A crammed international calendar in three formats of the game and the added strain of playing in biosecure bubbles during the COVID-19 pandemic have pushed players like Trent Boult to breaking point.
England and Australia's cricketers, who will be playing in the upcoming Indian Premier League, will be available for selection for Kolkata Knight Riders' opening game on September 23, CEO Venky Mysore said.
But special international flights have been operating under the Vande Bharat Mission since May and under the bilateral 'air bubble' arrangements with selected countries since July.
South Africa are hoping for the return of star opener Quinton de Kock, who has not played since the first T20I in Delhi due to a wrist injury.
Sunrisers Hyderabad pacer Thangarasu Natarajan has tested positive for COVID-19 but the team's IPL match against Delhi Capitals on Wednesday was played as scheduled.
Nitin Menon left the IPL bio-bubble after his wife and mother tested positive for COVID-19.
India captain Virat Kohli, his white-ball deputy Rohit Sharma and head coach Ravi Shastri joined the England-bound squad's bio-bubble on Tuesday as it began its eight-day hard quarantine along with the women's team in Mumbai.
The New Zealand squad arrived here on a charter flight a day after losing the T20 World Cup final to Australia in Dubai. Since it is a bubble to bubble transfer, the Black Caps will not have to quarantine before the first T20I against hosts India on Wednesday.
Delhi Capitals stars Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma have been vaccinated in recent days, so why should DC skipper Rishabh Pant be left behind?
'The way he has been interacting with everybody, be it the masseur or the assistant manager or the driver of the bus, or the new players who have not been part of the IPL before, he is making an effort to reach out to them and give them confidence.' 'That speaks a lot about the man that he is.'
Athletics and boxing are the two important disciplines whose national camps are being held at NIS, Patiala.
'You see the value of Harshal, and what he offers. He has the ability to stop the game.'
According to the BCCI source, both Krishna and Warrier contracted the virus from Chakravarthy during one of the training sessions. He said Krishna is Chakravarthy's close friend.
Virgin Atlantic plans to operate three flights a week from Delhi to London's Heathrow from September 2, while Mumbai services are planned to re-commence from September 17 with four flights per week. Both the destinations will provide connections to New York JFK and will operate on 787-9 Dreamliner.
The BCCI and Cricket South Africa have mutually agreed that the upcoming Test and ODI series between the two teams will continue even if there is an isolated case of COVID-19 among players or support staff and close contacts will not be forced into isolation, CSA's medical officer Shuaib Manjra said.
The situation inside the "bubble" stood in sharp contrast to outside, with a surge in infections fuelled by the Delta variant hitting daily records and for the first time crossing 5,000 in the host city, threatening to overwhelm Tokyo's hospitals.
IPL 2021, which started on April 9, ran smoothly for about a month before the outbreak of COVID-19 cases among the teams forced the BCCI to postpone the T20 league.
India head coach Ravi Shastri on Saturday expressed his disappointment at 10-day isolation rules for anyone who comes in contact of a COVID-19 positive person as it happened with bowling coach Bharat Arun.
Not so hatke after all, but no reason to stay bachke either, notes Sukanya Verma.
The MoCA said on Twitter on Wednesday that it 'has designated all the airlines operating under Vande Bharat Mission & air transport bubble arrangements as designated agencies for this purpose'. 'Passengers may book tickets directly with the airlines concerned. They need not apply/register with the Ministry of Civil Aviation,' it added.
India are likely to rest most of their senior players during the T20I series against New Zealand at home, which starts less than a week after the final of the T20 World Cup next month.
While some franchises have said there needs to be a six-day quarantine for them and could see them miss their respective teams' opening games, others have pointed out how they should be excused since it would be simply about moving from one bio-secure bubble (in the UK) to another (in the UAE).
'The pack that stays together. Bubble or no bubble. Results will come and go for others to follow.'
There are also doubts over the presence of England all-rounder Chris Woakes, who plays for Delhi Capitals in the IPL.
The BCCI, along with its medical service provider VPS Healthcare, will facilitate the conduct of over 30,000 RT-PCR tests on all IPL players, support staff and other stakeholders during the remaining 31 games of the cash-rich league in the UAE.
India head coach Ravi Shastri has tested positive for COVID-19 in the confirmatory RT-PCR test as well and will remain in isolation for at least the next 10 days, ruling him out of the team's fifth and final Test against England, starting in Manchester on Friday, September 10.
Sunrisers Hyderabad's wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha was the latest to test positive for COVID-19 as cases continued to rise in the T20 league's bio-bubble.
Limited spectators will be allowed into the stadiums when the second leg of the Indian Premier League starts in the UAE this weekend.
Gaki Hip, a pop up museum in Taipei, Taiwan, uses everyday objects like bubble tea, claw-machines and pineapples to encourage visitors to rethink the definition of Taiwan's culture.
The 2021 IPL, which was suspended in May owing to a COVID-19 outbreak in its bubble, will resume in the UAE from September 19.
'I am sure there is enough time for us to prepare and guys are looking forward to this series. This is the best opportunity for us to win our first series in South Africa. So all of us are looking forward to it.'
Australia's pacer Josh Hazlewood hasn't yet joined the Royal Challengers Bangalore team bubble for IPL 2022 and is unlikely to be available for at least another week.
Rahul Gandhi could be where Modi has not been. Modi aspired to be with the pantheon of gods on the walls, while Rahul could sit with the family because there is a family member in the picture.
The BCCI deployed three charter flights -- from Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai -- for both the men and women cricketers to assemble in Mumbai and join the team bio bubble on May 24 before flying out for the tour of England.
With just over a month until the Beijing Winter Olympics opening ceremony the CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) said he is increasingly concerned if the Games can go ahead as planned.
Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Brendon McCullum hopes his team plays a brand of cricket which gives people "something to look forward to in these difficult times".
Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Eoin Morgan, one of the most respected voices in international cricket today, acknowledged that the players are more than aware of the horrific nature of the COVID-19 pandemic which is claiming hundreds of lives outside the bio-bubble.
