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KL Rahul hasn’t waited long to make a splash at IPL 2025 after his belated entry – he was on paternity leave the first two games for Delhi Capitals (DC) – and puts it down to being “back to enjoying my cricket”. His 15 in his first game came off five balls, and the match-winning 77 against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Saturday off 51 balls. The new approach is because “the team that hits more boundaries and sixes ends up winning the game”.Since IPL 2019, Rahul hadn’t topped 138.8 as far as the strike rate for a season goes. This included dips of 129.34 (2020) and 113.22 (2023) even as he scored between 520 and 670 runs in every season bar 2023, when he played just nine games. Being relieved of the captaincy (at Lucknow Super Giants) and being with DC as just a player seem to have freed him up.”I’ve worked really hard on my white-ball game the last year or so. Big shoutout to Abhishek Nayar. I’ve worked a lot with him ever since he’s come into the Indian team,” Rahul said in a chat with DC team mentor Kevin Pietersen on iplt20.com after DC’s win over CSK. “We’ve spent hours and hours together talking about my white-ball game and how I can be better. We worked hours and hours together in Bombay and somewhere I have found the fun playing white-ball cricket.”Related

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• KL Rahul shines as DC outclass CSK in Chennai

This was on display at the recent Champions Trophy, which India won, too. Rahul was the designated wicketkeeper and finisher, and had three unbeaten innings out of the four times he went out, scoring 140 runs at a strike rate of 97.90. There were five fours and five sixes in the 140.He has already hit eight fours and four sixes this IPL, and if the trend doesn’t change, he should go well beyond the 45 fours and 19 sixes he his last season, which ended with a much-talked-about, very public discussion with LSG owner Sanjeev Goenka. Goenka said after the season that he wanted to retain players who “have a mindset to win”. Rahul wasn’t retained. He said later that he wanted to be “loved, cared for and respected” by his team, and that he “wanted to start fresh”.”I think somewhere along the way I lost that fun of hitting boundaries and hitting sixes. I wanted to take the game deep, deep, deep and that somehow stuck in my head,” Rahul, who had once come under fire for saying “strike rate is very, very overrated”, told Pietersen. “But now I have realised I need to go back… cricket’s changed, and T20 cricket, especially, is only about hitting boundaries. The team that hits more boundaries and sixes ends up winning the game.”So back to enjoying my cricket. I am not thinking too much about the game, not thinking about taking it deep or none of that stuff. Just see [the] ball and try and be aggressive and put the pressure on the bowler and the opposition and just enjoy hitting boundaries.”

– Match abandonedPakistan and Bangladesh ended their disappointing Champions Trophy 2025 campaigns with a point each with the second successive match in Rawalpindi washed out. As on Tuesday, when the same fate befell the Australia vs South Africa game from Group B, the match was called off without even the toss taking place.Steady rain fell all afternoon at the stadium, with no opportunity for the covers to come off at any point. The match was called off at 3.27pm local time, just under an hour-and-a-half after the scheduled start time.This non-result was Rawalpindi’s last match of the tournament. Apart from the two washouts, it also hosted New Zealand’s five-wicket win over Bangladesh on February 24.Only one match now remains in Group A, with India taking on New Zealand in Dubai on March 2. It is a contest that will determine who finishes top of the group. Both teams are already through to the semi-finals.For the record, Bangladesh (-0.443) finished above Pakistan (-1.087) on net run-rate.Pakistan’s next assignment is a white-ball tour of New Zealand later this month, comprising five T20Is and three ODIs. Bangladesh, meanwhile, are set to host Zimbabwe for three ODIs and three T20Is.

