Jos Buttler pulls out of remainder of IPL 2021, Rajasthan sign Glenn Phillips as replacement

Ramiz Raja front-runner to become next PCB chairman: Report

Former opener and now a prominent voice in the world of Cricket, Rameez Raja is most likely to be the next chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), PTI reported citing an unnamed source. He is competing with Asad Ali Khan, a seasoned bureaucrat but the Prime Minister has all but made of his mind to appoint Raja as the next chairman. The report further suggested that what works in favour of Raja is that he is “well educated, well-versed, and has international contacts” along with previous experience of working with the PCB. "In the next few days, the PM will send two names to the PCB's governing board for the chairman's election and the members will elect one of them. Rameez appears to be the ideal candidate as he is well educated, well-versed, and has international contacts due to his long years as a commentator. He was also CEO of the board in the past and left due to his other commitments," the source said. If he is appointed, he will replace Ehsan Mani as the PCB chairman, whose term is set to end next month. Raja has played under the leadership of Imran Khan in the world cup winning Pakistan side in 1992 and the proximity between the two could also work in his favour.

IPL 2021 | Who is the new RCB recruit Tim David?

Announcing ring of changes in their squad and leadership group before the second part of this year’s edition of the Indian Premier League, the Royal Challengers Bangalore announced that the New Zealander explosive batsman Fin Allen will be replaced by Tim David. David was born on March 16, 1996, in Singapore and he later migrated to Australia to give shape to his Cricketing career. He presented many junior-level sides such as the Western Australian U-23s and Western Australian XI before making his way to the Big Bash League. He made his Big Bash debut for the Perth Scorchers in the 2017 edition of the competition and has been a force to reckon with the Western Australian side. Later, he was drafted by the Hobart Hurricanes before the 2020 edition of the league and he announced his arrival in grand style with a 32-ball 58 in the very first appearance for the Tasmania-based side. He has amassed 388 runs from 26 Big Bash games at a staggering strike rate of 148.09 and 19 sixes. He has been known for his brute force and the ability to change the momentum of a game in a short time. Historically, he has the third-best strike rate in the history of T20 cricket across the league, franchise and international cricket after Ravija Sanduwaran of Kuwait and Glenn Maxwell of Australia. He has not given up on his international career and continues to represent Singapore at the world level. The Royal Challengers Bangalore would be hopeful for his counter-attacking innings in the second half of the IPL this year. Mike Hesson, who also took over as the head coach of the Virat Kohli-led side after the resignation of Simon Katich, also highlighted what the franchise expects of him in the tournament. He said that the team is looking up to David to fill the big boots of AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell with his power-hitting in case they suffer any injury concerns. He added that the inclusion of David has been done with an idea of strengthening the middle order. He is coming off a great run of form in the Royal London ODI Cup in England where he scored two centuries and the RCB would be desperate to see him going great guns with the bat in the middle order come September 20 when they are slated to face the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Youngsters have opportunity to show talent in absence of senior players: Matthew Mott

Australia women’s team head coach Matthew Mott has said that the absence of key players from the side for the fixtures against India is an opportunity for the youngsters to show their talent and cement their place in the team. “We won’t have any excuses, we’ve lost some key players but the flip side of that is an extraordinary opportunity for us to see the next generation, especially in the young fast bowlers,” Mott said while speaking on SEN radio. The Indian women’s team will tour Australia for a three-match ODI series which will be followed by a one-off Test and three T20is. The ODI series begins on September 19 in Sydney while the Test fixture will commence on September 30 in Perth. The T20I series will begin on October 7 in Sydney. Australia, who are on a 24-match winning streak last played against the New Zealand side in April this year. Talking about the match practice, the coach admitted that the side needs to play more matches to stay in the groove. “We need to play some cricket, we haven’t played a lot of cricket basically since that World Cup at the MCG. It’s really important to try and rebuild some of that momentum we had,” Mott said.

IPL 2021 | Simon Katich leaves RCB, Mike Hesson to take dual responsibility

Former Australian cricketer Simon Catich has resigned from his post as the coach of the Royal Challenegers Bangalore citing personal reasons. He will not take part in the second part of the tournament scheduled to start on September 19 in the UAE and Mike Hesson will take over the position of the head coach as well besides being the Director of Cricket at the franchise. Catich was appointed as the hea coach in the August 2019 and he had also taken part in the auction for the 2020 auction held in December 2019. He was with the Royal Challengers in the last edition of the tournament where the Virat Kohli-led side had performed reasonably well to reach the play offs. The Royal Challengers have also roped in Sri Lanka all-rounder Wanindu Hassaranga, whose stocks as a leg spinner has gone up several notch after successful white-ball series against India earlier this year. The side have made couple of more changes by replacing New Zealander Fin Allen with Tim David, and Australian Daniel Sams with Sri Lankan Dushmantha Chameera, whose raw pace and ability to extract bounce off the surface impressed many in the series against India. The Royal Challengers Bangalore will restart their IPL 2021 campaign with the clash against the Kolkata Knight Riders on September 20 in Abu Dhabi.