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Domestic cricket giant Wasim Jaffer, the former India, Mumbai and Vidarbha opener, has retired at the age of 42. Jaffer made his first-class debut in 1996-97 season to play domestic cricket for over 20 years and finished as the most-capped player in the Ranji Trophy.His rich legacy of Ranji Trophy records includes the most caps (156), the most runs (12,038), the most centuries (40), the most catches (200), along with being the highest run-scorer in the Duleep Trophy (2545) and the Irani Cup (1294). He was also the only batsman to have breached the 1000-runs per Ranji season twice, in 2008-09 and 2018-19).Jaffer also played 31 Tests and two ODIs for India. He finished as the fifth-highest run-scorer in Indian first-class cricket along with 10 Ranji Trophy titles and numerous other records.Despite having played his last Test in 2008, against South Africa in Kanpur, Jaffer, a technically sound right-hand batsman, brought the same passion to the domestic circuit with which he played at the international level. Virtually every domestic season, Jaffer held some sort of record and soon he established himself as a stalwart. Even in Tests, Jaffer left a strong impression as he opened against some of the best bowling attacks around the world. His 116 in Cape Town is the only instance of an India opener scoring a century in South Africa; Jaffer is also part of a small set of Indian Test openers to have recorded multiple double-centuries: he scored 212 against West Indies in Antigua in 2006 and then two years later came his 202 against Pakistan in Kolkata.Those two knocks meant Jaffer is only one of five Indians – Virender Sehwag (six), Sunil Gavaskar (three), Mayank Agarwal, Vinoo Mankad the others – to achieve that feat. At the beginning of the 2019-20 Ranji season, Jaffer needed 853 runs to reach 20,000 first-class runs. However, he finished with 19,410 runs, which meant he is now fifth in the all-time list of highest run-scorers in Indian first-class cricket behind Gavaskar (25,834), Sachin Tendulkar (25,396), Rahul Dravid (23,794) and VVS Laxman (19,730).‘There was not much to play for’At the outset of this season, Jaffer was aware of the record and was further motivated by the challenge of Vidarbha achieving the treble: winning three successive Ranji titles. But a recurring injury to his left knee bothered him throughout the season eventually forcing him to call stumps on his career.Known for his insatiable appetite for big runs, Jaffer failed to get a century in seven matches this Ranji season for Vidarbha. “I decided actually midway through the season because I was getting a lot of trouble with my knee,” Jaffer told ESPNcricinfo. “I was actually not enjoying a long time in the field because of my knee pain. I had problems with my knee for long but this time it was troubling me more. But there was not much to play for, to be honest. I only played this season because this was the hat-trick year for Vidarbha. Me and Chandrakant Pandit (Vidarbha coach) actually thought to get to the hattrick if possible, let’s try for that. Once the season finished and I thought this it So I thought, you know, my time under the sun is over, so let’s move on.”Jaffer agreed it was a very difficult decision to arrive at after having played for nearly 25 years. “I was fortunate enough to have played this long. The passion to just play more than anything even though I was dropped from the Indian side, but the passion to just play, to get better, improve my batting (kept me going). Even though a lot of people actually give up when they don’t play for India, but I had the passion and I enjoyed playing. I even enjoyed playing in Ranji Trophy and helping the youngsters and that kept me going.””One moment just in cricket is obviously getting the India cap. My father, my brother, my family, and I, we work so hard. Coming from such humble background and then getting to play for India, getting the Test cap, you work so hard for that moment. And there are not many cricketers in India that have been able to achieve that, so I feel I was fortunate enough to get that Test cap. That will always remain special no matter what.”‘Winning Ranji Trophy against Karnataka as captain was one of the best‘Jaffer won the Ranji Trophy eight times for Mumbai including twice as captain, followed by two more Ranji titles for Vidarbha where he had moved as professional from 2015-16 season. Which crown was the most memorable?Jaffer readily said the 106-run victory against hosts Karnataka in Mysore the 2010 Ranji Trophy which hung in balance till the very last minute was the one. Jaffer lifted the trophy for Mumbai though he had single-digit contributions with the bat in both innings. “Winning that Ranji Trophy final by five (six) runs against Karnataka when I was captain, that was probably one of the best finals that I played.”At Vidarbha, Jaffer joined ranks with is former Mumbai captain and coach Pandit. He was hired as a mentor and Jaffer instilled the winners’ mentality at Vidarbha, who won their first Ranji Trophy in their maiden final, against Delhi, in the 2017-18 season. Jaffer counted that title as a special one, too.”That was a rollercoaster ride, I don’t think anybody, including myself, thought Vidarbha would win the Ranji Trophy. They never had played semi-final before. When I moved to Vidarbha I never thought I did get a chance to play another Ranji title. And (then) we went on to win Ranji and Irani twice. The first season created history for Vidarbha.”He once said: “I don’t know anything other than playing cricket.” He will be in close touch with the sport even after his retirement: he has been hired as the assistant coach at Kings XI Punjab in the IPL where former India captain Anil Kumble is the team director and head coach.Even as he looks forward to honing the techniques and mindsets of the players half his age, Jaffer will look back at his proud achievements with a smile. “Getting a double hundred in West Indies, getting a double hundred against Pakistan in a Test match, getting a hundred against South Africa in South Africa, I think no Indian opener has achieved that (in Tests). So that is always going to remain special.”

