Bangladesh to host New Zealand and Australia ahead of ICC T20 WC

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Wednesday announced that they will host Australia and New Zealand in three-match T20 series in September-October 2021. As per reports in the Cricbuzz, the New Zealand side is expected to travel to Bangladesh in September in order to prepare for the 2021 T20 World Cup. Meanwhile, the Australian contingent is expected to arrive in October.

It must be noted that Australia and New Zealand had earlier cancelled the scheduled tour of Bangladesh for a two-match Test series which were also a part of the ICC World Test Championship. However, it had to be cancelled by both the teams due to the coronavirus pandemic.

BCB chief executive Nizamuddin Chowdhury confirmed that they are planning to host New Zealand and Australia for 3-match T20 series each. However, he ruled out of the prospect of going ahead with their postponed two-match Test series against the same nations. He also confirmed that England will travel to the country for three ODIs and as many T20Is each following the Australia series.

"The England series is already in the FTP. We don't want to comment anything about the T20 tri-nation tournament because everyone needs to agree and we can get a clear picture when we get closer to the dates," he was quoted as saying by the Cricbuzz.

Nizamuddin also added the fact that it is highly impossible to host the two-match Test series against Australia and New Zealand which were part of the ICC Test Championship as there isn’t enough window to play the remainder of the matches. The only time which was available for a possible reschedule was marred by the fact that it has been reserved for a series against Sri Lanka.

"I don't think there is a possibility of playing those Test matches as the final is in April. We have a time slot available in April to play a Test series against Sri Lanka and we are trying to fix dates for those."

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Director of SG says feedback will be taken from players while making new balls

Following India’s humiliating defeat at the hands of England in the opening Test in Chepauk, there has been huge scrutiny on the balls which were used for the match. Barring the below-par performance by the home team and expressing his disappointment at the same, India skipper Virat Kohli clearly expressed his displeasure at the Sanspareils Greenlands (SG) ball used for the opening Test. Paras Anand, the Director of Cricket Equipment manufacturer SG spoke to Times of India and said that they will definitely take suggestions from the players and will look to try to improve the quality of the ball. Several footages on TV confirmed the fact that the leather base was coming off with the stitches getting torn out. A Test match ball is always expected to last 80 overs without any prominent deterioration but it was not the case in Chennai. The hardness of the pitch might have also had a role in the deterioration of the ball. “High quality of the ball (SG-Check) was additionally not what we had been more than happy to see as that was additionally the case up to now. Simply the ball utterly being destroyed in 60 overs isn’t one thing that you simply expertise as a Check aspect and any aspect may very well be ready for,” Kohli was quoted as saying following India’s shambolic loss. On Monday after completing a 9 wicket match haul, Ravichandran Ashwin also had his say on the nature of the ball. He stated that he hasn't seen an SG ball in this condition in several years. He did concede the fact that in addition to the quality of the ball, the pitch might have done its bit. “I’ve by no means seen an SG ball tear (get torn) by the seam like that. So it might nicely be a mixture of how laborious the pitch was on the primary two days, even within the second innings after the 35th-40th over, the seam was getting kind of peeled off “It was weird, I imply, I have not seen an SG ball like that in (the) final so a few years, however, yeah, perhaps it may very well be as a result of pitch and the hardness of it by the centre which is making the ball get scuffed up.” Ashwin additional stated. Meanwhile, Paras Ananad reacted to Ashwin’s comments that he has never seen an SG ball like that, Anand said, "He (Ashwin) said 'I had never seen the ball tear like this t may very well be due to the floor’, that may be a large assertion in itself. Moderately than passing the judgement, we might be open to suggestions and based mostly on the suggestions, we really get all the way down to see how abrasive the floor was, we will work on enhancing the standard of the balls.” “I’ve solely seen the observe on TV, I have not been on the observe to see how (Sharma) talked about it after getting his 300th wicket. He stated the primary innings, which was like two and a half days, felt like ‘I’m bowling on a highway’, so it was that onerous.” Anand told Times of India. Recent studies suggest that SG had manufactured a recent set of balls for the ongoing India-England series with an extra pronounced seam but Anand clarified the fact the balls used for the first Test was from the new collection. “It isn’t a brand new ball, it’s a ball-based mostly on the suggestions we had improved upon over the past two and a half years. The ball did not lose its form and therefore (was) not modified and the second ball that India used when Ishant bought his two wickets (off consecutive deliveries), that ball was used for 104 overs. The primary ball was modified within the 81st over, the second ball was used for 104 overs, which exhibits that no matter work now we have executed within the final two and a half years is giving us an end result that even on such a tough and sluggish wicket and one which was abrasive on the fourth and fifth day, the ball retained its form and was travelling (on the outfield), which was fairly obvious,” he added.

