Wasim Jaffer named Odisha senior team head coach

Former Indian Test opener and one of the stalwarts of domestic cricket, Wasim Jaffer has been roped in as the chief coach of the Odisha senior side for the upcoming domestic season. The Ranji Trophy which was cancelled last year due to COVID-19 will return this time around and Jaffer will hope to build the team going forward.

"He (Jaffer) will be the head coach. He has been given a two-year contract," Subrata Behera, Odisha Cricket Association CEO was quoted as saying by PTI.

The Odisha Cricket Association’s (OCA) Cricket Advisory Committee picked Jaffer as the head coach replacing the former skipper of Odisha Rashmi Ranjan Parida. He took the charge of the team back in 2019.

"Besides the development of cricket across all age-groups, he (Jaffer) will also be a part of coaches development programme across the state," OCA secretary Sanjay Behera was quoted as saying in a statement.

For the second time following his retirement from domestic cricket in March 2020, Jaffer will be back as the head coach of any state team. Jaffer who is the all-time leading run-getter in the history of Ranji Trophy was at the helm of Uttarakhand but later resigned from his post after differences with the state association.

Jaffer is currently the batting coach of Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL). During his international career, Jaffer smashed a couple of double centuries in just 31 Tests but his lack of consistency led to his ouster from the team. Barring his Test career, Jaffer also played 2 ODIs for India.

Meanwhile, Odisha performed admirably in the 2019-20 season where they lost to Bengal in the quarter-final. Batting has been their nemesis for a long time and Jaffer’s appointment will surely make some difference in the upcoming season. The senior team camp will start from 25th July only if the government gives its approval pertaining to the COVID-19 regulations.

Discover more

Remaining Vitality T20 matches involving Derbyshire called off

The upcoming two Vitality Blast T20 matches involving Derbyshire has been called off as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed on Wednesday (14 July) that Derbyshire CCC is left with very limited resources and won’t be able to field a team of strength in order to maintain the integrity of their last two matches. As per the COVID-19 protocols in place, as many as 14 players from the Derbyshire squad have been asked to self-isolate as an unnamed player from the squad had tested positive earlier this week. In addition, six members of the squad are already nursing injuries and it became almost impossible for them to field a playing XI in their last two matches. The Derbyshire Falcons were slated to play their last two clashes against Northamptonshire Steelbacks on 16 July and the Yorkshire Vikings on 18 July. These two matches stands cancelled and under the playing condition 16.11.4.5, the North Group will be decided on an ‘average points per completed match’ basis. The two matches will be treated as a draw and both teams have been awarded eight points each for a draw plus the bonus points which they had collected before the match was called off.

ZIM vs BAN: Mushifiqur opts out of white-ball leg of Zimbabwe tour due to personal reasons

Wicket-keeper batsman Mushfiqur Rahim has decided to opt-out of the limited-overs leg of the Zimbabwe series after initially pushing his name back into the T20I squad, having earlier decided not to play the shortest format ahead of the start of the tour. The decision has been taken by the veteran in his personal capacity as his parents tested positive for Covisd-19 back in Dhaka. He would be flying out of Zimbabwe on Wednesday, July 14, the Bangladesh Cricket Board informed. “Bangladesh batsman Mushfiqur Rahim will miss the remainder of the tour in Zimbabwe for family reasons,'' BCB said in a statement. ''Mushfiqur will leave Harare later today and travel to Dhaka. He will miss Bangladesh's three ODIs against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club on 16, 18 and 20 July and also the three-match T20 international series that starts at the same venue on 23 July. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) requests that all respect the privacy of Mushfiqur and his family at this time,” the statement added. The reason for Mushgfiq wanting to get back into the T20I side was the fact that for the Australia series at home, the same team bubble (one formed for the Zimbabwe series) would have continued and hence he didn’t want to miss the series by not being part of the team bubble.

Happy to get the youngsters in the team and see their dreams come true - Shikhar Dhawan

Ahead of the white-ball series against Sri Lanka, India stand-in skipper Shikhar Dhawan who will be leading the national team for the first time in the absence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma wants his side to remain together and have a good frame of mind ahead of their test against Sri Lanka. With several of the top-notch players in England preparing for the Test series, the new-look Indian side is all set to lock horns against Sri Lanka in six limited-overs matches (3 ODIs and 3 T20s). The series kicks off in Colombo from 18th July. "It is a big achievement for me that I have become the captain of the Indian side. As a leader, my idea is to keep everyone together and happy that is the most important thing," Dhawan said on the Star Sports show 'Follow the Blues'. "We have got a lovely bunch of boys, great support staff, and we have worked earlier as well,” he added. One of the most prolific openers in world cricket, Dhawan shares a good camaraderie with Rahul Dravid who has been assigned as the head coach for the series. "I have a good relation with Rahul Bhai. When I started playing Ranji Trophy, I played against him, and I have known him since then. When I went to play India A match, I was the captain, and he was the coach, so there was interaction. "When he became the director of NCA, we used to go there for around 20 days, so we had a lot of interaction, and now we have good chemistry. And now that we have the chance to play six matches together, so it will be great fun, and I think we all sync nicely," Dhawan added. Quite a few uncapped players have been picked in the squad. However, Rahul Dravid has made clear that only one or two spots is up for grabs and it won’t be possible to give a break to all the players present in the squad. Irrespective of the opportunities they get, Dhawan wants all of them to enjoy themselves and their journey to the national team. "Happy to get the youngsters in the team and see their dreams come true. It's a big thing that these youngsters have come from their respective hometowns with certain dreams, and their dreams are getting fulfilled. "And now, they should enjoy the journey which landed them in team India, and they should know the value of their strength and how to improve it," he said. Dhawan feels that a perfect blend of youth and experience will benefit not only the juniors but also the senior members in the team. "There are seniors in the team, so the youngsters will learn from them, and we will get to learn from the youngsters. Whenever I meet the youngsters they often have new ways of thinking, and I try to learn things which will help us," Dhawan concluded.

CPL 2021: Guyana vs Trinbago to kick off the season, dates amended on BCCI’s request

The 2021 edition of the Caribbean Premier League will start on August 26 and finish on September 15, a statement released by the CPL governing body confirmed. The decision was arrived at after a discussion between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) and Cricket West Indies (CWI). Earlier, the tournament was scheduled to begin on August 28 and finish by September 19, but with IPL dates clashing, the CWI and CPL governing council changed the dates so that players won’t have to leave the tournament in between to participate in the IPL’s UAE leg. The tournament would begin with the clash between the last year’s champions Trinbago Knight Riders and Guyana Amazon Warriors at Warner Park in St Kitts & Nevis. While the first match would begin at 10 am Local time, which is 07:30 pm IST, the second match on the very same day between Barbados Tridents and St Kitts & Nevis Patriots would be played from 07:00 pm Local time, which is 04:30 am IST. All the 33 matches would be played at the same venue. Every match day two matches would take place except for two days i.e. on Saturday, September 11 and Sunday, September 12 when three matches would be played in one day. The timing for the first and third matches would remain the same as on the other match days when only two matches take place. The second match on a three matches day would start from 02:30 pm Local time, which is 12:00 am IST. The Semi-Finals would be played on September 14 while the Final would be held on September 15, the time of these matches has not been decided as of yet.