The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed that an Indian team will tour Sri

Lanka for a short white ball series in July. An office-bearer of the BCCI has endorsed what
president Sourav Ganguly indicated on Monday (May 10). "We have planned a white ball series
for the senior men's team during the month of July where they will play T20 Internationals and
ODIs in Sri Lanka," Ganguly told PTI and the office-bearer confirmed that an Indian team of
white ball specialists will play three ODIs and three T20Is in the island nation.

With the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik
Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yuzvendra
Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, all internationals available, the Indian selectors have sufficient depth to
field a strong team for the series in which it can be confirmed that those who would be in
England will not take part. There is also some talk that Rahul Dravid and his staff at the National
Cricket Academy (NCA) will be asked to accompany the group as coaches. The office-bearer did
not rule out that possibility either.

But the move has raised a larger question of two teams playing at two different corners of the
world which was first envisaged by James Sutherland, a former CEO of Cricket Australia (CA).
"While hosting Tests here, Australia could have its Twenty20 team touring somewhere else. It is
difficult not to see a generation of players coming through with an eye to becoming Twenty20
specialists. As more Twenty20 cricket is played there are clearly opportunities for players to
choose to be specialists," Sutherland had told the Australian media in 2010. When contacted on
Tuesday in the context of the BCCI fielding dual teams, Sutherland said he always saw it
coming. "This was inevitable," he told Cricbuzz.

It is not unprecedented that two Indian teams would be at two different countries. In 1998, India
had fielded one team for the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur and one for the Sahara
Cup in Canada. More recently, an Australian white ball team had travelled to New Zealand while
its Test side was to visit South Africa. That the Test series was cancelled because of Covid
situation is a different point. Last summer, an English side took on Ireland in a three-match white
ball series which was sandwiched between the first and second Tests featuring England and West
Indies.

The dual team issue has brought to the fore an important debate if the International Cricket
Council (ICC) should create a parallel Future Tours Programme (FTP), one specifically for the
red ball games. More so because there are 20 countries under the ICC with ODI status, including
members like the Netherlands, Oman, Scotland, Nepal, UAE, Namibia, United States and Papua
New Guinea. These countries hardly play the bigger nations.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed that an Indian team will tour Sri
Lanka for a short white ball series in July. An office-bearer of the BCCI has endorsed what
president Sourav Ganguly indicated on Monday (May 10). "We have planned a white ball series
for the senior men's team during the month of July where they will play T20 Internationals and
ODIs in Sri Lanka," Ganguly told PTI and the office-bearer confirmed that an Indian team of
white ball specialists will play three ODIs and three T20Is in the island nation.

With the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik
Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yuzvendra
Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, all internationals available, the Indian selectors have sufficient depth to
field a strong team for the series in which it can be confirmed that those who would be in
England will not take part. There is also some talk that Rahul Dravid and his staff at the National
Cricket Academy (NCA) will be asked to accompany the group as coaches. The office-bearer did
not rule out that possibility either.

But the move has raised a larger question of two teams playing at two different corners of the
world which was first envisaged by James Sutherland, a former CEO of Cricket Australia (CA).
"While hosting Tests here, Australia could have its Twenty20 team touring somewhere else. It is
difficult not to see a generation of players coming through with an eye to becoming Twenty20
specialists. As more Twenty20 cricket is played there are clearly opportunities for players to
choose to be specialists," Sutherland had told the Australian media in 2010. When contacted on
Tuesday in the context of the BCCI fielding dual teams, Sutherland said he always saw it
coming. "This was inevitable," he told Cricbuzz.

It is not unprecedented that two Indian teams would be at two different countries. In 1998, India
had fielded one team for the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur and one for the Sahara
Cup in Canada. More recently, an Australian white ball team had travelled to New Zealand while
its Test side was to visit South Africa. That the Test series was cancelled because of Covid
situation is a different point. Last summer, an English side took on Ireland in a three-match white
ball series which was sandwiched between the first and second Tests featuring England and West
Indies.

