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Rishabh Pant at risk of ICC sanction for violating Code of Conduct after ‘needless’ outburst at umpire
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Rishabh Pant at risk of ICC sanction for violating Code of Conduct after ‘needless’ outburst at umpire

India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant could be at risk of facing sanctions for breaching not one, but two articles of the ICC Code of Conduct following his heated argument with the on-field umpire Paul Reiffel on Day 3 of the ongoing first Test against England in Leeds. The act even received criticism from former cricketers Ravi Shastri and Mark Butcher on air, who deemed it "needless." Rishabh Pant (L) complains about the shape of the ball to Australia's umpire Paul Reiffel (R) on day 3 of the first cricket test match between England and India (AFP) The incident happened after the penultimate ball of the 61st over of England's first innings at Headingley on Sunday, after Mohammed Siraj was hit for a boundary by Harry Brook. Pant seemed visibly unhappy with the condition of the ...
Make the World Test Championship more inclusive in two groups
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Make the World Test Championship more inclusive in two groups

South African captain Temba Bavuma celebrates with the ICC World Test Championship mace in London. | Photo Credit: ICC via Getty Images In the next 15 months, South Africa, World Test champions, play no series at home. This says something important about their win in the final at Lord’s where they beat Australia convincingly in what their low-key leader, Tenda Bavuma, the first Black man to captain the country called, “a win for the “small” teams. These currently being nine of 12 Test nations outside the so-called Big Three of India, England, Australia who have greater resources, larger talent pools and more victories in ICC tournaments. In England — where the final was played — fans of English cricket (and...
India-New Zealand Champions Trophy final breaks all-time viewership record: ICC
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India-New Zealand Champions Trophy final breaks all-time viewership record: ICC

The 2025 Champions Trophy final between India and New Zealand was the most watched match in the history of the tournament, surpassing the record set by title clash of the 2017 edition, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has said. In data shared by the ICC on Wednesday, it has emerged that the final clocked 65.3 billion live viewing minutes globally, breaking the earlier record set in the 2017 final between India and Pakistan by 52.1 percent. ICC also shared that the tournament saw a total of 358 billion global viewing minutes across global coverage and the tournament has become the most watched Champions Trophy ever with a 19 percent increase in terms of viewership as compared to the 2017 edition. The Rohit Sharma-led Indian team beat New Zealand by four wickets in the final on March ...
New Zealand set to become first ICC full member to launch a franchise in overseas league — Major League Cricket in US
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New Zealand set to become first ICC full member to launch a franchise in overseas league — Major League Cricket in US

New Zealand Cricket will become the first full member of the ICC to launch a franchise in an overseas professional cricket league. NZC is set to team up with United States-based company True North Sports Ventures (TNS) to launch a new Major League Cricket franchise, set to debut in the 2027 season. NZC has become a foundation investor in TNS, with the possibility to make a more substantial equity investment before the end of 2025. NZC will provide high-performance and management support, including coaching, management and support staff. MLC co-founders Sameer Mehta and Vijay Srinivasan are the majority owners of entities which hold exclusive rights to own and operate two MLC expansion franchises, the first of which will be launched by TNS in 2027. They are exploring key markets across Nort...
ICC forms task force involving India, England and Australia to assist displaced Afghan women cricketers
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ICC forms task force involving India, England and Australia to assist displaced Afghan women cricketers

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has set up a dedicated task force to support displaced Afghanistan women cricketers. The world body has joined with the BCCI, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Australia (CA) to assist the Afghan women cricketers in their development, both on and off the field going forward. Ever since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, their women’s team hasn’t featured in any international fixture with a majority of the players fleeing the country and settling in Australia. There have been calls to the ICC from several quarters, including from British MPs, to suspend the Afghanistan Cricket Board. During the ICC Champions Trophy, some politicians in Britain even wanted England to boycott their fixture ag...
Cricket needs reform, but players’ body doesn’t inspire confidence
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Cricket needs reform, but players’ body doesn’t inspire confidence

Everybody has a plan to make cricket more equitable, bring in more money, have more rational calendars, comprehensible points systems and so on. The International Cricket Council, sadly, isn’t one with such plans. Some years ago, the Woolf Report put forward ideas which were heartily ignored. Now the World Cricketers’ Association (WCA), a body with little power since India doesn’t recognise it, has published a report it claims can bring in an additional $240 million annually. This players’ body (originally called FICA or Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations) has identified four areas that require urgent solution in a recent paper entitled Protecting History, Embracing Change: A Unified Coherent Global Future.These range from scheduling (which it says is “chaotic, incons...
Cricket needs reform, but players’ body doesn’t inspire confidence
Sports

