The Buzz
Rohit and Wadekar to get stands named after them at Wankhede Stadium
Ex-BCCI president Sharad Pawar to also be honoured similarly
ESPNcricinfo staff
15-Apr-2025
The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) will name a stand after India Test and ODI captain Rohit Sharma at the Wankhede Stadium, his home ground. Former India captain Ajit Wadekar and ex-BCCI president Sharad Pawar are also set to have stands named after them at the venue.
Divecha Pavilion Level 3 will be called the Rohit Sharma Stand, while the Grand Stand Level 3 will be named after Pawar and Grand Stand Level 4 after Wadekar. The decision to rename the stands was taken during MCA's 86th annual general meeting held on Tuesday.
"Today's decisions reflect our deep respect for the pillars of Mumbai cricket and our determination to build an even stronger future," MCA president Ajinkya Naik said.
Full postWho stole Virat Kohli's bat?
ESPNcricinfo staff
14-Apr-2025
How long before Virat Kohli realises one of his bats is missing? Tim David decided to find out after Royal Challengers' (RCB) win against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Jaipur. After all, what better way to celebrate a victory than to prank your team-mates? Turns out Kohli keeps a close eye on his bat count (seven, in this case) and quickly caught on.
"I wanted to see how long it would take Virat to realise we've taken one of his bats," said David. "I counted my bats yesterday and there were seven, now there are six," Kohli can be heard saying. A quick inspection of his team-mates bags turned up the bat soon enough, in David's kit, to much laughter in the dressing room. To be fair, he did take very good care of it, even putting it in bubble wrap.
Full postHardik keeps promise, gifts shredded-down bat to Kashvee
Kashvee, a big fan of Hardik, met him during the Eliminator of the Women's Premier League
ESPNcricinfo staff
13-Apr-2025
Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya kept his promise to Gujarat Giants bowler Kashvee Gautam he had made a month ago, presenting her with his shredded-down bat.
Kashvee, a big fan of Hardik, met him during the Eliminator of the Women's Premier League at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai in March. During their meeting, Kashvee's Giants team-mate Harleen Deol revealed to Hardik that Kashvee not only tries to imitate his batting style but also has HP33 written on her bat. Hardik then promises to shred his bat down to her preferred weight of 1100g and gift it to her.
Ahead of the IPL match against Delhi Capitals in Delhi, Hardik presented his signed bat to her and also congratulated her on her maiden India call-up. "Let me know if you don't like it, you can give it back," Hardik is heard telling Kashvee in the video. "Enjoy, go well, play for India."
Full postNicholas Pooran's chilli challenge
ESPNcricinfo staff
11-Apr-2025
As if the Indian summer isn't relentless enough, the Lucknow Super Giants team (LSG) team management found another way of bringing the heat on its players, spicing up an intra-team football game by having the losers eat chillies.
Coach Justin Langer first calls on Yuvraj Chaudhary, "one of most honest players in our team" to start the punishment, although it's the appropriately named Himmat Singh, whose name translates to "courage" who goes first - needing several spoonfuls of yoghurt later on to cool down. Next up, poor Matthew Breetzke pops one into his mouth, trying to be stoic till his mouth is on fire. Yuvraj follows.
Nicholas Pooran gets his turn next with Langer and LSC captain Rishabh Pant urging him on. He chews manfully and then lets out a roar, much to the delight of his team-mates. Is this all to put a fire in their bellies before the next game?
Full postAre Amelia Kerr and Matt Henry on a dating show?
Matt Henry and Amelia Kerr are put in a bit of a spot during the New Zealand Cricket annual awards
ESPNcricinfo staff
10-Apr-2025
We don't know how it started, but we could see how it was going: embarrassingly.
For Matt Henry and Amelia Kerr, the two champion cricketers, who were prepared to talk cricket and go over their remarkable year in the game at the New Zealand Cricket awards, the question that came their way was a little, erm, unexpected: what do you admire about each other?
They handled themselves fine, though, with a lot of laughs and Kerr saying "his eyes" and Henry urging everyone to move to some cricket talk… which they did eventually.
