Twitter trends HappyBirthdayMSD as fans wish India's most successful captain on his 40th birthday

Shubman Gill to fly back home, replacement yet to be named

Shubman Gill has been asked by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to head back home after being ruled out of the five-match Test series against England slated to kick off from 4th August. Gill was diagnosed with a stress injury in his shins. It is believed that Gill was carrying the injury for a while and it got aggravated during the ICC World Test Championship final. Meanwhile, no replacement has been named yet for the young gun. Reports in the Cricbuzz states that the BCCI is not pondering the option of a replacement right away but they are in a dilemma of sorts for a potentially tricky situation if one of the openers gets infected just like the England team which had to undergo quarantine after three players and four support staffs returned COVID positive. Ben Stokes will be leading an entirely new team in the limited-overs tourney against Pakistan. The team management has made it pretty clear that KL Rahul is not being looked into as an opening option and could be tried out in the middle order. It means that barring Rohit Sharma, only Mayank Agarwal is the other opening option in the 20 member squad. Abhimanyu Easwaran is part of the extended 24 member squad and could get an opportunity in the series. The team management has left it to the selectors to name the replacement for Gill. "They have left it to the selectors to name a replacement, be it Prithvi Shaw or Devdutt Padikkal or whoever," an official close to the developments told Cricbuzz. It will be a difficult ask for BCCI to fly any of the players to England with most of the available options already in Sri Lanka preparing for the ODI and T20I series against the home team. Just like India, Sri Lanka is also part of UK Government’s red list. Only British or Irish nationals are allowed to enter UK while the rest have to undergo a minimum of 10 days. While Rohit Sharma underwent self-isolation in Australia before taking part in the last two Tests, it will be difficult for BCCI to suddenly arrange for a 10-day quarantine for a player in foreign conditions.

New Zealanders to book date with the Mace as WTC Trophy goes on countrywide tour

The ICC World Test Championship trophy or the Mace will be going on a week-long, nationwide tour of New Zealand, the New Zealand Cricket confirmed. The tour would start in Whangarei on Monday, July 26, with the highest wicket-taker for the BVlackacaps in the WTC, Tim Southee leading the caravan at his home town. Other venues in the Kiwi nation where the trophy would be on display include Auckland, Tauranga, Hamilton, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill. David White, CEO of NZC said that it was basically the demand of the people that he was persuaded to rethink the idea of the parade, having initially decided against it as many players from the team stayed put in the UK playing the T20 Blast. “It’s quickly become apparent that Kiwis want an opportunity to be part of, and to share in this historic achievement. We’ve been inundated with requests to do something so that New Zealanders can join in with the team and share the moment,” White said in a media release. “This is just as much a chance for our BLACKCAPS to say thank you to New Zealanders as anything else, and for NZC to express its gratitude to the country for creating an environment in which this was even possible,” he added thanking the people of New Zealand for standing behind their team. Will Sommerville, Jeet Raval and Todd Astle, the three players involved with the Blackcaps over the course of the WTC, but not part of the winning team in England would also be presented with their Winner’s medals during the celebratory week. Schedule of the Mace tour in New Zealand 26th July - Whangarei 27th July – Auckland (Eden Park) 28th July - Tauranga/Hamilton 29th July - New Plymouth/Palmerston North 30th July - Wellington 31st July - Christchurch 1st August – Dunedin (Forsyth Bar) 1st August – Invercargill (Stadium Southland)

Very confident our players didn’t breach protocols: Ashley Giles, England Team Director

England’s Men’s team Director, Ashley Giles backed his players after several of them tested for Covid-19 on Monday, July 5 and reports came out on Tuesday, July 6. A former England player himself, Giles said that the players haven’t broken any protocol whatsoever. "I'm very confident the players haven't breached any of those protocols. We can't say where it [the virus] originated, but we can identify how some of this has developed through close contact,” Giles was quoted as saying by Espncricinfo. Saying that the games are not only involving players and playing but are also seen as sources of revenue generation from cricket. Giles impressed upon the fact that ECB or the England team hasn’t gambled by compromising the protocol. "We haven't gambled. I don't believe we've gambled at all. We are fully aware of the risks and we are aware of the knife-edge that we are working on all the time. We are trying to look after our people and keeping them sane while protecting the revenues of the whole game. It is a difficult balance to strike,” said the 48-year-old. Giles defending the ECB’s relaxed protocols saying that if the entire society opens up, there is no way that players can remain autoimmune to everything around them. "Let's stop talking about relaxed protocols. If we haven't got sole use of hotels, if we have grounds with crowds and you have staff coming in and out of the environment then, however much testing you do, there is going to be a risk. We are seeing an almost impossible situation as society opens and the virus is still spreading,” Giles defended. Setting priorities right for the next assignment, Giles continued, "During this period - these next six games - I think we are going to have to tighten up the environment. It is unlikely that we'll have [family] visits into the hotels. Previously those visits were very carefully risk-assessed and arduous, actually.” “We are dealing with difficult circumstances and there is still a bit of unknown. We probably won't sleep easy until we have got through those PCR tests and arrive in Cardiff,” promised the former left-arm spinner, now tasked to battle it out against a virus for his nation. The ECB already announced a totally different team from the one that played against Sri Lanka, to face Pakistan. The first match of the three-match ODI series against the Babar Azam team would be played on July 8th at Sophia Gardens Cardiff. England would be led by Ben Stokes.

Selectors deny Kohli’s request to send Prithvi or Padikkal as Gill’s replacement to England: Reports

The request made by the Indian team in England to send either Prithvi Shaw or Devdutt Padikkal as a replacement for injured Shubman Gill in England has been denied by the Indian selection committee led by Chean Sharma. If reports are to be believed, the decision had many factors behind it. However, the main one was the presence of Abhimanyu Easwaran as a specialised member in the additional squad. “Selectors have turned down Ind Management’s request to send 2 backup openers (Prithvi & Padikkal). No replacement will be sent. If Gill is out, Easwaran will be drafted in. Rohit & Mayank start as openers and while Rahul was picked in middle order, he can open if needed #Breaking,” senior cricket journalist Vikrant Gupta tweeted late on July 6th. Both Padikkal and Shaw are in Sri Lanka with the Indian white-ball side to play a three-match each ODI and T20I series, which begins on July 13th at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. As far as the Indian Test team are concerned, their series against England begins on August 4 with the first Test Trent Bridge, Nottingham. The other reason being floated apart from the presence of Easwaran is the flight ban to England from Sri Lanka and if either of the two among Shaw and Padikkal is to be sent, they would have to first quarantine at another location in the flying list to England and hence the purpose defeats itself.