Umar Akmal joins league cricket in California; scores golden duck on debut

ECB to take call on Ashes this week

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will meet later this week to take the final call on the Ashes. Several England players including captain Joe Root haven’t confirmed their participation for the fixtures as they still await the details of the tour and the Covid-19 protocols that would be imposed. The ECB has said that it has been in discussions with the players about the same. "Over the weekend we have been talking to England men's players and management to provide them with the latest information about the proposed arrangements for this winter's scheduled Ashes tour," the statement from ECB read. "We remain in regular and positive dialogue with Cricket Australia over these arrangements as the picture is constantly evolving. With health and wellbeing at the forefront, our focus is to ensure the tour can go ahead with conditions for players and management to perform at their best,” it added. The statement also read that the board will meet the players this week and decide where the conditions are sufficient to go for a full tour. "Later this week the ECB board will meet to decide whether the conditions in place are sufficient for the tour to go ahead and enable the selection of a squad befitting a series of this significance." The Ashes series is slated to begin on December 8 in Brisbane.

Sachin Tendulkar named among six Indians in Pandora papers list of tax evaders

Indian cricket legend, Sachin Tendulkar along with his wife Anjali Tendulkar and father in law Anand Mehta have been named in the list of offshore tax evaders in the latest investigative journalism expose by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) Sachin is among few celebrities like pop music diva Shakira, supermodel Claudia Schiffer etc. who have been named in the list which constitutes 956 companies belonging to 336 high-level politicians and public officials from around the world. According to the ICIJ, of which Indian media outlet The Indian Express is a part, said, that the Indian cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar, who has been a Member of the Upper House of Parliament, along with members of his family, figures in the Pandora Papers as Beneficial Owners of an offshore entity in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) which was liquidated in 2016. The BVI company that Sachin is being linked to is Saas International Limited, which was liquidated in 2016. At the time of its liquidation, Sachin Tendulkar had bought back 9 shares, equalling $856,702 while Anjali and her father had (14 shares= $1,375,714 and 5 shares=$453,082) respectively. Replying to the allegations of Sachin being a tax evader, Mrinmoy Mukherjee, CEO and Director of Sachin Tendulkar Foundation, said, “We would at the outset wish to strongly reiterate the legitimacy of the referenced investment by Mr Tendulkar, the payment of taxes on such funds, and the declaration of such investment in Mr Tendulkar’s tax returns.” “As is evident from the payment of taxes by Mr Tendulkar and the declaration of such investment in Mr Tendulkar’s tax returns, there can be no question of Mr Tendulkar having engaged in any of the practices,’ he added.

Mitchell Starc wanted to miss Border-Gavaskar Trophy & spend time with his ailing father: Healy

Mitchell Starc’s wife Alyssa Healy has revealed that it was the fast bowler’s father Paul who pushed him to play the Border-Gavaskar trophy against India. Paul was suffering from cancer and Mitchell wanted to spend time with him. “Mitch didn’t want to be there playing cricket. He wanted to be sitting next to his Dad, and spending the last three months that he could possibly have with his Dad. Paul didn’t want that, he wanted Mitch to go out there, play for Australia and wear his baggy green with pride,” stated Healy while speaking to 7Cricket. Healy who herself plays for the women’s national side opened up about how the left-arm pacer copped up with the criticism that was going around for his bowling. “To have to deal with what was going on behind the scenes and play Test cricket on the biggest arena is not easy. Mitch copped a lot of flak for bowling the way he did last summer but those people who were laying into him had no concept of what was going on behind the scene,” added Healy. Australia though suffered a 1-2 defeat again India at home. India made a fine comeback in the series after losing the first Test which was a Day-night fixture to clinch the series.

England has the chance of lifting the T20 World Cup this time, feels Jos Buttler

As IPL enters its last phase, players have started eyeing the T20 world cup. England wicketkeeper-batter Jos Buttler feels that England has its chances of lifting the trophy this time as the team was knocked out in the final against West Indies in the last edition. Two key players - Ben Stokes (citing mental health) and Jofra Archer (injured) - are not available to play in the T20 world cup which will start on the 17th of October in UAE. However, Buttler thinks that despite their absence, England still is a good side. Speaking at an event he said, “I think we’re certainly one of the favourites, I think we are a brilliant team.” Talking about the absence of his key teammates, he said, “I know we’re going to be missing Ben and Jofra, two superstars, but I think you still look down that list and there are some real match-winners in our side and that’s really exciting.” Buttler said that there are other strong teams like India and West Indies and that the experience that West Indies players have in this format is nice to have as a team. “But I think we’re a really good team and we’ll focus a lot on ourselves and play good cricket to the best of our ability. If we do that, we can go a long way,” he added.