World T20 in India to go ahead as planned: ICC

IPL 2021: Ricky Ponting's speeches reminds Prithvi Shaw of Chakde India

With the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League starting on 9th April, one of the star players of Delhi Capitals, Prithvi Shaw recalled his memories with Ricky Ponting and said that whenever Ricky Ponting speaks, Prithvi is reminded of Chakde India and the role of Shah Rukh Khan in that movie. Ponting is currently the head coach of Delhi Capitals and shares a good rapport with the youngsters in the team. During a recent video interview shared by the Delhi Capitals on their youtube channel, Prithvi Shaw revealed that when Ponting gives his speeches he gets a proper Chakde India feeling. “When Ricky sir speaks, the songs play in the background, the Shahrukh Khan song,” said Shaw. It must be noted that Chakde India is a popular Bollywood movie where SRK plays the role of a hockey coach and how his inspirational coaching style helps the Indian Women’s hockey team to win a Hockey World Cup. During the course of the movie, Shahrukh Khan gives several motivational speeches, none better than the “Sattar Minute speech” in the team locker room. Shaw said that Ponting is not only the boss in the team but a reassuring figure on the field and a friend off it which helps the players keep a good mental space. “The boss is back. He is a very nice person. On the field he's like a boss, off the field he's like a friend. I am very happy he is back and let's see how it goes," commented Shaw during the interview. Not long ago, Ponting revealed the work ethics of Prithvi Shaw during an interview with cricket.com.au. Ponting recalled how Shaw reiterated from batting in the nets when he wasn’t scoring many runs in the previous edition of the tournament. He had also called Shaw one of the most talented players he has ever come across. “He [Prithvi Shaw] had an interesting theory on his batting last year – when he's not scoring runs, he won't bat, and when he is scoring runs, he wants to keep batting all the time,” Ponting said. “He had four or five games where he made under 10 and I'm telling him, ‘We have to go to the nets and work out (what's wrong)’, and he looked me in the eye and said, ‘No, I’m not batting today’. I couldn’t really work that out," Ponting further added. Shaw comes into the IPL on the back of a stupendous run in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He smashed more than 800 runs in just 8 matches with 4 hundreds under his belt including a double century. He looked in complete command and will definitely look to make an impact come IPL 14.

Hurt to read Taslima Nasreen's vile remark against my son: Moeen Ali's father

Bangladesh writer Taslima Nasreen made some controversial comments on England and CSK’s new recruit Moeen Ali. Nasreen said that the all-rounder would have joined ISIS if he was not playing cricket in a tweet and later deleted it. "If Moeen Ali were not stuck with cricket, he would have gone to Syria to join ISIS," Nasreen had first tweeted. She later clarified that her statement was sarcastic after she faced some heat on social media. Nasreen’s remarks didn’t really go well with Moeen’s father Munir Ali and said that he was deeply hurt and shocked. Munir further added that the Bangladeshi writer’s tweet was an ‘Islamophobic statement’. "I am hurt and shocked to read Taslima Nasreen's vile remark against my son Moeen," Munir was quoted as saying by Indian Express. Moeen’s father had a piece of advice for Nasreen after he asked to pick up a dictionary and learn the meaning of the word sarcasm. “If I get to meet her someday, I will tell what I really think of her face. For now, I would ask her to pick a dictionary and see the meaning of sarcasm,” he further added. Munir further stated that he couldn’t believe that the writer had chosen his son for her “agenda”. “Of all the people to pick on for her agenda, I can't believe she has chosen my son. Everyone in the cricketing world knows the person he is,” Munir said. Moeen has been an integral part of the England setup and was the member of the World Cup-winning team in 2019. The all-rounder has joined CSK for the IPL 2021 after being released by RCB earlier.

