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Jos Buttler Urges Players To Speak About Potential Bio Bubble Pressure

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.

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Carey looking to cement T20I place via a solid ODI series against India

Australia’s number one choice OSI wicketkeeper Alex Carey is looking to make a comeback to the Australian T20I unit by performing well against the Indian Team in the upcoming ODI series. Carey, who was part of the Delhi Capitals during the IPL, didn’t really get many chances to prove his worth there. "I learned a lot, I speak to Ricky quite often. I was lucky enough to work with him through the World Cup last year and formed a good relationship. He was an amazing player and is an amazing coach, and he picks up on little things really quickly,” Carey was quoted as saying to cricket.com.au about his IPL experience. While he trained under Ricky Ponting in the IPL, currently under quarantine, he is still being trained under the Aussie batting maestro. Carey believes that a lack form opened the door for Matthew Wade in the Aussie team and he wishes to reclaim it. "I guess my numbers in the past few T20s probably allowed the opening of the door for Wadey to come in. I never like being left out of any team but it's allowed me to go away and develop,” he said. "If it's a lower-order role or back up the top of the order, I'm doing everything I can to get back into that team and it's something I want to do,” the 29-year-old said about his plans for making the comeback. Carey’s last performance in an international match saw him score a hundred and win a series for Australia against arch-rivals England. The Loxton born says that he has gained a lot of confidence from that. Although his international T20 records are dismal (176 in 30 matches at an average of 12.57 and strike-rate of 116.55) the club records with Adelaide strikers (1,163 runs at 36.34 in 35 games) gives him hopes. “Since then (100 vs England) I felt like I finished off that UK tour really strongly and took a lot out of the IPL working with. It's an exciting two weeks for me as part of the white-ball group," said Carey. Considering the three matches and the BBL as a great opportunity to make his position permanent in the T20I side before the World Cup, Carey said, "Although it's 12 months away, you want to hone in on some specific roles and getting some form going into that World Cup.”

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