CHRISTCHURCH: Six touring Pakistan cricketers have tested positive for COVID-19 here, New Zealand Cricket announced on Thursday, alleging a breach of the bio-secure protocol by the visitors who will not be allowed to train while in quarantine for the time being.

A jumbo Pakistan squad, led by Babar Azam, arrived in New Zealand on Tuesday and is serving a mandatory 14-day quarantine period as per COVID-19 protocol.

“Two of these six results have been deemed ‘historical’; four have been confirmed as new,” NZC said in a statement without revealing the names of the players who have tested positive for the dreaded virus.

All six members of the squad will be moved to the quarantine arm of a managed isolation facility.

Pakistan are here for three T20 Internationals and two Tests.

The series begins December 18 in Auckland.

“As a consequence, the Pakistan team’s exemption to train while in managed isolation has been put on hold until investigations have been completed,” the NZC stated.

The home board also spoke of a protocol breach but did not specify the exact nature of it.

“Separately, NZC has also been made aware that some members of the Pakistan team had contravened protocols on the first day of managed isolation.

“We will be having discussions with the tourists to assist them in understanding the requirements,” the NZC statement added.

At least 10 Pakistan cricketers had tested positive for COVID-19 before the team’s England tour earlier this year.

Prior to leaving Lahore, all members of the Pakistan squad returned negative results on the four occasions they were tested.

In addition to the senior squad, Pakistan’s A team is also here to compete in a couple of four-day matches beginning December 10.

New Delhi: Cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir and England’s Michael Vaughan have called for Rohit Sharma’s elevation to India’s T20 captaincy with the former national team opener going to the extent of saying that it would be a “shame” if the star batsman does not get the role.

Rohit led Mumbai Indians to a fifth IPL title on Tuesday, impressing not just with a graceful half-century but also shrewd captaincy. He is currently the national vice-captain for the white-ball formats.

“If Rohit Sharma doesn’t become India’s captain, it’s their loss, not Rohit’s,” Gambhir told ESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time Out program.

“Yes, a captain is only as good as his team and I completely agree with that, but what are the parameters to judge a captain on who is good and who isn’t? The parameters and benchmark should be the same. Rohit has led his team (MI) to five IPL titles.”

MI won an unprecedented fifth IPL title by beating Delhi Capitals by five wickets in Dubai on Tuesday night.

“We keep saying MS Dhoni is India’s most successful captain. Why? Because he has won two World Cups and three IPLs,” Gambhir said.

“Rohit has won five IPL titles, he is the most successful captain in the history of the tournament. Going forward, it’ll be a shame if he doesn’t get India’s white-ball or just T20 captaincy.

“Because he can’t do much more than this. He can only help the team he captains to victories. So if he doesn’t become India’s regular white-ball captain, it will be their loss,” he added.

Gambhir had earlier said that Virat Kohli should be made accountable for Royal Challengers Bangalore’s failure to make the IPL finals in 13 efforts, eight out of which were under Kohli’s leadership.

But the cricketer-turned-politician clarified that he never meant Kohli’s captaincy is “poor”, instead he only suggested that the split captaincy model is the need of the hour.

“They can also consider split-captaincy. No one is poor. Rohit has shown in white-ball cricket how big the difference is between his and Virat’s captaincy. One player had led his team to five titles, the other hasn’t won yet,” said Gambhir, who led Kolkata Knight Riders to two IPL titles.

“I’m not saying this because Kohli is a poor captain. But he has received the same platform that Rohit has, so you have to judge both of them on the same parameters.

“Both have been captains in the IPL for the same length of time. I feel Rohit stands out as a leader.”

“Without question, Rohit Sharma should be the Indian T20 captain .. fantastic man-manager & leader .. & he knows exactly how to win T20 games .. it would also give Virat chance to take a breather and just be the player. it works for all other teams around the world ..#IPL2020,” he wrote.

Another former India opener Virender Sehwag also offered immense praise for Rohit.

“Ab to aadat si hai sabko aise dhone ki. The best T 20 franchisee in the world and the best captain in the format. Deserving winners, Mumbai Indians, koi shak. Amazingly well organized tournament despite various challenges.”

Dubai: Delhi Capitals on Sunday defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad to enter the final of Indian Premier League 2020 that is being held in UAE.

Delhi Capitals will now face Mumbai Indians in the final match on November 10. Chasing the target of 190, SRH only managed to score 172 in their 20 overs.

