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Unbeaten India, USA set to take over New York with an eye on Super Eight spot
The New York Times is writing articles about it. Drake has been making money off it. Baseball fans have been triggered by it. Look out, America, our beautiful game is starting to take you over.
India themselves are somewhere near the front of this charm offensive, eager to tap into a market that may add to their already considerable resources. Their IPL teams already have a stake in the cricket that goes on in the USA, considering they own three of the six franchises in the country’s premier T20 competition.
The LA Olympics organising committee, when announcing that they would let cricket in for the 2028 Games, name-checked Virat Kohli and his social media following as part of the reason for their decision. And more recently, the BCCI secretary had a lovely stroll through the NFL offices.
At this point, it feels like the locals getting bitten by the bug seems a bit of a bonus than a necessity. The USA is a fertile enough outpost thanks to its rich and varied diaspora, many of whom have been flocking to the pop-up stadium in Long Island, and creating the kind of atmosphere that could rival even the better established centres.
Over in Dallas, the Nepal team even felt compelled to take a lap of honour around the ground having been overwhelmed with support. India-Pakistan was packed – in two places – with Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, hosting a watch party. On Monday morning, there were almost 23,000 on site to enjoy the Bangladesh-South Africa game.
Tight finishes and rapturous upsets have left the public with a general feeling of wanting more, and the USA team themselves have played a part in that, kicking the tournament off in grand fashion when Aaron Jones epitomised two things that make anything worth watching – skill and flair – as he struck sixes at will and celebrated each of them. Then these upstarts went and took down Pakistan, and now here USA are, eyeing up India.
It is unlikely that this game will have that kind of fairytale ending, but the simple fact that USA go into it undefeated – with two wins from two – and with every chance of progressing into the Super Eights is every bit the stuff of dreams. And as Saurabh Netravalkar’s Slack profile very clearly says, it isn’t ending any time soon.
India tend not to fuss with their plans unless they absolutely have to. So within that dressing room, there will be plenty of support on offer for Shivam Dube, even though he has made no more than 21 in his last seven dismissed innings, which includes four single-digit scores – including back-to-back ducks. New York is hardly the right place for his skills as a spin-hitter, if only for the fact that teams aren’t bowling a lot of spin there. But when India shift base to the West Indies, they’ll have a need for his services and they would like for him to be in good form, or at the very least, in a happy mindset.
There was a time when it seemed like Corey Anderson was the next big thing in all of cricket. Even as parts of the world was ushering in the New Year in 2014, he was going to work for New Zealand and hitting a 36-ball century. Is he still that same destructive force? He wasn’t seen in the international arena for five years since November 2018, but was still courted by the franchises in the CPL, BBL, PSL and ILT20. That’s testament to the talent he possesses, and may yet unleash at this World Cup.
India are well placed to make the Super Eights. USA have some work to do, but they won’t mind that. Barring any injury concerns, both teams are likely to field unchanged XIs.
India (probable): Rohit Sharma (capt), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh
USA (probable): Steven Taylor, Monank Patel (capt & wk), Andries Gous, Aaron Jones, Nitish Kumar, Corey Anderson, Harmeet Singh, Jasdeep Singh, Nosthush Kenjige, Saurabh Netravalkar, Ali Khan
[Cricinfo]
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More than 360 dead, 1,400 missing in Nepal and Tibet after Himalayan floods
Some 360 bodies have been recovered and more than 1,400 people are missing across Nepal and China’s Tibet region after a huge collapse of mud and rock into a Himalayan river triggered catastrophic flooding across local towns and valleys, authorities have said.
Rescue teams waded through mud on Thursday searching for the missing, as authorities in Nepal said at least 359 people have been killed there.
At least three people have died in the neighbouring Tibet region.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang arrived at the mudslide site in Tibet on Thursday afternoon to “guide emergency rescue and relief work” a day after the disaster, state media reported.
Nepalese police and tourism officials said that more than 500 foreigners were among 910 people missing in Nepal.
Among the missing are tourists from more than two dozen countries: 177 are from India, 63 from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from the United Kingdom, and 25 from Canada.
Beijing’s foreign ministry also said nearly 100 Chinese nationals were among the missing in Nepal.
In Tibet’s Gyirong county, 558 people are reported missing, including 260 foreign nationals, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
Search and rescue operations are proving to be a “massive challenge” as just simply “getting to the affected areas … to try and recover the survivors”, is proving to be extremely difficult as the roads and bridges there have suffered extensive damage, said Al Jazeera’s Minelle Fernandez, reporting from the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.
[Aljazeera]
Latest News
Unyielding Dinusha, spirited tail hold off India to save Colombo Test
India 503/9 decl (Devdutt Padikkal 117, Dhruv Jurel 115; Asitha Fernando 4-106, Prabath Jayasuriya 2-132) drew with Sri Lanka 290 (Sonal Dinusha 103, Pasindu Sooriyabandara 80; Prasidh Krishna 3-52, Manav Suthar 3-85) and 429/9 f/o (Sonal Dinusha 133*, Pasindu Sooriyabandara 92; Ravindra Jadeja 3-94, Manav Suthar 3-121)
Latest News
UAE’s Asif Khan handed 15-month ban for using a banned substance
Asif Khan the UAE batter, has been banned for 15 months after admitting to having tested positive for a banned substance – “a metabolite of mesterolone” – in an out-of-competition test conducted in September 2025, the ICC said in a statement on Thursday.
The statement said that Asif, 36, “had admitted the violation” of Article 2.1 of the ICC’s anti-doping code and accepted the period of ineligibility “pursuant to a case resolution agreement entered into with the World Anti-Doping Agency and the ICC”, which means there is no right to appeal on the part of the player.
The sanction is effective from September 8, 2025 and will run until December 7, 2026.
“Asif may return to training with a team or use the facilities of a club or other ICC Member organisation from 8 October 2026 but will only be eligible to play from 8 December,” the statement added. “The player’s individual results from 8 September 2025 until his provisional suspension on 29 December 2025 have been disqualified, along with all resulting consequences, including the loss of any medals, points, prize money or prizes.”
Asif, a former Pakistan Under-19 cricketer, made his UAE debut in March 2022 in an ODI against Oman in the ICC’s Cricket World Cup League 2. He turned out in 38 ODIs and 56 T20Is between then and September 2025.
The last three of those T20Is, against India, Oman and Pakistan in the T20 Asia Cup in 2025, came after September 8, and will be removed from his record.
[Cricinfo]
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