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Captain needed treatment on the field after apparently experiencing discomfort to his groin

Valkerie Baynes10-Jul-2025

Ben Stokes receives treatment from the physio•Getty Images

England face an anxious wait on the fitness of their captain, Ben Stokes, after he pulled up sore while batting on the first day of the third Test against India at Lord’s.Stokes was unbeaten on 39 at the close, having faced 102 balls on a slow day in which the hosts ended on 251 for 4 with Joe Root on 99 overnight.On 32, Stokes took a step forward before leaving a Nitish Kumar Reddy delivery outside off and immediately winced in pain, clutching at his right groin.Related

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He called for the physio and after some on-field treatment returned to his crease. But he was still in visible discomfort, hobbling as he set off for a single and sitting on his haunches trying to loosen up between deliveries. Stokes was stretching again as the second new ball was brought out and Root eyed a century.Akash Deep and Jasprit Bumrah got the ball swinging again immediately – as it had at the start of the day, making the going tough.Root thought he could reach his milestone with a glance behind point on 98 but he only managed a single as Ravindra Jadeja swooped, then beckoned for Root to come back for a second as he held onto the ball, grinning. But there was no way he was risking it, especially with Stokes’ running a concern.Ollie Pope – who faced 104 balls for his 44 before falling to Jadeja on the first ball after tea – was hoping the as-yet-undiagnosed problem would improve overnight.”Fingers crossed he can do something magic and come back strong,” Pope said. “I’ve not seen him since, so fingers crossed there’s nothing too serious. But clearly we’ve got a big Test over the next four days and we’ve got a big two [at Old Trafford and The Oval] coming up as well, so it is important to try and manage him.”As vice-captain, Pope acknowledged he had a part to play in ensuring that Stokes didn’t push himself too hard in spite of the problem.”We’ll see how he pulls up tomorrow, but for me, that is partially one of my roles, to make sure that he doesn’t push himself to a ridiculous place with whatever he’s dealing with at the moment,” Pope said. “I’m sure the physios, the medics will work with him to lay out a plan and then I’ll help push him in the right direction.”2:23

Pope: We’re constantly trying to get batting balance right

Stokes was England’s most effective bowler when they won the opening Test at Headingley, having finally been able to increase his bowling workload after two bouts of surgery to repair tears in his right hamstring in the space of six months.He bowled 19 overs in India’s first innings at Edgbaston and seven at an economy rate of 3.71 in their second before the tourists won by a massive 336 runs, levelling the five-match series 1-1.Stokes’ resurgence as a bowler follows painstaking work after he underwent knee surgery in late 2023. That threw a spotlight on his penchant for exerting himself through any discomfort for the good of the team.With plenty more runs needed before any thoughts turn to his bowling in this match, England will be carefully weighing up what is good for both heading into the second day.

It remains uncertain whether players from overseas will be able to travel to Australia by October