Cricket Australia’s financial warnings have been questioned by the players’ association which has said the game’s position remains positive with the sport not yet feeling the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic suffered by the winter codes.The Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA), led by chairman Shane Watson, met on Monday and will now write to CA chairman Earl Eddings to express their view on the game’s situation.Last month CA chief executive Kevin Roberts said money could run short by August if significant cost-cutting didn’t take place which led to 200 staff being stood down on 20% pay, although that move itself only contributed A$3 million of A$ 20 million in savings. The players expressed their support for those who had been impacted by the cuts.The biggest concern stemmed from the possibility of India not being able to undertake their tour later this year which could cost CA A$300 million if it doesn’t take place. However, there have been questions raised about how open CA have been with their financial figures.Until now only a very small amount of cricket has been effected with the one-day series between Australia and New Zealand called off after one match and the Sheffield Shield curtailed by one round and the final. There are also positive signs as to the chances of hosting international cricket in Australia later this year.ALSO READ: Covid-19 crisis could force Australian players to be more self-reliant“Cricket is yet to suffer a significant negative revenue event associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The financial position of cricket is therefore very positive relative to Australia’s winter sports,” ACA chief executive Alistair Nicholson wrote in an email to members seen by ESPNcricinfo.”The players express their support for staff at CA who have been stood down on 20% of their wages and wish them a speedy return to full-time work.”Cricket is able to express an optimistic and confident posture about its capacity to weather the pandemic, and has the opportunity to put in place effective plans for cricket to be played this summer. With this, cricket’s financial position will likely remain positive.”The impact of Cricket Australia’s cost cutting has been seen around the states in recent days as they brace for a 25% reduction in their grants.The CA contracts for men and women were announced on April 30 although it’s understood players were not told the actual figure they would earn, instead the percentage once the board’s financial position is clearer.The ACA reiterated that the players stand by the revenue share model which sees their payment pool rise and fall with CA’s income and added they had offered an option for further flexibility “should adverse events occur in the future.””The ACA will continue to work with CA and share these positive findings when the Australian Cricket Council is convened shortly,” Nicholson concluded. “United and coordinated, cricket is well-placed to make the most of the opportunities which will emerge as the COVID-19 pandemic eases and more normal life resumes.”The ACA board consists of Watson, Greg Dyer, Moises Henriques, Lisa Sthalekar, Alyssa Healy, Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Neil Maxwell, Kristen Beams and Janet Torney.

