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BCCI to potentially sacrifice international fixtures for resumption of IPL 2021

The IPL 2021 that was earlier suspended due to the rise in Covid-19 cases within the teams is likely to resume on September 19 or 20 with the final tentatively taking place on October 9 or 10. The fixtures will include 10 double-headers which will be played in the span of three weeks. Earlier, CSK’s bowling coach L.Balaji and batting coach Mike Hussey, DC’s Amit Mishra, KKR’s Sandeep Warrior and Varun Chakravarthy and SRH’s Wriddhiman Saha had tested positive for the disease due to which the tournament had to be put on a halt. The resumption of the tournament on these dates will mean that India will either have to cancel or postpone a couple of series and this would include a bilateral tie against South Africa that was scheduled to take place in September and the two-match Test series against New Zealand at home. “The series can't be held and in any case there can't be any better preparation for the T20 World Cup than playing a high intensity tournament like IPL. Since the T20 World Cup will start within a week or 10 days after completion of the IPL, the SA series can only be held at a later date,” a source close to BCCI said. 'There is a chance that India might play extra games when they tour South Africa early next year,' the source added. The dates for the New Zealand Tests might be altered depending upon the conclusion of the World T20.

KKR's Tim Seifert breaks down while talking about Covid-19

Kolkata Knight Riders’ Tim Seifert who had tested positive for Covid-19 broke down during a chat with New Zealand Herald. The Kiwi wicket-keeper batsman narrated how he felt after testing positive for the disease. “I got pulled aside and told I’d tested positive and my heart sank straight away when everyone left. I was the only overseas player basically still left in India out of the whole tournament. That’s when things got a little bit real,” an emotional Seifert told the ‘New Zealand Herald’. “I got pulled aside and told I’d tested positive and my heart sank straight away when everyone left. I was the only overseas player basically still left in India out of the whole tournament. That’s when things got a little bit real,” an emotional Seifert told the ‘New Zealand Herald’. Earlier, the IPL 2021 was suspended on May 4 with immediate effect after there were positive cases of Covid-19 found within the teams. SRH’s Wriddhiman Saha, DC’s Amit Mishra, KKR’s Sandeep Warrior and Varun Chakravarthy, and CSK’s bowling coach L.Balaji and batting coach Mike Hussey had tested positive for the disease. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had earlier said that the cash-rich league has only been put to a halt and not cancelled. In the recent developments, the BCCI is likely to hold the remainder of the IPL in the UAE between September 19-October 10 as per Sports Today’s Boria Majumdar.

Remainder of IPL 2021 in UAE from September 19 to October 10: Reports

The remainder of the Indian Premier League would be played in the United Arab Emirates in the September-October window with the first match starting on September 19, Sports Today has reported. A 21-day window has been drawn up by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for the remainder of the 31 games to be played to complete the 14th edition of the season which got curtailed earlier in May due to the covid-19 pandemic. If reports are to be believed, the tournament is set to end with the final on October 10, right ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup. "The BCCI has spoken to all the stakeholders and the likely start could be between September 18th to 20th. Since September 18 is a Saturday and 19 a Sunday, it is more likely that you would want to re-start it on a weekend date," a BCCI official was quoted as saying to PTI on conditions of anonymity. The reports further suggest that the dates of India’s England tour will not be changed and BCCI did not make any such request to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). Team India’s England tour which begins with WTC Final on June 18 and then the subsequent five-match Test series vs the hosts starting August 4, will end on September 14 as decided. However, on September 15th, Indian players will travel to Dubai instead of coming home. This would be a bubble to bubble transfer and the players will remain in a three-day quarantine in their team hotels. 'The Indian team and the English players who will be available will fly in the same charter flight from Manchester to Dubai," said the BCCI source. Another speculation suggested in the report is that the Caribbean Premier League which is supposed to end on September 19 would be expedited to end at least three to four days early so that IPL bound West Indies and international players are relieved. Trinbago Knight Riders a CPL franchise, owned by the owners of IPL’s Kolkata Knight Riders is supposed to play a key role in the considerations. "West Indies players will also fly in after completing the Caribbean Premier League engagements. There will be three-day quarantine for players arriving from the UK and the Caribbean,' the source added. For the 31 matches to be played, there would be 10 doubleheader days and seven matches would be played on single match days. The Four playoffs would then be played to end the tournament. The IPL franchises have been appraised by the BCCI and IPL Governing Council. 'We have been told by the BCCI to be ready for the tournament. We have been given a September 15 to 20 window,' a team official said. The league was postponed on May 4 after a lot of cases of covid-19 emerged in the Bio-bubble.

To call Lord’s home for six months: Taylor, Nicholls and coach Stead remember MCC Scholarship days

New Zealand trio of experienced middle-order batter Ross Taylor, young Henry Nicholls and coach Gary Stead remembered their days as Marlybone Cricket Club’s Young Cricket at Lord’s Scholarship days ahead of their team’s Test at the iconic stadium starting Jun 2. Taylor, who is now one of the most accomplished Kiwi batters in all formats of the game remembered coming to London in 2002. “I used to watch Test matches growing up. And there was always talk about the slope [Lord’s]. I was fortunate enough in 2002 to be New Zealand’s recipient for Young cricketer Lord’s,’ he said in a video uploaded by Blackcaps’ official Twitter account. The 37-year-old then went ahead to narrate how it turned out to be an unforgettable six months in London. “I was a young boy who hadn’t really travelled much and London was a bit of an eye-opener. I realised very early on that this is the avenue that I wanted to pursue and become a full-time cricketer. To call Lord’s home for six months is something I will never forget,” said Taylor, who has now played more than 100 Tests and has scored more than 17,000 international runs. Henry Nicholls, who made his Test debut for New Zealand in 2016 against Australia back home, remembered the 2019 World Cup Final and how it seemed like coming full circle for the MCC Young Cricketer fellow of 2010. “When I returned to play the World Cup in 2019, security people remembered me, which was pretty cool. It was also like going full circle and meeting people who were there, where I was once,” said Nicholls, who just recently tied the knot with his girlfriend Lucy. Talking about his time at the Mecca of cricket, the 29-year-old said, “It was a great opportunity and I was following in the footsteps of some of the great guys, obviously, now I am even sharing the dressing room with a few of them.” “It was playing a lot of cricket, playing back to back to back, three-four days a week. When there were international games, 20 of us the young cricketers would do different jobs,” added Nicholls who has so far played 37 Tests for the Blackcaps. Reminiscing about one such job, the left-hander said, “I was standing near the batting team’s dressing room during an England-Australia one day game. I would tell the radio people about the scores and who was coming to bat next. It was a pretty surreal experience.” Gary Stead, currently the Kiwi coach was also an MCC fellow back in 1990. Revisiting his time in London and Lord’s, he said that it was always great to come back to a place that has had so much influence on you as a person. “To me, Lord’ s is a special place. I was lucky enough to go there on a scholarship when I was 18 and to live there, to breathe there and work there for almost six months was great,” said the former Kiwi player who represented the national team in five Tests. “When you have memories like that and you have been there for a long time, you want to go back and reconnect with that place,” he added. The New Zealand team is in England for a three-Test sojourn which also involves the all-important inaugural World Test Championship Final against India in Southampton, starting from June 18.