Andrew McGlashan27-Apr-2020There remain more questions than answers about how the next Australia cricket season will look due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, but Australia batter Beth Mooney believes the Women’s Big Bash could be a success as a domestic players only event if international travel remained restricted.The WBBL would be one of the early marquee competitions if the Australian summer followed the same structure to last year. In the 2019-2020 summer, the WBBL was staged from mid-October to early December as a standalone event for the first time rather than being run concurrently with the BBL. Despite being staged outside of the peak holiday season, it was considered a significant success and attracts international talent from around the world.ALSO READ: Cricket Australia mulls five India Tests behind closed doorsHowever, while Australia is making positive progress in tackling the coronavirus – and there are overtures about some exemptions to travel restrictions – there remains a great deal of uncertainty whether border restrictions will have lifted enough to allow an influx of overseas players by October, which is also leaving significant doubt over the men’s T20 World Cup.”I’m sure those conversations will continue to happen and worst-case scenario, we might have to keep it as a domestic tournament for this year, but I think that would provide good opportunity for young players and really show the depth we have in Australian cricket,” Mooney said”The real positive thing that’s happening at the moment is the fact that the AFL and NRL are trying to get up and running. Sport is a huge part of the Australian public’s lives and we want to give something for people to feel joy about and watch in isolation. So there’s a real positive that they’re moving slowly towards bringing back elite sport and i think that will hold us in good stead for a WBBL to happen.”Among the other multiple moving parts for the women’s game is the potential impact on the 50-over World Cup in New Zealand next February if other events before then – notably the T20 World Cup – have to be moved. There is also the looming problem of the qualifying event which is due to be held in Sri Lanka in July, which looks unlikely at the moment.Mooney acknowledged that there are issues beyond sport being dealt with at this unprecedented time but hoped that with nine months still to go before the World Cup that the situation would be resolved.”You want to be playing as much cricket as you can and a one-day World Cup is one of those things that’s always in your calendar and eye line as a cricketer,” she said. “There’s bigger things in play so if it was to get moved I don’t think anyone would be too disappointed if it was because we were trying to take care of people.”There’s a bigger picture in the cricket landscape as well trying to fit everything in from the male and female programs. At this point we are a long way off, have a lot of time up our sleeve, New Zealand’s summer aligns with ours so hopefully time is on our side and helps us get a World Cup in February.”Mooney was also confident that if the build-up to the World Cup was disrupted Australia would still be able to get themselves in shape for the tournament.”The real positive about the Australian women’s team is that we’ve been professional for a few years now,” she said. We’ve kept the same core group of players across that time. We’ve also played a lot of cricket in the last 18-24 months, so I actually don’t think it will take us a really long time to get back in the groove of it.”

Dan Mousley top-scores in run-chase as Hudson-Prentice efforts are in vain

ECB Reporters' Network13-Jun-2021England all-rounder Chris Woakes marked his first appearance of the season by guiding Birmingham Bears to a three wicket victory over Derbyshire Falcons in the Vitality Blast game at Derby.Woakes took 2 for 38 and struck an unbeaten 13 off five balls to take the Bears to 161 for 7 in reply to the Falcons 160 for 8.Fynn Hudson-Prentice top scored for the Falcons with 41 off 22 balls while Dan Mousley hit 56 off 40 for the Bears who won with an over to spare.Luis Reece got the Falcons moving by driving Danny Briggs for six but then top-edged a sweep at the next ball.Woakes was pulled for six by Harry Came but he shattered his stumps with the next ball as the Falcons were restricted to 47 for 2 at the end of the powerplay.Billy Godleman cut Jake Lintott to point and Matt Critchley sliced Carlos Brathwaite to the same position before Leus du Plooy drove Lintott to long on.The Bears had restricted Derbyshire to 26 from five overs but misfields and a missed stumping which reprieved Hudson-Prentice on 21 helped the Falcons post a competitive score.Hudson-Prentice drove Craig Miles for six and carved him for four in the 18th over but was run out in the next and after Brooke Guest skied Brathwaite to backward square, Michael Cohen ended the innings by lifting Woakes for six.The Bears started badly, losing Pieter Malan, who bagged a pair in the championship match at Derby, caught at point for a duck off Logan van Beek in the first over.Ed Pollock was brilliantly caught by Godleman diving at mid off and when Will Rhodes was caught down the leg side off George Scrimshaw, the Bears were 20 for 3 after four overs.Indisciplined bowling got the Bears back on track with Sam Hain driving Hudson-Prentice for six in an over that cost 14 but then failed to clear long off.The Falcons regrouped and although Mousley reached his 50 by hooking Scrimshaw for six, Critchley had him caught at long on to leave the Bears needing 35 off the last four.Critchley took a fine diving catch at long off to remove Michael Burgess for 22 and although Brathwaite holed out to deep midwicket, Woakes hit van Beek for six and four to settle it.

