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The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup-2021 started in Oman and UAE with an upset in Group-B qualifiers when Scotland delivered a shock defeat to Bangladesh on 17 th October and the qualifier stage concluded on 22 nd October with another history-making upset as Namibia edged out the test-playing nation Ireland and entered the Super-12 stage for the first time. So, we have now qualifiers: from Group-A—the topper Sri Lanka enters the Group-1 and runners-up Namibia in Group-2 of the Super-12 while the Group-B topper Scotland enters Group-2 and the runners-up Bangladesh in Group-1 of the Super-12 stage. The six teams in each group will play matches between themselves on a round-robin basis and the two top teams of each group will sail into the semi-finals. The highly competitive and tough rivalries of the Super-12 stage starts today with Australia  meeting South Africa in the first match in Abu Dhabi and England facing defending champions the West Indies in the second match in Dubai. Notwithstandi

Cricket in COVID-19 times started in England from the 8 th of July 2020 in empty stadiums and with the strictest of norms and measures. The first 3-Test Series since the outbreak of the pandemic was played against the visiting West Indies. The visitors won the first test by 4 wickets on the fifth and last day of the closely fought encounter. However, the hosts came back stronger in the second and the third test matches, winning the second match by 113 runs and then routing the unpredictable, as ever, West Indies by 269 runs in the concluding match, thus winning the Test Series 2-1. In Test cricket, English seamer Stuart Broad became the 2 nd seam bowler from England, the fourth fast bowler of the world and the seventh bowler overall of the world, to capture 500 wickets in the last encounter that concluded on the 28 th of July 2020. Pity, no home supporters or any other supporters were there to cheer him and the team win! The most promising aspect of the New Normal Cricket was

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has been having brainstorming virtual sessions with all stakeholders on resumption of cricket in the past months under the shadow of the Coronavirus pandemic. Till now the Council has not been able to take a final call on the main issue of contention: when to hold the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup. It's very ironical that in a year which can also be termed as T20 the T20 mega event just cannot get underway that was originally scheduled in October, 2020 in Australia. Now, the Indian cricket board, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has been eagerly waiting for the decision on the T20 World Cup, because since its postponment is almost final the ICC decision will give the BCCI a window during October-November to organize its favorite money-spinner, the Indian Premiere League (IPL), of course, without the noisy reveling crowds.  All the while the ICC has been busy framing new rules for the most popular game of the world, a craze in