Haven't yet decided on No. 4, Bumrah's workload in England Tests: Gautam Gambhir
Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir said on Thursday that no final decision has been made yet on who will fill the crucial No. 4 batting position for India, nor on which three Test matches pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah will feature in during the upcoming series against England.Gambhir and newly appointed captain Shubman Gill spoke at a press conference ahead of the team's departure to England.advertisement"It's always difficult to replace someone like Jasprit Bumrah. But we have enough quality. I have said this before, including during the Champions Trophy, that when he is not there, it's an opportunity for someone else to step up," Gambhir said.
After announcing the Indian squad for the England Test series, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief selector Ajit Agarkar provided an update on Bumrah's availability. He confirmed that Bumrah will not be available for all five Tests in the upcoming tour of England due to workload management concerns.Bumrah's participation in all five Tests has been under question, especially after he stepped aside from the race for Test captaincy citing workload concerns."We haven't taken a call on which three games he will play. We will discuss with him and then decide depending on how the Test series goes. The result of the series is very important, and he knows that. We will take the call after we get there," he added.advertisementReplacing Virat Kohli at No. 4 in India's Test batting line-up is arguably the biggest challenge since Sachin Tendulkar's retirement. Kohli leaves behind a formidable legacy-9230 Test runs, 30 Test hundreds, and over a decade of unmatched consistency. However, India's new Test captain, Shubman Gill, did not reveal any hints about the batting order for the first Test in Leeds on June 20, explaining that the team will undergo a 10-day camp in London where final decisions on the lineup will be made."We haven't really decided on the combination. We still have a little bit of time. We are playing the intra-squad match and a 10-day camp in England. We will decide the squad when we go there," Shubman Gill said when asked about India's batting order in England.ENGLAND VS INDIA, TEST SERIES SCHEDULE IN 20251st Test: June 20-24 - Headingley, Leeds2nd Test: July 2-6 - Edgbaston, Birmingham3rd Test: July 10-14 - Lord's, London4thTest: July 23-27 - Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester5th Test: July 31-August 4 - The Kia Oval, London You May Also Like
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First Post
31 minutes ago
- First Post
Sunil Gavaskar slams uncapped IPL crorepatis, wants BCCI to reward Ranji players better
Sunil Gavaskar has slammed IPL 2025's uncapped crorepatis who only turn up to play league cricket. He urged the BCCI to introduce slab-based Ranji Trophy payments and incentives to stop players from skipping domestic cricket before IPL. read more Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has shared his strong opinions about how some uncapped players in the Indian Premier League (IPL) are getting crores of rupees without proving themselves at the international stage. In his column for Sportstar, Gavaskar said that it is not always talent that helps these players earn big IPL contracts, adding that it's mostly just luck. Gavaskar slams uncapped IPL crorepatis Sunil Gavaskar did not mention any player by name but some of the young, uncapped crorepatis in IPL 2025 were Priyansh Arya (PBKS), Vaibhav Suryavanshi (RR), Nehal Wadhera (PBKS), Rasikh Dar (RCB), Naman Dhir (MI), Abdul Samad (LSG), Ashutosh Sharma (DC), Anshul Kamboj (CSK), Abhinav Manohar (SRH), Mahipal Lomror (GT), Arshad Khan (GT), Gurnoor Singh Brar (GT), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (KKR), Vaibhav Arora (KKR), Vijaykumar Vyshak (PBKS), Yash Thakur (PBKS), Harpreet Brar (PBKS), Shivam Dubey (RR). 'The argument that it is market forces is not really valid, for more often than not, it is sheer good fortune as some franchises want to take a punt with young talent. Have a look at the uncapped crorepatis throughout the IPL, and you will find that very few have gone on to do big things for India. It's their good luck that has made them the crores that they actually don't deserve,' Gavaskar wrote. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Gavaskar also talked about how some domestic players avoid playing Ranji Trophy matches before the IPL, just to avoid getting injured. According to Gavaskar, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) must work to fix this issue by introducing a better payment system. 'The BCCI has increased match fees, which is good. But if they add a slab system where players who play more matches earn more, it will encourage them to play more Ranji games instead of skipping them,' Gavaskar said. Gavaskar also suggested that the BCCI should introduce better incentives for teams that make the knockout stage of the Ranji Trophy. According to Gavaskar, it will motivate players to play the crucial matches before the IPL. 'If BCCI increases match fees for teams that reach the knockout stages, that will be another great incentive. Players won't withdraw from the tournament fearing injury before the IPL. Money is not a problem for BCCI or its units, so I hope these ideas are considered before the next domestic season,' he added.