Balbirnie to open with Stirling, Getkate and McClintock recalled to add middle-order power

ESPNcricinfo staff25-Nov-2021Ireland have left Kevin O’Brien out of their T20 squad for upcoming tours to USA and West Indies.O’Brien, 37, opened for Ireland during a disappointing T20 World Cup campaign in which they failed to qualify for the Super 12s. Having retired from ODI duty earlier this year, O’Brien scored 39 runs over three World Cup games as Ireland defeated Netherlands before being knocked out of Super 12s contention through defeats to Sri Lanka and Namibia.Shane Getkate and William McClintock have been recalled to the 15-man T20I squad in a bid to beef up the middle-order, while Ben White, the 23-year-old legspinner who made his T20I debut against South Africa in July, earned a maiden call-up to the ODI squad.Andrew Balbirnie will captain across both formats, starting with two T20Is and three ODIs – all to be played in Florida – from December 22 before travelling to the Caribbean on New Year’s Eve.

USA fixtures

• 1st T20I: December 22

• 2nd T20I: December 23

• 1st ODI: December 26

• 2nd ODI: December 28

• 3rd ODI: December 30

*West Indies tour dates and venues TBA

Left-arm seamer Josh Little will miss the T20 leg of the USA tour while playing in the Lanka Premier League. Gareth Delany, Getkate and McClintock will play the T20Is only and Andy McBrine, William Porterfield and Harry Tector will play just the ODIs.Andrew White, Ireland’s chair of national men’s selectors, said the need to find improvements after the T20 World Cup and before the T20 World Cup Qualifier early next year had influenced selection, particularly in that format, with Balbirnie to open the batting alongside Paul Stirling and Getkate and McClintock expected to add firepower further down.”We had hoped that we could have avoided the need to qualify for next year’s T20 World Cup through advancing to the Super 12 stage of the last tournament, but our early exit means that our transition and succession planning horizons have been shortened somewhat,” White said.”The USA and West Indies tour has taken on a greater sense of importance – and indeed, a greater sense of urgency regarding some of the tactical changes we need to consider.”One of the hardest selection calls has been to omit Kevin O’Brien from this tour. Kevin has been an instrumental part of our senior squads for many years, and played a key role at the top of the order in the T20 format in recent years. However, with the T20 World Cup Qualifier just around the corner, the selectors want to try a different dynamic at the top of the order, and enable greater power-hitting potential in the middle order.”The statistics don’t lie – in T20Is we have had a problem for a while now with boundary and six-hitting – particularly outside the powerplay overs. We see the way that the best sides can accelerate their scoring rates and access the boundaries during the latter overs of an innings, and we have lacked that in recent times.”Meanwhile, Cricket Ireland announced that David Ripley, the former Northamptonshire head coach and player, would take over as Ireland men’s head coach on a three-month contract under a new interim coaching structure following the departure of Graham Ford last week.The new interim arrangements will be in place until the end of February and will take in Ireland’s tour of USA and West Indies as well as the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier while Cricket Ireland looks to recruit a new full-time head coach.Ripley will be joined by North West Warriors head coach Gary Wilson on a three-month secondment as assistant coach, with Ireland Under-19s coach Ryan Eagleson as the senior interim bowling coach.Ripley worked with Stirling at Northants during the T20 Blast season last year and is a former team-mate of White. He is moving into a new coaching role with Northants after stepping down as head coach at the end of the 2021 season.”I am honoured to be joining Cricket Ireland for the next three months,” Ripley said. “It’s a really exciting opportunity and one I intend to make the very most of, giving Andrew Balbirnie, the players and the staff all my support and experience. The cricket ahead looks exciting and qualification for the T20 World Cup is our priority.”Ireland T20I squad: Andrew Balbirnie (capt.), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Shane Getkate, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, William McClintock, Neil Rock, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White, Craig YoungIreland ODI squad: Andrew Balbirnie (capt.), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Josh Little, Andy McBrine, Barry McCarthy, William Porterfield, Neil Rock, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White, Craig Young.

