Franchise Debate: Silverfox Gets the Rocket

24/03

Peter Moores to Assist with Rockets coaching.

Well that was clearly on the cards once The General was announced as Head Coach for the Outlaws in the MBC.

Question: Who's career is going forwards and who's is regressing between, Moores' or Flower's?

Any benefit to Notts will be through Paul Franks.

Superstar Dhoni at 43

The 13-year-old earning £100,000 at the IPL

After smashing centuries against adults in his village, Vaibhav Suryavanshi sparked bidding war and will now team up with Jofra Archer

Bilal Kuchay 23/03

Sanjeev Suryavanshi was glued to the television watching the Indian Premier League auction taking place thousands of miles away in Saudi Arabia.

It was the evening of November 25 and Sanjeev was praying that his 13-year-old son, Vaibhav, would be picked up in the IPL, the tournament in which the world’s top cricketers earn life-changing money for just a couple of months’ work.

At 8pm local time, it was Vaibhav’s turn to go up under the hammer. Delhi Capitals made the first move with a bid that sent Sanjeev running and jumping around the room in jubilation. And the offers kept coming as a bidding war ensued, with Rajasthan Royals eventually coming out on top with a price of £100,000.

Hundreds of neighbours and relatives, who were watching the auction on their smartphones outside the Suryavanshis’ two-storey house, hugged each other, handed out sweets and set off firecrackers as Vaibhav made history by becoming the youngest player ever picked for the IPL.

“I just wanted my son to be selected. For how much, that question never occurred to me,” 51-year-old Sanjeev tells Telegraph Sport at his home in Tajpur, a village in Bihar’s Samastipur district, where most of the locals are involved in farming.

Rahul Dravid will be Vaibhav’s coach, while England’s Jofra Archer and Indian superstar Yashasvi Jaiswal will be team-mates. Dravid heaped praised on the teenager after the auction. “He [Vaibhav] has some really good skills, so we thought it might be a good environment for him to grow in. He came to our trials and we were really happy with what we saw.”

India’s latest cricket prodigy, following in the footsteps of the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, has broken records left, right and centre. As well as being selected for the IPL, Vaibhav made history by becoming the youngest player to make his debut in the Ranji Trophy, the domestic first-class competition, and to represent his home state of Bihar in the domestic T20 championship.

Last November, during a four-day match against Australia Under-19s in Chennai, the left-handed opener also smashed 104 off just 62 balls, reiterating his class against players six years his senior.

Talking to the locals in Tajpur, everyone raises Vaibhav’s talent and dedication, but also the father’s resilience and determination to ensure his son’s dream came true.

Vaibhav was taken by his dad aged six to a cricket academy in Samastipur, which Telegraph Sport visited and watched hundreds of boys and girls practising on the dusty ground.

“The moment I saw him pick up a bat, I realised there is something about him,” Sanjeev says, whose constant ferrying of his son to cricket camps and matches meant he eventually had to close the family’s jewellery business. He now does a spot of farming in amongst mentoring the boy’s cricket career.

Throughout the boy’s childhood, Sanjeev would regularly buy three new cricket balls at £1 a piece in a region where a third of families make ends meet on a daily income of just £1.78p. He would throw the balls at his son in the nets he built outside their house and invited bowlers from the village, often twice his age, to ping deliveries at him.

He also extended the invitation to faster bowlers from other parts of the district, and would pay them travel expenses to test his son. Some of these adults would whizz the ball down at 80mph, despite Vaibhav being only nine years old.

“I would get scared, but I knew if I stopped, my son his career would be over,” Sanjeev explains. “Villagers would say I’m putting a heavy bet on my son. Because playing cricket was costing Vaibhav his studies and they would ask what job would he get if he didn’t succeed in cricket. But I knew he had the talent. Otherwise I would not have invested so much time and resources on him.

“I may not have played at professional level but I’ve seen enough to understand what is required. I never let him play with any [softer] ball because I wanted him to play professional cricket.”

At 11, Vaibhav smashed a double hundred in a 40-over match. A few months later, he scored an unbeaten 332 in an under-19 ODI tournament in Bihar.

Rakesh Tiwari, the Bihar Cricket Association president, said Vaibhav’s talent compelled them to pick him in big tournaments. Many criticised them for selecting a 12-year-old but Tiwari did not have to justify his decision for long. “His bat silenced every critic.”

Vaibhav has modelled his game on another left-hander in Brian Lara, whom he describes as his “idol”. He is also a fan of Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh, the free-flowing former Indian cricketers.

Vaibhav’s first coach in Samastipur, Brajesh Kumar Jha, says it gave him great pride that a player from his academy had made it to the IPL. He describes Vaibhav as a very hard-working cricketer who never backs down.

“He is a quick learner, a naturally attacking batsman and adapts quickly to situations... and behind his success lies determination and hard work.” He adds that Vaibhav would practise for several hours a day in searing Indian summer heat, proving his toughness.

“The success people see is purely the result of Vaibhav’s hard work,” Jha explains. “When a player from a small district like Samastipur, who would play here with all these young boys, makes it to the IPL, where he will get a chance to share the field or dressing room with greats of the game like Virat Kohli or Rahul Dravid, it’s a dream, not just for that cricketer but a coach like me too.

“You can’t explain how it feels to see him reach that level. It’s the dream I too had growing up but couldn’t fulfil.”

Vaibhav’s success at such a young age is already changing the game and inspiring those even younger than him.

