Sri Lanka have named a strong 16-member squad led by Charith Asalanka for a six-match white-ball series involving three T20Is followed by three ODIs, against New Zealand. The T20I squad sees no changes from the group that recently played against New Zealand in a home series in November. With the team looking confident under Asalanka's leadership, they are set to carry forward the momentum they’ve built on their home turf.

The squad boasts a mix of experience and youth, with players like Kusal Mendis, Kusal Perera, and Dinesh Chandimal forming a solid batting core. Explosive talents like Avishka Fernando and Bhanuka Rajapaksa add firepower to the lineup, while all-rounders such as Wanindu Hasaranga and Kamindu Mendis promise balance.

The bowling unit looks equally formidable, featuring spin maestro Maheesh Theekshana and wrist-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay. The pace attack, led by Matheesha Pathirana and supported by Nuwan Thushara, Asitha Fernando, and Binura Fernando, will look to exploit New Zealand's bouncy pitches.

England’s premier batter Joe Root has made a return as the top-ranked Test batter in the ICC Rankings. Root, who made scores of 32 and 54 during the third Test against New Zealand in Hamilton, replaces his compatriot Harry Brook, who spent just one week as number one in the standings.

As per the latest update to the rankings, Root is now at 895 rating points, which is 19 points above Brook, who was dismissed for just zero and one as New Zealand beat England by 423 runs.

New Zealand batter Kane Williamson’s scores of 44 and 156 helped him close the gap on the leading two while Tom Latham (up six places to 31st), Will Young (up 13 places to a career-best 36th), Tom Blundell (up three places to 37th) and Mitchell Santner (up 17 places to 76th) are other batter making jumps in the rankings.

Australia skipper Pat Cummins has confirmed that fast-bowler Josh Hazlewood will be out of the remainder of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) series due to calf injury.

Hazlewood hurt his right calf during Australia's warm-ups on Tuesday morning. He bowled one over in the opening session on Day 4 before leaving the field with calf soreness. The 33-year-old pacer then underwent scans to assess the severity of the injury. Medical scans later confirmed he had strained his right calf, which led the pacer to miss the rest of the series.

"In terms of Joshie (Hazlewood), yes, obviously not ideal. He'll miss the series. Yeah, take a few weeks to recover and then build up again from there. So not sure exactly when that looks like, but it'll be at least this series," said Cummins to ABC Sport after the day's play on Wednesday.

Veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has announced his retirement from international cricket with immediate effect. Ashwin revealed his decision at the end of the third Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in Brisbane, which ended in a draw due to rain.

“This will be my last day as an Indian cricketer in all formats at the international level. I do feel there's a bit of punch left in me as a cricketer, but I would like to expose and probably showcase that in club level cricket, but this will be the last day. I've had a lot of fun.

“I must say I've created a lot of memories alongside Rohit and several of my other teammates, even though I've lost some of them over the last few years. We are the last bunch of OGs, if you can say that, left out of the dressing room. I'd be marking this as my date of having played at this level,” said Ashwin in the post-match press conference.

Ashwin ends his career with 537 wickets at average of 24 in 106 Tests and becoming India’s second leading wicket-taker after legendary leg-spinner Anil Kumble. He also scored six Test centuries and 14 fifties with the bat. His last international game was the day-night Test in Adelaide, where he took 1-53.

The Boxing Federation of India (BFI) has announced that India has been awarded the hosting rights for the prestigious World Boxing Cup Final 2025 and the World Boxing Congress 2025, scheduled to take place in November 2025. This landmark achievement underscores India’s growing prominence on the global boxing stage and reaffirms its capability to host world-class sporting events.

The World Boxing Cup Final 2025 is a highly anticipated ranking tournament that marks the culmination of three World Boxing Cups held earlier in the year. This elite event will bring together the world’s best boxers to compete for top honours, solidifying their global rankings and leaving an indelible mark on the sport.

Simultaneously, the World Boxing Congress 2025 will host stakeholders, officials, and dignitaries from the global boxing community. The Congress will serve as a platform to discuss critical developments, strategies, and the future roadmap for the sport.

India batter KL Rahul credited tailenders Akash Deep and Jasprit Bumrah for their unbeaten 39-run partnership for the last wicket that avoided a follow-on in the third Test against Australia on Tuesday.