Cricket West Indies also approved a new committee to work towards achieving equality for women’s players

ESPNcricinfo staff19-May-2023West Indies women will now fly business class for long-haul international flights and stay in single rooms for international games, bringing them level with the travel policy for the men’s teams, according to Cricket West Indies (CWI).These decisions were made at the first CWI board of directors meeting following the election of new president Kishore Shallow in March.”The women’s game in international cricket continues to evolve, and CWI must keep apace and, where possible, lead,” Shallow said. “Introducing these policies and adding a second female to the board as an independent director are monumental strides in the right direction.”CWI also approved a new committee – the Women’s Cricket Transformation Committee – to work towards achieving equality for women’s players.”The committee’s remit will include but not be limited to recommending strategies geared towards increasing the interest and participation of women and girls in the sport, as well as proposing cricket competitions, events, and pathways that foster competitive women’s and girls’ cricket,” CWI said in a statement.”We welcome this move by CWI in the quest to achieve greater equality within our work environment among our cricketers,” Wavell Hinds, the president and CEO of the West Indies Players Association, said. “We look forward to achieving similar goals in our ongoing negotiations on the renewal of our MOU for another four-year period.”West Indies women play Ireland in June and July, followed by a tour of Australia in October, where they will play three ODIs and three T20Is.

Kent could only manage 137, but that was made to look a significant total as Northamptonshire’s batting was blown away

ECB Reporters Network04-Sep-2018
ScorecardKent pace bowler Matt Henry bagged 6 for 31 to leave Northamptonshire reeling on 71 for 8 when bad light and rain ended prematurely an action-packed opening day of Specsavers County Championship action.On a thrilling day when 18 wickets fell, Henry – the New Zealand Test paceman – took his season’s red-ball wicket tally to 56 as the Division 2 promotion hopefuls recovered from a poor batting display to leave the visitors punch drunk and still 66 runs in arrears by the time the umpires stopped the contest and took the sides off for bad light just before 5pm.Northamptonshire, who started their first innings response at 2.42pm, struggled to cope with the guile of Darren Stevens and the pace of Henry, the Championship’s leading wicket-taker.Henry, who went into the game with 50 scalps to his name at an average of 15.84, forced Ben Curran to play on to leg stump and then plucked out the middle and off stumps of Ricardo Vasconcelos after rushing one through the South African left-hander’s gate.Stevens snared Luke Proctor leg before with an in-swinger, Henry re-arranged Alex Wakely’s poles with a yorker and then Richard Levi scooped a rearing delivery from Henry to square leg to send the visitors in at tea on 31 for 5.Three overs after tea, Saif Zaib feathered an attempted leg-glance against Stevens through to the keeper then, three balls later, Henry sent Nathan Buck’s off stump cartwheeling to secure his fifth five-wicket return of the summer.Northamptonshire limped past their lowest ever score against Kent – 39 all out at Wantage Road in 1907 – but with their score on 44 Adam Rossington’s top edged pull against Henry skied to long leg.Henry gave way after 12-overs as did Stevens, with 2 for 26, allowing Brett Hutton and Richard Gleeson to add a precious 27 before the players went off for bad light.Batting first after an uncontested toss, Kent’s top-order were soon in trouble against the new ball and under leaden skies and had lost both openers within five overs.Zak Crawley, fending down the line of off stump, feathered a Hutton away-swinger through to the keeper, then, seven balls later, Sean Dickson went back and across his stumps to miss an off-cutter from Ben Sanderson and depart leg before.Experienced third-wicket partners Joe Denly and Heino Kuhn took advantage of the short St Lawrence boundaries to keep the board ticking over at a decent rate and raise the home 50 after 15 overs. But, with his score on 16, Kuhn played around a full, in-swinger from Buck to also go lbw.Having batted 76 minutes for his 14, Denly’s late decision to withdraw the bat outside off stump against Gleeson proved fatal as the ball glanced off the bat face and through to the keeper.Batting under floodlights after lunch, Kent’s position quickly became gloomier as they lost their last six wickets for 46 runs inside 18 overs.Sam Billings nicked off against Gleeson, Stevens prodded at Sanderson to become the third leg before victim and, having scratched around for 98 minutes for 23, Daniel Bell-Drummond edged behind.Sanderson ran one in off the seam to peg back Grant Stewart’s off stump, then Buck polished the job off with two wickets in as many balls. Henry heaved across the line to lose off stump then Ivan Thomas was caught on the crease and palpably leg before as Kent succumbed inside 47 overs with Gleeson, Sanderson and Buck claiming three wickets apiece.Gleeson suggested the pitch was nothing out of the ordinary.”To bowl them out for 137 you think ‘great start’ but they bowled tremendously in helpful conditions,” he said. “It’s not really brightened up all day, it’s stayed overcast and the wicket has been doing a little bit throughout.”When we turned up we felt the wicket looked quite flat and that we were in for a long toil, but it doesn’t look that way from the scoreboard. The pitch has done a little bit, but nothing out of the ordinary. They were just very tough overhead conditions all day.”

