Confident India face tricky Bangladesh test in CT semi-final

Agencies
June 14, 2017

Birmingham, Jun 14: Professionalism will be pitted against passion when defending champions India square off with Bangladesh in the second semi-final of the ICC Champions Trophy, here tomorrow.

India

On paper, India are overwhelming favourites against the next door neighbours but in a game of glorious uncertainties, it will be foolhardy to count Bangladesh out of equation.

Especially after their inspirational 'come from behind' victory against New Zealand that paved the way for their semi-final berth.

India, after a clinical performance against South Africa, would like to maintain the same intensity against a team that could prove to be a proverbial banana peel for them.

Batsmen in form, bowlers on target and fielding top notch -- Virat Kohli's men have covered all bases so far and Mashrafe Mortaza's men -- after their lucky entry into semi- finals -- will have to pull off something really special at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground tomorrow.

For India, nothing short of a place in the summit round will satisfy them while Bangladesh are standing at the cusp of what could be the biggest day in their cricketing history, if they manage to pull off a victory.

A victory for India will be par for the course for which they won't possibly get the credit that one gets for beating Australia, South Africa or England.

But a defeat will lead to unparalleled criticism from fans and critics alike with some of the uncomfortable behind the scene happenings (like the alleged Anil Kumble-Virat Kohli rift) again raising their head.

It will be interesting to see if India retain Ravichandran Ashwin or bring Umesh Yadav back as his pace scared the Bangladeshi batsmen during their 240-run thrashing in a warm-up game.

In case of Bangladesh, their aim will be to repeat the performance of the 2007 World Cup of opener in Port of Spain -- still a 'Red Letter Day' in cricketing history.

Four members of that side -- skipper Mashrafe Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Tamim Iqbal -- are stars of this current line-up.

One day cricket is one format where perhaps Bangladesh have the best chance of beating India. This is a format which is neither too long like Test cricket where temperament is challenged nor too short like T20 where quick-on-the-feet innovation is required.

Fifty overs is adequate time in which the tiny nation have gained its mojo in the past 3 years building a reasonably good unit that can put up a fight.

They have shown they could do that during the 2015 home series which they won 2-1, thanks to the then teenage sensation Mustafizur Rahaman and his deadly cutters.

But the 50-over India versus Bangladesh contests have never been short of drama -- thanks to the overtly passionate fans and media.

'Tigers', as they are referred to have such a passionate following that their country's media has been successfully able to 'marry' nationalism with cricket taking it to an altogether different level.

An interesting anecdote will reveal how cricket and nationalism has been inter-linked in Bangladesh's social life and even cricketers have been voluntarily a part of it.

It is learnt that the entire Bangladesh team was watching the England versus Australia game together. Once England's victory ensured Bangladesh's qualification, their strike bowler Taskin Ahmed started singing a popular song with others joining in chorus.

The song is the extremely popular Bengali rendition 'Amra Korbo Joy' of Pete Seeger's iconic 'We Shall Overcome'. The entire team joined in chorus and they uploaded the video on facebook, which acquired millions of hits.

Bangladeshis treat cricket as more than a game. If cricket is religion in India, it's beyond that in Bangladesh. It's a getaway from all the worries of poverty, unemployment and other teething issues.

The 2015 World Cup quarter-final against India at the MCG still sticks out like a sore thumb for the Bangladesh players and fans alike.

They still believe that Rohit Sharma was out as Rubel Hossain bowled a perfectly legal delivery. One can't justify that given that even if 40 runs were deducted from Rohit's final score of 137, Bangladesh would have still lost that game.

They believe that Mahmudullah Riyadh could have won them the match had Shikhar Dhawan's contentious claim for a catch at the boundary line not been upheld by the umpires.

The one-run defeat at Bangalore in a ICC World T20 match last year still hurts them bad -- a testimony to which was Mushfiqur Rahim's classless tweet after India's semi-final departure.

The former skipper had to delete it after instructions from the Bangladesh Cricket Board.

While coach Chandika Hathurusingha tries to instill some sense of calmness playing the 'underdog card', there are people in Bangladesh camp, who already, in their dreams, have set their foot in the final.

Just man to man -- Bangladesh are no match for the Indian team despite having quality in their ranks.

The opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma are far better than Tamim Iqbal or Soumya Sarkar.

However, Tamim has been in good form in the tournament despite a strike-rate in mid 70s.

No one in their dreams would compare Imrul Kayes or Sabbir Rahaman with Virat Kohli's class.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a legend in 50-overs cricket where Mushfiqur Rahim is still an inconsistent player.

Mahmudullah Riyadh is a gutsy match-winner but Yuvraj Singh playing his 300th match is in a different league.

Mashrafe, Taskin, Rubel and Mustafizur are a good attack on a given day and that's Bangladesh's best chance to upset India. But even there, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya have more quality.

Squads:

India: Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin, Dinesh Karthik, Mohammed Shami.

Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahaman, Mahmudullah Riyadh, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahaman, Taskin Ahmed, Mehedi Hossain Miraz, Mossadek Hossain, Sunzamul Islam, Shafiul Islam.

