Former Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin expressed his disappointment after the West Indies failed to bring back Nicholas Pooran and Sunil Narine from retirement for the T20 World Cup 2026, starting on February 7 in India and Sri Lanka. Narine retired from international cricket in 2023 while Pooran quit in 2025. Both players are active in franchise T20 leagues. "I am very disappointed that the West Indies did not pick Nicholas Pooran and Sunil Narine in their squad for this World Cup. You need to sit across the table from them, talk to them, and bring them to the World Cup. How can you leave Nicholas Pooran and Sunil Narine out and go into a World Cup without them?" Ashwin said on his YouTube channel. Ashwin added that he is a big fan of the West Indies cricket team and believes the board needs to reassess their planning for major tournaments. "I am a big fan of the West Indies. They have a lot of ability. But the way they plan and sometimes even the infrastruct...
Legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar has made a stunning claim amid the controversy surrounding Pakistan's decision to opt out of their upcoming T20 World Cup 2026 match against arch-rivals India. It is worth mentioning that India and Pakistan no longer take part in cricket bilaterals due to cross-border tensions. They only face off each other during international or continental events as a result. The last bilateral series between the two sides was played in 2012-13 when Pakistan had toured India for two T20Is and three ODIs, respectively. Since then, the two teams are often placed in same groups for the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) events to ensure that the tournaments' commercial success remains intact until the very end. However, Gavaskar feels that Pakistan's decision to boycott the match against India could force the ICC to put the two teams in different groups going forward. "This could well be the time that the ICC decides ...