Rashid Khan back with the Lahore Qalandars for remainder of PSL

Australian players likely to pull out from The Hundred

The Hundred can suffer a blow as the Australian players like David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Finch and Jhye Richardson might not feature in the tournament. According to a report in UK’s Daily Mail, the Australian Cricket Board wants the players to be fresh and injury-free considering the amount of fixtures lined up for the Aussie side in the coming months. The Hundred which is slated to begin on July 22 will already miss out on having the England players in the initial phase as the Test series between the English team and India is scheduled to begin on August 4. "The realities of Covid mean there remain practicalities that are difficult for some overseas players to overcome," a spokesperson told ESPN Cricinfo earlier. Warner, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa, Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Finch, Jhye Richardson and D’Arcy Short are the part of the squad that will fly to West Indies. Australia will commence the fixtures against the Caribbean team on July 9. The tournament had to begin last year but the Covid-19 outburst forced the ECB to postpone it. While the men’s edition begins on July 22, the women’s edition of the tournament will start on July 21. Four Indian women’s players Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodriguez, Deepti Sharma and Harmanpreet Kaur have been granted NoCs from the BCCI to participate in the competition.

Ross Taylor quashes retirement rumours, says India better prepared for WTC due to suspension of IPL

One of the most experienced campaigners of New Zealand cricket, Ross Taylor has quashed all the rumours surrounding his retirement. In an interview with RNZ, Taylor said that age is just a number and he feels that he has plenty to offer to New Zealand cricket. He is also hopeful of changing the early retirement tradition in New Zealand cricket. Taylor conceded the fact that he did contemplate retirement after the conclusion of the 2019 World Cup after New Zealand narrowly missed out on winning their maiden World Cup. However, he didn’t proceed with the decision as he felt that he still had a lot of value to add to the New Zealand unit. The 37-year-old middle-order batsman who is on his 7th tour of England still feels that he has some substantial amount of cricket left in him. "I feel like age is just a number and as long as you’re still enjoying it and feel like you’re good enough and can contribute to the team on and off the field," Taylor was quoted as saying by RNZ. "I guess once you start getting into your thirties you start thinking about it. I always had the number 35 in mind, I don’t know why, I think probably because of the 2019 World Cup,” he further added. Taylor who has been an integral member of the New Zealand set-up across formats added that despite 35 being in his mind at some point in his career, presently he doesnt have a number in his mind and hopes to continue until he is enjoying the game. Taylor also added that retirement will come once he feels the time is right to go away from the game. "But I didn’t think just because it was a World Cup that it was time to retire. I haven’t got a number in mind. Everyone I talk to says you’re a long-time retired and you know when the right time is,” Taylor said. "I’m sure those things will pop up but when I do pull stumps I’m sure it’ll feel right and it’ll be the right time for me,” the hard-hitting batsman added. Not many players from New Zealand have gone onto play till the age of 37. However, Taylor is confident of sustaining the pressure and hopeful of shrugging it off to his teammates like Kane Williamson. "It’s nice for me to break the mould of New Zealanders who traditionally retire young and hopefully in the years to come the likes of Kane [Williamson] and co are still going at 37 as long as they still enjoy it and aren’t just playing for the sake of it. "I think it’s better for the game and better for the youngsters coming through that they can learn off somebody,” he added. New Zealand will play a couple of Tests against England in the lead-up to the ICC World Test Championship final against India starting from 18th June at Southampton. Taylor feels that the suspension of the 14th edition of IPL has been a blessing in disguise for India as it will help them prepare better for the Test Championship final. "We know they'll be a lot more conditioned, their bowlers will get their loads up... playing these two Test matches against England gives us a slight advantage but this Indian team have been number one in the world for a long time and had a lot of success over here,” concluded Taylor.

BCCI hopeful of staging the remainder of IPL in UAE between Sep-Oct

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is running against time to host the remainder of the IPL matches. The 14th edition of the tournament had to be suspended indefinitely after COVID-19 cases were reported inside the bio-bubbles. In a special General Meeting on 29th May, BCCI may decide the fate of the tournament and how to conduct the remaining 31 matches of the tournament. Reports have emerged that BCCI are looking to host the remaining matches in UAE in the September-October window following the conclusion of India’s three-month-long tour of England. Both Indian men’s and women’s team have started quarantining in Mumbai before leaving for UK. They will play New Zealand in the final of the ICC World Test Championship starting 18th June. They will get a month-long time to prepare themselves for the five-match Test series against England starting from August. With the tour slated to conclude on 14th September, BCCI is trying to make the 15 September-15 October window as the feasible option. There hasn’t been any formal request from the BCCI yet but is is learnt that they might request England and the Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to reduce the gap between the second and the third Test. There is a gap of 9 days between the 2nd and the 3rd Test as per the original schedule. However, BCCI might make a request to reduce the gap to four days which will give them enough time. “If that gap can be reduced to four, it will allow BCCI five extra days to make use of,” a BCCI source told Times of India on the condition of anonymity. “If we can have those extra days eked out from India-England schedule, then it adds to the window,” he added. The ECB has made it clear that the English cricketers won’t miss any national assignments if the IPL is restaged at some point this year. BCCI is also planning to fly out the English players from UK to UAE after the conclusion of the England tour. “If not (able to reduce the gap) then within these 30 days, a full day will have to be set aside for the Indian team and the English cricketers to travel from the UK to the UAE, five days will have to be set aside for the knockouts later. That will leave the BCCI with 24 days to conclude 27 matches,” a BCCI source told Times of India. This window has four weekends available, which means a total of eight Saturdays and Sundays for double-headers, that can accommodate 16 matches. That will leave the BCCI with 11 matches to be held in 19 days. That’s a week extra,” the source further added.

There is nepotism at domestic level in Pakistan Cricket: Mohammad Asif

Tainted Pakistan pacer Mohammad Asif has said that there is an existence of nepotism in the domestic circuit and added that the players with no notable performance were continuously given chances. “After participating in domestic cricket after my return I realised that there was a lot of favouritism and nepotism at play. Players were being picked based on who they knew rather than how good they were. Guys who were scoring 25 runs per innings were being labelled as great hopes and heroes. Bowlers with no performances were being given chance after chance, it was depressing and I knew people were trying to drop a hint to me to give up playing,” Asif was quoted as saying by HT via PakPassion. He further added that after his ban was over, Asif wanted to return back to cricket while also thinking about alternate roles such as coaching. “I wanted to continue playing, but I started to think about alternatives to playing and focussed on coaching and I was asked to go to Afghanistan for a coaching stint with their young pace bowlers in 2016. However, the security situation meant that I had to decline the offer which was unfortunate as I was really looking forward to working with those youngsters,” he added. The right-arm bowler was one of the three Pakistan players apart from the then captain Salman Butt and Mohammad Amir to be slapped with a ban for being involved in a spot-fixing scandal in England in the year 2010. He was banned for 7 years. Asif made his international debut for Pakistan in 2005 and picked up 106 wickets in 23 Tests and 46 scalps in 38 ODIs. The seamer was also capped 11 times in the shortest format and bagged 13 wickets during the course.