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Batsman insists he can still do the job in the shortest format, even though he hasn’t always been in the running for selection

Mohammad Isam25-Mar-2021Ross Taylor has said that he has eyes on the T20 World Cup later this year even though he hasn’t featured in the last two New Zealand squads in this format. He believes there is still enough time to return with the side set to play a lot of matches leading up to the main event in India.Taylor was speaking ahead of the third ODI against Bangladesh in Wellington, having been passed fit following a hamstring injury that kept him out of the first two games.”I think I’ve still got ambitions on the T20 World Cup,” Taylor said. “I think there’s still a lot to go. The selectors have wanted to give these guys the opportunity which is fair enough. This is a good format, especially in New Zealand, for getting these guys into international cricket, if they are not going to play a lot of ODI and Test cricket. T20 is the logical way of bringing them into the side.”In the last two years, Taylor has played 14 out of New Zealand’s 24 T20Is. He made 166 runs with two fifties against India last year, but saw his batting position go to new players like Devon Conway and Glenn Phillips. Taylor said that he was surprised to be dropped from the New Zealand team for the T20I series against Australia, and now Bangladesh. He got to play only four deliveries during the T20I series against West Indies in November last year.”It was a bit of a surprise, getting player of the year and facing four balls. I am not going to lie. You have respect their decision that this is a format to give the guys an opportunity to play.”I feel age is just a number. I am able to do a job that’s required. There’s a lot of cricket to be played in the winter. I will be around somewhere,” he said.After the Bangladesh T20I series at home, New Zealand are likely to play against Pakistan and Bangladesh again during their winter, ahead of the T20 World Cup. On Wednesday, New Zealand selector Gavin Larsen said that they haven’t yet ruled Taylor out entirely from their T20 plans.”(New Zealand coach) Gary (Stead) has been working really closely and talking with Ross. Ross sits in behind those current group of incumbents that we’ve got now,” Larsen told stuff.co.nz. “As we said when we didn’t pick Ross originally it was a really tough decision and I’ll say that again because we know his pedigree and the quality. We know and Ross has stated to us that he’s still keen and he thinks he can still contribute. From our side as selectors that’s great. We always take the approach of ‘never say never’. We know he’s sitting there and if we needed to call for Ross then we know he’d be jumping out of his skin.”

Shakib the batsman or Shakib the bowler – who needs to be replaced as priority?

Sidharth Monga in Delhi01-Nov-20194:24

Shakib’s absence is a big loss to us – Russell Domingo

The best allrounder in the world. Bangladesh’s best player ever. Friend. Mentor. At times, the voice of Bangladesh cricket. Two players in one. Now banned because he didn’t report suspect approaches, something you are obliged and taught to do. As the Bangladesh team began its preparations for the tough tour of India, coming to terms with the loss of Shakib Al Hasan was a long way away.For starters, there are disappointed team-mates, for whom Shakib was a role model. Coach Russell Domingo hasn’t even worked properly with Shakib yet, but he can see it in the dressing room.”Everyone is a bit disappointed,” Domingo said. “I don’t think I should be talking too much about it. I’ve been here for a month, and I’ve known Shakib for a month. The relationships the players have with him are a lot deeper than I’ve got because I don’t know him well. But the players speak very highly of him, have a lot of respect for him, admire the way he goes about his business, his performances. Now he’s made a mistake, he’s paying the price.”Shakib is banned for two years, one of which is suspended. That means he will be out for one year, and there is no telling how he will be accepted when he comes back. “One year in cricketing terms is a long time,” Domingo said. “I haven’t even thought about it; how Shakib gets in the game, back into the team, it’s something that hasn’t crossed my mind. It hasn’t crossed anybody’s mind.”He has been a big player for Bangladesh. Very close friends with a lot of the players, so it’s obviously affected some of the players. He has made a mistake and he is paying the price for it. There’s not too much that we can say about it. It’s not something we can control or something that affects us too much at the moment. It obviously affects the team in terms of his performances, but our mindset and our focus will be entirely on the series and the [T20] World Cup in 12 months’ time.”When it comes to performances, Domingo admitted any replacement for Shakib would leave the team one player light. “Shakib bats at No. 3, often opens the bowling or bowls first change,” Domingo pointed out. “He bowls four overs every single game. He’s one of our leading batters. Do I replace the batter or replace the bowler? Because it’s very difficult; he plays both. There aren’t too many players who provide you with both skills.”So you might find yourself short in one department, and strengthening the other department. Depending on the conditions, if it’s a flat wicket, you want to strengthen your bowling. If you think there’s a little bit in for the wicket you might as well strengthen your batting. So, it would very much depend on the conditions. I don’t think there’s anyone earmarked who’s specifically going to do Shakib’s job. Everyone’s going to try to contribute and fill up the numbers as best he possibly can.”India will go into the series without their usual captain Virat Kohli, but Domingo was of the view that Shakib was just as big, if not bigger, a miss for Bangladesh. “There’s no Virat, [at the same time] there’s no Shakib,” Domingo said when asked of the advantage Kohli’s absence might give his side. “So, there’s an advantage for India with no Shakib, and there’s an advantage for Bangladesh with no Virat.”