Fast bowlers need to build up their workloads “as sensibly as possible” in order to help mitigate increased injury risk as they look to return from a prolonged period of rest, according to Surrey’s lead physiotherapist.Plans are being drawn up around the world for players to return to training after an enforced break from the game, and Alex Tysoe told ESPNcricinfo that building up progressively will be vital for seamers in order to avoid the “undesirable” injury scenario seen in Germany’s Bundesliga.A report by sports scientist Joel Mason found that injury rates shot up from 0.27 per game to 0.88 in the first weekend of top-flight football in Germany for two months, with soft-tissue injuries particularly prevalent as teams rushed back to the pitch. Tysoe said that fast bowlers needed to find a sensible balance as they prepare to return to cricket.ALSO READ: ECB handed discretion over move to stage two training by government“There’s a lot about elite sport and the Covid situation which is not ideal, and we’re possibly seeing the effects of a sustained lockdown on football” he said. “You’ll have seen in the Bundesliga, there were a reported six soft-tissue injuries in the first eight games, which is an unusually high number for that league and sport.”Bowling is a lot more difficult to facilitate during this period because players haven’t been able to use their local clubs or outdoor facilities. We know from a research point of view that one of the ways to mitigate the risk of a sharp rise in workload is to try and improve the individual’s relative strength, and then all you can do is be sensible when you get back into things: increase people’s bowling workloads as fast as possible but as sensibly as possible too.”Tysoe is a co-author of a recent paper published in the which examined bowling loads and injuries for 49 fast bowlers at six different counties, and some of the conclusions drawn are relevant to the ongoing crisis.The study was primarily methodological, exploring the ability of ‘differential loads’ to predict injury risk compared to the widely-used ‘acute-chronic workload ratio’ method, but also demonstrated that large week-to-week increases in bowling loads and bowling after a long period without are associated with the possibility of heightened injury risks.”A simple analogy is that if you’re flying a plane, you have to consider the throttle, the level of the nose, and keeping your wings level on the horizon,” Tysoe said. “If you can keep all those within certain ranges, then your plane is much more likely to have a nice smooth journey; if you move the nose up and down, the wings left and right, and you’re messing around with the throttle, it’ll be a bumpy ride. It’s about getting up to cruising height nice and smoothly and staying there.”It’s similar in the case of fast bowlers: it’s about making sure that they’re not doing too much, too soon, relative to the last 42 days, that on a week-to-week basis they’re not adding to what they’re doing too quickly, and that if they do have a break it’s not for too long. What we want now is to have a nice smooth take-off, to get back to that analogy, where we’re getting bowlers to take off reasonably quickly while doing it as safely as possible.”Surrey’s lead physiotherapist Alex Tysoe•PA Images via Getty Images

Tysoe has been at The Oval in the past week, overseeing Sam Curran and Amar Virdi’s first few sessions back bowling, and said that things had gone “really smoothly”. Eighteen England bowlers are now back in individual training, with a seven-week run-in between their return and the planned first West Indies Test on July 8.The ECB’s performance director Mo Bobat has previously said that the schedule for this summer is likely to be “pretty brutal”, and that it may be necessary to rotate fast bowlers in order to reduce injury risks. Seamers have been bowling around six overs each per session and will gradually build up over the coming weeks.”A lot of work went into drawing up the protocols with the ECB, and then implementing all of the logistics,” Tyose said. “The important thing is that the players are safe, and that they can still have some quality training – otherwise there’s no point doing it. The ECB have been brilliant throughout the process, and we’re looking forward to seeing how things progress.”ALSO READ: How are cricketers keeping fit in lockdown?Surrey are one of two counties, along with Lancashire, not to have furloughed players during the lockdown, meaning the squad have been checked in on regularly. The club have run weekly Zoom yoga sessions to help increase the squad’s mobility, and Tysoe is hopeful that if a county season is possible later in the summer, players “are not going to take too long to turn around at all”.”We’re satisfied that they’re in as good a position as they could be at the moment. When we do get the green light to get back in and know when fixtures are, we’re in a position where we’re comfortable we can get them turned around in a relatively quick period of time.”For the fast bowlers, they can’t bowl in the nets or outside but we can mimic those movements with medicine balls to make sure soft tissues are used to repeatedly producing those powerful, dynamic movements.”One of the things we can’t do is influence the bone density of the spine. Pete Alway, who did a PhD with the ECB, did his research on spinal density of fast bowlers, and we now know that there’s nothing that can strengthen the spine for bowling better than bowling itself. You lose spine density pretty quickly when you stop bowling, and predictably it can take you longer to build that up: we need to be mindful of building them back up sensibly.”

