Karthik Krishnaswamy
Verified
He/him. Cricket writer by day, photographer by night. Except when I work night shifts. Which is often.
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Karthik Krishnaswamy
Standardize AI delivery with F5 NGINX Gateway Fabric
F5 ADSP | June 19, 2026 Enterprises are moving quickly from AI experimentation to AI operations. That shift changes what organizations need from application delivery infrastructure. For years, Kubernetes traffic management was often treated as a technical implementation detail. Platform teams selected an ingress controller, application teams configured routes, and security teams added controls where they could.
Minimal risk, maximum reward: How old-school Prabhsimran took centre stage
Sixes are the primary currency of T20 cricket, but sometimes you can get a game like Thursday night's at the Wankhede Stadium. Mumbai Indians (MI) hit 11 sixes to Punjab Kings' (PBKS) nine, but ended up not just losing but getting hammered: PBKS romped home with 21 balls remaining. Four batters - two from each side - made 50-plus scores, and Prabhsimran Singh hit the fewest sixes (two) of them all. But he ended up with easily the best strike rate of the four, 205.12.
Minimal risk, maximum reward: How old-school Prabhsimran took centre stage
The handsome actor is giving fans what they want in his latest Instagram post. Thank you, Ryan Phillippe! The handsome actor is known for showing off …
Mumbai Indians in danger of being left behind as IPL changes gear
Karthik Krishnaswamy On Saturday, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) faced off in an epic powerplay slugfest . SRH scored 105 for no loss in their first six overs, and PBKS replied with 93 for no loss. The result ended up hinging on what the two teams did in their other 14 overs, but there is little chance PBKS could have pulled off a chase of 220 had they not come close to matching SRH's powerplay. This is how the IPL looks in 2026.
Bumrah, Hazlewood... all child's play for Sooryavanshi
Yes, sure, he hit a six off the very first ball he faced from Jasprit Bumrah, but listen, hear me out, wasn't that a bit of a hit-me ball? When someone as absurdly young as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi does things that would astonish you even if they came from someone within the accepted age range for elite sportspersons, it is an entirely understandable and human reaction to explain it away as something other than an outlier-among-the-outliers level of genius. He's a kid, you know?
Sooryavanshi vs Bumrah: half the age, twice the audacity
Rain has made us wait nearly three hours. And when it arrives, it's 11 overs a side rather than 20. This has a lot of consequences, but we are mostly worried about one of them. The world's first sighting of Jasprit Bumrah vs Vaibhav Sooryavanshi could have happened last year. It could have happened three days after Sooryavanshi played that innings. He has played many innings since then that merit that italicised emphasis, but you know the one we're talking about.
With ability to match his intent, Patidar makes a case India can't ignore
Tim David was batting on 35 off 17 balls at the start of the 19th over. Then he hit Jamie Overton for 6, 2, 4, 6, 6, 6 in one of the most merciless bursts of end-overs hitting you will see in IPL 2026. And yet it took until the fifth ball of that sequence for David's strike rate to sneak past that of the guy at the other end. That guy, Rajat Patidar, had begun the transformation that David was now taking to its apogee.
Sameer 'Wristvi' comes of age to dismantle fast bowling with flair
Short and wide. Together, over the long arc of cricket's history, these two words, taken together, have almost always denoted a bad ball, and almost always one delivered through loss of control. It isn't so simple in T20s, though. When Corbin Bosch bowled short and wide at Sameer Rizvi in the 11th over of Delhi Capitals' (DC) chase of 163 against Mumbai Indians (MI), he probably did so because he wanted to.
Ajinkya Rahane has evolved in T20s, but KKR's middle-overs batting hasn't
Almost exactly a decade ago at the Wankhede Stadium, Ajinkya Rahane played an innings that changed T20 cricket forever. It wasn't just that one innings that did it, and it didn't happen all at once, but to look at that scorecard now, a decade on, is to gaze upon an artefact of a long-lost past. On that day, in a T20 World Cup semi-final, Rahane spent 15.3 overs at the crease and scored 40 off 35 balls, hitting two fours and no sixes. India lost just two wickets while posting a total of 192.
A Padikkal the world had seldom seen before
Karthik Krishnaswamy It is 2026, and six-hitting in T20s has almost completely shifted from the art end of the spectrum to the science end. Hitting slot balls for six? Even tailenders can do that. Even so, a slot-ball six comes along every now and then, and makes you sit up straight after hours spent in an unedifying, semi-comatose slouch on your sofa.
