ChinmayC Blog

Well, it’s about the announcement of the Groups and the full schedule made on October 1, 2026, of the 14-Team ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup-2027 to be hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia from October 2 to November 21 next year across 12 venues. However, somewhat swayed by the never-ending hype surrounding the arch-rivals India and Pakistan , the ICC mandarins being no exception to this rule, we too are focusing on the match between them as to its when and where, in healthy disregard of the never-ending geopolitical rivalry between the two that interferes with the game in no healthy way—like embargoing the innocent handshakes or robbing one of its deserving trophies. Yes! Cricket belies everything—the game does inevitably unfold on the field whatever be the hassles over it, and the fans love it even as all other stakeholders bring in the dough! So, the most sought-after mouth-watering group-stage match between India and Pakistan is scheduled on October 10, 2027 in Johannesburg a...

Cricket is a game loved by the masses all over the globe and growing irrespective of their differences—political or religious or whatever—and nationalities. The grand gentleman’s sport is a passion in India and in Pakistan with fans waiting for their arch-rivals to meet as often as possible over the decades, apart from the other most prominent arch-rivals pair of Australia and England. However, it’s unfortunate political rivalries have been damaging the spirit of the game in the Indian subcontinent—India, Pakistan and Bangladesh at loggerheads that is depriving the common people of all the three countries to cherish the Tests/ODIs/T20Is on their own grounds. Yes! Neutral venues have been the ‘solution’ since quite a few years now. Nonetheless, Pakistan has been the worst affected due to the nation’s terror activities and therefore, the ‘solution’ has also been failing to solve the issues amicably. Cricket fans just cannot afford to give up watching while the respective Boards cannot a...

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 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2026 got underway on the 7 th of February, co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka with the first of the day’s three matches played in Colombo , the second in Kolkata and the last in Mumbai which was preceded by a brief inauguration ceremony at the Wankhede Stadium . The twenty participating teams of the 55-match tournament are divided into four groups of five teams each with Bangladesh replaced by Scotland and Pakistan deciding to boycott India in protest against the treatment meted out to Bangladesh by the ICC .  However, Pakistan’s obviously political decision didn’t quite clarify as to what Pakistan cricket team would do if they met India either in the semifinal or the final. Per the latest reports Pakistan is still engaged in parleys with the ICC about their cricket team’s boycott of the Indian cricket team. The big money involved in the match or matches of the archrivals is too big to let it go, with the channels/Boards already losing money as the f...

  In the increasingly tense geopolitical situation in the Indian subcontinent , I think it’s time to take some bold Cricket decisions by the BCCI in active consultation with the ICC and the Government of India , and not dillydallying with the issues involved nor allowing the overwhelming commercial angle win every time which in turn leads to absurd hypocritical scenarios as we’d recently witnessed in the games between India and Pakistan  in the Asia Cup-2025 the winner's Trophy of which is still eluding India. In the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2026 we’re set to behold more games in and off the field with Bangladesh being literally taken over by the radicals and the violent upheaval there leading to atrocities on the minorities, mostly Indian Hindus . What followed in the most popular game of cricket in India is obvious: the outrage in the social media crying hoarse over retaining Mustafizur Rahman in Shahrukh Khan’s KKR franchise for the IPL-2026 thus pressuring ...

What happened in Pahalgam on 22nd April, 2025 is beyond words that can condemn the terrorist act enough. It rages through your blood stream, it tortures your mind and infuriates you with helpless wrath. India mirrored that rage through Operation Sindoor , striking the terrorists' hubs inside Pakistan. The Government of India mentioned time and again that the Operation was aimed at destroying terror, and that it was not a strike against the country or its people. And the Indian Army did exactly that.  The problem is that the terrorists there have always been proven to be actively in league with the Pak army and this unholy alliance controls and directs effectively the Government policy and political strategy. An elected government technically represents the people and therefore the people of Pakistan need not necessarily think about India any differently than their government, and this means that the Indian fury cannot get limited only against the terrorists. It encompasses the wh...

