IPL Auction: 70 spots, 1003 players and a new auctioneer

Kuala Lumpur, Jan 9: BWF World Championships defending champion PV Sindhu on Thursday cruised to the quarterfinals of the ongoing Malaysia Masters after winning a second-round match.

The 24-year-old had the upper hand in the clash and thrashed Japan's Aya Ohori in straight games 21-10, 21-15 that lasted for 34-minute. The world number six will now play in her quarterfinal match on January 10.

Earlier in the day, Saina Nehwal defeated South Korea's An Se Young 25-23, 21-12 in 38 minutes. The first game saw back and forth action between both shuttlers. In the end, Nehwal kept her cool to win the match.

On Wednesday, the 29-year-old had outclassed Belgium's Lianne Tan 21-15, 21-17 to progress to the pre-quarterfinals.

Shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the tournament after losing their matches to Japan's Kento Momota and Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei respectively. 

Melbourne, May 24: Former Australia captain Mark Taylor does not foresee the T20 World Cup scheduled in October-November going ahead and wants the ICC to take a decision during its Board meeting this week.

Taylor also feels that if IPL takes place during the window the T20 World Cup was to be held, the Australian players are likely to be cleared by their Board to take part in the cash-rich league in India.

The ICC Board meets on May 28 to discuss a host of issues related to COVID-19 pandemic, including a revamped schedule and the fate of the men's T20 World Cup in Australia.

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"My feeling is the World T20 won't go ahead in Australia in October as planned. Is it going to be viable to have a world tournament in October or November? The answer to that is probably no," Taylor, also a former Cricket Australia (CA) director, was quoted as saying by 'Nine Network'.

"It would probably be good (if a decision is made this week). Because then everyone can start planning and we can stop sitting here and saying 'well ifs, buts or maybes'."

CA chief executive Kevin Roberts has said that a call on the fate of the T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held from October 18 to November 15, may potentially not come until August.

Read: Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths

But players and administrators around the world are keen for some certainty and many have predicted that the 16-team event will soon be postponed.

There are reports that the BCCI is eyeing the October window for the IPL though officially it maintained, that it will not consider new dates of the cash-rich league until the T20 World Cup's fate is decided.

Taylor said the CA wants to keep BCCI happy so the Australia players are likely to be cleared for the IPL if it happens in October.

Pat Cummins, who was bought for a record amount of Rs 15.50 crore in last year's IPL auction, is among the Australians keen to take part in this year's competition.

"The Cricket Australia board will want to keep India happy. So they may want to let the players go to India if the IPL goes ahead," Taylor said.

"Because they want India to come here this summer and play, which will be our biggest summer in terms of dollars. That's the sort of discussion going on. No doubt."

Virat Kohli's team is scheduled to arrive in Australia for a Test tour starting November, which will go along way in addressing CA's financial woes triggered by teh COVID-19 pandemic.

Karachi, Jun 23: Pakistan cricketers Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf and rookie Haider Ali on Monday tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

"The Pakistan Cricket Board has confirmed three players - Haider Ali, Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan - have tested positive for Covid-19," said the PCB in a statement.

"The players had shown no symptoms until they were tested in Rawalpindi on Sunday ahead of the Pakistan men's national cricket team's tour to England."

The infected players will go into self-isolation.

"The PCB medical panel is in contact with the three who have been advised to immediately go into self-isolation," the statement said.

Earlier this month, former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi was tested positive for the deadly virus.