New Delhi: Former India opener and two-time IPL champion skipper Gautam Gambhir feels Virat Kohli’s non-performance as Royal Challengers Bangalore captain should lead to his removal from the hot seat as it is now a question of accountability.

Known for his straight-talking, the hero of India’s two World title triumphs made it clear that Kohli’s name as a leader shouldn’t be taken alongside the likes of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Rohit Sharma, who are IPL’s most successful captains.

Asked if Kohli should be removed from RCB’s captaincy, Gambhir told ‘ESPNCricinfo’, “100 per cent, because the problem is about accountability. Eight years into the tournament (without a trophy), eight years is a long time.

“Tell me any other captain forget about captain, tell me any other player who would have got eight years and wouldn’t have won the title and would have still continued with it.

“So it has to be accountability,” Gambhir, who led KKR to two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014, said on the show ‘Time Out’.

Gambhir has been a staunch critic of Kohli’s IPL leadership over the years but he insisted that there is nothing personal.

“…but somewhere down the line, he needs to put his hand up and say, ‘yes, I am responsible. I am accountable’.”

Gambhir then cited the example of Kings XI Punjab, who didn’t show patience with Ravichandran Ashwin after the veteran off-spinner failed to deliver as captain for just two seasons.

“Eight years is a long, long time. Look at what happened to R Ashwin. Two years of captaincy (for the Kings XI Punjab), he couldn’t deliver and he was removed.”

For someone like Rohit, who is on the cusp of his fifth title, a long stint as Mumbai Indians captain has been only possible because he has delivered, said Gambhir.

“We talk about MS Dhoni, we talk about Rohit Sharma, we talk about Virat Kohli…not at all. Dhoni has won three (IPL) titles, Rohit Sharma has won four titles, and that’s the reason they’ve captained for such a long time because they’ve delivered.

“I’m sure if Rohit Sharma wouldn’t have delivered for eight years, he would have been removed as well. There should not be different yardsticks for different people.”

Gambhir said it irksome to see Kohli’s reluctance to accept that the buck stops at him.

“You’re the leader, you’re the captain. When you get the credit, you should take the criticism as well.” He even went to the extent of saying that RCB did not deserve to qualify for the play-offs after four successive losses.

“You can keep saying ‘we qualified for the playoffs and we deserved to qualify for the playoffs’, absolutely not. RCB actually never deserved to qualify for the playoffs.”

Gambhir said RCB has increasingly become a side about only two people — Kohli and AB de Villiers.

“And then they should have had a squad, probably if Virat wanted to open, they should have picked a middle-order batter in the auction. But again it was all about Virat and AB (de Villiers).”

It was only de Villiers who came up some match-winning performances to prevent RCB’s season from becoming a total disaster.

“Imagine if AB would have had a bad season, tell me what would have happened to RCB,” Gambhir said.

“He was the one who actually won them two or three games out of seven. I don’t think as a unit they’ve done anything different from what they did last year. It’s exactly the same this year as well.

“Only because you’ve qualified for the playoffs, just because of one individual’s absolute brilliance, it doesn’t make you a strong contender to win the IPL.”

Thanks to the victory, Rajasthan climbed to fifth spot and crucially, improved their net run rate from -0.50 to -0.38.

CHENNAI: In a game Rajasthan Royals needed to win to keep qualification hopes alive, their batsmen rose to the occasion against Kings XI Punjab in Abu Dhabi on Friday. They ended up chasing down 185 with 15 deliveries to spare and seven wickets in hand.

The win makes the top four battle all the more intriguing. Thanks to the victory, Rajasthan climbed to fifth spot and crucially, improved their net run rate from -0.50 to -0.38. At this moment, four teams are on 12 points with a game to go. 

The loss means KL Rahul and his team cannot qualify in the top two positions, but remain in the hunt for a place in the last four.

Rajasthan will take on Kolkata Knight Riders in their last match, with Punjab facing the already eliminated Chennai Super Kings.

It was not supposed to be a straightforward chase, but the intent shown by all the batsmen right from the start suggested the team management had the NRR in mind.

Ben Stokes hit 50 off only 26 deliveries up top and he was aided by Sanju Samson (48 off 25) and skipper Steve Smith (31 off 20). Rahul complained of dew which did not allow his bowlers to find any sort of rhythm.

