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India batter Shubman Gill is open to batting in the middle order in limited-overs format and emphasised the importance of reducing dot balls in T20 cricket by relying more on rotating strike against spin. While Gill has been a regular in India’s Test setup, he is yet to make his T20I debut and is on the fringes of the ODI squad. In the absence of the first-choice top-order players in Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli, Gill opened the batting with Shikhar Dhawan in seven of the nine 50-over matches he played this year against West Indies, Zimbabwe and South Africa.”I believe that the fewer dot balls you play in T20s, the better your strike rate will be”, Gill told ESPNcricinfo ahead of Punjab’s preliminary quarter-final match against Haryana in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. “Almost all batsmen have the same boundary percentage, but the ones with fewer dot balls have a higher strike rate. In T20s, you need to know what the bowler is trying to do. Those who bowl in a set way, you can dominate them.Related

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“My game all-round is very good and I rotate the strike well against spinners. So even if I get a chance in the middle order, I am ready for that. If they [the team management] are looking at me in the middle order, then I am ready for it. When I scored that hundred in Zimbabwe, I was batting at one down, I didn’t open. So one down or two down, whatever the team needs, I am ready.”Gill also reflected on his maiden county stint with Glamorgan, where he scored 244 runs, including a century and a half-century, in three matches. He said that a good start cannot be taken for granted in England, unlike in India.”In England, you have to concentrate all the time,” he said. “In those conditions, sometimes you feel you are set, but one spell can throw you off. It’s not like that in India. Here once you reach 40-50, there is a pattern to bat. There is no such pattern in England. You could be batting at 110 and are still not set. No matter what score you are on, you have to be careful [on] every ball.””You get a different type of confidence when you do well in red-ball cricket”•Getty Images

Gill has only played one of his 21 Test innings as a non-opener. In order to get more opportunities in the Indian Test side, he is willing to move down the order, too. While he is confident of his technique in red-ball cricket, Gill is aware of his concentration wavering when he is in flow.”The red-ball format is very important to me,” he said. “You get a different type of confidence when you do well in red-ball cricket. I am ready to bat wherever there’s a vacant spot in the side.”I don’t think there is anything wrong with my technique. When your concentration is disturbed, or you relax a little bit, and then if a good ball comes, you miss it. I think it always happens with me that I am batting well and then I get out.”There is no phase where I get out after I am constantly beaten. I think it [dismissal] is because of lapse in concentration. When a batsman is struggling, he is more alert. With me, sometimes it’s the other way round. I fail to keep my concentration going when I’m batting well.”

Rishabh Pant is out of the ICU, but the extent of injuries on his knee, toe and ankle is not yet known as he is still not in shape to go through MRI scans.Pant was on his way from Delhi to see his mother in Roorkee in Uttarakhand when his car crashed into a road divider on December 30. He miraculously escaped without life-threatening injuries even as the car went up in flames.After immediate emergency care in Roorkee, Pant was moved to Max Hospital in Dehradun where he currently awaits discharge in a private ward. The BCCI has formed a panel of its own doctors who are in touch with the doctors at the Dehradun hospital. The line of treatment is being determined by both panels in unison.Related

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Preliminary scans were done on December 30 to eliminate brain and spine injuries, but the scans on the knee and foot were held back because of the pain and swelling. Also, plastic surgery was performed to treat lacerative and abrasion wounds and facial injuries. However, the pending MRI has not yet been performed.The BCCI is hopeful Pant gets discharged and is fit to travel in the coming two to three days so that its panel of doctors can start determining the extent of the two suspected ligament tears as early as possible. It is not yet known if the injuries will require a surgery or just rehab. It is too early to think of a timeframe in which he can come back to athletic activity first and then top-flight cricket. He hasn’t started walking yet.Rishabh Pant’s car was severely damaged after a crash•PTI

