Hales ignored, Livingstone rewarded as England name their T20 squad for India series

The England and Wales Cricket Board once again ignored Alex Hales as they named a 16-man squad for the five-match T20 series against India. Liam Livingstone, another brilliant performer in the Big bash League alongside Hales has been rewarded with a call-up in the Eoin Morgan led squad.

The touring party depart on Friday, 26 February, ahead of the first match of the series scheduled to be played on 12th March at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad. Joe Root has once again been sidelined for the shortest format while Jake Ball and Matt Parkinson have been named as the two reserves in the side. All five matches of the series will take place at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera.

The squad for the three One-Day Internationals that follow the T20I series will be announced in due course, said the ECB official release.

England Men’s T20I Squad:

Eoin Morgan (Middlesex) (captain), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire), Sam Billings (Kent), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Sam Curran (Surrey), Tom Curran (Surrey), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Liam Livingstone (Lancashire), Dawid Malan (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Ben Stokes (Durham), Reece Topley (Surrey), Mark Wood (Durham).

Reserves:

Jake Ball (Nottinghamshire), Matt Parkinson (Lancashire).

Discover more

Ind vs Eng | Manoj Tiwary chalks out plan to dismiss Joe Root in 2nd Test

In the lieu of Joe Root’s remarkable knock in the first Test match against India, former Bengal captain Manoj Tiwary has chalked out a field plan to stop the England captain who has been in the form of his life. Taking to Twitter, Tiwary shared an image of a 7/2 on-side fielding plan stating that it could take out most right-handers on a spin-friendly track. He argued that for someone like Root, who has been playing the sweep shot so well over the last year, chocking his attacking options would mean that India could get him out quickly. Noticeably, Root looked comfortable against everything that was thrown at him and became the only player to score a double hundred in his 100th Test match. He eventually was dismissed by Shabaz Nadeem at 218. When pointed out the lack of slips and a cover fielder in his comments, Tiwary said that there is no point keeping players on the offside if the ‘ball is turning big.’ “Not required when the ball is turning big and if the bowler doesn’t land the ball in the area consistently then one more fielder can b brought to off side but the accuracy of this two bowlers I don’t think it will b needed,” Tiwary wrote. The former Bengal captain has been sidelined from the Vijay Hazare Trophy due to a cartilage injury and will be in rehabilitation. Veteran Anustup Majumdar will be leading Bengal in the premier domestic 50-over tournament.

Ravindra Jadeja ruled out of entire Ind-Eng Test series: Reports

India’s dynamic all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been ruled out for the entire India-England Test series. If reports are to be believed, Jadeja’s injury, suffered during the third Aus-Ind Test in Sydney has not healed till now. Stationed at the National Cricket Academy, it is almost certain that Jadeja, who was ruled out of the first two Tests wouldn’t be moving to Ahmedabad for the third and fourth Test reported Cricbuzz. It would be interesting to see if the 32-year-old would get fit by the time of the limited-overs series in March. With Jadeja unavailable, either one between Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel might get a long run of three Tests. This is mainly due to the fact that Shahbaz Nadem couldn’t deliver as per expectations in the first Test and skipper Kohli wanted variation in his attack. "There are no regrets whatsoever on that decision. Moving forward, we will think of the combinations which bring us variety as a bowling attack, and not one dimensional, turning away from the bat," Kohli said in the presentation ceremony of the first Test.

T Natarajan released from Vijay Hazare squad after BCCI request: Reports

The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association released India pacer, T Natarajan, from their Vijay Hazare Trophy squad after Board of Control for Cricket in India’s request. TNCA secretary told Cricbuzz that BCCI wanted the left-arm pacer to remain fresh for the limited-overs fixtures against England, which is scheduled to begin from 12 March. "The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the team management want him fresh. It is in the national interest and so we are ready to oblige," the TNCA official said. For the gap that Natarajan leaves out in Tamil Nadu’s pursuit of India’s elite 50-over trophy, the official further stated that TN had already named a replacement in case Natarajan was to remain unavailable for the campaign. It is believed that BCCI made the request so that India’s best left-arm seamer does not have to go through two stages of quarantine, one for the domestic trophy and the other before entering the national team bio-bubble. Natarajan is scheduled to practice at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore. Earlier, Natarajan made his international debut in all formats of the game in the series Down Under. He picked 11 wickets from 5 matches and was an integral part of the Indian team that defeated Australia in the historic final Test match in Brisbane.

Jaffer resigns as head coach of Uttarakhand, rubbishes 'communal' allegations

Former India Test cricketer and former coach of Uttarakhand, Wasin Jaffer rubbished the allegations of being ‘communal’ levelled at him by the Cricket Association of Uttarakhand Secreaty Mahim Verma. A day after tendering his resignation as head coach on the grounds of “interference and bias of selectors and the association’s secretary for non-deserving players”, Jaffer was called ‘communal’ by Verma. The 48-year-old then defended it saying, “...jo communal angle lagaya (the communal angle that has been brought up), that is very, very sad.” Making his stance clear in the matters, Jaffer tweeted, “1. I recommended Jay Bista for captaincy, not Iqbal but CAU officials favoured Iqbal. 2. I did not invite Maulavis 3. I resigned cos bias of selectors-secretary for non-deserving players 4. The team used to say a chant of Sikh community, I suggested we can say "Go Uttarakhand" #Facts” The allegations made against him were that he invited Moulvis in the dressing room, favoured Muslim prayers and changed the team chant, which was a sacred chant from the Sikh community. “Had I been communal, both Samad Fallah and Mohammad Nazim would have played all the games? It’s a very petty thing to say or even think. I wanted to give opportunities to newer players,” Jaffer, who played 31 Tests for India, added. He further said that he always chose players on the basis of merit and not on the basis of religion. Mahim Verma had earlier said that Jaffer’s interference had increased in the matters of team selection to a great level. “After the result in Mushtaq Ali did not meet our expectations, the selectors wanted to try out a few other players but he kept insisting on picking his own team, which is not right as selectors are there, too, to do their job,” Mahim was quoted as saying to Epncricinfo.