Surrey took another significant step on their way towards a first Championship title since 2002 as they bowled Essex out for 126 and enforced the follow-on at Chelmsford

Matt Roller at Chelmsford05-Sep-20181:45

Drama at Taunton as Somerset and Lancashire tie

ScorecardSurrey took another significant step on their way towards a first Championship title since 2002 as they bowled Essex out for 126 and enforced the follow-on at Chelmsford.With Somerset’s game against Lancashire ending in a spectacular tie as they failed to chase 78 on a turning pitch at Taunton, Surrey will go 43 points clear at the top if they complete victory here, and if this performance from their bowlers is anything to go by, they may not even have to bat again.Their four-pronged seam attack of Morne Morkel, Tom Curran, Rikki Clarke and Conor McKerr shared ten wickets between them, and it was Clarke who did most of the damage. In a nine-over spell from the River End he removed Ravi Bopara, Ryan ten Doeschate, Tom Westley and Simon Harmer to quash any hopes of an Essex recovery after they had slumped to 20 for 3.Clarke moved the ball considerably in the air, finding late swing and benefiting from the variable bounce on offer – a handful deliveries shot up off the pitch – as he rattled through the middle-order in conditions that could hardly have suited his medium-fast seamers better; the sun did not so much as threaten to escape behind a sheet of clouds, and bad light and drizzle brought proceedings to an end only seven overs after tea.As much as Surrey’s season will be remembered for Rory Burns’ runs and Morkel’s fearsome mid-season form, it is impossible to overlook Clarke’s contribution. He now has 37 Championship wickets at a shade over 20, to go with 392 runs and 13 catches; he turns 37 at the end of this season, and not even his most ardent supporters could have predicted the transformative effect he would have on this side when his move from Warwickshire was confirmed last season.Clarke also added useful runs in the morning session in an enterprising innings of 56. After pulling his first ball for a nonchalant four, he offered stubborn resistance in bowler-friendly conditions alongside Curran, before clubbing 26 runs off his final 13 balls as he ran out of partners.It was a largely brutish innings, with a couple of orthodox slogs down the ground for six, but he threw in a deft reverse-sweep and an elegant cut as if only to prove how malleable his game is.Rikki Clarke produced a penetrative burst•Getty Images

