As anticipated, the political masters of Pakistan have finally directed its national cricket team to lift the boycott and play India on 15 February, 2026, as scheduled in Colombo . The Masters must've thought the money at stake is too lucrative to continue indulging in such kind of grumpy politics. Of course, they had imposed some pre-conditions that included making the 'handshake' a mandatory protocol, but the ICC looked the other way. So, the PCB takes it as protecting the 'spirit of cricket'. The Indian cricket board , the sponsors, the TV channels and millions of fans who do not necessarily mix patriotism with sports, if it's cricket in particular, must be deliriously ecstatic that all the revenues and hype and excitement shall be there for harvest thr oughout the ICC Men's T20 World Cup-2026 , co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka . Most of the Indians fans must also be ecstatic to have their heroes go on vanquishing the enemy neighbor and humiliating t...
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has given its approval for officially using the word ‘ batter ’ to describe a ‘ batsman ’ or ‘ batswoman ’ in all forms of cricket and commentaries or writings with effect from the ICC Men’s Cricket T20 World Cup-2021 . The ICC has said that the word ‘batter’ has in fact been used since the last about four years, mostly in commentaries and also by some cricketers themselves, and this shift of usage is noted by the supreme cricket body. The Council further said that the word is ‘ gender neutral ’ and it makes cricket a more inclusive game. A large majority of the people concerned with the most popular game of the world have welcomed this change with some describing it as a ‘common-sense change’. They further argue that nobody describes a ‘ bowler ’ as ‘bowlsman’ or ‘bowlswoman’ or a ‘fielder’ as ‘ fieldsman ’ or ‘ fieldswoman ’. However, the word ‘fieldsman’ has been in usage since the old times and even sometimes now. This writer is not aware if...