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Wont Be Surprised If Rishabh Pant Leads India In Near Future Azharuddin

Won’t be surprised if Rishabh Pant leads India in near future: Azharuddin

India and Delhi Capitals wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant was named the captain of his franchise for the IPL 2021 season. Pant was handed over the captaincy after Shreyas Iyer injured himself during the recently concluded England series and was stated to be unavailable for the majority of the upcoming IPL season.

Former India skipper Mohammad Azharuddin has now said that he won’t be surprised if the selectors will see him as the front-runner to lead the Indian team in near future.

“Rishabh Pant has had such fabulous few months, establishing himself in all formats. It won’t come as a surprise if the selectors see him as a front-runner fr Indian captaincy in near future. His attacking cricket will stand India in good stead in times to come,” Azharuddin tweeted.

Despite having experienced players like Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, R Ashwin and Steve Smith in the ranks, DC decided to hand over the captaincy duties to Pant.

Head coach Ricky Ponting had earlier said that the way the left-handed aggressive batsman has been playing in the past few months will give him the confidence to take up the new role.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for young Rishabh, who is coming off successful stints against Australia and England which will no doubt give him the confidence needed to take on a new role,” Capitals head coach Ricky Pointing said in a press release.

The Delhi-based franchise had the most successful last season under Iyer’s leadership after they made it to the final of the tournament but lost to Mumbai Indians in the title clash. They will now begin the campaign on April 10 against Chennai Super Kings in Mumbai.

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IPL 2021: KKR skipper Eoin Morgan shaping up nicely in recovery from finger injury

The Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Eoin Morgan had injured his fingers in the first ODI against India on March 23 and sat out of the remaining two ODIs of the series. Morgan’s injury brought a sense of worry among KKR fans but he has joined the KKR camp for the upcoming season of IPL. Addressing a virtual conference on Wednesday, Morgan said that his injury has healed over the last week and he is looking to remove those stitches on the webbing of fingers. He looked confident of preparing well for the tournament give there is a lot of time left for him to recover completely from the injury. "Yeah, I feel a lot better than I did a week ago. The plan moving forward is to remove the stitches tomorrow and progress with my batting in the coming days and fielding on the back of that. Given the time frame I have available, it's looking very good," Morgan said on Wednesday. Morgan took charge of the team midway through the last season after the franchise was not enjoying much success in the leadership of Dinesh Karthik. Morgan brought his experience of captaining an international, world-cup winning team to the KKR set up and the team will be looking forward to winning the title for the third time after last winning it in the 2014 edition. Knight Riders will begin their journey in the 14the edition of the IPL on April 11 against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

IPL 2021: Mike Hesson banks on X-Factor Maxwell, power player Kyle Jamieson to win games for RCB

The Royal Challengers Bangalore raised many eyebrows when they bided aggressively for Glenn Maxwell in the auction earlier this year. However, the director of the franchise, Mike Hesson said that they were looking for players who can bring X-factor in the game during the middle overs—an aspect of the game they lacked in the last season. "He (Maxwell) is fantastic and fits in the middle-order for us. We wanted to have a player of his quality during middle overs and at the back-end as well, he brings in a huge amount of experience," Hesson said in a virtual press conference on Wednesday. "On his day, he can turn a game on its head. We need to use him in a space where we can maximise his skills and we are looking at how we do that.” Along with Glenn Maxwell, RCB also went aggressively for the young New Zealand quick Kyle Jamieson who rose to prominence on the back of strong performances in Tests against India. He had impressed Indian and RCB skipper Virat Kohli in the two-match Test series held in early 2020 and Hesson said that the young Black Cap would be a ‘power player’ in the upcoming season. "It's about complementing with skills and what brings to the group, obviously with bat he has skills about being a power player," Hesson said on Jamieson’s credentials ahead of the IPL 2021. Hesson added that Jamieson will bring immense value to the pace bowling department that is rich with Indian talents such as Mohammed Siraj and Navdeep Saini. He said that all three of them have the different skillset to offer to the team and will make up for a formidable challenge at different stages of the games in the upcoming season. "Siraj is exceptional with the new ball. He has the ability to swing the new ball while Kyle will get that bounce and bring in different challenges. Saini has a little bit more pace and bowls a different length. They will be used in different phases of the game,” Hesson concluded. The 14the edition of the IPL will commence on April 9 with the inaugural encounter scheduled between the RCB and the defending champions the Mumbai Indians.

Big blow for CSK? Hazlewood skips IPL to spend quality time with family

Fast bowler Josh Hazlewood became the third Aussie after all-rounder Mitchell Marsh and wicket-keeper batsman Josh Philippe to skip the 2021 season of the Indian Premier League citing bubble fatigue. Hazlewood, part of the Chennai Super Kings in the last IPL edition, said that he wanted to spend quality time with family having spent a huge amount of time in various bio- bubbles since last August. "It's been a long 10 months in bubbles and quarantine at different times, so I decided to have a rest from cricket and spend some time at home and in Australia in the next two months," cricket.com.au quoted Hazlewood as saying. The line length specialist was also upfront about his priorities being representing his nation all refreshed instead of warming the benches in India. "We've got a big winter ahead too. The West Indies is going to be a long tour, with Bangladesh (T20 tour) potentially thrown at the end of that,” he said. "Then potentially the T20 World Cup leading into the Ashes, so it's a big 12 months, as it always is with Australia, and I want to give myself the best chance to be mentally and physically ready for that. That's the decision I've made, and it sits pretty well with me," added the 30-year-old. Hazlewood who has 30 wickets combining Tests and ODIs wish to compete for his side New South Wales in their pursuit of what could be a rare quadruple if they go on to retain the Sheffield Shield (Four Day) and win the Marsh Cup (50 over). Having already won the WBBL through Sydney Thunder Women and BBL through Sydney Sixers, New South Wales could cape off an unbeatable domestic season if they win the Shield and the Cup. "The workloads are a bit too low … to play (both) Wollongong and the Shield final if we make it – hopefully I can use the next two weeks to build up and if we're in the Shield final I can play that," said Hazlewood.

ICC on lookout for WTC Final broadcasters after Star retains only subcontinent rights

The International Cricket Council would be looking to get broadcasters for the one-off Test, also arguably the biggest Test event on a global scale- the inaugural edition of the World Test Championship Final. Star India, the official broadcast partner of the international cricket governing body decided to retain its rights only for the subcontinent, selling the remaining back to ICC. "It made sense for Star not to worry about selling the rights of the one-off match in none-too major cricket markets where their team is not playing. Apart from India, Star will have the rights in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the biggest markets in world cricket," Cricbuzz quoted a source close to the deal between ICC and Star India. Even though New Zealand is a finalist in the event, it is going to be a heck of a challenge for ICC to sell the rights for the Kiwi nation broadcast. The main reason behind such a situation is the timing issue as during the final the New Zealanders would be having chilly winter nights back home, not considered well enough for wholesome Test match viewing conditions. In other nations, especially England, Australia and South Africa, ICC might find suitable buyers. Another interesting area of sale could be the UAE and US / Canada market as the Indian diaspora there might be interested in the Finals viewership. The WTC Final between India and New Zealand at Southampton, England, will be played between 18 and 22 June.