IPL 2021 | Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav return to Mumbai Indians camp

As soon as the fifth and final Test between England and India was “cancelled”, the focus shifted to the second part of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League which is scheduled to take off in the UAE from September 19.

There were discussions and expectations that players, especially the Indian ones will be flowing to the UAE directly from Manchester and later it was reported that the players will be flying on a chartered flight.

Mumbai Indians are the first among other IPL sides to welcome their star players in skipper Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav back in the squad to restart their defence of the title.

Both Rohit and Bumrah have been the lynchpins of Mumbai Indians’ success in the history of IPL and the side have won as many as five IPL trophies after Rohit took over the reins from Ricky Ponting in 2013.

Both of them have also been the best player for India in their respective departments in the series against England the Mumbai team management would be hoping they would replicate their performances in the shortest format as well.

The Mumbai Indians will take on the Chennai Super Kings in the first encounter of the revamped version of the IPL this year.

Indian players refused to play the Manchester Test after the second physio Yogesh Parmar tested Covid-19 positive after arriving in the city for the final Test. India’s refusal to play created a chaotic situation for both the ECB and the BCCI for the final decision on the game and the series. Indian players have also been blamed for prioritising the “money” they would be earning from IPL over Test cricket by some section of UK media.

Discover more

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

The Punjab Kings have roped in South Africa Aiden Markram as a replacement for England’s Dawid Malan for the remainder of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League. Malan has pulled himself out of the tournament supposedly due to an extended period in biosecure bubbles in IPL which will be followed by T20 World Cup and Ashes series. Markram has been in red-hot form in the white-ball form for the Proteas in the recent past. He started the ongoing tour of Sri Lanka with a bang and scored a brilliant 96 against the hosts. He followed with another brilliant knock of 48 in the first T20I of the series to set up a big total on the board for the Proteas. Malan bats at number three or open for England in T20I cricket and his role was similar in the Punjab Kings as well. Markram is also a top-order batsman and could be seen as a like for like replacement for Malan, who struggled to get the balls off the square in the only opportunity he got in the first part of the tournament. Markram has played 33 T20I and has a strike rate in excess of 150 runs per 100 balls and average more than 33 runs per game to show for his class and the Kings will be looking forward to strengthening the top order in case the ‘Universe Boss’ Chris Gayle fails to make the cut.

IPL bound players to fly out to UAE via charter flight

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is all set to arrange charter flights for the IPL bound players who are currently in the UK. The players who are currently in Manchester will be flying out to UAE on Saturday. The final Test between England and India had to be cancelled after a covid scare in the Indian contingent. Now with the match abandoned, the Indian players are waiting eagerly to join their IPL franchises and be in a stricter bio-bubble. The second half of the IPL kicks off on September 19. “The players will be flying out to UAE today itself. BCCI has coordinated with the franchises and arranged charter flights. Few of the franchises had already made some arrangements with commercial flights on Friday itself,” a BCCI official told TOI on Saturday morning. Meanwhile all the Indian and the English players who will take part in the IPL are in isolation in a hotel in Manchester and will continue to be in their hotel rooms until their departure for UAE. “Technically, there had been no bubble during the series. The players will have to serve a six-day quarantine upon reaching UAE. So, the earlier they leave Manchester the less time they will have to spend in isolation. The franchises will take better care of the players,” a franchise official told TOI. The players had a very tough time in the last 48 hours with several players not managing a good sleep as they waited for BCCI and ECB to come to a conclusion after their physio Yogesh Parmar contracted the virus. Meanwhile, Onecricket learns that the travel plans either by a charter or a commercial flight won’t really matter as all the players have to undergo a six-day self-isolation after reaching the middle east nation.

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