Category Uncategorized

The relief was evident on the face of Rasmus Hojlund on Sunday afternoon, with the struggling striker guiding the ball home in the last knockings of stoppage time to snatch a draw for Manchester United at Bournemouth.

The Danish speedster showcased his rarely-seen centre-forward instincts to direct the ball past Kepa Arrizabalaga from close range, with the visitors managing to avoid what would have been a 16th Premier League defeat of the season against their ten-man hosts.

Hopefully, that late strike should help to instil much-needed confidence in the 22-year-old heading into a crucial week in the Europa League, with the former Atalanta man the only senior striker available to Ruben Amorim, amid Joshua Zirkzee’s recent injury blow.

With 17-year-old sensation, Chido Obi, also ineligible to feature in Europe, the onus is now on Hojlund to deliver on the continent, with the Red Devils desperately needing their leading number nine to hit form over the coming weeks.

Whatever occurs between now and the end of May, however, it would appear that the fate of the 6 foot 4 marksman has already been sealed, with the signing of a new striker now hot on the agenda heading into the summer transfer window.

Latest on Man Utd's search for a striker

Work is already being done to bring in Wolverhampton Wanderers star, Matheus Cunha, to Old Trafford ahead of next season, although the in-form Brazilian is set to strengthen the number ten berth, rather than replacing Hojlund through the middle.

As for a potential new number nine, recent reports have suggested that Ipswich Town talisman Liam Delap is under consideration, albeit with the £30m man still something of a gamble due to his lack of top-flight experience, despite netting 12 league goals this term.

Elsewhere, meanwhile, Napoli’s Victor Osimhen has been touted as a leading target for Amorim, with United said to be pushing for a cut-price deal to land the prolific Nigerian.

The 26-year-old would be a worthwhile addition, although the suggestion is that the Red Devils have turned their attention to another leading figure, with Football Insider reporting that a move for Sporting CP’s Viktor Gyokeres could be a ‘done deal’.

Indeed, as per the report, it is claimed that United feel they are in a ‘strong position to finalise an agreement’ for the Swedish striker, with the 26-year-old deemed to be the ‘top target’, amid his prior relationship with Amorim.

Transfer Focus

Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.

There is said to be a ‘growing confidence’ that INEOS can win the race for his signature, ahead of rivals Arsenal, with Gyokeres potentially the transformative signing that Amorim is in desperate need of.

How Man Utd could land a better signing than Osimhen

Hojlund’s latest effort can’t cloud what has been a miserable season for the one-time Sturm Graz starlet, with that strike on the south coast having been just his fourth league goal in 2024/25 to date.

Five goals have come his way in the Europa League, although the £85k-per-week asset hasn’t actually scored in the competition since December, with questions rightly being asked over his long-term future at the Theatre of Dreams.

It’s fair to say that either Osimhen or Gyokeres would represent a significant upgrade on Hojlund next term, with the former having scored 31 times while on loan at Galatasaray this season – taking his overall career tally to 145 goals in just 259 senior club appearances.

As for Gyokeres, while the former Coventry City man has enjoyed a slower rise to stardom, amid his days in the EFL and on the books at Brighton and Hove Albion, he has simply soared following his £17m switch to Lisbon in 2023.

Plucked from the Championship by Amorim, the towering goal machine has since scored 95 times in just 98 games for the Liga Portugal side, with 66 of those coming in just 68 games under Amorim.

Viktor Gyokeres

38

1.5

57

Mo Salah

28

2

56

Robert Lewandowski

25

2

50

Harry Kane

24

2

48

Mateo Retegui

24

2

48

Kylian Mbappe

22

2

44

Alexander Isak

22

2

44

Mika Biereth

24

2

42.5

Ousmane Dembele

21

2

42

Erling Haaland

21

2

42

Omar Marmoush

21

2

42

A recent four-goal haul against Boavista ensured that Gyokeres has now reached 52 goals in just 48 games in all competitions during the current campaign, thus far eclipsing Osimhen’s own record in Turkey.

