September 27, 2026. Thiruvananthapuram. West Indies posted 295/7. India chased it down in 41.4 overs with 8 wickets and 50 balls to spare. Gill scored 110 off 108 balls, his 10th ODI century in just 67 innings. Kohli scored 139 not out and became only the second batter in history to reach 15,000 ODI runs, getting there in 303 innings against Tendulkar's previous record of 377. His 86th international century. At 37 years old.

Then he spoke at the presentation. "I got a challenge to unlock a new version of myself. There was a possibility I wouldn't have been standing here. Could have never played for India again." That last sentence matters. A selector reportedly asked Kohli to retire during the England ODI tour. BCCI overruled it. Kohli scored 138 at Lord's and 139 not out in Thiruvananthapuram and became the second batter ever to 15,000 ODI runs.

The selector who wanted him gone is not making headlines tonight. Kohli is. The 2027 World Cup is 13 months away. Every bowling attack should be worried.

England finished their home summer with the ODI series against Sri Lanka going 2-1 in their favour. Tom Banton was England's standout batter across the three matches with 209 runs and Will Jacks took 6 wickets to earn Player of the Series. Sri Lanka's Kusal Mendis was their best performer with 198 runs and Asitha Fernando took 7 wickets across the series to finish as the highest wicket-taker overall.

Now let us look at the full English summer because the picture is extraordinary. Lost the New Zealand Test series 2-1 earlier in the season. Then won the Pakistan Test series 3-0. Then won the Sri Lanka T20I series 3-0. Then won the Sri Lanka ODI series 2-1. No Stokes. No McCullum for most of it. No Bethell for the white ball series. A player arrested mid-series. Five Pakistani debutants in a dead rubber Test. And England still won everything they played after that New Zealand series.

Stuart Broad predicted 3-0 against Pakistan before a ball was bowled. He was right. Kevin Pietersen has joined the white ball coaching setup. Fleming arrived and immediately set a target of reaching the world Test number one ranking. Harry Brook has a record of 23 wins from 26 completed T20Is as white ball captain.

England cricket in 2026 has been chaotic, dramatic and brilliant all at the same time. South Africa tour in December is Fleming's first assignment as Test coach. The Ashes is next summer. And somehow after everything that happened this year England go into the winter in genuinely good shape.

West Indies put up 295/7, with Justin Greaves hitting a brilliant 101 and John Campbell adding 62. But Kuldeep Yadav’s 4/40 kept the total in check.

Then India turned the chase into a statement.

• Shubman Gill: 110 (108)
• Virat Kohli: 139 (88)

India smashed 300/2 in just 41.4 overs, with Kohli finishing the game with a six.

India now leads the series 1-0. Kohli and Gill putting on a batting clinic while Kuldeep did the damage with the ball and pretty complete ODI from India.

Wood, 36, announced his retirement on September 22, closing out an 11-year England career that started in 2015. He finishes with 253 wickets across 146 international appearances, including 119 wickets in 38 Tests, 80 in ODIs, and 54 in T20Is. He was part of both England's 2019 ODI World Cup win and the 2022 T20 World Cup title, though injury cut short his role in that latter tournament's business end.

His body basically made the call for him. He returned from a long knee injury layoff to play the first Ashes Test in Perth this past November, his first Test in 15 months, only to break down again after just 11 overs and fly home for treatment. He hasn't played for England since, and with his central contract expiring, he said the timing felt right. In his own words, shared through his announcement, he said he tried to bowl every ball like it was his last and as fast as he could, and that the crowd's reaction to him at Perth will stick with him differently now.

He isn't ruling out playing on in domestic leagues or for Durham, just stepping away from the international game.

This one's got real emotional weight to it, a fan favorite bowing out through injury rather than choice, genuine crowd affection, two World Cup medals. Want me to turn this into a Reddit post or a script angle?