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Agencies
June 23,2020

Islamabad, Jun 23: Seven more Pakistan cricketers, including Muhammad Hafeez and Wahab Riaz, selected for the tour of England have tested positive for COVID-19, taking the total to 10, the PCB revealed on Tuesday.

The seven who tested positive on Tuesday are Kashif Bhatti, Muhammad Hasnain, Fakhar Zaman, Muhammad Rizwan, Imran Khan, Hafeez and Riaz. Shadab Khan, Haider Ali and Haris Rauf had returned positive tests on Monday.

“It is not a great situation to be in and what it shows is these are 10 fit and young athletes...if it can happen to players it can happen to anyone,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) CEO, Wasim Khan told a media conference.

He said a support staff member, masseur Malang Ali, had also tested positive for COVID-19.

Khan said that the players and officials would now assemble in Lahore and another round of tests would be carried out on June 25 and a revised squad would be announced the next day.

The squad has to leave on June 28 for the series scheduled to be held next month, he said.

“It is a matter of concern but we shouldn’t panic at this time as we have time on our hands,” Khan said.

He said the players and officials would be retested on reaching England.

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Agencies
May 23,2020

New Delhi, May 23: Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday said India will not host any international event in immediate future and fans will have to learn to live with the new normal of sporting activities happening behind closed doors in the post-COVID-19 world.

Rijiju's statement gain greater significance in the context of the suspended IPL, which the BCCI wants to host in October-November in case of the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia is postponed.

"We have been working for quite some time now to resume sporting activities but before that, we have to think about practice and training. We are not going to have a tournament kind of situation immediately," Rijiju was quoted as saying by India Today.

For latest updates on coronavirus outbreak, click here

"We have to learn to live with the situation where sporting events will have to be carried forward without spectators in stadiums and sports venues," he added.

Talking specifically about the 13th edition of IPL, which has been put on hold for an indefinite period due to the pandemic, Rijiju said it is the government's prerogative to take a call on conducting any tournament in the country.

"In India, the government has to take a call and it will take a call depending on the situation. We cannot put health at risk just because we want to have a sporting event.

"Our focus is fighting Covid-19 and at the same time, we will have to work a mechanism to get back to normalcy. It is difficult to confirm dates but I am sure we will have some kind of sporting events this year," he said.

Rijiju's statement came close on the heels of Sports Authority of India (SAI) laying out a detailed Standard Operating Procedure for the resumption of sporting activities across the country in a phased manner.

"In the background, their (athletes) fitness and everything has been tracked. They are in touch with the coaches, the fitness experts, the high-performance directors. We are monitoring each and every athlete who are of the higher stature, who played for India and higher clubs," he said.

"Now it has been laid out. SAI has prepared a detailed SOP. These are prepared by experts from different fields. This SOP has already been issued to all sports federations and other sports bodies including govt stakeholders. So, based on this SOP training will start."

Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths on May 23

The Sports Minister, however, reiterated that resumption of sporting activities will entirely depend on guidelines of respective states and local administrations.

"We have been clearly advising that health and safety are top priorities. Besides that we have to keep in mind two other things, one is the guidelines issued by the Home Ministry, second, is the guidelines issued by the administrations of the respective localities or states. So, these are to be taken into account," he said.

"But we have clearly stated that sports complexes and stadiums are open, other than that there should not be any activities till the lockdown is there or we come up with a renewed kind of advice."

Asked about the prospect of the Tokyo Games that were scheduled for this year but were postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic, the Sports Minister said he is hopeful of the quadrennial event taking place on the revised dates.

"Olympics is still far away and we have full confidence in the Japanese government and IOC and every country will support that the conduct of Tokyo 2021 will not be postponed. There are too many stakes in Olympics, so it is difficult to even foresee that the Olympics can be postponed," he said.

"As far as India's preparation goes, we are at the best stage of our preparation of any Olympics so far in history. This is going to be India's biggest contingent so far and have medal-winning prospects. But I am not saying we are so prepared to finish in the top 10 or 5 but our long term target is that India will be in the top 10 in 2028.

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Agencies
March 26,2020

Karachi, Mar 26: Pakistan's centrally-contracted cricketers will contribute Rs 5 million to the national government's emergency fund to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ehsan Mani on Wednesday said apart from centrally-contracted players contributing Rs 5 million, the employees in the board, up to the senior manager level, will contribute their one day's salary.

Those employed as general managers or on higher posts will give two days' salary to the fund.

"The PCB will collect all these funds and deposit it to the government's coronavirus fund," he said.

Pakistan has recorded more than 1,000 positive cases of the deadly virus, which has claimed more than 19,000 lives all over the world.

"It is the history of the cricket board that we always stand by the government in difficult times," Mani said.

The PCB has already given its high performances centre in Karachi at the national stadium to be used by paramedical staff working at the special coronavirus hospital set up at the expo centre in the in the city.

Mani said though cricket has been disrupted by the virus outbreak but it was far more important for the nation to stand by the government and also take all precautionary steps during the pandemic.

Pakistan's centrally-contracted players are entitled to monthly salaries ranging from Rs 5 to 12 lakh besides match fee and other earnings.

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