If cricket is ripe for a takeover, Saudi Arabia seems ready for it

It has been in the air for a while. Now details are emerging about Saudi Arabia’s investment in cricket. At first, it was India and the IPL which that country saw as possible partners, now it seems to be Australia. The global T20 league, according to reports, will have eight teams playing in four separate leagues around the year. Saudi Arabia’s SRJ Sports Investments is to fund the competition to the tune of $500 million. Going by how other sports caved, and given the gradual rise in Saudi’s involvement in the game (Aramco sponsorship, IPL auction in Jeddah), cricket seems ripe for a takeover. These are early days yet. The Daily Telegraph headline: ‘Saudi Arabia ready to park tanks on cricket’s lawns’ captures the wariness with which Saudi Arabia’s new-found love for cricket is bei...
Champions Trophy 2025: PCB to register protest with ICC for ignoring representative in closing ceremony
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Champions Trophy 2025: PCB to register protest with ICC for ignoring representative in closing ceremony

Winners trophy is seen during the presentation ceremony. The PCB is set to register its protest with the ICC for ignoring its CEO and Champions Trophy tournament director Sumair Ahmed Syed during the event’s closing ceremony in Dubai. | Photo Credit: AP The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is set to register its protest with the ICC for ignoring its CEO and Champions Trophy tournament director Sumair Ahmed Syed during the event's closing ceremony in Dubai. A source in the PCB said on Monday (March 10, 2025) that chairman Mohsin Naqvi was not satisfied with the explanation given by the ICC for not having Ahmed on stage at the presentation ceremony on Sunday (March 9, 2025). "The ICC, apparently, has said it had prep...
ICC Safety and Security Manager Dave Musker thanks Pakistan police: The professionalism of the people I have been involved with is exceptional
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ICC Safety and Security Manager Dave Musker thanks Pakistan police: The professionalism of the people I have been involved with is exceptional

Champions Trophy 2025 hosted by Pakistan came after 29 years amidst security concerns over the country. Pakistan’s leg of the tournament concluded the semifinal between South Africa and New Zealand in Lahore. The ICC Safety and Security Manager Dave Musker praised the arrangments and professionalism of the security during the tournament. “Just wanted to do a short video to thank all the Pakistani police. Police and the Army have been absolutely superb. Prior to the tournament, there were concerns over by visiting teams over to Pakistan. I personally had not doubts, the professionalism of the people I have been involved with is exceptional the cooperation and the respect I have been shown is amazing,” he said in a video,” Musker said. The country has organized comprehensive security team fo...
Champions Trophy: PCB demands ICC’s explanation after India’s national anthem plays before Australia-England Champions match
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Champions Trophy: PCB demands ICC’s explanation after India’s national anthem plays before Australia-England Champions match

A general view of the fans during the Champions Trophy 2025 match between Australia and England in Lahore. | Photo Credit: Reuters Left red-faced after India's national anthem played for a fraction of a second at the start of the Australia-England Champions Trophy match in Lahore on Saturday (February 22, 2025), the Pakistan Cricket Board has blamed the ICC for the fiasco and demanded an explanation from the world body. At the start of the game when the two teams lined up for their national anthems, the spectators were left surprised as the Indian national anthem played for a second before being stopped. A source close to the ICC confirmed that the PCB had sent a letter to the governing body outlining the inci...
Cricket needs reform, but players’ body doesn’t inspire confidence
Sports

India have the best team, but for many one match is all that matters

The weirdest international cricket tournament is set to commence this week. Relevance? Well, television wants it. More importantly, it provides an opportunity for an India-Pakistan match which can only be played either at the two World Cups (T20 and 50-over) or at the Champions Trophy. Other teams can be forgiven for thinking they merely make up the numbers. At least twice before — in 2013 and 2017 — it had been decided that that year’s tournament would be the last one. For eight years the Champions Trophy lay unloved and uncared for till it was determined that the love and care should return. And return it did, to Pakistan, where the last International Cricket Council tournament was the World Cup in 1996. Were rules made on the fly? England discovered just in time during the 2023 ...
England will not boycott Afghanistan match at Champions Trophy, says ECB chair
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England will not boycott Afghanistan match at Champions Trophy, says ECB chair

England will play their Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan later this month, England’s cricket board (ECB) said on Thursday, despite calls to boycott the game in response to the Taliban government’s crackdown on women’s rights. Last month, a group of British lawmakers urged England to boycott the Champions Trophy group stage match against Afghanistan which will be held in Lahore on February 26. South Africa Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie also supported calls for a boycott. Story continues below this ad Afghanistan had 25 contracted women players in 2020, but most are now living in exile in Australia following the Taliban takeover of their country in August 2021. However, ECB chair Richard Thompson said they would play the match after discussions with the governmen...