The ECB has charged Vikram Banerjee with accelerating the “global growth” of the Hundred, appointing him managing director of the tournament with immediate effect.Banerjee has been promoted from director of business operations after overseeing Project Gemini, the Hundred’s private investment process which saw the eight teams valued at a combined £975 million.His brief is to finalise the new joint-venture agreements between investors and host counties before working to “ensure alignment and deliver on the strategic growth” of the Hundred, the ECB said on Thursday.A key component of the Hundred’s pitch to prospective investors was a sharp projected increase in the worth of its overseas broadcast rights, which are currently valued at just £2m. The ECB said that Banerjee’s new role would see him responsible for “accelerating the competition’s global growth”.Related

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Several new investors in teams have media interests in India and the United States. “The overseas market is very important to us,” Richard Gould, the ECB’s chief executive, said earlier this month. “The fact that we have got such a wide ranging set of investors from around the globe will, I believe, help us to add extra value to our overseas broadcast rights.”Gould said in a statement on Thursday: “Vikram has led the work to attract new partners into the competition superbly, and is the perfect person to now conclude these deals and work with the teams and investors to take the Hundred to the next level over the coming years.”It’s testament to the work of many people within the ECB and across the cricket network that the Hundred has already achieved so much, and there was such an appetite from partners wanting to get involved in it.”Rob Hillman, the ECB’s director of major events, will retain control of the Hundred’s operations and delivery, with Banerjee designated as a “strategic lead” focused on the commercialisation and future of the tournament. The ECB intends to form a standalone Hundred committee this year, with representation from the eight franchises, board non-executives, and independent directors.Banerjee said: “I’m delighted to be taking on this new role, and to be able to drive the competition forward, building on the success of the competition so far and working with a new group of partners who bring such an impressive range of skills and expertise from the very best of global sport and industry.”I look forward to concluding these deals and beginning to work together to grow the Hundred, bringing fans even more of the world’s best players, delivering even more exciting cricket and great fan experiences, and creating more new cricket fans at home and around the globe. I am incredibly excited about what the Hundred can achieve in the future, and the good it can do for the whole of our game.”The Hundred runs from August 5-31 this year, with teams finalising their retentions earlier this week ahead of the draft on March 12.

Big picture – Can Pakistan bring ODI momentum into Test series?

There’s one other Boxing Day Test, but this one is big too. If South Africa win at SuperSport Park, they will guarantee a place in the World Test Championship (WTC) final. If Pakistan win, they will keep outside hopes (so outside that they also require an over-rate penalty for South Africa) of getting to Lord’s alive, but more pressingly they will keep a nation on edge for another week.In reality, South Africa have some breathing room because they only need to win one of the next two Tests to get to the WTC final. Even with rain hanging around the Highveld, they’ll fancy their chances against a team that has not recorded a Test win in this country in nearly 18 years and not won a Test outside Asia since beating West Indies in August 2021. But pressure does strange things to players, especially South African players, and Pakistan, despite all the drama surrounding them, are a team who could exploit that.Related

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They went through a rotating door of coaches, selectors and administrators before coming to South Africa and were already in the country when their Test coach resigned, two weeks before the start of the series. Still, the build-up to this Boxing Day Test has had none of the shenanigans of Melbourne, mostly because the two sides were preoccupied with an ODI contest that serves as build-up to the Champions Trophy. Ten South Africa and seven Pakistan players from their respective Test squads were involved in that contest, which Pakistan won 3-0. If momentum is a factor, it is surely with them.South Africa’s batting, in particular, was undone, and worryingly for them three of their top four (Tony de Zorzi, Ryan Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs) all fell to the offspin of Salman Agha in the first ODI. Conditions are unlikely to suit him at SuperSport Park but the mental scars might be there and Temba Bavuma hopes it will be simple to get over them. “Whether it’s easy, whether it’s hard, we’ve got to find a way to do it,” he said. “Whatever, I don’t know, trauma that was there, you know, guys will have to deal with it.”Bavuma was also quick to remind that the Test space is different as it is where South Africa have more stability and focus with an immediate goal of the WTC final. The opposite might be said of Pakistan, who have won three ODI series in succession and are building towards a home Champions Trophy where they are defending the title.That may mean the teams head into this match with slightly different priorities in terms of their current form but that won’t minimise the sense of the occasion. A Boxing Day Test with plenty at stake, taking place at the same time as another Boxing Day Test, with even more on the line. It doesn’t get bigger than this.