The greatest 2026 T20 World Cup performance
Marco Jansen 4 for 22 vs India, Super Eight by Firdose Moonda They called South Africa versus India in the Super Eight the final before the final (and it might have been a more competitive final if it had actually been the final), and its outcome pointed to a different winner than the eventual one. South Africa's dominant win over India fuelled belief they could finally go all the way.
The greatest T20 World Cup 2026 performance
Marco Jansen 4 for 22 vs India, Super Eight by Firdose Moonda They called South Africa versus India in the Super Eight the final before the final (and it might have been a more competitive final if it had actually been the final), and its outcome pointed to a different winner than the eventual one. South Africa's dominant win over India fuelled belief they could finally go all the way.
Abhishek, Samson, Kishan: How India's top order attained accidental perfection
Karthik Krishnaswamy It was 0 for 0 and four balls had elapsed. Sanju Samson had announced himself in the grandest possible manner over his previous two innings, but this was a new day, the biggest day of them all, and he was facing an opposition he had struggled against only a few weeks earlier, so badly that he had lost his place in the team. Matt Henry was nipping the new ball around, and had already gone up once in appeal for lbw.
Big-match boss: Hardik Pandya is India's everywhere allrounder
Karthik Krishnaswamy He bowled the final over at the Chinnaswamy a decade ago. He bowled the final over at Kensington Oval two years ago. He bowled the 19th over on Thursday night at the Wankhede . If India are bowling second in a T20 World Cup match of immense significance and the contest goes right down to the wire, Hardik Pandya is usually in the middle of it, ball in hand, typically bowling right after Jasprit Bumrah has finished his final over.
Numero uno no more: Could India consider leaving Varun out for the final?
Karthik Krishnaswamy The world's top-ranked T20I team is in the final of the T20 World Cup . They've got there with the world's top-ranked T20I batter and top-ranked T20I bowler enduring miserable tournaments. It's hard to find a clearer illustration of just how good India are, and just how deep their reserves of ability and experience run.
Yorkers to order: How the Bumrah effect rescued India's cause
Karthik Krishnaswamy England needed 45 in 18 balls. And they decided they would not take any chances to try and manufacture boundaries off a third of those balls. And it was understandable. It was okay. It was even smart. Because Jasprit Bumrah bowled those six balls. When sport becomes theatre, it often does so through the medium of unpredictability. The 18th over of Thursday night's T20 World Cup semi-final was different. It was sporting drama of heightened predictability.
Samson finally takes centre stage, and the wait has been worth it
Karthik Krishnaswamy "I'm not here to score lots and lots of runs. I'm here to score a small amount of runs which is very effective for the team." Sanju Samson said this in May 2022, on the YouTube show Breakfast With Champions . He had just been dropped from India 's T20I squad for a series against South Africa, and in effect been told he wasn't in the selectors' plans for that year's T20 World Cup.
The trademark Sanju Samson stillness is back and so are the runs
Stillness. It's always been a defining feature of Sanju Samson's batting. Perhaps even the defining feature. And it seemed to have deserted him at the most inconvenient time. A T20 World Cup was around the corner, and he was all set to start it as India's first-choice opener-keeper. He had been part of the squad that won the 2024 edition, but he had spent all of it on the bench. This was going to be his time. Except he fell into the worst kind of rut.
Still sixy: West Indies lose but retain that 2016 feeling
A hip-high short ball from Corbin Bosch, an effortless shovel-pull from Romario Shepherd, a landmark moment in the history of the T20 World Cup. This six, in the 16th over of Thursday afternoon's Super Eight game in Ahmedabad, was the 63rd of West Indies' tournament. This six took West Indies past their own previous record, from 2024, for the most sixes hit by any team at a T20 World Cup.
Hosts India not feeling at home at all
Karthik Krishnaswamy 231 for 5. 238 for 7. 271 for 5. Those were India's totals the last three times they batted first in T20Is in the lead-up to this World Cup. Their last three chases included two awe-inspiring displays of power: a target of 209 gunned down with 28 balls remaining, then 154 with 60 balls remaining. All these games came against top-drawer oppositions in South Africa and New Zealand. Coming into this tournament, India's batters were putting down the scariest of markers.
Do India have an offspin issue at this World Cup?
