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Bowling Standards Are High In Psl As Compared To Ipl Wahab Riaz

Bowling standards are high in PSL as compared to IPL: Wahab Riaz

Pakistan pacer Wahab Riaz has praised the functioning of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in comparison to Pakistan Super League (PSL). The left-arm bowler has said that IPL is at a “different level” and certainly no league can compete with it.

“You can’t compare IPL with PSL, I believe IPL is at a different level. Their commitments, the way they run things, communicate things, the way they draft the players, that is totally different. I don’t think any league can compete with the IPL, but if there is any league that stands behind it, it has to be the PSL. The League in Pakistan has proved it,” the Pakistan pacer was quoted as saying during an interview with Cricket Pakistan’s YouTube Channel.

While Wahab appreciated the IPL, the Pakistan bowler hailed the quality of bowling in the PSL and said that the standards are really high.

“The standards of bowling are quite high. The kind of bowlers you get in the PSL is not found in other leagues, not even in the IPL. This is why PSL doesn’t have many high-scoring games. The bowling attacks in PSL are the best in the world,” Riaz said.

The left-handed quick bowler also took a dig at the selection process in the Pakistan team and said that it needs a bit of tweak. Wahab claimed that the players are judged on the basis of one or two matches.

“I think something that should be changed is that a player should not be judged based on just one or two matches. Not only with us but with anyone. It has been the norm in Pakistan that any player selected is judged based on one or two performances,” he said.

The PSL 2021 that was postponed after a rise in covid-19 cases within the teams is slated to resume on June 1 but the venues for the matches are yet to be decided. Earlier, the remainder of the tournament was set to be held in Karachi including the final.

It was later moved to UAE after the franchises had asked the PCB to reschedule the tournament citing a fresh surge in the Covid-19 cases. But it seems unlikely that the remaining fixtures would take place in the country after it had announced a ban on travellers from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the other hand, IPL 2021 was also suspended on May 4 with immediate effect after few players and staff members had tested positive for the disease. The BCCI has received an invitation from the Sri Lanka Cricket Board to hold the remaining matches of the IPL in the island country in the month of September. But the Indian board is yet to make a call on it.

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Wahab Riaz

Cricket Australia hints reopening 'Sandpaper Gate' investigation after Bancroft's sensational revelations

Australian batsman Cameron Bancroft’s indirect revelation of the involvement of the fast bowlers in the infamous sandpaper gate scandal has sparked a new debate. In a statement to Fox Cricket on Saturday night, May 15, a Cricket Australia spokesperson has confirmed that they might reopen the investigations on the scandal after Bancroft's sensational claims about the Cape Town Test match. A blot in the Australian cricket history, the Cape Town Test match between South Africa and Australia found three members of the Australia team - captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and Cameron Bancroft using sandpaper to rough up one side of the ball - a process considered illegal by the International Cricket Council. After the visuals of the incident were caught on TV, Bancroft and Smith accepted the allegations on the post-day presser and the tainted trio was stripped of their status by the cricket board. Soon after Bancroft was handed a nine-month ban while the other two were ordered to stay away from all forms of the game for 12 months. Further CA barred David Warner forever from any leadership role from the Australian team and handed Smith a ban from captaincy for two years. Just when conversations started opening about Smith being reelected as the Australian captain, Bancroft's revelations have sprung out of nowhere to put a huge dent on those aspirations. "The investigation conducted at the time was detailed and comprehensive. Since then, no one has presented new information to CA that casts doubt on the investigation’s findings,” a CA spokesperson was quoted as saying by Fox Sports. “CA has maintained all along that if anyone is in possession of new information in regards to the Cape Town Test of 2018, they should come forward and present it,” he further added. Bancroft who is currently in the UK plying his trade in the County Championship said that the tampering was done to benefit the bowlers so they must have been aware that the ball was tampered with during an interview with The Guardian. Despite not taking any names, he indirectly took jibes at the likes of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Starc. “Yeah, look, all I wanted to do was to be responsible and accountable for my own actions and part. Yeah, obviously what I did benefits bowlers and the awareness around that, probably, is self-explanatory. I guess I learned through the journey and being responsible that’s where the buck stops [with Bancroft himself]. Had I had better awareness I would have made a much better decision,” Bancroft said. When asked further he added that it’s pretty much self-explanatory. Without saying much he has forced Cricket Australia to reconsider the stance which they took three years back. “Uh … yeah, look, I think, yeah, I think it’s pretty probably self-explanatory,” he said.

