Sports

ICC to go directly to players for gaming rights

Published

9 months ago

2025/08/2

Priyan

The ICC has decided not to involve the WCA in its targeted bid to create a mobile gaming platform [Cricbuzz]

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided not to involve the World Cricketers Association (WCA) in its targeted bid to create a mobile gaming platform and market it. Securing players’ rights is vital to the ambitious project, and the ICC intends to acquire them through member boards, rather than through the players’ union.

“A clear direction from the April (ICC Board meeting in Harare) meeting was that all players’ rights for this project would be secured through the members. The ICC was not to contract player rights through a third party such as the World Cricketers Association,” an ICC note, circulated among members who attended its recent Annual Conference in Singapore, states.

An important spillover – or rather, an additional dimension – to the issue is how to onboard retired players who are no longer under contract to their respective boards. Icon players like Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni are outside of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) fold, and any ICC online game without these legends would feel incomplete. The same applies to big retired players from other countries as well. The matter was discussed during the Singapore meeting and the ICC management has requested its board to form a working group to address such tricky issues.

The world body hopes to resolve all aspects of the project before its next meeting in October. “The aim is to have a preferred partner identified for approval at the October board meetings. The ICC management will be in touch with members shortly to formalise the licence of rights required for the mobile game. These agreements will need to be completed by October,” the note states.

The global gaming industry is massive – both in terms of finance and cultural-societal significance. “It (mobile gaming in cricket) will be bigger than the movies,” Sanjog Gupta, the newly appointed CEO of the ICC, reportedly explained to the members during the Singapore meeting. The ICC expects huge revenue from the project which will be distributed among the members.

“The global gaming market size was valued at USD 249.55 billion in 2022 and is anticipated to grow from USD 281.77 billion in 2023 to USD 665.77 billion by 2030, exhibiting a CAGR of 13.1% during the forecast period (2023-2030). Asia Pacific dominated the gaming market with a market share of 46.03% in 2022,” Fortune Business Insights reported last year. According to PwC India, “the online gaming industry (in the country) is estimated to double to INR 66,000 crore by 2028, with the potential to create an additional 2 to 3 lakh jobs in the next few years.”

After the Harare meeting, the ICC initiated an expression of interest process, and 15 respondents were then filtered based on their experience and expertise in creating world-class mobile games and the financial standing of their organisations.

Following the filtering process, the shortlisted organisations were sent an Invitation To Tender (ITT) document. The responses are expected in September. Evaluation of them, based on both technical and commercial criteria, will be done thereafter.

A&W Capital appointed consultant

The ICC has appointed A&W Capital as an independent consultant to help it design distribution and revenue generation models. The appointment followed a competitive request for proposals process in which seven organisations, including Deloitte, BCG, and Sports Five, responded. A&W Capital was eventually selected for its expertise with the Indian mobile gaming market and the cricket economy. The company, with offices in Mumbai and London, is expected to submit a report on independent valuation of the bundle of rights and distribution model(s) at the October board meetings.

As for the mobile game development management, an initial expression of interest document was publicly made available on the ICC website. The document asked the organisations to outline their relevant experience and expertise, financial standing, and how they plan to use the rights. Using this information, a shortlist was created of organisations qualified to receive the ITT.

“The shortlisted organisations will be requested to provide further details on the game such as what type of game they plan to make and how they plan to market and promote the game, which will form the first stage of the ITT evaluation and, if successful at the first stage, the management will then consider their commercial offer for securing the rights,” the note says. The responses from the shortlisted organisations are expected by early September, by when the ICC will move to presentation, selection, and ultimately negotiation with the successful candidate.

Although the ICC has laid out the detailed roadmap, the general impression among members is that the project may take over a year for completion. A key element of the plan, according to the ICC management, is the formation of a small working group to assist it in making decisions.

[Cricbuzz]

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Rinku, Narine win Kolkata Knight Riders error-strewn Super Over game

Published

13 hours ago

2026/04/27

Priyan

Rinku Singh sealed the win in the Super Over [Cricinfo]

In a battle between the bottom-placed teams, momentum shifted hands multiple times before Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) beat Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the Super Over, with Rinku Singh playing a pivotal role throughout the game.

Before the Super Over (effectively four balls across both innings), the 20th over of each innings in regulation time had the biggest say in an error-strewn game. After 19 overs, KKR were 129 for 7. Rinku smashed Digvesh Rathi for four successive sixes in a 26-run over to take them to 155 for 7. Rinku finished on 83 not out off 51 balls, his highest score in T20s

In the chase, LSG needed 17 from six balls with Himmat Singh and Mohammed Shami at the crease. Kartik Tyagi conceded successive no-balls off beamers before dismissing Himmat, but served up a half-volley with seven needed from one ball, and Shami launched it over long-off to tie the game.

