Jos Buttler urges players to speak about potential bio-Bubble pressure

England star wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler is of the opinion that players must speak about any sort of pressure that they might feel because of the bio-bubble situation that has been forced upon them because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“If you’re feeling under pressure or not quite yourself, the key is to have the confidence to open up and talk about it,” said Buttler in a press conference.

Adding that feeling the pressure or claustrophobic or homesick is not unique and everyone goes through it, the 30-year-old said that the England Cricket Board has been quite supportive of the players, whenever they have come out with anything related to personal or professional well being.

“We all go through it at different stages where you feel a bit homesick or claustrophobic ... We just want to make sure everyone in the squad is aware of that. The ECB is excellent at looking after the players’ mental well-being,” said the Taunton born.

Saying that it would not be possible, like previous tours to explore South Africa during their half month-long tour, Buttler said that it’s a good thing that players are well aware of it. “We won’t get to fully enjoy South Africa but everyone has become accustomed to what it’s going to be like.”

England’s tour of the rainbow nation begins with a T20I series with the first match in Newlands, Cape Town. The team will play three T20Is and an equal number of ODIs between November 27 and December 9 in South Africa.

Discover more

Pujara needs to work harder to this time around in Aus: Glenn McGrath

Former Aussie fast bowler and one of the greatest in the world, Glenn McGrath believes that Indian Test maestro Cheteshwar Pujara would have to work a lot harder this time around to make sure that he is anywhere near to his brilliant performance during India’s historic 2018-19 series win against the Aussies. The reason for the fast bowler’s assessment is the fact that Pujara hasn’t spent much time in the middle and therefore looks rusty at first. “The fact that he hasn’t spent time in the middle hasn’t had a lot of long batting time, is going to have a big impact. He will probably have to work harder this series than the last one as he hasn’t played any cricket,” McGrath was quoted as saying about the 32-year-old Indian. However, the Aussie great who has 563 Test scalps to his name does not count Pujara out and rates his methods as top-class saying that he can well make up for the time off the field. “The thing he did so well last time was that he occupied the crease. He spent time in the middle just batting,” said the 50-year-old. Saying that he doesn’t get bogged down by playing dots, McGrath counted Pujara as one of the rarities in modern-day cricket. “He is a kind of batsman who doesn’t feel pressure when not scoring runs. That’s unique in the modern era where there are batsmen who would want to score runs after one maiden over,” he said. “Pujara doesn’t have that mindset. That helped him last time, allowed him to get a lot of time and just compile runs,” added the Dubbo born. Last time around, Pujara in 7 innings, had aggregated 521 runs including 3 match-winning hundreds across three venues with an average of 74.43.

BCCI announces MPL as official kit sponsor for India

India’s E-Sport giant Mobile Premier League has been announced as the new kit sponsor and official merchandise partner for the Indian Cricket Team by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the cricket administering body in the country. As part of a three-year deal under the newly-inked strategic partnership, MPL Sports would have the right to sell Team India’s (Senior Men’s Team, Senior Women’s Team, and U-19 Teams) official merchandise starting from November 2020 to December 2023. MPL Sports’ association with BCCI begins with upcoming India’s tour of Australia, 2020-21, which will see Team India sport the jerseys with MPL’s logo as the sponsor. On this occasion, Jay Shah, Honorary Secretary of BCCI was hopeful that the new partnership would usher a new era where the Indian cricket team merchandise could reach every fan. “The partnership leads us to a new frontier for Team India and for sports merchandising in the country. We look forward to working with a young Indian brand like MPL Sports. This partnership aims at facilitating access to high-quality Indian cricket fan merchandise, including the coveted Indian cricket team jersey for cricket fans not just in the country but globally,” he said. Sourav Ganguly, President, BCCI was excited with the deal saying, “We are delighted to announce MPL Sports as the kit sponsor for the Indian men’s and women’s national cricket team until 2023. We look forward to MPL Sports bring Official BCCI licensed merchandise within easy and convenient reach for the billion-plus fans.” Commenting on the partnership, Abhishek Madhavan, SVP Growth, and Marketing for MPL and MPL Sports said that India is an under-tapped market in merchandise distribution and his company would like to explore it in partnership with BCCI. “India is a market with a billion cricket fans and we see a lot of potential. We hope to partner closely with the BCCI and take all kinds of team India merchandise to the masses - with offline as well as online distribution at affordable prices,” he said.

Will Pucovski: The talk of the town

The Victorian wunderkind is eating records for breakfast and carving his own niche in the domestic circles of Australia

South African Conway gets first call up for NZ, Williamson rested for T20Is

The Blackcaps announced their squad for the upcoming Test and T20I series against the West Indies which begins on 17th November with the first T20I in Auckland. While captain Kane Williamson has been rested for the T20s keeping in mind the Red ball importance for the Kiwis this summer, Trent Boult has been rested for the limited-overs series with Tim Southee being given the captaincy reins. "We've had to make a decision on Kane and Trent to prioritize the Test matches, given how important they are to our red-ball team and the fact they both played such big roles in the recent IPL while also managing injuries,” Gary Stead the New Zealand coach said. Further underscoring the importance of the Tests in the larger scheme of things, Stead said, "There's no secret we're right in the hunt for the World Test Championship final following our 2-0 win over India [in February], and having Trent and Kane fully fit and focused for the upcoming series will be crucial." With Colin Munro not considered due to his BBL deal with the Perth Scorchers, South Africa born Devon Conway who is now a naturalized citizen of the Kiwi nation has been finally given a national call up, having piled up runs at the domestic level, including the current Plunkett Shield in which he is the leading run-scorer with 253 runs from six innings. "We're looking forward to welcoming Devon into our environment for the first time and I'm sure he'll soak up the experience. With Colin Munro heading to the Big Bash and therefore unavailable for the Pakistan T20 series pre-Christmas, the selectors are keen to look at other batting options at the top of the order,” Stead said about the left-hander. Kyle Jamieson, the tall and heavy all-rounder who impressed all during the India series has been given a first call up for T20Is. Jamieson has been in amazing bowling form in the Shield having picked up 12 wickets from just three innings with two five-wicket hauls. Much like Ross Taylor and Southee, Jamieson will only be available for the first two matches as he would move to join the Test team. To replace these four, Mark Chapman, Doug Bracewell, and Scott Kuggeleijn, and Glenn Phillips will join the T20 setup.