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Hardik Pandya believes that he has evolved so much as a T20 cricketer that he can absorb pressure and play any role for his team. About six years ago, he came to a press conference and said: “I could hit a six anytime I wanted to”. Hardik is now “okay” to step back, take the game deep, and play the role that MS Dhoni did towards the end of his international career.”See, to be honest, I’ve always enjoyed hitting sixes, but I have to evolve and that is life,” Hardik said after leading India to a 2-1 series victory over New Zealand in Ahmedabad. “I have to take the other part where I’ve always believed in partnerships. I want to give my team and the other person more calmness and the assurance that at least I’m there. I’ve played more games than any of those guys out there. So, I’ve known the experience and more than the experience part, it’s where I’ve batted, and I’ve learnt how to accept pressure and I’ve learnt how to kind of swallow the pressure and kind of make sure the team and everything is calm.”In that way, maybe I have to get my strike rate down or… Taking new opportunities or taking new roles is [something] I’ve always looked forward to. I don’t mind coming in and playing the role which somewhere down the line Maahi [Dhoni] used to play. I think at that time, I was young, and I was hitting all around the park, but now since he has gone, all of a sudden that responsibility… It has just naturally come to me, and I don’t mind [doing it]. We’re getting the result we want and it’s okay.”Related

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On Wednesday, Hardik did that role with the bat, often feeding the strike to a well-set Shubman Gill and letting him do the big-hitting, though Hardik himself finished with a strike rate of 176.47. Hardik has evolved on the bowling front too – he is now regularly bowling the tough overs for India in the powerplay, in the injury-enforced absence of Jasprit Bumrah. Since the start of the home season, Hardik has bowled 12 overs in the powerplay, conceding 86 runs for two wickets. Even in the recent Indore ODI, when India rested their key bowlers, Hardik stepped up with the new ball and swung it.”I had to bowl with the new ball [in T20Is] because Arshdeep [Singh]… I don’t want any new guy to come and have that difficult role of [bowling first up with the new ball] because if they’re put under pressure, then we’re chasing the game,” Hardik said. “So, I’ve always been [like] leading from the front and I’ve been working on my new-ball skills, which is helping me.”On the eve of the T20I series opener in Ranchi, Hardik said that he prepares to bowl in the powerplay by bowling with the new ball even during training. Hardik’s ability to move the new ball – both in the air and off the seam – has given India’s attack greater flexibility, allowing them to backload the overs of Arshdeep Singh and Umran Malik.”I’ve always enjoyed bowling with the new ball,” Hardik had said in Ranchi. For quite a few years now, when I pick a ball in the nets, it’s always the new ball. I’m so accustomed to bowling with the old ball that I don’t feel the need to practice a lot with it. Whenever the team needs me to do the job, I can do my best. It has helped me personally. In the last game [the Indore ODI], when we had to rest our two main fast bowlers, I had to be ready. The pressure is not there when you prepare well.”

Hardik Pandya – ‘My focus is on white-ball cricket now’

With an ODI World Cup scheduled in India for October-November this year and a T20 World Cup in the Caribbean in 2024, India’s stand-in T20I captain Hardik has prioritised white-ball cricket over Test cricket. Hardik has not played any form of red-ball cricket at senior level since he underwent back surgery in 2019. His last Test was in Southampton in 2018 and his last Ranji Trophy match was in the same year.”I will come [back] when I feel [it’s] the right time to play Test-match cricket,” Hardik said. “Right now, I’m going to focus on white-ball cricket, which is important, and if time is right and body is fine, I’ll give [the long format] a try.”

