“CSK is CSK is because of the relationship between the owners and the captain”

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Oct-2020Gautam Gambhir believes that despite the Chennai Super Kings enduring its poorest season in IPL history this time in the UAE, the franchise will retain MS Dhoni as their captain in 2021 because of the “fabulous relationship” they share.”You’re putting me in a fix. Now that’s a tough question. It up to the franchise. What he has done for the franchise and how the franchise actually deals with MS and treats MS is a fabulous relationship,” Gambhir told ESPNcricinfo in response to a question on the leadership of the Super Kings after a season where they could well end up finishing bottom of the table. “And that is how every franchise should deal with their captain, who has delivered for them.”Dhoni’s future as player and as captain have come under severe scrutiny after the Super Kings became the first team to be eliminated from the playoffs’ race this IPL despite starting with a victory over defending champions the Mumbai Indians. They have since lost eight games and won just three more. And Dhoni is among several senior batsmen who have struggled to find form.Gambhir felt that the relationship Dhoni and the Super Kings have developed since the inaugural season (2008), when he was bought by the franchise and appointed captain, was a unique one. And the “mutual respect” they shared, Gambhir pointed out, was the reason the Super Kings have been one of the most successful teams in the IPL – three titles (only behind the Mumbai Indians’ four) in addition to winning the Champions League T20 twice.”MS has won them three [IPL] trophies, couple of Champions Leagues, he has made them one of the top successful sides in the IPL after Mumbai Indians,” Gambhir said. “So CSK saying they are going to continue with MS – it is just the relationship, it is just the mutual respect. That’s why MS has been so loyal (to the Super Kings). That’s why MS has given everything: heart and soul, his sweat, sleepless nights – I’m sure he must have had sleepless nights while he has continued captaining CSK.”I know people talk about that you should not be emotional, but then there is a connect. You’ve got to appreciate what the captain or a player has done for your franchise, how much hard work he has put in, because it is not easy being the captain of any franchise and that also for a such a long period of time.”The Super Kings management has said that Dhoni would be retained at the next mega auction, which is likely to be pushed to 2022 with the 2021 IPL scheduled to begin next April. There is a likelihood of a mini auction taking place, but Gambhir was confident that Dhoni’s position was not in doubt for 2021.”He deserves that much of appreciation from the owners,” Gambhir said. “I keep saying that why CSK is CSK is because of the relationship between the owners and the captain. They have given all the freedom to MS, and MS has received all the mutual respect from the owners as well.”So I would not be surprised if they continue with MS and MS plays till the time he wants to play. And then next year he still continues to be the captain and have a much different squad than what he has this time around.”

How Old Trafford encounter inspired English club’s foray into Indian market

George Dobell25-Nov-2020It was, Daniel Gidney says now, a day that changed everything.Gidney, the chief executive of Lancashire, had heard plenty about the passion of India v Pakistan matches in the past. But he had witnessed Old Firm derbies in Glasgow, the Derby della Lanterna in Genoa, the most raucous of Twickenham internationals and more than his fair share of T20 Roses encounters. He thought he had seen it all.But then came the World Cup match on June 16, 2019.”It opened my eyes,” he tells ESPNcricinfo. “Our previous chairman, the much-missed David Hodgkiss [who died of Covid-19 in March], had urged me to look east in terms of our future strategy, but I only half got it. After that game, I was all-in.”So, what was it he witnessed that left such an impression?”Well, Manchester airport ran out of space for private jets,” he says. “Some planes had to land in Liverpool instead. That’s not even happened for big games at Manchester United.”Meanwhile, rooms in our hotel [Lancashire run a Hilton which overlooks their ground] were selling for £3,500. And there were a billion people watching on TV. The passion and noise was unbelievable: there was a man on a white horse draped in a Pakistan flag outside the ground. You don’t get that at Lancashire games. I’d not seen anything like it. It became very clear that we had a huge untapped market out there and that India had to be at the core of our future strategy.”ALSO READ: Two additional T20Is, fewer Tests in England’s tour of India – GangulyTo that end, Lancashire invested in their streaming operation during the 2020 season. Their set-up included seven cameras including the recruitment of specialist ‘ball following’ operatives, and arranged for their games to be live-streamed in India on JioTV; a service with more than 350 million subscribers. As a result, “our numbers went bananas” as Gidney puts it. Somewhere around 2.5m unique users (that’s even more than Surrey’s 2020 figures) watched the matches.Alongside that, Lancashire’s top-order batsman, Keaton Jennings, led a networking delegation from the club to India in January. Alongside representatives from Visit Manchester and VisitBritain, he highlighted opportunities ahead of the 2021 Test between England and India at Emirates Old Trafford. Jennings, as a man who had made a Test century in Mumbai, was seen as a suitable person to break the ice in such discussions, with the opportunity also helping him expand his own experiences with a view to life after his playing career. Emirates Old Trafford hosts England’s final Test of the 2021 summer.More will follow in 2021. The Lancashire team will – virus allowing – return to Mumbai for pre-season training (they also went there in February of this year) with the aim of closer links and, perhaps, friendly matches against Mumbai Indians (they did actually play – and narrowly defeat – a Reliance XI containing around half a team of Mumbai Indians players in a pre-season match in February). A commentary team will also be assembled to ensure the streaming coverage is appropriately complemented. In time, it could lead to a return to the days when Lancashire looked to India for its overseas players.”At this stage, we’re just interested in growing our audience,” Gidney continues. “In the longer term, yes, we hope to monetise this interest and we will be looking to secure a sponsor for Lancashire TV. My aim is that, one day, everyone in India will see Lancashire as their second favourite team.”While Lancashire’s off-field performance in recent years has been exceptional – only Surrey can claim to be a bigger club in financial terms these days – the on-field performance has not always matched. But Gidney is keen to assure supporters that the move to embrace the Indian audience, just like the move to invest in a hotel and conferencing business, was driven by a desire to see Lancashire cricket – and cricket in Lancashire – thrive. Previously, the club has pledged to invest profits into reintroducing cricket into state primary schools in the region.”We’re a cricket club,” Gidney says. “We’re doing all this so we can invest more money into cricket. We don’t have to pay dividends to share holders; we’re looking to develop more cricketers and invest in even better facilities.”The Indian market is huge and passionately interested in cricket. We can’t ignore the game’s biggest market. We will continue to build strategic relationships that help the club, and our brand, grow on the subcontinent.”

