Mitchell Starc opts out of ongoing T20 series against India due to personal reasons

England in South Africa: Cricket skating on thin ice amid Covid calamity

Pandemic-stricken cricket is living on the knife's edge with instances of lapses in bio-bubble security growing by the day.

Brisbane Heat's Afghan import Mujeeb Ur Rahman tests COVID positive

Talented Afghan off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman has tested positive for COVID-19 infection in Australia where he had arrived to take part in the upcoming season of Big Bash League (BBL). The 19-year-old was set to represent Brisbane Heat in the tournament but now, his participation is doubtful. Mujeeb is currently receiving treatment in a hospital in Queensland and is expected to recover. His testing positive is another big blow for the Brisbane side as they have also suffered from the withdrawal of English batsman Tom Banton who decided to skip the league due to the mental stress of being in bio bubbles continuously. In a statement explaining the situation with Mujeeb, CEO of Queensland Cricket, Terry Svenson, said: "We will work with the relevant authorities to ensure the integrity of the competition and well-being of the player are suitably addressed. He is a young man far from home and we will ensure he is looked after.'' Mujeeb made a big mark in international cricket last year with impressive performances in both ODIs and T20Is. In fact, he has risen to the second position in the ICC T20I bowler rankings. His absence would hurt Brisbane Heat, how much remains to be seen.

Tom Banton of Brisbane Heat withdraws from BBL due to 'Bio Bubble Stress'

Cricket is back, but not as it was before the outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic. In the new normal, cricketers have to undergo insulation in 'bio-bubbles' for being allowed to play in tournaments. This period of insulation is bound to be mentally taxing. How taxing, the example of Tom Banton now has revealed. The English batsman has decided to withdraw from the high-profile Big Bash League (BBL) 2020 because of the stress of bio-bubbles getting too much for him. He was slated to play for Brisbane Heat. It's not one period of insulation that has become the bane for Banton, but multiple periods of stay in bio-bubbles, coming one after the other. First, he had to be in the bubble for England's home season's limited-overs series. After that extended period of insulation, he went to the Indian Premier League (IPL) where too he had to remain bubbled up. And that was not all! Following IPL, Banton joined the English team in South Africa, meaning more time cooped up in a protective sphere. The prospect of entering another bubble, for BBL this time, was bound to be mentally exhausting, if not downright torturous. So, the young, exciting batsman has pulled out of the league. The official statement from the player read thus: "It has been harder than I thought spending so much time in the hubs and bubbles and I came to the realization that it wasn't doing me much good. I know the (Brisbane) Heat looked after me really well during the BBL last year and I was confident that they would understand when I spoke to Boof (coach Darren Lehmann) and (Chris) Lynny about going home to regroup. I'd like to thank the fans and members who are getting ready to support the Heat during the tournament and pass on my regrets to them that I won't be there." Coach Darren Lehmann has supported the decision of Banton while recognising that his absence will affect the team. "Tom is a terrific young man. He's an impressive person and someone who we know would not have made a decision like this lightly and not without a great deal of soul-searching... After speaking with him at length, the best option for him is to head home to his family and loved ones and give himself every chance to recover," Lehmann said. The withdrawal of Banton isn't the only thing that has gone wrong for Heat before the start of the season. Another player in the team's squad, Mujeeb Ur Rehman of Afghanistan, has tested positive for COVID. His participation remains under doubt. As of now, there isn't any clarity regarding the replacement for Banton. His withdrawal also opens up a spot for an overseas player. Coach Lehmann stated that the search for a replacement would start.

