At 36 years & 146 days, Tabish Khan becomes second oldest player to make debut for Pakistan in Tests

Rajasthan Royals' star Chetan Sakariya's father admitted to hospital after testing positive for COVID-19

Rajasthan Royals latest recruit Chetan Sakariya rushed to the nearby hospital as soon as he reached home. The left-arm pacer’s father Kanjibhai had tested positive for COVID-19. In a conversation with The Indian Express, Sakariya said that he had received the payment from the RR franchise last week and the amount has come handy for his family in these tough times. I was lucky because I had received my part payment from Rajasthan Royals a few days ago. I straight away transferred money back home, and that is helping my family the most in my toughest time,” Sakariya said. There was a sudden spike in the COVID-19 cases in the country which led to lockdown in various parts. Courtesy this rise in the cases, there had been a demand on putting a halt on the IPL but for uncapped players like Skaariya, the cash-rich league is one of major sources of earning. “People are saying stop IPL. I want to tell them something, I am the only bread earner in my family. Cricket is the only source of my earnings. I can give better treatment to my father because of the money I earned from IPL. Had this tournament not happened for a month, it would have been tougher for me. I come from a poor family, my father all his life drove tempo and because of IPL my whole life was about to change,” he said. The IPL 2021 though was suspended with immediate effect earlier this week after there were some COVID-19 cases within the franchise teams. The left-arm bowler was bought by RR for a sum of Rs 1.20 Cr during the mini auctions held in Chennai in February. In seven matches that he played for RR, Sakariya scalped 7 wickets.

They didn’t even call: Disappointed Plunkett shreds into ECB for ill-treatment post World Cup win

Liam Plunkett was one of the heroes of the 2019 ODI World Cup final for England with his 3-42 spell in which he dismissed New Zealand skipper and player of the tournament Kane Williamson. He also scored 10 off 10 in the chase. However, the bowling all-rounder felt that the treatment meted to him by the England and Wales Cricket Board was disappointing. Speaking in an episode of Headstrong: An Innings With, Plunkett, 36, shredded into ECB and its management for not even conveying to him about where they were going with his future. “I can see where they were going it’s just the way it was done,” Plunkett explained about England’s policy of going with youngsters. “I found out on Twitter that I wasn’t going to South Africa [New Zealand], surely they can give me a call. It was just the way it was done; I thought it was shit, to be honest with you,” he added. Plunkett, who represented England in 89 ODIs, picking 135 wickets and scoring 646 runs with a 50 to go alongside was more disappointed, not because he was not selected, but because ECB didn’t deem it fit to call and tell him. “If someone actually called me to say, ‘Listen, being realistic, we’re going to go with the youngsters, thanks for everything you’ve done,” the dejected Yorkshire born said. After not being given Central Contract by ECB, Plunkteet had tweeted, “Disappointed is an understatement”. He further showcased his disappointment on Twitter after not being picked for the New Zealand tour as well. Plunkett who represented counties like Surrey, Durham and Yorkshire player confirmed that former ECB Chief selector Ed Smith did call him one year later after he was first dropped. “I got a call when the England squad played in the bubble, I think it was a 40-man squad [55]. I got a phone call a year later off Ed Smith saying, ‘Mate, you’re not in the squad.’ And I was like, ‘It’s pretty late now, you could have called me a year ago.’ It had sort of sailed by, there was no need to call then,” he said. Plunkett, who was planning to go to the USA and play cricket over there, but whose plan was halted by the Covid, further said that ‘it was just the way it was dealt with’ that made him frustrated with ECB’s approach. “I could see where they were going,” he said.

SRH’s Shreevats Goswami surprised at only Wriddhiman Saha testing positive for Covid-19

Sunrisers Hyderabad announced that their wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha had tested positive for covid-19. Saha’s close friend and his Bengal as well as SRH’s teammate Shreevats Goswami is finding it difficult to come to terms with the fact that only the former Bengal skipper got positive and nobody else. "It is quite surprising that how only Saha got it and none of us who were in close contact with him. We can assume things but can't confirm,” he told cricket.com The Indian Premier League was suspended and later postponed after many players started tasting positive for Covid-19, the first of them being Kolkata Knight Riders’ Varun Chakravarthy. Praising the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for hosting the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and Vijay Hazare Trophy without any fuss, the Bengal player who has played 55 First-Class and 31 IPL matches said, "When we were playing domestic cricket, COVID wasn't a great issue as it was low at that time. BCCI did a good job in completing the domestic season.” Tracing as to how Covid-19 might have entered the bubble, Goswami, 31, said, “In my opinion, everything was fine when the competition was in Mumbai and Chennai. Everything started going in different directions when travelled."

Mahi Bhai’s wicket favourite, Fizz a good reader of wicket: Chetan Sakariya opens up on maiden IPL experience

Rajasthan Royals’ Chetan Sakariya was one of the finds of the 2021 Indian Premier League. The left-arm pacer from Saurashtra lit up the ground right from his first game. But to him, the wicket of Mahendra Singh Dhoni which he took in his third game of IPL. “Mahi [Dhoni] bhai’s wicket was my favourite. I was happily shocked. It felt unreal. If you see the video, you will know how shocked I was,” Sakariya told Sportstar. Talking about how he overcame the pressure of playing at such a big stage with the biggest names the game has to offer, the 22-year-old said, “Initially, I felt the pressure but later on, I handled that. I bowled a few good spells to some great batsmen.” Apart from Dhoni’s, the Bhavnagar born took the wickets of the likes of KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal and Suresh Raina as well. Sakariya believes that he had more than a good IPL and did certainly better than he expected of himself. “I never thought I would bowl to them someday. That gave me a lot of confidence. I think I bowled better than I thought I would. I have to improve but I am happy with my performance,” he said. Taking seven wickets in this season, the son of an auto-rickshaw driver became the lynchpin of attack alongside Chris Morris and Mustafizur Rahman. Thanking the Bangladesh overseas bowler and England star Jos Buttler for their support, Sakariya said, “Mustafizur is a good reader of the wicket. He will tell you when to bowl your slower delivery. He knows how to unsettle the rhythm of a batsman.” “Buttler, though a batsman, told me a lot about bowling in the Powerplay. He would stand beside me when I bowled during the practice games. He told me to stick to the length and not worry about conceding a boundary. It’s just that there should not be a single loose delivery,” Sakariya added and went on to even thank his Saurashtra skipper Jaydev Unadkat for the support. The Covid-19 scare halted the IPL and ed to its eventual suspension was real and Skaraiya too felt it. Talking about it, he said, “We had just played a game against Sunrisers and after every match, the players usually catch up at the ground. We were hoping not to return positive since we had met a few players from their team.” Sunsrisers’ Wriddhiman Saha tested positive for the virus.