PSL 2022 | No Darren Sammy in the upcoming season for Peshawar Zalmi

Australia players could prefer IPL over Pakistan series, hints George Bailey

Australia selector George Bailey has warned that several players might pull out of the Pakistan series, to play the Indian Premier League. Australia’s tour of Pakistan is scheduled to begin on March 3 and will run till the first week of April. It could be clashing with the early days of the IPL which is reported to begin its proceedings on the final days of March. With the white-ball series slotted in the later half of the series, chief selector Bailey has feared that the multi-format players might want to exit the national team early to get to play in the IPL, which offers them a lot of money. "It's tough for the multi-format guys to work out that balance of where do they get time to physically replenish their energy reserves, particularly for fast bowlers," Bailey said. "To make sure they are fit, strong and able to deal with the workload. But that's part and parcel of a modern cricketer's life. It (the IPL) continues to be a tournament that offers a huge amount to players. Several Australian players could get a big price in the mega-auction after their tremendous ICC T20 World Cup campaign and could slot in as the star players of their individual team. "From a learning perspective and I don't think the monetary side of things can be discounted ... for a reasonably brief period of work, the paydays are pretty enormous for a certain percentage of them." It could be easily assumed that players like David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Pat Cummins might be in for a big pay day in the mega-auctions, slated to be held in the second week of February.

BBL Challenger | Late surge from Adelaide Strikers gets them to a competitive 167

After an early debacle at the start of the game, Adelaide Strikers brought on a late surge to put up 167 runs in the first innings of the Big Bash League Challenger. After an early debacle, where the Strikers lost three wickets in the powerplay, ever dependable Ian Cockbain and Jonathan Wells held the fort to steadily build back the innings. Playing on a Sydney surface where they found it a little difficult to judge the bounce, both batsman took time and got the score to 62 without a further loss of wicket by the halfway mark. Just when Cockbain started to cut loose and pulled his strike-rate up, he dismissed by Sean Abbott, who was the pick among the bowlers tonight. With Strikers down by four for 104 runs in 14.2 overs, Matt Renshaw and Wells started their late surge in the final three overs where they added a crucial 38 runs. Renshaw was the prime reason behind the counterattack as he put Nathan Lyon and Ben Dwarshuis into the stands in the final stages of the game. At the break, Strikers finished at 167 runs and would hope that they have given their bowling attack enough to defend.

Opportunity for Kohli to go back & prove everyone why he is the best batter: Shane Warne

There has been a lot of confusion in Indian cricket in the past couple of months or so regarding the captaincy issue. But amid the chaos, former Australia spinner Shane Warne has shown an optimistic approach towards the "batter" Virat Kohli. Warne has said that the right-handed batsman should be given the chance of getting back to "being the best in the world". "There is just so much expectation. It’s so difficult to be captain of India in all forms of the game and then play the IPL as well. Everyone looks for him to comment, to be the leader so I’m looking forward to watching Virat bat now," Warne told Hindustan Times in an interaction. "Get someone else to take the captaincy, let someone else do all that and allow Virat getting back to being the best in the world. I'm really looking forward to that" The right-arm spinner admitted that Virat has been a wonderful skipper for the Indian team but it's now time for him to show everyone why he is the best batter in the world. "I was a little surprised like everyone. Virat has been a wonderful captain for India but it’s also very tough with the expectations of over a billion people," Warne said. "So I think it's a great opportunity now for Virat to go back and prove to himself and everyone why he is the best batter in the world. And hope he can concentrate on his batting and start making hundreds in all forms of the game again," he added. Kohli had a decent run in South Africa especially in the ODI series after he notched up a couple of fifties during the course.

PSL 2022 | All you need to know

The Pakistan Super League (PSL) is slated to begin On January 27, 2022, with Karachi Kings taking on Multan Sultans in the opener in Karachi. The knockout of the competition will be held in Lahore with the Qualifier scheduled to take place on February 23, 2022. The Eliminator 1 and 2 will be played on February 24 and 25 respectively while the final of the tournament will be held on February 27, 2022. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has kept a reserve day for the final and if the result is still not achieved then the side topping the table after league matches will be declared the winners. The matches will be telecast on the Sony Sports Network. SQUAD: Multan Sultans: Mohammad Rizwan, Rilee Rossouw, Sohaib Maqsood, Imran Tahir, Shan Masood, Khushdil Shah, Shahnawaz Dhani, Tim David, Odean Smith, Rumman Raees, Asif Afridi, Anwar Ali, Rovman Powell, Imran Khan Sr., Abbas Afridi, Amir Azmat, Blessing Muzarabani, Ihsanullah Karachi Kings: Babar Azam, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Nabi, Mohammad Amir, Joe Clarke, Sharjeel Khan, Aamer Yamin, Mohammad Ilyas, Chris Jordan, Lewis Gregory, Umaid Asif, Tom Abell (injured, replaced by Ian Cockbain), Rohail Nazir, Muhammad Imran, Faisal Akram, Qasim Akram, Talha Ahsan, Tom Lammonby) Lahore Qalandars: Shaheen Shah Afridi, Rashid Khan, David Wiese, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hafeez, Sohail Akhtar, Zeeshan Ashraf, Ahmed Daniyal, Fakhar Zaman, Phil Salt, Harry Brook, Abdullah Shafique, Kamran Ghulam, Dean Foxcroft, Zaman Khan, Maaz Khan, Samit Patel, Syed Faridoun Peshawar Zalmi: Wahab Riaz, Liam Livingstone, Shoaib Malik, Sherfane Rutherford, Haider Ali, Saqib Mahmood, Hussain Talat, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Hazratullah Zazai, Usman Qadir, Salman Irshad, Arshad Iqbal, Sameen Gul, Kamran Akmal, Sirajuddin, Mohammad Amir Khan, Ben Cutting, Mohammad Haris Quetta Gladiators: James Vince, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Jason Roy, James Faulkner, Umar Akmal, Sohail Tanvir, Ben Duckett, Khurram Shehzad, Abdul Wahid Bangalzai, Muhammad Ashar Qureshi, Noor Ahmad, Ahsan Ali, Luke Wood Islamabad United: Asif Ali, Hasan Ali, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Alex Hales, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Azam Khan, Paul Stirling, Colin Munro, Marchant de Lange, Muhammad Akhlaq, Reece Topley, Danish Aziz, Zafar Gohar, Mubasir Khan, M. Zeeshan, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ather Mehmood