Hardik: Pant ‘would have made a big difference’ against Sri Lanka
“What happened is very unfortunate, no one has control over it. As a team we wish him all the best, our love and prayers are always with him,” Hardik Pandya, India’s captain for the T20I series against Sri Lanka which starts on Tuesday, told reporters. “Wish him a speedy recovery. Obviously, he was a very important part of the team, now everyone knows the situation and lot of other people can get opportunities.”Yes, Pant, if he was also there, he would have made a big difference because of the player he is, but now he is not there so we can’t control it. We will see what the future holds for us.”India’s three big assignments in 2023 are the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (Tests against Australia) in India in February-March, a possible World Test Championship final in England in their summer, and the ODI World Cup in India’s early winter.Pant’s chances of making it to the first of these are slim although it can’t quite be ruled out. The other big event for Pant will be the IPL where he captains Delhi Capitals.

After the marathon, get ready for a sprint. England shot off in now-familiar style in pursuit of a series-sealing victory at Basin Reserve after New Zealand’s rearguard, underpinned by a doughty 26th Test hundred from Kane Williamson, had ended in a calamitous collapse on the fourth evening.Williamson’s efforts during an innings that spanned more than seven hours at the crease had put New Zealand in a position where they could hope to set England a target well in excess of 300 – all the more remarkable given they had been made to follow on 226 runs in arrears. But Harry Brook proved an unlikely inspiration with the ball and Jack Leach mopped up the tail as New Zealand’s last five wickets went down for the addition of 28 runs.Set 258 to win on a pitch which had become increasingly placid through the course of days three and four, England reached 48 for 1 at the close. Zak Crawley was the man to fall, having played another attacking cameo, madly hacking five boundaries in his 24 off 30 before having his stumps disturbed by a pinpoint offcutter from Tim Southee.Related

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England had shaved 39 off the target by that point, and then sent out Ollie Robinson as a quasi-nighthawk, who unsuccessfully attempted to slog-sweep Michael Bracewell’s offspin in the final over the day. The requirement of another 210 runs with nine wickets standing is unlikely to daunt a side that has made a speciality of rip-roaring fourth-innings chases while winning 10 of their last 11 Tests.For New Zealand, who showed tremendous fight through the efforts of Williamson, Tom Blundell and Daryl Mitchell, as well as Tom Latham and Devon Conway on day three, there remained the possibility of becoming only the fourth team in history to win a Test having been made to follow on.Having made steady progress through the first two sessions, losing just two wickets along the way, New Zealand’s innings was thrown off kilter by the appearance of Brook, English cricket’s golden boy, to bowl some wobbly seamers. He quickly proved to have a golden arm, as the final ball of his third over brought a maiden Test wicket – that of Williamson, for a seemingly ironclad 132.Brook’s gentle mediums succeeded where England’s two most-prolific Test wicket-takers had failed, as Williamson attempted to leg glance only for a review to pick up the faintest of tickles through to the keeper, Ben Foakes.Harry Brook appeals for the wicket of Kane Williamson•AFP/Getty Images