Hampshire have confirmed that Ben McDermott and Nathan Ellis, their T20 Blast-winning overseas pairing, will return to the club to help their bid to defend the title in 2023.McDermott scored 494 runs in the Blast last season including five centuries, second only to his opening partner and captain James Vince among Hampshire players. He top-scored in the final against Lancashire with 62 – Hampshire’s next-highest score was 22 – and was also involved in 19 dismissals, the second-most in the competition.Ellis, meanwhile, took 15 wickets for Hampshire last year and finished the season with a remarkable economy rate of 6.87, despite predominantly operating as a death bowler.He was involved in a memorable climax to the final: Ellis appeared to have sealed the trophy when he bowled Richard Gleeson, but Hampshire’s celebrations were cut short when replays confirmed he had over-stepped. With three runs to win, he deceived Gleeson with a slower ball, and Lancashire could only manage one bye.Both players were initially signed, in part, through Hampshire’s ties to George Bailey, who captained the club in 2017 and has since become Australia’s lead selector. Bailey has a long-standing connection with Hobart Hurricanes, the Big Bash team that McDermott and Ellis represent.Related

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“Both Ben and Nathan were fantastic for us last year and it’s a great boost to the squad to have them back,” Giles White, Hampshire’s director of cricket, said.”They made a big impact at the club and were exceptional on the field. The clarity that comes with continuity will hopefully help in our pursuit of another Finals Day in 2023.”Ellis may miss some early fixtures depending on Punjab Kings’ progress in the IPL. “After the success of last year it was a no-brainer to re-sign with the Hawks for this summer,” he said.McDermott, who does not have an IPL contract, is likely to be available for the whole season. “I’m over the moon to have re-signed with the Hawks and can’t wait to play in front of the Ageas Bowl crowd again,” he said.Both players also represented London Spirit in the Hundred last year, though only Ellis has been retained (on a £100,000 contract). McDermott has entered the draft on March 23 without a reserve price.

Days after Major League Cricket’s (MLC) landmark player draft, a sanctioning dispute between USA Cricket and league organisers threatens to disrupt the start of the tournament this July. The dispute has reached the ICC, who has told its members to not issue NOCs to their players until the issue is resolved.In this latest manifestation of the age-old tradition of administrative strife on US soil, it has emerged that USA Cricket has not yet sanctioned either the MLC or Minor League Cricket (MiLC), the tournaments that are seen as the next big step in the evolution of the game in the country. That did not prevent the MLC from announcing a host of big-name foreign signings – including Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis and Quinton de Kock – in a draft in Houston on Sunday. But concerns are growing, especially as the ICC is currently classifying the events as “disapproved”.USA Cricket has previously given sanction to MiLC, for both 2021 and 2022, but in a communication recently sent out by the ICC’s operations department to Members, officials have flagged the issue for overseas players wishing to play in both competitions.”Members may be aware of the following two events that are proposed to be played in the USA,” the ICC said of the events, both administered by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE), the parent company which signed a 50-year commercial rights agreement with USA Cricket in 2019.Related

