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Asia Cup: India's Hong Kong dress rehearsal before Pakistan test

Agencies
September 18, 2018

Sept 18: A formidable India will be aiming to make short work of minnows Hong Kong in their Asia Cup opener Tuesday before getting battle-ready for their much-anticipated clash against arch-rivals Pakistan on Wednesday.

The match against Hong Kong will be an 'appetiser' before cricket junkies are treated to a lavish spread of main course which will be the Indo-Pak rivalry.

Even without regular skipper Virat Kohli, the Indian side, led by Rohit Sharma, is an intimidating one in the limited-overs format.

Although Rohit and his colleagues won't want to take Hong Kong lightly, in reality the match will only be a pre-cursor or a glorified dress rehearsal before they take on an in-form Pakistan the very next day.

In the searing Dubai heat, where the mercury has risen up to 43 degree Celsius, the primary aim for the Men in Blue would be to get their combination right before the big game.

Hong Kong lost their opener against Pakistan by eight wickets in a thoroughly one sided showdown where they could manage only 116 runs.

Unless a miracle happens, there won't be a remarkable improvement in their performance against an Indian team that boasts of the likes of Rohit, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Kedar Jadhav in batting along with Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal in bowling.

For the past few years, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's waning batting skills have repeatedly come under scanner and this tournament will give everyone a fair idea of his ideal position.

Whether it would ned up being No.5, 6 or 7 will be the big contention going into the Pakistan game.

If Dhoni comes in at No.7, he will have to face a skilful Mohammed Aamir at the death along with a skiddy Usman Khan and talented Hasan Ali.

Possibly, Kedar Jadhav or Manish Pandey at No.5 and Hardik Pandya with his big hitting abilities at No.7 could prove to be ideal foil for the former India captain, if he decides to come at No 6.

The middle-order that has been an issue for India for quite some time now and need to be sorted going into the World Cup next year.

It is expected that KL Rahul will bat at No 3 but the incoming deliveries from Aamir or Hasan could be a problem like it has been in England.

The BCCI has already hired a left-arm throwdown specialist from Sri Lanka to ensure that the Indian have no trouble tackling Pakistan's battery of left-armers. Also, they have Khaleel Ahmed in the team to give the batsmen much-needed practice.

However, on flat decks with little movement from white kookaburra, the Indian batsmen can play their customary 'hitting on the rise' game with minimal footwork.

The Hong Kong encounter will be a match simulater for the likes of Dhawan, Rahul and Pandya, who will have to adjust to the different length and pace of the track.

The Bumrah-Bhuvneshwar combination will be back in action along with the Kuldeep-Chahal combination, which has been a steady set-up for past one year.

For Pakistan, the two Indian wrist-spinners will be unknown entities as they were not in the team that lost to Sarfraz Khan's men in the Champions Trophy final in England.

Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam are the two batting mainstays while Imam ul Haq (Inzamam ul Haq's nephew) has been pretty consistent so far.

The oldest player in the line up, all-rounder Shoaib Malik, has tremendous experience of batting in the middle overs on low slow decks of the sub-continent.

The Hong Kong game will also be ideal warm-up for Bhuvneshwar, who has been out due to back injury.

He recently came back to competitive cricket for India A against South Africa A.

The tickets for the Indo-Pak clash has been steeply priced with the hospitality seats costing USD 1600 (INR 1.15 lakh approx).

The stadium is expected to be packed to capacity on Wednesday but one can expect a sizeable Indian population on Tuesday itself during the Hong Kong game.

Squads

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shardul Thakur, Dinesh Karthik, Khaleel Ahmed.

Hong Kong: Anshuman Rath (captain), Aizaz Khan, Babar Hayat, Cameron McAulson, Christopher Carter, Ehsan Khan, Ehsan Nawaz, Arshad Mohammed, Kinchit Shah, Nadeem Ahmed, Raag Kapur, Scott McKehnie, Tanvir Ahmed, Tanvir Afzal, Waqas Khan, Aftab Hussain.

Match starts 5 pm (IST).

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Agencies
February 13,2020

New Delhi, Feb 13: Sanjiv Chawla, a key accused in the match-fixing scandal involving former South African cricket team captain Hansie Cronje in 2000, was extradited from the UK on Thursday, Delhi Police said.

The 50-year-old British national, accompanied by a crime branch team from London, reached IGI Airport this morning, a senior officer said.

He is likely to be taken to the crime branch office for questioning, he added.

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News Network
July 3,2020

Karachi, Jul 3: Pakistan limited overs captain Babar Azam is tired of his constant comparisons with India skipper Virat Kohli and says he would rather be compared to the greats at home.

Babar, six years younger to Kohli, has a long way to go in getting close to Kohli's staggering numbers across formats. The India skipper has 70 hundreds to his name and averages more than 50 in all three formats.

