Perth, July 25 : The high intensity and length of the Big Bash League (BBL) has forced Australia fast bowling great Mitchell Johnson to distance himself from it's further seasons, also raising questions about his further involvement with the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Cricket Australia (CA) had recently announced a revamp of the BBL, switching it to a full home-and-away season with 14 games, plus the finals.

Johnson, who will turn 37 this November, however has stressed on his availability for other global Twenty20 competitions and is currently eyeing the 10-over tournament to be played in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

"The intensity and length of the BBL is just too much for someone who will be 37 at the start of the summer," Johnson's manager Sam Halvorsen was quoted as saying by The West Australian newspaper.

"Mitch has put his name up for the Emirates tournament in Dubai, but that is half the length of the BBL," he added.

Johnson, a veteran of 73 Tests with 313 wickets, was on a year-by-year contract with the Perth Scorchers till last season.

The decision to quit the BBL has also raised doubts over Johnson's participation in the IPL, which also stretches to almost two months, with eight teams playing in a home-and-away format, besides the knock-outs.

Johnson, who retired from Test cricket in 2015, has plied his trade with various IPL franchises, including the Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab. In 2018, he was picked by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), where he played six games and took two wickets.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Kolkata (PTI): Seven people were arrested from the Parnashree area in the southern part of the city for allegedly running a fake call centre, a police officer said on Saturday.

Acting on a tip-off, police raided a house on Netaji Subhas Road on Friday night and found the fake call centre operating from the ground floor, he said.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused had set up a bogus company using forged documents and posed as employees of an antivirus firm to call citizens in the US, the officer said.

"The callers would gain the trust of victims and then use remote access to take control of their phones or other digital devices. The accused allegedly siphoned off large sums of money, running into millions of dollars, from victims' accounts," he said.

Five laptops, two WiFi routers, six mobile phones and four headsets were seized from the accused, he said, adding that the seven are being questioned to ascertain the full extent of the racket and to identify others involved.