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
India kick off busy European leg with Dutch test
The Indian men's hockey team will be back in action after more than three months and face off against Olympic champions The Netherlands in the FIH Pro League at Wagener Hockey Stadium in Amstelveen, the Netherlands, on Saturday. It will be a tough test for Harmanpreet Singh & Co as they will be playing the first six matches of this leg of the tournament over a span of just nine days. India will begin their campaign with two matches against the Dutch with a rest day in between. After another rest day, they will play a double header against Argentina. They will then travel to Antwerp, Belgium — about two-and-a-half hours away from Amstelveen — during the rest day, and play another double header against Australia. It's only after that they will get a four-day break following which they will play world champions Belgium twice. Keeping this in mind, head coach Craig Fulton and scientific advisor Alan Tan have worked with the players to get their fitness up to their optimum level over the past few months. And that has involved lots of endurance training, like running up hills or on the tracks and working in the gym. Speaking about it, the coach said on Friday, "I think everything we were pushing for was around being physically conditioned to play against the best teams in the world, starting off with the Netherlands and to be nice and physically ready for them. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Is USDJPY on the Upward Move? IC Markets Sign Up Undo That was the whole reason behind pushing as hard as we have. And yeah, we'll see where and how we go tomorrow (Saturday)." However, the great news for the team is that Harmanpreet, who suffered an injury during the Pro League in Bhubaneswar and missed three of the eight matches, is back to full fitness after undergoing rehabilitation and recovery and looked in good spirits ahead of the European leg of the tournament. Besides fitness, the coach has focused on the other areas of the game as well as he said, "it doesn't help running and not being able to convert". "We've been working a lot on different structures — defensive structures and attacking shapes. So we want to see that come out (in their play). And obviously, we have different opponents, so we have different plans against different teams and we want to try and execute as we go," added Fulton during a virtual press conference. It's going to be challenging but the coach is looking forward to helping the team finish on top of the podium — something that India have failed to do so far — and qualify for the 2026 World Cup to be held in Belgium and the Netherlands. In order to do that, Fulton not only has pushed the players during the training sessions but also made them play three practice matches against Ireland in Dublin — of which they lost one and won two. The coach also made the team watch a rugby game — a first for many of the players — which he believes will help the players a bit more "physically". Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Eid wishes , messages , and quotes !
New Indian Express
2 hours ago
- New Indian Express
Not saying this is my last Classical event: Carlsen after title win
STAVANGER (Norway): Minutes after surviving a final day thriller to stand top of the leaderboard, Magnus Carlsen was coy when asked if he would continue playing Classical chess. 'It's a huge relief after a day like this and in a tournament like this," he told TakeTakeTake. "My struggles have been well documented here. At least I fought till the end, I'm happy with that." Asked if he was going to keep playing classical chess, Carlsen said: 'Not a lot for sure. I'm not going to say this tournament was my last. I enjoy other forms of chess more.' How he prevailed to pocket his seventh Norway Chess title may be made into a movie in time. On a day of high drama, Carlsen and Gukesh, separated by 0.5 points before the last and final round on Friday, were under pressure for vast swathes of their respective games against Arjun Erigaisi and Fabiano Caruana respectively. Gukesh knew he could ill afford a loss as he was trailing. So, he soldiered on, even in an almost lost position. But he knew he could win the tournament because Erigaisi had put the World No. 1 under tremendous pressure for over three hours and change. But once Erigaisi made small inaccuracies, the Norwegian suddenly engineered big counter play chances for himself. When he had the one winning move staring at him in the endgame, he didn't find it. The eval bar restored parity and they repeated their moves three times, signalling a draw. The 34-year-old, who has time and again said that he finds Classical chess a chore, would have likely pushed on for a win if the Indian world champion, Gukesh, was not in a terrible position. But moments after Carlsen and Erigaisi called truce, Caruana blundered and Gukesh had chances of winning the tournament. But under severe time pressure and having defended so resolutely for so long, he jumped at the chance of queening his d pawn rather than holding on to his position. Once he queened, the US player pressed his knight into service to set up a deadly fork. It was game over. The 19-year-old knew the game was up with seconds left on the clock. The defeat in Classical also means that Gukesh will finish third in the standings, a mixed bag of a tournament.
