BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, Jay Shah discuss World T20 roadmap with Virat Kohli in London

Sri Lankan players sign central contracts

As many 18 Sri Lankan players have signed the men's national contracts, the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has announced. The all-rounder Angelo Mathews isn’t among these players. The SLC further stated that the contract doesn’t have any “deviation” from the one that was offered earlier which was rejected by the players after they alleged “lack of transparency”. The board had brought down the number of contracted players to 24 from 32 and had revealed a five-point grading system earlier in May. While the differences continued, the players signed tour contracts for the series against India and England. The central contracts have come in effect from August 1, 2021 and will be held till December 31, 2021. "The players were chosen under four categories and were nominated by the Selection Panel, based on a set of criteria such as Performance, Fitness, Leadership/Seniority, Professionalism/Code of Conduct, and Future/Adaptability," SLC explained in a release. "The criteria and the allocation of points to individual players were shared among the players before they signed the contracts." Three players, Danushka Gunathilaka, Niroshan Dickwella and Kusal Mendis who are serving respective bans weren’t considered. Players who signed contracts: Dhananjaya De Silva, Kusal Perera, Dimuth Karunaratne, Suranga Lakmal, Dasun Shanaka, Wanindu Hasaranga, Lasith Embuldeniya, Pathum Nissanka, Lahiru Thirimanne, Dushmantha Chameera, Dinesh Chandimal, Lakshan Sandakan, Vishwa Fernando, Oshada Fernando, Ramesh Mendis, Lahiru Kumara, Ashen Bandara, Akila Dananjaya

Day after CA CEO's support, Test captain Tim Paine backs Justin Langer to continue as coach

Days after Cricket Australia boss threw all his support behind him, Australian head coach Justin Langer, who finds himself in the middle of a raging storm, has found another high-profile support from the Australian team. This time, Test captain Tim Paine has come forward to rally around Langer after what he called a “tough” week for the former Australian opener when he had “robust discussions” with Cricket Australia and the senior players. Paine said that the ambition of the side is to become the number one side in the world and for that, they have to have tough conversations while also calling the blame game for Australia’s loss on the shoulders of Langer as a matter of “shame”. “Then got around him [Langer], supported him and looked to move forward. We’re really looking forward to the next six months with JL. No doubt the week has been difficult for him. We’ve been able to galvanise around him and have some really robust discussions on where we want to take this cricket team, what we expect of him and what he expects of us,” Paine said. “We want to be the best team in the world and to do that we need to have some tough and robust conversations. We’ve certainly done that as a senior group in the last 24-48 hours. It’s just been a bit of shame I think in the last week that a lot of the failings around Australian cricket have been pinned on JL, that’s certainly not the case.” Langer had taken over the coaching role in the aftermath of the Newlands ball-tampering saga that had erupted massive leadership change both in the Australian cricket board and the national side. He has been under enormous pressure after several players reported “coaching methods” to be too strict and inflexible. His term is due to end after the ICC World T20, and after the backings of the CA boss and Test skipper Tim Paine, it is most likely that he will complete his term albeit with the aura of controversies persisting around him.

Consistency is our biggest strength: Eoin Morgan

England’s limited-overs skipper Eoin Morgan has said that performing consistently has been the side’s ‘biggest strength’. "I think our biggest strength is the consistency which we've performed at over the last two years," ICC quoted Morgan as saying. The World T20 is all set to commence on October 17, two days after the conclusion of the remainder of IPL 2021 in the UAE and Oman. Co-host Oman will lock horns with PNG in the opener. Talking about the competition, Morgan admitted that there are some really talented teams in the tournament. "I think in T20 cricket because the game can change quite quickly and there's a huge group of talented teams within our group, I think every game is important to us," he added. England will be joined by Australia, South Africa and West Indies in Group 1 of the Super 12s. Apart from these sides, two qualifying teams from round 1 will also be a part of this group. The Eoin Morgan-led side will begin the campaign against West Indies on October 23 in Dubai. They will later play Australia on October 30 at the same venue and the Proteas on November 6 in Sharjah respectively. The Caribbean side are the defending champions as they clinched the title back in 2016 after beating England in the final.

Mohammad Rizwan seeks rest for seniors from 'quite tough' biosecure bubbles before ICC World T20

Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman and the vice-captain, Mohammad Rizwan has said that Pakistan players have been playing cricket under biosecure bubbles for a long time and they would need some time away from the game before the big event of ICC World T20 scheduled later this year. He said that staying continuously in a bubble is “quite tough” and that senior players want to rest, a point that is well supported by the team physio. He pointed out that rest for the seniors will open the doors of opportunities for players who have been warming the benches for a long time. “We have been playing continuously for last eight to nine months and the main thing is we are playing bio-secure bubble which is quite tough. Our main event is T20 World Cup and most of the senior players want to rest. Our physio has also suggested rest for our body and the players sitting on the bench have the best opportunity to showcase themselves,” Rizwan said in a virtual press conference before the second Test against West Indies. Pakistan fought well in the first Test of the series against West Indies but lost the game by the narrowest of narrow margin as the hosts were rescued by lower-order batsmen. Rizwan said that Pakistan is eager to bounce their way back in the series with a win in the second Test. He defended the batting lineup that failed on both occasions in the first Test and said that many of those batsmen are impact players and the team must back the players who have in them what it takes to change the course of the game by themselves. “The bottomline is we lost the Test after coming so close to winning it and it hit us and we are now looking to bounce back strongly in the second Test. I think it is also important to look at players who make small but game-changing contributions in a match. We need such impact players. Our main focus now is to level this series by winning the second game and getting equal points from it,” Rizwan added.