What also stands out regarding arguably the “hottest striker in Europe” – as per ESPN’s Mark Ogden – is that he also boasts 12 assists in 2024/25 to date, again placing him ahead of Osimhen (eight assists) with regard to that creative streak.

Of course, taking the leap from operating outside of Europe’s top five leagues to then trying to thrive in the Premier League is a big step, although Gyokeres’ prior work under Amorim’s watch should be reason for excitement.

With Hojlund misfiring this season, the race is on for the new United boss to find his next, Gyokeres-esque attacking talisman. Osimhen, of course, would certainly be a more than adequate replica – yet why not go for the man himself?

Big Garnacho upgrade: Man Utd set to open talks to sign "extraordinary" star

Manchester United are reportedly interested in signing a star who would be a big upgrade on Alejandro Garnacho.

ByDan Emery Apr 29, 2025

Acting captain hails togetherness of club as they secure another notable success after years of fallow fortunes

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay11-Sep-2025Ian Holland, Leicestershire’s acting captain, says the club will celebrate their achievement of returning to the top flight of the County Championship for the first time in 22 years, but have already set their sights on cementing top spot and sealing their first piece of red-ball silverware in more than a quarter of a century.Holland was at the crease, on 27 not out, when Leicestershire shook hands on a rain-affected draw with Gloucestershire at Grace Road on Thursday. The result put them more than 50 points clear of Derbyshire and Middlesex in third and fourth place – two teams that had earlier played out their own stalemate at Lord’s – thereby guaranteeing Leicestershire at least a top-two finish. Glamorgan, 25 points behind them in second place, are their only remaining rivals for the second division crown.”There’s a lot of emotion, excitement, relief in the dressing-room,” Holland told the ECB Reporters Network. “We’re savouring this moment to get promoted, but it’s not a full celebration just yet because now we want to win the trophy as champions.”But, yeah, to be promoted is a great achievement for this club. It’s a credit to the people in the club that have turned it around over a period of time.”The result comes just two years after Leicestershire’s remarkable victory over Hampshire in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup final – their first List A trophy since 1985 – and continues a steady uptick in the team’s fortunes from the dark days of the mid-2010s, when they had habitually finished bottom of the Championship table, including a near three-year run between September 2012 and June 2015 when they didn’t win a single first-class fixture.”This today isn’t just a six-month thing, it’s been a few years in the making,” Holland said, as he paid tribute to Claude Henderson, the club’s director of cricket, as well as the coaching staff and Sean Jarvis, the outgoing chief executive who oversaw the upswing in fortunes since joining from Huddersfield Town FC in 2020.”The players have been able to go out and play the way we have this year because things are right,” Holland added. “It’s a great feeling. When I first met Claude and [head coach] Alfonso (Thomas), I got a sense of the trajectory that the club was moving in, and that was really attractive. I was always optimistic that we would get promoted at some stage, but I think it’s probably happened a little bit quicker than we thought.”If you’d asked me at the start of the season, are we going to get promoted this year? I wouldn’t have put my house on it, but it’s been great that things have clicked and we’ve played the cricket we have. Getting those wins early on gave us a really good head start, which has paid dividends.”Related

Leicestershire celebrate promotion after 22 years in exile

Holland namechecked Rehan Ahmed, who is currently away on England duty, as one of the stars of their campaign. After initially stepping up as an auxiliary opener, he struck five hundreds in ten appearances, while also claiming 23 wickets at 19.00 with his legspin – 13 of which came in a statement victory against Derbyshire in July.”There have been contributions from everybody. Rehan has got five hundreds, which is amazing, but so many people have stood up. I think just the consistency with the way we’ve played sums up our group.”The club captain Pete Handscomb, who is now back in Australia preparing for his Sheffield Shield campaign with Victoria, was another key contributor to Leicestershire’s season. “He’s been amazing with the way he’s captained the team and the group,” Holland said. “His calmness around the group has been incredible.”Leicestershire were made to battle in their title-seizing contest against Gloucestershire. They conceded a first-innings deficit of 140 despite a century for Shan Masood, but after being set a stiff fourth-innings target of 316, the week’s heavy rain reduced any prospect of a tense finish to the match.”In this game, it’s a real credit to the guys the way we fought back after getting behind the game early on day one,” Holland said. “There were a few niggly moments, but we were able to keep coming back, and just to get the points we needed to get promoted was a great result.”We faced a long chase today if we were to win the game. You can’t go out and go after it gung-ho, but I think you still want to have that positive intent, which we did, to take the game deep, and then whatever happens, happens. It was a good performance today to not be five, six, seven wickets down at the close. To do it the way we did was nice.”There will be a celebration, a few beers tonight. But we want to go on and win the trophy now, that’s very important to us.”

