IPL 2021 | Nathan Ellis to make IPL debut against Sunrisers Hyderabad

IPL 2021: BCCI appoints central Covid-19 testing agency

A central COVID-19 testing agency has been appointed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in the UAE to ensure that the reports of all the players and the support staff reach the board along side the franchises. A source in the know of the developments while talking to ANI has said that earlier there were individual testing agencies for the teams, the governing body has now appointed VPS healthcare to carry out the Covid-19 tests. "The BCCI felt it was important to have a central testing agency as that would help in keeping a tab on all testing taking place as also the results of tests would be immediately available to the board. There will be no delay in transmission of information in this process," the source said. The BCCI has also asked the franchises to keep a check on the body temperatures of the players on a regular basis while the data would be sent to the board on the match day. "The BCCI has not only asked the teams to keep a check on the body temperature of every person in the bubble, but also asked for the data to be handed to the board on match day. Every franchise needs to send in the data to the BCCI on the day of the match before leaving for the ground from the team hotel," an official of a franchise told ANI. The IPL 2021 was earlier suspended on May 4 after there was a Covid-19 outbreak within the franchises. But the tournament has now resumed in the UAE.

UAE 'out of equation' for PCB even as England, New Zealand pull out from Pakistan

When England pulled out of their scheduled tours to Pakistan, there were arguments that why couldn’t the series be completed in the UAE, which had served as Pakistan’s second home in the period when teams were not ready to tour the country. However, that option is “out of the equation” for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as they are not willing to find a middle ground and looking to shift tours to UAE in a bid to ensure tours get completed. They are bullish on the security situation in their home country and are confident of their arrangements in facilities to host international sides. “That is now out of the equation because the security situation in Pakistan is normal and we have everything in place to host any international team. No more neutral venues for us,” a PCB official was quoted as saying by PTI. Pakistan used UAE as a makeshift hosting country for international tours after International sides refused to tour Pakistan in the aftermath of the 2009 terror attack on the Sri Lanka side. Meanwhile, the PCB also contacted many cricket boards that are deemed friendly to them such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe to make up for the financial losses after the twin withdrawals by New Zealand and England before putting all their attention on their domestic National T20 Championship as “curtain-raiser” to the upcoming T20 World Cup.

Australians have changed their DNA because of money: Ramiz Raja

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) new chairman Ramiz Raja has lashed out at the Australian cricketers and said that they no longer play with aggression against the Indian team. He further added that the Aussie players have “changed their DNA because of money”. “Australians have changed their DNA because of money, they play against India happily and without aggressive approach. International cricketers have pressure as now they want to save their IPL contracts where they receive a lot of money plus add-ons,” Raja was quoted as saying to ARY News. Recently, first New Zealand cancelled their white-ball tour against Pakistan, minutes before the commencement of the first ODI, citing security reasons and later, England followed the Kiwis as they too abandoned the trip to the Asian country. Raja took a dig at both the sides and said that they ran away. “New Zealand ran away and England followed the same suit. They both have done wrong against us,” said Raja. Pakistan are not left with any international assignments at present and will now feature in the World T20 2021 directly which is scheduled to be co-hosted by UAE and Oman in October-November. The Pakistan players are presently taking part in the domestic National T20 competition.

The Ashes | CA sends fresh proposals with 'better' Covid protocols to ECB

In a welcome sign for cricket fans who would have been worried over the fears of star England players pulling out of the Ashes series, Cricket Australia has sent the ECB proposal for the series that has a lenient bit of Covid-19 containment protocols than it was initially feared, ESPNcricinfo reported. However, the report did not indicate the level of relaxation CA brass has been able to negotiate with the Australian government but it suggests that a lot fewer players should pull out based on the fresh proposal. “The ECB has also now received a proposal from Cricket Australia (CA) detailing their plans for England during the Ashes. While the details at this stage are unclear, it is understood the plans - which include details of quarantine arrangements and the requirements for bubbles throughout the tour - are better than had been feared,” said the report. The fate of the Ashes series scheduled for the end of the year hangs in balance as England players have shown strong reluctance to tour Australia and go through stringent Covid protocols after spending considerable time in biosecure bubbles during the ICC World T20. However, both the ECB and CA have always been confident of the Ashes series taking place as per the pre-decided schedule.