England picked up a second wicket out of nowhere shortly after, as Bracewell was guilty of failing to run his bat in coming back for a third. Ben Stokes, limping for much of his day in the field, had gamely given chase out to deep midwicket and fired in a throw, with Foakes demolishing the bails one-handed as Bracewell coasted through the crease.Southee was unable to repeat his first-innings heroics with the bat, top-edging a swipe at Leach to point, and Matt Henry fell in the same over via an edge to slip. Blundell, having become a bewildered onlooker following the end of his 158-run stand with Williamson, then attempted to throw the bat only to skew an outside edge to slip ten runs short of his hundred. After toiling for 61.3 overs, Leach suddenly had a five-for – the first by a spinner in a Test in New Zealand since Keshav Maharaj in 2017.The story of the day until then had been Williamson, who overtook Ross Taylor to become New Zealand’s leading Test run-scorer during an innings that showcased all of his minimalist qualities. He was given able support by Mitchell and Blundell, the latter helping to subject England to a second wicketless afternoon session in a row as New Zealand switched from looking to erase their deficit to remorselessly building a lead.Having flicked the fourth ball of the morning through midwicket to go past his longtime former team-mate Taylor, Williamson was content to bob along at his own pace, playing with soft hands and barely giving up anything resembling a chance. The closest England came to dislodging him was an attempted stumping off Leach, but although Williamson had dragged his back foot out of the crease, his reflexes were quick enough to get a toe over the line as Foakes whipped off the bails.The former captain was joined in the trenches by Blundell, who made his sixth 50-plus score in 11 innings against England. His innings, inevitably, was the more skittish, as England ran through a range of tactics to try to unsettle the pair – including James Anderson bowling round the wicket with the keeper up and four men catching in a leg-side ring.Nothing was successful until Stokes belatedly turned to Brook, although a short-ball ploy almost brought the wicket of Blundell on 30, but his firmly struck pull was grassed by Anderson at backward square leg.England began the day with a still-new ball to aid their efforts and Robinson struck early to remove Henry Nicholls, with New Zealand still two runs from parity. Mitchell then boshed his way to a run-a-ball 54, a frenetic innings that saw him target Anderson with a series of front-foot mows and reach his fifty by hoisting Leach into the stands at long-on, before top-edging an ungainly hack at Stuart Broad to end a 75-run stand with Williamson.Nicholls had flirted with danger throughout his innings, and was eventually held in the slips at the fourth attempt by the juggling Brook – from whom there turned out to be more magic to come.

An explosive 38-ball 73 from Kyle Mayers on IPL debut and a blistering spell of fast bowling from Mark Wood, who was featuring in only his second IPL game, razed Delhi Capitals in Lucknow.Mayers might not have even played this game for Lucknow Super Giants had Quinton de Kock been available for the franchise. He was dropped on 14 by Khaleel Ahmed and in the powerplay, he managed only a run-a-ball 17. The left-handed batter then lined up Capitals’ left-arm spinners Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav to finish with almost two runs a ball; Super Giants finished with an above-par 193 for 6 on a challenging pitch.Wood then took the pitch out of the equation and knocked over Prithvi Shaw and Mitchell Marsh with 147kph thunderbolts. He went on to become the second England player after Dimitri Mascarenhas to bag a five-wicket haul in the IPL. Though Capitals’ new captain David Warner made a half-century, he couldn’t keep in touch with the mounting asking rate. Capitals eventually fell short of their target by 51 runs.

Impact Players: Aman Khan and K Gowtham

After Khaleel finished his four overs with the ball, Capitals replaced him with Aman Khan. Aman, who is arguably a better fielder than Khaleel, patrolled the boundary in the last over of Super Giants’ innings. Then, when he came out to bat at No.7 for Capitals, their chase had already spiralled out of control.With just one ball left in their innings, Super Giants roped in allrounder K Gowtham as an Impact Player in place of Ayush Badoni, who had just holed out for 18 off seven balls. Gowtham launched his first ball – and the final ball of the innings – for six and then gave up just 23 runs in his four overs. Warner, in particular, struggled to get Gowtham away, managing only seven off eight balls from him.Kyle Mayers brought up a 28-ball half-century•BCCI

Mayers messes with Kuldeep and Axar

The Ekana pitch was a strange one. The green patch offered some extra bounce while the drier areas assisted turn. At the post-match presentation, Warner felt that they were playing on two different surfaces from either end. Mayers didn’t take too many risks in the powerplay, where Super Giants crawled to 30 for 1.But then he went on a boundary-hitting spree against Kuldeep and Axar. All up, he smashed them for 42 off 17 balls. It needed a ripper from Axar to bowl Mayers in the 12th over. Mayers’ early success in the IPL will leave Super Giants’ management with a happy headache once de Kock links up with the side after the final ODI against Netherlands, which is on April 2.

