IPL 2021 | Punjab Kings sign up Aiden Markram as Dawid Malan's replacement

Bairstow, Woakes, Malan pull out of second phase of IPL 2021

In a big development that would throw the plans of various franchises in disarray, star England players such as Jonny Bairstow, Chris Woakes, Dawid Malan and Jos Buttler have pulled out of the second phase of the Indian Premier League scheduled to commence on September 19. Notably, all of these players are contenders for places in the England Test team that is scheduled to travel to Australia for the Ashes series towards the end of the year. Buttler plays for the Rajasthan Royals while Bairstow represents the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL. Woakes has had an on and off journey in the IPL was brilliant for the Delhi Capitals in the first part of the IPL 2021 while Dawid Malan started his journey with the Punjab Kings in this edition only. However, there is a lack of clarity on other England players such as Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone, who had pulled out of the first part of the event albeit it is understood that Moeen will travel to join the Chennai Super Kings. All those stars for both England and IPL sides will also travel to the UAE for the ICC World T20 scheduled right after the conclusion of the IPL 2021 and hence extended period inside biosecure bubbles would have tricked them to decide against joining their IPL franchises. The likes of Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes are already out of the tournament as they are going through their rehabilitation processes and the absence of other marquee players will limit England's exposure to the IPL in similar conditions where the T20 World Cup has been scheduled to be played.

CPL 2021 | BR vs SLK: It's Royals vs Kings in battle of different objectives

The 25th game of the ongoing edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) between the Barbados Royals and the St Lucia Kings will be a contest between two sides, who have had contrasting sets of fortunes so far in the competition. The Royals will rely on the shoulders of heavyweights such as Jason Holder, Glenn Phillips, Johnson Charles and Mohammad Amir to revive their fortunes in the competition. They have won just two games out of eight played so far this season and are languishing at the sixth position on the points table of an eight-team tournament and if they have to seek a turnaround, their marquee players must make all the opportunities count. On the other hand, the Kings have had a decent run of form in the season so far and have strengthened their position on the points table. They have had a mixed bag with four wins and four losses in eight games this season and the contest against the Royals will break their evenness either with a loss or a win. Match Details Barbados Royals vs Saint Lucia Kings, Match 25 Venue: Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts Date & Time: September 11th at 7:30 PM IST Live Streaming: Fancode Pitch Report The conditions in St Kitts is expected to be heavenly stacked in the favour of spinner as the pitch has had a lot of game this season. Apart from the turn, the slower nature of the surface will also hinder batsmen from scoring freely and they will have their tasks cut out to take their sides to a defendable total. Probable XI Barbados Royals Kyle Mayers, Johnson Charles, Smit Patel (w), Glenn Phillips, Azam Khan, Jason Holder (c), Raymon Reifer, Nyeem Young, Joshua Bishop, Jake Lintott, Mohammad Amir St Lucia Kings Andre Fletcher(w), Faf du Plessis(c), Kadeem Alleyne, Samit Patel, Roston Chase, Tim David, Mark Deyal, David Wiese, Jeavor Royal, Alzarri Joseph, Kesrick Williams Fantasy XI Andre Fletcher (WK), Faf du Plessis (VC), Roston Chase (C), Tim David, Kyle Myers, Jason Holder, Raymon Reifer, Jeavor Royal, Mohammad Amir, Kesrick Williams, Azam Khan

BCCI President Sourav Ganguly to visit UK to discuss rescheduling of Test with ECB CEO: Report

The President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Sourav Ganguly is likely to visit England this month to discuss the “rescheduling” of the fifth Test that was “cancelled” in wake of Covid-19 cases in the Indian camp. As per an India Today report, Ganguly will travel on September 22 and will meet the top brass of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to discuss the modalities of the final Test that was supposed to be played in Manchester from September 1o. If various media reports are to be believed, the ECB and the ECB were engaged in an intense discussion over the fate of the final game and the series overall before the Indian board offered to reschedule the final game of the series. There are a lot of things at stake for the ECB and hence they are not willing to let India go off with a mere abandonment of the final game. They have knocked on the doors of the International Cricket Council to decided the fate of the final Test while working with the BCCI to finalise the modalities of the rescheduling. The series of events that reached its peak at Old Trafford on September 10 started after the Indian support staff including head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar tested positive for Covid-19 after the third day’s play of the fourth Test at the Oval. The first physio of the team was deemed close contact with them and was isolated. Later, after arrival in Manchester their second physiotherapist Yogesh Parmar tested positive for the virus and his near presence in the last training session right before his test returned positive result raised the alarm bells for the players. Now, Indian players will take off on a chartered flight to UAE where they will spend time in quarantine before joining the biosecure bubbles for the remaining part of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League.

SL vs SA | 1st T20I: Clinical Proteas make winning start against passive hosts

Dinesh Chandimal made a valiant effort to turn the tide of the game but his efforts fell short and South Africa defeated Sri Lanka by 28 runs in the first T20I of the series. With the win, the Proteas, who were led by Keshav Maharaj on his international T20 debut, took a 1-0 lead in the three-match long series. Chasing a somewhat stiff target of 166 runs, the hosts started off on a decent note with the openers Avishka Fernando and Dinesh Chandimal putting a 34-run partnership for the first wicket. However, they were slow to get going in the powerplay and the required rate that was at around 8 runs per over surged beyond 10 runs per over. The pressure of surging required run rate was telling on the middle order and they could not sustain in the middle phase of the game. After the fall of Fernando, Bhanuka Rajapaksha quickly followed him to the dugout without adding any run to Sri Lanka’s tally. Dinesh Chandimal was the lone man standing for the hots with a well-complied half-century but the rest of the batting line-up floundered under pressure and Sri Lanka were limited to just 135 runs from 20 overs. For the Proteas, all six bowlers tried did their job brilliantly and the five Sri Lankan wickets were shared among five bowlers with Kagiso Rabada being the only bowler without a wicket to his name. Earlier, Keshav Maharaj earned an interesting feather to his cap by leading the South African T20I side in his debut match. He started his captaincy journey by winning an important toss and asked the Proteas batsmen to bat first. The swashbuckling trio of Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks and Aiden Markram heard the call from their captain and ratified his call by putting on a batting show. The first wicket partnership brought 73 runs for the visitors and although there was a slippery slope for the middle order, the partnership between David Miller and Markram propelled the Proteas to a challenging total for the hosts. Wanindu Hasaranga is refusing to go silent and his stars were shining bright on the night of the first T20I against South Africa as well as he took two important wickets of de Kock and Hendricks. Sri Lanka had won the two-match long ODI series that preceded the T20I series 2-1 and hence a winning start to the T20I series will give a lot of hope and satisfaction to the Proteas.