The dual team issue has brought to the fore an important debate if the International Cricket
Council (ICC) should create a parallel Future Tours Programme (FTP), one specifically for the

"The FTP is cluttered," said Sutherland joining the topic and pointed out the value of the Indian
team and the difficulty of other nations' ability to field two national teams. "International cricket
is highly valuable for the host nation...and India's team is the most sought after (and the busiest)
in the world. (I'm) not sure that many other countries could field more than one team -- but India
have the talent and depth, perhaps England and Australia too could," Sutherland observed.

Ramiz Raja, a former Pakistan captain and also a former CEO of the PCB who was once
involved in drafting the ICC FTP, was guarded, stating that all countries may not be capable of
fielding two national sides while Haroon Lorgat, a former CEO of ICC who had overseen many
FTP drafting, thought the parallel calendar could be a way forward for the game.
Lorgat has felt that the challenge here is to retain the fan base of the teams. "There is an
increasing likelihood (of two FTPs) as the sport grows and players choose to specialise, that
different red and white ball national teams will play at the same time. The challenge will be
around retaining or growing fan and commercial interests," the veteran Cape Town-based
administrator said.

"I would wait and watch," Raja told Cricbuzz cautious that the Test format should not be tested
further. "To have FTP of white ball cricket and run it simultaneously with Test FTP, teams
would need to churn out a spread of vast talent which, barring two or three countries, may be a
bit difficult right now. Also pitting Test cricket against white ball cricket is going to further put
pressure on Test cricket."

One school of thought is that a white ball FTP could give boost to the ODI Super League that the
ICC started last year. At this stage it has only 13 teams - 12 Full Members and one Associate
Member (Netherlands). The Super League cannot be expanded because the Full Members are
mostly busy. The second FTP, in future, could enable an England team taking on a Namibia or
an Indian team clashing with Papua New Guinea which could lead to the spread of the game.

The decision taken by the ECB to rest some of their players for the Test series in India in
February and March while allowing them to then play a full season of the IPL which followed
went down like a bucket of cold sick in many quarters. But Ashley Giles, the ECB's director of
men's cricket, says England's players will not miss international action in order to play in the
rescheduled IPL.

The criticism of the ECB's initial decision intensified as England lost all three series against
India and then was compounded once it became clear that those involved in the latter stages of
the IPL would miss the two Tests against New Zealand in June. There was a chance that as many
as four of England's first choice team would have been missing against New Zealand, one of the
best Test match teams in the world.

Whatever the reasons for the rotation policy and the decision to allow players to play the whole
of the IPL, the optics were clearly not good. England players missing Test matches to play in
another country's domestic T20 league was never going to sit well.

It was not, however, as clear cut as the criticism often made out. According to Giles, the Tests
against New Zealand were only confirmed in January. By then, the ECB had signed No-
Objection Certificates (NOCs), and given their word, that their players could play in the full IPL.
It was felt that it would be wrong to go back on that stance once the additional Tests were added
to the schedule.

As for resting England's multi-format players during the three-month tour to Sri Lanka and India,
Giles maintains that that had nothing to do with the IPL. "We rested and rotated players based on
the information we had on our fixtures," he said. "We didn't rest them because of the IPL. We
were left with incredibly difficult circumstances through Sri Lanka and India.

"We didn't think it right that any of our multi-format players did three months away in bubbles. It
just didn't seem fair beyond anything else and particularly it didn't seem right for their
wellbeing."

The situation will certainly be different if - but more likely when - the IPL is finally completed
after its postponement because of the COVID situation in India. England already have a packed
schedule between the first Test against New Zealand and the end of the tour to the Caribbean
next March, including a T20 World Cup and the Ashes.

The most likely window for the IPL to be squeezed in is between the end of India's Test series in
England in mid-September and that T20 World Cup in October. But England are due to travel to
Bangladesh and Pakistan for limited overs matches then, games that will be important
preparation for the T20 World Cup. If there is a clash, Giles expects that England's players will
be playing for England and not for their IPL franchises.