Pooran, Badoni provide finishing kick

Nicholas Pooran, for whom Super Giants had shelled out INR 16 crore (USD 1.95 million approx.) at the auction, also made a good impression, hitting 36 off 21 balls. Pooran cracked his fourth ball for six and went onto hit two more sixes. Twenty-three-year-old Ayush Badoni, who was Super Giants’ finisher last season, pitched in with 18 off seven balls as Super Giants posted a huge total.

Wood cranks it up

Wood then took centre stage as he harried Capitals with high pace and trampoline bounce. After softening Prithvi Shaw with the bouncer, Wood went fuller and stormed through his defences with a seemingly unplayable inducker. He went even fuller to Marsh next ball and bowled him in similar fashion by getting the ball to zip back in off the seam. Wood missed the hat-trick, but in his next over, he banged one in at Sarfaraz Khan’s throat and had him ramping a catch to deep fine leg when he was aiming to clear deep third. Wood returned to decimate the lower order too and marked his return to the IPL after five years with a Player-of-the-Match display.

Despite developing interest in new franchises in the PSL, a signed agreement in 2021 between the PCB and franchises means no new teams can be added to the current six before the completion of the tenth season in 2025. Interest among potential new owners and within the current PCB for new franchises has been growing, understandably for the board given the revenues it generates from franchise fees. But there are several challenges that might become a cause for concern and a new stress point for the league going forward.Although the current PCB head Najam Sethi hasn’t formally taken up the proposition of new franchises, he has publicly opened up a discussion about the possibility of introducing at least one and a maximum of two teams. In a recent interview with local media Sethi said: “The revenue will increase and also teams will increase, and my advice to the other six franchises is that you will not suffer any loss, but you will make a profit from this, and if the revenue decreases, then we will help you in this matter.”But a clause added in to the agreement between the board and franchises after a protracted renegotiation of financial terms explicitly prevents franchises from being added. “The PCB agrees that it shall not introduce a new franchise team in the PSL under the same financial model contained herein, before the tenth edition of the Tournament has concluded, whereafter the PCB may include new franchise team(s) to participate in the PSL from time to time at its sole discretion,” reads the new clause 2.12 to the agreement, a copy of which ESPNcricinfo has seen.But if a new team does come in, continues the clause, prior to the tenth season, then the share the six current franchises receive from the central pool of income – 95% of media rights, sponsorship rights and gate money – will not be reduced. That share was one of the main outcomes from the negotiations that led to the new financial model being agreed upon, under the chairmanship of Ramiz Raja.The PCB has not taken the matter up with franchises formally or informally yet but ESPNcricinfo understands that the issue is likely to be on the agenda of the PSL governing council meeting next month. The sixth franchise Multan Sultans came into being after the third edition and was sold for an annual fee of USD $6.35million: after four seasons they are yet to break even financially.One of the major challenges an expanded league will face is the window the PSL has in the current, cramped calendar. At the moment the league runs for 34 days and is hemmed in at one end by the BPL, the BBL and, from this year, the ILT20 and SA20. At the other end is the IPL and growing in that space could hurt the prospects attracting top foreign talent. The PSL’s window itself has not always been fixed. While February-March has been the preferred spot since 2016 , it was pulled back to January-February in 2022 to accommodate the home series against Australia. And a packed international calendar means that in 2025, when Pakistan is due to host the Champions Trophy, there will be a clash of dates with the IPL. And the 2026 PSL will end up taking place fewer than seven months later, in December 2025-January 2026.The Pakistan economy is also struggling currently, so new sponsorship may not come so easily. And for the next couple of years the league will also have to work around the Islamic month of Ramadan. The league and the month itself are two major commercial opportunities in the year and thus far have not faced major overlaps (the Islamic calendar is lunar-based so each year Ramadan starts ten days or so earlier on the Gregorian calendar). We are now entering a period, however, where there will be overlap and franchises worry that may eat into their commercial opportunities. Another worry is the current depth of the player pool in Pakistan, especially in the top two categories, with six teams already struggling to pick players because of the depleted draft list – another two would stretch that further.The PSL on paper is a home-and-away tournament but the PCB hasn’t been able to play it out over six venues – in practice only four franchises play at home venues. More teams will mean more games and could potentially enhance the broadcast value but at the same time it will increase the production cost. The PCB is exploring venues and Peshawar, which would house Peshawar Zalmi, is likely to be added next year. This season they played an exhibition game in Quetta but it is unlikely they will go back.Until 2021, the franchises had been battling with PCB over the financial model and had gone the legal route, leading former PCB chairman Ehsan Mani to set up a one-man panel with a retired chief justice of the Supreme Court to arbitrate on the issue. Tassaduq Hussain Jillani reviewed the financial model and submitted that report, though the PCB did not share details of it with the franchises, citing it as confidential. But it paved the way for PCB to sign the addendum that gave the franchises revised distribution revenue from the central pool.

