England footballer buys stake in The Hundred franchise
England footballer Jude Bellingham has bought a minority stake worth around £1 million in Hundred franchise Birmingham Phoenix. “I love Birmingham. I’m very grateful for what the whole city of Birmingham has done for me. I love cricket as well, so when I got the opportunity to get involved, I didn’t really think twice about it, so I’m so happy to be on board,” Bellingham said in a statement.
Knighthead Capital, the American investment fund who own Birmingham City FC, bought a 49% stake in the franchise last year. They became the co-owners with the host county Warwickshire who confirmed in a statement on Wednesday morning about Bellingham’s investment. They also said in the statement that with the investment, Jude Bellingham will play a key role in “community engagement” and “CSR [corporate social responsibility] projects within Birmingham and the surrounding areas”.
“I’m so grateful to Birmingham, the Stourbridge area and the West Midlands as a whole. I got the best upbringing into football, into life through Birmingham City. I feel like I owe the city something. Right now, it’s difficult with how busy I am with football, but if there’s a way in which I can help then I want to and this feels like a good way.”
Bangladesh’s T20I squad revealed for series against New Zealand
Bangladesh announced the squad for the first two T20Is against New Zealand in Chattogram. The matches are set to be played on April 27 and 29 before the third T20I in Dhaka on May 2. The pace trio of Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed, and Nahid Rana have been rested for the first two T20Is as Ripon Mondol and the uncapped Abdul Gaffar Saqlain have been called up.
“Ripon Mondol has been doing well for quite some time,” chief selector Habibul Bashar said. “We can utilise his ability with the new ball and his death bowling has also been quite noticeable. Saqlain could be our bowling all-rounder option. He has also shown good form recently.
Bangladesh T20I squad for first 2 T20Is vs New Zealand
Litton Das (c & wk ), Saif Hassan, Parvez Hossain Emon, Tanzid Hasan, Shamim Hossain, Towhid Hridoy, Nurul Hasan, Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Rishad Hossain, Shoriful Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib, Ripon Mondol, Mohammad Saifuddin, Abdul Gaffar Saqlain.
Zaheer talks about Shreyas’ chances in Indian T20I team
Amidst the T20I captaincy hype around Shreyas Iyer, former India pacer Zaheer Khan told him to remain focused on his own game instead of being carried away. Speaking on Cricbuzz, Zaheer stressed that Shreyas’ immediate priority should be to return to the Indian T20I set-up. “First, being part of the T20 setup will be on his mind. Captaincy, I am not sure if he is thinking about that right now. He can be a contender in due course because he has been captaining franchises for a while now and has been successful. So, he clearly has that mindset,” Zaheer said on Cricbuzz.
Zaheer continued, “When you are looking at the Indian T20 setup, I think he must be thinking first and foremost of making an impact with his performances as just a player to secure a spot. Once you are in the squad, then the rest of the things are up to how the team management is looking at things.”
Shreyas Iyer was not part of India’s T20I World Cup win in March, which makes his case even trickier. However, under his leadership, PBKS reached their first IPL final in 11 years in 2025, where they eventually lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Even in the ongoing IPL 2026, he has continued to impress one and all with his performance and leadership, helping PBKS remain unbeaten after six matches. No wonder discussions have emerged about the possibility of Shreyas being appointed as India’s T20I captain.
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