Rahul Dravid likely to coach India during Sri Lanka tour

"National duty comes first": Michael Atherton welcomes England star players not going to IPL 2021

Former England captain Michael Atherton has welcomed the England and Wales Cricket Board's decision of not sending its players for the remainder of the IPL 2021 whenever and wherever the BCCI decides to host it. In his article for The Times, Atherton has argued that it was high time England said no to the IPL amid the uncertainty around the tournament itself and the chaos it brings with revamped schedule due to covid-19. Atherton also said that England have ‘tiptoed’ around IPL for so long and have acceded to the demands of the league sending the star players across to India even at the cost of their ‘national duty,’ which he said comes first. “England have tiptoed fearfully around the IPL: they rested players for vital Tests in India instead; allowed them, potentially, to miss the start of the international summer; refused to countenance bringing them home from India despite the escalating Covid crisis, and in effect allowed them to become free agents for two months. Giles’s comments, then, were a welcome reassertion of the principle that, outside of the IPL window in April and May, national duty comes first,” Atherton wrote in his regular piece in The Times. He also suggested that players too will not be too eager to rejoin the IPL at its resumption due to very busy schedule starting from June. He also said that it is unlikely that any of those players making big income out of the IPL would rise their stake against the ECB which has been employing them for a large part of their career. “It is unlikely that the players will risk a showdown with their principal employer over this, despite the potential loss of income. There will be little appetite for returning to the IPL this year, given the workload in front of the players in the English summer and the following winter. No one would want to jeopardise a chance of playing in the T20 World Cup or the Ashes, both of which would come swiftly on the back of a rescheduled IPL,” Atherton added. Notably, England had accepted that the likes of Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer, and Chris Woakes would miss the Test series against New Zealand in case their teams would have reached the playoff stage. Ben Stokes broke his hand to go back to the UK while Archer never turned up for the IPL due to a finger surgery before the start of the tournament. Anyway, the suspension of the tournament has allowed the likes of Buttler, Woakes and Sam Curran to return home however they will not be rushed back to the longest format against the Blackcaps as England are also eager to try out few new faces in the Ashes year.

There is definitely a chance of comeback if things get better with team management: Amir

Former Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Amir has said that if things get better with the team management there is a chance that he might play for the national side again. But the left-arm pacer insisted that no one really knows what the future has on offer. “If things get better in terms of the team management, then there is definitely a chance. Nobody knows what the future holds and what can happen tomorrow. But for now, and as things stand at the moment there is no chance of me playing for Pakistan,” Amir said while talking to PakPassion.net. Talking further about not playing a Test on his home soil, Amir expressed his disappointment and said that it really hurts that he hasn’t featured in a Test that was played in Pakistan. “It hurts that I’ve never played a Test match in my home country, but there are a few reasons behind this. When I started playing international cricket there were no matches being played in Pakistan and then of course I took retirement from Test cricket,” Amir said. The left-handed bowler further talked about the criteria on which he could be available for selection again. “If I go into all of the details and re-open all those chapters then it will get very ugly. What matters most to me is respect and I felt that I wasn’t getting the respect,” Amir said.

Avishka Gunawardene cleared of corruption charges by independent tribunal

An independent tribunal cleared former Sri Lanka player Avishka Gunawardene on Tuesday of all the charges and he would now be allowed to take part in competitive cricket. The decision though is still open to an appeal while a formal decision would be announced in sometime. The Sri Lankan player was handed over the ban for the following charges. Article 2.1.4 - Directly or indirectly soliciting, inducing, enticing, instructing, persuading, encouraging or intentionally facilitating any Participant to breach Code Article 2.1. Article 2.4.5 - Failing to disclose to the ACU (without unnecessary delay) full details of any incident, fact, or matter that comes to the attention of a Participant that may evidence Corrupt Conduct under the Anti-Corruption Code by another Participant. Gunawardene and another former Sri Lanka player Nuwan Zoysa were charged with breaching the Emirates Cricket Board's Anti Corruption Code in the year 2019. Zoysa was also slapped with a ban for four charges for six years in a different case. " Nuwan played 125 matches for Sri Lanka, attending a number of anti-corruption sessions during a decade-long international career. In his role as a national coach, he should have acted as a role model. Instead, he became involved with a corrupter and attempted to corrupt others," Alex Marshall, ICC General Manager - Integrity Unit had said.

R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo to host whole India- Sri Lanka series

Upcoming India’s tour of Sri Lanka is set to be limited to the capital Colombo as all the six games of the ODI and T20I series are all but finalised to be played at the Premadasa Stadium only, Sportstar reported quoting Sri Lanka Cricket official. "We plan to host the entire series at one venue. As of now, it has been decided that the Premadasa Stadium will host the fixtures. Obviously, it depends on how the situation is around that time," Professor Arjuna de Silva, SLC's Administrative Committee chairman, told Sportstar. Discussing the modalities of the biosecure bubbles and planning behind the tour in terms of quarantine of players and biosecure bubbles. De Silva said that Indian players will have to go through a hard quarantine for the first three days followed by the last four days when they will be allowed to train. However, he did not rule out any change in the plan and said if the health ministry revises its guidelines, the SLC will have to follow. “As of now, we will stick to the protocol where the players will have to undergo hard quarantine for the first three days and in the next four days, they will be allowed to train. However, if there are any revised guidelines by the health ministry around that time, we will have to follow that," he added. Notably, India’s tour of Sri Lanka was announced by the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, who also confirmed that none of the Indian players on the tour of the UK will be able to return for the series against Sri Lanka. Hence, India are likely to send a completely new squad to the island nation which will only have Shikhar Dhawan, Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as experienced players.