Pakistan’s involvement at the 50-over World Cup in India later this year remains subject to their government’s approval. According to PCB chairman Najam Sethi, the board has written to the ICC, following the release of a draft schedule to all participating countries last week, to stress that they cannot unilaterally approve the fixture list.”We have written to the ICC that we can’t give approval or disapproval to this (World Cup schedule),” Sethi said. “It’s our government who has to decide, just like when it comes to India, it’s their government that decides when they go to play. There is no point asking us if we will play in Ahmedabad. When the time comes, first it will be decided whether we are going or not, then the government decides where we will go. Our decision will rest on these two important conditions.”Related

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The 2023 World Cup, as reported by ESPNcricinfo, is slated to begin on October 5. The India vs Pakistan fixture is set for 10 days later in Ahmedabad. Pakistan are scheduled to play across five venues during the league phase. They haven’t toured India since the 2016 T20 World Cup.There has been an unprecedented delay in announcing the schedule; World Cup itineraries are put out at least a year in advance. A fresh update may come on June 27.The BCCI secretary Jay Shah had originally indicated the fixture list would be made available during the World Test Championship final, played on June 7-11 in London. But that didn’t happen.Sethi suggested the delay could be because of the PCB needing more time to respond after the ICC had sought feedback on the World Cup itinerary from the boards of all the participating countries as well its broadcasters. “The BCCI were about to announce the schedule but we told them we can’t confirm without government approval.”Sethi did not put a timeframe on when the Pakistan government would give them an answer, but it is unlikely to be soon considering the country is preparing for the general elections due to take place in October.Najam Sethi speaks to media personnel outside the PCB headquarters•PCB

Even in 2016, the PCB had sought government clearance after which a three-member team came to India to do recon of the venues where Pakistan were scheduled to play their matches. Eventually Pakistan’s match at Dharamsala was moved to Kolkata.”I have taken up the issue with Prime Minister and they haven’t deliberated about this,” Sethi said. “The PM said they have to involve the foreign office as well and have to think through so it’s premature [to ask permission now]. Also, we don’t know who will be in power by then so there is no development right now. But when there is a stable government, the time will come and we will ask them [whether we can tour India].”We have also told ICC that considering the security situation, if our government allows us to go we will go otherwise we can’t do much. But if they give us permission then it comes down to our venue preference where we are going to play. It’s the government’s decision, not the board’s so we leave it to them. The PCB and BCCI can’t decide. Our respective governments will take that call just like we did back in 2016.”India and Pakistan will be facing each other several times over the coming months with the Asia Cup starting August 31. The tournament will be played in Pakistan and Sri Lanka with PCB as the official hosts. This hybrid model was PCB’s idea in response to Shah saying India will not be visiting Pakistan for the Asia Cup.The PCB took strong exception to Shah’s statement and initiated discussions with all participating boards until finally there was a consensus. While Sethi said a full schedule will be put out in a week’s time, it is known that four matches will take place in Pakistan and remaining nine will be held in Sri Lanka, including the final. India and Pakistan, who are in the same group as Nepal, will face each other twice during the group stages, and then once more if they make the final.”The formula we gave to the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) was a middle ground, it was not like win or lose but it was a rational way to the problem. The schedule is being worked out, we demanded few changes and the debate is ongoing on it, but they have already said that there will be four games in Pakistan. There’s a misconception that there are two hosts, all the gates receipts are ours. Initial four matches will be in Pakistan and then the teams will travel back to Sri Lanka. It’s a very tight schedule and there are lots of logistical issues. We sat together with broadcasters and the five participating countries and it wasn’t easy to finalise it. But finally, we have broken the ice and tackled all the problems.”Sethi also highlighted how difficult it was to arrive at this solution. “India has a big clout in the ICC, and you can well imagine how much their clout would have been in the ACC. We did a lot of hard work, nobody was willing to listen to us. I pulled the strings, did several meetings in Dubai and Bahrain, and countless Zoom calls and then we reached that we are the hosts. They were even saying that we will take the hosting rights from you and give them to Sri Lanka. But finally, our hybrid model was accepted. The importance of the hybrid model will be known to you in the future when we want to use it.”

Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan, who served as the country’s Prime Minister between 2018 and 2022, has been arrested and sentenced to three years in jail.A report said Imran, 70, had been sentenced by a Pakistan trial court for not declaring the proceeds of state gifts to the Election Commission of Pakistan. His political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has already filed an appeal with the country’s Supreme Court.In previous instances, any attempts to arrest Imran from his residence were met with significant resistance from his supporters, foiling at least two arrest attempts. When he was finally arrested on May 9, protests and rioting erupted across the country, leading to a severe crackdown against his party and a bill to try his supporters in military courts, a move that violates international law.Related

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When Imran was arrested in May, he was ordered to be released two days later by the Supreme Court, which declared the arrest illegal.Since Imran’s release was ordered by a judge on May 11, he has been ordered to appear in Pakistan’s courts in more than 150 cases registered against him. He has repeatedly said he risks being imprisoned in interviews and broadcasts on his social media channels.This case, in which a judge declared him guilty for concealing revenue earned from the sale of state gifts from the Election Commission of Pakistan, is locally known as the Toshakhana case. The court has imposed the maximum possible penalty allowed under the law, three years in prison and a fine of PKR 100,000. Imran’s lawyers said they have already appealed the verdict. Under the law, the appellate court can suspend the sentence until a verdict on the appeal is reached.Before entering politics, Imran represented Pakistan in 88 Tests and 175 ODIs for Pakistan and led them to the World Cup title in 1992.

Qasim Akram will captain Pakistan at the Asian Games, where the men’s team will play for a gold medal in – T20 – cricket between September 28 and October 7 in Hangzhou, China. With World Cup preparations in full swing, Pakistan have, as expected, named a young, second-string squad, with Asif Ali, Mohammad Hasnain, Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman Qadir among the highest-profile names.Neither the captain, Akram, nor the vice-captain, have played international cricket for Pakistan in a squad where only eight out of 15 players have. Much of the squad’s recent playing time has come with the Shaheens, with whom eight players from this squad toured Zimbabwe for two four-day games and six 50-over games, before triumphing in the ACC Emerging Cup in Sri Lanka last month, and later finishing as runners-up in a T20 tournament in Darwin.Pakistan will enter the tournament at the quarter-final stage, which means their first game will take place in early October, with the final set for October 7.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Cricket has been played at the Asian Games twice before – at Guangzhou 2010 and Incheon 2014. Bangladesh won the first edition with Sri Lanka emerging triumphant the second time. Afghanistan were runners-up on both occasions. Pakistan did not feature in 2014, and finished as bronze medallists in their only appearance in 2010.They will also field a women’s team at this edition of the Games. That squad, led by Nida Dar, was announced in July. The women’s competition at the Games will be played before the men’s commences.