Ross Taylor does not believe there would be anything wrong in having joint winners in the one-day World Cup rather than using Super Overs to split the teams.It is almost a year since England and New Zealand could not be separated across 100 overs and the Super Over in the World Cup final at Lord’s with England taking the title on boundary countback.The ICC has since amended the playing conditions and if the situation played out again there would be additional Super Overs to decide the winner, but Taylor does not see a problem with having joint champions.”I’m still undecided in a Super Over in a one-day game, I think one-day cricket is played over such a long time that I have no problems in a tie being a tie,” he told . “In T20, to continually go on is the right way to go. A bit like football or some other games, trying to get that win in, but I don’t think the Super Over is necessarily needed in a one-day game. I think you can have a joint winner.”During the World Cup I actually went up to the umpires to say ‘good game’, I didn’t even know there was a Super Over. A tie is a tie, I suppose you could have this argument either way, but in a one-day game I think if you can go 100 overs and still have someone equal at the end I don’t think a tie is a bad thing.”Since the World Cup final, New Zealand have been involved in another three Super Overs in T20Is and lost of all of them against England and India. Overall they have won just one of eight they have been involved in.”One over across 50 overs or 20 overs is tough to swallow, but if we are in that same situation we still back ourselves,” Taylor said. “First and foremost you have to try and win the game in the allocated time. We haven’t been able to be ruthless enough there, and if we can do that and not even let it get into a Super Over then hopefully the right results comes.”Taylor, who won the Sir Richard Hadlee Medal as New Zealand’s player of the year for 2019-2020, has previously spoken of his motivation to extend his career to the 2023 one-day World Cup in India. He is New Zealand’s leading ODI run-scorer with 8574 runs at 48.44, the fifth-highest average for a batsman with over 200 innings.

Ricky Ponting believes a non-striker stealing yards before the bowler has released the ball is cheating, but he still doesn’t think running the batsman out is the ideal way to keep him in the crease. According to Ponting, a run penalty on the batsman stealing yards – “found cheating” – is something that needs to be looked at.Ponting is the coach of Delhi Capitals, the IPL team which secured for this year the services of R Ashwin, the biggest proponent of the run-out of the batsman backing up before the bowler releases the ball. The difference in opinion became a flashpoint when Ponting said, in the lead-up to this year’s IPL, that he was going to have a “hard conversation” with Aswhin and that “this is not going to be the way we play our cricket”.On his diary show, Ashwin spoke to the coach about the issue, and they ended up agreeing that the batsman is cheating if he starts running before a bowler delivers the ball.”Yeah, I totally get where you are coming from,” Ponting told Ashwin when asked for his views on the run-out. “I wasn’t trying to say that you were [not] justified because it is actually in the laws of the game. You can do it. So if a batsman is cheating, and trying to steal a couple of yards…”I just think that we have got to find a way around. Trying to stop the batsman cheating. We have had this conversation already. I don’t want to see anyone running two or three yards down the wicket [before the ball is delivered]. Because that basically is cheating.”Delhi Capitals

Ashwin told Ponting that the first time he had effected such a run-out was when he was 12. “Because I couldn’t stand the batsmen taking those extra yards,” he explained. “I was a batsman myself in the junior category, and I feel it is a massive advantage. And the moment I did that, spirit of cricket was brought into play.”Ashwin has previously suggested that if the batsman leaves the crease before the ball is delivered, the runs off that ball, and the next (taking the free-hit principle forward), should be disallowed. He found some sort of agreement from Ponting.”I think there should be some sort of a run penalty,” Ponting said. “If you are to get to the top of your bowling action and stop, and it shows that the batsman is cheating and is out of his crease, I think put a run penalty on them. And do it right from the start, because that will stop him right away. Imagine taking 10 runs off a team total because you have taken yards… those sort of things need to be looked at.”Ashwin’s run-out of Jos Buttler in the 2019 IPL had sharply divided opinion in the cricketing world. While there was praise for someone finally enforcing the law without regret or remorse, there was also criticism for it not being in the spirit of cricket, especially when done without a warning.Capitals also have in their ranks Keemo Paul, who was vilified for a similar run-out at the Under-19 World Cup to such an extent that he swore off it despite knowing what he did was legal.It, however, remains unclear if Ponting has said and done enough to deter Ashwin from running someone out in the said fashion this year.

