1000

Ranji Trophy 2022 League Phase to Begin From February 10

The first phase of the Ranji Trophy will take place from February 10 to March 15 before the premier domestic event takes a break during the IPL and resumes from May 30 to June 26 for the knockouts, BCCI secretary Jay Shah informed state units on Thursday.

The tournament will have 64 games in 62 days with the first phase comprising 57 matches and the second stage having seven knock-out games which comprises four quarter-finals, two semi-finals and the final. Sixty five matches will be played across nine venues, Kolkata, Chennai, Rajkot, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Cuttack, Trivandrum, and Haryana.

Jay Shah has made it clear that it will be one of the shortest first-class seasons in which most of the team will get to play just three matches. This means that the team that is out of the group league stage will not get much benefit from the increased match fee.

Besides the playing conditions, Shah informed that the detailed match schedule will “soon” be communicated along with COVID-19 guidelines. The BCCI has confirmed that the teams will have to enter their respective bio secure hub on February 10 and the first phase of the tournament will be ove

Mohammad Shahzad spotted smoking on the ground after BPL match

Afghanistan cricketer Mohammad Shahzad has been reprimanded by match officials after being spotted smoking at the cricket ground. His action was caught on camera during the Bangladesh Premier League. 

On Friday, after the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) match between Comilla Victorians and Minister Group Dhaka was paused due to rain. Mohammad Shahzad was seen wandering along with his teammates from Minister Group Dhaka for a BPL match at the Shere Bangla National Stadium. As all the players were waiting for that match to begin, Shahzad was seen smoking in the middle of the ground.

Shahzad’s action was found to be in breach of Article 2.20 of the BCB code of conduct, which pertains to “conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game”, and hence a demerit point was added to his disciplinary record. Reports say Dhaka coach Mizanur Rahman had warned Shahzad of his act while senior batsman Tamim Iqbal had asked him to go inside the dressing room.

However it was too late, the picture of Shahzad went viral on social media . Mohammad Shahzad is a part of Dhaka playing XI consecutively in BPL 2020. BCB’s chief match referee and convener of the technical committee Rokibul Hasan expressed his disappointment on Shehzad’s act and criticized the wicketkeeper. “It contradicts the code of conduct. Smoking on the ground is strictly prohibited. It’s unacceptable. If he is not aware of this, the match officials should warn him,” Hasan was quoted

Kohli was unhappy with Anil Kumble for ‘not standing up for players’ : Former BCCI administrator

Former manager of the Indian cricket team, Ratnakar Shetty has opened up on the Kumble-Kohli relationship. In 2017, Kumble stepped down in a dramatic turn of events citing untenable relationship with Kohli.

Shetty reveals that Virat Kohli was unhappy with Kumble as the latter did not stand up for his players. Remember, this was brewing for over a month and things hit the roof when India lost against Pakistan in the 2017 Champions Trophy final. In his new book “On Board: Test.Trial.Triumph. My years in BCCI” Shetty revealed how things unfolded leading up to Kumble’s resignation.

Shetty stated that there were some people who did not want Kumble to continue in the role of head coach of the side. Shetty made it clear that Kohli and Kumble were not on the same page, and the skipper had the upper hand in this matter.

“The events leading up to the resignation of Anil Kumble as coach of the men’s team after the ICC Champions Trophy final in June 2017 showcased the murkiness that had steadily crept into the corridors of the Cricket Centre,” Shetty was quoted as writing in his book. “It was obvious that some people did not want Anil to continue as coach. The captain and coach did not appear to be on the same wavelength and it seemed that the captain had the upper hand.” Shetty said.

“I learnt later about a meeting that took place in London before the final of the Champions Trophy, which we lost to Pakistan. This meeting was attended by Virat, Anil, Johri, Amitabh Choudhary and Dr Sridhar. Apparently, Virat was not happy with Anil ‘for not standing up for the players and creating a tense atmosphere in the dressing room’, among other things,” Shetty added.

IPL 2022: Australian Cricketers Might Miss First 4-5 IPL games Due To Pakistan Tour

The IPL mega auction is scheduled on February 12 and 13 in Bangalore. The final auction list includes a total of 590 players. Among the shortlisted players, 47 are from Australia while 24 belong to England.

Meanwhile Cricket Australia’s announcement to tour Pakistan in the month of March-April. Regarding this tour, the availability of Australian players is a big question ahead of the auction. The Indian Premier League 2022 is scheduled to begin in the last week of March and at that time the Australian  players will be engaged in national duties in Pakistan, which rules them out of the first few IPL games. 

