Root, who turns 34 later this month, is set to finish 2024 as the No. 1 ranked Test batter in the world, after racking up 1556 runs at a stellar average of 55.57, including 6 centuries in the format.

The batter last featured for the Three Lions in the one-day format during their disastrous 2023 ODI World Cup campaign where he scored 276 runs at an average of 30.66 in the team’s group-stage exit from the tournament.

On the other hand, star all-rounder Ben Stokes wasn’t able to find a place in the squad following a hamstring injury that he sustained during England’s defeat to New Zealand in the third and final Test of the series.

Other notable players who were snubbed from England’s Champions Trophy team are all-rounder Sam Curran and left-arm pacer Reece Topley, both of whom have a lot of experience when it comes to international cricket.

It will be interesting to see if this England side, guided by coach Brendon McCullum will be able to emerge as one of the contenders for the Champions Trophy.

England’s ODI squad for Champions Trophy: Jos Buttler (C), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Jamie Smith, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Saqib Mahmood, Phil Salt, Mark Wood

England have also chosen the same side for their upcoming ODI series against India which is set to begin from February next year. The Three Lions have made only 1 change in their ODI squad for the 5-match T20I series against the Men in Blue which will commence from January 22.

They have opted to go for leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed in place of Root, who doesn’t participate in T20Is for England.

England T20I squad for tour of India: Jos Buttler (capt), Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Jamie Smith, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Saqib Mahmood, Phil Salt, Mark Wood

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1. Jos Buttler – INR 15.75 crore

The England wicketkeeper-batter was roped in by the Gujarat Titans for an enormous fee. Buttler will definitely be one of if not the Gujarat-based franchise’s most important player in the upcoming IPL season.

2. Josh Hazlewood – INR 12.5 crore

The Australian pacer was brought in by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru for a whopping fee. Hazlewood will most probably be leading RCB’s bowling attack in the upcoming season.

3. Jofra Archer – INR 12.5 crore

The England pacer will be featuring for the Rajasthan Royals in the next IPL season after getting snapped by the franchise for a gigantic fee.

4. Trent Boult – INR 12.5 crore

The New Zealand pacer will be making a return to the Mumbai Indians after being bought by the franchise for a massive fee. Boult will be siding up with Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah in the Mumbai-based franchise.

5. Mitchell Starc – INR 11.75 crore

The Australian pacer, who was the most expensive player to be sold in last season’s auction went for a rather low price on this occasion. Starc will be featuring for the Delhi Capitals next season.

The post Top 5 most expensive overseas player buys from the first day of IPL 2025 mega auction appeared first on Cricket Country.

1. Rishabh Pant – INR 27 crore

The Indian wicketkeeper-batter fetched an enormous fee of INR 27 crore from the Lucknow Super Giants and became the most expensive buy in IPL history.

2. Shreyas Iyer – INR 26.75 crore

The Indian batter who captained the Kolkata Knight Riders to their third IPL title will be featuring for the Punjab Kings in the upcoming season after getting bought by the franchise for INR 26.75 crore.

3. Venkatesh Iyer – INR 23.75 crore

After a fierce bidding war between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, it was the former franchise that would go on to eventually bag the player for an exorbitant fee.

4. Yuzvendra Chahal – INR 18 crore

The Indian spinner will be featuring for the Punjab Kings in the upcoming IPL season after getting sold for INR 18 crore to the Punjab-based franchise at the IPL mega auction.

5. Arshdeep Singh – INR 18 crore

The Indian pacer was retained by the Punjab Kings for a whopping fee of INR 18 crore. At first, it was the Sunrisers Hyderabad who had gotten the player’s services, however PBKS used their Right-to-Match card to get Arshdeep back into their team.

6. Jos Buttler – INR 15.75 crore

England’s wicketkeeper-batter ended up being the most expensive overseas player to be sold at the auction. Buttler will be featuring for the Gujarat Titans in the upcoming season.

