SPORTS

Former England all-rounder Dominic Cork has hailed the Indian men's cricket team as a complete package following their triumphant performance in the Asia Cup 2023. The tournament, which took place in Pakistan and Sri Lanka from August 30 to September 17, 2023, saw India emerge as the champions, defeating Sri Lanka by 10 wickets in the final. Cork praised India's dominant performance at the tournament, especially their commanding victory over Sri Lanka in the final, which sets a strong precedent for their participation in the World Cup 2023.

If Pakistan's shock exit from the 2023 Asia Cup, following crushing loss to India and Sri Lanka in the Super Four stage, wasn't enough, fans and veteran cricketers were left immensely concerned over reports claiming that captain Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi were at loggerheads in the dressing room post the loss to Sri Lanka in Colombo last week. The report further sparked rumours of dressing room rift and change of captaincy as well ahead of the ICC ODI World Cup. However, Shaheen, on Tuesday, broke silence on the matter with a one-word social-media post.

India`s seasoned spinner R Ashwin on Monday made a comeback to the Indian ODI team for a three-match series against Australia while senior players including skipper Rohit Sharma and senior batter Virat Kohli were rested from the first two games.

Ashwin, who last played an ODI back in January 2022 in South Africa, could be drafted into the Indian team for the World Cup if Axar Patel doesn`t get fit before the September 28 deadline set by the ICC. Axar has sustained a quadriceps tear during the recently held Asia Cup in Sri Lanka.

Mohammed Siraj - that name will be spoken about a lot in the coming days ahead of Cricket World Cup. There are enough reasons. In the India vs Sri Lanka Asia Cup 2023 final in Colombo on Sunday, the 29-year-old right-arm pacer single-handedly broke the hosts' resistance with a fiery spell. At the end of the game, Siraj's figures read - 7-1-21-6. It was only the fourth time that an Indian bowler had taken a six-wicket haul in ODIs. Courtesy Siraj's bowling, India skittled out Sri Lanka for just 50 - the team's second-lowest score in ODIs.

Bangladesh 265 for 8 (Shakib 80, Hridoy 54, Thakur 3-65) beat India 259 all out (Gill 121, Axar 42, Mustafizur 3-50) by six runs

The much-maligned Asia Cup has produced yet another thriller. For once, Bangladesh put one past India in a close finish, a canny defence of 265 despite a superlative Shubman Gill century.

They might have been knocked out of the Asia Cup already, but Bangladesh displayed the depth of talent in the country as a new-look side with five changes kept the finalists and also World Cup favourites, India, down. Colombo provided a track that assisted their spinners, but the turnaround was fashioned by Shakib Al Hasan's repair work with the bat and then fast bowler Tanzim Hasan Sakib's sensational debut with the ball.