Former India captain and legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar is furious on the English players who left the Indian Premier League (IPL) to play the a series with Pakistan.
Gavaskar urged the Indian Cricket Board to take action against the players who did not participate in the play-off stage of the IPL, asking that fines be imposed on them.
He wrote in his column, “I am in favor of the players choosing the country before anything else but the various franchises are assured of their availability by the players for the entire season.”
“Now if the players leave the league at such a time, it is like demoralizing the franchises, and these franchises probably pay them more in one season of IPL than if they play two or three seasons for their country. Can’t earn,” Gavaskar wrote.
He added, “The franchises should not only deduct a substantial amount from the fee of the players on which they were bought, but also deduct 10% commission from the fee received by each player.”
England’s Will Jacks and Recy Topley are playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore while Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran and Liam Livingstone are representing the Punjab Kings in the IPL.
Jos Buttler is representing Rajasthan Royals, Phil Salt Kolkata Knight Riders while Moeen Ali is with Chennai Super Kings.
England has announced the 15-man squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 and the four-match series against Pakistan, while the English players playing in the IPL have been asked to return home to play the series against Pakistan.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has agreed to the hybrid model for Asia Cup 2023. Now, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), in a meeting with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and other cricketing boards, has approved the model with slight amendments.
Asia Cup 2023 is all set to be played with PCB’s hybrid model, while Pakistan retains the hosting rights.
The PCB favors the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the neutral venue, considering it a smart and effective revenue gateway for Pakistan. However, other boards, including the Indian Cricket Board, argued for an alternative venue. Consequently, the ACC has finalized Sri Lanka as the neutral venue for the tournament. Pakistan and Sri Lanka will now co-host the Asia Cup 2023.
According to the proposed hybrid model, the first four or five matches will be played in Pakistan, with the remainder of the tournament moving to Sri Lanka, where India will have the opportunity to play their group matches.
The PCB had been ready to show flexibility over a tit-for-tat stance for the World Cup had the Indian board rejected the hybrid model. The former had also expected the Pakistan government to grant approval for the country’s team to travel to India for the 50-over showpiece “much easily” if the proposed model was accepted.
It is, therefore, understood that Pakistan will feature in India for the first time since 2016. Whether they take on the hosts, their arch-rivals, in Ahmedabad as proposed in a draft schedule sent by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to the boards of the participating sides is also to be decided by the country’s government.
As per media reports, the PCB, having received the draft schedule as well, has started it’s consultations with the government over the fixture list and a decision is expected to be made in the coming week.
That would also mean that the official schedule of the World Cup will be released just over three months ahead of the first game of the tournament on October 5.
According to the draft schedule, Pakistan will kick off their campaign on October 6 against one of the teams coming through from the preceding qualifying round in Hyderabad before taking on another qualifier at the same venue on October 12.
The Babar Azam-led unit is scheduled to fly out to Ahmedabad for the high-octane clash against India on October 15 before playing Australia five days later in Bengaluru and Afghanistan and South Africa in Chennai on October 23 and 27.
After locking horns with Bangladesh in Kolkata four days later, Pakistan will return to Bengaluru for their match against New Zealand on November 5 before concluding the league stage with their fixture against England in Kolkata on November 12.
The dates and venues for the tournament’s semi-finals and final have not been included in the draft schedule
As cricket fever reaches its peak, fans around the world are looking forward to the upcoming Pakistan-India blockbuster T20 World Cup match.
Geo News brought together cricketing legends from both countries for two high-octane exchanges on Saturday.
Veterans like Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mushtaq Ahmed and Sohail Tanveer where Pakistani panelists and host was Shahzad Iqbal, while Indian side had Sunil Gavaskar, Harbhajan Singh and Madan Lal on the Geo News/Aaj Tak ‘taakra’.
بابر یا ویرات کوہلی ۔۔ کون ٹی20کرکٹ کا بڑا بلے باز ہے؟ جانیے سنیل گواسکر، انضمام الحق، ہربھجن سنگھ اور دیگر کرکٹ ماہرین کی رائے۔۔#GeoNewspic.twitter.com/R8MZScv9Lj
When the question was asked by Shahzad that who is the better player among both skippers Babar Azam and Virat Kohli in T20 cricket, all the panelists gave their opinions on it.
Madan Lal said: “Virat is way ahead than Babar as we all have witnessed his performance in all three formats of cricket and it has always been better than Babar.”
While Sunil said: “Virat has played a lot of cricket so he has a better record but the talenr Babar holds, gives him a better chance to him to get more runs in the future.”
He also added that Virat used to score 60, 70 runs but after when he scored centuries, he was also counted in great players. Babar has the potential as he is a very good batsman and easily scores 60, 70 runs but then get out after that. When he will score hundreds in Tests and One Days, he will be counted among number one batsmen. He has that potential.
“Virat Kohli is a great player and I think he is a legend in modern day cricket. Yes Babar need some time to get to that mark but but he has that game and definitely he can become one of cricketing greats of Pakistan like Inzamam-ul-Haq and Saeed Anwar,” said former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh.
Former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq said: “Babar Azam and Virat Kohli are both great players, but the way Babar is batting, I think he will break all records.”
He further added: “Kohli has given a lot of performances for his country, but Babar’s record is better than Kohli’s in terms of the amount of cricket he has played, Babar has yet to reach the heights of his career, Babar’s best game is yet to come. Babar’s hunger for runs makes him better than others. I have never seen such hunger for runs in any other batsman. Virat has a lot of aggression. If I compare the technique, Babar’s technique looks better than Kohli’s.”
“I agree with Inzi and Sunny (Inzamam and Sunil) that both are great players. Virat’s stats are very strong and Babar is still not there but I’ll agree with Inzi that Babar can be at number one forever,” said Pakistan’s great spinner Mushtaq Ahmed.
While Tanveer said that it took a long time for Kohli to become what he is and if we take a look at current form and performances of last three-four years of Babar, “He has that guts and he has all the skills to become world number one player and has become the number one.” “By the time and experience he will become more confident and his abilities will also come to the fore,” he added.
It’s pertinent to mention here that the arch-rivals will be facing each other on Sunday 7pm PST at the Dubai International Stadium.
Anushka Sharma has hit back at legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar for his comment against her husband Virat Kohli, during Thursday’s IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab in Dubai. Royal Challengers Bangalore, who Kohli captains, lost the match by 97 runs.
Gavaskar, who was a commentator during the match, while discussing Kohli’s poor form during the game casually remarked: “Ab joh lockdown tha to sirf Anushka ki bowling ki practice ki unho ne, woh video dekhi hai. Usse to kuch nahi hona hai.”
After Gavaskar’s comments went viral on social media, Anushka took to Instagram to express her disapproval and told the veteran cricketer that she just wanted to let him know how she felt.
“That, Mr Gavaskar, your message is distasteful is a fact,” said the actor. “But I would love for you to explain why you thought of making such a sweeping statement on a wife accusing her for her husband’s game? I’m sure over the years you have respected the private lives of every cricketer while commenting on the game. Don’t you think you should have equal amount of respect for me and us?”
She continued: “I’m sure you can have many other words and sentences in your mind to use to comment on my husband’s performance from last night or your words only relevant if you use my name in the process?”
“It’s 2020 and things still don’t change for me,” lamented the actor.
“When will I stop getting dragged into cricket and stop being used to pass sweeping statements?” she questioned.
Many on social media have expressed outrage and criticised Gavaskar for his comments, with many of Kohli’s fans demanding the veteran cricketer be removed from the commentary panel. On the other hand, there are others who are of the opinion that Gavaskar’s comments were not out of line or sexist. What they don’t understand is that it is unbecoming of seniors and people of such high stature to pass personal comments like these – they are absolutely unnecessary and serve no purpose.
Following Anushka’s post, Gavaskar while speaking to an Indian media outlet asserted that he had not blamed Anushka and there was no sexist tone to his comment as well.
“Firstly, I would like to say it again. Where am I blaming her? I am not blaming her,” said the former captain of the Indian Cricket Team. “I am only saying that the video said that she was bowling to Virat. Virat has played only that bowling during the lockdown period. It’s a tennis ball, a fun game that people have to pass time during the lockdown. That’s all. Where am I blaming her for Virat’s failures?”
“You know me, I am the one who has always batted for wives going with husbands on tour. I am the one that a normal guy going to the office for a 9-5 job, when he comes back home, he comes back to his wife. Similarly, cricketers, when they go out for a tour or even when they are playing at home, why can’t they have their wives with them?” he added.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time Anushka is being trolled for Virat’s poor performance on the field. Every time the cricketer stumbles in the game, Anushka is at the receiving end of criticism. While she has usually maintained silence on the trolling, this time she decided not to keep quiet. Fans have also brought back a statement issued by Anushka earlier to dismiss claims of favouritism and the tasteless trolling.