“I just see it as a different part of the evolution of the game,” the allrounder said after his 100-metre shot

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Dec-2020Glenn Maxwell believes it is up to bowlers to evolve in an attempt to combat the ever-more outlandish strokeplay that is on display in limited-overs cricket after he produced a 100-metre switch hit in Canberra.Former Australia captain Ian Chappell reignited the debate over whether the shot is ‘fair’ – where a right-handed batsman effectively becomes a left hander and vice-versa when, for example, a bowler must tell the umpire if they are coming from over or round the wicket – after the opening two matches of the series against India, before Maxwell produced his latest display of outrageous skill at Manuka Oval.”[Switch-hitting] is very skillful, some of it’s amazingly skillful – but it’s not fair,” Chappell told . “How can one side of the game, ie. the bowlers, they have to tell the umpire how they’re going to bowl. And yet the batsman, he lines up as a right-hander – I’m the fielding captain, I place the field for the right-hander – and before the ball’s been delivered, the batsman becomes a left-hander.”One of the main reasons why he’s becoming a left-hander is so he can take advantage of those field placings. I’d love the administrators who made those laws, I’d love them to explain to me how that’s fair.”Maxwell launched Kuldeep Yadav over point and such was the swiftness of his hand switch that it takes a couple of replays to even notice he did it.”It’s within the Laws, batting has evolved in such a way that it’s just got better and better over the years which is why we see these massive scores getting chased down,” he said. “Suppose it’s up to the bowlers to try and combat that. The skills of bowlers are being tested every day with bowlers having to come up with different change-ups, ways to stop batters and the way they shut down one side of the ground.”The way batting is evolving, I think bowling has to try and evolve at the same stage. We see guys coming up with knuckle balls and wide-yorker fields, the tactics of one-day cricket have definitely evolved over the last little bit as well. I just see it as a different part of the evolution of the game.”Glenn Maxwell switch-hits Kuldeep Yadav for six•Getty Images

However, Maxwell wasn’t taking all the credit for how far the stroke went. “It probably helped that it was with a pretty decent wind, I wasn’t too worried about the boundary rider and just thought if I got it up in the air it was going to travel,” he said.His 59 off 38 balls kept Australia in the chase of 303 after they had slipped to 5 for 158 but when he was bowled by Jasprit Bumrah the task was too great for the lower order. Maxwell, who said he should have finished the game, took the blame for the run out of Alex Carey as the pair were building a solid partnership.”I thought the changing point was probably the run out with Carey which was probably 100% my fault and unfortunately when you leave yourself six down it makes it a little bit tougher because you know one mistake and it can all turn around pretty quickly. That was a key moment of the game which I probably stuffed up, but saying that I feel I should probably have iced that game from there. But they are allowed to bowl well and Bumrah is a class finisher.”