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“Applications for sanction have been submitted to USA Cricket, but these events have not yet been sanctioned by USA Cricket. Consequently, without a sanction from the host member, both events are currently deemed to be Disapproved Cricket and as such, Members should not issue NOCs to their players to participate in either event.”On March 1, in a statement from USA Cricket, the interim board chairman Atul Rai said that the board of directors were “concerned about the plight of the players and the owners” of MiLC, though what exactly those concerns are has not been specified.”However, they are equally concerned about the operations of Minor League by ACE without any accountability and its failure to follow the USA Cricket guidelines, not to mention the lack of communication,” the statement continued. “USA Cricket has sent a letter to ACE that includes several questions on Minor League operations by ACE that we hope to get a quick response timely to allow for sanctioning of the event.”Rai was on the board in 2019 and voted in favour of signing the commercial partnership with ACE at the time. Then board chairman Paraag Marathe was the main driver of the deal and rubber-stamped the tournament going ahead in 2021 and 2022. Rai left the board in February 2020, but won an election to return in September 2022 and immediately replaced Marathe as chairman. Rai’s stance toward ACE and MLC seems to have changed in his second term.Observers see this dispute as a negotiating ploy by USA Cricket to revise terms of the original short-form agreement signed with ACE in 2019. In that agreement, ACE keeps 95% of all gross revenues generated by MLC while USA Cricket receives the remaining 5%.Organisers say, however, that the tournament is on course to begin its inaugural season on July 13, as is MiLC for a third season from June 10.”We are aware of the recent letter that the ICC sent to its membership regarding the status of MiLC and MLC,” MLC tournament director Justin Geale told ESPNcricinfo. “We don’t believe the letter was a warning at all, inasmuch as it was merely factual informational that the events are not yet sanctioned as the member boards need that confirmation in order to issue NOCs to the players.”We have been in regular communication with all concerned parties regarding the ICC sanctioning of these events for the past several weeks. These events already have the necessary sanctioning from USA Cricket under our agreement with them, and the completed ICC sanctioning applications for MiLC and MLC are presently with USA Cricket.”We have been assured that they will be processed in a speedy manner once received by the ICC. We believe that the recent staffing changes at USA Cricket may have contributed to any delays. However, we fully expect the events to receive complete sanctioning in the coming days, as all parties agree that MiLC and MLC are very important to the growth and development of cricket in the US.”Geale’s reference to staffing changes alludes to the resignation of USA Cricket’s interim CEO Vinay Bhimjiani over the weekend, after five months in the role.Rai told ESPNcricinfo that there were other outstanding issues that had prevented them from moving forward on the sanctioning. This includes USA Cricket’s desire for more favourable revisions from the short-form agreement, before signing a finalised long-form agreement between the two parties.”The board appointed a five-member working group to negotiate the terms of the Long-form agreement and they have started the conversation as I understand,” Rai told ESPNcricinfo. “I am not part of that committee and since the CEO resigned, he is no longer involved in the negotiations. Therefore, any sanctioning or approval will have to come as a recommendation from the committee to the board.”As for the 50-year commercial partnership agreement, the working group had sent a letter to ACE outlining the areas of problems in the contract as well as the failures. While there was a response from ACE, I believe that there is much to be discussed before any final agreement can be reached.”

Joe Root has been recalled to England’s ODI squad for February’s ICC Champions Trophy, as well as the 50-over leg of the India series that precedes it, in the first big call of Brendon McCullum’s tenure as head coach across red- and white-ball formats.Root, who turns 34 later this month, is set to finish 2024 as the No. 1-ranked Test batter in the world, after a stellar personal year in the format in which he racked up 1556 runs at 55.57, including six centuries.However, he has not featured in the white-ball set-up for more than a year, since England’s disastrous World Cup defence in India in October and November 2023. He made 276 runs at 30.66 in the team’s group-stage exit at that event, well below his career average of 47.60 in the format, but in keeping with a clear dip (666 runs at 28.95) in 28 ODIs since his pivotal role in the 2019 World Cup win.Related

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Ben Stokes, Root’s Test captain and fellow World Cup winner, might also have been in the frame for a recall but was not considered for selection following the left hamstring injury that he sustained during England’s 423-run defeat against New Zealand in last week’s third Test in Hamilton.However, in a strong indication of McCullum’s desire to unite the philosophies of his red- and white-ball squads, the 15-man party features a total of eight players who made appearances in the Test team this year, while each of the squad’s five fast bowlers is capable of speeds in excess of 90mph. These include Jofra Archer, whose injury-free return to action in 2024 has encouraged the belief that he too could make a red-ball comeback next summer.Mark Wood, England’s fastest bowler, is back in the set-up, having been forced to miss England’s winter Test tours after sustaining an elbow injury in the summer. Like Gus Atkinson, another inclusion, he has not played ODI cricket since the tour of West Indies in December last year, having also played a part in the 2023 World Cup campaign.England Champions Trophy squad•ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Brydon Carse, the outstanding fast bowler of England’s Test winter, has been given the chance to build on his impressive form, as has Saqib Mahmood, who confirmed his return to full fitness in the Caribbean last month, after twin stress fractures of the back in 2022 and 2023.Jamie Overton completes a notably heavy-duty pace-bowling contingent, with England’s determination to manage him through his own recent stress fractures meaning he even played as a specialist death-overs batter in several recent white-ball contests. He is known to McCullum too for his batting, having made 97 as a nightwatcher in his only Test to date, against New Zealand at Headingley in 2022.Tellingly, there is no place for Sam Curran, England’s player of the match and tournament when they won the T20 World Cup in 2022, but who voiced his concern earlier this year that, as a sub-6ft medium-pacer, he didn’t “fit that mould” that McCullum’s regime is currently looking for.Reece Topley, another left-armer who has been a staple of England’s recent white-ball squads, has also been overlooked after a luckless run of injuries, while fellow seamer Matthew Potts, who has impressed in his intermittent outings across formats but is arguably a notch below the pace of England’s chosen quicks, has also missed the cut.Adil Rashid retains his place as England’s premier spinner, with back-up likely to come from Root, Liam Livingstone and Jacob Bethell, who has been selected for his first major tournament, having last month been handed a two-year ECB central contract in recognition of his rapid rise to prominence. Rehan Ahmed, Rashid’s heir apparent, will travel to India for the T20Is in January, with Root sitting out that leg of the tour.Joe Root made three half-centuries during England’s World Cup campaign in India in 2023•ICC via Getty Images