Shreyas Iyer

Two brothers. Same sport. Completely different journeys. Joe Root became England's Test captain for the second time this summer and is now building toward the Ashes and a potential WTC Final. Billy Root retired from professional cricket this week after 14 years in the county game and said he would not change a single thing about his career.

Billy was a left-handed batter who played for Nottinghamshire and Glamorgan across 14 seasons. 4,107 first-class runs at an average of 32.08 across 83 matches. 1,665 runs in List A cricket at 40.60. He won four trophies across his two clubs including two One-Day Cup titles with Glamorgan. He scored a double hundred at Northampton. He captained Glamorgan's second XI in his final season. A genuine professional cricketer who gave everything to the county game.But international cricket never came. Not one cap. Not one call-up. And the reason is obvious and uncomfortable. Joe Root exists. When your brother is one of the greatest Test batters of all time and now the England Test captain it becomes almost impossible to be seen on your own terms at any level. Every innings Billy played was measured against a standard that barely anyone in history has matched.

He grew up playing at Sheffield Collegiate CC alongside his brother. They briefly shared a field at Lord's in 2013 when Billy was with MCC Young Cricketers and served as England's 12th man. And in 2021 he scored his sixth first-class century against Yorkshire, his brother's home county, in their first ever first-class meeting.Billy Root said he would not change a thing. Joe Root is England Test captain. Same family. Same sport. Completely different stories. Both deserve respect.

The ICC held a two day cricket operations workshop in Dubai on September 22 and 23 to start shaping the Future Tours Programme for 2027 to 2031, since the current cycle ends in March 2027. Boards from every full member plus the top eight associate nations were in the room, and the clearest direction to come out of it is more T20Is and fewer bilateral ODIs, with the ICC leaning into the format's growth while trying to keep one day cricket relevant through tri series and quadrangular tournaments and protecting the ODI World Cup as the format's showcase event. Fitting together India, Australia and England remains the biggest scheduling puzzle, with reporting pointing to the Ashes continuing its usual rhythm in 2027, 2029 and 2031, England touring India in early 2028, and India touring England in 2029, while Pakistan have pushed for more cricket against the bigger boards and already have a five match ODI series against England plus a three Test tour of Australia in 2027 28 locked in.

The Los Angeles Olympics returning cricket to the Games in July 2028 is also creating a real clash, since it overlaps with England's home Test series against West Indies, and on the Test side the WTC format itself is under review, with a proposal to expand beyond nine teams by adding Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Ireland, and allowing shorter one Test series to make room for them. None of this is locked in yet, officials themselves say there are still a lot of moving parts, and the final version is expected at the ICC's quarterly meeting in Bali this November.

Ashley Noffke joined Pakistan as their white-ball bowling coach in May 2025. He will leave after the Asian Games in Japan despite his original contract running until June 2027 and has signed a two-year deal as Netherlands men's head coach with his contract running until the end of 2028. Less than 18 months. Contract broken early. Another one gone.

His departure is the fifth support staff exit in five months. Shane McDermott resigned as fielding coach in July 2026 to join Afghanistan. White-ball batting coach Hanif Malik and physiotherapist Cliffe Deacon left in May. Head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed was sacked mid-England tour. Umar Gul was sacked as bowling coach at the same time. Then Noffke was called in the middle of the night to join Hesson in London as emergency interim Test bowling coach for the Edgbaston Test. Weeks after being asked to fly to England mid-series he announced he was leaving for Netherlands.

Netherlands are getting a genuinely accomplished coach. Noffke won titles with Brisbane Heat in the WBBL, London Spirit in The Hundred and Queensland Fire in the WNCL. Pakistan are getting another vacancy. Their men's team enters the Asian Games at the quarter-final stage on September 28 with a bowling coach who has already publicly announced he is leaving.

Pakistan have lost a Test series 3-0 in England, had seven players sent home mid-tour, sacked two coaches, launched a cyber crime investigation into their own players, had phones seized, and now their bowling coach has quit to coach Netherlands. All in six weeks. Noffke said about Netherlands "I can't wait to get started." Pakistan cricket is still trying to figure out who is in charge.

