Prasidh Krishna, Krunal Pandya likely to get India call-up for England ODIs: Reports

Remaining T20I fixtures between India and England to take place behind closed doors

The remaining T20Is between India and England will be played behind the closed doors in Ahmedabad. The decision has come as a precautionary measure after the country is once again witnessing a rise in COVID-19 cases. The BCCI had earlier allowed 50% audience in the stadium for the first two encounters between the two teams. The Vice President of the GCA Dhanraj Nathan on Monday said in a statement that the refunds for the remaining matches will be made to the fans. "Refund will be given to the spectators who have purchased tickets. Due to increasing number of Corona cases, Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) has decided to organise the remainder T20 International matches between India and England at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad behind closed doors," Nathwani said. "The decision was arrived at following detailed discussions with the state and local health authorities," the BCCI added in a statement. "The BCCI will continue to comply with all the regulations put in place to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus and will always put the health and safety of its fans and stakeholders at the top." The five-match series is presently lived at 1-1 after the home side made a fine comeback in the second encounter to beat England by 7 wickets while chasing a target of 165 on Sunday. Debutant Ishan Kishan notched up a half-century while skipper Virat Kohli was back in form after he struck an unbeaten 73 off 49 during the course. The third match is slated to take place at the same venue on Tuesday.

IND vs ENG | 3rd T20: Experiments to continue as sides seek domination

Both England and India could not have made the five-match long T20I series any more riveting with either side having tasted a resounding success and an equally hurting loss in the first two games of the series. Now, with the series level at 1-1 and three more games to go, both the hosts and the tourists have all to play for both in terms of winning the series and finding their perfect combinations for the World T20. Having faced a big loss in the first game where England ripped open all the flaws in their system, the hosts came back sharply in the second game with the approach of not holding back with the bat finally coming to the fore for the Virat Kohli-led side. The bowling which looked lacklustre and short of match practice in the first game looked sharper and the wicket column was looking richer right from the start for India. A great effort with the ball was backed outstandingly by batsmen led by debutant Ishan Kishan and skipper Virat Kohli as the duo batted with supreme confidence and immaculate precision to deflate the England side. Morgan conceded India had them under pressure from the word go and that they were dragged out of their comfort zone in the second game. However, he emphasized that the tourists are not running away from trying a few things differently and taking the heart out of some hard battles they exected to encounter before the start of the series. The contrasting outcomes in the first two games established how closely this series is going to be and it will depend on which team gets it right on a particular day to seal the deal and the series. Out of both sides, India have more questions to search of England who have more or less established playing XI barring debates around on or two spots. Kishan’s debut at the top of the order brought the fresh perspective Kohli was talking about before the start of the series, but he entered the team at the expense of Dhawan, who was playing the first game, at the place of Rohit Sharma. Kohli had said that Sharma was resting for the first couple of games, and hence putting Kishan’s dream debut in perspective, the selection for the top order continues to be a riddle for the team management on whom to leave out among Rohit, Kishan and KL Rahul. For England, the decision to leave out Moeen Ali from the playing XI must have been taken considering the crowding of right-handers in the Indian top order. However, the inclusion of Kishan at the top and Rishabh Pant in the middle will case stronger for the off-spinner to get back a spot in the XI on the basis of his ability to take the ball away from the left-handers and providing Morgan with another angle of track against the duo who has been tasked to take the game to the English camp. India vs England: Match Details Match No.-03 Date and Time: March 16, 07:00 PM IST, 01:30 PM GMT Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad Broadcast and Live Stream: Star Sports, Hotstar Pitch conditions Pitches in the first two games of the series have been two-paced with the team batting second having a significant advantage over the team batting first. The balls were jumping off from length in the first T20I while in the second game, Indian pacers used cutters and slower balls to good effect on the surface that was gripping. India will look to have a surface supporting a bit more turn and bounce than the last two surfaces while England will hope to extract pace and bounce like in the first game of the series. Team News India Rohit Sharma should walk back in the playing XI if Kohli’s word during the toss in the first game has to be taken at face value. However, Kohli, the skipper has a tendency of saying one thing and doing exactly the opposite, and hence the uncertainty remains around the Indian top order. Kishan did more than enough to deserve another go at the top of the order, but that leave KL Rahul vulnerable after a string of really low scores in both games of the series. He has looked like a pale shadow of the batsman he has been and really looked tentative at the crease, and hence his case will be nothing short of a quagmire for Kohli and the team management. The bowling department should be unchanged with Hardik Pandya completing his quota of four overs in the last game. India have hinted at playing with extended batting order and hence Kohli is unlikely to walk away from the tactics of playing only five bowlers. But again, Kohli can do anything. Strongest XI Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Yuzvendra Chahal England Mark Wood missed the last game due to a niggle and his replacement Tom Curran was treated with disdain by Ishan Kishan right from his first ball. Howsoever the team management rates Curran highly, he is likely to be shown the door for with a returning Wood or an all-round Moeen Ali. Morgan has been hesitant to back his best with the ball and instead relied on playing matchups according to batsmen at a certain position for India. However, Archer can be given rest owing to his recurring elbow injury. The batting order is likely to be unchanged with all batsmen from the top such as Jason Roy, Jos Buttler, Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow have not looked out of sorts. However, Buttler will be hungry for runs after walking back to the pavilion on a golden duck while Malan struggled to time the ball against deceptive Indian bowling. Strongest XI Jason Roy, Jos Buttler (wk), Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Eoin Morgan (c), Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Jofra Archer, Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid

