October 7 auction.

Sam Curran moved from MI Cape Town to Durban Super Giants, where he will team up with England teammate Jos Buttler. Joe Root returns to Paarl Royals, while Phil Salt and Matt Short have joined Pretoria Capitals. Jason Holder will captain Joburg Super Kings after Faf du Plessis departed.

MI Cape Town and Joburg Super Kings need to sign six and seven players respectively at the auction, while Pretoria Capitals have five slots to fill. SA20 League Commissioner Graeme Smith said the quality of new signings shows the growing global appeal of the competition.

Jos Buttler tops the men's run-scoring charts with 226 runs for Manchester Super Giants. Mitchell Marsh sits second on 214 for Sunrisers Leeds. Marcus Stoinis and Richard Gleeson share the wickets lead with nine each.

Laura Wolvaardt leads the women's run-scorers with 161 runs for Southern Brave. Annabel Sutherland has taken six wickets and scored 146 for Sunrisers Leeds. Sophia Dunkley tops the women's strike-rate chart at 168.69.

Welsh Fire levelled Trent Rockets on 16 points after beating Southern Brave. The top two sides go straight to the final, third and fourth play an eliminator.

India's fast-bowling coach Morne Morkel will appear as a guest on the fifteenth season of Khatron Ke Khiladi, which premiered on August 1. The former South Africa pacer will bowl deliveries at speeds between 140 and 150 kmph for contestants to catch.

Host Rohit Shetty introduced Morkel to participants while warning them about the challenges involved in the stunt. Morkel represented South Africa in 86 Tests, 117 ODIs and 44 T20Is, taking 544 wickets across formats.

The season was filmed in Cape Town, South Africa, with celebrity contestants including Gaurav Khanna, Avinash Mishra, Avika Gor and Rubina Dilaik.

Sachin Tendulkar was 13 when he ran onto Brabourne Stadium in a Pakistan shirt. The 1987 exhibition match had dragged on, and when Javed Miandad and Abdul Qadir left at lunch, Imran Khan asked the Cricket Club of India for local kids to fill the gaps.

Tendulkar sprinted out. Not long after, Kapil Dev struck a ball toward him in the outfield and the boy was suddenly fielding for the opposition.

He later wrote in Playing It My Way that he still has no idea whether Imran Khan remembers the moment at all.

Australia won't play a warm-up match before the five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India early next year. Coach Andrew McDonald confirmed the team will instead hold an extended pre-series camp to acclimatise to Indian conditions.

The approach follows recent subcontinental tours. They trained in Dubai before the 2025 Sri Lanka series and held a camp in Alur ahead of the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. This time, the shorter gap between the New Zealand Tests and the India series has forced a different plan.

Players likely to feature in India but not against New Zealand could begin preparations earlier in Australia. McDonald said the focus will be on location and individual workload management rather than match practice.

A report in Dainik Jagran claims India's selectors don't want Rohit Sharma in the 2027 ODI World Cup squad. The selectors reportedly told Rohit after the England series that he wasn't part of their plans.

They felt betrayed when BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia publicly backed the former captain after his 138 at Lord's. The report says the board reversed its position under social media pressure, not because of any shift in performance concerns.

The controversy now touches chief selector Ajit Agarkar's future, with VVS Laxman named as a possible replacement. A final call on the selection committee will come at the BCCI Annual General Meeting in September. Pakistan great Zaheer Abbas has separately argued that age shouldn't matter for Rohit or Virat Kohli if both stay fit.

Pakistan ended their tour of Sri Lanka with a four-wicket victory in the third T20I at Dambulla on Saturday. Sri Lanka posted 113 for six after Momina Riasat took two wickets in the twelfth over to trigger a collapse that saw the hosts lose five wickets for 41 runs.

Ayesha Zafar top-scored with 39 as Pakistan reached the target with ten balls to spare. Chamari Athapaththu took two for twenty and Kavisha Dilhari claimed two for twenty-four for Sri Lanka.

The win gives Pakistan a consolation victory after Sri Lanka had already taken the series.

Ireland has scheduled a full five-match ODI series against Afghanistan starting on August 5. The decision comes despite potential backlash from the England and Wales Cricket Board over governance and protest issues. Ireland will host the matches as part of its international calendar.

The Guardian reported the agreement as a direct scheduling choice by Ireland. The ECB has previously expressed concerns about Afghanistan's cricket administration. Ireland's move signals independence from ECB-aligned positions on the matter.

No specific venues or match dates beyond the August 5 start were confirmed in reports. The series adds to Ireland's bilateral commitments and may affect future scheduling discussions with England.