Pakistan batter Babar Azam became the joint-fastest batter to score 6,000 ODI runs during the final of the ODI tri-series against New Zealand at the National Stadium on Friday. Babar, opening alongside Fakhar Zaman, began cautiously, struggling to find fluency early on after Pakistan skipper Mohammad Rizwan opted to bat first. In the seventh over, he seized on an overpitched delivery from Jacob Duffy, driving it elegantly through covers to bring up 6,000 ODI runs in his 123rd innings-equalling former South African great Hashim Amla’s record for the fastest to the mark.

Moreover, he also became the fastest Asian to reach the milestone in ODI cricket, leapfrogging India batting stalwart Virat Kohli who took 136 innings to reach the milestone.

He had earlier become the fastest to 5,000 ODI runs in May 2023, reaching the milestone in just 97 matches. However, since the conclusion of the ODI World Cup, the Pakistan captain has struggled to maintain his form, with just two fifty-plus scores in his last seven innings.

The ongoing tri-series, seen as a crucial warm-up ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy starting February 19, hasn’t been kind to Babar either.

Babar was dismissed cheaply for 10 in the opening game against New Zealand and fell short again (23) while chasing a big total against South Africa.

In the ongoing final of the tri-series, Babar showed glimpses of his trademark stability after Pakistan lost Fakhar Zaman and Saud Shakeel early.

At the end of the first powerplay, Babar was unbeaten on 24, anchoring Pakistan at 48 for 2. Attempting to accelerate, Babar fell for 29, mistiming a shot against Nathan Smith as Pakistan stumbled to 54 for 3 in the 12th over.

Fans came in huge numbers during Delhi’s Ranji Trophy fixture against Railways at Arun Jaitley Stadium, thanks to Virat Kohli‘s presence in the game. Such massive was the craze among fans that the administrators were forced to make additional last-minute arrangements to accomodate the crowd. The DDCA (Delhi and Districts Cricket Association) had projected a crowd of around 10,000 for Kohli’s homecoming, but such was his magnetic pull that even those lofty calculations went for a toss.

At first, the DDCA opened the roughly 6,000-capacity ‘Gautam Gambhir Stand’ for spectators but sensing that the crowd situation could go out of hand, the officials were forced to open the ‘Bishan Singh Bedi Stand’ which can accommodate around 11,000 people.

While speaking about the love of Delhi’s crowd for Kohli, former Pakistan player Basit Ali questioned why Kohli doesn’t play for Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League instead of Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

“Yeh banda Delhi se kyu nahi khelta IPL mein, RCB se kyu khelta hai? (Why Kohli doesn’t play for Delhi in the IPL, why does he play for RCB)?” Basit Ali said on his YouTube channel.

“I have seen very few players in my life, maybe just 2-3, who had such fan-following. Aaj to Pakistan mein bhi trend bana hua tha. Sab likh rahe, ‘Dekho izzat isko bolte hain’ (Even people in Pakistan were writing, ‘see, this is called respect),” Basit Ali said while speaking on his YouTube channel.

“He was enjoying himself with his old friends and the public. The fans were just waiting for him to respond and chanting ‘Kohli, Kohli’ for his seven hours straight,” Basit Ali added.

Virat Kohli’s much-anticipated return to the Ranji Trophy was short-lived, as he was knocked over for just six runs by Himanshu Sangwan on Friday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

(With PTI Inputs)

Australia’s teenager Sam Konstas impressed one and all with his batting approach in his maiden international innings. Opening the batting for Australia against India in the fourth Test, the right-handed batter smashed a 60 runs at a strike rate of 92.31. However, this was not the sole reason that the Australia star hogged a lot of limelight. Another big reason that put Konstas’ name in focus was his altercation with India’s Virat Kohli. In 10th over of the Australian innings, while crossing over, Kohli and Konstas bumped shoulders and quickly turned around to glance at each other, engaging in a heated exchange of words.

The face-off has become the topic of the talk, with former cricketers and experts also sharing their opinions on the matter. Amid such a scene, an old video of Konstas in which he picked Virat Kohli over Steve Smith is going viral on social media. Watch it here –

Virat Kohli was fined 20 percent of his match fee and handed one demerit point for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct.

The incident occurred on the first day of the Melbourne Test when Kohli made physical contact with Australia’s debutant by bumping his shoulder, leading to a heated exchange between the two players.

Australia’s Usman Khawaja intervened in an attempt to defuse the situation, according to the ICC.

Under Article 2.12 of the ICC Code of Conduct, “inappropriate physical contact with a Player, Player Support Personnel, Umpire, Match Referee or any other person (including a spectator during an International Match)” is prohibited.