Karthik Krishnaswamy Sometimes, the obvious plan is the best plan. The composition of India 's top order at this T20 World Cup - six left-hand batters in their first-choice top eight - almost cries out for opponents to bowl a lot of offspin at them. They have done exactly that. With excellent results.
NZ and SA look ahead to Super Eights in low-pressure contest
Karthik Krishnaswamy Big picture - Not much riding Wednesday afternoon's all-time classic in Ahmedabad was a game of inches. A couple of inches this way or that, and Saturday night's game, at the same venue, could have had a whole lot more riding on it.
Kishan, Hardik, spinners hand India record win
A post shared by Echo Sorts (@echosorts) Karthik Krishnaswamy India 209 for 9 (Kishan 61, Hardik 52, Erasmus 4-20) beat Namibia 116 (Steenkamp 29, Varun 3-7, Axar 2-20, Hardik 2-21) by 93 runs Ishan Kishan set things up with a 20-ball half-century, Hardik Pandya made a 27-ball half-century and picked up took two wickets. Varun Chakravarthy took three wickets in his first ten balls. India posted a 200-plus total, and didn't let Namibia get anywhere near them.
Indian Premier League
Gujarat Titans 181 for 5 (Gill 86, Varun 2-34) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 180 (Green 79, Rabada 3-29, Siraj 2-23, Ashok 2-45) by five wickets A display straight out of Gujarat Titans' (GT) time-tested playbook - high-quality fast bowling to restrict the opposition, and a chase of a below-par target led by the silken Shubman Gill - ensured Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) remained winless six games into their IPL 2026 campaign.
Suryakumar Yadav cashes in when no one else does
Karthik Krishnaswamy Suryakumar Yadav has six half-centuries in T20 World Cups. Three have come against Associate teams, and two against recent or recent-ish Associates Afghanistan and Zimbabwe. Seldom has a cricketer assembled a more misleading record. On Saturday night he made his second T20 World Cup fifty against USA, leading India to victory by 29 runs. Seldom has a T20I finished with a more misleading margin.
India bring that 2007 Aussie World Cup aura
Since the end of the 2024 T20 World Cup, 11 Full-Member batters have 150-plus strike rates against both pace and spin in T20Is, with a minimum of 50 balls faced against both kinds of bowling. Four of the 11 are India batters. That won't surprise anyone. India are world champions in this format, and they have, by common consensus, become an even more formidable team while building up to their title defence. One of their means of doing this has been a frightening powering-up with the bat.
Kishan century, Arshdeep five-for complete New Zealand's demolition
Karthik Krishnaswamy India 271 for 5 (Kishan 103, Suryakumar 63, Hardik 42, Ferguson 2-41) beat New Zealand 225 (Allen 80, Arshdeep 5-51, Axar 3-33) by 46 runs After the setback of Visakhapatnam , where they paid the price for picking a lopsided, experimental team short on batting depth, normal service resumed in Thiruvananthapuram as India went back to full strength both in terms of personnel and hitting muscle.
Can New Zealand finally crack India in T20I series?
Karthik Krishnaswamy Big picture - Last hurdle before World Cup New Zealand have pulled off series wins over India in India for the first time in Tests and ODIs in the span of just over a year. Can they pull off a first in a proper T20I series too, discounting the one-off match they won in 2012? They've had two previous attempts, in 2017 and 2023 . Both were three-match series, both went into deciders, and both times India finished 2-1 up.
Match Preview India vs New Zealand, 1st T20I 2026
Big picture - Last hurdle before World Cup New Zealand have pulled off series wins over India in India for the first time in Tests and ODIs in the span of just over a year. Can they pull off a first in a proper T20I series too, discounting the one-off match they won in 2012? They've had two previous attempts, in 2017 and 2023. Both were three-match series, both went into deciders, and both times India finished 2-1 up.
Samson, Suryakumar in the spotlight; and Shreyas or Kishan to replace Tilak?
With five games remaining before they begin their defence of the T20 World Cup, India have most of their jigsaw in place. Seven of their first XI pick themselves -- eight if Tilak Varma is fit -- with one selection (a fast bowler vs Kuldeep Yadav) coming down to conditions.That is an enviable level of clarity and stability, judged against some of the other big teams building up to the tournament.