Players offered a contract in the women’s Hundred for 2020 will be able to roll their deals over to 2021, the ECB has confirmed.As ESPNcricinfo revealed back in June, women’s salary bands – which range from £3,600 to £15,000 – will be maintained for next year, while men’s deals have been cut by 20%, and will now be worth £24,000-£100,000.Details over the men’s retention system are yet to be finalised, but the Professional Cricketers Associations (PCA) received a proposal from the ECB last week and has asked for feedback from representatives and members. A decision is expected to be reached soon, with the consultation process ongoing.The Hundred’s initial regulations, pre-Covid, stated that each team would be able to retain up to 10 players at a mutually agreed salary band. All contracts for the competition were terminated in May, with players receiving 11.5% of their salary. That meant a combined £7 million loss for players, on top of the combined £3.8 million they gave up after agreeing to salary reductions, as well as giving up prize money, earlier this year due to the impact of the pandemic.An ECB release said that the decision to allow women’s players to roll their contracts over had been reached in order to “offer maximum security to the players who were denied the opportunity to play in the Hundred this year”.Contracted players will be able to re-sign with their existing teams this month, and teams will then have from October until May 2021 to replace any players who chose not to do so. Forty new professional contracts will also be awarded through the eight new regional centres in October, after 25 players signed retainers this summer.Anya Shrubsole, who has taken up the option to re-sign for Southern Brave, said: “It’s good for all women’s players to have the security of rolling over their 2020 contract offers, should they want to do so. The summer we’ve had has obviously thrown up a bit of uncertainty and this helps confirm that everyone expecting to play in the Hundred will still get that opportunity.”Beth Barrett-Wild, head of the women’s Hundred, said: “Covid-19 has caused some uncertainty for athletes, especially female athletes, so being able to provide immediate clarity and assurance to the women’s players that they will get the chance to re-sign for the same team and for the same fee in 2021 is very important, and demonstrates the Hundred’s ongoing commitment to the women’s game.”

Big picture

If social media is anything to go by, this contest is also cheekily termed the MRC Nagar derby. India Cements and Sun TV networks, the parent companies of Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad respectively, are headquartered in the same upscale Chennai locality right opposite each other. Cheeky references aside, both teams are at a stage where they desperately need to accumulate wins; the Sunrisers only slightly better off, having won three out of seven to the Super Kings’ two.The Sunrisers saw two points being stolen from under their nose on Sunday against the Rajasthan Royals after being in control of their defence for 16 overs. Not often do opposition teams look to take on Rashid Khan; but Rahul Tewatia did and it came off spectacularly, as the Sunrisers saw the game slip away. This has left them needing five wins in the second half of the tournament to enter the Qualifiers, not impossible by any means with their batsmen continuing to put runs on the board.Jonny Bairstow has found form and as has David Warner. Manish Pandey announced himself with a half-century on a sluggish surface, while Kane Williamson has played the role of a finisher. Where then is the problem? Yes, the runs are coming but the Sunrisers will want to show a little more urgency upfront. Warner has made 500 runs every season for the Sunrisers and is well on his way there, but his average and strike rare so far has been the lowest for him since he joined the franchise in 2014. Can he get back to his marauding best to give his bowlers a bit more cushion?The Super Kings continue to be heavily reliant on openers Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson. They’re yet to set a target this tournament, and should they eventually be in a position where they have to, they will need that middle order to fire. MS Dhoni seems to have shaken off his rust, but the problem is the lack of experience among the young Indian batsmen, a variety they’ve never invested in unlike other teams.Which is why Ruturaj Gaikwad played his first game in nearly two years and N Jagadeesan finally debuted in the IPL against the Royal Challengers Bangalore after a long wait since 2018. Without Suresh Raina and with a patchy Ambati Rayudu struggling for momentum, the batting simply wears too thin. So no matter how well the bowlers deliver, the batting may still struggle. The situation is so dire that Dhoni shook off his template of backing under-fire players by leaving out Kedar Jadhav and handing a debut to a rookie. Now, having taken the bold call, the management can only hope it pays off.

In the news

• Khaleel Ahmed has blown hot-and-cold this season while Siddarth Kaul proved expensive in the only game he played. Possibly, the Sunrisers could give Basil Thampi a look-in.
• With the surfaces slowing down, the Super Kings won’t mind the control and zip that the veteran Imran Tahir, last season’s Purple Cap holder, brings. This could mean playing two legspinners – Karn Sharma being the other – but it’s not entirely outlandish. That way, however, they will have to leave out one of Dwayne Bravo and Sam Curran.

MS Dhoni and Chennai Super Kings left themselves with too much to do at the end•BCCI

When they last met

The Sunrisers’ top order wobbled, but found a way out courtesy of Priyam Garg and Abhishek Sharma, who helped put up a competitive 164. Bhuvneshwar Kumar injured himself and the Super Kings mounted a late surge with the help of Ravindra Jadeja and Dhoni, but fell seven short. T Natarajan impressed with his superb death-overs execution to help pull off a tight win for the Sunrisers.

