Night curfew in Maharashtra won’t affect the last IND-ENG ODI and IPL games

IND vs ENG: Jos Buttler can’t praise Bairstow enough; feels T20 helping push boundaries in ODIs

Jos Buttler, the stand-in English skipper feels has praised opening batsman Jonny Bairstow for the king of form that he has been and the way he has lifted the English side by giving amazing starts in both the chases. Stating that there is no doubt that Bairstow could break all ODI batting records for England, Buttler said, "That's fantastic, the form Jonny is in, and there is no reason why he shouldn't go on and break all those records. If those numbers drive him on, that's fantastic.” “For us as a side, we all want to push boundaries of what we are all capable of as a team and, of course, individuals want to do that as well,’ he added saying that the team always wants players to keep pushing boundaries personally as well as a team. Commenting on the intent of the team and the fearless approach that England has carried throughout the limited-overs leg of the Indian tour, Buttler, 30, said that it is the T20s that have helped the players realise that they could more than what they used to in the fifty overs format a few years ago. "I think the two games are probably as close as they've ever been. T20 has given people probably a greater understanding of risk and reward, and that's sort of coming into the 50-over game, especially for us, the six-hitting capability and boundary-hitting capability,” Buttler told reporters on the eve of the final ODI of the three-match series at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune. “The guys' attitude to risk is probably quite different compared to how it was a number of years ago and I think T20 has sort of made people realise that they can operate at a level above what they used to be able to do for longer periods of time so bringing that into 50-over cricket,” he added saying that risk and reward factor is a major booster in realising the true potential of the players and becoming fearless in their approach. The Taunton born also stressed the point that opportunities being given to many players has helped develop the team for the upcoming T20 World Cup in India. He also praised debutant Liam Livingstone and Reece Topley, who was making his comeback into ODI cricket after 2016. "Lots of guys have had opportunities. It was great to see Liam Livingstone make his debut yesterday, brilliant to see Reece Topley come back in and bowl so well. It's fantastic for these guys to get exposure and come in and perform in the fashion that we like to play as a side. It's great to see someone like Liam fully commit to his way and it's great to see someone do that on debut," Buttler said.

Jimmy Neesham is the new foreign recruit for T20 Blast; joins Essex

With counties on a spree to sign foreign players for their key positions, Essex too got into the race by signing New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham for the upcoming T20 Blast, the premier T20 tournament of England and Wales. After plying his trade in the Indian Premier League from early April till May, Neesham, 30, will join the county in June and would be available throughout the group stage of the tournament. Essex head coach Anthony McGrath believes that a true all-rounder was the need of the hour for the side, especially after Ravi Bopara left to join Sussex. "We sat down at the end of last season and concluded that we needed to add another allrounder to the T20 squad, and with all of his talent and experience, Jimmy fits the bill perfectly," said McGrath. "He's excelled with both the bat and the ball on the biggest of stages for his country, as well as in the global franchise competitions and it's a great match for both the player and the club," he added enumeration the importance of Neesham in the squad. The Auckland born has previously had county stints with Derbyshire and Kent and is looking forward to playing with the 2019 Blast champions. "I am really looking forward to joining up with Essex Eagles for this year's Vitality Blast. I'm excited about linking up with Ryan ten Doeschate again, having played with him for a few seasons when he was with Otago, and hopefully, we can replicate the success of 2019," Neesham said. The right-handed bowler and left-arm medium-fast bowler has so far played 143 T20 matches. In them, he has scored 2001 runs at a strike rate of 138.76 and taken 132 wickets with an economy of 9.14.

After Tendulkar, Yusuf Pathan also tests positive for Covid-19

Former India all-rounder Yusuf Pathan has tested positive for the Covid-19. This news comes in the wake of Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar testing positive for the dreaded virus. Confirming the news, the senior Pathan tweeted that he is quarantining at home with all necessary precautions and asked those who came in contact with him in the past few days to get themselves tested as well. Earlier today, Sachin had posted a similar tweet that he had contacted Covid-19 and was isolating himself at home and wishes poured in for the legend. Both these players were part of the Road Safety World Series which took place in Raipur, Chhattisgarh just recently. India Legends one of the six teams part of the tournament were crowned champions beating Sri Lanka Legends in the finals in a fully packed stadium with an estimated crowd attendance of more than 40,000. Kevin Pietersen, the skipper of the England Legends team, which also participated in the competition tweeted saying why do stars need to confirm that they have Covid and his tweet wasn’t considered to be in a good taste, especially because it came after Sachin’s confirmatory tweet.

BCCI do away with soft signals for IPL 2021

The Board of Cricket for Control in India (BCCI) has decided to end the system of soft signals for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League. The BCCI took this decision after amending the law in Match Playing Conditions (MPC) of the IPL. Now, according to Appendix A in Clause 5.10, the definition of the soft signal is removed from MPC and further the updation of Appendix D in Clause 2.2.2 state that there is no need for soft signal in the IPL and it has hence been removed. Now if the on-field umpire has doubt while making any decision, he/she can directly consult the third umpire without providing any consult as to whether it is out or not out according to him. The soft signal became a debatable topic after debutant Suryakumar Yadav was caught at deep fine leg by Dawid Malan during the fourth T20I between Indian and England at Motera, Ahmedabad. Although there was no conclusive evidence to tell that it was a clean catch by Malan off the bowling of Sam Curran, the third umpire had to go by on-field umpire’s call of out as he did not have conclusive evidence to overturn the decision. Earlier on Thursday, BCCI Secretary Jay Shah during an ICC Board meeting had said there was a need to change the protocol regarding the soft signal. Another major change in the MPC is the inclusion of 20th over in the 90 minutes playing. Earlier the rule under MPC mandated that the 20th over must be started by 90 minutes excluding the five minutes of the Time Outs. Now according to Clause 12.7.1 in the new guidelines, the “20th over is included in the 90 minutes.”