Phil Salt and Ben Duckett are England’s probable opening partnership, having combined with some success against Australia in September. Will Jacks is the notable omission among top-order options.Jamie Smith – who missed England’s Test tour of New Zealand for the birth of his first child – returns as a middle-order batter and could keep wicket too, if captain Jos Buttler chooses to relinquish the gloves, as he did for the recent T20I series in the Caribbean.Much remains to be seen when England line up for their first ODI against India at Nagpur on February 6, where Buttler – like so many of the squad – will be playing his first ODIs in more than a year, having missed the English home season with a calf injury.England’s exact schedule for the Champions Trophy is awaiting confirmation, following the long-standing dispute over Pakistan hosting India fixtures that resulted last week in the adoption of a hybrid model for future ICC events. However, the squad departs for India on January 17, ahead of the first of five T20Is in Kolkata on January 22.England ODI squad for Champions Trophy and tour of India: Jos Buttler (capt), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Jamie Smith, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Saqib Mahmood, Phil Salt, Mark WoodEngland T20I squad for tour of India: Jos Buttler (capt), Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Jamie Smith, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood, Phil Salt, Mark Wood

Cricket has come to an indefinite halt, globally, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, and no one knows when the game will resume. What is a player to do in this unfamiliar and frankly scary situation? Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s coach and chief selector, has one bit of advice for his players: think of this break as a “chance to to reinvigorate yourself.”The break, Misbah feels, will help players recharge their batteries away from the otherwise ceaseless workload of the game, and make them hungrier than ever when cricket eventually resumes.”Going forward, I feel mentally what players are thinking is the most important aspect,” Misbah told ESPNcricinfo. “I will be emphasising that you’ve got to believe in yourself and stay positive. Yes, it’s a tough situation but at the same time consider this break a chance to reinvigorate yourself. Several players have been playing consistently and we all need a break from the load of cricket.”We will be speaking with players and instilling this in their mind that you are not going to forget your basics, and your game and skillsets will remain with you. All you have to do is analyse yourself, and we will help them with feedback from watching their videos. This break will basically spark more hunger in them, and they will want to play with heart when they return to action. Intrinsically a passionate sportsperson doesn’t want to sit idle, that’s natural, and once you’ve held him back for some time he will come back with more intensity than ever.”While the current situation lasts, most of Pakistan’s players will have no way to practise their cricketing skills. In order that they don’t lose their rhythm completely, Misbah said it was important for them to know their own game inside-out.”Obviously you need practice, that is integral,” he said. “But when you thoroughly know your basics – your feet movements, point of release, your stance, understanding the bowlers – all this is imprinted in your mind, and it’s not really hard to return to the game. You don’t need a lot of time to get back in your groove, it’s just the basics in your mind that will drive you.”So knowing in your mind about the mechanics of your game makes it easy to come back. Obviously you need practice to shake off the rustiness but it becomes easier if you have a full knowledge of your game. So this is the time to know your own game, and if you are clueless about yourself and how you do things then it’s very difficult for you to pick up the game and start where you left off. This is the time to understand yourself and break it down in your mind, and life will be easier going forward.”At the same time, Misbah stressed the importance of players keeping themselves fit. This, he said, was within their control, and ESPNcricinfo has learned that some of them – Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq, for instance – have set up gyms in their homes.”Problem is that at this time nobody has the facilities to practise, so for now the one thing I am talking to players is about fitness,” Misbah said. “We are in touch with players on an individual basis, both with the batters and bowlers, and we are talking and keeping them in track. But we are not really sure for how long we will be stuck this way. We are doing our homework and doing all we can to plan and prepare ourselves in the present circumstances. Nobody expected this stoppage so it’s a completely new situation for us and we are thinking how we can keep players in the game virtually. We need to keep on talking to them.”Along with my assistant coach Shahid Aslam, I’m getting players’ videos from the PSL and the recent series we played, and breaking them down in terms of strengths and weaknesses, and getting back to the players with our feedback. It’s tough to get them on board collectively and make them practise, but with some clarity in the situation we can at least be ready to execute with a clear mind [when cricket resumes].”Misbah-ul-Haq oversees Pakistan’s training session•AFP