While Essex will attribute their surrender to poor shots and a batting order that has not fired all season, Surrey were irresistible with the ball. Curran and Morkel were hostile in their opening spells, as their accounted for Nick Browne, Varun Chopra, and Dan Lawrence, before Clarke ran through the middle order and McKerr mopped up the tail.On the day that Alastair Cook’s new three-year deal at the club was confirmed, Chopra must have felt disappointed with his dismissal, caught well by (guess who?) Clarke in the slips playing a flashy drive at a ball he had no need to play. He now averages 16.7 this season; when Cook returns, he looks like the man most likely to drop out.Tom Westley, another Essex batsman struggling for runs, was the only one in the top eight to reach double figures, and fought hard before falling one short of just a second half-century of the season.Westley was not at his fluent best – as was the case in his gritty 56 at Taunton and in last week’s win over Hampshire – but he was organised, determined, and creamed a pair of cover drives for four in the space of three Curran balls. He looks to have benefitted from the decision to leave him out of the second half of Essex’s Blast campaign, and will hope that he can find his best form before the season’s close.The tag of champions-elect can loom over a team at this stage of the season, but Surrey look good value for it. Their visit to Taunton in the penultimate round of games had been highlighted as a possible title-decider – and they can expect another lively wicket if the Championship race is still alive – but wins here and at New Road next week would effectively wrap the pennant up.On the basis of this performance, it would be impossible to argue that they have not been good value for it.

Faf du Plessis wants Kagiso Rabada to stay fierce and fiery and thinks cricket is poorer following his sanction. Rabada will miss the second Test at Trent Bridge after earning the suspension

Firdose Moonda10-Jul-2017Despite earning a sanction for a shove and a vociferous send-off, Kagiso Rabada does not need to tone down his aggression. That’s the message from Test captain Faf du Plessis, who is on three demerit points himself after shining the ball with saliva that had also come into contact with a mint during the series against Australia last year, and who has taken a grim view of the ICC’s code-of-conduct protocols in the past.Not only would du Plessis like to see a clearer definition for the artificial substances that are not allowed to come into contact with the ball but he also wants Rabada to stay fierce and fiery and thinks cricket is poorer following his sanction. Rabada will miss the second Test at Trent Bridge after earning the suspension.”I would never say to KG change the way that you are. It’s important that he plays the way that he plays the game. Every guy within cricket needs your natural instinct and personality to come out because that creates the best you,” du Plessis said, after South Africa were defeated in his absence at Lord’s.Stand-in captain Dean Elgar revealed that Rabada had said sorry to senior management and felt he had let the team down with his behaviour but du Plessis said he did not expect Rabada to do any more. “I would never expect him to apologise to the team. For me that’s showing what you’re made of. He is showing that he wants to do desperately well for his country,” du Plessis saidHe also does not expect Rabada to change the way he approaches the game, saying the isolated incident in which he swore at Ben Stokes was simply a moment of frustration for a bowler who did not have things going his way and was not a personal attack on the batsman involved. In fact, du Plessis believes Stokes is capable of dishing out much of the same medicine and has even given him a nickname to reflect his on-field anger.Kagiso Rabada earned a fourth demerit point for giving Ben Stokes a send-off•Getty Images

“I don’t think it was anything to do with Ben. I think it was a little bit of frustration from KG. He didn’t have the rhythm that he wanted to and it was just frustration coming through,” du Plessis said. “I played with Ben and I can tell you he is just as fiery and that’s what makes him so competitive and so skillful. I called him ‘The Dragon’ in the IPL because he breathes fire when he gets angry. That’s important, when you have characters to come through like that. That’s what I say about KG. Not for one second must he lose that.”South Africa have lost Rabada for the second Test though and du Plessis, like Elgar, thinks both the team and the fans will miss out. “It’s a big disappointment for us not having him. It’s a shame. He is a real big part of this team. In big Test series like this you want to see your big Test players compete against each other,” he said.Rabada should be back for the third match at The Kia Oval and du Plessis hopes Rabada will pick up where he left off at Lord’s, but perhaps be a little more mindful of saying things a safe distance away from the stump mic.”When you play Test cricket you are fighting for your country and you are doing everything you can to win a game of cricket. Controlled emotion is really important. For me, it’s the most important thing as long as it doesn’t take you away from your skill. KG doesn’t do that, that was just frustration,” du Plessis said. “I know his personality. He is a very relaxed and quiet guy. He hardly ever swears at the batsmen in the times we’ve played together. That was purely just frustration.”