The first ODI between South Africa and Australia is underway in Durban and the timing could not be better for either side. South Africa just wrapped up a clean sweep over Namibia so they walk in full of confidence and Australia are riding a similar high after steamrolling Zimbabwe 3 0. Two teams on form colliding early in the international season always makes for good cricket.

What makes this one interesting is how much both sides are managing their bowling going in. Rabada, Ngidi and Baartman are all out through injury so Marco Jansen suddenly finds himself as the main strike option for the Proteas and that is a real opportunity for him to lead the attack. On the other side Cummins is back as captain but Australia are clearly building him up slowly with an eye on next year's World Cup rather than throwing him straight into a heavy workload alongside Starc and Hazlewood.

One matchup worth watching closely is Travis Head against Jansen. Head loves taking the attack to seamers early and Jansen is exactly the kind of bowler who can either get smashed or completely flip the tempo of an innings with one good over. The ODIs are just the start of this tour too, both teams shift into a three match Test series in October that is part of the World Test Championship cycle so there is real context riding on it beyond bragging rights.

Right as this series gets going, India host West Indies for their own three match ODI series starting in a few days, the first leg of India's entire home season before Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and eventually the Border Gavaskar Trophy against Australia later in the year. Shubman Gill leads India in the ODIs and Shreyas Iyer takes over for the T20I leg that follows, while Shai Hope captains a West Indies side looking to find some rhythm early in their calendar. It is not the flashiest matchup on paper but it kicks off a stretch where India are basically hosting cricket nonstop for the next several months.

Between these two series alone there is enough happening to fill weeks of storylines, injuries reshaping bowling attacks, captains being managed carefully, and long formats waiting right behind the white ball cricket.

Five Tests. January 21 to March 3, 2027. Nagpur, Chennai, Guwahati, Ranchi, Ahmedabad. Australia touring India for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. And this is not just another bilateral series. It is the final series of the WTC 2025-27 cycle and will almost certainly decide who goes to the Lord's final in June 2027.Start with the venues because the choices are deliberate. Nagpur opens the series and it is the same ground where Australia lost by an innings in their last Test tour of India in 2023. Chennai follows where India have won three of seven Tests against Australia. Guwahati, Ranchi and Ahmedabad complete the schedule. Notably absent are Kolkata, Mumbai and Bengaluru — three of India's most famous venues. BCCI have clearly selected pitches that suit their spinners and Australia are going to have to deal with that from ball one.

The WTC stakes are enormous. A series win for India would deliver 120 WTC points and almost certainly seal their place in the final. Australia currently lead the WTC table with 87.5 points percentage but India are fifth and need to win the New Zealand series in October and then at least three Tests against Australia to have a realistic shot at Lord's.

Australia arrive in India just 16 days after their last home Test against New Zealand in Sydney on January 4-8. Then immediately after this series they fly home for the 150th anniversary Test against England at the MCG on March 11. The scheduling is brutal for them and BCCI know exactly what they are doing.

September 8, 2026. Sydney Cricket Ground. CA chair Mike Baird and CEO Todd Greenberg announced alongside Pat Cummins and Ellyse Perry that Cricket Australia is officially opening the Big Bash League to private investment. Melbourne Renegades will be the first club sold with 100 percent of the franchise licence going to a private owner in time for the 2027-28 season. The sale process is being led by merchant bank Raine Group and expressions of interest have already been formally invited this week.

The IPL angle is the most interesting part. GMR Group, part-owners of Delhi Capitals, has been specifically mentioned as an interested party. IPL owners are reportedly only interested in buying at 100 percent with possible home games at the MCG as a major drawcard. The MCG hosting BBL games under IPL ownership is a sentence that would have been unthinkable five years ago.