But he still believes there is a future for ODI cricket, and says players ‘still want to win 50-over World Cups’

Firdose Moonda24-Jul-2022Quinton de Kock’s retirement from Test cricket has not created space in his calendar because he has chosen to play in T20 leagues, but he has no regrets over his decision to give up the longest format. De Kock quit Tests late last year, shortly before becoming a father for the first time, citing a desire to spend more time at home, but that wish has not quite come true just yet.”It hasn’t freed up my calendar – at least not this year,” de Kock said, in his first press engagement since stepping away from Tests. “I’ve been roped in to play a couple of leagues but that’s my own consequence. I am happy to do it. It’s still a sacrifice but I’m slowly getting to an age where I need to think about where I want to be in my career. As long as I can do it at my own pace then I am happy.”Related

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After de Kock returned from paternity leave to play in South Africa’s white-ball matches against India in January, he had almost two months off before a series against Bangladesh but he has been on the go since then. He played for the Lucknow Super Giants at the IPL, for South Africa against India, is now in England, and will also play The Hundred and the CPL before another white-ball series in India followed by the T20 World Cup.And he acknowledged that it’s becoming more difficult to decide what to participate in and that for many players, dropping a format is the only option. “It’s going to start being tough for players – three formats is a lot and it looks like more games are happening over the calendar,” he said. “Players need to make decisions individually and if they feel they can do it [play all three formats], I am happy for them. But guys need to take decisions into their own hands. For me, I am happy where I am.”Despite many predicting a slow death for ODI cricket, de Kock still has faith in the format, hopes South Africa will play more 50-over cricket, and has indicated he will keep at it for now. “I want to say we need to play more games but I don’t see where,” he said. “The [ODI] game is doing well for itself with the way players are going about it and from a batting and bowling competitiveness. There’s a future for it and a lot of us still want to win 50-over World Cups. There’s a lot to play for.”de Kock encouraged newer players to continue pursuing all three formats and said that it only becomes difficult to fit all in as you age or your priorities change. “When you’re still young you need to play all three formats and get certain things done in your career,” he said. “It starts getting harder as you start getting older and the body doesn’t cooperate like it used to. It’s just a management thing.”

Mandhana’s 46 helped Brave to 153 for 8, and Invincibles never got going in the chase