On the eve of the match against Kolkata Knight Riders, Rising Pune Supergiants coach Stephen Fleming describe his side’s situation as “unusual” and “uncertain”

Nagraj Gollapudi13-May-2016″What we are not doing is winning cricket.””We don’t have the nucleus of players who have played together.””We’re using up all those free lives.””I was pretty angry with the way things went today so my morale needs a bit of boost.”These statements from Stephen Fleming, coach of Rising Pune Supergiants, underline his thoughts on the side’s downward spiral in their first IPL. The pain of defeat is one thing, but having to face the same questions at different venues over the past month might have been just as difficult for the former New Zealand captainAt one point Fleming was angry, but then he realised neither he nor MS Dhoni, the Supergiants captain, could do anything more than ask their players to simply compete.Four of the first-choice overseas players returned home injured within the first three weeks of the tournament. Last week Tamil Nadu legspinner M Ashwin was declared unfit due to a side strain. Add to that the absence of a home base, after the Bombay High Court moved matches scheduled for May out of Maharashtra. Home games are not just about the comfort factor, but familiarity with conditions and crowd support are often advantages for teams in the race for the playoffs.On the eve of the match against Kolkata Knight Riders, Fleming called Supergiants’ position “unusual” and “uncertain”.”We just couldn’t quite get across the line,” he said. “That little bit of confidence, being able to be a bit settled. Those would have been nice things to have. But, look, (that is) not to be. We can only talk about what could have been. It is unusual. It is disappointing for all concerned. We just haven’t been able to win the key moments. We have taken all top teams to the last over, last ball. We have just come up short. Not down and out, but just disappointed that we couldn’t turn things our way.”A loss to Knight Riders would erase Supergiants’ remote mathematical chance of a playoff spot and once things move into the post-mortem stage, Dhoni’s leadership is bound to be scrutinised. His relations with lead spinner R Ashwin, who has struggled for form, is already a talking point this season, given that the offspinner has not bowled his full quota in five out of eleven matches.At Chennai Super Kings, Ashwin was one of the biggest weapons for Dhoni, and could be brought on at any stage of the innings. When Ashwin failed, Dhoni could rely on other match-winners like Suresh Raina, Dwayne Bravo, and Brendon McCullum in 2014 and 2015. Those three players are now the core of the second new IPL franchise, Gujarat Lions.According Fleming, Dhoni has always led settled units, both at India and Super Kings. With Supergiants, on the other hand, he has had to deal with depleted resources and a new set of players who need to time to bond.”When you are a captain who is looking to get everything out of your team, you push very hard. That is not something MS has had to do a lot,” Fleming said. “He has had a very settled Indian side. He had a very settled Chennai Super Kings side. So this has been a good challenge in some ways that we have enjoyed, but again we are disappointed that we haven’t been able to get the results we would have liked.”That his team was still competitive was down to the bench strength and that was a positive, Fleming said.”We have been able to compete and we have good bench strength. Whilst we didn’t get across the line, the performances and the competitiveness of the team stay the same. That is a positive. That is something we are looking to take forward to next year. A few tweaks here and there and a little bit of fortune, then, may be, we are a team on top of the table and not bottom.”