Kohli accepted the sanction proposed by Match Referee Andy Pycroft, thereby avoiding a formal hearing. The charge was brought by on-field umpires Joel Wilson and Michael Gough, along with third umpire Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid and fourth umpire Shawn Craig.

Former captain Kapil Dev feels it is up to stalwart Virat Kohli how fast he can bounce back from his lean patch of form as the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) and World Test Championship (WTC) continues to be on line for India. The ‘Chase Master,’ who thrived on his hunger to score runs, has looked out of his everlasting appetite in 2024. In Test cricket, there have been glimpses of Virat showcasing his picture-perfect technique but eventually being overshadowed by the weight of his failures.

In 2024, Virat has scored 373 runs in the Test format, averaging just 26.64 with one fifty and a century to his name. In the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, he celebrated his 81st international century in Perth, but all the momentum vanished in thin air when the series moved to Adelaide as he was dismissed at paltry scores of 7 and 11.

“Virat Kohli is one of the best cricketers we have seen in our country. If you put top four batsmen, he will be there. If he is going through a rough time, it is only up to him how fast he can bounce back,” Kapil told reporters on Monday while speaking about Virat.

The 36-year-old’s underwhelming form has been evident across all formats. In 21 matches this year, Virat has 611 runs to his name, averaging 22.62 with a sole century and two fifties.

There were only three instances when Virat’s magic left fans mesmerised. His match-saving 76 against South Africa in the T20 World Cup final and 70 in the second innings of the first Test against New Zealand.

The third instance was a week ago when he set the Perth Test strip on fire with an unbeaten 100 to take the Test completely out of Australia’s grasp.

With the BGT series perfectly poised at 1-1, the action will move to Australia’s fortress in Brisbane beginning on Saturday.

Rishabh Pant on Wednesday overtook his superstar India teammate Virat Kohli to reach the sixth spot in the ICC Test rankings for batters. Fresh from a counter-attacking 99 in the second innings of the opening Test against New Zealand, Pant gained three spots in the rankings while Kohli, who made a fluent 70 in Bengaluru, dropped a place to be eighth. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal remains India’s highest ranked batter at four. India captain Rohit Sharma dropped two places to be joint 15th alongside Sri Lanka’s Dimuth Karunaratne.

England star Joe Root maintains a healthy lead at the top of the charts.

New Zealand duo of Rachin Ravindra (up 36 places to 18th) and Devon Conway (up 12 spots to 36th) also made good ground on the latest list for Test batters, while teammate Matt Henry (up two rungs to ninth with a new career-high rating) was the big winner in bowlers’ category.

Henry picked up eight wickets during the Black Caps’ drought-breaking eight-wicket victory over India in Bengaluru, while teammate Will O’Rourke (up two spots to 39th) was also rewarded for his seven scalps from the same match.

Pakistan spinner Noman Ali was re-instated at 17th on the rankings following his 11 wickets across two innings against England, while teammate Sajid Khan gained 22 places to move to 50th after he was adjudged Player of the Match in the same contest.

India’s pace spearhead remains at the top of the bowlers’ rankings followed by teammate R Ashwin. Retaining the seventh sport, Ravindra Jadeja is another Indian in the top-10.

India star Virat Kohli‘s lean patch in international cricket continues. The right-handed batter failed to fire in the recently-concluded first Test against Bangladesh held in Chennai. In both innings of the Test, Kohli delivered subpar scores of 6 and 17. Kohli’s poor form has put him under harsh criticism. However, former India opener Parthiv Patel has backed the underfire batter. Parthiv said that Kohli is facing the pressure of expectations because of the standards he has set for himself. Pathiv added that neither of Joe Root or Kane Williamson or Steve Smith — the rest three members of the ‘Fabulous 4’ — will be facing the kind of pressure that Kohli has been subjected to.

“I don’t think he’s feeling that kind of pressure. And as you rightly mentioned that. I don’t think Smith or Joe Root or Williamson can even think of the type of pressure he must be feeling. The pressure of expectation, that is huge. He has set his standard so high that even if he scores 60 or 70, that comes across as a failure. Because every time he walks in, we expect him to score 100. We expect him to play with that kind of intensity, which he has always been playing,” said Parthiv ahead of second Test between India and Bangladesh as quoted by Sportskeeda.

Virat is having a poor run of form across all formats this year. In 15 matches and 17 innings this year, he has scored just 319 runs at a sub-par average of 18.76, with just one half-century to his name and a best score of 76 made during the T20 World Cup final against South Africa.

Now, in Tests, Virat’s average is at an eight year low. In 114 Tests, he has scored 8,871 runs in 193 innings at an average of 48.74, with 29 centuries and 30 fifties. The last time his average was lower than this was during November 2016, when he averaged 48.28.

(With ANI Inputs)