On Thursday, August 29, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the latest Test rankings which saw Virat Kohli overtake Babar Azam to take the eighth spot after latter’s poor outing in the opening Test of the two-match series against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi. Moreover, Indian pacer Mohammed Shami, who is eyeing a return after recovering from an injury, has been named in the probables of Bengal for 2024-25 domestic season.
In this article, we will go through all the big news that took place on Thursday, August 29.
Major cricket events that happened on Thursday, August 29
Virat Kohli overtakes Babar Azam in latest ICC Test rankings
Virat Kohli rose to eighth spot and surpassed Pakistan’s Babar Azam in the latest Test ranking by the ICC. Kohli hasn’t played a single Test match since January 2024 but managed to grab the eighth spots. On the other hand, Azam lost six places to drop to the ninth spot. His rankings were severely affected by his poor knocks of 0 and 22 in the first Test against Bangladesh.
Sanjiv Goenka addresses ‘50-crore earmarked for Rohit Sharma’ rumor
Lucknow Super Giants owner Sanjiv Goenka has addressed a rumor regarding keeping aside ‘50 crores’ for Rohit Sharma. The former said that Sharma is yet to be released and spending this much on one player will make it difficult to manage the rest of the squad. Sharma led India to its second T20 World Cup in June this year and retired from T20 internationals.
Mohammed Shami picked in Bengal’s probable squad for 2024-25 season
Mohammed Shami, who has been out of action for nearly a year due to an ankle injury, has been picked in the list of probables for the upcoming season. The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) named their 31-member probable squad, which included their star fast bowler Mohammed Shami, who last played cricket during the ODI World Cup 2023.
Shaheen Afridi dropped from Pakistan playing XI for second Test
Shaheen Afridi, Pakistan’s left-arm pacer has been left out of the playing XI for the second Test against Bangladesh. Since his knee injury in 2022, Shaheen Afridi has been struggling for form in red-ball format, playing four Tests and averaging 39.78 with 14 wickets last year before a poor performance in the recently concluded first Test.
Video of Virat Kohli criticising Shubman Gill surfaces
A video of former India captain Virat Kohli criticising Shubman Gill has surfaced on social media platform X. In the short clip, Kohli could be heard hyping himself up at the expense of Shubman Gill. However, after closely investigating the viral video, the experts concluded that the short clip is created by compiling two different videos, thus rendering it fake.
Will Pucovski “forced to retire” due to multiple head injuries
Will Pucovski, the Australian opening batter, who played his only Test against India in 2020-21, is reportedly “forced to retire,” from all formats of cricket. The 26-year-old was marred by multiple concussions due to head injuries suffered during his young career, which led to his cricket playing journey coming to an unfortunate early end due to medical reasons.
Gautam Gambhir, Jay Shah share their wishes on National Sports Day
India cricket team Head Coach Gautam Gambhir shared his wishes on X on the occasion on National Sports Day on August 29th. Apart from this, ICC Chairman Jay Shah and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also extended their wishes on the special. The day is celebrated on the occasion of birth anniversary of Indian hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand.
Rashid Khan ruled out of one-off Test vs New Zealand with back injury
Afghanistan cricket team has been hit by a major blow after star leg-spinner Rashid Khan has been ruled out of the preliminary 20-member squad for the upcoming one-off Test against New Zealand. The match is scheduled to begin on September 9, in Greater Noida. Notably, this series will be a historic moment as the first-ever Test encounter between the two nations in India. Khan sustained a back injury while participating in the Shpageeza Cricket League (SCL), Afghanistan’s domestic T20 tournament, last month. As per Afghan cricket management, the injury occurred during his third consecutive match for Speen Ghar Tigers.
Basit Ali wants PCB to implement India’s domestic structure
Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali expressed his disappointment over his national side’s performances in Test matches. Last week, they lost to Bangladesh for the first time in their history. The second and the last Test between the two sides will start on August 30. Ali pointed out the importance of playing more four-day games at the domestic level.
WATCH: Barbados Royals troll Naveen-ul-Haq for IPL controversy with Kohli
Barbados Royals, Rajasthan Royals’ co-owned franchise in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), took a sly dig at Naveen-Ul-Haq for his controversial altercation with Indian cricketing icon Virat Kohli during the IPL 2023. The video posted by the franchise on social media captured several moments of Virat Kohli that brought back memories of the famous controversy between two cricketers.