Mumbai Indians to begin preparatory camp today
Two-time champions Mumbai Indians will begin their preparatory camp for the IPL season 10 Saturday under the new head coach Mahela Jayawardene. The nine-day preparatory camp will be held at Wankhede Stadium till April 2.
Mumbai Indians play their first match against Rising Pune Super-Giants on April 6. Jayawardene will be joined by the existing team of support staff, including Robin Singh (batting coach), Jonty Rhodes (fielding coach), Shane Bond (bowling coach), Paul Chapman (trainer) and Nitin Patel (physio).
Pacer Jasprit Bumrah and allrounder Hardik Pandya will be joined on Saturday by the latest picks of the IPL auction,
Karn Sharma, Krishnappa Gowtham, Saurabh Tiwary along with the retained players Jagadeesha Suchith, Vinay Kumar, Nitesh Rana, Deepak Punia and Jitesh Sharma.
Nicolas Pooran, the 21-yearold West Indian, is the first international player to join the camp while the likes of Mitchell Johnson, Asela Gunarathne, Jos Buttler, Mitchell McClenaghan, Lasith Malinga, Tim Southee, Kieron Pollard and Lendl Simmons will follow in the coming days. Harbhajan Singh, Parthiv Patel, Ambati Rayudu, Krunal Pandya and Kulwant Khejroliya are currently playing for the Deodhar Trophy at Visakhapatnam, a release said.
BIHAR FOR IPL MATCHES
Encouraged by BCCI’s decision to grant full membership to Bihar cricket body, the state government on Friday said it would demolish and reconstruct the Moinul Haque Stadium here to host domestic and IPL matches.
“We will raze the existing infrastructure and build a brand new Moinul Haque Stadium where premier domestic cricket tournaments like Ranji Trophy and the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be held among other sports in future,” Art, Culture and Youth Department Minister Shiv Chandra Ram said in the state Assembly. Ram said that the 40,000 capacity Moinul Haque Stadium would be reconstructed at a cost of Rs 300 crore for which technical approval has been obtained, but administrative approval was being awaited. He, however, did not commit a time-frame for completion of construction works of the stadium which was built in 1969-70 and hosted two ODIs.