Likely XIs

Chennai Super Kings: 1 Shane Watson, 2 Faf du Plessis, 3 Ambati Rayudu, 4 N Jagadeesan, 5 MS Dhoni (capt), 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Sam Curran, 8 Dwayne Bravo, 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Shardul Thakur 11 Karn Sharma Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 David Warner (capt), 2 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 3 Manish Pandey, 4 Kane Williamson, 5 Priyam Garg, 6 Vijay Shankar, 7 Abhishek Sharma, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Sandeep Sharma, 10 Khaleel Ahmed/Basil Thampi, 11 T Natarajan

Strategy punt

One of the areas where the Super Kings have been affected a great deal is their batting slowdown in the middle overs. Their scoring rate is a poor 6.90 from overs 7-13, the second-worst in the tournament. One way of looking to correct this is to perhaps have a dasher at No. 4. Only two batsmen have struck at over 130 in this period for them. One of them is Shane Watson, who opens the innings.Sam Curran is the other, someone the management can promote with a clear mandate. His strike rate of 227 in the first ten balls that he has faced this season is the highest for a Super Kings batsman. This move of sending in a left-hander could also challenge David Warner in how he uses left-arm spinner Abhishek Sharma and Rashid Khan, his premier legspinner. If the move pays off, it could free up the likes of Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja, possibly leaving them with a lot lesser to chase down in the last five, should it come to that.

Stats that matter

• Since 2018, no batsman has scored more against the Sunrisers than Watson. In seven innings, he has made 311 runs at a strike rate of 156. This includes a match-winning century in the IPL 2018 final. His match-up against Rashid Khan, who is Warner’s trump card, should encourage the Super Kings fan. He strikes at 143 and hasn’t been dismissed yet by the Afghanistan legspinner.
• T Natarajan’s seven wickets are the second most among uncapped bowlers this IPL. He has also bowled 29 yorkers, the most among all bowlers. It’s significantly better than even the likes of Jasprit Bumrah (15) and Trent Boult (13).
• Teams have often looked to play out Khan in the middle overs. This explains his economy of 4.70 – which is the best – in the middle overs among all teams. Yet, he’s also managed to pick up nine wickets in this period, which is also significantly better than the second-best bowler Rahul Chahar, who has five wickets and concedes at 7.70 per over.
• Warner needs 19 runs to get to the 5000-run landmark in the IPL.
• Sandeep Sharma is three short of 100 IPL wickets.

The Lanka Premier League (LPL) is as close as it has ever been to being a reality. This, with a date now set for a player draft, owners lined up for the five franchises, and international cricketers willing to play in the tournament despite Sri Lanka’s strict quarantine protocols. So says Sri Lanka Cricket, as plans firm up for hosting the 15-day tournament during the Covid-19 pandemic.According to the latest announcement, the player draft – which will feature 75 overseas players – will take place on October 19, with the tournament scheduled to run from November 21 to December 13. In addition, four of the five franchises have found owners who are in the process of finalising their commitments, said SLC vice-president Ravin Wickramaratne, while the fifth franchise may have up to three bidders.ALSO READ: SLC hopes to become first Full Member to host T10 league with ‘commercial’ benefitsAnd although the Sri Lanka health authorities are insisting on a 14-day isolated quarantine for foreign cricketers and tournament staff, Wickramaratne said prospective players remained interested. It is hoped that some players presently playing the IPL in the UAE would fly directly to Sri Lanka for the LPL.LPL organisers also announced on Tuesday that the tournament would be played across just two venues – Pallekele and Hambantota – in order to simplify the set-up and for maintenance of biosecure bubbles. Colombo was not considered because the Khettarama Stadium is currently undergoing renovations, while Dambulla has been overlooked.Franchise T20 tournaments have repeatedly struggled to get off the ground in Sri Lanka. This is partly because the country has a small domestic television market, and also since the SLC has struggled to find a window for the tournament that does not clash with a more established franchise tournament elsewhere. This year, however, SLC has handed over the organisation of the tournament to the Dubai-based IPG group, and that seems to have reaped rewards.