Australian players might miss the first 4-5 games of the marquee Indian Premier League. As per report by Cricbuzz, there is a uncertainty over availability of England and Australia players. England players could be pulled back in the last week of May. Also, some of the Australian players might be missing if they will be selected for Australia’s tour to Pakistan from March 29 to April 5. 

Australia haven’t announced their squad for the tour yet but a strong team is expected to land in Pakistan. “I think we’ll get close to a full-strength squad. There is still a little bit of work to do. We have received a lot of information and it has been great. All the pre-tour security and biosecurity work has been done and it’s been fantastic,” Australia Test skipper Pat Cummins said recently.

Justin Langer resigns as coach of Australian cricket team

Justin Langer has resigned as coach of the Australian men’s cricket team. Langer’s management confirmed on Saturday morning the Australian Hall-of-Fame opener and coach had tendered his resignation, effective immediately.

Langer’s contract was due to expire in June, and it was always CA’s intention to address his future once last year’s T20 World Cup and the recent Ashes series had been completed. He leaves despite Australia having won the T20 World Cup and Ashes in recent months.

After weeks of scrutiny about whether he would have his four-year contract extended beyond June, the Cricket Australia board met on Friday to discuss the 51-year-old West Australian’s future. However, Cricket Australia offered Justin Langer a short-term extension only, before the coach decided to quit his post and end six months of speculation. A disappointed Langer told officials on Saturday morning he was resigning with immediate effect, after a late-night meeting with Cricket Australia bosses on Friday.

In confirming the resignation, CA chief Nick Hockley said: “We are naturally disappointed Justin has decided against continuing as coach but respect his decision and wish him all the best in the future” Langer’s manager James Henderson had earlier tweeted: “As a player Justin retired on top after a 5-0 Ashes whitewash. Today, despite the views of a faceless few, he finishes his time as Australian cricket coach winning the T20 World Cup and the Ashes. Lest we forget what JL took over in 2018.”

IPL 2022: 8 crore is enough for me ,says Yuzvendra Chahal ahead of mega auction

Mega auction of Indian Premier league The will be held in Bengaluru on February 12 and 13. This IPL mega auction will see big names going under the hammer. One of the star players who is expected to attract multiple bids is India’s Yuzvendra Chahal.

Yuzvendra Chahal played for Royal Challengers Bangalore from IPL 2014 till IPL 2021 and the leg-spinner picked up 139 wickets during his tenure thus ending his stint as the highest wicket-taker for the franchise.
The leg-spinner was released by the franchise ahead of the mega auction  Chahal expressed his desire to play for RCB again. however he is prepared to play with any team if the franchise doesn’t buy him back.

“Obviously, I want to go to RCB because I’ve been there for 8 years but it’s not like if I go somewhere else I’ll feel bad because everyone has to make a new team and it’s a major auction where there’s always purse constraints. Whichever team takes me, I’ll keep giving my 100%. It will take some time to adjust to a new franchise but that’s why we call ourselves professional players.” Chahal said.

Meanwhile, speaking to Ravi Chandran Ashwin on his Youtube Channel, Yuzvendra Chahal was asked about the money he wants from RCB to buy him at the mega-auction. The leg-spinner shied away for a moment and stated that he will be happy with 8 crore. Ashwin asked 31-year-old Chahal about the amount he is looking to be signed at the IPL 2022 auction, the leg-spinner hilariously replied, “I don’t want to say that I want 15 crores or 17 crores, you know, 8 cr is enough for me!”

RCB retained Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and Mohammad Siraj as 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice respectively on 30th November. The leg-spinner was expected to be amongst the retention choices but RCB did not went for Chahal. RCB also did not went fo

“I won’t be able to tell it now”: Sourav Ganguly is not yet ready to judge his own tenure as the BCCI president

BCCI President Sourav Ganguly  stated that he will not be able to tell what his legacy is as the President of the Indian cricket board. He also added that he will instead leave it open to the fans to judge his legacy.

Sourav Ganguly was formally elected as the BCCI president in October 2019 and the majority of his reign has coincided with the covid pandemic. His three-year-term as BCCI chief coming to an end later this year around September-October, the former India captain stated that he is not yet in a position to say what legacy he will leave behind.

“What’s my legacy? Well, I won’t be able to tell it now. Let’s see what happens. It is up to you all to judge my legacy, it is what it is. But it has been under tough circumstances due to Covid-19 over the last two years. The pandemic has wreaked havoc all over the world and we are fortunate that we could still manage to get a majority of cricket done,” Ganguly told Sporstar.

Ganguly also said that his tenure has taken place in tough circumstances due to the Covid-19 pandemic, “I don’t think it’s more challenging. I won’t be able to tell anything about the legacy. Let’s see what happens. It is for the people to judge me. But the situation has been tough due to COVID-19 over the last two years. We are fortunate enough that we could still manage to get a majority of cricket done.” Ganguly added.