The alert is for a section of the Great Southern Stand on December 27 and it has led to further measures for the Sydney Test

Daniel Brettig06-Jan-2021Victorian health officials have called for an entire zone of spectators in the MCG’s Great Southern Stand come forward for testing and quarantine amid fears that a mystery case of Covid-19 may have acquired the virus on the second day of the Boxing Day Test.The case, a man in his 30s who also shopped at Chadstone Shopping Centre in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs on Boxing Day, was seated in Zone 5 of the MCG under its covid-safe protocols – likely entering the ground through gates five or six – between 12.30pm and 3.30pm on December 27, before developing Covid-19 symptoms on January 5.As a result of this case, the New South Wales government has made the wearing of masks mandatory at all times for the crowd at the SCG Test except when eating and drinking although the game will continue with a crowd at 25% capacity. Anyone who attended the MCG at the date and time of the alert is banned from attending the Sydney Test. There had already been a ban on people attending from certain suburbs of Sydney based on the outbreaks in the city.”Based on the information available from the case, the man in his 30s, was not infectious while at the sites, but there is potential he acquired the virus while there,” the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement. “The man developed symptoms on 30 December and the department was notified of his positive test on 5 January. Given he has not visited any high-risk Victorian exposure sites or travelled to New South Wales, a number of acquisition sources are being investigated.”The man was present at the MCG on 27 December, the second day of the Boxing Day test and is currently isolating. He was not infectious when he attended and is not linked to any other case or to the Black Rock Restaurant Outbreak. The MCG is being investigated as a potential source for the infection.Health authorities asked for anyone who had been present in the affected zone of the MCG to get tested. “We’re encouraging anyone who was in The Great Southern Stand, zone 5 of the MCG between 12.30pm and 3.30pm on 27 December, to get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result.”A Covid-safe event plan was in place for the match and the ticketing allocation system in place has enabled effective contact tracing. The venue also utilised the Victorian Government’s QR code system in an additional measure to support contact tracing.”The department is working with Melbourne Cricket Club to contact ticket holders in the relevant area directly and to ensure that all relevant public health actions have been undertaken.”Announcing the updated masks requirement for the SCG, NSW health minister Brad Hazzard said: “From the moment effectively you get into the transport to get there, and get into the queue at the front door of the SCG, and go to your seat, and sit in the your seat, you must wear a mask.”The only exception to that [is] if you’re eating or drinking. Obviously, Dr Chant and the public health team want people to enjoy a day at the cricket, but it’s a Covid day at the cricket and that means mask on, not mask off, unless you’re eating or drinking, in which case you can have your mask off.”Australia captain Tim Paine was asked whether he believed continuing the Sydney Test with even a reduced crowd was safe as cases of community transmission continued to be recorded in New South Wales, but he deferred to those with more knowledge of the situation.”It’s not really an area I can control or worry too much about. People who are in control of making these decisions [are] at government level,” Paine said. “There’s health experts, high level people at Cricket Australia and they’re all working as hard as they possibly can to do the best thing.”Obviously we want to get people in the gates, give people a chance to come in and watch international cricket and if they’re saying the safe number is 10,000 then I certainly can’t question that. Don’t have a medical background so we trust that the people who are in those positions are making the right decisions by us and the communities. We’ll go with whatever we’re told at this stage.”

Senior batsman says nothing but a series win will do in home conditions

Umar Farooq22-Jan-2021Azhar Ali, Pakistan’s senior-most batsman, has urged young players to shrug off their insecurities to give themselves the best chance to perform at home against South Africa. As many as nine uncapped players have been named in their initial squad of 20, with at least two of them likely to debut in the first Test starting January 26.For all practical purposes, this is the first time Pakistan are playing South Africa at ‘home’ since 2007-08. Azhar (83 Tests) aside, only Babar Azam (29 Tests) has had any kind of significant Test experience to speak of. Abid Ali is eight Tests old, Fawad Alam seven and Mohammad Rizwan, who captained in New Zealand, has 11 Test caps. Among the bowlers, Yasir Shah has the most experience with 43 Tests, and will do a bulk of the bowling alongside automatic pick Shaheen Afridi (13 Tests) and the returning Hasan Ali.”International cricket is always a challenge,” Azhar said. “Even if you play as a youngster or up there for long, pressure will remain for ever. But obviously for a new player it is a challenge to handle pressure and then there are insecurities in our culture around what if they are dropped.”Obviously we understand that there is a big difference between international and domestic cricket which make them a bit insecure. But as as a senior player my advise to them is to trust their skills and stick with that they are doing to do well because that is what is going to give them a best chance to performance. If you think too much that will bring negativity and hold you from doing well. So be positive and grab the opportunity.”Misbah-ul-Haq will have two more coaches in the set-up•Getty Images