As much as the situation is an unfamiliar one for the players, it’s equally so for Misbah, but he has found ways to keep himself busy.”I don’t think I have sat around facing such uncertainty in my entire career. I once sat at home recovering from jaundice. But this time, I’m lucky that I have taken the timely decision to have a fully equipped gym and nets facility at home. It’s good to have time to yourself, not doing anything, because I have been very busy recently and couldn’t manage my fitness routine.”I’m spending my full time with family and even my kids are working out with me. I’m spending around 120 to 150 minutes in a day on my training routines, and I think I’m ready again to undergo fitness test along with the national players.”Misbah is quite a cricket nerd, and it isn’t surprising that he’s spent a lot of time watching videos as well.”Yes, that’s a part of my routine,” he said. “In fact, recently I was watching the 92 World Cup, and it was interesting to see how Pakistan came back out of nowhere. On YouTube you just go deep, watching old classic games, and overall it’s a mixture, nothing in particular. But I’ve also been watching some games I played, like the 2012 England series, the Sri Lanka chase [in Sharjah], and PSL games on TV.”This time off, you’ve got to utilise it very smartly and reflect on your game. It’s not just me but for other players as well, they have time to look back – what good and bad they have done and where they can improve themselves. This is probably the off time when you have no obligation and all you have to do is sit and relax. Otherwise, when you are playing, you do not have much time to think. You’re just going with the flow.”There are things you won’t be able to understand while playing or even practising. But now, when you are mentally free and not occupied, this is the best available time for your learning curve. In terms of planning, you reflect back on things that went wrong and think of what needs to be done to improve, and players should be doing this, individually.”As hard as it is for cricketers to stay away from the game, Misbah feels it’s important for them to put their issues in perspective, given the scale of the issue the world is fighting.”Breaks are never good and it’s a problem for us as cricketers,” Misbah said. “Things were going very smoothly, and we were going to play a Test and ODI against Bangladesh, the now whole sequence and continuity has broken down.”But nobody can do anything because the situation we all are in is bigger than cricket. It’s important for us to not think about anything other than how to save humanity from this virus. This is the time when you shouldn’t be thinking like a cricketer but as a man, how you can help and how to get out of this situation, and that is the biggest fight for any profession in the world. Cricket will eventually come back, but the focus is mainly about how you can sort this out and restore normalcy.”