Liverpool now look a million miles off the likes of Arsenal, sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League.

Only last season, Arne Slot’s runaway Reds finished ten points clear of Mikel Arteta’s Gunners, having won a mammoth 25 clashes along the way to lifting the title.

Now, with an abysmal six defeats next to their name from 12 Premier League clashes, and 20 goals already leaked, the out-of-sorts giants are already 11 points behind the North Londoners, who swept Tottenham Hotspur aside 4-1, on the same weekend Liverpool crashed out to a 3-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest.

Thankfully, despite Liverpool suffering their worst start to a season since 2014, and Gary Neville chipping in by labelling the current state of affairs as “unacceptable”, the January transfer window opens soon, which could see the Reds spend wildly again to try and get their atrocious campaign back on track.

Liverpool preparing to spend big again

Just one look at the list above gives you a flavour as to how much Liverpool splashed out in the summer, with Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, and Hugo Ekitike all joining the building for an eye-watering combined total of £294m.

While these deals haven’t exactly gone to plan so far, that doesn’t mean more lavish spending won’t do the trick in an attempt to turn out Liverpool’s depressing fortunes, with sources from Spain now alleging that Slot and Co could be willing to drop an earth-shuddering £177m on the services of Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise.

Liverpool have also been tipped to move for the likes of Juventus attacker Kenan Yildiz and Premier League man of the moment Antoine Semenyo to freshen up their attacking ranks, but a new emerging report from Spain also suggests that their central midfield spots might well be given a major facelift, if they can pick up Paris St Germain ace Joao Neves.

Indeed, the report states that the faltering titans have an ‘intense interest’ in adding Neves to their squad after a breakout season in Ligue 1, with a battle for his services perhaps defining a busy January window to come.

It’s further revealed that Liverpool are preparing an offer close to £140m in an effort to persuade Luis Enrique’s men to part ways.

How Neves is a big upgrade on Mac Allister

Liverpool could win themselves a major upgrade on a declining Alexis Mac Allister if the ex-Benfica midfielder does choose to leave the comforts of France behind for a shot in the Premier League.

Unfortunately, the Argentine has looked seriously off the pace this season during Liverpool’s well-publicised struggles.

It’s been a significant fall from grace for the World Cup winner, who managed to bag five goals and collect five assists last season in league action to help Slot pick up the Premier League title in a crazy first campaign at the helm.

Now, however, the waning 26-year-old has an unconvincing zero goals and two assists from 11 league outings this season, leading to one analyst labelling him as a “huge disappointment”, with his once-feared ability to dictate play now nowhere to be found.

Games played

11

7

Goals scored

0

5

Assists

2

0

Shots*

1.3

1.9

Touches*

47.2

67.6

Accurate passes*

31.5 (86%)

55.3 (94%)

Ball recoveries*

2.9

3.1

Total duels won*

2.5 (44%)

2.9 (57%)

While the former Brighton and Hove Albion midfielder continues to decline, Neves has followed up his outrageous tally of three goals and eight assists from last season with five goals already this campaign, as the 21-year-old continues to live up to his billing as being “one of the best midfielders in the world” by European football content creator, Alex Brice.