Mitchell, Phillips centuries trump Kohli's as New Zealand win first-ever ODI series in India
Karthik Krishnaswamy New Zealand 337 for 8 (Mitchell 137, Phillips 106, Arshdeep 3-63, Rana 3-84) beat India 296 (Kohli 124, Reddy 53, Rana 52, Clarke 3-54, Foulkes 3-77) by 41 runs A little over a year since winning their first-ever Test series in this country, New Zealand have beaten India in India for the first time in an ODI series. Arriving with a squad severely depleted by injury, they have come from 1-0 down to win 2-1.
Recent Match Report - India vs New Zealand 3rd ODI 2026
New Zealand 337 for 8 (Mitchell 137, Phillips 106, Arshdeep 3-63, Rana 3-84) beat India 296 (Kohli 124, Reddy 53, Rana 52, Clarke 3-54, Foulkes 3-77) by 41 runs A little over a year since winning their first-ever Test series in this country, New Zealand have beaten India in India for the first time in an ODI series. Arriving with a squad severely depleted by injury, they have come from 1-0 down to win 2-1.
Arshdeep comes in as India ask New Zealand to bat in ODI series decider
Karthik Krishnaswamy Toss India chose to bowl vs New Zealand India brought Arshdeep Singh into their XI for the first time in this ODI series against New Zealand as they chose to bowl in the decider in Indore. India captain Shubman Gill did not think dew would be much of a factor in the evening, but felt it would be better to have a target in sight in what has traditionally been a high-scoring venue.
Arshdeep comes in as India ask New Zealand to bat in ODI series decider
Toss India chose to bowl vs New ZealandIndia brought Arshdeep Singh into their XI for the first time in this ODI series against New Zealand as they chose to bowl in the decider in Indore.
Arshdeep comes in as India ask New Zealand to bat in ODI series decider
Toss India chose to bowl vs New Zealand India brought Arshdeep Singh into their XI for the first time in this ODI series against New Zealand as they chose to bowl in the decider in Indore. India captain Shubman Gill did not think dew would be much of a factor in the evening, but felt it would be better to have a target in sight in what has traditionally been a high-scoring venue.
Ghosts of finals past: When Rahul's what-if met Mitchell's unfinished business
Karthik Krishnaswamy Shubman Gill out pulling. Rohit Sharma slicing high over the off side. Virat Kohli bowled off the inside edge, looking to dab down to third. All this with India batting first on a slower-than-expected pitch in the state of Gujarat. Why did all this feel so familiar? This ODI series between India and New Zealand is awkwardly situated, taking place just over a month from the start of a T20 World Cup.
India scrape home after Kohli, Gill hit half-centuries
Karthik Krishnaswamy India 306 for 6 (Kohli 93, Gill 56, Iyer 49, Jamieson 4-41) beat New Zealand 300 for 8 (Mitchell 84, Nicholls 62, Conway 56, Siraj 2-40, Prasidh 2-60, Rana 2-65) by four wickets With scores of 74*, 135, 102 and 65* in his last four ODIs, Virat Kohli seemed to be telling the world he was no longer willing to be dismissed unless he had reached three figures.
Recent Match Report - India vs New Zealand 1st ODI 2026
India 306 for 6 (Kohli 93, Gill 56, Iyer 49, Jamieson 4-41) beat New Zealand 300 for 8 (Mitchell 84, Nicholls 62, Conway 56, Siraj 2-40, Prasidh 2-60, Rana 2-65) by four wickets With scores of 74*, 135, 102 and 65* in his last four ODIs, Virat Kohli seemed to be telling the world he was no longer willing to be dismissed unless he had reached three figures. This sequence seemed to be stretching into the new year, with Kohli batting on 93 and taking full control of a chase of 301.
What's gone wrong for Suryakumar Yadav?
Karthik Krishnaswamy Not out of form, but out of runs. You've heard this a few times from India 's T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav over recent months. He said it during the Asia Cup post-tournament press conference in September , when most minds were elsewhere. He said it again on Sunday, at the post-match presentation of the third India-South Africa T20I in Dharamsala. "I've been batting beautifully in the nets, I'm trying everything that I can, what's in my control," he said.
What's gone wrong for Suryakumar Yadav?
Not out of form, but out of runs. You've heard this a few times from India's T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav over recent months. He said it during the Asia Cup post-tournament press conference in September, when most minds were elsewhere. He said it again on Sunday, at the post-match presentation of the third India-South Africa T20I in Dharamsala. "I've been batting beautifully in the nets, I'm trying everything that I can, what's in my control," he said.