New Zealand quick Lockie Ferguson is looking to be “conservative” with his calf injury, instead of rushing back into long-format cricket and risking doing more damage.Ferguson went down with a calf strain on Test debut, against Australia in Perth in mid-December. He returned to top-flight action on February 9, bowling 10 overs for Auckland in the domestic one-day competition, the Ford Trophy. He is set to play in the tournament’s final on Sunday, and has been in touch with New Zealand coach Gary Stead about his recovery process.”Me and Steady talk all the time – he was asking me how I fared in my first domestic game back, then he was asking me how I was going preparing for the weekend,” Ferguson said, according to . “Of course the goal is for me to get back as soon as possible, but there is so much cricket coming up this year.”We’ve got a lot of white-ball stuff and I head away to the IPL as well, so it’s important with a calf injury, where there’s a high percentage chance of re-injury, that we be conservative.”Sunday’s [final] my focus and then I’ll be looking to play some first-class cricket.” also reported that Ferguson had trained with the New Zealand side in Auckland a week ago, when they were in town for the second ODI against India. Returning to Test cricket remains his main goal, Ferguson said.”Since I started playing professional cricket, it has been my goal to play Test cricket, because personally I feel that’s the biggest challenge. I am obviously super stoked to be playing one-dayers and T20s for New Zealand, I love every moment of it, but playing red-ball has been a big goal of mine.”On the day [of his Test debut] it wasn’t to be, I only got through 11 overs, and it was really frustrating. But it’s one of those things. When you bowl quick, injuries can sometimes happen.”New Zealand have a two-match Test series coming up against India later this month, but it remains to be seen if Ferguson is match fit enough to make it to that squad.

Eoin Morgan has backed the ECB’s efforts to foster a more inclusive culture in English cricket, but admits that stories such as Azeem Rafiq’s claims of institutional racism at Yorkshire demonstrate how much further the sport has to go to truly embrace equal opportunities.Speaking on the eve of the first T20I against Australia, Morgan – who was born in Dublin and played for Ireland for three years before qualifying for England in 2009 – said that the diversity of England’s World Cup-winning squad had not only showed the value of embracing different cultures but, in his opinion, it offered a fairer reflection of the current status of English cricket.”When I hear these stories I’m surprised to start with,” Morgan said. “But also, in light of these stories coming out, the ECB have been active in trying to rectify and become more diverse and create equal opportunity for everybody.”I think given the squad of players we have and the guys of different cultures, backgrounds, different races, I think the diverse nature of it really does epitomise where English cricket is at.”In addition to Morgan, England’s current squad includes three players of Pakistani origin in Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid and the stand-by Saqib Mahmood; two who were born in Barbados in Jofra Archer and Chris Jordan, and three of southern African background in Dawid Malan and the Curran brothers.And speaking immediately after the World Cup victory last July, Morgan had responded to an enquiry about the “luck of the Irish” in the closing stages of that remarkable contest by saying, semi-seriously, that Rashid had told him that “Allah is with us”.”It actually epitomises our team,” Morgan said at the time. “With quite diverse cultures and backgrounds, and guys growing up in different countries. To find humour in the situation that we were in at the time was pretty cool.”That diversity, he added, had been reflected in the ethnic mix of the fans that England encountered on their World Cup travels, as they played their fixtures in each of the tournament’s major venues and found support from a range of different backgrounds.Players and match officials take a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter campaign•Getty Images