IPL 2022: Ambati Rayudu signs up as wicketkeeper in the Mega Auction

The IPL 2022 mega auction will be held in Bengaluru on February 12 and 13. Among 590 players, who have registered for the auction, 228 are capped, 355 are uncapped and 7 belong to Associate Nations. The players’ list published by the BCCI on the official website of IPL, and acording to the list, Ambati Rayudu has registered himself as a wicket-keeping batter.

Rayudu was released by Chennai Super Kings ahead of the mega auction. .Meanwhile, everyone is surprise Rayudu has entered the auction in the wicket-keeper’s category. The 36-year-old Ambati Rayudu is currently at the end of his career and sensed that he might not excite the team owners. However Rayudu took the gloves on few match for CSK, when MS Dhoni wasn’t obtainable. However, he had been a first-choice wicketkeeper for his earlier franchise Mumbai Indians.

The cricketer from Hyderabad has entered the auction with a base price of INR 2 crore, the highest bracket. It remains to be seen if Rayudu attracts any bid from the 10 franchises. Rayudu has been a very consistent performer in the IPL. He has played 175 matches in total and scored 3916 runs in them.

Rayudu has averaged 29.44 runs at a strike rate of 127.47. Along with that, he has scored one century and 21 half-centuries. Last season, he played an important role in helping CSK to the title as he scored 257 runs at an average of 28.55 and a stunning strike rate of 151.17

Virat Kohli interacts with Yash Dhull-led side ahead of ICC U-19 World Cup final

Indian batsman Virat Kohli interacted with India’s U-19 team ahead of the upcoming U-19 ICC World Cup 2022 final. The Yash Dhull-led India U-19 cricket team will take on their English counterparts in the title clash at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.

Kohli knows a thing or two about winning high pressure final at the junior level, he guided Team India to U-19 World Cup glory in 2008 .His team beat South Africa in 2008 U-19 World Cup. Experienced Kohli spoke to Indian Under-19 team captains Yash Dhul, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, and Kaushal Tambe sitting at Antigua hotel on a Zoom call. India U19 off-spinner Kaushal Tambe took to social media to share a screenshot of their virtual interaction with Virat Kohli. “Some valuable tips from the GOAT ahead of the finals,” Tambe wrote.

Not just him but several other U19 cricketers took to Instagram to share the moment “It was really good to interact with you @virat.kohli bhaiyaa. Learnt some important things about life and cricket from you which will help us in getting better in upcoming times,” Rajvardhan Hangargekar wrote in his post.”

India U-19 led by Yash Dhull will take on England in what will be the fourth successive final at this level since 2016. India’s U19 team reached the final after some impressive performances despite Covid-19 concerns in the camp in the West Indies. Dhull, who recovered from Covid-19, hit a match-winning hundred against Australia in the semi-final on Wednesday.

Mohammad Hasnain’s Bowling Action Found Illegal: He has been Suspended From Bowling In International Cricket

Pakistani pacer Mohammad Hasnain has been banned from bowling after his action was found illegal. The Pakistan Cricket Board on Friday suspended Quetta Gladiators pacer Mohammad Hasnain from further participation in the ongoing seventh edition of the Pakistan Super League .

Hasnain was first reported for a suspect bowling action while playing for Sydney Thunder in Australia’s Big Bash League last month. His action was reported by umpires during a BBL match on January 2. Hasnain was sent for testing following his return from Australia. The test was conducted on January 21 at the ICC’s accredited testing centre in Lahore and the report found his bowling action to be illegal.

Biomechanical testing in Lahore confirmed the 21-year-old breached the 15-degree limit for elbow extension on his “good length delivery, full length delivery, slow bouncer and bouncer”, the PCB said in a statement. “The PCB today received a formal and detailed report from Cricket Australia on Mohammad Hasnain’s assessment test, which stated his elbow extension for his good length delivery, full length delivery, slow bouncer and bouncer exceeded the 15-degree limits,” stated an official PCB release.

Mohammad Hasnain is an asset for Pakistan and one of the very few bowlers to consistently click 145kmp. As such, and keeping his future and Pakistan’s interest at the forefront, the PCB, on the recommendation of the PSL 2022 Technical Committee, has decided he will not be allowed to continue to participate in the Pakistan Super League,” stated PCB.

The PCB also added that the board will now appoint a bowling consultant who will work with Hasnain so that he can rectify his bowling action and be ready for a reassessment. “Instead, he will use this time to work with the PCB-appointed bowling consultant to modify his bowling action so that he can apply for a reassessment and become eligible to return to international cricket as quickly as practically possible,” PCB stated further.