The Super Over was an anti-climax. Sunil Narine bowled Nicholas Pooran first ball and had Aiden Markram caught off the third, with Rishabh Pant managing a single in between. Here, too, Rinku had a hand to play. When Markram launched Narine towards long-on, Rovman Powell sprinted round to his left, caught the ball at the boundary, and flicked the ball towards long-off, where Rinku completed the catch. This was in addition to his four catches earlier in the match.

Then, taking strike in KKR’s Super Over, he drove Prince Yadav’s first ball through cover point for four to seal the win.

Before all that, Mohsin Khan’s maiden five-for in T20 cricket had KKR reeling. In the second over of the innings, he had Tim Seifert caught at extra cover with a 142.4kph delivery. It was the second successive duck for Seifert, and a third wicket-maiden for Mohsin in this IPL.

In his next over, Mohsin slipped in a slower ball at 124.6kph. Ajinkya Rahane charged down the pitch but ended up miscuing the ball to Aiden Markram, who back-pedalled from mid-off to take the catch.

Angkrish Raghuvanshi pushed the last ball of the fifth over towards mid-on and set off for a single. Cameron Green sent him back while Shami went for a direct hit at the striker’s end. Raghuvanshi made a big U-turn and ended up taking the throw on his body as he dived to make ground. The LSG players appealed for obstructing the field, and the TV umpire gave it out, saying the batter “clearly changed his direction”.

Raghuvanshi wasn’t happy. He first argued with the on-field umpires, and then flung his helmet in anger as he neared the boundary line.

Mohsin returned to bowl the seventh over of the innings and straightaway had Rovman Powell gloving a pull to Pant. Cameron Green tried to counterattack. He hit two sixes off George Linde and one off Mohsin, but when he attempted another pull off Mohsin, he ended up skying it behind the stumps. Pant ran towards the boundary and completed the catch. Anukul Roy chipped the very next ball to short midwicket, giving Mohsin his five-for. Immediately after that, Mohsin was replaced by Impact Player Himmat, meaning he was not available to bowl the Super Over later.

KKR were 73 for 6 after 11 overs, and it became 93 for 7 when Ramandeep Singh fell. Manish Pandey was padded up in the dugout, ready to come in as Impact Player. But he was not required as Rinku kept fighting. He reached 43 off 40 balls by the end of the 18th over and then opened up. He started the 19th by hitting Shami for 6, 4, 4 before taking Digvesh Rathi apart in the 20th. It also meant KKR could use Varun Chakravarthy as their Impact Player.

LSG reunited their tried-and-tested opening pair of Mitchell Marsh and Markram, but their union lasted only seven balls; Vaibhav Arora had Marsh caught at mid-on for 2. Arora bowled three overs in the powerplay and gave away only 13 runs. LSG finished the powerplay at 37 for 1, and by the end of the eighth over, the required rate had touched nine.

Both Markram and Pant perished in trying to keep up with the asking rate. Pooran’s poor run continued; Varun had him caught at short third for 9 off 12 balls. Mukul Choudhary had burst onto the scene with a whirlwind half-century in a similar chase against KKR earlier in the season but on Sunday, he lasted just two balls.

At 93 for 5, needing another 63 from 28 balls, LSG seemed to be down and out. But Himmat and Linde took them closer, and Shami levelled the scores with his last-ball six. But KKR made no mistake in the Super Over.

Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 155 for 7 in 20 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 10, Cameron Green 34, Rinku Singh 83*; Mohsin Khan 5-23, George Linde 1-18) beat Lucknow Super Giants 155 for 8 in 20 overs (Aiden Markram 31, Rishabh Pant 42, Ayush Badoni 24, Himmat Singh 19, Mohammed Shami 11*; Anukul Roy 1-19, Vaibhav Arora 2-24,Cameron Green 1-12, Sunil Narine 1-23, Varun Chakravarthy 2-33, Kartik Tyhagi 1-41) via Super Over

[Cricinfo]

Sports

Rabada and Sudharsan crush Chennai Super Kings

Published

13 hours ago

2026/04/27

Priyan

Kagiso Rabada picked up two wickets in the fourth over [Cricinfo]

A powerplay burst from the best new-ball attack in the IPL broke Chennai Super Kings [CSK]. Kagiso Rabada picked up 3 for 25 to spearhead an eight-wicket win for Gujarat Titans and push them up to fifth place on the points table. CSK had held that position and now drop to sixth.

There seemed to be a misconception about the pitch. At the toss, Rutraj Gaikwad spoke about it being dry and not minding defending a total, the implication being spin might come into play later. What happened was the exact opposite. GT bowled Rabada and Mohammed Siraj right through the powerplay and CSK were unable to cope with the pace and bounce on offer. CSK even brought in Sarfaraz Khan as the Impact Player at the four-over mark but it didn’t work out as he fell for a golden duck.