Debutant Matthew Fisher fired Yorkshire to an opening-night NatWest T20 Blast win over Derbyshire at Headingley with a stunning five-wicket haul under the new floodlights

ECB/PA15-May-2015
ScorecardMatt Fisher shone under the floodlights at Headingley•Getty Images

Debutant Matthew Fisher fired Yorkshire to an opening-night NatWest T20 Blast win over Derbyshire at Headingley with a stunning five-wicket haul under the new floodlights.Seventeen-year-old Fisher joined Rich Pyrah and Jack Brooks as the only Yorkshire players to take five wickets in a 20-over match as the Falcons were bowled out for 128 inside 19 overs on the way to a seven-wicket defeat with 20 balls remaining.Fisher struck twice through the middle of the innings as Derbyshire, invited to bat, slipped from 66 for 1 in the ninth to 81 for 6 in the 13th, a loss of 5 for 15 in 25 balls. South African Hashim Amla top-scored with 29, but him falling caught at cover off Pyrah hurt the Falcons badly.A crowd of 5,953 saw Fisher record 5 for 22 from 3.2 overs before watching third-wicket pair Andrew Gale and Jonny Bairstow impress in Yorkshire’s chase with 41 off 36 balls and 40 not out off 35.Tim Bresnan, Liam Plunkett and Adil Rashid all struck once for the Vikings, while Pyrah added an excellent 2 for 13 from his four overs. His wickets were part of the mid-innings collapse.

Insights

Matthew Fisher has been tipped as an England fast bowler before he has barely bowled a ball in anger for Yorkshire. “I think he is going to be an unbelievable bowler,” said Tim Bresnan after his introduction to Championship cricket against Nottinghamshire and Warwickshire in early season, voicing what may had quietly believed from the outset.
Bresnan said: “He is 17 years old, and he is swinging it both ways at 85mph and has a sharp bouncer as well. He looks a really good prospect.” His five wickets against Derbyshire, at only 17, will only encourage that belief. Not a bowler to be targeted clearly. Fisher joined Rich Pyrah and Jack Brooks as the only Yorkshire players to take five wickets in a 20-over match – and the first, naturally, to achieve it under Headingley’s new floodlights
David Hopps

Fisher became the youngest post-war county cricketer when he debuted in a one-day match aged 15 in 2013, and he made his first Championship appearance earlier this summer.He is currently out of consideration for four-day cricket due to A-Level exams, but he passed this test under lights with flying colours.”It’s been great under the lights here with a bumper crowd,” he said. “We didn’t get off to a great start – we didn’t get our line and length right. But then I got the call, and I tried to hit my lines and went from there.”It’s been a really good start to the season for me. I haven’t expected to play Championship or T20 cricket. The England lads have come back, and I didn’t think I’d play this game with the calibre that’s in the squad but Jason Gillespie’s shown faith in me, and I’ve paid him back.”Fisher broke a dangerous second-wicket partnership of 39 between Amla and Chesney Hughes (27) with his second ball by getting the latter caught at point. He then trapped Shiv Thakor lbw in his second over before returning to get two wickets in the 17th over as Derbyshire slipped to 115 for 8.He had Alex Hughes caught and bowled and Tom Poynton (27) caught behind at either end of the over, and he wrapped up the innings at the start of his fourth over by getting Ben Cotton caught and bowled running towards cover.Cotton bowled Andrew Hodd for a golden duck two balls into Yorkshire’s reply. Alex Lees then sliced Mark Footitt to third man in the fifth over, leaving the score at 31 for 2, but Yorkshire’s win was rarely in doubt.Gale and Bairstow put on 69 inside nine overs, taking three sixes off former Yorkshire spinner David Wainwright in the 13th over.

Matthew Hayden scored 380 on the second day at Perth, surpassing Brian Lara’s Test record of 375, as Australia finally declared on 735 for 6