Glamorgan have announced that Colin Ingram has signed a two-year contract extension with the club as an overseas player after the cancellation of his Kolpak registration.Ingram has spent five seasons in Cardiff to date, playing as a local player throughout on a Kolpak deal. He did not play in 2020 due to international travel restrictions, and will return on an overseas deal next year with the end of the UK’s transition period with the European Union bringing an halt to the Kolpak era.Ingram has signed for the T20 Blast first and foremost, having dominated Glamorgan’s run-scoring charts in the competition since his debut in 2015. He fills the club’s second overseas spot in the Blast, after Marnus Labuschagne signed for all formats.ALSO READ: County ins and outs, 2020-21Glamorgan have also signed Labuschagne’s Queensland team-mate Michael Neser as their second overseas player for the County Championship and Royal London Cup, but Ingram will be available in those competitions should either Australian be called up for international duty.A Glamorgan press release said that Ingram, 35, would spend the full summer in Cardiff, and that he would become a mentor for academy batsmen and a pathway coach when not playing or training. As a result, it seems unlikely that he will take part in the IPL or the CPL next year.”Cardiff is where I want to be,” Ingram said. “I love playing here and my family love the city and being in Wales. I love playing T20 cricket, but I also want to challenge myself again in the longer formats of the game and I’m excited to have the opportunity to do that at the club I love.”I’ve always been passionate about helping the next generation of cricketers and it’s really exciting for me to work with these young Welsh players, help them improve and share some knowledge I’ve gained at the international and franchise level.”Mark Wallace, Glamorgan’s director of cricket, said: “He’s played around the world and brings invaluable experience to our players and now we are able to fully utilise these experiences across the pathway.”Colin’s got plenty of experience in all three formats and has excelled for Glamorgan across the last five years, and he’ll be a fantastic reserve option should he be needed in the longer formats of the game.”

Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin and Prithvi Shaw have been named to represent India in the Adelaide Test. Umesh Yadav will be the third seamer. These were the main questions India were contemplating two days before the Test: whether to continue backing the flamboyant Shaw, whether to play a spinner and persist with the safer option of Ashwin, and which of the wicketkeepers to play. On the eve of the day-night Test, they settled all the confusion by naming the XI.Shaw had come under pressure with Shubman Gill faring better in the two tour games, in the process impressing the likes of Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar, the legends after whom the series is named. However, Shaw was the incumbent opener and showed in one innings out of four in New Zealand that he can be destructive. He scored 0, 19, 40 and 3 in the two tour games, but more than the scores it was his loose shots that worried Gavaskar and Border. It is understood, though, that with a settled middle order in place, India wanted continuity at the top too and went with the incumbent.India announced their XI a day before the Adelaide Test•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Similarly, the incumbent Test spinner – especially with Ravindra Jadeja’s absence due to injury and concussion – kept his place. The last time India chose against Ashwin in a series opener was on Australia’s tour of 2014-15, a move that was criticised for blooding in Karn Sharma, whose lack of experience showed on a pitch where Australia’s spinner Nathan Lyon proved to be the gamechanger.Reasonable as it is to play Ashwin, this time around, there could have been a case made for not playing a spinner at all in the series opener because in day-night Tests in Australia, spinners have averaged 49 despite Lyon’s superlative average of 25 in these matches. Lyon’s success is perhaps a sign that world-class spinners have a chance to correct these statistics based on a small sample size of seven Tests. There is no doubt that Ashwin and Lyon have been the two premier spinners in Test cricket, followed only slightly behind by Jadeja, over this decade.Related

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In the case of the wicketkeeper, however, India dropped the incumbent Pant, who has been preferred to Saha in Tests outside Asia where most of the wicketkeeping is done standing back. It is in India that the team management believes Saha’s superior wicketkeeping skills come into play when standing up to the spinners. The team management seems to have decided that the pink ball does a lot and will require a more established pure wicketkeeper. And Pant’s century in the SCG warm-up notwithstanding, he did have an ordinary New Zealand tour, scoring 60 runs in four innings. He is yet to play for India in any international cricket since then.Yadav was the frontrunner to be India’s third seamer, replacing the injured Ishant Sharma. Not only does he have Test experience – this is his fourth Australia tour – he also impressed in the only warm-up game he played, taking 3 for 48 and 1 for 14 and also scoring handy runs down the order.India XI: 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Prithvi Shaw, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt.), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Hanuma Vihari, 7 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Jasprit Bumrah