Gayle’s sixes record, AB de Villiers picks favourites for the World Cup and more - Cricket News Today, 28th February 2019

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Glenn Maxwell’s scintillating ton led Australia to a 2-0 series win over India. It was India’s first T20I loss series against Australia at home and it was also their first series loss at home under Virat Kohli’s captaincy. Meanwhile, West Indies and England continue to battle it out in a high-scoring series. England racked up 418 before the Windies fought valiantly only to fall 29 runs short.

The first day of the first Test between New Zealand and Bangladesh was underway and the hosts finished day one on the front foot. The ICC also released its latest T20I rankings and there were some pretty big changes, especially in the batting department.

Here are today's top news stories from all around the cricketing world.

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AB de Villiers picks the top contenders for the World Cup

AB de Villiers took the world by surprise when he announced his retirement from international cricket last year in May. However, since then, he has been seen in various T20 leagues across the globe. He played in the Mzansi Super League (MSL) and Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) before travelling to the UAE for the Pakistan Super League (PSL).

If there is one question that dominates the cricketing talk in the world at the moment, it has to be surrounding the World Cup and who will walk in as strong contenders. The South African star was also asked the same and he found it difficult to pick one team. Instead, he picked five top contenders who might lift the World Cup title later this year. The former Proteas skipper also admitted that it’s tough to look beyond India and Pakistan in the 50-over format.

“It’s difficult to say who will win. You can’t look past India and Pakistan in the ODIs. Pakistan won the Champions Trophy, England are the hosts and you cannot discount Australia. South Africa would like to think they can win, so these are the five I have named who are the real big favourites,” AB de Villiers said, as quoted by Indian Express.

Chris Gayle breaches the 500 sixes mark; first international batsman to do so

Chris Gayle is a six-hitting monster and he has proven that time and again. He recently made a return to the Windies ODI side and has been in fabulous form. After bull-dozing his way to a century in the first game, he backed it up with a fifty in the second. After the third game was washed out, Gayle was in the zone again.

Chasing 418, Gayle went berserk as Grenada was struck by a massive Gayle Storm. The big Jamaican struck a blistering 97-ball 162, smoking 14 sixes. Though the hosts went on to lose the game by 29 runs, Gayle broke numerous records in his 97-ball knock. He became the second West Indian to breach the 10,000-run mark in ODI cricket. But the other record that he broke was a mind-boggling one. The self-proclaimed Universe Boss became the first man on the planet to hit 500 sixes in international cricket.

The next best is Shahid Afridi who struck 476 sixes in his international career. The others are way behind the 39-year-old opener. Among the active cricketers, only MS Dhoni has hit over 350 sixes.

Hazratullah Zazai breaks into top 10 T20I batsmen; Maxwell, KL Rahul move up the ladder as well

Hazratullah Zazai who is termed as Afghanistan’s Chris Gayle has been one of the talking points in world cricket over the last week or so. The 20-year-old Afghan opener blazed his way through to a record-breaking 162 in a T20I against Ireland (second-highest T20I score by a batsman). Overall, in the series, the left-hander scored 204 runs at an average of 102.00 and a strike-rate of 240.00. This performance helped him gain 31 places in the ICC T20I rankings for batsmen. He broke into the top 10 for the first time and now, occupies the seventh place. Meanwhile, Rashid Khan continues to be the No. 1 ranked T20I bowler and Mohammad Nabi also retained his No. 3 spot in the allrounder’s rankings.

Meanwhile, Glenn Maxwell and KL Rahul moved up the T20I rankings as well. Maxwell’s series-winning performance against India where he scored 56 and 113 not out, leading Australia to a 2-0 series win helped him climb up the ladder. He is now placed third. On the other hand, KL Rahul made a very good return to the national side as he scored 50 and 47 in the two games. Hence, he has gained four places to occupy the 6th place.

New Zealand on top after Tamim Iqbal's ton

Bangladesh have never won a Test match in New Zealand and their quest to register their maiden win in the longest format to a massive dent as they conceded the advantage on the opening day of the opening Test. After being put into bat, Bangladesh had a wonderful start.

Tamim Iqbal scored a fantastic ton as he raced to put pressure back on the Kiwi bowlers. They were 121/1 at one stage but then lost their way. They lost their last nine wickets for 113 runs as no other batsman apart from Tamim crossed the 30-run mark. The 29-year-old Bangladesh opener struck a near run-a-ball 126 but his efforts went in vain as no other batsman could put up a fight.

Neil Wagner picked up a five-wicket haul as he bounced out the Bangladesh batsmen into submission. Tim Southee chipped in with three wickets as well. In reply, the Kiwi openers got off to a solid start as they put on 86 runs for the first wicket and the stand is yet to be broken. Jeet Raval scored a solid half-century and is still unbeaten while Tom Latham is batting on 35.