Earlier, two dropped chances allowed Chris Gayle to power Kings XI Punjab to 185/4. The Jamaican hit 99 off 63 balls which included eight sixes. The penultimate one of those brought up his 1000th six in T20 cricket.

After restricting KKR to 149, Mandeep Singh and Chris Gayle chased down the total comfortably to secure their fifth win on the trot.

When these two sides last met a little over two weeks back, Kings XI Punjab were left stunned as Kolkata Knight Riders pulled off an improbable victory from right under their noses.

The Punjab skipper KL Rahul said after the match that he had had ‘no answers’ to the slump that his team was going through or how they lost that day from a winning position.

They looked down and out, but fast forward to Monday and they look like a completely different side.

This time out, the Punjab outfit thoroughly outplayed KKR to secure an eight-wicket win, and more importantly, they are now fourth in the table and firmly in contention to qualify for play-offs.

After restricting the Kolkata outfit to 149/9, Mandeep Singh (66) and Chris Gayle (51) chased down the total comfortably to secure their fifth win on the trot. 

One of the primary reasons for Kings XI Punjab’s resurgence in IPL 2020 after looking down and out just a couple of weeks back is their efficiency with the ball.

On the other hand, while Kolkata Knight Riders have managed to keep their place among the playoff berths, their batting has been unpredictable and undergoing constant experimentation.

On Monday, when these two met in a crucial encounter that was even billed as a virtual qualifier, the contest between the Mohammad Shami led bowling unit and the KKR batsmen was going to have a huge say on the outcome of the match.

In what was a see-saw battle, Knight Riders posted 149/9 from 20 overs thanks largely to the efforts of Shubman Gill (57) and skipper Eoin Morgan (40).

Other than these two and Lockie Ferguson (24 n.o) who struck a few lusty blows towards the end of their innings, Kings XI bowlers kept a check on their other batsmen.

They got off the blocks in no time. Nitish Rana once again opened the innings, but got out for a golden duck in the first over from Glen Maxwell.

Shami dismissed Rahul Tripathi (7) and Dinesh Karthik (0) in the second over as Kings had their tails up.

While those early setbacks rattled Kolkata, they showed they have enough ammunition to take on any attack and Morgan and Gill started doing some counter-punching.

An 81-run stand steadied their innings and Shami was even smacked for 21 runs in an over with Gill smashing back to back sixes.

That’s when Punjab’s spinners came into the equation and got them timely breakthroughs as Ravi Bishnoi dismissed Morgan and wickets started to fall at regular intervals.

The sight of Gill opening the innings for KKR has been the one constant for their batting lineup which is constantly shuffled otherwise. And the youngster was their top scorer with a well made fifty.

Besides Arshdeep Singh, all the other Punjab bowlers got wickets with Shami getting three as they once again did a commendable job with the ball.

The Kings batsmen did the rest as Mandeep and Gayle stitched together a 100-run partnership that sealed the victory.

New Delhi: World Champion P V Sindhu is in London to prepare for next year’s Asia leg of the Badminton World Federation’s calendar as “her practice was not happening properly” at the ongoing national camp in Hyderabad, her father PV Ramana has said.

The Olympic silver-medallist has been in London for the last 10 days and posted a picture with sports nutritionist Rebecca Randell of the Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI), her training base, on her social media page on Monday.

“She has been in London for last 10 days. We can’t stay with her for two months, so she went alone,” Ramana, who has often spoken on behalf of the shuttler told PTI, refuting reports that she left because of an unspecified dispute in the family.

Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the BWF has been forced to move the World Tour Finals (Jan 27-31) and the two Asia opens (Jan 12-17 and Jan 19-24) to Bangkok in January next year.

Ramana said that the celebrated shuttler was not happy with her training at the national camp.

“Her practice was not happening properly here. After the 2018 Asian Games, Gopi (chief coach Pullela Gopichand) didn’t take interest in her training. He didn’t provide a proper practice partner to train with her.

“She was not having enough quality practice and was fed up with the treatment,” he claimed.

When contacted, Gopichand confirmed that Sindhu had informed him about her move to London but refused to respond to Ramana’s remarks.

“She has gone for that Gatorade training academy, that is the information we have. They have a training institute there. I don’t know the exact details or duration of the program,” he said.

“I don’t want to respond to what her father has to say, if Sindhu says something, I will respond,” he added.

Ramana said Sindhu had informed the Badminton Association of India (BAI) regarding her trip to London and had also kept Gopichand in the loop.