On top of being a clinical and classy finisher of chances, Neves also blows his competition out of the water in terms of his pass accuracy with an unerring 94% average in tact, alongside also offering up more ball recoveries at 3.1 per Ligue 1 game, which should stand him in good stead to be an energetic partner to Ryan Gravenberch.

A major plus to his game, though, is his ability to fire home chances – as seen in his unbelievable hat-trick earlier this season – with Mac Allister also well-known to fire home a memorable strike or two during his Liverpool peak.

But, it’s his overall package that makes him such a “complete” talent, as he has been labelled by his ex-trainer in Luis Castro, who even said that number 87 can play in “any championship in the world” and “shine”, with Liverpool having to put their money where their mouth is to prove him right.

Of course, between now and January coming into view, Mac Allister might well pick up form again, as could his entire team, as they potentially climb far beyond their current mid-table slump.

But, with Curtis Jones the only real other figure Slot can fall back on in the defensive midfield ranks – away from the South American and Gravenberch – dropping £140m on Neves could be a fantastic, if costly, investment to make, as the big spenders hope the Portuguese superstar can enter the starting XI and push his new team back into the top positions in the tough division.

Semenyo alternative: Liverpool preparing £177m bid to sign their new Diaz

Liverpool are gearing up to open their purse once again this winter.

4 ByAngus Sinclair Nov 24, 2025

South Africa have lost six of their previous seven Tests in India

Sidharth Monga13-Nov-20252:04

Bangar: South Africa’s spin-bowling allrounders will be critical

Big picture: World Test Champions’ toughest testThe variety of conditions Test cricket offers is evident from how the format’s world champions, South Africa, have not been able to even compete in their previous seven Tests in India, the country of their next challenge. They lost six of those Tests comprehensively, and were on their way in the seventh but for the rain.Even within India, South Africa have struggled in a variety of conditions. In 2015-16, they were outdone by a young side for whom the team management considered raging turners a necessity. Then, in 2019-20, against an established home team, South Africa were blanked by huge margins on good batting surfaces that had nothing for the home spinners, who averaged 27.18 compared to their fast bowlers’ 17.50.The world champions make this trip in 2025-26 not with any significant new faces in their attack but with more experience, and thus more equipped to compete during what has to be South Africa’s toughest tour. Keshav Maharaj was their lead spinner on the previous tour too. Simon Harmer toured in 2015-16. Senuran Muthusamy played two Tests in 2019-20. Kagiso Rabada remains the banker fast bowler.Related

In India, captain Bavuma pursues the final piece of his validation

Are India mulling Kuldeep vs allrounder?

Eden Gardens conditions could weaponise India, SA quicks

South Africa return to India without fear of the Turnado

Dhruv Jurel: too good to keep out, too good to just keep

South Africa will also hope that India, who suffered a shock loss against New Zealand last year and are still a team in transition, still haven’t nailed the method to win home Tests. They blanked West Indies earlier this season, but they weren’t entirely invulnerable.Still, South Africa will need nearly everything to go their way to win a Test on this tour, just like it did for New Zealand last year. While India are currently third on the WTC points table, having drawn 2-2 in England and beaten West Indies 2-0, South Africa have only just begun their title defence with a 1-1 draw in Pakistan last month.Form guideIndia: WWWDL
South Africa: WLWWWShubman Gill has been hopping formats frequently since September•AFP/Getty Images

In the spotlight: Keshav Maharaj and Shubman GillKeshav Maharaj comes to India with experience of 60 Tests; he’s second only to Ravindra Jadeja among left-arm spinners in Test cricket. With India unlikely to offer square turners or assistance for traditional seam bowling, Maharaj will have to bear a heavy workload, and provide wickets and control.Starting September, India’s newest all-format star Shubman Gill has had no break. He got three days, including the travel day, between the T20 Asia Cup in the UAE and the first Test against West Indies in India. Then just four days to travel to Australia and switch to ODIs before going back to playing T20Is in three days. After that, a five-day break, which included travel from eastern Australia to eastern India to captain the team in an important series. Gill is young and fit, and must be itching to play as much as he can, but keep an eye on how well he readjusts to the longest format.Team news: Jurel and Pant both set to playAgainst West Indies, India got away with playing practically a ten-man side. Given India’s need for a seam-bowling allrounder, Nitish Kumar Reddy was understandably given games to develop his skills, but he hardly had a role to play in the series. Now, with their No. 1 Test wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant fit again, India have decided to keep Dhruv Jurel in the XI as a specialist batter and release Reddy to the India A side. The rest of the team should remain unchanged.India (probable): 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 KL Rahul, 3 B Sai Sudharsan, 4 Shubman Gill (capt), 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Dhruv Jurel, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mohammed SirajTemba Bavuma should replace Dewald Brevis in South Africa’s XI•Associated Press

