The Men in Blue are set to play 5-match T20I and 3-match ODI series against England at home before setting off to Dubai for the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy. The tournament is set to commence from February 19 and will be played in a hybrid model with India’s matches taking place in UAE while the rest of the teams will play their share of matches in Pakistan.

The deadline to submit the preliminary squad for the mini World Cup is January 12 and the selectors now have less than a week’s time in their hands to finalize the squad. According to reports, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee are likely to announce the squad by January 10.

According to a report by Sportstar, the selectors are unlikely to spring too many surprises in the squad. India have not played any ODIs since the defeat in Sri Lanka last July. The report further said that all-rounder Hardik Pandya’s inclusion in the squad is expected to be a major talking point when the selectors will sit to finalize the team.

Pandya last featured for India in the one-day format during the 2023 ODI World Cup where he suffered an injury. After the World Cup, India have played 6 ODIs but Pandya didn’t play in any of those games.

To prove his fitness, the all-rounder was asked to play in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and thus, he featured for Baroda’s group stage games and will also be playing the knockout matches.

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According to a report by The Times of India, Rohit Sharma is set to captain the Men in Blue while the vice-captaincy duty will reportedly be handed to pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah if he recovers in time for the ICC event.

Though there were no surprises about the captaincy position as Rohit also lead India in the 3 ODI’s that they played in 2024, it was the vice-captaincy position which sparked many debates.

Hardik Pandya was usually the vice-captain in the one-day format during Rahul Dravid’s era while Shubman Gill was given the role in ODIs and T20Is following Gautam Gambhir’s arrival. However, it looks like both the players aren’t in their plans anymore as they are likely to hand over the vice-captaincy to Bumrah.

However, Bumrah’s participation in the ICC Champions Trophy isn’t certain yet as the pacer sustained an injury during the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar series in Sydney. His participation in the 3-match England ODI series which is set to commence from February 6, isn’t confirmed either.

If Bumrah does end up missing out on the Champions Trophy, then not only will India be landed a huge blow, but the team management will also have to decide on a new vice-captain for the tournament, with no clear favourites in the list.

The post NOT Hardik Pandya or Shubman Gill, THIS star to be chosen as India’s vice-captain for Champions Trophy: Report appeared first on Cricket Country.

Because he can star composed under pressure, Nitish has been one of India’s go-to player during times of difficulty. Even though India lost the Melbourne Test by 184 runs, Nitish mad a massive impact as he scored his maiden Test century and scored 114 runs.

“The Melbourne Test brought to the fore one of the brightest young stars in Indian cricket, Nitish Kumar Reddy. He came to the attention of the Indian cricket fans with his performances for the Hyderabad franchise in the IPL, and while he had not done much at the first-class level, it’s a credit to Ajit Agarkar and his fellow selectors to have seen enough to pitchfork him into the Test arena,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.

Nitish had already drawn attention of people as he player well in Perth and Adelaide, but it was his century in Melbourne which made him famous throughout the world. Though Nitish has work to do in bowling department, he has shown significant promise as a batsman.

“In his debut Test match in Perth itself, it became evident that here was a cricketer who could read situations and play accordingly. With every subsequent Test match, that impression of a good ‘cricketing head’ on his shoulders began to get stronger and stronger,” Gavaskar added.

“And in Melbourne, when India were looking down the barrel, he came through the fire with an outstanding century that has cemented his place in the team for a long time to come. Ever since the unavailability of Hardik Pandya for Test cricket, India has been looking for an all-rounder who can bowl medium pace and bat as well. Reddy’s bowling is still a work in progress, but as a batter, he is definitely better than Pandya was around the same time,” Gavaskar concluded.

Nitish Kumar Reddy has shown significant potential as a rising star for Indian cricket as he has scored 294 runs and three wickets in the four of the Test matches he has played in Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

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The video clip of Hardik Pandya is going viral on social media, where he is spotted telling the security people to not use force against the fans who broke through security to enter the field. This incident happened when the security staff of M. Chinnaswamy Stadium was pushing the fans out of the stadium.

Hardik Pandya was inside the ground and gave a shout to the guards. The fans who were present in the stands and witnessed the incident started roaring for the MI skipper.

Two fans running wild to hug Hardik Pandya during the SMAT clash between Baroda and Mumbai. #BARvsMUM pic.twitter.com/oA0uFSps8m

— Aakash Sivasubramaniam (@aakashs26) December 13, 2024

Coming to the match, the campaign for Baroda has come to an end in SMAT as they have lost their clash against Mumbai in the semi-finals by six wickets. Hardik Pandya was one of the best performers for the team failed to score numbers in their do-or-die clash. He just played six balls and scored five runs.

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Rahane hit 5 boundaries and 11 sixes in his brilliant knock and was assisted well by skipper Shreyas Iyer who also played a decent knock of 46 from 30 deliveries to help Mumbai achieve the target of 159 in 17.2 overs.

The 88-run partnership between Rahane and Iyer led Mumbai to complete the chase rather comfortably. Suryansh Shedge finished the match with a towering six on the very first ball that he faced.

Earlier, Baroda was put into bat first under overcast conditions. Krunal Pandya and Shashwat Rawat took the score to 73 in the first 9 overs before Shedge dismissed the former to trigger a batting collapse. Baroda could only manage to put a total of 158/7 on the board after Hardik Pandya also failed to deliver, scoring 5 runs off 6 deliveries.

