Let us look at some of the most-discussed cricket stories on the news on 28 July.
World Test Championship final most watched of the tournament
The final between India and New Zealand, in Southampton last month, was the most watched across all series of the inaugural ICC World Test Championship. The match was viewed by 177 million across the globe. Of them, 130.6 million across 89 territories witnessed it live.
India contributed most of the audience with Star Sports and Doordarshan, which accounted for a whopping 94.6% consumption. Star had also produced local language feed in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada.
The hard-fought contest saw New Zealand emerge as the inaugural champions after their eight-wicket win on the Reserve Day.
ICC Rankings: Hasaranga climbs to second spot, Bhuvneshwar 16th
Wanindu Hasaranga surpassed Rashid Khan to rise to a career-best second place in the latest ICC T20I Rankings among bowlers. Hasaranga now has 720 points, one more than Rashid’s 719. Tabraiz Shamsi still holds the top spot, with a lead of 72.
Alongside these three, there are six wrist spinners in the top ten. The others are Adil Rashid (fourth), Adam Zampa (seventh) and Ish Sodhi (ninth).
Bhuvneshwar Kumar moved up four slots to 16th after his match-winning 4-22 in the first T20I against Sri Lanka.
West Indies vs Pakistan 1st T20I abandoned due to persistent rain
The first match of the four-T20I series between West Indies and Pakistan in Barbados was called off after relentless rain interrupted the chase. Earlier, incessant rain had reduced the contest to a nine-over a side.
Pakistan won the toss and asked West Indies to bat. Kieron Pollard’s men finished on 85/5, with Pollard himself top-scoring with 22 not out. Hasan Ali was the pick of the Pakistani bowlers, with 2-11.
De Silva guides Sri Lanka to 4-wicket win against India
Sri Lanka beat India by four wickets in the second T20I to level the three-match series 1-1, in Colombo. Batting first, India reached 132/5 on a sluggish Premadasa pitch, with Shikhar Dhawan top-scoring 40 off 42 balls.
Coming to defend, the Indian bowlers, led by Varun Chakravarthy (4-0-18-1), put a valiant effort but it was still not enough. Dhananjaya de Silva (40*) remained unbeaten until the end and took Sri Lanka past the finishing line with two balls to spare.