South Africa should look to replicate the combination that won their previous Test, against Pakistan in Rawalpindi. The batting ability of their first-choice attack gives them depth without compromising the bowling. Marco Jansen should pip Wiaan Mulder to the XI because there’s unlikely to be assistance for traditional seam bowling. The returning captain Temba Bavuma should take Dewald Brevis’ spot.South Africa (probable): 1 Aiden Markram, 2 Ryan Rickelton, 3 Tristan Stubbs, 4 Tony de Zorzi, 5 Temba Bavuma (capt), 6 Kyle Verreynne (wk), 7 Senuran Muthusamy, 8 Simon Harmer, 9 Marco Jansen, 10 Keshav Maharaj, 11 Kagiso RabadaPitch and conditionsEarly indications suggest a good batting track at Eden Gardens, which could possibly bring reverse swing into the picture. There will be little grass on the pitch but it is not expected to be excessively dry or cracked either. A potentially tough task awaits the side that loses the toss.Stats and trivia Gill has won only one toss in seven Tests as captain. South Africa have not won the toss in their previous seven Tests in India. One of these unlucky runs will end on Friday. Kyle Verreynne is five short of becoming only the fifth South Africa wicketkeeper to reach 100 Test dismissals. Jadeja is just ten runs short of becoming only the fourth player in the world to achieve the double of 300 wickets and 4000 runs in Tests.

From watching videos of Kohli, the Tamil Nadu and Gujarat Titans batter has come a long way and is on the verge of stepping into his idol’s boots

Deivarayan Muthu07-Jun-2025″ [Very proud]. To play for the country in Test cricket…”B Sai Sudharsan’s mother, Usha Bharadwaj, says she is very proud, and then trails away, lost for words, when asked about the prospect of her son making his Test debut in England.”We Face-timed him as a family after he got picked in India’s Test squad,” she says. “Me and my husband are here in Chennai, [our] elder son is working in Australia, and Sai Sudharsan was in Ahmedabad.” Sai Sudharsan piled up a chart-topping 759 runs in 15 innings at a strike rate of 156.17 for Gujarat Titans this IPL season.Related

• Gambhir to rejoin India squad in Leeds on Tuesday

• Sai Sudharsan: 'I'm more confident now, and that helps me express myself and play my shots'

• Sai Sudharsan: 'I have expanded my batting; mentally I'm a bit more free and expressive'

