Cricket-Australia's Fraser-McGurk to skip remainder of rescheduled IPL
(Reuters) -Australian batsman Jake Fraser-McGurk has opted out of the rest of the Indian Premier League citing "personal reasons" as uncertainty lingers over the participation of other overseas players when the tournament resumes on Saturday.
Several foreign players are deciding on whether to return to the lucrative Twenty20 tournament which restarts after its week-long suspension following the ceasefire between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan over the weekend after days of fighting.
Fifth-placed Delhi Capitals said in a statement they would replace Fraser-McGurk, who has scored 55 runs in six games after being signed for 90 million Indian rupees ($1.06 million), by bringing in Bangladesh seamer Mustafizur Rahman.
Cricket Australia said on Tuesday it was working with the Indian board (BCCI) on security arrangements, with several of their players including pacers Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc pondering their return to the country.
British media reports said English players involved in the league would meet with the Professional Cricketers' Association before taking a call.
Chennai Super Kings' Jamie Overton is also out, Indian media reported on Wednesday, with the all-rounder selected by England for their white-ball home series against the West Indies from May 29.
The IPL final will be held on June 3, eight days before the World Test Championship final between Australia and South Africa at Lord's.
($1 = 85.2420 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in BengaluruEditing by Christian Radnedge)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Motor racing-Scarred Norris has a nose for success
FILE PHOTO: Formula One F1 - British Grand Prix - Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Britain - July 6, 2025 McLaren's Lando Norris being interviewed after winning the British Grand Prix REUTERS/Jaimi Joy/File Photo SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium (Reuters) -Formula One title contender Lando Norris is scarred by success. He also has a nose for it. The McLaren driver now sports two scars on his nose, each a memento of a career milestone, and the Briton is not altogether unhappy about it. The first cut was acquired in Amsterdam last year on a broken glass while on a party weekend, days before he took his breakthrough maiden career F1 victory in Miami. The second injury came at Silverstone this month while he was celebrating a first home win in front of fans at the British Grand Prix and a mesh fence partially collapsed and a photographer fell on him. "It's healing nicely now," Norris, laughing, told reporters when asked at the Belgian Grand Prix about the latest facial injury. "I got a more professional repair on this one. "But both are great memories of mine. So if I ever want to look in the mirror and think of something great, I just look at my nose. It was a little shame because at that moment I wanted to stand on the pit straight and all the fans were there, so I missed out a little bit on a nice moment. My nose is unlucky at the moment." Norris is second in the championship at the midpoint, eight points adrift of Australian teammate Oscar Piastri. He has won four times this season, including the showcase Monaco Grand Prix. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Mitch Phillips)
New Straits Times
7 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Indian football 'hurt, scared' as domestic game hits fresh low
NEW DELHI: Former Fifa president Sepp Blatter once called India a "sleeping giant" of football, but the sport is mired in fresh crisis in the country and faces problems from the top down to grassroots. The men's national team are without a coach and the Indian Super League (ISL) – India's top competition – is in danger of collapsing over a dispute between the federation and its commercial partner. "Everybody in the Indian football ecosystem is worried, hurt, scared about the uncertainty we are faced with," Sunil Chhetri, the celebrated veteran striker, wrote on X about the fate of the ISL. The former national skipper unwittingly summed up one of the issues facing Indian football when he came out of international retirement in March aged 40. The striker has 95 goals for his country and is only behind Cristiano Ronaldo (138), Lionel Messi (112) and Ali Daei (108) in the all-time international scoring charts. His best days are well behind him, but with no younger replacements coming through he returned to the national side. India's men are 133rd in the Fifa rankings – their lowest placing in nearly a decade – and have won just one of their last 16 matches. They have never reached the World Cup and Spaniard Manolo Marquez stepped down this month as head coach after just one year and one win in eight games. His last act was to oversee a 1-0 defeat in Asian Cup qualifying to Hong Kong, population 7.5 million to India's 1.4 billion. The ISL is usually played between September and April. But a rights agreement between the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), the company which runs the ISL, ends on Dec 8 and is yet to be renewed. The league is now paralysed ahead of the new campaign and the uncertainty has affected over 5,000 players, coaches, staff and others. National football team director and former captain Subrata