Month: January 2025

Team India’s in-form batter Tilak Varma is edging closer to a massive record which was previously held by former Pakistan captain Babar Azam. Tilak was finally dismissed after four successive unbeaten innings, scoring 332 runs in them – dismissed for 14 in the third T20I match against England at Rajkot on Tuesday.

In the ICC men’s T20I Rankings, Tilak Varma has reached a career-best second position after an unbeaten 71 in the second T20I against England. His 832 rating points are the fourth-best by an India batter in the format after Suryakumar Yadav, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul.

The Mumbai Indians batter, who is 22 years and 82 days at the time of reaching second position, is only 23 rating points behind top-ranked Travis Head of Australia and has a good chance of becoming the youngest to top the T20I batting rankings. The mark is currently held by Babar Azam, who was 23 years, 105 days when he went top for the first time in January 2018.

Tilak scored a match-winning unbeaten 72 in the second T20I win for India in Chennai. Before that he had scored back-to-back unbeaten centuries in T20I wins over South Africa last year.

Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav in currently in 4th position on the rankings with 763 points while Yashasvi Jaiswal slipped one position to 9th with 685 points. Pakistan’s Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are in 6th and 8th position respectively.

In the bowling rankings, England’s wrist-spinner Adil Rashid has ended Akeal Hosein’s 44-day stay at the top after taking one for 14 and one for 15 in the second and third matches of the series, completing his four overs each time to help England narrow the lead to 2-1.

It is the second time the England leggie has topped the table, having occupied top spot for a year from December 2023 to December 2024. Liam Livingstone (up five places to 32nd) and Abhishek Sharma (up 59 places to 40th) are other batters to gain after the series while Varun Chakravarthy (up 25 places to a career-best fifth position), Joffra Archer (up 13 places to sixth), Axar Patel (up five places to 11th) and Hardik Pandya (up eight places to 43rd) have moved up the bowling list.

Meanwhile, left-arm spinners Noman Ali and Jomel Warrican have attained career best positions in the ICC men’s Test bowling rankings after outstanding performances in the second Test between Pakistan and the West Indies in Multan.

Noman, who became the first Pakistani spinner to take a Test hat-trick in a match haul of 10 for 121, has gained four spots to reach fifth position with 806 rating points. He is only the 12th Pakistani bowler to go past the 800-point mark in Tests and the only one from his country in the top 20 right now.

Warrican won the Player of the Match award after finishing with nine for 70 in the second Test, moving up 16 places to 25th position. He has progressed a total of 28 places in the two Tests with a return of 19 wickets, that also won him the Player of the Series award.

Kemar Roach (up one place to 18th) and Gudakesh Motie (up six places to 58th) are the West Indian bowlers to move up the rankings while Sajid Khan (up two places to 21st) and Abrar Ahmed (up two places to 50th) are the Pakistan players to move up the list.

West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite’s second innings half-century at the top of the order that contributed in a 120-run win, has lifted him eight places to 44th position while Pakistan’s wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan has moved back towards the top10, advancing from 17th to 15th position.

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Former India cricketer Virender Sehwag and his wife Aarti Ahlawat’s relationship is going through turbulent times. According to media report, Sehwag’s 20-year marriage to Aarti is on the verge of divorce. The reports said that Sehwag and his wife have been living separately for a while now.

Amid these divorce rumours, a video of Sehwag having a much-publicised argument with his wife Aarti inside his car is going viral on social media. In the video, Sehwag is talking to someone on the phone while Aarti is seen shouting loudly and angrily at her husband. There is, however, no audio in the video.

WATCH Virender Sehwag in a fight with wife Aarti Ahlawat in a car HERE…

This, however, is not a new video because Sehwag and his wife Aarti have not been seen in public together for a while now. According to reports, Sehwag and Aarti have unfollowed each other on social while his wife has moved out of her Hauz Khas residence as well.

Sehwag and Aarti had first met as kids when the Indian cricketer was only 7 while his wife was 5 years old. When the former India opener turned 21, he proposed to Aarti – who accepted his proposal. Sehwag and Aarti were in fact relative since the Indian cricketer’s cousin was married to Aarti’s aunt.

On April 22, 2004, Sehwag tied the knot with Aarti at late Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s home in New Delhi. Sehwag and Aarti have two sons together – Aryavir who was born in 2007 and Vedant who was born in 2010.

Sehwag’s elder son Aryavir also plays cricket like his legendary father. In November 2024, Aryavir scored a triple century like his dad in Cooch Behar trophy match for Delhi against Meghalaya.

The 46-year-old last posted a photo with his wife Aarti back in April 28, 2023 – almost 19 months back. According to report, Sehwag and his wife could be headed for ‘grey divorce’ like other celebrities like Malaika Arora and Arbaaz Khan and Hrithik Roshan and Susanne Roshan.

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New Delhi: The encouraging conversation between renowned Indian cricketer Virat Kohli and the son of his former teammate has come to light. The young boy was given valuable advice from Kohli, who is currently in New Delhi for the concluding phase of the Ranji Trophy league. Kohli is set to compete in Delhi’s Ranji match against Railways, beginning on January 30, and he took part in his initial training session with the team on Tuesday.

During a training session for the Ranji Trophy in Delhi, a young boy named Kabir, the son of one of Kohli’s former teammates from age-group cricket, had the opportunity to engage with the Indian cricket star.

Kabir inquired of Kohli about the requirements to become an international cricketer. Kohli shared valuable insights with the young player.

“A lot of hard work. Your father should not tell you to practice or train. You should yourself say every morning that you want to go to practice. If someone practices for an hour, you do it for two hours. That is the only way,” Kohli said while speaking to Kabir.

“If someone scores a 50, you score a 100, and if someone scores a 100, you score a 200. Jo benchmark hai us se double (Whatever the benchmark is, you should do double of it),” Kohli added. Watch the video here:

In a similar manner to Rishabh Pant’s decision in the previous game against Saurashtra, Kohli chose not to captain Delhi in their recent Ranji home match against Railways, preferring to allow Ayush Badoni to maintain his role as team leader.

The BCCI and JioCinema, the domestic broadcasters, have opted to live-stream the match due to the significant interest from fans generated by Kohli’s participation.

Typically, the BCCI features one main match that is broadcast on both television and streaming platforms. In this round, the highlighted game is between Karnataka and Haryana, with KL Rahul being the key player to watch.

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