• Sai Sudharsan: Feels 'surreal' to be part of India's Test squad

“We are in different parts of the world now, but that call took us back to 2020, when we trained together as a family,” she says.In December 2019, Sai Sudharsan was in tears after he was dropped from Tamil Nadu’s Under-19 team. He was not in great physical shape, and acknowledging it, channelled his hurt into working towards becoming a fitter, stronger player. Early the following year, he began training with his mother, a strength and conditioning coach, who used to be a volleyball player for Tamil Nadu. His father, R Bharadwaj, a former track athlete who represented India at the South Asian Games in Dhaka in 1993, also played a key role.”During the [pandemic] period, we started training together,” Usha says. “I took care of his strength and conditioning, while my husband took care of Sai Sudharsan’s running and ground training. We wanted to make sure he had strength and endurance – the foundation for fitness. If you have both, you can push to play any sport. Flexibility is also important.”Because of Covid, all of us had to be indoors, and fitness became a family activity for us. Sai Sudharsan got addicted to it, and I also showed him videos of Virat Kohli, which motivated him and encouraged to become fitter and stronger. His brother also chucked a lot of balls to him at the nets. He used to do push-ups and then challenge Sai Sudharsan to do it.”It takes a village: Sai Sudharsan with his brother, B Sairam (second from right) and his parents, who have all had played a part in his cricket success•B SairamFrom there on, Sai Sudharsan became obsessed with improving himself and evolving. Having grown up playing on extreme turners in Chennai, he was always good against spin, but his batting against pace needed some fine-tuning. He exposed himself to side-arm throwdowns at speeds upwards of 140kph, and picked up the ramp shot from Gujarat Titans team-mate Matthew Wade.Most batters would have been satisfied with the kind of returns he got in this year’s IPL, but Sai Sudharsan is not most batters. He signed off from the tournament saying he has “a lot of things to improve” as a T20 batter.His coaches and seniors have marvelled at his hunger to train harder and bat longer than anyone else. He has had to be dragged out of the nets by his coaches on occasion. Even when he travelled to Ahmedabad to collect a number of awards after the IPL, he managed to squeeze in some net sessions.”Sai Su is someone who is religious about his nets and practice,” R Sai Kishore, Sai Sudharsan’s captain at Tamil Nadu and long-time IPL team-mate at GT, says. “How do I put it? He’s mad about practice and there is no room for complacency at all – something that we spoke about even after the IPL ended.Sai Sudharsan receives his Surrey cap from Alec Stewart in 2023. He averages 35 in his five innings in the County Championship, including a hundred against Nottinghamshire last year•Ben Hoskins/Getty Images for Surrey CCC”From 2021 to 2022, there was a massive difference in Sai Su’s game, 2022-23, there was again a massive difference, and so on every year.”That drive to keep getting better is the most amusing thing about him. To do this at 23, the sky is the limit for him.” Sai Kishore considers Sai Sudharsan an inspiration. “I might be a senior to him in terms of age and all, but I’ve learnt a lot from him.”Sai Sudharsan’s first-class average of 39.93 after 49 innings isn’t flash, but India’s selectors see potential and a high ceiling. He also has experience of playing in England, having turned out for a handful of games for Surrey across the 2023 and 2024 seasons.When the club first picked Sai Sudharsan, he had played fewer than ten first-class games and had not made his ODI debut. He made up for the lack of experience with his meticulous preparation. Alec Stewart, the former England wicketkeeper-batter, who was Surrey’s director of cricket at the time, was impressed.Before playing his first game for Surrey, against Northamptonshire in September 2023, Sai Sudharsan turned up for the county 2nd XI in Guildford, trying to acclimatise to the English conditions and the Dukes ball.With Gujarat Titans team-mate Sai Kishore, who says Sai Sudharsan has been an inspiration to him•BCCI”Sai came as an unknown and his experience of the English game was very limited,” Stewart says. “Vikram Solanki [the former England batter and current GT director of cricket] was massive in recommending him to me, and I have so much respect for Vikram. From his first training session, you could see that he was a special talent, and he hasn’t looked back. He loves to bat – whether in the nets or in the middle – and just fitted into our set-up perfectly.”Stewart reckons Sai Sudharsan’s soft hands and his range of shots will serve him well in English conditions.”He plays the ball late, and that’s the most important thing here. If you go too hard and get too far out in front of yourself, when the ball seams, you’re not in control, then your bat can get outside of your eyeline, whereas he plays it under his eyeline, plays it under his eyes, and plays it late. And even if he does nick it a little bit, like Kane Williamson, for example – you can nick it, but it still falls short of slip and that again is a real attribute of Sai’s.”The pitches are quicker here, certainly at The Oval, and to succeed, you have to be able to play off the back foot. You’ve got to be selective to pull, hook, cut or let go. He gets out of the [line of the] short ball well but can also play the uppercut over the slips. He’s got a full array of shots, and he gets them in right order.”The Dukes ball has a tendency to swing more than the Kookaburra and the SG ones, but Sai Sudharsan has had enough practice with it.You shall know him by the colour of his cap: Sai Sudharsan with his harvest of trophies for topping the run table and other feats in this year’s IPL•BCCI”When he’s gone back home, he’s taken some of our Dukes cricket balls back with him,” Stewart says. “I didn’t charge him for them and just let him have them,” he laughs. “But, no… he had that forward-thinking [mindset] and trained with those balls, so that when he comes back to us, or hopefully [is] picked for India on tour, he’ll have had nice practice against the Dukes cricket ball as well.”Some of those will probably be worn out by now because I gave them to him last year, but he’s a quick learner and he practises with a purpose. Yes, he likes volume, but he also likes to improve.”From watching videos of Kohli shown him by his mother, Sai Sudharsan is now a frontrunner to slot into India’s top four in the post-Kohli Test era. Stewart, a veteran of over 130 Tests, has some advice for the young batter.”Obviously big shoes to fill, with Mr Kohli standing down,” Stewart says. “But no one can do what Virat has done. If he can go in and almost not think of ‘I’m Virat’ because he’s not replacing him… Virat has retired. And therefore, can he not be the next Virat but can he be the best version of Sai Sudharsan? Then India have got yet another high-quality cricketer.”Sai Kishore believes Sai Sudharsan won’t be weighed down by the pressure of expectations and backs him to make the step up to Test cricket successfully. “Sai Su has no stage fright,” he says. “He made his IPL debut before he made his first-class debut. Be it TNPL [Tamil Nadu Premier League], TN, county, IPL or India, he was never taken aback by the situation or by the atmosphere. You come across a lot of skilful players, but they may not have the right mindset. Sai Su is supremely skilled and mentally strong, which is quite a rare combination.”India will enter a new era in England without the old firm of Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Sai Sudharsan could be one of the new faces who defines that new era.

