IPL 2024: Aussie pacer Hazlewood available only in May; Taskin, Shoriful withdraw from auction
New Delhi, Dec 18: Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood, who has been tipped to create ripples in auction room, will be available for IPL 2024 only from the first week of May, as per the BCCI intimation to the teams.
Hazlewood, who played an integral role in Australia's recent ODI World Cup win, will be away in March and April as the pacer and his wife are expecting their first child.
Hazlewood, who was released by the Royal Challengers Bangalore, has been bracketed in the top-of-the-line Rs 2 crore base price category in the player auction to be held in Dubai on Tuesday.
However, a report in ESPNCricinfo said that all the other Aussies players including World Cup hero Travis Head will be available for the entire duration of the IPL.
Experienced Bangladesh left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman will only be available for the period between March 22 and May 11.
However, fast bowlers Taskin Ahmed and Shoriful Islam will be unavailable for next year's IPL as they are expected to feature in Bangladesh XI in the home series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe between March and April.
Lankan spinner Wanindu Hasaranga, who was released by RCB, and pacer Dushmantha Chameera, who was let go by Lucknow Super Giants, will be available for the duration of the IPL as they are not in the Test scheme of things of the Island nation.
The other Lankan players, who are part of the Test squad, will be available after the series against Bangladesh which ends on April 3, if they are bought in the auction.
However, young England leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed, who has a base price of Rs 50 lakh, has withdrawn from the auction.
The 19-year-old will fly back home after the five-match Test series against India.
Other England players in the IPL will be strictly monitored by the ECB managing director Rob Key in view of the T20 World Cup that starts in the West Indies and the USA in the immediate aftermath of the IPL 2024.
Harry Brook, Adil Rashid, Chris Woakes and Phil Salt are some of the high-profile England players in the auction pool.
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‘Emergency’ to miss Sept 6 release; HC refuses to direct CBFC to issue certificate immediately
Mumbai (PTI): Kangana Ranaut’s film ‘Emergency’ didn’t get any relief on Wednesday from the Bombay High Court which refused to pass any order in the wake of a directive by the Madhya Pradesh HC directing CBFC to consider objections to the movie before certifying it.
The film was scheduled to release on September 6 but will now be pushed back for two weeks as the HC directed the censor board to consider the objections raised against the film and then certify it by September 18.
The film’s producer Zee Entertainment Enterprises had moved the Bombay HC seeking a direction to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to issue certificate for the biographical drama ‘Emergency’, helmed by actor-MP Kangana Ranaut.
The plea claimed that the censor board was ready with the certificate but was not issuing it apprehending law and order unrest after the movie’s release.
A division bench of Justices B P Colabawalla and Firdosh Pooniwalla on Wednesday accepted the producer’s contention that the certificate was kept ready but not issued.
The bench said once the certificate was issued online to the makers of the film, the CBFC's contention that the certificate was not issued as it was not signed by the chairperson is incorrect.
The court, however, noted it would have directed the CBFC to issue the certificate on Wednesday itself had there not been an order from the Madhya Pradesh HC.
“We know that there is something else happening behind. We don't want to comment on it. The CBFC shall consider the objections and take a decision by September 18,” it said.
The Madhya Pradesh HC on Tuesday heard petitions filed by Sikh groups claiming that the film contains scenes that may hurt their religious sentiments and may hence cause unrest.
The CBFC had claimed there that the movie had not yet been issued a certificate.
The Madhya Pradesh HC then directed the censor board to consider the representation of the petitioner Sikh groups raising objections to the film before issuing the certificate to the movie.
The CBFC was directed to carry out this exercise and decide expeditiously.
During the hearing of the petition filed by Zee Entertainment, the Bombay HC on Wednesday said that while it was with the petitioner on the issue it cannot grant any relief in the wake of the order passed by the Madhya Pradesh HC.
“The Madhya Pradesh HC has given the CBFC a direction. If we give any relief today then it would be directly in contravention to that order. We will be asking CBFC to breach another HC order if we pass any order today. We cannot do that. Judicial propriety demands that of us,” the bench said.
Scheduled for release on September 6, the biographical drama is caught in a controversy after Sikh organisations including the Shiromani Akali Dal objected, accusing it of misrepresenting the community and getting historical facts wrong.