Matt Roller14-Aug-2022Oval Invincibles are defending champions in the Hundred and eased to a nine-wicket win on the opening night of the women’s competition on Wednesday. But three days later, their season is in turmoil after they made a shock call to omit captain Dane van Niekerk from their side, then slipped to a 12-run defeat against Southern Brave in a rematch of last year’s final in the south London sunshine.Marizanne Kapp was fit to return after missing the opening game through illness and her return demanded a tough call, with four top-class overseas players in the squad and only three permitted in the playing XI. Jonathan Batty, Invincibles’ head coach, was expected to leave out Suzie Bates, but her innings of 46 off 34 against Northern Superchargers saw her keep her place.Instead, van Niekerk made way, and Invincibles never got going in her absence. Smriti Mandhana hit the first two balls of the innings for four after Bates, deputising as captain, chose to bowl, and her innings of 46 led Brave to 153 for 8, the highest women’s Hundred total at The Oval. In the chase, Kapp, Bates and Lauren Winfield-Hill made bright starts, but failed to turn their cameos into innings of substance as Brave’s spinners closed out a comfortable win in front of a 14,525 crowd.Mandhana magic
Mandhana missed the final week of the Hundred last year, returning home to see her family before flying to Australia for India’s tour, and their batting wasn’t the same without her: in the final, they folded to 73 all out – which represented something of a recovery from 14 for 6. While there is no guarantee she would have kept out Kapp’s high-class opening spell on that day, this was a reminder of what Brave had missed.She was up and running immediately, creaming her first ball – from Kapp, no less – through the covers for four and hit six fours in her first 13 deliveries, punishing Kapp and Shabnim Ismail when they missed their lengths. When she slog-swept Mady Villiers for four at the start of the ninth, she was a hit away from a half-century after just 24 balls, but was beaten in the flight by her 25th and stumped by Winfield-Hill.”I was timing the ball well,” Mandhana told Sky Sports at the interval. “When you get a first-ball boundary, that gives you a lot of confidence. I was really disappointed to get out – I think it’s a crime to get out in the 40s after batting so well – and really disappointed that I couldn’t play at least until the 90th ball.”Sophia Smale had the wickets of Danni Wyatt and Tahlia McGrath to show•ECB/Getty Images

Brave keep coming
Invincibles took regular wickets through the middle phase, with 17-year-old left-arm spinner Sophia Smale keeping a lid on the scoring, but Charlotte Edwards has made a point of building a side with a long batting line-up and they continued to attack throughout the innings: Mandhana aside, no batter reached even 25 but their intent dragged them up to a defendable total.Freya Kemp and Georgia Adams’ partnership of 45 off 24 balls for the sixth wicket was particularly crucial, and highlighted the extent to which Brave’s lower-order firepower has emboldened their batters to attack: rather than a major setback, each dismissal resembles one batter handing the baton over to the next.Oval’s overseas dilemma
Batty’s decision to leave out his captain, and the MVP across the tournament’s first season, was a gamble that backfired. “She led them to the trophy last year,” Lydia Greenway said on Sky. “From a coach’s point of view, if you feel like you need to make a big call like that, you have to go for it. The challenge they will have is if they lose today, how will they manage that?”In her absence, Invincibles needed their overseas trio to step up and prove their worth; perhaps inevitably, they struggled to make any impact. Kapp and Ismail were uncharacteristically loose with the new ball and at the death, returning combined figures of 0 for 67 from 40 balls. With the bat, Bates hit 15 off 8 balls and Kapp crunched 19 off 9, but both fell without making a lasting impact.With Alice Capsey sidelined due to the ankle injury she picked up fielding in Invincibles’ opening game, their domestic players were left with too much to do. Ryana Macdonald-Gay’s late hitting put a dent in Amanda-Jade Wellington’s figures but by then, tight spells from part-time offspinners Adams (2 for 16 from 20) and Danni Wyatt (2 for 16 from 10) had seen the asking rate spiral out of control.

