With Covid-19 restrictions imposed, PSL likely to be shifted from UAE

We enjoy each other’s success: Mohammed Shami on India’s pace unit’s camaraderie

Mohammed Shami believes that the secret to India’s pace unit doing amazingly well in the last 4-6 years, be it home or abroad, is because of the bonding that the speedsters share among them. “The fast bowling unit of the Indian team is a great package. All the boys work hard and understand each other’s roles,” the 30-year-old told Harsha Bhogle in an interview for Cricbuzz. “The biggest thing reason behind our bonding is that we enjoy each other’s success,” he added. The Bengal pacer further went on to say that the team has been in a building process since 2013-14 and the outcome that is being seen now is a result of the efforts put in by players to enjoy each other’s success. “We have been building this unit since 2013-14 and the biggest plus is the bonding that is there among all the players,” he said. “Such an environment has been created in the dressing room, that it would be surprisingly unbelievable for anybody that team could gel together so well,” added Shami giving the example of how sometimes Virat Kohli takes the ball at nets and the bowlers laugh off his actions and how it happens the same when the bowlers’ bat, making it a team that loves to keep its spirits high. Among the Indian pacers, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Shami Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav combined have picked up 581 wickets in 183 matches. Shami, who has the most wickets in that period (180 in 50 games) also revealed the fun side of the pace unit. Bumrah doesn’t take jokes that easily and gets offended. But he is a good lad too,” said the Uttar Pradesh born. “Although when it comes to me, Ishant, Bhuvi and Umesh, we are a deadly combo,” the soft-spoken person, an aggressive fast bowler laughed. Talking about the importance of maintaining the ball in Test cricket, Shami said, “I have always said this in team meetings as well, maintaining the ball is very important. So when I ball it is either Virat or Ishant who is mid-off.” Much like batting, a partnership is required while bowling too, Shami, who has been hitting it well with Ishant, Umesh and Bumrah and will be travelling with the same people to England for World Test Championship Final in June, revealed how the partnership in bowling works. “When we bowl, be it me or Bumrah or Ishant, all of us are attacking bowlers, so in that regard, we decide as to whose day is it and accordingly among the two of us bowling from two different ends, one will take the defensive role so that the other could attack more,” he said.

Rahul Dravid likely to coach India during Sri Lanka tour

While the senior players of the Indian team are set to travel to England for the WTC final followed by a Test series against the English side, a second team will be touring Sri Lanka for three ODIs and as many T20Is. According to a report in the Cricbuzz, Rahul Dravid and the fellow members at the NCA will also travel with the Indian team to the island country. Earlier, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly confirmed, “We have planned a white ball series for the senior men’s team during the month of July where they will play T20 Internationals and ODIs in Sri Lanka. Yes, it will be a team of white-ball specialists. It will be a different team.” Dravid has been the coach of the India U19 and ‘A’ teams in the best and seems to be the best suited option for the job. The Indian team that will play the ODI and T20I series will be without regular captain Virat Kohli and his limited-overs deputy Rohit Sharma. Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav are among the probable players but the squad for the tour is yet to be announced. The team will reach Sri Lanka on July 5 while the three-match ODI series will commence on July 13. The second and third match will be played on July 16 and 19 respectively. The three T20Is will be played on July 22, 24 and 27. 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.

"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.