Bangladesh Cricket Board considers starting a shortened Dhaka Premier League from May 6

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is considering resuming the stalled 2019-20 edition of the Dhaka Premier League from May 6, as per an ESPNcricinfo. However, the original List -A tournament will be reduced to a T20 tournament with three matches to be played every day across three venues in the country. "We have very tight windows due to the international tours but after discussion and agreement from all, we will be holding the league from May 6. It will be in the T20 format as a continuation from last season, so we are abandoning the single round that was held last year. We have held a CCDM meeting today with representatives from the Dhaka Premier League clubs,” ESPNcricinfo quoted DPL’s chairman Kazi Inam Ahmed as saying. "It will have both the Super League and relegation league matches, but the squads will remain the same. Some of the clubs have made payments to the players so there won't be any player transfers for this competition." The report further suggested that highly-paid players who get salaries in excess office lakhs will have to incur a pay cut of up to 10 per cent while players in the salary range less than that will get their payment like before. However, Ahmed suggested that the final contour of the payment structure has not been finalised yet and that the BCB will take a final decision on the issue.

Pat Cummins opens up on pressure of big auction money in IPL

Australian pacer Pattrick Cummins has said that pressure plays a big role in shaping the behaviour and overall aspect of a player. He says that a player remains under pressure every game, irrespective of their level of performance in the previous games. “Whenever you play professional cricket anywhere, there will be lots of pressure. If you are coming off a good game, there is pressure to do it again, if you are coming off a bad game, there is pressure to perform,” Cummins said in a chat with the Kolkata Knight Riders website. He has been in the eye of a storm after he was bought for a whopping Rs 15.5 crore in the auction for the last edition of the IPL, and the ace pacer from New South Wales said that the price that teams pay for players bring another dimension of players on them. He went on to say that there is enormous pressure on players to justify the price they were offered but their worth in the eyes of a franchise does not make it any easier for them as playing conditions such as swing in the air, quality of pitch and opponent remain the same howsoever big the player’s worth is. “I guess the auction brings another kind of pressure. We just got to try and manage this. Just because you have gone for more money doesn't mean, the ball suddenly swings more or the wicket is suddenly greener, or the boundaries are bigger. It's the same playing field, so, I just try to concentrate on what I do well. I guess that’s what is going to bring about the best success for KKR while I'm here.” Cummins added. Cummins had made his IPL debut in the 2014 edition for the KKR but featured in only four games across the first two seasons. However, he picked up pace as his stocks in the international cricket started to soar and played two good seasons of the league in 2017 and 2020. The KKR will be eager to have him in a top-notch form in the next edition of the IPL starting on April 09.