“She had sent a letter to BAI last week about her trip, with a copy to Gopi…and since she will be there for at least eight weeks, she will be practicing with England team. So, she requested BAI to put in a word to Badminton England,” Ramana said.

Sindhu has been part of the national camp for Olympic hopefuls and was training with her Korean coach Park Tae Sang ever since Kim Ji Hyun resigned last year.

She skipped the recently-concluded Denmark Open Super 750 tournament and will next be seen in action at the Asian leg of the adjusted BWF World Tour 2020 in January.

The Hyderabadi will not get a direct entry in the rescheduled World Tour Final as the BWF has decided against handing automatic invitations to current world champions in the season-ending tournament.

New Delhi: New Zealand Cricket’s Gregor Barclay and Imran Khwaja of Singapore are the only two prominent names who will be fighting for the ICC chairman’s post to replace Shahshank Manohar.

October 18 was the last day for filing nominations and a one-month window has been kept by the ICC Board to see if it can have an unanimous candidate.

“As of now, it looks like there will be an election between Barclay and Khwaja, who is ICC’s acting chairman. They are the only two who have filed nominations. Both have their share of support in board,” a senior official, privy to developments in ICC Board

In a 17-member ICC board, 16 can cast their vote (17th member is CEO Manu Sawhney without voting rights) and as per the existing rules, either Barclay or Khwaja would need 11 votes (2/3rd of board) to become the next chairman.

In case Cricket South Africa (CSA) gets suspended by the ICC over government interference, then the number of voters will come down to 15.

However, in case Barclay fails to get 11 votes, Khwaja can still continue as the acting chairman of the ICC. A lot of major Test-playing nations are expected to rally behind Barclay.

While Colin Graves, the former England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman was the favourite to become the next ICC chief, it was learnt that he didn’t file his nomination after it became certain that neither he is an unanimous choice nor does he have the numbers to win an election.

There is a buzz that the BCCI will lend support to Barclay against Khwaja, who is known to be close to a former ICC head, who will actively take interest in the election if it happens.

“Khwaja has some backing from at least two former ICC heads — one who is also among the current Board of Directors and another who is still believed to have control of at least five votes,” the senior official said.

The time in the interim will be used for hectic lobbying and in ensuring that one of the two (ideally Khwaja) pulls out, leading to an unanimous candidate.

CSK are out of play-offs as they only have six points out of 10 games so far. They have four games left in the season.

ABU DHABI: After losing against Rajasthan Royals (RR) by seven wickets, Chennai Super Kings(CSK) skipper MS Dhoni said that the team failed to get going in this season and were not really at the top of their game.

CSK are out of play-offs as they only have six points out of 10 games so far. They have four games left in the season.

Dhoni said the wicket had something for fast bowlers and CSK spinners failed to get the same help as Rajasthan spinners got.

Shreyas Gopal and Rahul Tewatia scalped one wicket each and just gave 32 runs in the eight overs combined which helped them to restrict CSK at 125/5.

“There was a bit for the fast bowlers. The reason I brought on Jadeja was to see how much it’s stopping. But it didn’t stop much. In the second innings I think it got better because our spinners didn’t get the same bite. It’s about going back to the process, and then see if the process is wrong,” Dhoni told the host broadcaster Star Sports after the match.

“We play in front of millions of people so there is nothing to hide. We’re trying a few things. You don’t want to chop and change. Insecurity is something you don’t want to prevail in the dressing room. Fair enough, this season we weren’t really there. Also the youngsters, we didn’t see the spark to push the guys. But what this result has done is give those youngsters a chance in the rest of the tournament,” he added.

RR chased down a total of 126 with seven wickets in hand and 15 balls to spare. Jos Buttler played a match-winning knock of 70 runs while skipper Steve Smith played an unbeaten inning of 26 runs.

Rajasthan was 28/3 at one stage but Buttler and Smith put together an unbeaten stand of 98 runs to take their side over the line. Deepak Chahar was the pick of CSK bowlers as he returned with figures of 2-18 in his four overs.

Batting first, CSK posted a total of 125/5 in the allotted twenty overs. Ravindra Jadeja top-scored for the MS Dhoni-led side as he played an unbeaten knock of 35 runs.

For RR, Shreyas Gopal returned with the best bowling figures as he finished with figures of 1-14 in his four overs.

CSK will now take on Mumbai Indians at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Friday, October 23.