BCCI paid Emirates Cricket Board $14 million to host IPL 2020 in UAE: Report

Steve Smith issues warning to Indian pacers: 'Bring on the short balls'

Former Australian captain and the star batsman of the team, Steve Smith has issued a warning to Indian pace bowlers that testing him with a barrage of short balls won’t disturb his batting tempo and concentration. Smith has stated that targeting him with the short stuff will rather put bowlers’ bodies under too much pressure. He added that he has played a lot of short balls in his career and it did not perturb him too much. "If teams are trying to get me out like that it's probably a big benefit for the team because it takes a lot out of people's bodies if you continually bowl short. "I've faced a lot of short bowling in my life and I haven't had too many stresses with it. I suppose we'll just wait and see," Smith was quoted as saying by News Corp. However, Smith acknowledged the skills of New Zealand's pacer Neil Wagner who masterfully executed the short ball plan against him and got him out on four occasions in the last series between Australia and New Zealand in 2019-20. "I mean, a few different oppositions have tried it and they've certainly found it more difficult to (execute it) the way Wagner did. He's got an amazing skill set where his speeds go up and down... everything is between your ribs and your head," Smith added. Smith’s statement should come as no surprise to the Indian team which takes pride in hostile bowling and it’s unlikely that Smith’s words would discourage Virat Kohli’s men from targeting him with the short balls, if at all that is part of some specific tactics for Steve Smith. Steve Smith did not feature in the last Border-Gavaskar trophy which India won 2-1 in Australia but Kohli and his men would be wary of Smith's prowess in the longest format and necessarily the record he has against the Indian team. In the 20 innings of 10 Test matches he has played against India, he has piled on 1429 runs with a Bradmanesque average of 84.06 with the help of seven centuries and three half-centuries.

Indian team clears first COVID-19 testing; begins outdoor training

Indian teams have tested negative for the coronavirus in the first round of testing after their arrival in Australia and subsequently have been allowed to start their outdoor training. Players such as Umesh Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur and Cheteshwar Pujara were seen preparing for the much-anticipated series against Australia in pictures posted by the BCCI on Twitter. Pacers who have been assigned the task of winning the team T20 series such as Deepak Chahar and T Natarajan were also seen honing their fitness skills in pictures. The Indian teams under the leadership of Virat Kohli are under a 14-day quarantine period after their arrival in the country, as per health advisories of the Australian government. Meanwhile, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has hinted that the wicketkeeper batsman Wriddhiamn Saha will be fit before the Test series scheduled to start on December 17 in Adelaide while the opening batsman Rohit Sharma has some time to completely recover before he can make a comeback. Ganguly said that Sharma is only 70 per cent fit as of now and his addition to the Test squad while complete omission from the limited overs series established the status of his injury.

Tussle between Sports Ministry, CSA looms large on South Africa-England series

The upcoming England tour of South Africa is under serious threat as Cricket South Africa faces the prospect of losing the status of the Cricket’s governing body in the country. The beleaguered cricket board was asked by the South African sports minister Nathi Mthethwa to allow the functioning of an interim board levied by him. The CSA Members’ Council that comprises presidents of all 14 provincial sides met yesterday to discuss the proposal of an interim board by the Sports Minister and decided against approving it. Minister Mthethwa followed it up with an ultimatum that if the CSA council does not give up and ratify the interim board, the sports ministry will impose a sanction on the board, withdrawing its rights of being the official governing body in the country. Addressing a press conference, Judge Zak Yacoob, who has been assigned the task of heading the interim board, said if the CSA does not take a decision on accepting the functioning of the board structured by the Sports Ministry, England team will be asked to halt their plans of coming to the rainbow nation. "I don't know what the thinking is in England but if the Members Council does not take a proper decision this evening, England will probably be seriously discouraged from coming," Judge Zak Yacoob said to the media. Yacoob stressed that the CSA must weigh in options in terms of disadvantage and find out by itself that approving the interim board will bring a lot less of damage than the facing the ire of sanctions by the Sports Ministry. Yacoob also urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to not view this imposition of the interim board as a form of government interference that may attract sanctions from the global governing body, as well as the ICC, does not accept any form of government interference for its member cricket boards. However, he highlighted that in his views some of the CSA officials have hinted that they would formally intimate ICC about interference from the government and called the move a continuation of misleading attitude. Yacoob also said that there is a possibility of personal communication from him to ICC and asking for no action at this point of time. "I am quite happy to personally approach the ICC in order to persuade them that the minister's conduct does not amount to interference because it does not.," Yacoob said in his willingness to address the threat of sanctions from ICC. However, he put the onus of ICC sanctions on the CSA and said: “"If the ICC steps in now, it would be because the Members' Council improperly resisted a reasonable effort to fix things.” The England cricket team is due to arrive in South Africa on November 16 and after a quarantine period of 10 days, they are scheduled to take on the South African side led by Quinton de Kock from November 27.

Sourav Ganguly reveals fitness status of Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha

IPL winning captain of the Mumbai Indians and Indian batting star Rohit Sharma is only 70 per cent fit and that was the reason behind selectors not risking him for the limited-overs series in Australia albeit he has been added into the Test squad for the series starting December 17, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has said. “Rohit is still 70 per cent. Why don't you find out from Rohit himself? That is why he is still not picked for the ODIs and T20s down under. He has been added to the Test squad," Ganguly said in an interview with The Week magazine. Rohit Sharma had made a surprising comeback into the Mumbai Indians’ playing XI after national selectors had raised doubts over his fitness and said that he was under the watch of the BCCI medical team. His presence for his franchise and omission from the squads for the tour of Australian raised many eyebrows before the selectors announced his addition into the Test squad. However, the mystery surrounding his hamstring injury that he had picked up while running on October 18 in the game against the Kings XI Punjab remained deepened as people argued his presence in the IPL and absence from limited-overs series down under. Earlier, Sourav Ganguly had also cautioned Rohit Sharma against rushing in to play before fully recovering from injury calling that he has a big and long career ahead of him and that the IPL 2020 and the subsequent Australia series were not the end of his cricket career. Ganguly also defended the alleged opacity regarding the nature of injuries to Indian players calling people unaware of the functioning of the board and its different functionaries. With the reference to the hamstring injury to India’s Test wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, Ganguly said that the BCCI, physios and the team management are having all the necessary details regarding Saha’s injury. "Who should know? We know, the Indian physio knows, the NCA knows. I think people don't know how the BCCI works. The BCCI trainers, physio and Wriddhi himself know that he has two hamstring issues. People don't understand injuries, that is why they talk rubbish,” Ganguly said in his typical no holds barred manner. Ganguly also said that Saha will be fit for the Test series as he is not part of the limited-overs series and Test series will begin only mid next month.