We didn’t have that luxury: Kapil Dev on Kohli’s paternity leave

India’s first World Cup-winning captain and arguably the greatest all-rounder India has ever produced, Kapil Dev, said that Sunil Gavaskar was not able to see his newborn son for months. He said that in comparison to current India captain Virat Kohli’s paternity leave, which he also termed a privilege that cricketers in his era couldn’t have.

“Don’t think we could afford to go and come back. That’s for sure. Sunil Gavaskar didn’t see his son for many months. It was a different thing. Look, things change. If I talk about Kohli, when his father died, he came back playing cricket the next day. Today he is taking a leave for his baby. It's fine, you can afford it,” Kapil said while speaking via video conference at HTLS 2020.

The Septuagenarian former cricketer said that he was happy for the 32-year-old Indian captain that he was able to be with his family in moments of such intimacy.

“You can buy a plane and go back and come back again in three days. I feel happy and proud that today sportsmen have reached a level where they can do this. I’m happy for Virat. He’s coming back to see his family. I understand you have passion but the biggest passion is that he’s having a baby,” he said.

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WBBL: Sydney Sixers fined $25,000 for naming wrong player on team sheet

In a bizarre administrative error, a player not part of the primary squad of the 15 players was named in the playing XI by Women’s Big Bash League team Sydney Sixers, leading to a fine of $25,000 by Cricket Australia, the cricketing authority in the country. Sixers named fast bowler Hayley Silver-Holmes on the team sheet against Melbourne Renegades, however, Holmes, who had been injured prior to this game was not even part of the primary squad of 15. Although she had recovered from injury, her return to the squad was still pending approval from WBBL's technical committee. The fine though was reduced one, for the misjudgment was self-reported by the Sixers team. The cause was helped by the fact that Holmes did not bat in the first innings as she wasn’t required. Sixers had reported the administrative error by then and Holmes could not come out to bowl in the second. The Sixers remained one bowler short, losing the match eventually in the final over. Out of the 25k, $15,000 is suspended because of Sixers' prompt action and co-operation with the integrity and security committee. Cricket Australia's Senior Conduct Commissioner, Alan Sullivan QC said that the maximum penalty of $50,000 and/or additional sanctions were "not deemed appropriate given the nature of the breach and the fact Sixers lost the match and adversely impacted their Net Run Rate". Sean Carroll, CA's Head of Integrity and Security, said: "Cricket Australia places a significant emphasis on the integrity of all competitions, including the compliance with its player contracting rules and regulations. This breach by the Sydney Sixers, while serious in nature, had a reduced impact due to the Club's actions during last night's game. As such, we support the findings of Alan Sullivan QC, including the suspension of $15,000 of the $25,000 fine imposed."

West Indies in New Zealand: Kiwis ply the yin to Calypso's yang

Fasten your seat belts as two polar opposite characters engage in a mouth-watering battle for three T20Is and two Tests amid natural splendour.

PCB bows under senior players’ pressure, changes match fee policy

Four senior players of the Pakistan team have forced the Pakistan Cricket Board to bow down to their demands and tweak their policy of match fee in accordance with their demands. Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Amir, and Wahab Riaz the four senior pros will now be given category A match fee even after not being part of the Central contract list. This is a departure from the PCB’s policy of paying category C match fees to all the non contracted players. Reasoning the move a PCB spokesperson told ESPNCricinfo, "The four players made a logical and reasonable request to the PCB prior to the Zimbabwe series.” "The PCB, taking into consideration their seniority and accepting that their request has merit, agreed to pay their match fees in accordance with Category A scales for all matches they will play from the series against Zimbabwe until 30 June 2021," he added. Both Malik, 38, and Hafeez, 40 were removed from the central contract list in 2019 while Wahab and Amir were put in category C of the list in early 2019 after they opted to retire from Tests to focus on their white-ball careers. After a while, they were removed completely from the list. All four have remained key members of Pakistan set up in the last 18 months and Wahab and Hafeez are also part of the 35 member squad that departs for New Zealand on Monday. If these two play any match on the tour, they would be given a category A fee.

Gibbs says Proteas need to inculcate big game temprament to win World Cup

Former South Africa Herschelle Gibbs, known for his power-hitting heroics, pointed out the area where the Proteas needed to work to finally end their wait to claim an ICC World Cup trophy. With the T20 World Cup due in one year’s time, Gibbs believes that the biggest change that needs to come in the mindset of the players, where they need to have the big match temperament as producing talent has never been a concern for the rainbow nation. “South Africa always produces world-class players. But it’s the big match temperament and dealing with the pressure that’s been lacking over the years. Until that changes, I can’t see anything changing,” Gibbs told ANI in Sri Lanka. The 46-year-old is in the island nation as he has landed a coaching job in the Lanka Premier League with the Colombo Kings franchise. But he was not the original coach. Gibbs, who has more than 14,000 international runs along with 35 centuries, narrated the story as follows: “Well, an interesting turn of fate, I would say. I learned that Dav Whatmore, who was earlier named the coach of Colombo Kings, had to pull out due to some personal reasons. Even his replacement, Kabir Ali, tested positive for COVID-19, so when I was approached, I readily agreed to it. It’s my ambition to coach in all the T20 leagues,” the Cape Town-born said.