While You Were Asleep: Pujara, Pant, Bumrah to play for Leicestershire, Koepka set to hitch LIV Golf sequence as PGA Tour plans to extend money prizes

The Indian group will play a four-day tour match towards Leicestershire ranging from Thursday on the Uptonsteel County Ground. However, 4 cricketers Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah and Prasidh Krishna will all group up with the Leicestershire squad, captained by opening batsman Sam Evans.

Welcome @BCCI 🇮🇳

It’s a pleasure to have you ever at Uptonsteel County Ground this week. 🤝

🎟️ https://t.co/VQUe4Y7KHS 👈

🦊#IndiaTourMatch | #LEIvIND https://t.co/CnPpjMRsDV pic.twitter.com/KX0bAsCQ7o

— Leicestershire Foxes 🏏 (@leicsccc) June 20, 2022

“LCCC, BCCI and the ECB have all agreed to allow the four players from the visiting camp to be part of the Running Foxes side, in order to allow all members of the travelling party to participate in the fixture (subject to fitness),” the county membership stated in an announcement.

The match might be performed with 13 gamers per aspect to supply additional flexibility and assist handle bowling workloads.

India arrived in Leicestershire on Sunday, earlier than they undertook their first coaching and web session at Uptonsteel County Ground on Monday morning.

The Indian group have skilled for 3 days forward of tomorrow’s four-day fixture towards the Running Foxes, which proceeds the rescheduled Fifth Test towards England at Edgbaston in the beginning of July.

Squads

India Squad: Rohit Sharma (Capt), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna.

Leicestershire CCC Squad: Sam Evans (Capt), Rehan Ahmed, Sam Bates (wk), Nat Bowley, Will Davis, Joey Evison, Louis Kimber, Abi Sakande, Roman Walker.

Koepka set to hitch LIV Golf sequence

Brooks Koepka. (Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports/FILE)

Following the footsteps of Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson, four-times main winner Brooks Koepka, a former world primary, turned the most recent massive identify to hitch the profitable LIV Series.

The US-based PGA Tour has been the hardest, most prestigious and most profitable golf circuit on the earth, with most upcoming gamers aspiring to it as if it had been the Holy Grail. Together with the DP World Tour (previously referred to as the European Tour), it has dominated {the golfing} scene for many years.

Now, a Saudi-funded enterprise with immensely deep pockets has threatened the established order, tempting one of the best gamers on the earth with profitable contracts and assured prize cash to play of their LIV Golf occasions.

The LIV Series will play its first American occasion in Portland, Oregon from June 30-July 2 on the Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, going head-to-head with the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic.

Bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), LIV Golf held its first occasion in London this month which was gained by South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel, who pocketed the $4 million prize — the most important pay cheque in golf historical past.

PGA Tour seems to revamp schedule

To counter the Saud-backed LIV Golf sequence, the PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan introduced a sweeping overhaul of the circuit on Wednesday.

The sweeping reforms embody a return to a calendar 12 months season beginning in 2024, and the creation of three worldwide occasions on the finish of the season. In addition, eight designated tour occasions will see prize cash boosted considerably with purses averaging at round $20 million.

Commissioner Jay Monahan introduced ‘significant changes’ Wednesday.

• Return to a calendar-year schedule in ‘24
• Domestic fall sequence to finalize subsequent season eligibility
• Potential worldwide sequence with three no-cut, limited-field occasions

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 23, 2022

The strikes are the PGA Tour’s most vital response but to the rise of LIV Golf, which launched earlier this month and has signed eight of the world’s prime 50 gamers together with main winners Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka.

“I am not naive. If this is an arms race and if the only weapons here are dollar bills, the PGA TOUR can’t compete,” Monahan advised reporters.

“The PGA TOUR, an American establishment, can’t compete with a international monarchy that’s spending billions of {dollars} in try to purchase the sport of golf.

“We welcome good, wholesome competitors. The LIV Saudi Golf League isn’t that.

“It’s an irrational threat; one not concerned with the return on investment or true growth of the game.”

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