Root, Anderson break into top three of ICC Test rankings after demolishing India

English captain Joe Root and the highest wicket-taking fast bowler in the world James Anderson have been rewarded for their unmatchable outing against India. Both the Englishmen have broken into the top three of the International Cricket Council’s batsmen and bowlers released on 10th February. Anderson, 39, moved three places up to the third position in the ICC bowlers’ ranking. It is being seen as a reward for his efforts where he ripped through the Indian top order with the help of his devastating reverse swing in the second innings of the Chennai Test. Among other bowlers, India’s Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah too moved one place each to get to the seventh and eighth place respectively. Root, on the other hand, moved two places up to get to third position after hitting a mesmerising 218 in the first innings of England, his third century on the trot, which also resulted in two double centuries in three Tests. Other batsmen to gain positions in the top 10 were Pakistan skipper Babar Azam and English all-rounder Ben Stokes. While Babar, 26, got up to the sixth position after a fifty in the second Test against South Africa, Stokes reached the 9th position after a cameo of 82 runs in the first innings.

Arjun Tendulkar sidelined for Vijay Hazare Trophy, Shreyas Iyer to lead Mumbai

After making a muted debut in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021, Arjun Tendulkar has been sidelined by the Mumbai Cricket Asociation for the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021. Son of the great Sachin Tendulkar, Arjun trended on Twitter after registering for the IPL Mini-auction draft. The 22 man squad is being led by the Delhi capitals skipper in the IPL, Shreyas Iyer and Prithvi Shaw, the out form and favour Indian opener has been named as the vice-captain in a side that has the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Aditya Tare. Tendulkar, 21, who took two wickets in the two SMAT games with an average of 33.5 and an economy rate of 9.57, was among the probables for the Mumba Vijay Hazare squad, but couldn’t make the cut. The young blood in the form of Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube and Yashasvi Jaiswal have retained their place in the squad, but Siddesh Lad, an experienced middle-order batsman and a handy leg spinner has been shown the door this time around. Mumbai has been placed in Group D alongside Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Puducherry and Rajasthan. All the matches of this group would take place in Jaipur at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium among others. Mumbai Squad for Vijay Hazare Trophy: Shreyas Iyer (Captain), Prithvi Shaw (Vice-Captain), Yashaswi Jaiswal, Akhil Herwadkar, Suryakumar Yadav, Sarfaraz Khan, Chinmay Sutar, Aditya Tare, Hardik Tamore, Shivam Dube, Aakash Parkar, Atif Attarwala, Shams Mulani, Atharva Ankolekar, Sairaj Patil, Sujit Nayak, Tanush Kotian, Prashant Solanki, Dhaval Kulkarni, Tushar Deshpande, Siddharth Raut, Mohit Awasthi

Sanjay Bangar appointed batting consultant of RCB

Former India player Sanjay Bangar has been appointed as the batting consultant of the Royal Challengers Bangalore for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League. The official Twitter handle of the RCB confirmed the news tweeting, “We are delighted to welcome Sanjay Bangar to the RCB Family as a batting consultant for #IPL2021!. Welcome aboard, Coach!” Bangar, 48 had previously served as the batting coach of the Indian national team for five years till the 2019 World Cup, eventually being replaced by Vikram Rathour. In IPL too, the former Railways man has coached Kings XI Punjab in previous editions. Bangar, a gritty all-rounder played 12 Tests and 15 ODIs for India scoring a combined of 650 runs and taking a total of 14 wickets. He will join the team of Former New Zealand Coach and currently, the director of cricket operations at RCB, Mike Hesson and Head Coach Simon Katich in the Virat Kohli led side’s support staff.