Lisa Sthalekar slams BCCI on giving cold shoulder to Veda Krishnamurthy

Former India spinner Ramesh Powar returned as the coach of the women’s team and his appointment was followed by the squad selection for England tour which saw a couple of players getting maiden India call-ups while some prominent names were omitted and among these was Veda Krishnamurthy. The decision certainly didn’t go really well with former Australia women’s cricketer Lisa Sthalekar and she took a dig at the BCCI on the cold shoulder given to Veda by the board. Sthalekar in a social media post said that as a BCCI contracted player, Veda should have at least received a communication from the BCCI. “Whilst not selecting Veda for the upcoming series maybe justified from their point of view, what angers me the most is that as a contracted player she has not received a communication from the BCCI, just to even check how she is coping,” she wrote on Twitter. The Indian cricketer is facing a tough time at the personal front as well. Two weeks after her mother’s demise due to Covid-19, Veda lost her sister due to complications related to the disease. Squad for Test & ODI: Mithali Raj (Captain), Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-captain), Punam Raut, Priya Punia, Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Sneh Rana, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Indrani Roy (wicket-keeper), Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav. Squad for T20I: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain) Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Deepti Sharma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Richa Ghosh, Harleen Deol, Sneh Rana, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Indrani Roy (wicket-keeper), Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav, Simaran Dil Bahadur.

'Bhuvneshwar Kumar just doesn’t want to play Test cricket anymore', reveal unnamed sources

India are set to play the World Test Championship final against New Zealand in Southampton in June which will be followed by a five-match Test series against the English team. The BCCI recently announced the squad for the tour and to everyone’s surprise, seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s name was missing. But according to a report in the Times of India, sources close to the right-arm bowler have said that Bhuvi is no longer interested in playing Test cricket anymore. "Bhuvneshwar just doesn’t want to play Test cricket anymore. That drive has gone missing," they were quoted as saying. Kumar played his last Test match back in January 2018 against South Africa where he put up a man of the match performance against the visiting Proteas side picking up four wickets and scoring a total of 66 runs in a low scoring affair. Injuries have marred his game time ever since, which did not allow him to play all matches in the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League and participate in India's tour Down Under. He made a good return against England in home conditions but just when he looked to getting back in top condition he got injured once again in the 14th edition of the IPL. The TOI report has further quoted sources on the same, who revealed that Kumar prefers the white ball format at the moment. “Those who have seen him from close insist he brought in a huge change in his work-drills a couple of seasons ago, doing away with heavy weight training, falling to the lure of the white-ball comfort and avoiding those hours of long spells that are so integral to red-ball cricket," TOI quoted. “To be honest, the selectors don’t even see Bhuvi hungry for 10 overs, forget Test cricket. It’s Team India’s loss no doubt, because if one bowler should have made it to England, it should have been him." Kumar has played 21 Tests for India where he has picked 63 wickets for the team. India marched into the WTC final after series wins over Australia and England respectively. India first defeated Australia 2-1 away from home and then thumped England 3-1 on the home soil to register a place in the final. The side would be led by Virat Kohli while all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is also back in the team after recovering from injury. KL Rahul and Wriddhiman Saha’s selection is subject to fitness clearance. India’s squad: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Md. Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul (subject to fitness clearance), Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper; subject to fitness clearance). Standby players: Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Arzan Nagwaswalla

Harry Gurney retires from all forms of cricket following long-standing shoulder injury

England pacer Harry Gurney has bid adieu to all forms of cricket following a long-standing shoulder injury. The injury that he sustained last year forced him to miss Nottinghamshire's successful T20 Blast campaign as well the IPL with the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise. "The time has arrived for me to hang up my boots," he said. "After trying to recover from the recent injury to my shoulder, I am truly disappointed to have to end my playing career as a result of it. From the first time I picked up a cricket ball at the age of ten, I was completely obsessed. Cricket has been my life for 24 years and has taken me on an incredible journey that I will cherish forever." Gurney played 10 ODIs for England picking up 11 wickets during the course while featured in a couple of T20Is where he scalped three wickets. Apart from this, the fast bowler was a part of the setup with Melbourne Renegades that won the Big Bash League and Barbados Tridents who lifted the Caribbean Premier League. He bagged a total of 614 wickets across all formats. "Playing for England, in the IPL and winning eight trophies at home and abroad including the Blast, Big Bash and CPL has exceeded my wildest dreams," he said.