Full postWatch Fazalhaq Farooqi sledge Rashid Khan with 'okay for a spinner like him'
ESPNcricinfo staff
09-Apr-2025
We always love to see banter between players in the IPL, particularly national team-mates playing for rival sides. This time it's Rajasthan Royals' (RR) Fazalhaq Farooqi who's letting everyone around him know that he's hit about 25 sixes in the nets before breaking his bat and that's definitely more than what his Afghanistan compatriot Rashid Khan, playing for Gujarat Titans (GT), has hit.
Farooqi also tells Rashid that now their conversation will only be in English, "no more Pashto" while Rashid envelops him in a bear hug.
Teasing his team-mate about his big-hitting claims, Rashid asks Farooqi whether he "broke his head or his bat".
Farooqi is by then checking out Rashid's bat, but pretends to be offended by the question and says he doesn't want Rashid's bat at all. "It's too heavy," Faoorqi says. "It's okay for a spinner like him," Farooqi tells RR's assistant coach Trevor Penney and then he reminds Rashid of the shot Azmatullah Omarzai, Punjab Kings' Afghan batter, hit off him.
Full postDoes Ellyse Perry know she was Sophie Molineux's childhood hero?
ESPNcricinfo staff
09-Apr-2025
How well do Ellyse Perry and Sophie Molineux know each other? You'll have to judge by the answers they give in this video.
Neither can quite guess the other's favourite food (yoghurt and granola for Perry and cereal for Molineux), but they are pretty bang on when it comes to guessing each other's favourite animals (platypus for Perry and none for Molineux).
When it comes to favourite sporting teams, Perry easily gets Molineux's (Collingwood), while Molineux slips up there (Paramatta Eels).
Full postKuldeep Yadav and Jake Fraser-McGurk's battle of spinners
ESPNcricinfo staff
09-Apr-2025
Delhi Capitals (DC) players Kuldeep Yadav and Jake Faser-McGurk went head-to-head in a high-pressure listicle battle- which was like watching a final-over chase.
Both had to first make claims of how many of a kind they can list. If the one of them called the other's claim a "lie", the claimant was to recite the list inside 60 seconds.
Fraser-Mc Gurk went first, claiming he could name ten stadiums around the world. He was just warming up with Australian Test grounds when Kuldeep interrupted his flow, insisting Fraser-McGurk spell out MCG and SCG - ooh tough opponent there.
Full postRathi dismisses idol Narine with his first ball
He brought out his "writing in the notebook" celebration again which could land Rathi in trouble
ESPNcricinfo staff
08-Apr-2025
It's not often that a player comes up against his idol in a match and then gets the better of him. First ball that too. Stuff of dreams, eh?
Lucknow Super Giants' (LSG) legspinner Digvesh Rathi did just that to his idol Sunil Narine during the match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Eden Gardens.
Rathi's run-up is similar to that of Narine's before he gets into his action. In the post-match presentation after LSG's previous game against Mumbai Indians, Rathi said he knew he had found his calling after watching Narine bowl.
Full postMy father, my mentor - Pathirana on his love for Dhoni
"Dhoni is like my father, because of the support and the mentorship and the guidance he gives me when I'm in CSK"
ESPNcricinfo staff
04-Apr-2025
Matheesha Pathirana has been a part of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) since being signed up as Adam Milne's replacement during IPL 2022. One of the players the team retained ahead of the IPL 2025 auction, Pathirana has been completely at home at CSK, and owes much of that to MS Dhoni, "my cricketing father".
In a documentary released by CSK, Pathirana's mother expresses her gratitude to Dhoni, CSK's mascot since the inception of the IPL in 2008, saying, "No words about Dhoni. Really [like] god. Matheesha, how he respects [his] father, like that [he shows] respect to Dhoni."
It isn't an exaggeration. Dhoni, to the Pathirana family, has been the father figure the young man from Kandy needed when he became a part of the high-profile league in a country he didn't know about in 2022.
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