Bailable warrant issued against Gambhir, latest ICC rankings announced, and more - Cricket News Today, December 20 2018

Welcome to Sportskeeda's Cricket News Today, a section that covers a summary of the trending news topics of the day in the world of cricket.

The IPL auction, which took place just a couple of days ago, has still got everyone talking. There were a lot of unexpected buys and some unexpected unsold players as well.

Now, all the teams will try and figure out the best possible playing XIs for the IPL next year.

Moving away from the IPL, there has been a lot going on in the world of cricket.

So, let's take a look at the top news from today:

#1 Had a feeling I might go to Mumbai Indians, insists Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh, who went unsold in the first round of the auction, found a buyer right at the very end as the Mumbai Indians purchased him for his base price.

Earlier that day, there were rumours that the southpaw might move to the Chennai Super Kings. However, these rumours were quashed once Mumbai bid on him.

Speaking to the Mumbai Mirror, Yuvraj confessed that he had a feeling about moving to the three-time champions.

"Somewhere within me, there was a feeling that I might go to Mumbai. Frankly, I am looking for an opportunity to play this year and I am happy that it has come," Yuvraj told Mumbai Mirror.

"The reason is obvious, when you are putting together an IPL team, you will be looking at the youngsters. I am at that stage of my career where it could be presumed that I may be in the last stages of my career. I had hoped that there would be a buyer for me in the last round."

#2 ICC announce latest Test rankings

Australia v India - 2nd Test: Day 3

The ICC announced the latest Test rankings after the conclusion of the Test matches which were taking place around the world.

Virat Kohli, who scored a century against Australia in Perth, albeit in a losing cause, remained atop the rankings, with 934 points to his name.

He is 19 points ahead of Kane Williamson, who himself reached a career-high of 915 points.

On the other hand, Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah moved up the rankings as well. The former moved up to 48th place in the rankings for batsmen while the latter reached a career-high ranking of 28.

#3 Steve Smith barred from participating in BPL

Warner v Smith in Sydney Grade Cricket: Randwick-Petersham v Sutherland

The Bangladesh Cricket Board has barred Aussie cricketer Steve Smith from participating in the upcoming Bangladesh Premier League. The reason for this was that he was not named in the initial players' list.

He had been signed by the Comilla Victorians as a replacement for Shoaib Malik.

"The rule of the tournament is that if a franchise takes a replacement, his name should be in the list of initial players' draft. But Smith's name was not there," said Bangladesh Cricket Board chief Nizamuddin Chowdhury.

"Some franchises raised objection about it. So we have to bar him from playing the BPL," he said.

#4 WV Raman appointed head coach of Indian women's cricket team

Indian women's cricket team

The BCCI announced WV Raman as the head coach of the Indian women's cricket team. He was named in the final shortlist alongside Gary Kirsten.

Initially, Kirsten was the favourite for the job but he wasn't ready to give up his position as the head coach of the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Hence, the committee decided to go with WV Raman.

Raman pipped Venkatesh Prasad to the job as well, as according to reports, the committee was interested in somebody who could improve the batting of the side.

#5 Bailable warrant issued against Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir

Shortly after retiring from all forms of cricket, a bailable warrant has been issued against Gautam Gambhir with regards to a real-estate property scam.

According to PTI, Gambhir was the brand ambassador for a joint project of Rudra Buildwell Realty Pvt Ltd and HR Infracity Pvt Ltd a few years ago. However, a complaint was filed against them after 17 buyers alleged that they had paid Rs 1.98 crores for apartments in the complex, which were never built.

"Considering the fact that accused Gautam Gambhir has not been appearing in this case repeatedly and he has not appeared even despite dismissal of his exemption application on last date of hearing, therefore, issue bailable warrant for Rs 10,000 against the accused with one surety in the like amount for next date of hearing," Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Manish told India Today.