Pakistan men’s squad for the Asian Games:

Qasim Akram (capt), Omair Bin Yousuf, Aamir Jamal, Arafat Minhas, Arshad Iqbal, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Khushdil Shah, Mirza Tahir Baig, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Akhlaq (wk), Rohail Nazir (wk), Shahnawaz Dahani, Sufiyan Muqeem, Usman Qadir

The PCB has reluctantly agreed to have the last five matches of the ongoing Asia Cup played in Colombo, as scheduled. This is despite the Pakistan board having strongly objected to the games staying in Colombo and not moving to Hambantota, as well as the manner in which the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) made that decision.The PCB had been on board with plans to move the Colombo matches to Hambantota, on account of rains being forecast in Colombo during the next ten days – this information is understood to have been provided by Sri Lanka’s department of meteorology. On Monday evening, and on Tuesday morning, the ACC appeared to be working on the understanding that the games would shift to Hambantota.But suddenly, around midday on Tuesday, the ACC sent a mail to the stakeholders stating that the matches would be played in Colombo as originally scheduled. This incensed the PCB officials, who not only would have preferred the matches to have been played in Hambantota but were also alarmed that the ACC had made this decision unilaterally, without adequately consulting them, the hosts of the tournament.In response, the PCB called for an immediate ACC executive board meeting, and has also sent a letter to ACC president Jay Shah, protesting the decision-making process at the ACC. But beyond pulling out of the tournament, there is little the PCB can do now. While deeply troubled by the events of Tuesday, the PCB appears unlikely to take a drastic step.On Tuesday afternoon, Shah himself made a statement as ACC president, which addressed the matter of the tournament’s scheduling.”All the full members, media rights holder, and in-stadia rights holders were initially hesitant to commit to hosting the entire tournament in Pakistan,” Shah said in this statement. “This reluctance stemmed from concerns related to the security and economic situation prevailing in the country.”However, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have visited Pakistan for bilateral tours since 2019, and have also played matches there in the group stage of the ongoing Asia Cup. Neither team has publicly expressed a reluctance to play there, nor have their boards expressed a reluctance to send teams to Pakistan. In fact, two BCCI officials – board president Roger Binny and vice-president Rajeev Shukla – have visited Lahore over the past two days, and were hosted by the governor of (Pakistani) Punjab.The background to all of this is that the PCB had originally wanted the whole tournament to be played in Pakistan, but the BCCI refused on the basis that their government would not allow the team to travel to Pakistan. Much of the tournament was then shifted to Sri Lanka.This seemed a workable compromise, until the Pakistan vs India match in Pallekele was rained out on Saturday, prompting fears that the whole tournament would be severely affected by the weather.BCCI president Roger Binny and vice-president Rajeev Shukla flank PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf during their visit to Lahore•PCB

In any case, the SLC is pleased the tournament will stay in Colombo, and has always preferred the tournament to be played there, as it is logistically the easiest city in which to host a multi-team tournament. SLC chief executive Ashley de Silva told ESPNcricinfo on Tuesday that one of the reasons the ACC decided to keep the games in Colombo was because “a lot of fans had already made arrangements to watch the matches in Colombo” and because “the last few days it hasn’t been raining as much” in the city.He also cited Sri Lanka’s largely successful history with hosting ODIs. In the last ten years, 79 of the 84 men’s ODIs played in the country have been completed. Of the five abandoned matches, Saturday’s game was the only match to be abandoned in the month of September, which historically is not an especially wet month.