Pakistan had a miserable time in New Zealand, losing both Tests comfortably while winning just the one T20I on tour. Those results, coupled with their poor returns in England and Australia, means there is going to be much scrutiny on the team as much as there will on Misbah-ul-Haq, the head coach.Azhar remains optimistic of returning to winning ways. “Home conditions bring confidence in players,” he said. “If you remember, our batsmen in previous two home series (against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh) had big chunks of runs and did really well. But on away tours, ts always tough for Asian teams. But our batsmen fought it out. In England and New Zealand there was at least one batsman who made a century.”There is a different level of pressure on away tours, but at home, everyone expects nothing less than a win. We must take the responsibility as a team to win matches at home. We will try to take this benefit [of playing at home] positively and maximise this opportunity at fullest to keep the opponent under pressure.”‘No one is undermining anyone’ – Azhar on extra coaches joining teamTo ease some load off Misbah, the PCB has added coaches from the High Performance Centre to assist the team management. Mohammad Yousuf will work alongside batting coach Younis Khan while Saqlain Mushtaq will guide the spinners. Having so much of experience in the coaching set-up comes with the risk of information overload, at times, but Azhar hopes this will onl be beneficial.”Yousuf and Younis both being in the camp isn’t undermining anyone,” Azhar said. “This is mainly for conditioning and we are taking an advantage of their experiences. Younis bhai is our main batting coach and we are lucky to have Mohammad Yousuf around as well. The Test is starting in few days and we don’t have much time either for any change in our batting (technique) but both are getting us ready for the Test.”South Africa is a very strong team especially with their bowling they are the top side. Their fast bowlers are good but then if we get a spin track, we are wary of their left-arm spinner Mahraj who he is a seasoned bowler and is playing Tests for long. He is bowling consistency well. We have to come up with our A game to compete so I believe they have everything covered in their bowling and our batting must take this challenge and score big enough for our bowlers to get them out.”

Malan, Billings, Livingstone, T Curran all land deals but Hales, Roy and Rashid go unsold

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Feb-20211:00

Moeen Ali ‘excited’ to play under Dhoni at CSK

Moeen Ali has ended a difficult week in India on an unequivocal high, after being picked up for Rs 7 crore (US$959,000) by Chennai Super Kings at the IPL auction.The price tag is almost four times the figure that Royal Challengers Bangalore (Rs 1.7 crore; US$265,000) paid for Moeen in 2018, and marks an immediate return to the tournament after he was released by RCB at the end of the 2020 season.Having entered the auction at a base price of Rs 2 crore (US$274,000), Moeen was the subject of significant interest from the newly rebranded Punjab Kings before being secured by CSK, where he will link up with his fellow England allrounder Sam Curran.CSK are in the progress of a rebuilding phase, after failing to reach the IPL play-offs for the first time in the competition’s history, and the signing of Moeen came after they had narrowly missed out on the services of his fellow spin-bowling allrounder, Glenn Maxwell, who was picked up by Moeen’s old franchise, RCB, for Rs 14.25 crore (US$1.95million)L Balaji, CSK’s bowling coach, said of the signing: “We were focusing on an allrounder and power-hitting. Moeen is a good buy. He is handy with the ball and also can bat in the top order. [Shane] Watson gave us that flexibility in the top order. Now Moeen gives us depth and the option of a dual role – [I’m] 100% sure he’ll fill in what we’re looking at.”Moeen’s IPL credentials are likely to have been enhanced by his performance in the second Test against India at the Chepauk Stadium this week, where he claimed eight wickets in the match – his first Test appearance for 18 months – then signed off with an explosive cameo of 43 from 18 balls in the final moments of India’s 317-run win.Related

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Either way, Moeen’s involvement in the tournament is a boost to his prospects of playing a major role in England’s T20 World Cup campaign, which is also due to be staged in India at the end of the year. Moeen was part of the squad that toured South Africa in December, but was left out for all three T20Is as England opted to field a single frontline spinner.Though he has been named in England’s T20I squad for their five-match series against India next month, Moeen’s departure from the Test squad this week attracted controversy when it was implied by Joe Root, England’s captain, that he had “chosen” to go home rather than compete for a place in the final two Tests, with the series currently locked at 1-1.Root subsequently apologised to Moeen, as did England’s head coach Chris Silverwood, who acknowledged that a request had been put in for Moeen to stay on tour, but that his absence from the Ahmedabad Tests had been decided by the ECB in advance, in accordance with their rest and rotation policy.Moeen played only three times in the 2020 IPL season•BCCI