IPL 2021: Glenn Maxwell looking forward to sharing the dressing room with Kohli and De Villiers

Swashbuckling Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell spilt beans on the life confined to the bio-bubbles and stated that it can become a “nightmare” in the days to come and the cricketers are actually leading a very difficult lifestyle in order to ensure there are no hiccups while they continue to be part of the Indian Premier League. In the past, Maxwell had shared his mental health stories and how mental fatigue affected him. Reacting to the current situation, Maxwell further added that adjusting to such a life amidst the pandemic is certainly taking a heavy toll on the players all across the world. “It’s very difficult (to move from one bubble to other)…you being sheltered from people outside your bio-secure bubble and you get stuck into this never-ending nightmare where you are living the same day over and over again,” he said in an interview posted by his IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore on its youtube channel. “You almost tend to forget how to have a normal conversation with the outside world. That can be very hard mentally and is a massive challenge. But it’s great to be back playing and to be able to do our jobs and entertain people. But it’s still a difficult lifestyle at the moment,” he said. “It does put a strain on a lot of relationships as well. You need your support networks to get you through those tough times,” Maxwell further added. Maxwell will be finally realising his dream of representing the same team alongside Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. He further added that it doesn’t bother him that he was bought for such a hefty price in the auctions despite below-par performances in the past few seasons. This has been the case with Maxwell for several years. Despite being one of the most inconsistent star players in IPL, Maxwell continues to attract the other teams and yet again he went for a whopping Rs 14.25 crores for his services to the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the upcoming edition of the IPL. “It’s been a long time (dream of playing alongside Kohli and de Villiers). Obviously having known them very well off the field, played against them fair bit but finally, I got to play in the same team,” Maxwell further added during the interview. Maxwell wasn’t really surprised after getting a hefty sum in the auctions and said he thought that some of the teams were looking for a batting off-spinner and he is glad that RCB managed to bag his services for the upcoming season. “Not really. I thought that there might be a little bit of interest. A lot of teams have brought that middle-order overseas player but I knew a couple of teams were looking at a batting off-spinner and I am glad that two teams went harder and RCB got hold of me.” Royal Challengers Bangalore who is yet to win the IPL will start their campaign in the 14th edition against the Mumbai Indians on 9th April. Despite his indifferent returns in the IPL, Maxwell has always been a champion player for Australia whenever the team has travelled here and he feels that his vast experience of playing in the subcontinent might augur well with RCB who aims to win their maiden IPL season. “I think my performances will take care of themselves. I want to have a positive influence of everything I do, be it attitude, helping out around the team, leadership wise helping out Virat when he needs it. I suppose with my experience, I think it’s my 22nd trip to India… so with that sort of experience you have got to help out the rest of the group,” Maxwell said. Maxwell said having spent the entire lockdown period with his fiancee at his Melbourne home, he is feeling fresh now and can’t wait to take the field for his new IPL side. I was so excited to get going. A new team, a new tournament we are back in India after Dubai last year, I was so excited. Happy to be outside of quarantine. It was nice to see some friendly faces, meet a few new people, get out and run around. Hopefully, that lifts other people as well when they see you happy running around. It can be infectious, it can spread through the group pretty quickly as much as a negative reaction can,” Maxwell concluded.

Devdutt Padikkal joins RCB camp after testing negative for COVID-19

RCB opener Devdutt Padikkal has tested negative for COVID-19 and has joined the team, the franchise said in a statement. "We are pleased to inform that Royal Challengers Bangalore, left-handed batsman Devdutt Padikkal, has joined the team on 7th April 2021 with negative reports for Covid-19 as per BCCI protocols," the franchise said in a statement. "RCB medical team was in constant touch with Devdutt to ensure his safety and well-being." The left-handed batsman had earlier tested positive for COVID-19 on March 22 and had been quarantining at home since. Apart from Padikkal, Daniel Sams was the second player from the RCB team who had tested positive for the disease. The COVID-19 has become a major concern after a number of players and ground staff have tested positive. DC’s Axar Patel, KKR’s Nitish Rana and MI’s scout and wicket-keeping consultant Kiran More are the others in this list. Padikkal was one of the cricketers who was retained by the franchise ahead of the mini auctions that were held in Chennai in February. The Virat Kohl-led side is slated to begin the IPL 2021 campaign against defending champions Mumbai Indians on April 9 in Chennai. RCB have never lifted the IPL trophy despite reaching the final thrice in the past editions. RCB Squad: Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, Kane Richardson, Washington Sundar, Pavan Deshpande, Finn Allen, Shahbaz Ahamad, Navdeep Saini, Adam Zampa, Kyle Jamieson, Glenn Maxwell, Rajat Patidar, Sachin Baby, Mohammed Azharuddeen, Daniel Christian, KS Bharat, Suyash Prabhudessai, Daniel Sams, Harshal Patel