Hurt Rashid Khan wishes Independence Day to tattered Afghanistan

Rahul Dravid ends speculations of replacing Ravi Shastri, reapplies for for NCA's head post

Ending the speculation that he will replace Ravi Shastri as the head coach of the senior India Men’s team, former Indian captain Rahul Dravid has applied for the post of the head of the national cricket academy, PTI reported. Dravid was heading the strength and conditioning arm of the BCCI before his two-year-long tenure expired earlier last month. His tenure could not be extended due to BCCI’s constitution and hence he had to reapply for the post. “Yes, Rahul has reapplied for the post of Head of Cricket. You don’t need to be a genius to guess that he is going to continue after the tremendous work he has put in to change the face of NCA, which is now truly a centre of excellence. In fact, as of now, save Rahul, there are no other prominent names of stature who have applied for the post.” PTI quoted an unnamed BCCI official as saying. It should be seen as a mere formality and Dravid is all set to head the national cricket academy based in Bengaluru. Dravid had travelled to Sri Lanka with India tea as the head coach with other supporting staff were in the UK with the Virat Kohli-led team. Shastri and his colleagues’ tenure is set to expire after the ICC World T20 and hence as soon as the BCCI invited applications for the post of NCA head, Dravid’s name started doing rounds.

Desperate England not pushing for Ben Stokes return

England are desperate to turn things around in the ongoing Test series after falling behind on the back of a hurting loss at Lord’s on Monday. They have dropped Dom Sibley from the top order—their second top-order batsman in two matches of the series and replaced him with Dawid Malan, who is touted to be a batsman with strong character. England played with just four bowlers in the first Test of the series at Trent Bridge and the captain Joe Root clearly looked running out of options. To correct that and bring balance in the playing XI, they recalled Moeen Ali straight from The Hundred, where he was hitting boundaries for fun. Moeen brought the balance to the side, but Root certainly seems to be missing his maverick in Ben Stokes, who used to turn things around both with the bat and ball, at least in English conditions. The all-rounder had pulled out of the series to give himself some time off the game and also to rest his injured finger that gave him “ridiculous pain” while playing and leading England against Pakistan. The England team management however is not in any hurry to force the issue with Stokes in terms of the length of his sabbatical. Coach Chris Silverwood has refused to push him to return and said that England management does not have any timeframe in mind and instead will wait for him to come and say when he is ready. Silverwood said that what is important for England is that Stokes and his family are “ok” so that whenever he returns to play for the side, he is mentally perfect to perform at his best. He said that England are all for supporting him in the time of need and will welcome his back with “open arms”. “No, there is no pushing from my point of view. I don’t think you can push with these issues. I will wait and there will be an element of waiting for him to come to me to let me know he is ready. There is no time limit on it,” Silverwood said. “I would stress again the important thing is Ben is okay, his family is okay and that he comes back strong and, when he re-enters the frame, he is ready in his mind to come back and perform for England like we know he can.” “I am certainly not pushing him for an answer and I don’t think that would be the right thing to do. There are people around him supporting him and, when he is ready to come back in, we will welcome him with open arms, but until then he will get all the support he needs.” England have suffered setbacks one after another as players of the highest order such as Stokes, Stuart Broad have been ruled out of the series. They are 0-1 down the five-match series and have some more injury concerns to deal with after Mark Wood hurt his shoulder on the fourth day and James Anderson barely managing to be fit for the Lord’s Test.

Steve Smith will recover in time for World T20: George Bailey

Australia are confident that former captain Steve Smith who is recovering from an elbow injury will be fit for the upcoming World T20in October-November in the UAE and Oman and the Ashes series that follows the marquee tournament. Chairman of selectors George Bailey has given an update on Smith and said that the right-handed batsman is able to face more than 100 balls in one practice session quite comfortably. "He’s building up nicely. The latest update I had from him is he's facing up over 100 balls in a session pretty comfortably. That’s about a quarter of what he’d like to be facing for a Test match so he’s got a little bit of building up to go there," Bailey told reporters in a video call. Smith had earlier missed the tours to West Indies and Bangladesh but was included in the 15-man squad for the World T20 announced on Thursday. "There would obviously be a number where the risk would outweigh the benefit. We’ve got to place a little bit of trust in Steve as someone who knows his body and knows exactly what he needs to be able to perform at a level that’s required," Bailey added. Australia who have never lifted the World T20 in the past will begin their campaign against South Africa on October 23. The likes of Pat Cummins, Glenn Maxwell, David Warner and Kane Richardson have also received the call-up despite opting out of the recent tours citing “bubble fatigue”. The World T20 will commence on October 17, two days after the competition of IPL 2021 where Oman will take on PNG in the opening encounter.

How good is it to see a global superstar so passionate about Test cricket: Pietersen on Kohli

Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen has lavished praise on India captain Virat Kohli for his passion to play and perform in Test cricket, especially at the time when the longer format needs “global superstars” to focus on it. “Kohli knows that to be considered a legend of the game, he needs to deliver in this format as well as in T20,” Pietersen wrote in his blog post for Betway. “That’s why he puts so much importance on this format and at a time when Test cricket needs all the love it can get, how good is it to see a global superstar so passionate about it,” he added. During his purple patch between 2018-19, Kohli became the first Indian batsman to score seven double-centuries in Test cricket and then led India to its first series win against Australia Down Under. Moreover, India were one of the finalists in the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship apart from New Zealand. India though suffered a defeat in the title clash against the Blackcaps. Under Kohli, India started off the WTC 2 cycle with the tour of England and presently lead the five-match Test series by 1-0 after drafting England in a nerve-wracking victory at Lord's. The first match in Nottingham ended in a draw after rain played spoilsport on the final day of the encounter while the visitors clinched a 151-run win in the second to go 1-0 up in the series. Talking about the series, Pietersen lauded India and said that they would have taken 2-0 lead if the Nottingham Test hadn’t ended in a draw due to rain. “It’s very difficult for subcontinental teams to come to England and perform, but they would probably be 2-0 up after two matches if it weren’t for the rain at Trent Bridge,” Pietersen said. The two sides will now face each other in the third Test in Leeds scheduled to begin on August 25.