"I would be more happy if you compare to me say a Javed Miandad, Muhammad Yousuf or Younis Khan. Why compare me to Kohli or any Indian player?" asked the 25-year-old, who is in England with the national team, said in an online media interaction on Thursday.

Babar has scored 16 international hundreds and averages more than 50 in ODIs and T20s. In 26 Tests, he has scored 1850 runs at 45.12.

He also said that he is not targeting any English bowler for the series next month.

"I don’t see who the bowler is or his reputation. I just try to play each ball on merit. England no doubt has a top bowling attack and they have advantage of playing at home but this is a challenge I want to score runs in," he said.

Before the squad’s departure for England, Pakistan batting coach Younis Khan said that pacer Joffra Archer will be a handful for the Pakistani batsmen.

Babar said that he would try to play every English bowler on merit but conceded that after getting runs in Australia last year, he was keen to leave his footprint in the coming Test and T20 series in England.

Reminded that some former Test players had already written off Pakistan for the England series, Babar said they were entitled to their opinion.

"But we don’t have a bad team and already we have been enjoying our training. It is good to be back on the field after such a long lay-off. I think we have the bowlers to trouble them like Abbas, Naseem, Shaheen and others while we have some experience in our batting line-up."

Babar said he would love to get a triple century in a Test match.

"When you score a century, you naturally want to go on and convert that into a double or a triple century. This is something I would like to do during the Test series.

"I like to play my natural game but my selection of shots depends on the conditions and bowlers."

Babar also ruled out any problems in the Pakistan dressing room due to the presence of former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed, who was sacked last year.

But he said that since Muhammad Rizwan had been playing in all formats for Pakistan in recent times, he would be the starting keeper in the Test series ahead of Sarfaraz.

"I think we first have to give Rizwan a proper chance and Sarfaraz is there as back up."

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Agencies
August 5,2020

New Delhi, Aug 5: "Want to know what makes him tick," said Australian pacer Kane Richardson will talking about playing alongside Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.

The IPL 2020 will be played in the UAE from September 19-November 10 and the tournament will run for 53 days.

In the players' auction which was conducted in December 2019, RCB managed to bag key players like Richardson, Chris Morris, Aaron Finch, Dale Steyn, Joshua Philippe, and Isuru Udana.

In an interaction with news agency, Richardson talked about playing alongside Kohli and the learning curve which is in store for him by being in the same squad as Proteas great Dale Steyn.
"Huge. These guys (Virat, AB de Villiers) are the absolute legends of the game. Anything I can learn from them will be a bonus, that's for sure.

I am really looking forward to playing with Virat, there are few more competitive players in the world. I am really looking forward to seeing what makes him tick," Richardson said.

The 29-year-old pacer also said that he would want to learn from Steyn as to how to be consistent in all formats of the game over a long period of time.

"There are loads I can learn from Dale. He has been amongst the best at the highest level for so long. His control and ability to swing the ball without losing his pace is really impressive. 

I look forward to getting in his ear about how he performs so consistently over a long period, in all forms," said Richardson who has 39 ODI wickets to his credit.

Richardson has so far played 14 games in his IPL career so far and has picked up 18 wickets. The bowler played for Pune Warriors India in 2013, Rajasthan Royals in 2014, and RCB in 2016.

For this year's IPL, RCB has also bagged Australia's limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch, and Richardson thinks having a familiar face in the camp would help him to settle better in the franchise.

"Finchey is an awesome player and a fantastic leader. I am sure it will help to have two Aussies in the side along with Josh who is playing his first tournament after a massive summer in the BBL. We are all professionals, I'm sure it won't take long for us to gel as a side," Richardson said.

However, before the IPL starts, Australia is expected to tour England for a limited-overs series, comprising of three ODIs and as many T20Is.

The side was last seen in action in March this year as they played one ODI against New Zealand in Sydney. After the first match, the remaining two ODIs were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Talking about the series against England, Kane replied: "We will be fresh, that's one thing, while the England players have been in a bubble for some time now. As long as we get enough practice in before and possibly some centre wicket it should not be an issue."

"They are World Cup holders and the number one ranked side for a very good reason. It will be a tough series also given they will have played a fair bit of cricket together by then. We know we need to work hard on our one-day game which will be a priority over the next period," he added.

The pacer also talked about how the lockdown was like for him, and Richardson feels that everyone would come back strong as a result of this break.

"The break from playing has been refreshing, to be honest. We have come back strong and are well into pre-season training with our states. As a bowler, our loads are not at their peak but we are working towards getting ready for a tour of the UK in a few weeks," Richardson said.

The Australian quick has so far played 25 ODIs and 18 T20Is, managing to take 39 and 19 wickets respectively.

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