SPORTS

Sourav Ganguly refused to be drawn into the Sachin Tendulkar vs Virat Kohli debate but decided to praise the star batter after his 45th ODI hundred against Sri Lanka in the first ODI. 

Kohli has been in pursuit of breaking Tendulkar's record for most centuries and took one step closer after scoring an impressive 113 in Guwahati on 10th December. 

The 34-year-old ended his 2022 campaign with a hundred against Bangladesh and has now kickstarted the new year with a fine performance with the bat. 

A massing 379 runs on the second day of Mumbai's Group B match against Assam, Prithvi Shaw on Wednesday made the second-highest Ranji Trophy score of all time.

While Shaw achieved this amazing feat, the cricketing world has been pouring in words of admiration for the young batter all over the social media.

Joining them, India’s best T20 batter, Suryakumar Yadav also praised Shaw as he took to Twitter and wrote, “Prithvi Shaw. 379. Madness”

Ask any fan, who is the most dangerous batter in the Indian cricket team right now. The majority of them would take Suryakumar Yadav’s name, and rightly so. After all, the right-hander recently blasted his third T20I hundred.

The 32-year-old has enhanced his reputation in the last 12 months so much so that many believe the right-hander is the most dangerous batter on the planet. There is no one close to him.

That’s why there was a lot of chatter on social media when SKY was dropped on the bench as India took on Sri Lanka in the first ODI at Guwahati’s Barsapara Cricket Stadium.

After a 2-1 T20I series win against Sri Lanka, India are all set to turn their focus towards ODIs against the Dasun Shanaka-led side, with the series kickstarting from ACA Stadium in Guwahati on Tuesday (January 10). With the series all set to mark the start of a crucial year as the ODI World Cup will be held in India in October-November, the hosts` have been hit hard by a late pull-out of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah as a precautionary measure, thus extending his delay into playing competitive cricket since suffering a reoccurrence of back injury in September 2022, which also saw him miss Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.

At the same time, there is some cheer for India as captain Rohit Sharma is back to lead the side since he sustained a left thumb injury during the ODI series in Bangladesh in December 2022. Alongside him, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul are expected to slot back into the playing eleven in Guwahati after not being a part of the T20I series against Sri Lanka.

From 2022 to 2023 Suryakumar Yadav has not put a foot wrong. The right-handed batter his third T20I century on Saturday against Sri Lanka at Rajkot. While he received praise from all quarters, his conversation with India coach Rahul Dravid stole the show. Suryakumar's response when Dravid tells him that he is gSurylad the former has not seen him bat while growing up shows the humility of the cricketer.

"It is lovely to have someone here with me who as a young kid growing up, did not watch me bat. And I hope you didn't, I am sure you didn't," said Dravid in a video on bcci.tv before both him and Suryakumar broke out in laughter. "I did," said the India No.4 while laughing.