Form guide

South Africa: WWWWW (last five Tests, most recent first)
Pakistan: WWLLLMohammad Abbas last played a Test match in August 2021•AFP

In the spotlight – Aiden Markram and Mohammad Abbas

It feels like Aiden Markram has had a difficult time of it across formats this year but his main difficulties have come in the format he captains in. He only has one score over 30 from 18 T20Is in 2024, and one fifty from six ODIs hasn’t helped his cause either, but his Test form has shown signs of improving. After a century in the New Year’s Test, Markram made fifties in Providence and Gqeberha and is also someone Bavuma says he “leans a lot on” when it comes to tactics and inspiring younger players. Most of all, Markram enjoys the continued support of his team-mates and Bavuma, in particular, who says he “empathises” with what Markram is going through but “that’s what makes elite sport tough. You’ve got to find a way to go through those challenges. And generally, when you get over to the other side, that’s where the satisfaction is.”It’s now or never for Mohammad Abbas who, at 34, is set to make his comeback after three years out of the national side seemingly without explanation. Abbas played 25 Tests between April 2017 and August 2021 and took 90 wickets at 23.02, but was discarded in favour of younger quicks despite excellent numbers on the county circuit. He has enjoyed four fruitful seasons at Hampshire where he has taken 180 wickets at 19.26 and finished among the top 10 wicket-takers in 2022 and 2023, and just outside in 2024. This season, he is the joint second-highest wicket-taker in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and has deservedly earned a recall and will hope to make it count. Abbas is 10 wickets away from 100 in Test cricket and if he gets there, will be the 20th bowler from Pakistan to reach the landmark.

Team news

Both Keshav Maharaj (groin strain) and Wiaan Mulder (broken finger) passed fitness tests ahead of the match but are not deemed match-fit yet. South Africa have chosen to go in without a frontline spinner – and without spin-bowling allrounder Senuran Muthusamy – and opted for a 7-4 split. Corbin Bosch, who bowls above 140kph regularly, will debut at his home ground and share bowling duties with Kagiso Rabada, Dane Paterson and Marco Jansen. Ryan Rickelton has been retained at No.3 with Tristan Stubbs moving to No.4.South Africa (probable): 1 Tony de Zorzi, 2 Aiden Markram, 3 Ryan Rickelton, 4 Tristan Stubbs, 5 Temba Bavuma (capt), 6 David Bedingham, 7 Kyle Verreynne (wk), 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Dane Paterson, 11 Corbin Bosch.Pakistan could follow South Africa’s lead and go all-pace, which would mean no space for Noman Ali, though they would still have Salman Agha at their disposal. In the seam department, then, Abbas, Aamer Jamal and Khurram Shahzad are likely to partner the 21-year old attack leader, Naseem Shah.Pakistan (probable): 1 Abdullah Shafique, 2 Saim Ayub, 3 Shan Masood (capt), 4 Babar Azam, 5 Saud Shakeel, 6 Mohammad Rizwan (wk), 7 Salman Ali Agha, 8 Aamer Jamal, 9 Khurram Shahzad, 10 Naseem Shah, 11 Mohammad AbbasIt has been nearly 18 years since Pakistan won a Test match in South Africa•Getty Images

Pitch and conditions

There has been significant rainfall on the Highveld in the lead-up to this Test match, which has made pitch preparation at SuperSport Park “difficult” in the words of one source. Two days out, the surface was fairly green which is in keeping with its reputation. Centurion is the most seamer-friendly wicket in the country, which also makes it the most difficult for batters. While Bavuma said he has “never played on a flat Centurion wicket”, days two and three are usually good for run-scoring, but with overhead cloud batters will “know that your work is going to be cut out for you and you’re going to have to work hard for your runs.” The match may also be interrupted with thunderstorms forecast for the first morning and afternoon and the second and third afternoon.

