Mohammad Amir pulls out of T10 League 2021-22 after getting affected by Covid-19

"They would have had to strap me to the bed," Matthew Wade played T20 World Cup final with torn back

Australia’s wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade, who batted with absolute firepower and aggression to win them the semi-final contest against Australia, played the big final of the tournament despite injuring his back. He tore his back a day before the final against New Zealand and did not opt to check the status and seriousness of the injury to keep on playing in the final that Australia won to win their first T20 World Cup title. "Day before the game, second last ball before the end of the session I did my side," Wade said on Thursday. “I didn't really want to go for a scan. But they sent me and then to the physio and the doctor's credit they kind of hid the information from me and just said let's see you pull up tomorrow and we'll go from there. "It pulled up about the same as what it felt the night before, so I went and hit some balls before the game and I tried to bluff my way through that, then they made me hit a few more so I got through it and felt pretty fine." "I was a little bit worried the night before the game, for sure. If I had have woken up and I couldn't swing the bat, I wouldn't have played. I was worried that if we'd batted first and I had to go as hard as I could and I tore it then, I wouldn't be able to keep and that would hurt the team a lot," he said. "But in my mind, they would have had to strap me to the bed. I was always going to go out there and play. But I wouldn't have played if there was a chance it was going to hurt the team. I went and hit some balls before the game and bluffed my way through that. Then they made me hit a few more, but I got through it and it felt pretty fine." Australia captain Aaron Finch said that he was not surprised at Wade’s turning up for the final of the tournament despite the injury. He said that Wade could have been out of the final only if he had lost one leg and although he was in some pain towards the end of bowling innings, his wicketkeeping was not affected one bit. "There was always a little bit of a fear," Finch said. "I knew the result being a grade two, I thought that a grade two tear in his side was going to be tough. But if anyone's going to play it would have been him. You would have had to cut his leg off for him not to be out there. "I thought he kept brilliantly. Towards the back end I saw him in a bit of pain with a couple of dives and throws so yeah, he was never missing that though." Australia were down and out in the semi-final of the tournament against Pakistan before Wade produced a 17-ball 41 and stitched an unbeaten partnership with 81 runs with Marcus Stoinis to lead Australia into the final.

Alex Hales denies Azeem Rafiq's allegations of naming his dog with intentions of racism

England batsman Alex Hales has “categorically” denied the allegations of naming his dog “Kevin” with racial connotation as alleged by the former Yorkshire player Azeem Rafiq during his testimony to the Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) Committee. However, he expressed his sympathy to Azeem Rafiq for enduring “harrowing” episodes of racism while being a player for Yorkshire county. He also agreed to Azeem’s point that there should be no place for any sort of discrimination in the game of cricket and assured his cooperation in the investigation if he will be asked for. "Having heard the allegations made against me, I categorically and absolutely deny there was any racial connotation in the naming of my dog," Hales, who plays for Nottinghamshire, said in a statement. "I entirely respect and have huge sympathy for both the stance Azeem Rafiq has taken and what he has had to endure. His evidence was harrowing. "There is no place for racism or discrimination of any kind in cricket and I will gladly co-operate with any investigation the game's authorities choose to hold." Azeem had alleged that Gary Ballance used to call players of colour by the name “Kevin” and went a step further saying that Hales went on to give his dog which was black in colour, the same name, to establish how racism was “normalised” by the players.

UK PM Johnson commends Azeem Rafiq for speaking out, urges ECB, Yorkshire to take action against racism

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson has spoken on the issue of racism in cricket in the aftermath of former Yorkshire player Azeem Rafiq’s testimony to the Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) Committee. He has commended Azeem for taking a tough stance on the issue of racism and ruled “there is no excuse for racism anywhere in society”. He also urged both England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Yorkshire County Cricket Club to take stern action against the perpetrators of the act of racism. Earlier on November 16, Azeem had described in detail all the acts of racism and what he called “inhuman behaviour” hurled at him by the former and current players of England while he was with the Yorkshire side in the England domestic cricket. He had also spoken on the issues related to former England captain Michael Vaughan, current players Alex Hales, Gary Ballance and pained a grim picture of the equality in the Yorkshire dressing room. He had also criticised the ECB and players’ association for not taking his complaints seriously and also not taking any action against the players involved. Azeem first reported the issue of racism to Yorkshire county in the year 2018 but the county tried to brush matters under the carpet and came out with an investigation panel and its report only after media reportage started to ask questions very frequently.

BCCI introduces pace bowlers' contracts, appoints news coaches at National Cricket Academy

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is all set to appoint a bunch of coaches at the National Cricket Academy that will be run in the leadership of VVS Laxman and introduce a new set of contracts exclusively for pace bowlers, PTI reported. The board has decided to offer contracts to young pace bowlers in the country keeping in mind the average age of the current Indian pacers and with the view of creating an assembly line of fast bowlers to pick from for the national side. In the coaching department at the NCA, the board has earmarked Australia's Troy Cooley as a fast-bowling coach while the Indian trio of Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Shiv Sunder Das, along with Sitanshu Kotak has been finalised for the post of batting coaches. Cooley has been known for his coaching stints with the pace bowlers as he was credited for England’s tremendous bowling in the 2005 Ashes series and later he also took responsibility for the Australian Test side. He has been roped in one three-year-long contract by the BCCI, the report added. "I would say one of the biggest success for both Sourav (Ganguly, the BCCI president) and Jay (Shah, the BCCI secretary)is to convince Troy Cooley to work with India's next batch of pacers at the National Cricket Academy," a senior BCCI official told PTI on the condition of anonymity. "We are hearing that BCCI is giving Cooley a three-year contract and he will closely coordinate with the NCA head of cricket, VVS Laxman."