England have a busy international schedule from June onwards and the players are unlikely to be available for the remainder of the suspended IPL if the T20 tournament is rescheduled this year, says ECB director of cricket Ashley Giles. There are two windows for the T20 event to be resumed this year - one is in the second half of September and before the T20 World Cup (October-November) and the other is after mid-November. But England’s top players will be in action at both times. They have tours to Bangladesh and Pakistan in September and October, while they will compete with Australia at the Ashes right after the T20 World Cup. “We’re planning on involvement of England players in England matches. We’ve got a full FTP schedule. So, if those tours to Pakistan and Bangladesh are going ahead, I’d expect the players to be there,” Giles was quoted as saying by a website.
Former national TT champ succumbs to Covid
India's former national table tennis champion Venugopal Chandrasekhar died fighting fighting Covid -19 last week. The ace player and coach fell to the virus that has wreaked havoc. Chandra is survived by his wife Mala and son Sanjay. Cricket was Chandra’s first love but a head injury while fielding at slips saw him switch allegiance to table tennis. At 12, Chandra enrolled in the now-defunct Emesor Sports Club in Adyar and his rise in the sport was swift. In1970, Chandra became the Tamil Nadu sub-junior champion. Three years later, he not only became the state junior champion but also made the quarters of the Nationals. The coming years would see Chandra’s aggressive style of play fetch him three National titles. Despite his prowess on the TT table, Chandra was always serious about his studies. He was a gold medallist in BA Economics and Law from Madras University. Chandra’s playing career was cut short due to a botched-up surgery in1984. He underwent a knee operation in a leading hospital in Chennai which left him partially blind and disabled.
Kerala boy hurdles to No 3 spot in world rankings
Muhammed Hanan, a 17-year-old from Kerala, rose to No. 3 in world rankings in athletics. He has done just that by clocking the third-best timing in the 110m hurdles in the U-18 boys category in the latest rankings published by World Athletics. Hanan achieved the feat at the South Zone Junior Athletics Meet at the Calicut University Stadium in February this year. He clocked 13.80 seconds to grab the gold medal in the meet. Little did he know that the effort would put him just behind South Africans Michael-Jan De Beer and Ismail Mujahid in the latest world rankings released by World Athletics. “I didn’t even know such a ranking existed till a few days back. I saw my name on the World Athletics website two or three days back and my joy knew no bounds. My timings have improved over the years and the performance at the Calicut University stadium was my best. But I didn’t realise that it would put me on the list of elite athletes in my age category in the world,” said the plus two student of Devdhar Government Higher Secondary School.
Non-bailable warrants against wrestler Sushil, 6 others
A Delhi court issued non-bailable warrants against two-time Olympic medalist Sushil Kumar and six others in connection with the Chhatrasal Stadium brawl that led to the death of a wrestler, police said. This comes days after a lookout notice was issued against Sushil in the same case. A senior police officer said, "We moved an application before the court to issue non-bailable warrant (NBW) against wrestler Sushil and six others in the case and as per request, the application was approved and accordingly NBWs have been issued against them." A lookout notice was issued earlier. The police have already recorded the statements of the victims allegedly involved in the brawl. The clash had taken place over vacating a flat in the Model Town area, police said. Sushil, who has been named in the FIR, is on the run, and efforts are on to trace him, a senior officer had said earlier, adding that raids were being conducted in the Delhi-NCR region and neighbouring states to nab him.
Lanka sack ODI captain Karunaratne
Sri Lanka sacked one-day captain Dimuth Karunaratne and dropped him and a host of other big names from the squad heading for Bangladesh. Former captains Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal were also dropped, along with Suranga Lakmal and Nuwan Pradeep. Kusal Perera has been named as the new captain, with Kusal Mendis as his deputy. Karunaratne, a 33-year-old left-hand batsman, has played 34 ODI matches and scored 767 runs for Sri Lanka. Mathews had featured in 218 ODIs, scored 5,835 runs and claimed 120 wickets. Chandimal has scored 3,698 runs in 149 ODIs. Lanka Cricket did not say why the players had been dropped but their new selection committee - headed by Pramodya Wickramasinghe - and coach Mickey Arthur have indicated that the squad will be given a fresh look with an eye on the 2023 World Cup. Out of the 18 players named, only 33-year-old Isuru Udana is older than 31, and just three players are above 30.
