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India along with seven nations qualify as cricket makes comeback to Commonwealth Games

Cricket became the first discipline to announce their qualifying teams for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022. The International Cricket Council (ICC) and Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) announced the list of six nationals and one spot confirmed for one nation from the Caribbean for the multi-sport event scheduled from 28 July to 8 August next year.

Along with hosts England, Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa and Pakistan made it to the list based on the MRF Tyres ICC Women’s T20I Team Rankings on 1 April 2021.

Once a team from the West Indies is decided then the last participating team will be decided through a qualifying tournament to be held by 31 January 2022. West Indies participates as one team representing a cluster of nations in the ICC tournaments, but in a multi-nation medal vent such as the Commonwealth Games, only individual nations could take part.  

The iconic Edgbaston Stadium will host the games which would involve eight women teams. The tickets are set to go on sale later this year. This would be the second time in the history of the Commonwealth Games that cricket would be a part of the games. An only men’s ODI event was held during the 1998 Kualalampur Games where South Africa won the Gold medal. 

ICC Acting Chief Executive Geoff Allardice, while speaking on the occasion of the announcement of the decision said, “We are incredibly proud and excited to be part of Birmingham 2022 and it is a fantastic opportunity for us to continue to grow the women’s game globally.” 

India T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur was also excited about cricket coming back to the global event and said, “It’s great to be confirmed a place in the Commonwealth Games.” We are raring to go, confident of doing well after having made the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Australia last year,” she added.

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IPL 2021: Kane Williamson laments losing another super over despite batting master-class

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson once again showed why he is rated among the very best in the world after his fighting knock against the Delhi Capitals. Williamson carried his bat through the run-chase and remained unbeaten on 66 of 51 deliveries as the match ended in a tie. Eventually, the Delhi Capitals scraped through a victory in the final delivery of the super over. It was indeed a special innings from Williamson. When he came into the crease, SRH had just lost the wickets of David Warner and Jonny Bairstow and needed someone to steady the ship. He played the situation to perfection and just when his team needed the boundaries he provided them with some shots which oozed class and clarity. However, his efforts weren’t enough as SRH couldn’t get past the target. Williamson was the captain of New Zealand when they lost the 2019 World Cup final by the barest of margins. The tied match was followed by a tied super over with England scraping through by the virtue of scoring more boundaries. "I am getting tired of coming second in the Super Overs," Williamson said at the post-match press conference. "Throughout the game, whenever there is a Super Over, as a batting side chasing a score that was very competitive, there are a lot of positives to take out of it." "It is really uncanny in game of cricket that things can end in a tie but I suppose it is very, very exciting. A lot of positives, we move on really quickly to Delhi," he added. Cricket is a game of very small margins and the match between SRH and DC exactly resembled that. Williamson played some delightful shots en route to his knock of 66. His wide array of shots were out in the display as he weaved his magic with the bat. "It is a game of very small margins and I think, if we are being honest, we just want to do different aspects of our game a bit better. This game, if you are able to do it, then the result can change quite quickly." Williamson said. "I suppose when it ends in a tie, you can look at the one run throughout the whole innings. I think, on the whole, a lot of positives," he further added. Riding on the back of a sensational half-century from opener Prithvi Shaw and some able support by skipper Rishabh Pant, Delhi Capitals reached a competitive score of 159 in their allotted 20 overs. On a relatively difficult Cheapuk pitch the target never seemed easy. The match looked like going in DC’s favour until Williamson and Jagadeesh Suchith changed the complexion of the match with their hitting prowess in the last two overs. Williamson said that it was a good feeling to be there till the end but he would have been happier had he managed to get his side over the finishing line. "It was nice to be there at the end, it would have been a lot nicer if I was there at the end and we were at the right side of the result. You know there were a lot of valuable partnerships in the innings and we lacked a bit of momentum because that was the nature of the surface." Williamson spoke about the conditions at Chepauk. "We got very close, some positives to build on. We do not know how the surfaces will be in Delhi," the Kiwi skipper stated about their next league in the league. The Sunrisers Hyderabad are currently occupying the 7th position just ahead of the Kolkata Knight Riders. With 5 matches under their belt, the Orange Army has just managed to win a solitary match. They will next play against the Chennai Super Kings on 28th April at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

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IPL 2021: Rajasthan Royals seek loan from other teams after window gets activated

Rajasthan Royals who are currently dealing with a scarcity of players have written to the other IPL franchises seeking player loans. It must be noted that the Rajasthan Royals who recently defeated Kolkata Knight Riders has been badly affected. While some of their main players including Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer has been forced to return to their country after injuries, some of the players including Liam Livingstone and Andrew Tye has left the team bubble citing fatigue issues. Hence they are currently left with only four foreign players and they are in urgent need of some players to fulfil their duties atleast for this season. Jos Buttler, Chris Morris, David Miller and Mustafizur Rahman are the only four foreigners available for selection at the moment. Royals are currently ranked 6th in the points table with two victories in five matches. A sense of tension has crept in after the second wave of COVID-19 has taken India off guard and the players are also feeling the tension. Adam Zampa, Kane Richardson and Ravichandran Ashwin among others have also pulled out of the tournament. While Ashwin hopes to come back if the situation improves, both Zampa and Richardson has been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament. The IPL playing condition states that the loan window will start at 9 am IST on the day after the completion of the 20th league game. It will end on 12 noon IST on the day following the conclusion of the 56th match, which is the final group game of the competition. " It means the window got activated at 9 am on Monday (April 26) after the doubleheader on Sunday night. "We have received a request from them a couple of days ago and we have not decided on it. The team management will take a call," a CEO of a southern-based franchise was quoted as saying by the Cricbuzz. "We will consider if we can loan them a player or two from our surpluses," another CEO confirmed. As per the IPL regulations, a player at the start of the loan period played either in the XI or a concussion replacement must have been part of the XI in less than two matches of the season to get loaned to another team. A player can be loaned only once in the season and it has to be for the remainder of the tournament. However, the rules don’t allow the player to take the field against his home franchise. The rules also suggest that "each franchisee may loan no more than three of its players to the same franchisee during the season."

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Bangladesh to play Australia and New Zealand ahead of T20 World Cup

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Monday confirmed the fact that they are trying to reschedule the upcoming home series against Australia and New Zealand. Both the neighbouring nations were scheduled to visit Bangladesh for a three-match T20I series which will be part of preparations for the upcoming T20 World Cup slated to be held in India in October-November 2021. As per the original schedule, New Zealand was supposed to visit early for the three-match series followed by Australia. But now BCB is trying to accommodate the Australia series earlier followed by the New Zealand series. The Aussies are expected to arrive in Bangladesh first, exactly after their tour of West Indies. Meanwhile, the Black Caps is expected to reach Bangladesh in early August. Talks have been going around to make the series against Australia a five series rubber rather than a three-match affair. Former Bangladesh captain and currently the chairman of Bangladesh’s cricket operations, Akram Khan announced their plans during an interaction with Cricbuzz. "Australia will come to Bangladesh after playing with West Indies in late July or early August while New Zealand will follow them later," he said. Meanwhile, it must be noted that both Australia and New Zealand had cancelled their two-match Test series against Bangladesh owing to the pandemic. Both the series was part of the ICC World Test Championship. Coming back to the change in schedule, it looks highly unlikely now that a Tri-nation series also involving Australia and England can be materialised. Following the three-match T20I series against Australia and New Zealand, England will visit Bangladesh for a three-match ODI and T20I series. Meanwhile the Bangla Tigers is also slated to travel to Zimbabwe in June for a full series including two Tests, three ODI’s and three T20Is.