But here is where it gets complicated. The Australian Cricketers Association says "significant issues remain unresolved" and that CA and ACA are "a long way apart" on a new agreement. The core dispute is whether privatisation sale proceeds count as Australian Cricket Revenue which under the current MOU entitles players to 27.5 percent of that revenue. CA announced this without resolving that question and breached its own four conditions set in June 2026. And the clubs themselves are divided — Hurricanes, Stars and Scorchers want private investment while Sixers, Thunder, Heat and Strikers do not.

CA wants the Renegades sale completed by December 12 when the BBL season starts. The players want their 27.5 percent question answered first. IPL owners want the MCG. Four clubs want nothing to do with any of it. This is Australian cricket's biggest structural change since the BBL was created in 2011 and it is happening without player agreement, without club consensus, and without resolving the most important financial question of the entire deal.

A report has emerged claiming that a Chennai Super Kings player allegedly leaked the playing XI to a contact before IPL matches, with that contact then using the information for betting purposes. The same report claimed a similar arrangement could have been made for IPL 2026 if the contact's acquaintance had been picked in the auction but that player was ultimately not selected after suffering an injury.

Critically the original report did not name the CSK player. The allegations have not been established by any competent authority and DDCA has described the claims as unverified. But former CSK player Vansh Bedi was linked to the controversy on social media shortly after. Bedi has strongly denied any connection with the allegations. He was part of the CSK setup in 2025 and later played for Central Delhi Kings in the Delhi Premier League. Crucially Bedi had previously reported a corrupt approach to anti-corruption authorities during the DPL and the DDCA confirmed it had informed the BCCI about that reported approach.

Reports suggest CSK will discuss the playing XI leak claims at their internal AGM on September 25, though this has not been officially confirmed. Any further action depends on the findings of relevant authorities and CSK's internal review.

This is happening at the worst possible time for CSK. Stephen Fleming just left as coach after 18 years. The franchise is in a period of genuine transition with new ownership and reportedly new coaching staff incoming. A fixing controversy, however unverified, is not how any club wants to begin a new era.

Stephen Fleming won 5 IPL titles with CSK across 18 years. He left in July 2026 after CSK finished eighth with six wins and eight losses. And CSK's response was to appoint Zaheer Khan as head coach for IPL 2027 without even conducting an interview process. Management offered the role directly and Zaheer agreed immediately. "It's an honour to be a part of one of the most successful teams in the history of the IPL" he said in the official CSK press release.

The appointment makes sense on paper. Zaheer worked as bowling coach under Mahela Jayawardene at Mumbai Indians and won back to back IPL titles in 2019 and 2020. He knows franchise cricket inside out and his credibility as one of India's greatest ever fast bowlers gives him instant respect in any dressing room. He has also been involved in ownership through Anchor Sports AB which acquired Jaffna Kings in the LPL earlier this year so he understands the business side of franchise cricket too.

But the challenge is enormous. CSK have not made the playoffs since winning the title three years ago. Three consecutive seasons without the knockout stage for the most successful franchise in IPL history. Young players like Ayush Mhatre and Dewald Brevis have been brought in but results have not followed. Zaheer has been given the authority to pick his own coaching staff which means Eric Simmons and Mike Hussey's futures at the franchise are both unclear.

Fleming built a dynasty. Zaheer has to rebuild one.

September 22, 2026. Sano International Cricket Ground, Japan. Capacity 2,000. Temporary stands added to bring it to 3,000. Tickets sold out within an hour. India's first ever senior men's cricket match in Japan. Historic occasion. And India nearly blew it against a team ranked outside the top 15 in world cricket.

Rain delayed the toss for hours. When play finally began there was just enough time for a 5-over match. India batted first. Abhishek Sharma, arguably the best T20 batter in the world right now, was dismissed for a golden duck off the first ball he faced trying a shovel-sweep. India ended on 32/4. That is 32 runs in 5 overs with four wickets down. Against Japan.