“I think travelling around during last year’s World Cup and going to 10 different grounds up and down the country and watching the supporters flood in of all different races, all following England was great,” he said.”It made us all feel extremely proud. One of the noted things we talked about when we watched back the World Cup final and the camera pans to the crowd – people in England shirts are not all white. They are of different races and for us, as a team, I think that’s quite a thing we can be proud of.”Nevertheless, Rafiq’s comments – which drew a promise of an official inquiry from Yorkshire – include claims that senior players, including one of his club captains, had been “openly racist”. They follow a similarly explosive testimony from Michael Carberry, the former England opener, whose claims that “black people are not important to the ECB” forced the board to embrace some “uncomfortable truths”, according to the chief executive, Tom Harrison.In a subsequent statement, the ECB said that they were “deeply troubled” by Rafiq’s experiences, and reiterated the board’s commitment to “making the changes needed to make cricket a game for everyone”. Harrison is understood to be taking a personal involvement in his case.”Azeem’s story is similar to some of the experiences we have heard about during the Black Lives Matter movement and demonstrates how much work is needed across the game, sport and society as a whole to eradicate racism,” said the ECB.Morgan also recognised that more needed to be done to ensure that such situations get dealt with more proactively when they first arise, but reflected on the England team’s response to the Black Lives Matter movement as proof that they were making a effort to keep the issue visible. Players on both sides during the Tests against West Indies and the ODIs against Ireland took a knee in support of the movement, although this was not done during the Pakistan series and will not be repeated against Australia.ALSO READ: Yorkshire promise independent review into Azeem Rafiq allegations“I think our display throughout the Ireland series [showed] our ambition to try and create more sustainable awareness around our fight against racism and the creation of equal opportunities and equality in sport,” Morgan said. “It’s important to drive that forward because it shouldn’t exist in society. When people talk about it they should feel comfortable coming out to talk about it – we want everybody to know that.”An area where we can get better is telling people our story more, getting comfortable talking about growing up in a different country or growing up in a different environment within this country, and our journey to where we are today,” he added.”There’s not one player that’s had an easy ride throughout this. It’s very difficult to get into an England cricket changing-room or an England cricket shirt. But even more so by coming from a diverse background, it creates different challenges.”

The four-Test series between Australia and India later this year is set to start with a day-night Test in Adelaide. The long tour (more than two months) is likely to begin with the white-ball games – three ODIs in Brisbane followed by three T20Is in Adelaide – and then the first Test, subject to final nods from the local state governments in Australia.The pink-ball Test, which will be India’s maiden day-night Test overseas (and only their second overall), is scheduled to be held at Adelaide Oval between December 17 and 21. Melbourne will remain the venue for the traditional Boxing Day Test (December 26-30) followed by Tests in Sydney (January 7-11) and Brisbane (January 15-19).The Indian contingent is expected to travel directly from the UAE to Brisbane immediately after the completion of the IPL on November 10. It is understood that Cricket Australia has pencilled in the November 25-30 period for the ODIs and December 4-8 for the T20Is. The Indians are then set to play a pink-ball warm-up match in Adelaide before the first Test. The warm-up is likely to be an intra-squad game keeping in mind the public health guidelines in place because of the Covid-19 pandemic.Although both Cricket Australia and BCCI have internally agreed on the itinerary, they have not made it public because they are waiting for the formal nods from the state governments in Australia. One of the specific things Cricket Australia is looking for is the permission from the Queensland government, which is yet to approve international arrival and quarantine of the Indian and Australian players from the IPL in Brisbane.Currently, anyone coming in to Queensland from overseas or even outside the state has to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine. With the tour scheduled to start around November 25, the two teams would want to train during the quarantine period, but that can only be done with permission from the Queensland government.Previously, governments in Western Australia and South Australia were reluctant to waive off the quarantine period for the two teams in order for them to start training immediately after landing in the country, and that forced Cricket Australia to shuffle the venues around.

When West Indies last toured England in 2017, Shane Dowrich averaged 4.80. He struggled to adapt to the conditions, both with the bat and behind the stumps, and many onlookers surmised that Denesh Ramdin’s return to the Test set-up could not come soon enough.But since that tour, Dowrich has turned things around. He is now one of the first names on Jason Holder’s team sheet, and can lay claim to being one of the best wicketkeeper-batsman in the world: since the start of 2018, no keeper has scored more Test runs at a better average.”I consider myself a different player to what I was three years ago,” Dowrich said from Emirates Old Trafford, where West Indies have now been based for the best part of two weeks. “The last time I was here, it was very tough for me – it was a series that really changed around my career.”I was young, I was in unfamiliar territory – to be honest, I really didn’t cope well with it. Since then, I’ve been able to go away and I’ve learned a lot from my experience over here last time. Playing in England will always be a challenge, but I think I’m ready for it.”