From 73/1 to 103/6, Baroda lost wickets in heaps before Atit Sheth and Shivalik Sharma played attacking cameos of 22 and 36 respectively to carry their side to a respectable total.

The post Ajinkya Rahane leads from the front, carries Mumbai to SMAT final with victory over Baroda appeared first on Cricket Country.

Surprisingly, prominent Indian cricketers like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma were absent from the list. Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya emerged as the most searched cricketer in India in 2024. He is the fourth most searched personality in India as a whole.

This rise in popularity comes mainly due to the all-rounder’s divorce with ex-wife Natasa Stankovic, which ended their four-year marriage. The topic attracted massive attention through the internet during the whole year.

Pandya also made headlines earlier this year when he was subjected to sharp criticism by fans after he was made Mumbai Indians’ skipper over Rohit Sharma for IPL 2024.

Other cricketers in the list include youngsters Shashank Singh (6th) and Abhishek Sharma (9th).

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A lot of Indian key players are in the franchise, including the T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav, India’s Test skipper Rohit Sharma, and one of the best all-rounders Hardik Pandya. MI shared a video on their social media where Pandya can be seen sharing a message for the youngsters which have been taken by the franchise.

𝐀𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐩 ft. 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐤 𝐏𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐲𝐚 💙 🤌#MumbaiMeriJaan #MumbaiIndians #TATAIPLAuction | @hardikpandya7 pic.twitter.com/vpyxOE4SVz

— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) December 2, 2024

MI took 18 players in the mega auctions, where the uncapped players were Naman Dhir, Robin Minz, and Karn Sharma.

MI squad for IPL 2025:
Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik pandya, Rohit Sharma, Tilak Varma, Trent Boult, Naman Dhir, Robin Minz, Karn Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, Deepak Chahar, Allah Ghazanfar, Will Jacks, Ashwani Kumar, Mitchell Satnner, Reece Topley, Krishnan Shrijith, Rj Angad Bawa, Satyanarayana Raju, Bevon Jacobs, Arjun Tendulkar, Lizaad Williams, Vignesh Puthur.

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In an exclusive conversation with Sports Tak, Ramandeep talked about the experience of his debut and him getting his debut cap from Hardik Pandya.

“I remember my debut. Hardik Pandya gave me the cap. In such a situation, I remembered my entire journey. By God’s grace, I got a chance to represent my country. In such a situation, this is a big thing for me. When Surya Bhai asked me from whom you want the cap, I took the name of Hardik only,” said Ramandeep.

Ramandeep also talked about how he liked Andre Russell a lot. He added about how Russell makes an impact when he plays, and that Ramandeep would like to make a similar impact when he comes to play.

“I like Andre Russell very much. Whenever he plays, he makes an impact and makes a name for himself. I also like to make an impact like that,” he said.

KKR’s full squad for IPL 2025:
Rinku Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep Singh, Venkatesh Uyer, Quinton De Kock, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Anrich Nortje, Anhkrish Raghuvanshi, Vaibhav Arora, Mayank Markande, Rovman Powell, Manish Pandey, Spencer Johnson, Luvnith Sisodia, Ajinkya Rahane, Anukul Roy, Moeen Ali, and Umran Malik.

The post Ramandeep Singh reveals his Role Model from Training camp after IPL Mega Auctions appeared first on Cricket Country.

The Indian all-rounder delivered another fabulous performance with the bat in Baroda’s last match against Tamil Nadu where he played another sensational knock of 69 from 30 deliveries. This innings included 4 boundaries and 7 sixes.

Hardik took special liking to Chennai Super Kings’ new recruit Gurjapneet Singh, who was bought by the franchise for INR 2.2 crore at the IPL auction.. The left-arm pacer was destroyed by the all-rounder, who hit 4 sixes and a boundary to score 29 runs in the over.

However, Hardik was himself taken to the cleaners earlier in the match by Tamil Nadu’s Vijay Shankar, who slammed 3 sixes in the former’s over. Shankar played a quick-fire knock of 42 which helped his side in reaching a formidable total of 221/6 in 20 overs.

The match between Tamil Nadu and Gujarat ended up being an absolute thriller where Baroda needed 4 runs on the final delivery of the match. It was Atit Sheth who managed to score a boundary on the last ball and win the match for Baroda by 3 wickets. This victory saw Baroda continue their unbeaten run in the tournament.

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With this innings, Hardik became the first-ever Indian player to claim a unique record of scoring over 5000 runs and taking over 100 wickets in T20 cricket. The former India T20 captain has 5,067 runs and 180 wickets to his name so far.

Hardik also got a wicket under his belt in the match against Gujarat and finished with figures of 1/37 in 4 overs.

Coming to the match, Gujrat posted a formidable total of 184/5 in 20 overs. Axar Patel played an unbeaten knock 43 off 33 deliveries. Aarya Desai was the top-scorer of the match for Gujrat with his 52-ball knock of 78 runs.

In reply, Hardik alongside Shivalik Sharma (64) massively helped Baroda in reaching the target of 185 with just 3 deliveries remaining. It turned out to be a fantastic comeback for Hardik who last featured for his state team back in the 2018/19 season of Ranji Trophy.

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