AUS vs IND | 1st warm-up: A lot at stake in practice games for both sides

India’s Test specialists and the members of the Australian Test team will face off against each other in a three-day game starting December 06 in what should be assumed as a dress-rehearsal before the Border-Gavaskar series commences on December 17. Both sides will look to find out the answers to some relevant questions about the composition and balance of the playing XI before the first Test. The hosts do not have the same sense of dilemmas and tough choices to make after David Warner was ruled out of the first Test. The injury has opened the window for both Joe Burns and rookie Will Pucovski to play in Adelaide. However the same cannot be said about the visitors who will have a lot to ponder upon with regards to their team balance and the choice of personnel for various positions in the team. Mayank Agarwal is a certainty for the Test series after his dominating performances in his short career where he scored runs all across the world, but there will be questions on who among Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw will partner the Karnataka batsman in whites at the Adelaide Oval from December 17. Shaw has a thin experience of batting at the top of the order but definite flaws were exposed in his technique on the tour of New Zealand and the recently-concluded IPL whereas Gill is a potential challenger for Shaw, having scored a truckload of runs for India A on various tours overseas. The tourists will have a similar set of situations while picking the wicketkeeper among Rishabh Pant and Wriddhiman Saha for the Test side if the latter goes on to prove his fitness in the two three-day games after nursing hamstring injuries in both his legs in the IPL. Pant was brilliant with the bat on the last tour of Australia and scored a daddy hundred in Sydney but his form with the bat has not been good off late and Saha’s better credentials as the man behind the wickets might tempt the team management to go for a safer gloveman at the expense of a lengthy batting line up. Having said that, there will be strong temptations for picking Pant as well, looking at his numbers in Australia and elsewhere in Test format. Bowling options aplenty for India In the bowling department, there is an opening for the third seamer in the playing XI with Ishant Sharma not joining the squad for the first game and it will be a tough tussle between Mohammed Siraj, and Umesh Yadav to grab that spot. Navdeep Saini, who has earned quite a reckoning for his pace and accuracy will be a decent challenger for the duo while the competition for the third seamer is expected to hot up before the first Test. Ravindra Jadeja has been ruled out of the T20 series and subsequently will not take part in at least the first three-day game. There will be a direct toss-up between Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, and the team management will have to take a tough call while selecting one among the two spinners, who have been champion for the side in the last few years since they have been bowling in tandem on Indian pitches. There will be a temptation of choosing Jadeja, for his better batting abilities and the kind of form he has been in the last 18 months with the bat, but Ashwin will provide better wicket-taking options for the tourists, and the leadership group of the team will have their task cut out while leaving out either of them. For Test specialists, such as Cheteshwar Puajara and Ajinkya Rahane, who are certain to play in all the games on this tour, these warm-up games will work as the platform to come back to their own before the real game will begin against the red and pink Kookaburra balls in Tests. For Rahane, the warm-up games will be more than games where he can finetune his batting and its technicalities. Rahane will lead the side when Virat Kohli will return home for the birth of his first child and Rahane would love to get into the groove with the squad in terms of leadership so that he does not get caught playing second fiddle from the second Test. For the hosts, it’s more than finding the perfect rhythm before the real action more than making up their mind on the basis of performances in the two warm-up games. Travis Head will lead the side albeit the Test captain Tim Paine will be present on the ground playing as a wicket-keeper batsman. Prodigy Will Pucovski will open the batting along with Joe Burns and they would look forward to forging a good partnership at the top of the order after getting relieved of the insecurities about their place in the playing XI, as Warner is more or less out of the first Test. Another emerging player Cameron Green will push his claim as the all-rounder in the Australian team as Mitchell Marsh has been knocked out of the scene with an ankle injury. Green has been released from the T20 squad to feature in the three-days games and it emphasizes the value he is being given by the leadership group of the Australian Test team. In the bowling department, the hosts will have their settled three-man pace attack comprising Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Josh Hazlewood while Nathan Lyon will be the sole spinner in the lineup throughout the series unless the pitch in the Sydney Test will promise a lot of assistance to spinners. However, these three-day games will offer the likes of Jackson Bird, Micahel Nesser and Mark Steketee to be on the radar of national selectors in case there are opportunities to play in the times going ahead. There are enough at stakes for both sides to make these three-day games more than practice matches as there are opportunities and selection calls are on the line based on the performances or even lack of it in these games for the players on either side of the fence.