Announcing the confirmed complete schedule of the forthcoming ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup-2024, the International Cricket Council has expressed its happiness at the expansion of the tournament with never-before 20 cricket nations participating and the United States of America coming in as a co-host, the first time ever for a manor ICC event. Referring to America as the biggest sports market the ICC said that this would provide a huge stimulus to world cricket in the coming years. The 9 th version of T20 World Cup is set to kick off on June 1 st in New York and conclude with the Final to be played in Barbados on 29 th of the same month, the West Indies being the other co-host. The tournament, divided into four groups of five teams each, will have 55 matches in all out of which 16 league matches are to be played in the USA, and 8 out of 16 to be staged at the 34,000-capacity new modular cricket stadium coming up at the Nassau County, Long Island, New York, including the blockbuste...

The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup-2023 unfolding in India is not even halfway through as of today, and it’s impossible to say which of the contesting 10 teams are going to make it to the Top 4 in the knockout stage. And there’ve been huge upsets too in terms of the short-format World Champions England losing to Afghanistan and the ebullient South Africa, after they scored in excess of 400 runs against Sri Lanka, falling again to Netherlands. As we write this Pakistan and Australia fighting it out in a very important match for both of them: Pakistan, after making a rollicking start in the tournament, fell apart against India while Australia registered their first win against Afghanistan after three consecutive losses. Therefore, at the current juncture, we can hardly predict which teams are going to stage a fight-back or which teams are going to the top seamlessly, except perhaps for two teams: India and New Zealand. Both of them have won four out of four matches each so far—every win bei...

  The cricket matches in all three formats of the game between the arch-rivals India and Pakistan have become a rare variety in the recent years with the ardent discerning cricket lovers waiting for their matches at neutral venues. The matches between them in the one-day World Cup, the T-20 World Cup, and the Asia Cup have always been eagerly awaited. However, in the last two years the fan enthusiasm seems to be dwindling with a sense of listlessness seeping in as regards both Team India and their matches. And risking being rough or grossly unjust I have to point the finger at the Head Coach Rahul Dravid who was appointed in the job in November, 2021. No doubt, he had taken over with the ripe legacies of India—not able to break the jinx of not winning a single ICC title since 2011 ; India’s group-stage exit in the T20 World Cup played in 2021; Team India management blinded by too many choices of young cricketers (courtesy IPL ) thus ushering in the mindless and endless experimen...

After being crowned with the ODI World Champions title in 2019 England today has completed the global white-ball supremacy by defeating Pakistan by 5 wickets in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Final in Melbourne . Pakistan has almost done an India just managing to post a meagre target of 138 and consuming 15 overs to score 100 runs after being put into bat by England like in the semi-final against India; but the target came to be even less than India's 169 thanks to Hardik Pandya . However, their famous pace bowlers gave England a hard time and but for the resurgent Shaheen Afridi 's injury who was unable to fully bowl the last two overs of his quota the match could've gone down the wire at the death.  Like India, Pakistan openers failed once again to build the momentum and other Pak batsmen stumbled along, scoring a pitiful 18 runs in the last four death overs. But again, unlike India, they attacked England batsmen from the first over putting up two slips and not at a...

More than ninety thousand spectators at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) watched spellbound as Virat Kohli scripted his most incredible innings ever to propel India to an incredible victory over archrivals Pakistan in their opening Group-2 match of the Super-12 stage of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup today. India-Pakistan matches are always exciting, nail-biting and full of ups and downs. However, in my lifetime experience of watching Indo-Pak cricket today’s match is perhaps the most incredible one, considering the unbelievable climax. When most of Indian fans, including this writer prominently, were almost giving up on Virat Kohli, he has chosen today’s match to prove what champion matter he’s made of. He has made the impossible possible, snatching the most improbable victory from the jaws of sure defeat. No doubt, he has thus bettered the memories of Sachin Tendulkar against Australia in Sharjah . Well, Virat’s innings of 82 in 53 balls with 6 fours and 4 sixes is not without pr...