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SRH have named left-arm fast bowler Prithvi Raj Yarra as replacement

Nagraj Gollapudi06-Oct-2020In a significant blow to the Sunrisers Hyderabad, India fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been ruled out of IPL 2020 due to a thigh injury he picked against the Chennai Super Kings last week. The Sunrisers have announced left-arm fast bowler Prithvi Raj Yarra as replacement.Concerns grew over Kumar’s fitness and further participation in the IPL after he sat out the Sunrisers’ last match, on Sunday against the Mumbai Indians. Kumar had limped out of the field in the previous match against the Chennai Super Kings, having bowled just one delivery while into his fourth over.At the time, Kumar was seen holding his hip, but it is understood he has injured his thigh. It cannot be confirmed how serious the injury is. However, the Indian team management and selectors would be concerned, considering he would be in the reckoning for India’s upcoming tour of Australia – which is likely to be start in late November – although no official itinerary has been announced.Kumar is the third player – and second for the Sunrisers – to miss this year’s IPL due to injury. Australia allrounder Mitchell Marsh was the first to be ruled out due to ankle injury in the first week of IPL. Also, on Monday, the Delhi Capitals announced that legspinner Amit Mishra would not participate further in the tournament, having hurt the ring finger on his bowling hand.The Sunrisers are bound to feel the absence of Kumar, their most experienced and best strike bowler. Even though he had just taken three wickets this IPL, he was among the most economical bowlers in the tournament, having given away just 6.98 runs an over.Kumar, who is 30, would be disappointed that another injury has disrupted his return to cricket. Recently, talking on , a show hosted by former India wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta on ESPNcricinfo, he had pointed out of being wary of picking niggles upon returning to cricket after several months in lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.Who is Prithvi Raj Yarra?Prithvi Raj Yarra is a 22-year-old left-arm fast bowler, who has played only ten first-class matches for Andhra. However, he has become one of their prime bowlers whenever available for selection over the last three seasons, having taken 39 wickets at 21.51.His speeds are similar to that of fellow Sunrisers’ fast bowler Khaleel Ahmed. Yarra was picked by the Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2019 IPL and played only two matches. Incidentally, his only IPL wicket came on debut against the Sunrisers when he foxed David Warner with a slower ball. Despite a low number of senior-level matches since debuting in the 2017-18 season, Raj has already played in the Duleep Trophy for India Red and in the Deodhar Trophy last year for India A. His last T20 match came for the Knight Riders against the Rajasthan Royals in last year’s IPL.Yarra travelled with the Sunrisers’ squad as a net bowler and hence would be automatically assimilated into the squad without having to undergo the six-day quarantine for anyone coming into the IPL’s biosecure environment.

No stranger to the big stage, former South Africa bowler believes defending champions Hampshire have the edge on Royal London Cup rivals Somerset

Paul Edwards23-May-2019The last domestic final played at Lord’s will not take place in September. There will be no sense of summer’s farewell, a last hurrah for careless heat before football recolonises sport. Such occasions belong to distant seasons, when Lancashire or Kent always seemed to be playing and St John’s Wood was packed with supporters making a weekend of it in what was still the big city.But if, as most neutrals hope, Saturday’s Royal London game goes the distance in the manner of those fondly remembered BBC Saturdays, at least one player should know how to cope with the tension that became almost routine in the heyday of Jack Bond and Asif Iqbal.Hampshire’s Kyle Abbott is used to the big occasion and having missed the whole of Hampshire’s triumphant Royal London Cup campaign last year because of an ankle problem he will be delighted to do more in 2019 than offer his support from cricket’s most famous balcony.”Obviously I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “Having missed out last year with a pretty silly injury, I was motivated a bit more towards helping the team to get to Lord’s this season. So yes, I’m pretty excited. I know the boys are up for it and the club certainly have a decent reputation when it comes to Lord’s finals.”But things have changed at the Ageas Bowl since Hampshire beat Kent last June. Former head coach Craig White left in October and has been replaced by Adi Birrell, an appointment Abbott sees as vital in the club’s development.”There’s been a big mindset change and it’s one that’s been driven by the coach,” he said. “The players have begged to be challenged and so Adi’s been telling us at the start of every session: ‘Right you guys have asked to be challenged. Well, we need wickets, we need to do this or do that.'”I don’t think it’s been a question of the lack of talent Hampshire have had over the years, I think there’s sometimes been a lack of direction. People say we’re professionals and we should know what to do but sometimes you get so involved and mentally tired that you need these reminders.”Fair enough, of course, but Hampshire’s players have been challenged in a way they almost certainly did not welcome this week following Liam Dawson’s selection in England’s World Cup squad. Despite representations being made to the ICC on the club’s behalf by the ECB both Dawson and James Vince will now be unavailable for the final.”James and Liam have been huge in getting us to the final but so was Aiden Markram,” said Abbott. “It’s quite strange that some players’ first games in this year’s Royal London will be in the final but that provides an opportunity for those guys and I always feel that it’s a question of who holds their nerves on the day. I’d say it’s a 50-50 contest in finals.”I think where Hampshire have the edge over Somerset is that we have been to a Lord’s final and to T20 Finals Day a lot more regularly than they have. That will help us on Saturday because suddenly for somebody the occasion will become bigger than it should be. Instead of Taunton they will be at Lord’s on a bigger stage and nerves show.”No one could accuse Abbott of being a spear carrier on the big stage – or, indeed, of being timid when it comes to the big decision. Although he has never played anything more than T20 cricket at Lord’s, he has represented South Africa in even bigger matches than that he will play on Saturday.”When you are two-all against India in India and you have to go out to perform, that’s as big as it gets,” he pointed out. “I’ve played in the quarter-final of the World Cup. That sort of occasion doesn’t bother me. It will make Lord’s a little bit more comfortable for me.”Kyle Abbott appeals for lbw•Getty Images