Quinton de Kock's 90 powers SA to massive win
Karthik Krishnaswamy South Africa 213 for 4 (de Kock 90, Ferreira 30*, Varun 2-29) beat India 162 (Tilak 62, Baartman 4-24, Jaansen 2-25, Ngidi 2-26, Sipamla 2-46) by 51 runs If India defied losing the toss and getting the worst of the conditions, theoretically, in Cuttack, South Africa did the same in New Chandigarh to come roaring back into the T20I series , which is now locked 1-1 with three matches to go.
Recent Match Report - India vs South Africa 2nd T20I 2025
India chose to bowl vs South Africa India have opted to bowl first in the second T20I against South Africa in New Chandigarh, with captain Suryakumar Yadav noting that the outfield already had dew on it when the players were warming up. Conditions are only likelier to get dewier as the evening wears on. India, as expected, were unchanged.
Strong India face shaky South Africa in key build-up to T20 World Cup
Karthik Krishnaswamy Big picture Since contesting a nail-biting T20 World Cup final in 2024, India and South Africa have gone in different directions in T20Is. India have arguably become an even better team since lifting that trophy, achieving a 26-4 record (24 outright wins and two Super Over wins) with a brand of play perfectly suited to the conditions they will defend their title in February-March 2026.
Match Preview India vs South Africa, 1st T20I 2025
Big picture Since contesting a nail-biting T20 World Cup final in 2024, India and South Africa have gone in different directions in T20Is. India have arguably become an even better team since lifting that trophy, achieving a 26-4 record (24 outright wins and two Super Over wins) with a brand of play perfectly suited to the conditions they will defend their title in February-March 2026. South Africa, meanwhile, have won nine and lost 16 of their T20Is since that day in Barbados.
Five ways India achieve Test rebound, especially at home
After a bruising visit by South Africa that left them nursing a 5-2 win-loss record over their last three home series, India go into a long hibernation in Test cricket. Their next WTC series is a two-match tour of Sri Lanka slated for August 2026. How do India bounce back from the 2-0 defeat to South Africa, and what should their road ahead look like? Here are five things they might want to keep in mind. Bin the rank turner What is the ideal home pitch for India?
India's Test team - a whole too full of holes
Things surely can't get any worse. The only way from here, surely, is up. These are thoughts India's fans must have consoled themselves with at various points over the last year and a bit of home Tests. Each time, they've only discovered that things can certainly get worse, and that directions other than up are always in play. From Bengaluru to Pune to Mumbai. And from there, after the brief lull of Ahmedabad and Delhi, to Kolkata and Guwahati.
Recent Match Report - India vs South Africa, South Africa tour of India, 2nd Test
South Africa 489 (Muthusamy 109, Jansen 93, Kuldeep 4-115) and 260 for 5 decl. (Stubbs 94, de Zorzi 49, Jadeja 4-62) beat India 201 (Jaiswal 58, Washington 48, Jansen 6-48) and 140 (Jadeja 54, Harmer 6-37) by 408 runs In front of empty stands in India's newest Test venue, South Africa competed their utter domination of the hosts with a whitewash and their heaviest Test defeat in terms of runs.
Harmer flips Test cricket in India upside down
If you are an India fan, Tuesday may have brought a weird sense of déjà vu India, dominating a home Test and sitting on a massive lead, bat on and on into the last session of day four. Social-media explodes with complaints that they are scoring too slowly, delaying the declaration for too long. They declare when one of their batters is dismissed in sight of a hundred. More disgruntlement, because personal milestones yadda yadda. Then R Ashwin comes on, takes the new ball, and shuts everyone up.
India suffer 68 balls from hell in a hellish year at home
A charge down the track, a slog. An edge to the keeper, a burned review. All this from a batter facing his eighth ball. All this with India 1-0 down in a two-Test series. At 105 for 4 in reply to South Africa's 489. Right after they had lost three wickets for 10 runs. All this from the stand-in captain, Rishabh Pant. This moment seemed to encapsulate everything that has gone wrong for -- and perhaps with -- India in home Tests over the last year or so.
India at the foot of the steepest of challenges they have overcome before
Innumerable hurdles remain, but India have crossed the first one. Their openers have survived the 6.1 overs they had to endure in fading light with nothing to gain and everything to lose. It's the one thing they'll feel thankful for after a bruising second day in Guwahati. India know how much worse it could be. The last time they played a home series against South Africa, in 2019-20, the shoe had been entirely on the other foot - theirs.
Show More
loading
Actions
Get in touch with Karthik
Contact Karthik, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack