Melbourne Ricky Ponting, a legendary Australian batsman, has supported Australian players in the rescheduled Indian Premier League. It will be excellent preparation for the T20 World Cup in October.

The IPL will squeeze the remaining 76 games between September 19 and October 15, while T20 World Cup will take place just after that, from October 17 to November 14. Both tournaments will take place in the UAE.

Ponting said to Australia Test captain Tim Paine, “Those guys who haven’t been playing for three or four-month months now need to get back in the groove of playing high-quality cricket against the top players in the world.” This was according to cricket.com.au.

Ponting, heading to Dubai to coach the IPL side Delhi Capitals, said, “No doubt it’s their best preparation, being in those exact conditions.

Pat Cummins, a fast bowler, skipped the West Indies and Bangladesh tours to be with his wife. He is unlikely to return to IPL with his first child due to the rescheduled tournament.

Cummins stated in a YouTube vlog that “for the second half of the season, it’s going be tough to get over there.”

“We’ll watch how it turns out, but at this stage, it might prove too difficult, but with the World Cup right after it, I’m hoping that it will be easy for me to get there.”

Aaron Finch, Australia’s captain, had surgery to fix cartilage damage in his right knee from the West Indies. The surgery was successful, but he will need to rest for ten weeks before returning to play in Australia’s Super 12 stage match.

Finch previously stated that he thought it would be difficult to justify a return to IPL for players who skipped winter tours due to fatigue and the toll of bio-secure bubbles and hotel quarantines.

Riley Meredith and Dan Christian, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Marsh, and Adam Zampa were all part of the tour that visited the Caribbean and Bangladesh. All hold IPL deals.

Marsh and Philippe had decided to skip the first stage IPL tournament, which was held in India.

The other Australians with IPL contracts are Nathan Coulter–Nile, Chris Lynn, and Ben Cutting. None of these are in Australia’s plans nor hold state contracts.

Australia’s T20 team, which didn’t have many first-choice cricketers, suffered 1-4 series losses against West Indies, Bangladesh, and Ponting stated that the results highlighted the current lack of depth within Australian cricket.

The Australian team suffered their lowest ever T20I score of 62 against Bangladesh in Dhaka just a few days back.

“… Whether it was lack of confidence, a lack in skill, or a loss of awareness of the conditions. We were again unable to perform in these conditions because of our lack of skill and knowledge.

“It’s been the Achilles heel of Australian cricket for as long I can recall. This shows that the depth of Australian cricket is not there right now.

Ponting stated that “The T20 World Cup (but) with everyone in the UAE fit and healthy, I still believe the Australian team can push difficult to win that title that’s been elusive,” Ponting added.

Denis Cheryshev, a Russian winger, was brought down in the penalty area. Carlos Soler scored the spot-kick. On Friday, Valencia won a third-minute penalty to beat Getafe by 1-0 in a brutal opening match in Spain’s LaLiga.

Hugo Guillamon, the defender, was sent to the stands for his dangerous tackle on Nemanja Maksimovic (Serbian midfielder at Getafe).

It was the fastest sent off in Liga’s history after the referee had consulted a replay.

After just 39 seconds, the foul was committed.

Valencia was ahead eight minutes after Guillamon was dismissed.

Denis Cheryshev, a Russian winger, was brought down in the penalty area. Carlos Soler scored the spot-kick.

Soler stated, “It wasn’t the game we wanted. Because going a man down at the third minute isn’t the best situation.”

“Hugo is not to blame. It was not red. These are football things you learn from. He left the pitch, and I promised him we would win. We did.

Giorgi Mamardashvili of Valencia, who was on loan from Dinamo Tbilisi, made two excellent saves to deny Getafe a goal equalizer.

Erick Cabaco was sent to the stands in the 76th minute for a second yellow card.

Bosnia’s top scorer Edin Zeko joins Inter Milan, leaving AS Roma rivals.

Italian champions Inter Milan signed striker Edin Zeko, 35, from Serie A rivals Roma on Saturday. This was just a day after Romelu Lukaku was sold to Chelsea for a reported PS97 million ($135million).

Intel announced that they had signed Dutch defender Denzel Dumfries, who was previously with PSV Eindhoven.

“FC Internazionale Milano are pleased to announce Edin Dzeko’s signing. Inter stated that the forward, originally from Roma, has signed a two-year contract until June 2023.

Dumfries, a former skipper of PSV, has signed a contract with Inter that will run through June 2025.

Dzeko has had a long and successful career since he left Bosnia.

🚨 | ANNOUNCEMENT@EdDzeko is an #Inter player ⚫🔵

👉 https://t.co/eMw6uErh9C#WelcomeEdin #IMInter pic.twitter.com/01KL4Ia5Mh— Inter 🏆🇮🇹 (@Inter_en) August 14, 2021

🚨 | ANNOUNCEMENT

Denzel Dumfries joins #Inter!⚫️🔵

👉 https://t.co/ydudKXQEYI#WelcomeDenzel #IMInter pic.twitter.com/mtLZOlZWhZ— Inter 🏆🇮🇹 (@Inter_en) August 14, 2021

He was the top scorer with 26 goals and helped Wolfsburg win their first and only Bundesliga title in 2009.

He scored one of the goals against QPR in Manchester City. This was his 44th English title.

Roma scored 119 goals in 260 matches.

Bosnia’s all-time top scorer is Dzeko, who has scored 59 goals in 114 games. This helped his country qualify for the 2014 World Cup.

Dumfries was a star as the Netherlands reached Euro 2020’s last 16, eliminating the Czech Republic.

He currently has 23 caps and 2 goals. Both of these were scored at the delayed tournament in August.