Abbott’s reference to his career with South Africa and his obvious pride in his achievements when doing so only reinforces the magnitude of the choice he made in 2017 when he turned his back on international cricket and signed a Kolpak deal with Hampshire. Making that call was all the more difficult given that after a stuttering start his Test career appeared to be flourishing.But Abbott was convinced his place was secure only because Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel were unfit and he had already been omitted from a World Cup semi-final, some suggested for partly political reasons, in favour of Vernon Philander. Many cricketers might claim that having made such the decision to step away from the international game, they had filed the matter as “case closed”, but Abbott is too honest for such self-deluding escapes.”I do sometimes think what might have been and from the outset I’ve always said I made the decision six months too early,” he said. “But I’d rather have been six months too early than six months too late. Had I waited, I would have played in the Champions Trophy and I would have played in the England Test series in 2017.”But things became very clear straight after that series when South Africa toured Bangladesh. Dale Steyn was straight back in the side and then Morne Morkel was straight back in. That’s what I kept telling people. They said, ‘You’re going to have a run now,’ but I replied, ‘No, you don’t understand how this works.'”The convenor of selectors said Steyn and Morkel would have to prove themselves in first-class cricket but I said: ‘They won’t. They are world-class bowlers and they’ll come straight back in.’ And they did come in. I knew international cricket and I could read their minds from a mile off. I do miss international cricket. Even a Lord’s final is not going to replicate an international match but I’m proud of the cricket I played for South Africa in those four years, the games I played in, the wickets I took.”

Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur is hopeful that the time of the year will help them overcome the loss of legspinner Yasir Shah for the Tests against Ireland and England

Andrew McGlashan25-Apr-2018Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur is hopeful that the time of the year will help them overcome the loss of legspinner Yasir Shah for the Tests against Ireland and England.Yasir has taken 89 wickets in the last two years – more than double Pakistan’s next most successful bowler in the period – but was ruled out of this tour due to a hip injury. Shadab Khan, the 19-year-old legspinner, who has impressed with the white ball but has played just one Test, has huge shoes to fill although there remains a chance Pakistan will decide to go without a specialist spinner given the early-season conditions which are likely to prevail.There has been a significant decline in Pakistan’s Test fortunes since the shared series against England in 2016 which helped them to the No. 1 ranking. They are now languishing at No. 7 following series defeats against New Zealand, Australia and most recently Sri Lanka – their record with Arthur as coach is 11 defeats and six wins from 17 Tests – and are going through a transitional phase following the retirements of batting stalwarts Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq.There are four uncapped batsmen in the squad and the absence of Yasir has shorn Pakistan of a senior figure with the ball while also leaving them with their least experienced spin attack to face England in at least 40 years.”Any team would miss Yasir,” Arthur said ahead of the team’s first warm-up match against Kent. “He has the ability to hold the attack and control the game. Shadab is incredibly exciting but also I am not sure that spin is going to be a huge factor given it’s early season in England, so we have covered ourselves in the seam department. But Shadab can clean tails up because he has all the tricks. It is going to be exciting to see how he goes.”Yasir is a big loss but we have him at the National Cricket Academy [in Lahore] and he is getting fit, his stress fracture is healing and it’s really important for us to have him fit and firing for the Australia and New Zealand series later in the year.”Pakistan’s bowling attack will rest heavily on Mohammad Amir, who arrived in the UK on Wednesday having been granted his visa after a short delay. Two years ago he made his return to Test cricket at Lord’s, following his spot-fixing ban, and since then has not earned the rewards his bowling has often deserved with 44 wickets at 37.25. How Pakistan catch will be a critical factor, with Amir suffering significantly from missed chances, although there is also a belief in the team management that the amount of white-ball cricket he has played has led him into bowling too short with the red ball.”He’s our No. 1 bowler, we back him in tough situations. He generally gets it done for us,” Arthur said. “We need him to get the ball swinging, we need him to get his length slightly fuller and if he gets that he’s going to ask a lot of questions.”Amir’s workload has also become a topic of debate in recent times, with the indication that he may sit out some Test cricket to preserve him for the 2019 World Cup and beyond. Arthur said that Pakistan have “three weeks off” between now and the World Cup, leaving a balancing act between building a new era for the Test side while keeping an eye on the demands of the limited-overs game.”We have had the workload debate for a long time now and every team has to do the same. We only have three weeks off in our calendar now before the World Cup next year, so we’d be silly not to arrive here with our bowlers fit and we know who they are – we have identified them – so we just have to manage them because ultimately want the best team to play in that 2019 World Cup.”But also for us it is so important to win Test matches – we are a young team and we need to get our Test team right and to do that we have to build a core of players who can play at any given time. We are trying to resurrect our Test side, we feel we’ve got our white-ball cricket where we need it now, so we are really excited about this series, really excited to see these young guys come out and perform. There’s some incredible talent in our dressing room, so let’s hope it all goes well for us.”

