IPL 2021 suspended | Kane Williamson, other England-bound Kiwi players to stay in India till May 10

IPL 2021: We will come back stronger says Rajasthan Royals before leaving bio-bubble

With the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League suspended indefinitely, players from all the franchises will slowly start moving out of their respective bio-bubbles and travel back to their respective destinations. It won’t be an easy task for the foreign players as they have to travel via other routes and complete their quarantine duties before leaving for their country. The Australian players and support staffs might have to fly off to the Maldives or Sri Lanka in order to reach home. Only last week the Australian government banned travellers from India atleast till 15th May. While the IPL Hasn’t been cancelled yet, it looks highly unlikely it will return anytime soon this summer. Before leaving, the Rajasthan Royals posted a video on their Twitter handle where every player can be seen thanking the supporters for their support and also promised to come back stronger whenever the tournament restarts. The second wave of COVID-19 has left India gasping for breath. Nearly four lakh cases have been reported for several days now and the death percentage is only increasing with each day. The IPL was one of the sources of entertainment for the people in these tumultuous times but with the virus breaching respective bio-bubbles it was almost impossible for the BCCI to continue with the tournament. Coming to Rajasthan Royals there are occupying the 5th position in the points table. While they have been below par in quite a few matches, they have come out triumphant on a few occasions courtesy individual brilliance. In the last match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, it was on the back of a special knock from Jos Buttler that RR managed to thrash SRH by 55 runs.

Kyle Mayers, Bonner, Joshua Da Silva earn West Indies central contracts: Roston Chase dropped

Emerging talents such as Kyle Mayers, Nkrumah Bonner, Joshua Da Silva, Akeal Hosein have earned reckoning in the Cricket West Indies men’s central contracts for the 2021-2022 season. Along with recognising the potentials of the young players, Cricket West Indies have also awarded central contracts to experienced players such as Dwayne Bravo, Kieron Pollard for the white-ball formats. Only Jason Holder has got the all-format contract from CWI while the newly appointed Test captain Kraigg Brathwaite along with Jermaine Blackwood, Rahkeem Cornwall, Shannon Gabriel, and Kemar Roach have got the central contracts for the red-ball format. For the white-ball formats, CWI has put their money on Kieron Pollard, Fabien Allen, Darren Bravo, Shai Hope, Akeal Hosein, Evin Lewis, Alzarri Joseph, Nicholas Pooran and Hayden Walsh Jr. Despite many winners of the central contract of the CWI, there have been some who have been shown the exit door as well. Former vice-captain Roston Chase has lost his all-format contract while players such as Sunil Ambris, Sheldon Cottrell, Shimron Hetmyer, Brandon King, Keemo Paul, Rovman Powell, Romario Shepherd and Oshane Thomas have been shown the door from the contracts for the white-ball formats. “Contracts offered for the 2021-22 period sees 18 players being retained, a decrease of 4 from last year. Jason Holder is the only player to retain his all-format contract due to his strong Test and T20I performances during the evaluation period. There are several new players offered red-ball contracts earned by their strong performances during the last period. A number of players were not retained because they did not meet the minimum requirements,” said West Indies Men’s Team Lead Selector, Roger Harper in CWI statement.

IPL 2021: Pat Cummins feels organisers tweaked with a few things to organise IPL in India

Aussie speedster Pat Cummins who was part of the Kolkata Knight Riders squad in the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League feels that the organisers might have tweaked with a few things to host this edition of the tournament in India despite the second wave of COVID-19 creating a ruckus in the country. The pandemic has taken the Indian medical system off guard with thousands of people losing their lives daily. Cummins stated that the 2020 edition held in UAE was a very well organised one and incredibly well-run. He felt the organisers tried to push it a step further by organising the 14th edition at home, which backfired after the tournament had to be suspended indefinitely after several COVID cases were reported from the respective bio-bubbles. The IPL was suspended after two KKR players, three CSK members and a DC and an SRH cricketer tested positive for the novel Coronavirus. "Last year we had the IPL held over in the UAE and that was an incredibly well-run tournament," Cummins was quoted as saying by Fox Sports. "This year, they tried to push it little step further and have it over here in multiple cities in India. I'm sure looking back they might have tweaked a few things,” he further added. It must be taken into account that Cummins’ statement was made before the league was postponed indefinitely. With Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier from KKR testing positive, it seemed inevitable that the tournament might have to be halted. The BCCI had no other options when it was reported that the virus had breached through DC and SRH bubbles as well after Amit Mishra and Wriddhiman Saha tested positive. Meanwhile, Chennai Super Kings bowling coach Lakshmipathy Balaji and a bus driver also tested positive. Later batting coach Michael Hussey also tested positive for the same. "It's two different worlds. We're lucky, we're safe, we're comfortable and there's people just trying to get basic medical treatment. First thing was to find out whether us playing the IPL was the right thing and basically everyone said, we would be lost without the IPL for three or four hours every night. I'm just trying to do my bit. India's been such a good country to me and cricketers,” Cummins said.

ICC Player of the Month: Nepal’s Kushal Bhurtel competes with Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman

The International Cricket Council announced nominations of the Player of the Month Award and it surprised many as for the first time ever, a member of the associate nation, Kushal Bhurtel of Nepal was among the three nominees. While Bhurtel was the star of the show in the tri-nation T20I series hosted by Nepal in April where they defeated the Netherlands in the final to lift the trophy, Babar and Fakhar hammered the South Africans in both the ODIs and T20Is to record historic series wins against South Africa in both the formats. Bhurtel, 24, scored 278 runs including four fifties in the five games that he played against in the tri-nation series hosted at Kiritpur. The right-hander averaged a phenomenal 69.50 at a strike rate of 140 in the series. The third team in the tri-series was Malaysia. Babar, 26, on the other hand, was brilliant with the bat as well, scoring 228 runs in three ODIs including a century at an average of 76 and 305 T20I runs in seven innings at an average of 43.57. His fellow compatriot Zaman, 30, played a historic knock of 193, the second-highest individual score in an ODI while chasing at Johannesburg. He followed that with another century in Centurion in the very next game helping Pakistan win the ODI series 2-1. The previous three winners of the ICC Men’s Player of the Month have all been Indians and it includes the likes of Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar.