BCCI has announced India’s Test squad for the inaugural ICC World Test Championship final and the five-match Test series against England. While the IPL has been suspended indefinitely, the drama around its resumption has begun already as the BCCI looks for possible solutions to complete the remaining 31 matches.
Let us take a look at some of the significant developments from the cricketing world that took place, on 7 May.
India announces a 20-member squad for WTC and five-match Test series vs England
India are supposed to play New Zealand in the inaugural World Test Championship Final in Southampton, followed by a Test series against England. The BCCI has announced a 20-member squad for the course of the entire summer.
Among the most notable exclusions are Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Hardik, following his back surgery, has seldom bowled in any format. The idea of playing him purely as a batter in Test cricket in England is perhaps far-fetched.
Further, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami have returned to the squad, after missing the previous outing against England due to injuries.
Read More: India’s full squad for WTC Final and England Tests
Azhar, Abid centuries put Pakistan on top on Day 1
Abid Ali and Azhar Ali forged a 236-run stand for the second wicket to drive Pakistan into a solid position by the end of Day 1. Pakistan finished the day at 268/4, with Abid still batting on 118.
Pakistan would have been in a much better position had they not lost a flurry of wickets cheaply. Skipper Babar Azam’s terrible run continued as he got out at 2, while Fawad Alam, the centurion in the last match, too fell prey to Blessing Muzarabani early as well.
Azhar’s 128 consisted of 17 fours and a six, while Abid was lucky to reach the triple-figure mark, after being dropped on 94.
Pooran promises to come back stronger after horror run in IPL
Nicholas Pooran found himself in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. He could only amass 28 runs in six matches, and that included four ducks. Punjab eventually replaced him by Dawid Malan in the last match. He took to Twitter to vow to use his terrible outing in as a motivation to bounce back stronger.
‘In the meantime, I’ll be using this picture as my motivation to come back stronger than ever. Keep safe everyone,’ Pooran tweeted with the picture of his personal tally in the first six matches of IPL 2021.
3 T20 World Cup sub-regional European qualifiers cancelled by ICC
The ICC has cancelled three T20 World Cup sub-regional European qualifiers, owing to the daily increase in Covid-19 cases in Europe.
Finland was supposed to host the first two qualifiers and Belgium the third. The tournament was slated to take place between 13 June and 10 July.
Now Italy, Germany and Denmark will now directly qualify from their respective group, by virtues of their ICC T20I rankings.
‘After extensive consultation with both hosts, participating Members, the relevant governments, public health authorities and in line with the ICC’s comprehensive contingency planning of COVID-19 the only course of action was to cancel the three event,’ stated the ICC.