7. KL Rahul – INR 14 crore

The Indian wicketkeeper-batter was roped in by the Delhi Capitals for a massive fee. Rahul may replace Pant as DC’s skipper in the next IPL season.

8. Josh Hazlewood – INR 12.5 crore

The Australian pacer was brought in for an enormous fee by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Hazlewood is expected to lead RCB’s bowling attack in the upcoming season.

9. Jofra Archer – INR 12.5 crore

England pacer Jofra Archer will be featuring for the Rajasthan Royals in the upcoming season of the IPL. Archer has previously played with the Rajasthan-based franchise, and he picked quite a big number of wickets for them.

10. Trent Boult – INR 12.5 crore

The pacer from New Zealand was sold a massive fee to the Mumbai Indians. Boult will be siding up with Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah in the upcoming IPL season.

The post Top 10 most expensive buys from the first day of the IPL 2025 mega auction appeared first on Cricket Country.

5) Jos Buttler- 15.75 crore

England’s whiteball skipper Jos Buttler was bought by Gujarat Titans for Rs. 15.75 crore. Buttler is going to be a great player for the opening scenario of GT.

4) Arshdeep Singh- 18 crore

Star Indian left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh was the first player to be sold in the IPL 2025 mega auction. He was bought by Punjab Kings using the RTM card for Rs. 18 crore.

3) Yuzvendra Chahal- 18 crore

As the highest wicket taker for India, along with IPL, Yuzvendra Chahal has gotten the deserved amount for himself yet again. He got taken in by Punjab Kings for the IPL 2025 mega auctions.

2) Shreyas Iyer- 26.75 crore

India’s star batter Shreyas Iyer was a massive deal for Punjab Kings, as he was taken in for Rs. 26.75 crore. With such massive amount spent on Shreyas, it is possible he will be seen leading the side in IPL 2025.

1) Rishabh Pant- 27 crore

Rishabh Pant was taken in by Lucknow Super Giants for Rs. 27 crore in the auctions. He is the most expensive player bought in the IPL 2025 mega auctions

The post Top 5 Most expensive Marquee players sold in IPL 2025 mega auctions appeared first on Cricket Country.

After England lost the ODI series 1-2 under the leadership of Liam Livingstone, they would be looking to gain a crucial and confidence-boosting series win over the Windies.

“All sorts of things run through your mind. I think you try and work through everything,” Buttler said speaking about his return from injury.

Brendon McCullum, England’s Test coach, is set to take over as the team’s white-ball coach in January 2025. The development has given Buttler a new lease of life. The pair have been friends for a long time and Buttler revealed that he has also had some chats with McCullum about how he can get the most rewards from his career at the stage that he is currently in.

“I had some chats with Baz (Brendon) about how this stage of your career can actually be the most rewarding. He spoke about his own experiences as captain in the last few years of when he was playing, it is not about you at all, it is about creating that environment and letting people flourish and how seeing them go to the top of the mountain was some of the happiest times of his career as a player. And that is exactly what I want to get out of them,” Buttler said.

The 34-year-old also opened up on how time away from the game gave him a new perspective on the game and the desperation, motivation to come back to the field.

“You get a nice perspective of, when cricket has taken away from you (during time spent away from game), how great it is, how important it is and how much you enjoy it. It is all the little things that you sometimes take for granted that you really miss the most, like being around the changing room, pulling the shirt on. When you start to think about it, it gives you a lot of hunger and motivation to get back, put the work in and get playing again,” Buttler said.

“When you get an injury like that it makes you realise how desperately you want to get back, and the stuff that you really enjoy doing, so that is the mindset of however long I have got back,” Buttler added.

“I think throughout the three ODIs (against West Indies), Jacob Bethell scoring his maiden fifty, Dan Mousley [also] in the last game, you see those guys getting that opportunity and grabbing it which is incredibly exciting. And whatever that means in terms of squads, that is exciting for English cricket,” Buttler concluded.

The post “Gives you a lot of…”: Jos Buttler opens up on taking break from the game appeared first on Cricket Country.