Lynn McConnell07-Sep-2012Close, 2nd day

Scorecard

Matthew Hayden once said the stimulation he received from hitting a cricket ball – and hitting it well – would never wane. Zimbabwe found that out the hard way today as Hayden put every other Test match batting record in the shade en route to an unforgettable 380. The day revolved around his remarkable achievement to such an extent that it was almost forgotten that Australia amassed 735 for 6, the highest total in 126 years of cricket on Australian soil, before taking pity on Zimbabwe’s bowlers.To their credit, Zimbabwe made a brave fist of it in the final session, reaching 61 before Jason Gillespie blasted a ball through Dion Ebrahim’s defence to bowl him for 29. By stumps, there were 79 for one wicket, still a small ocean short of the 536 needed to avoid the follow-on.But whatever be your perspective, this was Hayden’s day, as he once again revealed the hunger of the late starter. Not only did he surpass the 375 scored by Brian Lara against England at Antigua in 1993-94, but he became only the second Australian to score a triple century on home soil – something beyond even a certain Donald George Bradman. His energy levels never ebbed, and 400 was a distinct possibility – especially after Steve Waugh decided to let the batsmen come back out after tea – when he pulled a ball from Trevor Gripper to backward square leg, where Stuart Carlisle took a low tumbling catch.The record was just reward for a batsman who has been the outstanding performer of the 21st century, and with four Tests still to play in the calendar year, Hayden finds himself well within reach of 1000 runs – he has 837 after this epic – in a year for the third successive time.

The straight drive proved a reliable, and punishing, weapon throughout his innings. There were also flashing cuts and disdainful pulls aplenty. With the attack enfeebled to such an extent that they appeared to be on some mediocre auto-pilot, Hayden was also more inclined to loft the ball straight. He ended his innings having struck 11 sixes, one short of equalling Wasim Akram’s world record.Hayden’s inexorable progress past successive milestones meant that Adam Gilchrist’s truly remarkable cameo – if you can call a century that – was relegated to the shade. He finished with 113 not out – his ninth Test century – perhaps the only time in the history of the game that an 84-ball hundred has had to play second fiddle. Gilchrist did manage some crumbs of comfort from the record-breaking table, as both batsmen made over a hundred runs between lunch and tea.Hayden, who had also scored a century between tea and stumps yesterday, joined Walter Hammond – who achieved the feat against New Zealand at Auckland in 1932-33 – as the only man to do that twice in the same innings.Sean Ervine may have achieved his career-best figures with four wickets, but they came at a cost of 146 runs. Gripper, who dropped Hayden at midwicket, when he offered his only chance at 335, finished with 2 for 142, as five bowlers went for over 100 runs.The only thing that Zimbabwe managed to do right was to deny Steve Waugh the unique honour of having scored a hundred at each of Australia’s contemporary Test grounds. Waugh had been untroubled on his way to 78, but Sean Ervine got one to catch the inside edge and rebound high into the air off the pad, following up well enough to snaffle a difficult chance.The rest of the day was all about one man’s tryst with history. Hayden has often professed to a fondness for fly-fishing, and today, the bait he used snared the biggest fish of them all. Goodbye Brian Lara, hello Matthew Hayden – king of the batting mountain.

Scotland took an unassailable 3-0 series lead over Namibia in the third Twenty20 of their five-match series with a 26-run win in Windhoek

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Oct-2011
Scorecard
Scotland took an unassailable 3-0 series lead over Namibia in the third Twenty20 of their five-match series with a 26-run win in Windhoek. A strong team performance set up Scotland’s victory as they reached 156 for 9 despite seamer Christi Viljoen’s 5 for 23, after which every one of the seven Scotland bowlers used picked up a wicket to keep Namibia to 130 for 8.After winning the toss, Scotland’s batting effort was underpinned by opener Calum Macleod’s aggressive 30 and Preston Mommsen’s 39, but there were contributions from most of the top order. The batsmen further down couldn’t quite replicate their efforts as Viljoen returned and struck regularly, finding himself on a hat-trick after dismissing Safyaan Sharif and Gordon Goudie with consecutive deliveries.Namibia lost captain Craig Williams and Sarel Burger inside the first six overs of their chase but kept in touch with the asking rate thanks to Louis van der Westhuizen’s 27-ball 39 and a rapid 30 from Gerrie Snyman.Wickets kept falling, however, and with each dismissal Scotland’s grip on the match tightened. Niel Rossouw struggled to force the pace in his 23-ball 18, and though Louis Klazinga managed a four and a six in his 19, the result was already a foregone conclusion.