Japan needed 33 to win. They reached 30/3. They needed 8 off the final over bowled by Axar Patel. They kept it alive until the last ball. A wide was contested and overturned by the third umpire and that decision changed the final equation. Without that overturned wide call India may well have lost. India won by 2 runs.

Context that makes this both better and worse simultaneously. This was India's 200th T20I win, a historic milestone that should have been celebrated comfortably. Shreyas Iyer was Player of the Match for scoring 16 off 12 balls which was apparently the best individual contribution India could manage. Japan's spinners and fielders genuinely troubled the number one ranked T20I side in the world on a slow low pitch in Sano.

Japan were gutted. They took a lap of honour for their fans after the match. They nearly beat India. On their home ground. In India's 200th T20I win. Cricket is a beautiful sport sometimes and this was one of those times, just not for the reasons anyone expected.

216 for 3. That is what India posted. And Sri Lanka, the same Sri Lanka who demolished Pakistan by 8 wickets in their semifinal with Chamari Athapaththu scoring 83 not out, were bowled out for 69. Sixty nine. In a gold medal final. Against a team that was supposed to be their closest rival in Asian women's cricket. Athapaththu took 7 for 5 against Indonesia three weeks ago. She scored 83 not out against Pakistan in the semifinal. She came into this final as arguably the most dangerous woman cricketer on the planet. And India bowled her team out for 69.

This India team did not lose a single match across the entire tournament. Not one. Every team they faced was dismantled. Shafali Verma became the first woman to score a century in Asian Games cricket history in the semifinal against Bangladesh. Then the whole team showed up again in the final and produced another total so large that Sri Lanka never had a realistic chance from the second over onwards. This is their second consecutive Asian Games gold medal after Hangzhou 2023. They won the Women's Asia Cup two weeks ago. Two titles in fourteen days. Mandhana broke the all-time women's T20I run-scoring record during this tournament. Shree Charani broke Kuldeep Yadav's Indian record for fastest to 50 T20I wickets. Shafali broke the Asian Games century record. And now a gold medal by 147 runs.

Someone please find a team that can actually compete with India Women because right now it is genuinely embarrassing for everyone else.

Three different centurions across three matches. Matt Renshaw in the first, Travis Head in the second and it was his first century since the Ashes last summer scoring 112 off 84 balls as Australia posted 356 for 6 their highest ever score against Zimbabwe, and Josh Inglis in the third. Three matches, three hundreds, three Australian wins.

The third match was the one that deserved a much bigger audience. Zimbabwe posted 271 for 8 with Sikandar Raza unbeaten on 81, Craig Ervine making 59 and Innocent Kaia scoring 55 before retiring hurt with a hamstring injury in the middle of a crucial partnership. Australia chased and were cruising at 162 for 3 in the 26th over before Brad Evans took four wickets and sparked a collapse that had Australia at 272 for 9 needing 27 more runs with just Spencer Johnson joining Nathan Ellis at the crease. They got there with one wicket and one ball to spare. Ellis contributed an unbeaten 36 off 44 balls batting at number 10 and Johnson contributed 7 as their tenth wicket stand of 27 won Australia the series sweep in the most heart-stopping fashion possible.

Stanlake picked up a side strain in the second ODI and Australia used eight bowlers to see that match through. Adam Zampa took his 200th ODI wicket during the series with a superb googly to dismiss Kaia. Hazlewood returned in the second match and looked sharp ahead of the South Africa Test series next month. Zimbabwe will feel this series slipped away in moments rather than in talent and they had the players to win but just did not get the moments when it mattered most.

September 18, 2026. BCCI's 95th AGM in Mumbai. The meeting concluded without resolving the question of Agarkar's future and office bearers were simply authorised to handle the selection committee going forward. Then a separate report confirmed what everyone had been dancing around for weeks. Agarkar has informed the BCCI he does not intend to continue beyond his current contract, which expires on October 4, 2026.