While most batters have struggled in Australia over the last four summers, Head has thrived saying he enjoys the greener pitches more than flatter ones

Alex Malcolm24-Oct-2025Travis Head is hoping for seam-friendly pitches in the Ashes and says he enjoys batting on such surfaces more so than flatter ones believing that it presents more opportunities to score.The pitches that will be presented in the Ashes is a major talking point with the Test surfaces in Australia over the past four summers trending heavily in favour of the seam bowlers compared to decades past.Head was the player of the series in the 2021-22 Ashes following stunning centuries on challenging pitches in Brisbane and Hobart. He is hoping for more of the same this summer.Related

Will Australia's pitches be juicy for the Ashes?

Boland: 'I've got my own internal motivations'

'Takes me two hits' – Smith already feels in the Ashes groove as captaincy looms

Australia's top order: What are the selectors' options?

“I probably enjoy batting on those sort of wickets,” Head told ESPNcricinfo. “The flatter wickets, with the grind, that more so challenge technique, I think, over longer periods of time [trying] to eke out runs has never probably come as natural to me with being a stroke player and wanting to get on with it. And the slower, flat wickets probably don’t tend to that. But fast-paced pitches that nip, you can maybe get away with a few things.”And then obviously the way I want to play is if they present opportunities to score, you score. So when they’re greener, they pitch up a little bit more and a bit fuller, and the style that I play, if they miss a little bit, I’m able to hopefully score and get busy.”It’s a run based game. You see some of the great players, like Steve Smith, Joe Root, you blink and they’re on 30 or 40. And that’s something that I’ve always appreciated, and definitely [on] these wickets, you know that you potentially have got one with your name on it. You can still play well. You can still get runs. Sometimes you’ve got that go about it in different ways. But ultimately, it’s a game where you go try and score as many as you can.”Since the start of the 2021-22 Ashes, top seven batters have averaged just 30.22 per dismissal in Test matches in Australia and combined for 24 centuries across 20 Test matches. In the four summers before that, from the start of 2017-18 Ashes to the end of the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar series, top seven batters averaged 38.14 across 20 Tests with 34 centuries scored.