The request had been put in by England as a consequence of Moeen’s disrupted winter schedule. He contracted Covid-19 on arrival in Sri Lanka in January and was required to spend a fortnight in quarantine, as a consequence of which he missed both Tests at Galle as well as England’s victory in the first Test against India in Chennai.Moeen’s reluctance to accede to England’s request stemmed in part from the prospect of him picking up a new IPL contract, which would have meant a stretch of five months away from his young family, with the tournament due to end in the first week of June.To date, Moeen has played 19 IPL games for RCB, scoring 309 runs at a strike rate of 158.46, and taking 10 wickets at an economy rate of 7.14.Moeen was the star attraction among English players in the opening rounds of the auction. Dawid Malan, ranked the world’s No. 1 T20I batsman by the ICC, was signed by Punjab Kings for Rs 150 lakh (US$204,000), while Jason Roy, Alex Hales and Adil Rashid were all unsold. Mark Wood withdrew from the auction on Wednesday.Having gone unsold initially, Sam Billings picked up a bid of RS 200 lakh (US$273,000) from Delhi Capitals. Tom Curran will join him at the franchise, after he was sold for RS 525 lakh (US$719,000) following a bidding war against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Liam Livingstone was the other Englishman picked up, returning to Rajasthan Royals for RS 75 lakh (US$102,000) after skipping the 2020 season.

The batsman is expected to make his Test debut against England after prolific limited-overs performances

ESPNcricinfo staff08-Apr-2021Devon Conway has had his New Zealand residency visa approved, which means he will be able to return to the country after the tour of England.Although eligible to play for New Zealand since last August, his residency application was still pending until a few days ago. Only citizens or residents are able to return under the government’s Covid-19 protocols so it could have caused problems for Conway touring but the doubts have now been removed.”Very positive news came through a couple of days ago that that has been granted so he is allowed to come back into the country,” New Zealand coach Gary Stead said. “We are really pleased for Devon and Kim, his partner, who have managed to get that over the line.”I guess it’s one thing that’s been on his mind that’s not there anymore. Who knows, one less thing on his mind he might score more runs.”Related

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Conway is one of three uncapped players in the New Zealand squad for the two Tests against England, which will then be trimmed to 15 names for the World Test Championship final.After a prolific ODI and T20I season it seems inevitable that Conway will make his debut against England at Lord’s in early June although there is still the tricky question of how he fits into a successful side.There may be a natural vacancy at the start of the series if Kane Williamson is still involved in the IPL but one option being considered is for Conway to open.”Tom Blundell has been the incumbent for a while with Tom Latham and has done a great job in that role, [but] I don’t think it’s his natural role though and think Tom recognises that as well so we just have to work through,” Stead said. “Devon, everyone has seen the success that he’s had, and we know he’s a fine player, it’s just working out what that looks like. Just too early to know that for certain.”While it is hard to see Conway not finding a place in the XI for New Zealand’s next Test, Stead stopped short of anointing him straightaway.”I don’t know if you can say you can’t leave [him] out because the New Zealand team has still done very well over the last wee while and Devon Conway hasn’t been part of that team,” he said. “No doubt he’s a fine player and we’ve seen every step he’s made has been a positive one. It’s not that you can’t leave him out, but he’s a fine player and we all know that.”The New Zealand squad will depart for England in two groups on May 16 and 17 following training camps in Christchurch earlier in the month. They will then be based at the Ageas Bowl, which has an on-site hotel, during the initial part of the tour.Stead confirmed that the originally planned tour match against Somerset would not take place due to issues around bio-secure bubbles and that the preparation for the Test series would include an intra-squad match with the help of some Hampshire 2nd XI players.

The players have undergone another round of testing, the results of which will be available later on Tuesday

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Apr-2021Five members of the touring South Africa Emerging Women’s side have tested positive for Covid-19 in Sylhet late on Monday before they left for Dhaka.The players have undergone another round of testing, the results of which will be available later on Tuesday. If the members return positive, they might have to stay in isolation for 14 days in Dhaka or until they are tested negative for Covid-19. The rest of the contingent, including the support staff, who have tested negative on Monday, flew out of Dhaka early on Tuesday.The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh had announced on Sunday that international flights will be suspended for a week from April 14 with the commencement of the hard lockdown in the country. As a result, the visitors had to depart early, cancelling their last game in the five-match one-day series scheduled for Tuesday. South Africa had reached Dhaka on Monday afternoon from Sylhet after playing four one-day matches against the Bangladesh Emerging Women’s team.The series, which began on April 4, was held behind closed doors in bio-secure environment due to an upsurge in Covid-19 cases. The visiting team had arrived in Bangladesh on March 29.