India suspends its top cricket tournament, the IPL, for a week amid military tensions with Pakistan
The Indian Premier League, which attracts top players from around the world, was halted with immediate effect, the Board of Control for Cricket in India said.
The decision comes after a night of artillery exchanges between Indian and Pakistani soldiers across their frontier in Kashmir, amid a growing military standoff that erupted following an attack on tourists in the India-controlled portion of the disputed region.
The IPL is the most popular cricket tournament in the world and runs between March and May. The 10-team competition still has 12 games to be played in the group stage before the knockout rounds.
Pakistan earlier said it was moving its own domestic tournament to the United Arab Emirates because of the tensions.
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BBC News
20 minutes ago
- BBC News
'Part of the plan' to disrupt Root, says Krishna
India fast bowler Prasidh Krishna says it was a deliberate tactic to try and disrupt Joe Root when the pair were involved in a heated exchange on the second day of the fifth Test at The Oval. The exact words, which came when Root was yet to get off the mark and played and missed at Krishna, were not picked up by the stump microphones but the England batter was unusually animated in his response. Krishna, who took 4-62 as England were bowled out for 247 in their first innings, added that he was also taken by surprise by how it unfolded."It was the plan [to disrupt him], but I didn't expect the couple of words that I said to get such a big reaction from him," he said. "I love the guy that he is, he is a legend of the game. It's just when two people are out there wanting to be a winner and wanting to be the best in that moment."It was just a small thing, the competitive edge coming out. Both of us are good mates off the field and it was just a bit of banter." Tensions have been high throughout the series, which the hosts lead 2-1, but are in a tricky situation with India taking a 52-run lead into day three with eight wickets in hand after England dropped three catches late on. Before this Test match started, India coach Gautam Gambhir was involved in a confrontation with The Oval's ground staff, skipper Shubman Gill accused England of going against the spirit of cricket with time-wasting tactics and seamer Mohammed Siraj was fined for his send-off of Ben Duckett during the third Test at Lord' was involved in another strange incident before Krishna's encounter with Root, as Akash Deep dismissed him for 43 and put his arm around the England opener's shoulder as he walked from the pitch. "I don't think I've ever seen a bowler do that after getting someone out," said England assistant coach Marcus Trescothick. "You've seen them having words, we've seen it from both sides in this series. It was just different. "We've seen it in the series already that Ben doesn't do a great deal [in response]. There was probably no need to walk him off in that fashion but the game has been fought in good spirits, there have been some words and arguments along the way but the two teams are still getting on well enough and will continue to do so."Trescothick also acknowledged India's plan in trying to unsettle Root, who played fluently for his 29 before being pinned lbw by Siraj. "They made a comment, they tried to get after him and spark him up a bit. India tried a different approach and Joe bit back," he told BBC Test Match Special."Normally he laughs and giggles and allows things to happen, but today he chose a different route. Everyone has their own method of dealing with that sort of approach and today Joe bit back, that's fine - it doesn't make any difference." England's selection 'extraordinary' - Vaughan Having been bowled out in 51.2 overs with a lead of just 23, England faced a difficult evening session with an already depleted bowling attack having to cope without the injured Chris Woakes.A lively morning session saw Gus Atkinson complete a five-wicket haul as England efficiently mopped up India's lower order once more, but despite much-improved consistency from Josh Tongue in particular, the tourists were not drawn into making the same mistakes later in the day. They were also gifted some assistance from England in the field as Yashasvi Jaiswal, who is unbeaten on 51, was dropped on 20 and 40 and Sai Sudharsan was also put down before he was eventually dismissed by Atkinson for 11. Former England captain Michael Vaughan says that England also have not helped their case with their selections. Batter Jacob Bethell, 21, is making his first appearance of the series and made just six, having played one red-ball match in seven months. Jamie Overton, 31, came in as England were forced into bowling changes because of a shoulder injury to captain Ben Stokes, and with Brydon Carse and Jofra Archer needing to rest, but he has played only four first-class matches since September took 0-66 in India's first innings, made a duck and is so far wicketless for 22 runs from five overs - though the Sudharsan drop came off his bowling."The only thing I'd say on England's selection is they've picked people who have played no cricket and to throw them into this hot bed of international cricket, in front of this amount of people and so many watching on TV screens around the world, it isn't an easy game. "It is no surprise they that looked a bit vulnerable out there - because if you're not going to play cricket, you're not going to have your body used to playing cricket."If you're throwing a 21-year-old into this situation on the back of one first-class match in our summer, I find that absolutely extraordinary. I don't think you're giving a kid the best chance of succeeding at this level." Are England or India on top? Vaughan added that India were just in front of England in terms of the match position, and former India wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta was in agreement."At the end of the day its going to be about pressure and so far in this series this India side have handled pressure well, and it's been a long tour - one more innings to go. You have to keep everything else away and just bat normally."The pitch will get better, it's just about how you handle it. At Lords, it wasn't handled well, at Old Trafford it was handled very well by India." Meanwhile former England captain Sir Alastair Cook said: "I am going England as favourites. On the basis that everyone tells me that the wicket gets better on day three or four."