Buttler was originally included in the squad for the West Indies tour, but it was due to his ongoing recovery that he had to miss the ODI series. However, he is supposed to be back by the time the five-match T20 series begins in Barbados on November 9.

Lancashire made this news official as they announced Livingstone as the official leader of the squad for the West Indies tour.

“Liam Livingstone will step in as captain for the ODI series with the Lancashire all-rounder set to lead England for the first time whilst Jos Buttler continues his recovery from injury,” read the statement from Lancashire cricket.

The post As Jos Buttler is Ruled out of West Indies series, ECB names Liam Livingstone as new ODI captain appeared first on Cricket Country.

Other prominent stars who will also be seen in action in the tournament are Rashid Khan, Jos Buttler and Marcus Stoinis. Rashid will team up with Karthik at Tigers whereas Buttler will represent Deccan Gladiators alongside Stoinis.

The Abu Dhabi T10 League 2024 will be conducted from November 21 to December 2 and will not be clashing with any of the other high-profile tournaments like the Big Bash League (BBL), SA20, and ILT20. 

New York Strikers are the defending champions and they also have a star-studded lineup which includes the likes of Sunil Narine, Matheesha Pathirana and Kieron Pollard among others.

Some more well-known players who will be featuring the tournament include Nicholas Pooran, Wanindu Hasaranga, Andre Russell, Jonny Bairstow and many more.

The post Dinesh Karthik joins Abu Dhabi T10 League alongside several other stars appeared first on Cricket Country.

Buttler gave his last appearance in June, during the semifinal match against India in the T20 World Cup 2024. His initial idea was to make a comeback during T20 Blast’s knockout rounds, but could not do so, due to a setback in his recovery.

Along with that, Brook is going to be leading the Three Lions for the first time in international level.

Pace bowler Jos Hull has also been ruled out of the upcoming ODI series because of a quad injury. He made his debut aof England in a recent Test against Sri Lanka.

The first game of the 5-match ODI series will take place at Nottingham’s Trent Bridge on Thursday, September 19. The next four matches are set to be held at September 21, 24, 27, and 29 at Leeds, Chester-le-Street, Lord’s, and Bristol, respectively.

The post Jos Buttler ruled out of ODIs- ECB announces New Captain appeared first on Cricket Country.

Moeen made history as the first British Asian to captain England in a T20I match against Australia in 2020 and was an influential vice-captain under Jos Buttler.

Despite participating in the T20 World Cup held earlier this June, Moeen was not given a place in England’s squad for the upcoming white-ball series against Australia, leading for his decision to retire.

Hussain highlighted that Moeen will not only be remembered for his achievements but also for the significant impact that he had on his community.

“He is a hugely important and inspirational cricketer on and off the cricket field. One of England’s most influential multi-format cricketers. An Ashes winner, a World Cup 50-over winner, a World Cup 20-over winner,” Hussain said as quoted by Sky Sports.

“I think anyone who watched him play enjoyed it but also those who played with him enjoyed it. You can imagine his WhatsApp this morning going berserk because he was a very popular member of any side he has played in. He was an entertainer but also a really important figure off the field being a British Asian and a British Muslim,” Hussain added.

“Moeen was a role model for his community. He spoke about when he was growing up, parents might want you to become a doctor or something, but he and Adil Rashid have shown that there are so many different avenues for people from that community,” Hussain concluded.

The post “England’s most influential…”: Naseer Hussain praises Moeen Ali following sudden retirement appeared first on Cricket Country.

This blow not only hold back the team from their leader but also creates for doubts about him being available for the upcoming ODI series against same opponents.

Taking in place of Buttler’s absence, ECB handed the captaincy to all-rounder Jamie Overton as his T20I replacement. For the ODI series, Situation is not certain related to Buttler participation or not.

If he is unable to recover in time, there are reports which suggest that Harry Brook might be the one to take over the captaincy.

To provide additional name for the ODI captaincy role, Jordan Cox has also been added to the ODI squad.

The post Jos Buttler ruled out from T20I series against Australia- Massive Blow to England appeared first on Cricket Country.