DDCA offers Arun Jaitley Stadium to be used for vaccination drive in Delhi

Jofra Archer's elbow injury resurfaces in County Championship return

Jofra Archer has suffered yet another injury setback as his elbow injury has resurfaced in his return to the County championship game against Kent in Hove. Archer went back from the field after bowling just five overs in Kent’s second innings of the game. Sussex coach Ian Salisbury confirmed in his address to the press that Archer’s elbow was sore and hence his inability to open the bowling in Kent’s second innings created confusion in the Susses team. However, he opened the bowling and bowled five overs to extract the opening wicket of Jordan Cox in what could well be his last over of the game as suggested by Salisbury. “I think there was some confusion about the state of Jofra’s elbow. Ben thought he was going to bowl but his elbow was sore and there was confusion over that and he couldn’t bowl. If you saw today, he’s not going to bowl tomorrow. You’ll have to ask the ECB,” Salisbury said. Jofra Archer first suffered this elbow injury on England’s tour of South Africa in late 2019 due to stress fracture. He recovered to make it to the IPL 2020 but the problem resurfaced on the tour of India earlier this year. The elbow injury combined with a freakish finger injury ruled Archer out from two out of four Tests against India. Archer’s elbow injury has been a persistent headache for England team management especially with the Ashes scheduled to take place at the end of this year. A lot of hope and expectations were built on Archer’s return to the longest format for Susses after going through surgery on his finger. However, another episode of recurrent elbow injury has squashed England’s hopes of settling down concerns with regard to Archer’s fitness and availability in the Test format.

Wahab Riaz rates IPL at 'different level' compared to other leagues such as PSL

The Indian Premier League has earned high praise from Pakistan fast bowler Wahab Riaz, who has said that it has attained a completely different level of its own compared to all other leagues in the world. He outlined the ‘totally different’ processes being followed by the league in terms of organising and running tournaments and drafting of players that makes IPL stands tall among its comperettiors such as his home-grown Pakistan Super League "IPL is a league where all the top international players come and play. You can't compare IPL with PSL, I believe IPL is at a different level. Their commitments, the way they run things, communicate things, the way they draft the players, all that is totally different. I don't think any league can compete with the IPL," Wahab said to Cricket Pakistan. However, he said that the PSL trumps the IPL in one aspect of the game—bowling, which has always been in abundance in his country. He argued the presence of quality bowlers in PSL teams as the reason behind not too many high-scoring games in the PSL "The kind of bowlers you get in the PSL is not found in other leagues, not even the IPL. This is why PSL doesn't have many high-scoring games. The bowling attacks in PSL are the best in the world,” Riaz added. Notably, Wahab Riaz has not played even one season of the IPL as the BCCI has banned players of Pakistan origin from participating in the league after the inaugral edition in 2008.

Vijay Shankar promises to become next Kallis or Watson if given higher batting position

Once touted as a three-dimensional player for India in the ODI format, Vijay Shankar has gone off the radar very quickly and rather quietly compared to the noise and debates that his inclusion in the team for the ICC World cup 2019 created. Now, having faced a lot of time away from the limelight of the game, Shankar laments lost opportunity and also inconsistent batting position he has been offered over the last few years behind the reason of his failure with the bat. He has sought consistency from the team management including the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL and said if he does not score at number four or five he should be rightly axed from the team. “If I have to score runs, I need to spend more time on the crease. So I’m not saying I want to open the batting. Just saying, even if I bat at No. 4 or 5, let it be one slot at least for domestic. And then if I don’t score runs, drop me, I’m okay. That’s what I have missed out in the last two years,” Shankar said in an interview with News18. He also discarded the belief that all-rounders such as him should only bat at the lower order and said that he believes he could be the next Jacques Kallis and Shane Watson for India if given the chance. “I’m an all-rounder, but I’m known for my batting. So just because I’m an all-rounder, it shouldn’t be like I should bat only at No. 6 or 7. I can also be someone like Jacques Kallis or Shane Watson. They open the innings or bat at No. 3 and bowl. It’s not a compulsion that an all-rounder has to bat at No. 6-7. If I can score runs at the top, and pick wickets, it’s good for the team too, right?” Shankar added. Shankar was dropped from the team after the ICC World Cup 2019 and multiple injury setbacks pushed him further away from reckoning.

Joe Root falls on 99, shares a sensational stand with Yorkshire skipper

England Test skipper Joe Root forged a sensational partnership with Yorkshire skipper Steven Patterson as Yorkshire finished Day 3 of their County Championship match against Glamorgan well on top. Root played a sensational hand and fell just a solitary run short of a well-deserved century. It was on the back of some superb batting by Root and Patterson which took Yorkshire past Glamorgan’s first innings total and eventually went onto take a crucial 79 runs lead. After Glamorgan danced to the tunes of the Yorkshire bowlers, it was time for the Glamorgan bowlers to give it back. Michael Nesser bowled a fiery spell bagging a fifer and some good bowling from the other pacers were instrumental in reducing Yorkshire to 116/8. Having come into the crease at 6/2 and see wickets fall around him, Joe Root held his nerves and looked the best batsmen from either sides. His decisive strokeplay and feet movement against the moving ball was quite fascinating to see. He drove through the up, adjusted to the lengths of the ball perfectly and ended up playing some delightful shots and helped Yorkshire claw their way back into the match and rest back the initiative. A brilliant 79 runs partnership with skipper Steven Patterson turned the match on it’s head. Patterson provided the much-needed support to Root and went onto score a classy unbeaten 47 taking Yorkshire to a sizeable lead. Root fell agonisingly close of the century mark getting castled by Daniel Douthwaite. With a substantial lead given the favourable conditions for bowlers, Yorkshire bowling led by Ben Coad and Jordan Thompson struck early to push Glamorgan into the backfoot right away. They bowled brilliantly and reduced them to 44/3 which included the wicket of Marnus Labuschagne. It was David Llyod and Kiran Carlson who took Glamorgan to safety with a good partnership. While Llyod took his time to get going, Carlson threw a counter-punch on the Yrkshire bowlers racing his way to a breezy knock of 44 of just 42 deliveries which included seven fours. They eventually ended the day’s play on 105/3, with a lead of 29 runs.