Stats and Trivia

• Eight batters have scored Test centuries for South Africa in 2024. It’s their joint-most in a calendar year, and their most in 12 years. They have previously had eight centurions in 2004, 2008 and 2012.
• Pakistan have won two of the 15 Tests they’ve played in South Africa, none since 2007, and none of their three at SuperSport Park. Their two wins have come at St George’s Park and Kingsmead, the grounds that hosted the recent Sri Lanka series.
• Kagiso Rabada is three wickets away from going past Dale Steyn and becoming the leading wicket-taker at SuperSport Park. Rabada has played just eight Tests at the venue and has only taken fewer than five wickets here on one occasion, against India in 2018. He averages just over seven wickets per Test in Centurion.
• Since January 2018, there have been seven Tests at SuperSport Park and a clear advantage for seam bowlers. They have taken 227 wickets at 23.22, compared with 16 wickets at 60.62 by spinners.

Quotes

“We accept and acknowledge the fact that many expectations would have risen on the team. There’ll be pressure that comes with that. But to be honest with you, we’re coming into the series to win the series 2-0. We understand that for us to do that, there’s certain things that we need to do as a team: keep things simple, keep doing the small things right, and allow the results to take care of itself. Obviously, one of those results is qualifying for the WTC final and obviously would like to see ourselves there. But, we’re here now.”
“When I went to Australia, I didn’t get the time to prepare properly. It was my first overseas tour there, and I made mistakes, but also learned what I could change. Here, in similar conditions, I have had the time to prepare and get into a positive frame of mind.”

A day after a virtual ICC board meeting concluded without finalising the venue for the Champions Trophy in 2025, a final decision remains elusive. The PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi was in Dubai today, and while he took in Pakistan’s Under-19 victory over India, there was greater intrigue over whether the PCB, the BCCI and the ICC have been able to come to an arrangement over next year’s tournament.As he did in the early hours of Thursday morning, Naqvi did not categorically rule out a hybrid model for the hosting of the tournament, something he has done in the past. “We will do whatever’s best for cricket,” he told reporters in Dubai. “If we adopt any other formula [except hosting the tournament in Pakistan], it will be done on the basis of equality. The most important thing for Pakistan is its respect; everything else is secondary.”Once more, Naqvi repeated what he stated multiple times at the Gaddafi Stadium earlier in the week. “A one-sided arrangement is no longer acceptable. It cannot be the case that we continue to go to India, but they do not visit Pakistan. Whatever happens must be on the basis of equality.”Related

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What form such an arrangement might look like, remains uncertain. Sources told ESPNcricinfo Pakistan are looking for an equitable solution across a three-year period where any arrangement made for the Champions Trophy is replicated for tournaments held in IndiaNaqvi’s repeated comments around “equality” have raised speculation that the PCB will seek to earn some concessions should they acquiesce to a hybrid model in any form. That could entail an agreement to have India play their matches outside Pakistan, but a decision that any future tournaments India hosts will offer provisions for Pakistan to play their matches outside India. There is also the possibility of some financial recompense for the PCB in addition to such an arrangement, though Naqvi did say earlier this week that decisions would not be based on money.ESPNcricinfo understands a decision should be reached in the next couple of days, though Naqvi’s comments suggest there remain significant loose ends to be tied up. In all likelihood, any proposal will have to be run past the governments of both India and Pakistan before it is presented to the ICC for approval; India was refused permission to travel to Pakistan by the Indian government and the PCB has said repeatedly, as a result, that any action they take will have to be approved by their government.”We need to settle this once and for all,” Naqvi said. “And whatever happens must see everyone treated equally. Any agreement will not be just for the Champions Trophy, but for the long term.”The tournament is due to begin in less than 90 days, on February 19. Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi are the venues scheduled to host the games, though if a hybrid option is chosen, that will involve another venue outside Pakistan. The UAE, where Naqvi met ECB officials earlier today, is the frontrunner in such a scenario.

Pakistan have made big changes to the squad for the second and third Tests against England. In addition to Babar Azam – whose omission ESPNcricinfo reported on Sunday – Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah are also out. A PCB statement said it had “taken into account the current form and fitness of key players” before leaving out the three players for the remaining two Tests.The decision to leave out arguably Pakistan’s three highest-profile players is little short of stunning. Pakistan’s chastening innings defeat after the first Test – following which captain Shan Masood criticised the bowling performance – was expected to result in several changes, though Masood and head coach Jason Gillespie called for continuity and asked players to be backed. However, the newly formed selection committee, announced on Friday, has gone the other way.