Paul is confident the sport in India – a country obsessed with cricket – will come out stronger. "Indian football, like any growing ecosystem, will face its share of challenges and transitions," Paul, regarded as one of India's best-ever goalkeepers, told AFP. "I see this as a time to pause, reflect and refocus. Yes, the recent results and the uncertainty around the ISL are difficult for all of us who love the game, but I see a silver lining as well. "It's an opportunity to strengthen our foundation by investing in youth development, infrastructure and quality coaching." The franchise-based ISL started in 2014 as a league that brought global stars including Italy's Alessandro Del Piero to India, and aimed to promote the game in a new avatar. Bur rather than boom, the ISL has seen dwindling TV ratings and falling sponsor interest. Football's global bosses have long been keen to tap the potential that India has as the world's most populous country. Arsene Wenger, the former Arsenal manager and now Fifa's chief of global football development, visited in 2023 to inaugurate an academy. AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey – who is also a politician with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party – last month met Wenger, who has backed India's football development, particularly at grassroots level. Chaubey said Wenger believes starting football at 13 years of age, as is the norm in India, is too late. Players should start by eight, he said. While India have never reached the World Cup and again will be absent in North America next year, there has been modest success in the distant past. India qualified for the Olympics four times between 1948 and 1960. At the 1956 Melbourne Games India came fourth after losing the bronze-medal match to Bulgaria. Blatter in 2007 called India a "sleeping giant" – but it remains in a deep slumber. Football is a distant third in popularity in India after cricket and hockey, with the eastern city of Kolkata and the southern state of Kerala hotspots for the sport. Compounding that, there has long been mismanagement by Indian football chiefs, said veteran sports journalist Jaydeep Basu. "The fact that the team which was ranked 99 in September 2023 has come down to 133 basically shows poor management," Basu told AFP. "There is a caucus working in the AIFF of two or three people who are running the show for their own benefit," added Basu, who recently authored a book, "Who stole my football?"
The Star
7 hours ago
- The Star
Olympics-India sets house in order, targets doping menace to boost 2036 bid
FILE PHOTO: Olympic rings are pictured outside the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ahead of newly elected President Kirsty Coventry first Executive Board meeting at the Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland, June 25, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo NEW DELHI (Reuters) -The usually fractious Indian Olympic Association (IOA) put on a united front and declared a war against doping on Thursday to boost the country's bid to host the 2036 Games in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad. The world's most populous nation, which staged the 2010 Commonwealth Games in its capital New Delhi, has confirmed bidding for the 2036 edition of "the greatest show on earth". Indonesia, Turkey, and Chile are also bidding for the 2036 Olympics, and Qatar on Tuesday became the latest country to show interest in hosting the Games. An Indian delegation visited the International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquarters in Lausanne this month and media reports said the IOA was told to put its house in order and address the threat of doping. IOA President P.T. Usha spoke to media on Thursday, accompanied by several executive council members, who discussed a no-confidence motion to oust her last year. "What came out (in the media) was probably exaggerated," executive council member Harpal Singh told reporters. "In the interest of the nation, we have resolved all those minor differences within ourselves. "I assure you that going forward, we will strongly stand united and bid for the 2036 Olympic Games." The IOA has decided to address the country's dismal doping record in recent years. Rohit Rajpal, another IOA executive council member, said India had made "significant strides" but an "organised racket" stood in the way of cleaning up sports. "All these areas are going to be attacked by all of us in a very aggressive manner, and hopefully we'll have a free-and-fair sport," Rajpal said after announcing a new anti-doping education programme. IOA chief executive Raghuram Iyer was upbeat about India's chances of getting the 2036 Games. "We are in the stage of continuous dialogue with the IOC," said Iyer. "It's a lot about sustainability, athlete-centric work and the legacy that you're going to leave." With new IOC President Kirsty Coventry pausing the venue selection process, Iyer is expecting more countries to enter the race to host the 2036 Games. "I think in the next couple of years is when we will really get to know which direction it is going to," Iyer said. "It was a very positive meeting with the IOC top brass. The follow-up would be, at some point in time, they would look at coming down to India very soon." India is also bidding to host the Commonwealth Games again in 2030. (Editing by Ed Osmond)