Mohammad Shahbaz Alam brings his seven-year-old son Mustafeez Alam to the ground where Vaibhav used to practise. His dream is to see his son play for India one day. “Vaibhav’s selection gives us hope and motivates me to focus more on my son’s cricket,” Alam says.

Anush Purve, 12, is also looking to follow in Vaibhav’s footsteps. He is a wicketkeeper-batsman who has seen Vaibhav play in the flesh. At one time his parents would scold him for playing too much cricket. No longer. “They want me to work harder on my cricket now and be like Vaibhav.”

21/03

Saliva Polishing Back in the IPL

IPL ball change for dew new ruling, for dew but not saliva

20/03

BBC Preview of the IPL

Apparently each team plays 14 group matches, a number of games when played in the Blast is too many for these modernisers, just saying.

16/03

Last week we had Harry Brook "banned" from the IPL, for pulliing out of  a contract to benefit his England career. Today we have a South African facing "legal action" for being gazumped by an IPL franchise from his PSL gig.

Saudi Arabia ready to park tanks on cricket’s lawns

Gulf nation’s global sporting takeover continues with talks reportedly under way with Australia over new T20 league to rival IPL

Tim Wigmore

Australia and Saudi Arabia are in talks about partnering on a new global Twenty20 league, which would see eight teams play in four different locations each year, in a format likened to tennis’s Grand Slams.

Talks are under way for Saudi Arabia’s SRJ Sports Investments to fund the new competition, which would aim to enlist the world’s best players and bring them together for four tournaments a year.

The plans were first reported in the Sydney Morning Herald. Neil Maxwell, the prominent Australian agent who manages Test captain Pat Cummins, is believed to be driving the concept.

The plans have been developed in partnership with the Australian Cricketers’ Association, the players’ body Down Under; the Federation of International Cricketers’ Association, which represents players globally, is also thought to be involved. SRJ Sports Investments is said to be ready to invest £400 million ($US500 million) in the new league.

The new tournament would add to an already saturated global cricket landscape. More than 20 short-format leagues featuring significant overseas talent – be it played over 10 overs, 20 overs or 100 balls – are taking place in men’s cricket across the world this year, with the Indian Premier League the most prominent.

Insiders have believed for years that Saudi Arabia is keen to be involved in cricket. So far, the country has yet to invest in the sport in the way it has in the likes of golf, Formula 1 and football, where it is hosting the 2034 men’s FIFA World Cup. The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia also has an 85 per cent stake in Newcastle United. Jeddah hosted the IPL auction last November in an indication of Saudi Arabia’s cricket aspirations.

Cricket Australia is known to be keen for a cash injection. Australia recently pushed plans to reform the Test game, and make lucrative meetings against England and India more common.

Richard Gould, ECB CEO, said: “With the busy international calendar, a host of established franchise leagues around the world, and existing concerns about player workloads, there is no scope or demand for such an idea. It’s not something that we would support.”

There are a series of unanswered questions about the proposed new league. Previous rumoured Saudi involvement in cricket has not come to fruition. In 2023, it was reported that Saudi Arabia and the IPL were in discussions over a new T20 tournament.

But there is a growing sense that, this time, the discussions could be more serious. Insiders report hearing rumours of Saudi-backed plans in recent months. “Something is brewing,” said one influential figure in world cricket.

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Key questions for any new Saudi Arabia T20 league

When could the league begin?

The current Future Tours Programme runs until March 2027, suggesting that the league could be launched as soon as 2027.

Where would it be played?

The competition is envisaged to consist of a format of four tournaments a year of around two weeks each, to be played by the same eight teams and hosted in different countries. Australia is thought to be primed to host one of the competitions. Given its financial backing, Saudi Arabia would expect to host matches too. The country does not yet have any turf wickets, raising questions about the standard of grounds that could be used.

When would it be played?

September – the window previously used for the Champions League – is one obvious slot for a tournament. The other three annual tournaments would need to fit into an already saturated calendar. The two months occupied by the IPL, in April and May, would not be suitable as the competition would then miss out on star talent.

Which overseas cricketers could play?

The reports suggest that, with £400 million of investment, the tournament would attract the very best players in the world. But there is one major obstacle. Under current International Cricket Council rules, all new T20 leagues have a limit of four overseas players from Full Member nations. Unless the Saudi Arabian league was given an exemption, then the tournament would not comprise the world’s best. The IPL combines four overseas players per team with the world’s best domestic talent. But if the tournament featured, say, seven players who were either from Saudi Arabia or other Associate nations, then the standard would be nowhere near as high.

Who would benefit?

Reports suggest that the Saudi-sponsored league is trying to position itself as crucial to the game’s wider health. It has been suggested that Full Member and Associate nations alike would enjoy a share of revenue raised. In theory, this could help to fund loss-making Test matches and develop the game in emerging countries. But cricket has a long history of broken promises about ideas sold as safeguarding the Test game.

Who would need to approve it?

The new league would need to be approved by the ICC, which is chaired by Jay Shah, the son of India’s minister of home affairs.

What would it mean for Test cricket?

Backers suggest that the funds from the competition could be used to bankroll the Test format worldwide. In reality, the tournament would be yet another threat to the five-day game, and make it more financially attractive for players to specialise in T20. There is already profound concern about the vitality of the Test game outside Australia, England and India. For nations like England, the challenge of scheduling matches when the calendar is relatively free – and their opponents are at full strength, and more attractive to fans – could intensify.