Telegraph
21 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Brittle England batsmen fail to grind out ugly runs
Already, ahead of this winter's Ashes, this England team had been hailed as 'the most imposing' batting line-up they have sent to tour Australia. Not any more they won't, not after they lost seven wickets in an afternoon session that was only slightly extended. India's seamers reacted well after they had been thoroughly trashed before lunch by Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett: they pitched the ball fuller and got more out of the pitch than England, as they have done for much of the summer except when Ben Stokes has been bowling. Nevertheless, the image that England wanted to take to Australia, of being a 'most imposing' batting line-up, evaporated in the time it took for them to descend from 129 for one to 247 all out with the series on the line. The opening partnership by Crawley and Duckett was dazzling, even by their audacious standards, and threw India completely off their lengths. All that the rest of England's batsmen had to do was to keep out India's seamers – only three of them – until they had tired, and the tourists had to bring on their spinners. An Indian spinner duly emerged after 39 overs, but by then England had lost five wickets and let India back into the game. The lecture delivered over lunch by Professor Morne Morkel, India's bowling coach, must have been an impressive one. The three seamers did not even have to get the ball changed to expose what has lurked beneath the surface of this England side: a brittleness, a reluctance to grind it out and accumulate ugly runs. Since the last Oval Test, less than a year ago against Sri Lanka, England have been dismissed in fewer than 40 overs four times. On this occasion England lasted 51.1 overs, which forced Gus Atkinson and the two surviving seamers to go again, morning and evening. No country has made so many runs in a five-Test series in England as this India side: Jamie Smith has therefore had an enormous task as England's wicketkeeper in the first four Tests of this series but above all in this fifth Test, because Josh Tongue and Jamie Overton have sent Smith diving all over the shop. It was a tired dab with his bat at a 45-degree angle, when Sky Sports's experts had been preaching that the bat had to be either vertical or horizontal on this lively pitch. Why Overton was selected in the first place is a question that could be raised in the House – because he might touch 90mph in a Test this winter? Or because England think he is a useful No 8? Either way, after the call-up of Liam Dawson for the Old Trafford Test instead of Jack Leach, here is an echo of the old days when England's selectors opted for 'bits-and-pieces' players and for bowlers on the grounds that they could bat a bit. It is inexplicable that two bang-it-in bowlers were selected for an Oval green-top in Overton and Tongue. Tongue has worked hard for his place, and he showed at the start of India's second innings that he is no one-trick pony and can pitch the ball up. But if any Overton was to be selected, it should have been the other twin. Jamie has taken two wickets for 164 runs, and had three innings, for Surrey in the championship this season; Craig has taken 27 wickets and had 10 innings for Somerset. Jacob Bethell looked strange when he walked out in white clothes, as if they were borrowed. And since last Christmas he has played one first-class match – one red-ball game, that is, for Warwickshire. He looked a little rusty; he did not read the red ball that Mohammed Siraj swung into him. Bethell, Smith and Overton were blown away at the time when the ball was softening, and when Harry Brook required a partner to stay in. When England last won an Ashes series in Australia, back in 2010-11, their batting line-up consisted of Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook, both to be knighted, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood and Matt Prior. When England toured Australia in 1928-9, their top four batsmen had either reached the landmark of one hundred first-class centuries or were soon to reach it, while another couple of their batsmen scored one hundred first-class centuries but were only selected for one Test each. Time will soon tell how imposing the line-up of this current England side will prove to be. I suspect they will be imposing in their audacity – when the going is good.
Times
24 minutes ago
- Times
Cricket love began slowly but this is my bat summer
I went to my first Test match this week at the Oval to watch India v England. It was my fourth trip to watch cricket. There was that field near Derby to watch the county team: I didn't understand anything but was fascinated by how English it was, observing people as they lugged in their own deckchairs and booze. At one point Ken Clarke, still an MP then, sauntered by and, I swear, play stopped. Then there was a day at Trent Bridge where I began to absorb how overs and innings work. We sat in the 'dry stand' though most people around us found ingenious ways to sneak in drinks. Last summer my friend David and I went to Scarborough to watch Yorkshire and at 'half time' (aka lunch) we could all go on to the ground to have a little go ourselves. But this has been the breakthrough summer. I have been riveted by this Test. I understand the basics now and some of the strategies too. Time takes on another dimension and I don't mind. But as I sat in the stand at the Oval, gently steaming from multiple rain incidents, watching Gus Atkinson bowl with such pace and style, a surprising question flashed through my mind: am I finally English now? It feels as if almost every sip of coffee and every step we take are studied for how they affect us but some important questions remain mysterious. When and how does an immigrant become part of his or her adopted country? This has been on my mind since I moved to England from the States in 1984. The citizenship test may ask us about the Blitz or the Glorious Revolution but I have my own trajectory. There was that moment where I understood that when an English person says they are 'fine', they are not always fine. The word 'nice' is not necessarily nice here. It's a country that can be both deeply tolerant and sometimes intolerant, occasionally in the same sentence. You come here without a sense of humour at your peril. Of course, dear readers, it was you who helped me comprehend the meaning of 'counterpane'. My children have taught me that talking loudly is cause for disinheriting (me). This week I passed the Tebbit test with flying colours. I would have rooted for the Lionesses no matter who they were playing and the same goes for the cricket. I am English now, though I will never sound it. The news from Heathrow that we can reroute the M25 through a tunnel 'overnight' and 'not disrupt motorists' is cause for rejoicing. I am not being negative — far from it. It will be life-changing. Can I note that, for the next month, I cannot even drive to the other end of Faversham as the A2 is being dug up to put in pipes for a new batch of homes. Soon, if we follow Heathrow's example, such endless traffic diversions will be a thing of the past. There will be no need to close roads (a national pastime). No need to thank us for our patience or tell us we can't see any work being done because it's being done overnight. In future, à la Heathrow, it can be done 'offline' and not trouble us at all. It's just magical, isn't it? More news on my Salt Path name (a game that began when we found out that 'Moth' was short for Timothy). I had thought my SP name would have to be 'N' but readers were eager to let me know that it could be 'Enema'. At least it's unusual.