They were 28 for 3, the third-lowest six-over score this season. Rabada was magnificent, as he usually is when someone ticks him off. Two boundaries by Sanju Samson in his first over made him mad. Two wickets in his second over, including Samson’s, made him happy. Siraj and Jason Holder went at less than run a ball. Rabada picked up 3 for 25 from four overs. GT’s spinners though leaked 43 runs in four overs. Rashid Khan bowled only six balls and gave away 21 runs.

This was an under-strength GT attack too with Prasidh Krishna not playing. Still, they denied CSK a boundary for 31 balls between overs 3.5 and 9.1. They made them wait 11.6 overs to bring up fifty, making it their second-slowest in the IPL. Gaikwad was out there for all of it. He got off the mark with two boundaries. But with all the help the quicks were getting and wickets falling at the other end, he set his stall out to play the full 20 overs. Gaikead scored 74 of CSK’s 158. He played out 30 dot balls, the joint-second highest in an IPL innings.

A crowd of 31,506 came to Chepauk. They roared for the fifty coming up even though it took 72 balls. They go gaga for Dewald Brevis’ entry, when he takes the knee just as he enters the field. He’s made 64 runs in 53 balls this season. He’s flattering to deceive. MS Dhoni isn’t attending a single match day but his disembodied voice keeps ringing out over the loud speakers saying “start the whistles”. And they do start. There is belief in Chennai but it started to fade around the 14th over of the chase when people started heading for the exit.

Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 162 for 2 in 16.4 overs (Sai Sudharsan 87, Shubman Gill 32, Jos Buttler 39*; Akeal Hosein 1-46, Noor Ahmed 1-29) beat Chennai Super Kings 158 for 7 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson 11, Rutraj Gaikwad 74*, Shivam Dube 22, Kartik Sharma 15, Jamie Overton 18; Mohammed Siraj 1-23, Kagiso Rabada 3-25, Manav Suthar 1-22, Arshad Khan 2-43) by 8 wickets

[Cricinfo]

Sports

New Zealand edge Tuskers in Racecourse arm-wrestle

Published

21 hours ago

2026/04/27

Sahan Weerasooriya

A spirited performance by Sri Lanka’s Tuskers saw them putting up a tough contest against New Zealand Under-85kg at Racecourse on Saturday.

Sri Lanka’s Tuskers showed bite but not quite enough teeth as New Zealand’s Under-85kg side edged a bruising 27-16 win in the opening leg of their two-match series at Racecourse on Saturday.

Under lights for the second straight year, the visitors rode pressure, precision and a late sucker punch to take first blood in a contest that swung on momentum and discipline.

New Zealand struck early at the breakdown, forcing a turnover penalty with Sri Lanka pinged for holding on. Taine Cordell-Hull made no mistake from the tee to open the scoring.

The hosts hit back with purpose. A knock-on gifted them a scrum platform and the pack went to work, grinding through tight phases. Scrum-half Harsha Maduranga pulled the strings before releasing Mursheed Zubair, whose inside ball sent centre Akash Madushanka on a hard, direct line to crash over for the opening try.

But just as Sri Lanka found their rhythm, New Zealand pounced. Maduranga’s clearance was charged down by Josh Gellart and the ricochet sat up kindly for Simon Sia to dot down, restoring the visitors’ lead.

The Tuskers’ forwards continued to carry with intent, their rolling maul chewing up metres before the ball was shifted wide for winger Janindu Dilshan to finish in the corner. Any momentum, however, was short-lived, Dilshan was sin-binned moments later for foul play, leaving the hosts a man down.

New Zealand wasted little time exploiting the overlap. Kicking deep and setting up camp, they drove a clinical maul, with number eight Pasia Asiata peeling off the back to power over and swing the contest again.

It remained a tight arm-wrestle. Cordell-Hull added another penalty on the stroke of halftime after Sri Lanka strayed inside their own 22, while a potential home try was chalked off for offside. Thenuka Nanayakkara slotted a penalty from advantage to keep Sri Lanka within touching distance, the visitors taking a slender 16-13 lead into the break.

New Zealand resumed with the same clinical edge, winning an early breakdown penalty that Cordell-Hull converted to stretch the margin. Sri Lanka refused to fold, upping the tempo and earning a lifeline when Asiata was shown yellow for a high tackle on Madushanka. Nanayakkara kept the scoreboard ticking, trimming the deficit once more.

But the visitors held their nerve. After soaking up sustained pressure, they forced penalties of their own and Jarred Percival stepped up to bisect the uprights, giving New Zealand breathing space heading into the final quarter.

The killer blow came late. With Sri Lanka chasing the game, a loose clearance towards touch was snapped up quickly by Ben Kelt, catching the defence napping. The move opened up broken field, Pieter Swarts slicing through before sending Matt Treeby over in the corner to seal it in the 77th minute.

New Zealand finished with three tries and four penalties to Sri Lanka’s two tries and two penalties, a late flourish settling a contest that had been on a knife edge for long periods.

The Tuskers will take heart from a far sharper display, but it is New Zealand who carry the upper hand into the second leg in Kandy next week.

by Carlos Van de Berg