Squad takes week off ahead of series decider at Oval after three-day loss

Firdose Moonda30-Aug-2022Smarting from their defeat inside three days at Old Trafford, South Africa have taken the week off and will break away to the West Midlands before resuming training in London on Saturday.No further details have been provided about their itinerary except that they will “stay together as a group” and engage in team activities including golf rather than have individual time away, as was initially discussed. Speaking after the second Test, Dean Elgar said they would use the time to reconnect, to “pull ourselves towards ourselves”, and “don’t forget why we are here”.The mood is somewhat different to the one the team had after beating England in three days at Lord’s. Players were given the remaining two days off to do as they pleased with the only instruction to “be back at the hotel for an 11 o’clock leaving time otherwise it’s an expensive Uber to Manchester,” Elgar said.Related

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The gap between the second and third Test was initially scheduled for nine days to accommodate the Hundred’s final week. That became 11 days after England stormed to an innings-and-85-run win. South Africa remained in Manchester for what would have been the final two days of the Test and will leave for their getaway on Tuesday.While Elgar emphasised they would like to get away from cricket to a degree, South Africa will not be able to avoid addressing questions over their game, especially as the decider looms. Chief among South Africa’s considerations will be how to juggle the batting line-up after they were dismissed for under 200 in both innings.Rassie van der Dussen has returned home with a finger injury and will be replaced by one of Ryan Rickelton or Khaya Zondo, but both reserve batters could come into contention given Aiden Markram’s poor form.Allrounder Wiaan Mulder, who has been playing at Leicester, has been added to the squad in van der Dussen’s absence, and provides another option in the lower middle-order.

IPL COO Hemang Amin has informed franchises that players who had been replaced in the tournament’s first leg can be brought back

Nagraj Gollapudi14-Aug-2021Shreyas Iyer and T Natarajan are fit for action again, and are eligible for a return for the remainder of IPL 2021 as the BCCI has allowed franchises to bring back players they had lost because of injuries – or had replaced for personal reasons – in the first part of the competition.Earlier this week, the IPL’s chief operating officer Hemang Amin had told the franchises that the deadline for submitting the list of replacement players would be August 20: “If in case any player who was injured or unavailable during the India leg of IPL 2021 and is now fit or available then the franchise which had taken a replacement player [due to] such previous unavailability, will need to elect [either] one of them.”Amin has explained that the players who had been brought in as replacements but were not going to be retained for the second leg would be put into the IPL’s registered pool of players. But if the original player is released, then he will not be part of the registered pool.Related

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Iyer, the designated Delhi Capitals captain, was ruled out of the IPL, which started in April, after he dislocated a shoulder in March while fielding during the ODI series against England in Pune. Rishabh Pant took over the captaincy following the update. But Iyer has since been passed fit to play, and it is understood that Iyer, along with Capitals’ assistant coach Pravin Amre and trainer Rajnikanth Sivagnanam, arrived in Dubai on Saturday and will join the rest of the contingent next weekend after serving the mandatory week-long quarantine. Capitals are yet to announce whether Iyer will take the leadership duties back from Pant.Under Iyer, Capitals made the IPL playoffs in 2019 and in 2020, finishing runners-up the last time. This season, too, they have started well, leading the points table with six wins and two losses in eight matches.As for Natarajan, his return should come as a shot in the arm for Sunrisers Hyderabad, who are currently bottom of the table with just one win in seven matches this season. Natarajan had been hampered by a sore knee and was forced to abort the IPL in late April and undergo surgery subsequently.Several players, including the Australian trio of Mitchell Marsh, Josh Hazlewood and Josh Philippe, had skipped the IPL this year to manage their workloads, as well as deal with the stress of living in bio-bubbles because of the Covid-19 pandemic.The second half of the IPL – of 31 matches – will be played in the UAE between September 19 and October 15.List of replacements during the India leg of the 2021 IPL
Kolkata Knight Riders: Gurkeerat Singh replaced Rinku SinghChennai Super Kings: Jason Behrendorff replaced Josh HazlewoodSunrisers Hyderabad: Jason Roy replaced Mitchell MarshRajasthan Royals: Gerald Coetzee replaced Liam LivingstoneRoyal Challengers Bangalore: Scott Kuggeleijn replaced Kane Richardson, Finn Allen replaced Josh PhillipeDelhi Capitals: Anirudh Joshi replaced Shreyas Iyer