"I have mentioned to the players a couple of times, we will make difficult decisions on their
workloads and wellbeing," Giles said. "We're planning on the involvement of England players in
England matches. We've got a full Future Tours Programme, if those tours [to Bangladesh and
Pakistan] are going ahead, I'd expect them to be there."

Giles confirmed that the ECB did not consider pulling their players home earlier from the IPL as
the situation in India worsened. "I don't mean that we weren't talking about it or thinking about it
on a daily basis almost every hour that we were awake because that situation was changing a
lot," he said. "I thought our position was to advise and keep communicating with the guys and
give them the latest information that was available to us, which they probably had on the ground
as well.

"But these guys are all grown-ups and they signed these contracts. Their relationships were with
the franchises. But, of course underlying that, absolutely their welfare and their health is very
important to us. But we didn't really feel it was for us to pull them out of that scenario and
probably they were the best judge on the ground. They were in it."

The majority of England players have now returned to the UK - Eoin Morgan is still in the
Maldives having decided to take an earlier flight out of India than he would have been able to get
to the UK - and are midway through their 10-day mandatory quarantine. The postponement of
the IPL means the likes of Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes and Sam Curran may be available for
selection for the opening Test against New Zealand, which begins on June 2 at Lord's.
However, no decision has yet been taken on their involvement. "We're going to treat it on a case
by case basis," Giles said. "All these guys are currently in quarantine and have had a number of
spells in quarantine and bubbles in this last period. Some of it's their choice, I get that. We need
to look after them with the amount of cricket they've got coming up. We're not going to rush or
force them back into cricket.

"With the amount of other cricket we have to play, we almost want to get this tapering towards
the Ashes [at the end of the year]. We have got to get that right. Is that against New Zealand? I
don't know. That's something for us to continue to discuss.

"What we do know, and what's not going to change, is that given the weight of cricket, given the
Ashes series, and we don't know what conditions that's going to be played in at the moment with
regard to a Covid environment, we are going to need a bigger group of players still. We may also
choose against New Zealand to look at some new faces."

The Test series will be the first under the new selection structure announced last month. Ed
Smith's role of National Selector has been removed entirely and responsibility for selection now
sits with Silverwood as head coach. Despite rumours of personality clashes between Smith and a
number of England's players, Giles confirmed the change was about the head coach having
clearer accountability.

"It's a change I've been looking at for some time," Giles said. "For me, it's more modern and it's
cleaner. Let the coach pick the team. His head is on the block. I don't want that to be the headline
but it's a conversation I'd have had with Chris. Don't think things change a lot for you, mate. If
we lose in Australia the pressure is on all of us. It's always the same so you might as well have a
free run at it. It's your team."

© Cricbuzz

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Bangladesh ODI's opener Liton Kumar Das insisted that 'clearing the ropes' is at top of his
agenda as he prepares for the upcoming three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka. The visitors
are expected to arrive on May 16 to play three ODIs between May 23 and May 28 at the Sher-e-
Bangla National Stadium.

Members of the Bangladesh preliminary camp completed their first phase of training at SBNS on
Monday (May 10). They are slated to resume their preparatory camp on May 16 owing to a break
for Eid.
Liton Das, known for his flamboyant drives and cuts, looked desperate to enhance his pinch-
hitting skills on his last day in the nets. Bangladesh's fielding coach Ryan Cook spent time with
him in the nets, feeding him throwdowns for range-hitting practice.

Liton, who has lacked form in recent times, admitted that he is eager to develop his power-hitting
skills in a bid to be a more well-rounded batsman in the international arena.

''For the last two days I was thinking about how to hit the long ball (that would enable me to
clear the ropes) and I am working on it with Ryan Cook,'' says Liton, explaining his approach in
the net session. ''I understand my game much better than before and regularly I try to maintain a
certain process. I know that because I open in white-ball so it is crucial for me to stick it out for
the first 10 overs, after which batting becomes much easier, which I realized during
the Zimbabwe series.