Jamie How, the Central Stags captain, has said the Champions League Twenty20 is an opportunity for the youngsters in his side to stake claims for higher honours

Cricinfo staff06-Sep-2010Jamie How, the Central Districts Stags captain, has said the Champions League Twenty20 is an opportunity for the youngsters in his side to stake claims for higher honours.”It gives them the chance to show what they’re made of on the international scene and perhaps if they perform well, they might even have a chance of being picked up for one of the IPL teams,” How said ahead of the tournament that gets underway on September 10. “Both individually and as a team, we have a chance to pit our skills against the world’s best, which is a very exciting prospect.”Central Districts qualified for the event by winning the 2009/10 edition of New Zealand’s domestic HRV Cup. How was wary of the competition his side will encounter in the Champions League which features the top domestic Twenty20 sides from around the world. “Every team here is here on merit. The fact that they’re here means that they are very good teams, winning or finishing near the top of their individual competitions. Each of the teams has its strengths and weaknesses and we just have to be able to deal with those.”The team will miss the services of two of their key players – Ross Taylor, who will turn out for his IPL side Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Jacob Oram who is out with a knee injury. How admitted his side would be hampered by their, and the injured allrounder Graham Napier’s, absence. “Ross is certainly a big loss for us. He’s one of our best players, and along with missing Jacob Oram and Graham, it’s been a big loss, but it also gives someone else an opportunity to step into their big shoes.”How looked forward to the event and felt the youngsters in his side would enjoy playing in South Africa. “It’s a wonderful experience for the younger guys who haven’t been here, because it’s a great country to tour. There are really great cricket facilities and exciting places off the field. And we’re doing quite a bit of travelling – we play in Centurion, Durban and Port Elizabeth – so we’ll see quite a bit of the country.”

The PCB’s stance remains unchanged, stating there is “no chance” of a hybrid model for the tournament

Osman Samiuddin12-Nov-2024The PCB has written to the ICC and asked them to provide a written confirmation from the BCCI that they are unable to play the Champions Trophy in Pakistan, as well as giving a reason for it.The PCB was told last Friday by the ICC that the BCCI has not been given permission by the Indian government for the Indian team to travel to Pakistan for the tournament, scheduled to be played across three venues in Pakistan from February 9. But the PCB wants it in writing from the BCCI that they are unable to attend, as well as the justification for it.That ICC communication came three days before what would’ve been the official launch event for the tournament in Lahore, starting a 100-day countdown. Instead, the event has been postponed, with uncertainty now swirling around the eight-team tournament.Related

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The PCB’s stance at the moment remains unchanged: the entire tournament will be played in Pakistan with a senior PCB official reiterating to ESPNcricinfo there is “no chance” of a hybrid model being considered. Such a model, used once for the Asia Cup in 2023, would allow India to play their games outside of Pakistan. There has been speculation about the UAE being used as a second venue in this instance but the PCB has unequivocally ruled that out. The tournament is scheduled to be played in Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi between February 19 and March 9.As well as that stance, there is also a growing realisation that with the Pakistan government now involved, any decisions on hosting and hybrid models may not be driven by the PCB but will be firmly in the government’s hands.One of the reasons the PCB is standing firm at the moment is because they feel aggrieved by events last year. After they were forced to use a hybrid model in hosting the Asia Cup, Pakistan agreed to travel to India for the World Cup. That decision was taken after consultation with the government and permission was ultimately granted – despite considerable opposition – on the hope that it would lead to India reciprocating by visiting for the Champions Trophy.The same government remains in place in Pakistan and Mohsin Naqvi, a senior figure within it as the country’s interior minister, is now the PCB chairman.The PCB has also pointed out that the tournament was awarded to Pakistan three years ago and no objection was raised at the time, or has been raised since. The PCB is believed to have provided a progress report at the ICC’s board meetings in October including the intention to go ahead with the 100-day launch event on November 11, with no concerns raised.The ICC has been approached for comment.