Netherlands fast bowler banned for ball tampering

PSL 2022 | No Darren Sammy in the upcoming season for Peshawar Zalmi

Synonymous with the success of Peshawar Zalmi, and one of the most recognised faces of the Pakistan Super League, Darren Sammy would not be a part of the upcoming campaign. If media reports are to be believed, Sammy, who has been the head coach of Zalmi has chosen to sit out the season owing to broadcast commitments. Zalmi assistant coach James Foster has been chosen as his replacement, although the fans of the team still wait for an official announcement to be made. Playing in the PSL since the inception of the league in 2016, Sammy took over as captain in 2017 and made the franchise one of the powerhouses in the T20 league. He got into trouble in the 2021 edition when he and Wahab Riaz were accused of flouting Covid-19 protocols during a sensitive time. Foster on the other hand is a well known name in the T20 leagues across the world and has worked in all of the top franchise leagues across the globe. PSL starts on January 27 and will run for a month.

Australia players could prefer IPL over Pakistan series, hints George Bailey

Australia selector George Bailey has warned that several players might pull out of the Pakistan series, to play the Indian Premier League. Australia’s tour of Pakistan is scheduled to begin on March 3 and will run till the first week of April. It could be clashing with the early days of the IPL which is reported to begin its proceedings on the final days of March. With the white-ball series slotted in the later half of the series, chief selector Bailey has feared that the multi-format players might want to exit the national team early to get to play in the IPL, which offers them a lot of money. "It's tough for the multi-format guys to work out that balance of where do they get time to physically replenish their energy reserves, particularly for fast bowlers," Bailey said. "To make sure they are fit, strong and able to deal with the workload. But that's part and parcel of a modern cricketer's life. It (the IPL) continues to be a tournament that offers a huge amount to players. Several Australian players could get a big price in the mega-auction after their tremendous ICC T20 World Cup campaign and could slot in as the star players of their individual team. "From a learning perspective and I don't think the monetary side of things can be discounted ... for a reasonably brief period of work, the paydays are pretty enormous for a certain percentage of them." It could be easily assumed that players like David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Pat Cummins might be in for a big pay day in the mega-auctions, slated to be held in the second week of February.

BBL Challenger | Late surge from Adelaide Strikers gets them to a competitive 167

After an early debacle at the start of the game, Adelaide Strikers brought on a late surge to put up 167 runs in the first innings of the Big Bash League Challenger. After an early debacle, where the Strikers lost three wickets in the powerplay, ever dependable Ian Cockbain and Jonathan Wells held the fort to steadily build back the innings. Playing on a Sydney surface where they found it a little difficult to judge the bounce, both batsman took time and got the score to 62 without a further loss of wicket by the halfway mark. Just when Cockbain started to cut loose and pulled his strike-rate up, he dismissed by Sean Abbott, who was the pick among the bowlers tonight. With Strikers down by four for 104 runs in 14.2 overs, Matt Renshaw and Wells started their late surge in the final three overs where they added a crucial 38 runs. Renshaw was the prime reason behind the counterattack as he put Nathan Lyon and Ben Dwarshuis into the stands in the final stages of the game. At the break, Strikers finished at 167 runs and would hope that they have given their bowling attack enough to defend.

Opportunity for Kohli to go back & prove everyone why he is the best batter: Shane Warne

There has been a lot of confusion in Indian cricket in the past couple of months or so regarding the captaincy issue. But amid the chaos, former Australia spinner Shane Warne has shown an optimistic approach towards the "batter" Virat Kohli. Warne has said that the right-handed batsman should be given the chance of getting back to "being the best in the world". "There is just so much expectation. It’s so difficult to be captain of India in all forms of the game and then play the IPL as well. Everyone looks for him to comment, to be the leader so I’m looking forward to watching Virat bat now," Warne told Hindustan Times in an interaction. "Get someone else to take the captaincy, let someone else do all that and allow Virat getting back to being the best in the world. I'm really looking forward to that" The right-arm spinner admitted that Virat has been a wonderful skipper for the Indian team but it's now time for him to show everyone why he is the best batter in the world. "I was a little surprised like everyone. Virat has been a wonderful captain for India but it’s also very tough with the expectations of over a billion people," Warne said. "So I think it's a great opportunity now for Virat to go back and prove to himself and everyone why he is the best batter in the world. And hope he can concentrate on his batting and start making hundreds in all forms of the game again," he added. Kohli had a decent run in South Africa especially in the ODI series after he notched up a couple of fifties during the course.