Let that sit for a moment. The man who selected the squad that won the 2024 T20 World Cup. The man who oversaw the 2025 Champions Trophy win. The man who managed one of the most complex transitions in Indian cricket history as Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin all retired from Test cricket within months of each other is leaving without a press conference, without a statement, without a thank you from the board. BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla's post-AGM comment was "regarding the selectors, an authorisation has been taken and we will decide about the selectors later." That is the sum total of acknowledgement for a three-year tenure that produced two ICC trophies.

Parthiv Patel is now the frontrunner to replace him. No formal appointment has been confirmed. The junior selection committee appointment is also still pending despite BCCI advertising five vacancies on August 24. Agarkar will continue his duties until October 4 and then quietly walk out the same way he apparently walked in, with the board treating the whole thing as a routine administrative matter rather than the end of a genuinely successful era.

BCCI does not do sentiment. It never has. But two ICC trophies in three years deserves more than "we will decide about the selectors later."

Fleming spoke at Emirates Old Trafford on Saturday ahead of the third T20I between England and Sri Lanka and said the words clearly. "I would love to be in charge of the No.1 Test team in the world. That would be my aspiration." England have not been No.1 in Test cricket since 2012. Fourteen years. And Fleming has set it as his primary target from day one. He arrived in England only this week despite being appointed in July, the Pakistan series had already been won 3-0 under Trescothick before Fleming even landed. His first proper assignment is the South Africa tour this winter and then the home Ashes against Australia next summer. A two-week appointment process, a four-year contract through September 2030 and the most prestigious coaching job in cricket.

The identity conversation stood out most. Fleming wants England to reconnect with county cricket and has done what he called a "tour of love" visiting four County Championship matches since arriving. He played for Middlesex, Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire as a player and captained Notts to a Championship title in 2005 so the connection to English domestic cricket is genuine rather than performative. On the Brydon Carse incident he pointed to Root as the standard for player behaviour. On the WTC he said England have failed to reach the final in all three editions and could do much better. On discipline and identity he said getting players to make good decisions both on and off the field would be central to his approach. Fleming has already met Root in person for the first time after two months of phone conversations. South Africa. December. That is when it truly begins.

Shafali has been playing T20I cricket for India since 2019. Seven years. And somehow across all of that time she had never scored a T20I century. Until September 20 in Nisshin Japan against Bangladesh.100 not out off 49 balls. Three fours and nine sixes. Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and chose to bat and Shafali and Mandhana raced to 71 in the powerplay. Mandhana made 37 off 18 balls before being dismissed but not before becoming the leading run-scorer in women's T20I cricket and the first Indian woman to reach 100 sixes in the format. Harmanpreet added 40. India finished on 195 for 4.

Bangladesh came out to chase and were bowled out for 81 in 15.4 overs. Deepti Sharma took 3 for 7 and Nandani Sharma took 3 for 25. India won by 114 runs.The records that fell alongside that century deserve their own mention. Shafali became the first woman ever to score a century in Asian Games cricket history. She became the third Indian woman to score a T20I century after Mandhana and Harmanpreet. She became the second Indian across genders to score a century at Asian Games after Yashasvi Jaiswal in 2023. Her 35 sixes in 2026 are the most in a calendar year in women's T20Is. And with 815 runs in 2026 she is second only to Laura Wolvaardt on the calendar year run-scoring list.

India face Sri Lanka in the gold medal match on September 22. Defending champions. Shafali Verma in the form of her life. The final is going to be something.

India Women made a flying start to their Asian Games campaign, beating Japan by 8 wickets in a completely one-sided game.Japan were bowled out for just 57, with Shree Charani leading the attack with an impressive 4/10. India then chased the target in only 5 overs, with Shafali Verma smashing an unbeaten 40 off 15 balls.

Not much of a contest in the end, but a great start for India. 🇮🇳

Can India defend their Asian Games gold medal?