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Desperate India women look to end five-match losing streak in T20s

Agencies
March 6, 2019

Mar 6: A desperate India women's team would aim to snap its five-match losing streak in the second T20 International against England on Thursday.

India suffered a crushing 41-run loss to England in the first T20 of the three-match series on Sunday.

The loss, India's fifth in a row in the shortest format, meant the WV Raman-coached side has a lot of work to do before the T20 World Cup in Australia early next year.

India lost all their T20s in New Zealand after winning the ODI series and things seem to be heading in a similar direction against England.

Chasing England's competitive 160 for four in the series opener, the Indian batswomen cut a sorry figure to be restricted to 119 for six.

After England had put on a competitive total, the onus was on India's top-order to do the job but the quartet of Harleen Deol, skipper Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues and veteran Mithali Raj failed to live to the expectations, seriously hurting the team's cause.

The absence of a power-hitter like Harmanpreet Kaur in the run chase was felt immensely.

It was a rare failure from Mandhana, that too, on her captaincy debut considering the fact that she has been sublime form off late, plundering runs at will which earned her the ICC Woman Cricketer of the Year award.

In Kaur's absence, ODI captain Mithali was expected to play a bigger role in the three T20s but she failed to seize the opportunity scoring just 7.

And come tomorrow, the 36-year-old, who is likely to retire from the shortest format before the T20 World Cup in Australia next year, would like to make a strong statement.

Veda Krishnamurthy, who made a comeback to the team, looked a pale shadow of herself, struggling to 15 off 25 balls.

Eventually, it was left to the lower-order to do the job and the likes of Shikha Pandey (23 not out), Deepti Sharma (22 not out) and Arundhati Reddy (18) did try but the asking rate was too high.

On the bowling front too, India were not up to the mark with the likes of Deepti, Arundhati and Radha Yadav leaking runs.

Medium pacer Shikha Pandey (1/18) and leg-spinner Poonam Yadav (0/18) were economical but they would need support from their colleagues to keep the English batters at bay.

On the other hand, Tammy Beaumont (62 off 57), skipper Heather Knight (40 off 20) and Danielle Wyatt (35) looked in great touch as England produced an all-round effort to get the better of the home team in the first T20.

Squads:

India: Smriti Mandhana (captain), Mithali Raj, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (wicketkeeper), Bharti Fulmali, Anuja Patil, Shikha Pandey, Komal Zanzad, Arundhati Reddy, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Radha Yadav, Veda Krishnamurty, Harleen Deol.

England: Tammy Beaumont, Katherine Brunt, Kate Cross, Sophia Dunkley Brown, Freya Davies, Georgia Elwiss, Amy Ellen Jones, Heather Knight(c), Laura Marsh, Natalie Sciver, Anya Shrubsole, Linsey Smith, Lauren Winfield, Danielle Wyatt, Alex Hartley.

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News Network
January 13,2020

Mumbai, Jan 13: India captain Virat Kohli indicated at dropping himself down the batting order to accommodate both Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul in the playing XI against Australia in the first ODI of the three-match series starting Tuesday.

With vice-captain Rohit Sharma an automatic pick, the team management is left with tough choice of selecting either Dhawan or Rahul in the XI. But the skipper sees no reason why both can't play together.

"Look, a guy in form is always good for the team. ...You obviously want to have the best players available and then chose from what the combination should be for the team. There might be a possibility that all three (Rohit, Shikhar and Rahul) might play. It will be interesting to see what balance we want to take in on the field," Kohli said on the eve of the match.

Asked if he would he be happy to bat lower down the order, Virat said,"Yeah, big possibility. I would be very happy to do so. Look I am not possessive about where I play. I am not insecure about where I bat," said the skipper.

For Kohli, it is more important as to what kind of leadership legacy he leaves behind rather than chase personal glory.

"Being the captain of the team, it is my job to make sure that the next lot is also ready. A lot of the other people might not look at it that way, but your job as a captain is not only to look after the team right now, but also to prepare a team that you leave behind when you eventually pass it onto someone else," he added.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

New Delhi, Jul 28: 'Your character stood out for me than the number of runs you scored," said India skipper Virat Kohli while explaining his decision to give opening Mayank Agarwal a Test debut in the 2018-19 Australia series.

Mayank Agarwal had made his Test debut against Australia in the third Test of the four-match series.

Playing the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Agarwal managed to register a half-century in his very first innings in the longest format.

"I had seen you play for RCB, even then you played international bowlers with conviction and you would take them on. You were performing in first-class matches in a dominating way. That is something always stood out with you, I would say your character stood out for me than the number of runs. I knew you would be fearless without having any baggage," Kohli told Mayank Agarwal in a video posted on the official website of BCCI.

In the longest format of the game, Agarwal has managed to score 974 runs from 11 matches at an average of 57.29 with three centuries as an opening batsman.

The Indian skipper also explained as to what makes him notice in a player and added that it is important that guys in the team look to face new challenges and emerge triumphantly.

"For me, the biggest marker is how a person approaches the game, so for example when you opened and we made Vihari open with you. The first opportunity we presented Vihari to open the batting, he said yes to it and that matters me to the most," Kohli said.

"I opened in my first series for India, I said yes to this opportunity and things worked out fine for me. So, a guy who wants to get into tough situations will come out either holding his head high or learning from his mistakes," he added.

Kohli and Mayank would soon be seen in action for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab respectively in the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting from September 19 in the UAE.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar keep on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

At present, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings. Kohli has so far played 86 Tests, scoring 7,240 runs with 27 centuries at an average of 53.62.

His knock of 254 against South Africa at Pune in 2019 remains his highest Test score to date. When it comes to ODIs, the current Indian skipper has played 248 matches and has 43 centuries.

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News Network
April 24,2020

New Delhi, Apr 24: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday extended wishes to the "most prolific batsman of all time" Sachin Tendulkar on his 47th birthday.

ICC took to Twitter and wrote: "Happy birthday to Sachin Tendulkar, the most prolific batsman of all time! To celebrate, we will give you the opportunity to vote for his top ODI innings in a bracket challenge! Stay tuned to join the celebrations."

The Maharashtra-born player had an illustrious career in the game, creating several records.
Tendulkar made his debut in Test cricket on November 15, 1989. In the same year on December 18, he played his first ODI match.

The legendary cricketer has the most number of runs in the longest format of the game, amassing 15,921 runs. Along the way, Tendulkar scored 51 Test centuries, most by any player.

Things are no different in ODI cricket as Tendulkar atop the list of most runs in this format as well. He has accumulated 18,426 runs in ODI which includes 49 tons.

Tendulkar represented the country in six World Cups during his career that lasted for 24 years. He was the part of the 2011 World Cup-winning squad.

This year, Master Blaster decided not to celebrate his birthday due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis in the country.

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