Shaun Tait appointed Afghanistan bowling coach for T20 World Cup

No contact tracing bands in this IPL, Bubble Integrity officers to keep track of teams

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to do away with the contract tracing bands, haired as a pioneering technology during the 2020 edition of the IPL. They would now be replaced with Bubble Integrity Officers, who were also present during the last edition, but whose roles were confined to checking bubble breaches only. This time around they would be travelling with each team and tracking all their movements. The reason for doing away with contact tracing bands was their inefficiency in catching the movement. “BCCI has decided to do away with the idea of wearing contact tracing bands as not only is it sometimes difficult to feed information for sportspersons during the course of a tournament but also, we had a few instances earlier this year when the devices couldn't catch the movement of the players and the fact that they had left a certain location wasn't updated and players and support staff realised this much later,” a source told ANI. The reason behind employing the Bubble Integrity Officers is the fact that they can accordingly at any instance of breach instead of a separate team assessing the case and taking action. "As a result, it has been decided that the Bubble Integrity Officers present with the teams will keep a track of the movements and act accordingly if there is a case that comes up during the course of the tournament. There will be 4 integrity officers with each team and will work in shifts to help with this," the source explained. Within the Bio-Secure Environment, 14 bubbles will be created as mentioned below: Franchise teams and support staff - 8 Bubble, Match Officials Match Management Team - 3 Bubbles Broadcast Commentators and crew - 3 Bubbles. The source further explained the regulation for the tournament which will be beginning on September 19 in UAE. "All franchise team members must quarantine in their hotel room for 6 full days before entering the bubble,” he said. “Upon arrival and before commencing any group training activities, all team members who will be included in the bubble will follow the below-mentioned RT-PCR testing plan. A nasopharyngeal swab will be taken for testing. Test reports are available within 8-12 hours after sample collection,” added the guidelines as accessed by ANI.

BCCI eager to see cricket at Olympics: Jay Shah

Once a major roadblock in getting cricket to the Olympics, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is now working all ends up to try and get the game to the biggest stage of them all. If media reports are to be believed, The Hundred, the newest cricket format could pave the way for one of the oldest sports to make its way to the Olympics in its Los Angeles edition in 2028. “Once cricket is added in the Olympics, India will be participating. The BCCI and the ICC are on the same page as far as participation in the Olympics is concerned,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah was quoted as saying by cricket.com Another BCCI source, citing anonymity said that the Board would be more than happy to take cricket to the Olympics and add to India’s medal prospects. “The BCCI is more than happy to work together with the government and help increase India’s medal chances,” he said. Although the board wants independence from the Indian Olympic Association and the Government of India is working on it. Talking about the format which would represent cricket at the games, the source said, “Although we have not zeroed in on the format, T20s are most likely to be played at the Olympics. Although, many have called for T10 or the most recent format The Hundred to be included.” Cricket was part of the Olympics in its very second edition in Paris Olympics in 1900 where Great Britain beat France to win the Gold. Lately, the 2010 and 2014 editions of the Asian Games saw cricket being a part of the sporting activities and Women’s cricket has also been included in the roster for the 2022 Commonwealth and Asian Games respectively.

Reliance Jio to make entry into sports broadcasting with IPL rights

The Indian Premier League is the hottest property as far as sports broadcasting is concerned in India and it is believed that the conglomerate reliance is vying to take a dip in that arena through its digital and broadcasting hands of Jio TV and TV 18. If reports are to be believed then Jio will be bidding for the digital and TV rights of the IPL from 2022 onwards. To make this dream into reality, the network is poaching experienced hands from existing sports broadcasting networks as Disney+ Hotstar SVP & Head of Advertising, Gulshan Verma has joined JioAds as CEO. “Another senior ad sales executive from a broadcasting company who recently stepped down might also be in talk with them,” Exchange4Media quoted a source as saying. The Reliance network has occasionally been testing the waters of sports broadcast previously through its venture of TV18 which in partnership with Viacom owns and operates 57 channels in India. Recently it acquired LaLiga rights for India which would be aired on Voot and MTV. In 2018, it had acquired Nidahas Trophy and had aired it on the Hindi movie channel Colors Cineplex while it also airs the Road Safety series regularly. IPL 2020, which was live-streamed through Disney + Hotstar had a platform reach of 260 million while another 350 million watched it on the Star Sports network. Hence, the acquisition of this right is being eyed by Reliance to further increase its penetration through the Jio network. “If Jio manages to win IPL media rights, the scale of the tournament will reach an unprecedented level. It will be a never-seen-before scale,” the source said, on the condition of anonymity. Star India had paid a whopping Rs 16347.5 crore to bag the IPL media rights for five years till 2022.

Domestic giants Mumbai invited by Oman to play practice matches for T20 World Cup preparations

The Oman cricket team invited India’s domestic cricket giants Mumbai to play practice games in the Gulf nation for the team’s preparation ahead of the all-important T20 World Cup, which it will be co-hosting along with the United Arab Emirates. The T20 World Cup has been scheduled to kick off on October 17 with the Round 1 matches of which Oman would be a part. "They (Oman) have invited (us) and it is the best opportunity for Mumbai to send its team”, a source from Mumbai Cricket Association was quoted as saying to news agency PTI. This tour of Mumbai can help the domestic team as well because the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the domestic 20 over competition for 2021-22 begins from October 20 and Mumbai, which performed badly in the previous edition can bounce back this season with some hard practice pre-season. Oman has been drafted in Group B for the first round alongside Bangladesh, Scotland and Papua New Guinea, who topped the league stage in the ICC T20 World Cup Qualifying tournament in 2020. Thus for Oman to qualify as the top two teams from this group, it would take some doing and practice against a quality side such as Mumbai could turn out to be very crucial. The practice matches would most probably be played at the Al Amrat Cricket Ground in Muscat, which will also host the World Cup matches.