Afghanistan to play 1418 Tests in next FTP

KOLKATA: Beyond the one-off Test in June, Afghanistan will not play India in a bilateral series in the 2019-2023 Future Tours Programme (FTP), the board’s CEO Shafiq Stanikzai said here on Wednesday. India being tough to get hold of was cited as reason by Stanikzai.

In the new FTP cycle, Stanikzai said Afghanistan will play 14-18 Tests against Australia, England, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland and Bangladesh. Stanikzai is here to attend ICC meetings which began on Sunday and end on Thursday.

Indian Premier League has provided popularity and commercial windfall to players, but there is no place for sentiment in the glitzy tournament. Gautam Gambhir is the latest to realise that after quitting as Delhi Daredevils skipper mid-tournament.

The former India opener led Kolkata Knight Riders to two IPL titles and was bought for Rs. 2.8 crore by Daredevils to inspire a turnaround in the underperforming team. However, he announced on Wednesday that he was stepping away as his poor batting form has compounded the woes of a team that lies last on the points table.

Shreyas Iyer, Mumbai’s talented 23-year-old batsman will be the new skipper – he was one of two players to be retained – as Daredevils looked to make a fresh start though playoff hopes are fast receding after winning one game out of six.

GAMBHIR’S STRUGGLES

Gambhir’s 85 runs in five innings at an average of 17 seems to have all but ended the IPL, and possibly domestic, career of a player who has the fifth highest league games (154), fourth highest aggregate (4,217) and most fours (491).

Gambhir addressed a media conference with chief coach, Ricky Ponting, Daredevils CEO, Hemant Dua and Shreyas Iyer and the mood was sombre. “As a leader of this ship, I take complete responsibility for where we are in the points table and I have