"I know my capabilities and I enjoy both roles equally," said Liton, indicating his need to hone
his fielding skills outside of wicketkeeping, given that Rahim is a permanent fixture behind the
stumps. "I handle the fielding differently because I field in different positions in different
formats. When I am behind the stumps, I feel more responsible to take catches or stumpings, but
when I'm playing white-ball cricket, then I have a different job."

''I prefer getting to the ball as quickly as possible. I believe that's my strength. Everyone should
focus on their strength in the fielding department; some fielders are great at catching, some are
great at running, and others may be extraordinary at throwing. As for me, I know I'm not a quick
runner, so if I don't get to the ball quickly, then it's possible for the batters to take doubles while I
throw the ball to the ends. I do have good hands though, as I'm a keeper, so I can throw it
quickly, and I practice that as much as possible to remain at my best.''

Meanwhile, BCB officials told Cricbuzz that Ryan Cook will be unavailable for the home series
against Sri Lanka as he will be heading home to be with his wife who is expecting a child.

Cook will be the second foreign coach opting out of the Sri Lanka tour, after Ottis Gibson
refused to return to Bangladesh after completing his stint in Sri Lanka. However, it has been
officially confirmed that this would permanent repercussions. ''Both of the coaches will be
available before our next international assignment,'' BCB cricket operations chairman Akram
Khan confirmed to Cricbuzz.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed that an Indian team will tour Sri
Lanka for a short white ball series in July. An office-bearer of the BCCI has endorsed what
president Sourav Ganguly indicated on Monday (May 10). "We have planned a white ball series
for the senior men's team during the month of July where they will play T20 Internationals and
ODIs in Sri Lanka," Ganguly told PTI and the office-bearer confirmed that an Indian team of
white ball specialists will play three ODIs and three T20Is in the island nation.
With the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Hardik
Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yuzvendra
Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, all internationals available, the Indian selectors have sufficient depth to
field a strong team for the series in which it can be confirmed that those who would be in
England will not take part. There is also some talk that Rahul Dravid and his staff at the National
Cricket Academy (NCA) will be asked to accompany the group as coaches. The office-bearer did
not rule out that possibility either.

But the move has raised a larger question of two teams playing at two different corners of the
world which was first envisaged by James Sutherland, a former CEO of Cricket Australia (CA).
"While hosting Tests here, Australia could have its Twenty20 team touring somewhere else. It is
difficult not to see a generation of players coming through with an eye to becoming Twenty20
specialists. As more Twenty20 cricket is played there are clearly opportunities for players to
choose to be specialists," Sutherland had told the Australian media in 2010. When contacted on
Tuesday in the context of the BCCI fielding dual teams, Sutherland said he always saw it
coming. "This was inevitable," he told Cricbuzz.

It is not unprecedented that two Indian teams would be at two different countries. In 1998, India
had fielded one team for the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur and one for the Sahara
Cup in Canada. More recently, an Australian white ball team had travelled to New Zealand while
its Test side was to visit South Africa. That the Test series was cancelled because of Covid
situation is a different point. Last summer, an English side took on Ireland in a three-match white
ball series which was sandwiched between the first and second Tests featuring England and West
Indies.

The dual team issue has brought to the fore an important debate if the International Cricket Council
(ICC) should create a parallel Future Tours Programme (FTP), one specifically for the red ball games.
More so because there are 20 countries under the ICC with ODI status, including members like the
Netherlands, Oman, Scotland, Nepal, UAE, Namibia, United States and Papua

It is not unprecedented that two Indian teams would be at two different countries. In 1998, India
had fielded one team for the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur and one for the Sahara
Cup in Canada. More recently, an Australian white ball team had travelled to New Zealand while
its Test side was to visit South Africa. That the Test series was cancelled because of Covid
situation is a different point. Last summer, an English side took on Ireland in a three-match white
ball series which was sandwiched between the first and second Tests featuring England and West
Indies.

The dual team issue has brought to the fore an important debate if the International Cricket Council
(ICC) should create a parallel Future Tours Programme (FTP), one specifically for the red ball games.
More so because there are 20 countries under the ICC with ODI status, including members like the
Netherlands, Oman, Scotland, Nepal, UAE, Namibia, United States and Papua