Martin Guptill will miss the remainder of the New Zealand season and the start of the IPL to undergo strengthening work on his hamstrings

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Mar-2017Martin Guptill will miss the remainder of the New Zealand season and the start of the IPL to undergo strengthening work on his hamstrings in an attempt to ensure he is fully fit for the Champions Trophy in June.Guptill suffered injuries to both hamstrings in quick succession over the last few months and though he returned in extraordinary style, with his unbeaten 180 off 138 balls in the fourth ODI against South Africa, it has been decided that for his long-term prognosis he needs further rehabilitation.After his century in Hamilton, and a full fifty overs in the field, Guptill said the hamstrings felt “a little stiff” but that it was nothing unexpected after his period out of the game. He did not have any middle time before his return to the one-day side.He will travel to India for the IPL, where he was bought by Kings Punjab XI having been put back in for the second round of the auction, but won’t initially be available for selection and his recovery will be monitored by New Zealand physio Tommy Simsek, who will also be at the tournament.”At the moment Martin isn’t fit to play and the time we give him now to strengthen his hamstrings will play a big role in mitigating future risk too,” Simsek said. “We’ve put a programme in place to make sure that Martin can return to full strength and we’ll continue to monitor him closely.”Mike Hesson, the New Zealand coach, said: “Having Martin fully fit is critical, as we all know the positive influence he has on our side. Martin knows this is an important period to get back to 100% so that he can be fully confident when he is on the park. The Champions Trophy isn’t far away and we obviously want Martin firing on all cylinders for that tournament.”Guptill’s times back on the sidelines means his move into the middle order for Auckland, with a view to pushing for a Test recall in that position, will not happen until the next domestic season. It also means that he will not come into consideration if New Zealand need a replacement for Ross Taylor who retired hurt on the second day in Dunedin with a calf injury. Guptill was dropped from the Test side after the tour of India in October.

Glamorgan have added to their seam bowling attack for the start of 2016 season by confirming a loan agreement with the Middlesex pace bowler Harry Podmore

ESPNcricinfo staff02-Feb-2016Glamorgan have added to their seam bowling attack for the start of 2016 season by confirming a loan agreement with the Middlesex pace bowler Harry Podmore.Podmore, a graduate from the Middlesex Academy and former MCC Young Cricketer, is yet to appear in first-class cricket, but has featured for Middlesex in limited-overs cricket over the past two seasons.Glamorgan now offer him the chance to break into Championship cricket in the first six matches of the season, beginning with the visit of Leicestershire to Cardiff on April 17, as well as a fixture against Cardiff MCCU fixture the previous week.Podmore, born in Hammersmith, has impressed with his bowling at the death and picked up regular wickets with a controlled yorker becoming something of a trademark weapon.Glamorgan chief executive and director of cricket Hugh Morris said, “We have been aware of the progress Harry has made in recent seasons with Middlesex and his development work with the England fast bowling programme.”He’s a bright, young fast bowling talent who will add depth to our seam bowling department, which is an area we identified needing strengthening. Harry will spend the first 2 months of the season with us before Ruaidhri Smith and Jack Murphy return to the club at the end of May following their University commitments.”With an international calibre bowling attack at Middlesex, there’s an opportunity for him to play some first-class cricket for Glamorgan and we are thankful to Angus Fraser and Middlesex CCC for allowing us to have Harry on loan.Glamorgan also recently signed all-rounder Craig Meschede after he was allowed to leave Somerset.Podmore admitted: “The current strength of the Middlesex seam attack has made it difficult for me to break into the County Championship side, and with limited opportunities available to play red ball cricket here, this is an ideal way for me to not only gain invaluable experience in this format of the game, but also to hopefully help Glamorgan get off to a good start in their own Championship campaign.”He will rejoining Middlesex in readiness for the club’s white ball campaigns.Middlesex’s managing director of cricket, Angus Fraser, said: “Harry continues to develop nicely as a cricketer. He is ready to get his teeth into first-class cricket and, with the fast bowling resources we currently have, we do not see him starting in the 1st XI.”When not playing for Glamorgan 1st XI Harry can return to London to practice his white ball skills, as we do see him featuring in our T20 and 50 over cricket. The loan to Glamorgan to play first-class cricket in April and May will hopefully provide all three parties with what they are looking for.”