The pacers batted their hearts out to rescue India from a dire situation on rain-hit Day 4 in Brisbane. India were 252/9 at stumps with Akash remaining unbeaten on 27 off 31 balls while Bumrah went not out on 10 runs. India still trail by 193 runs, and the possible result of the match depends on the weather conditions on Wednesday.

"It's very good to see when the lower order chips in and scores runs. That's something that we discuss a lot in our meetings and the bowlers work really hard on their batting as well and so it's really good to see that they could go there and get that little partnership and avoid the follow-on makes a huge difference knowing that there's a bit of rain around and so much of the game has been lost to rain. We need to find a way to stay in the game and I think Akash and Bumrah did that at the end and so a good way to end the day for us," Rahul, who scored 84 in the match, said in the press conference at the end of the day's play.

In an unexpected turn of events, Jasprit Bumrah and Akash Deep put on an unbeaten 39-run partnership to foil Australia’s hopes of enforcing a follow-on on Day 4 of the Third Test at The Gabba.

With India’s top order once again failing to hit the mark, barring KL Rahul who continued his fine showing in Australian conditions with a valiant 84-run innings, Australia assistant coach Daniel Vettori believes the showing by Bumrah and Akash can propel belief back into India’s top order for the remainder of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.

“I think we expect everything, I think we understand that any batter on any given day can step up and deliver, so I don't think we assume that anyone's going to live up to the average. I think you look at those averages and you think there's not much there, but Bumrah has proven that. He's been able to put on partnerships, he's been proven that he can attack and he can defend, and I think Akash’s better than a number 11, so the team within themselves all understand that every wicket's vitally important, so there was no reason to back off at all,” said Vettori at the post-day press conference.

Retiring fast bowler Tim Southee received a perfect sendoff from Test cricket as New Zealand clinched an emphatic 423-run triumph over England in the third Test on Tuesday.

It was New Zealand's biggest-ever Test win in terms of runs. While England had already clinched the series with wins in the opening two matches, the victory for New Zealand saw them rise to fourth place in the latest ICC World Test Championship standings.

England, meanwhile, fell to sixth in the standings and behind New Zealand (fourth) and Sri Lanka in fifth.

Southee picked up a pair of wickets during England's second innings to finish his career with 391 Test scalps in 107 Tests, with teammates Mitchell Santner (4-85) and Matt Henry (2-62) doing the majority of the damage to offset half-centuries from Jacob Bethell (76) and Joe Root (54).

Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan has made a return to the Test squad for the upcoming two-match series in Zimbabwe, said the country’s cricket body.

Afghanistan are currently playing the white-ball leg of the Zimbabwe tour before going on to play two Tests from December 26 to January 6 next year in Bulawayo.

Rashid had last played Tests back in March 2021, coincidentally against Zimbabwe in Abu Dhabi, ending in a 1-1 draw. Rashid then missed Afghanistan’s next Test assignments against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Ireland due to a combination of rest and injury.

Afghanistan have also given a call-up to left-arm top-order batter Sediqullah Atal, who has already played ODI and T20I matches for the side. Ismat Alam, a young medium-fast bowling all-rounder, has been recalled to the Test squad for the first time after scoring 723 runs and taking 12 wickets in the Ahmad Shah Abdali First Class Competitions.

Ahead of 2025 WPL auction happening on Sunday, defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru head coach Luke Williams said the mini auction provides a great chance for them to add players who can be impactful in the tournament.

RCB has retained captain Smriti Mandhana, Ellyse Perry, Richa Ghosh, Sabbineni Meghana, Shreyanka Patil, Georgia Wareham, Asha Sobhana, Renuka Singh, Sophie Devine, Sophie Molineux, Ekta Bisht, Kanika Ahuja and Kate Cross ahead of the auction.

They got England opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge via a trade from UP Warriorz for her existing fee of INR 30 lakh. RCB then released the likes of England captain Heather Knight, South Africa all-rounder Nadine de Klerk, India all-rounders Shubha Satheesh and Simran Bahadur, as well as uncapped players Disha Kasat, Indrani Roy, and Shraddha Pokharkar.