Jay Shah points to ‘several changes’ in PCB for confusion

In his statement, Shah also said, “In my capacity as ACC President, I was committed to finding a viable and mutually agreeable solution. To this end, I had accepted the hybrid model that was proposed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in collaboration with the ACC management. However, it’s important to note that the leadership of the PCB underwent several changes, and this resulted in some back-and-forth negotiations, particularly regarding crucial aspects such as tax exemption and insurance for matches.”In response to initial PCB suggestions that the tournament be played in Pakistan and the UAE – aired again in recent days given the weather in Sri Lanka – Shah said there was a difference between playing 20-over games and 50-over games in the UAE in September.”The Asia Cup 2022 edition was played in the UAE in the T20 format. It’s important to emphasize that the dynamics of a T20 tournament cannot be directly compared to those of a 100-over One-day format. In this context, ACC members received feedback from their respective high-performance teams, expressing concerns about playing One-day matches in the UAE in the month of September. Such a schedule could have potentially led to player fatigue and an increased risk of injuries, particularly right before the all-important ICC Cricket World Cup.”The decision-making process regarding the Asia Cup 2023 format and venue was guided by a sincere desire to prioritise the well-being of the players, as well as the overarching interests of the sport. Ultimately, the goal was to strike a balance that would allow for a competitive and successful tournament while ensuring the health and readiness of the participating teams for ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.”

Further assessments back in Australia will determine Travis Head’s World Cup fate after the fractured hand he suffered in South Africa, but he remains a long shot to now make the tournament in India.Matthew Short has been called up to the ODI squad for the three matches in India which precede the World Cup as batting cover although Marnus Labuschagne is the frontrunner to replace Head after his impressive return to the side in South Africa.TV pictures during the final ODI in Johannesburg showed Head’s hand heavily bandaged and strapped following the blow he took from Gerald Coetzee at Centurion.Speaking after the final ODI, head coach Andrew McDonald said that scans had determined Head would not need surgery but that he would definitely be ruled out of the first part of the World Cup and that the selectors would need to weigh up the risk of carrying him in the squad.Related

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“The time frame is still a little bit loose at the moment, but the good news is he doesn’t require surgery as it sits at the moment,” McDonald said. “They’ll be an extended period of time out and we’ve just got to weigh up whether that time falls potentially with an option to carry him through the front half of the World Cup…so that’s a decision we’ll need to make in terms of the final 15.”Meanwhile, Steven Smith (wrist), Glenn Maxwell (ankle and paternity leave) and Mitchell Starc (groin) are back in Australia’s squad for their trip to India after all three missed the tour of South Africa with injuries. Captain Pat Cummins, who rejoined the squad earlier this week, will also be available for those matches.Short, who is yet to make his ODI debut, earned his T20I cap in South Africa and scored a match-winning 30-ball 66 in the second game of that series. Since then he has played two unofficial ODIs for Australia A against New Zealand A in Brisbane, and scored a half-century in his most recent innings.With Smith, Maxwell and Starc back in the squad, there is no room for Tim David and Michael Neser. Ashton Agar, who is on paternity leave, will also miss the India series.Left-arm quick Spencer Johnson, who was added to the ODI squad in South Africa as a replacement for Starc, will remain with the squad. So will Marnus Labuschagne, who wasn’t part of their South Africa contingent, but found a way into the squad thanks to Smith’s wrist injury, and then into the XI as a concussion sub for Cameron Green, before forcing himself back into the reckoning for the World Cup with scores of 80* and 124 in the first two ODIs.”Think he’s made a significant shift in his intent at the crease and putting the bowlers under pressure from where he was potentially 12 months ago,” McDonald said. “We know Marnus is a quality player, he probably didn’t have the 12-18 months he would have liked in one-day international cricket but he’s come in and taken that opportunity, grabbed it with both hands, and no doubt he’ll be front and centre when it comes to the 15-man squad.”Australia picked up further injury concerns in the final ODI with Nathan Ellis unable to finish his overs after suffered an adductor strain which would appear to put his place for the three India matches in doubt. Sean Abbott also split the webbing on his right hand although returned to complete his 10 overs. He is facing being sidelined for around a week according to McDonald so should not be a long-term concern. Aaron Hardie will remain with the squad for the India series as cover after initially being left out.Australia squad vs India Pat Cummins (capt), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Tanveer Sangha, Matthew Short, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa