Author: Sandip Pawar

The BCCI announced the annual contracts for women’s cricketers for October 2020 to September 2021, with the top bracketed players receiving INR 50 lakh. A total of 19 players made it to the list with the T20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur, vice-captain Smriti Mandhana and Poonam Yadav getting the honours of top contracts. India women’s legend Mithali Raj, who leads India’s Test and ODI teams, was handed a Grade B contract along with veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami. https://twitter.com/BCCIWomen/status/1395044677770829826?s=19 Batting sensation Shafali Verma who has been making waves lately, has earned a promotion to Grade B bracket. The 17-year-old was handed a maiden Test call-up for the…

West Indies announce the T20I provisional squad led by Kieron Pollard for a blockbuster home summer comprising 15 T20 Internationals. On Tuesday, the Cricket West Indies revealed a provisional squad for the home summer, which includes visits from South Africa, Australia and Pakistan. Andre Russell and Shimron Hetmyer make their way back into the side with the T20 World Cup lined up later this year. Russell, one of the biggest T20 superstars in the world, last played for Windies in March 2020 in Sri Lanka. Hetmyer, who was dropped from the team due to poor fitness, had last represented the team in New Zealand…

Cricket Australia released the schedule for the Ashes with the men’s series starting from December 8 and the women’s series from January 27. The series will start later than usual because of the mandatory quarantine players will have to undergo after returning from the T20 World Cup in India. The first Test will be followed by a day-night match at the Adelaide Oval on December 16. The teams will then head to MCG for the traditional Boxing Day Test. Sydney will host the new year’s Test, with Perth’s Optus Stadium getting the honours for the fifth Test on January 14-18. …

Pakistan legend Inzamam-ul-Haq has expressed concerns over the rise of T20 cricket hampering Test cricket, where the true beauty lies. The legendary batter admitted that T20 cricket is important for the expansion of the game and financial health but the longer format tests the true quality of players. “The focus, currently, is mainly on T20 cricket. It goes for all the teams and players. Yes, I understand that T20 cricket is entertaining and people enjoy watching the format but the real beauty lies in test matches wherein you find out the quality of a batsman. So, that should be surely…

England and Wales Cricket Board’s ambitious project may suffer another blow. The inaugural edition of the tournament could be missing many top draw overseas signings due to the packed schedule of several teams, including West Indies and Australia.  West Indies, Pakistan and Australia have their limited overs series lined up in the Caribbean in July-August. The availability of players from these teams for the men’s tournament could be in question with the complications regarding International travel due to covid restrictions. Two Australia Women’s players, Rachael Haynes and Jess Jonassen, have already withdrawn from the women’s tournament due to quarantine requirements,…

India women are set to travel to Australia ahead of next year’s 50-over World Cup. The tour was originally scheduled for January this year, but the worsening Covid-19 situation meant it was postponed by both BCCI and CA’s mutual agreement. The dates of the series are yet to be announced officially by Cricket Australia. However, Australia pacer Megan Schutt dropped a hint that India will be visiting them in September. “We have got a tour against India in mid-September. So, there’s a couple of camps. I believe we are doing one in Darwin, which will be really cool…and then the…

Indian pace bowler stated that he continues to prepare for all three formats irrespective of team selections and questioned the sources, which suggested he is focusing on T20s.  A report in TOI on Saturday quoted sources claiming that Kumar has not been selected in the Indian team for the tour of England because he does not want to play Tests. “Bhuvneshwar just doesn’t want to play Test cricket anymore. That drive has gone missing. Those who have seen him from close insist he brought in a huge change in his work-drills a couple of seasons ago, doing away with heavy…

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage on in India, the Delhi & District Cricket Association has extended a helping hand by offering its premises of the Arun Jaitley Stadium to be used as a vaccination site.  The DDCA president Rohan Jaitley has already informed the Delhi government about their step. “I had written that if they feel that they require a centre for vaccination, the DDCA premises can be used till normalcy returns,” he told PTI on Saturday. The Arun Jaitley Stadium was one of the six stadiums in use for the suspended IPL 2021 season. Hence, it is assumed…

Lisa Sthalekar is infuriated by BCCI’s treatment of Veda Krishnamurthy. The Australian has said that the BCCI neither checked on Veda Krishnamurthy after the two tragedies in her family nor communicated with her regarding the decision to not consider her for the upcoming tour of England. Sthalekar explained that Veda’s exclusion from the Indian women’s team “can be justified”, but what’s shocking is how the BCCI has not communicated with Veda at all to see how she is coping. Earlier this month, the 28-year old India batter lost her elder sister Vatsala Shivakumar to Covid-19, two weeks after her mother…

Cricket West Indies on Friday announced the schedule for the Windies team, featuring three back to back international home tours against South Africa, Australia, and Pakistan, from June to August 2021. The Test and T20I series against the Proteas, rescheduled from 2020, will kickstart Windies’ international summer. “Following the successful hosting of the all-format series against Sri Lanka earlier this year, we are delighted to announce that we are set to welcome South Africa, Australia and Pakistan to the West Indies,””To host three international teams back-to-back in five territories is unprecedented, and putting these fixtures together was an enormous Covid-related…