PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja floats idea of annual quadrangular T20I series involving India-Pakistan

Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ramiz Raja is not short of ideas it seems and will not leave any stone unturned to try and get Pakistan Cricket the stage it deserves.

According to his new Idea that he is going to float to the International Cricket Council, he plans Pakistan to host a quadrangular T2OI series involving arch-rivals India and two other giants of cricket, T20 World Champions Australia and ODI World Champions England.

“Hello, fans. Will be bringing the ICC a Four Nations T20i Super Series involving Pak Ind Aus Eng that will be played annually, which will be rotated by these four,” Raja wrote on his official Twitter handle.

According to Raja, while the first tournament could be held in Pakistan, later on, it could be rotated annually and the financial gains from this series would be divided among all ICC members on a percentage basis.

“A separate revenue model with profits to be shared on a percentage basis with all ICC members, I think we have a winner,” wrote the former Pakistan captain.

It is being touted as the best possible way to make India-Pakistan play regularly, if not on a bilateral level. Bilateral cricket between the sides has been disbanded since 2012-13, the last time Pakistan toured India for a limited-overs series of three-match each in ODIs and T20Is.

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With T20 World title defence in consideration, Starc ready to re-engage with IPL this season

Australian speedster Mitchell Starc is considering putting his name in the Indian Premier League 2022 mega auction which is scheduled to take place on February 12 and 13 respectively. Starc, who last participated in the IPL in the 2015 season for the Royal Challengers Bangalore has arrived at this decision after taking into consideration the title defence of the T20 World Cup, which the Aussies won in 2021 in UAE and Oman. The 2022 edition will be held in Australia in November. "I've got two days to get my paperwork in so that might be something I do today before training. I've not put my name down just yet, but I've got a couple more days to decide on that. It's certainly on the table, regardless of the schedule coming up,” Starc was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo. “I haven't been for six years or so,” he laughed. Reasoning his decision, the speedster who would be taking part in the fifth and last Test against England at Hobart, said, "With obviously a heavy weighting towards T20s over the last period of time and the World Cup coming up later this year, that's one to take into consideration." So far, Starc has taken 34 wickets in 27 IPL matches for RCB at an economy rate of 7.16 and a strike rate of 17.

SA vs IND | 3rd Test | Day 2: Petersen, van der Dussen resist after India pick early wickets

India couldn’t have asked for a better start to the proceedings on Day 2 of the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town after Jasprit Bumrah cleaned up Aiden Markram in the very first over. The hosts were reduced to 17/2 and the Indian fast bowlers continued to ask questions with their lethal line, length and pace. But Keshav Maharaj who had come in as nightwatchman on the first day, along with Keegan Petersen resisted well and put up a partnership of 28 runs for the third wicket. Maharaj was eventually undone by Umesh Yadav for 25 and South Africa were once again in a spot of bother at 45/3. Petersen was joined by Rassie van der Dussen and the two not just provided the resistance but performed the rebuilding job pretty well. While they were cautious enough against the good deliveries from the Indian bowling unit, the batters didn’t shy from putting away the bad ones to the boundary rope. While Petersen was unbeaten at 45, Rassie van der Dussen remained not out at 17 with South Africa putting up 100 runs on the board at the loss of three wickets before the conclusion of the first session on the second day.

ODI fixtures between Ireland & West Indies rescheduled

The ODI fixtures between West Indies and Ireland have been rescheduled while the one-off T20I has been called-off due to the Covid-19 outbreak. The second ODI between the two teams will now be played on Thursday, January 13 at Sabina Park while the series will be concluded on Sunday. “The rescheduling occurred following five COVID-19 positive cases, as well as injuries in the Ireland camp leaving the Ireland squad depleted ahead of the 2nd CG Insurance ODI which was originally was scheduled for Tuesday, 11 January,” the Ireland Cricket said in a statement. “As a consequence, the one-off CG Insurance T20 International has been cancelled to allow for this revised schedule and to avoid impact on the West Indies team’s travel plans and subsequent fixtures,” it added. West Indies are presently leading the series 1-0 after clinching a win in the first match by 24 runs. Three members of Ireland’s contingent had tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday in Jamaica while the touring side was already without the services of Simi Singh and Ben White, before Andy Balbirnie, the captain, Lorcan Tucker and David Ripley, the interim head coach, returned positive results.

IPL 2022 | Two new teams given time till January 22 to announce three retentions

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has given time till January 22, 2022, for the two new entrants in the Indian Premier League, the CVC Capital owned Ahmedabad franchise and RPS Goenka group owned Lucknow franchise to finalise their three pre-signed or retained players. The eight already existing teams have already given the list of their retained players. They could have retained a maximum of four players. Among the three players that the new franchises can sign prior to the auctions, there can be no more than one overseas player. "They have time till 5 pm on January 22 to complete their signings," a BCCI official was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz. Originally the two teams were to be given two weeks after the green light to CVC regarding ownership of the franchise. Bit now, since the dates for the Auction are set at February 12 and 13, the original plan has been tweaked and the teams are now given only 10 days to finalise their list of players. According to the advisory, if the two new teams sign three capped players, they would have to forfeit Rs 33 crore. And if they sign two capped players then, in that case, they would lose out on Rs 24 crore and Rs 14 crore for signing one capped player. An uncapped player would cost them only Rs 4 core, but they can pay him more than that if they want and the extra money would be deducted from their total salary cap of Rs 90 crore. However, the new teams cannot sign more than one uncapped player. The players that are on the minds of the two franchises are Hardik Pandya, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Kagiso Rabada, Marcus Stoinis and Shahrukh Khan, the free agents, who have not been retained by their previous franchises ahead of the mega auction. Now that Mitchell Starc is thinking of throwing his hat in the mix, he might also be on the radar of the franchises who are looking to pre-sign players.