Dhoni @36: Birthday boy stands at 'Corridor of Uncertainty'

Agencies
July 7, 2017

New Delhi, Jul 7: Age is just a number if the going is good. But if it's not the case, then the number 36 - whether age or the waistline - can always lead to some amount of self doubts.

msdhoni

On his 36th birthday, Mahendra Singh Dhoni finds himself standing at crossroads of an illustrious career - just four matches short of a mammoth 300 ODI games.

One of the best finishers of the game, played perhaps the most horrendous knock of his 13-year-ODI career - 54 off 114 balls - in an unsuccessful 190-run chase against an under-strength West Indies.

His worst effort, ironically, came at a venue that is named after one of the greatest the game has ever seen - Sir Vivian Richards.

Dhoni's knock at North Sound obviously begs a few questions. Some of the answers are available with common cricket loving public but the most important answer is only available with the man himself.

Can he win matches for India at the 2019 World Cup when he will be 38? Only Dhoni knows.

Are his finishing powers on the wane? They certainly seem to be going by his recent struggles.

Is he still the best wicketkeeper and one of the fittest in the team? An emphatic yes.

It's a tricky situation for one of India's limited overs legends. He will win matches here and there, will be brilliant behind the stumps with flash reflexes but will that be enough to convince Virat Kohli to give another 45 matches before the team again boards the flight to the United Kingdom.

What works in favour of Dhoni is India's phenomenally strong batting line-up.

With Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan at the top with back-ups like KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane at the top of the order, Dhoni actually will not be required on most of the days.

And then to provide swagger towards the end, Hardik Pandya has arrived with ability to hit sixes at will.

Therefore, perhaps Dhoni will be required occasionally to guide the team.

And therein lies the problem. The No 5 or 6 is a very important slot which would not always give him enough time to settle down.

Hitting sixes from the word 'go' has never been his game during all these years.

But as Ajay Jadeja had rightly pointed out during one of his commentary stints: "It's not the sixes that is the problem but not getting those singles regularly that's putting the pressure."

Rahul Dravid has called upon the selectors to have a clear cut policy on Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh and he is not off the mark.

Just like the Champions Trophy final, it will be those odd days when his oodles of experience is something that Kohli would like to bank on.

And since he will only be required sporadically, the failures will be magnified even more as the next chance to become team's 'Man Friday' may not come too soon.

The helicopter may come off one day but some of the other days, it will go down the long-on's throat.

But on days when it comes off, he is the resident champion.

It's not that players have not reinvented themselves after their 36th birthdays. Sachin Tendulkar played some of his best cricket between 2009-11 in both Tests and ODIs.

Without doubt Tendulkar was a batting genius with a lot more quality in his armoury but Dhoni possesses the most important aspect of a top level sportsperson - steely temperament.

Rishabh Pant - another rare talent from the Indian cricket stable - is breathing down his neck. But Rishabh is far from being a finished product even though he will inherit Dhoni's big gloves.

One does not know how long he will play. Dhoni doesn't care for records. He quit Test cricket when 100 Tests required just 10 more games.

He quit limited overs captaincy with one game required for him to have captained India in 200 ODIs.

The lethal delivery called 'Retirement' has just been pitched on top of off-stump and it's luring the man.

Will he be able to deal with a delivery that has been pitched on the 'Corridor of Uncertainty'? The jury is still out.

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Agencies
January 25,2020

Headingley, Jan 25: England have become the first team in the world to score 500,000 runs in Test cricket. They achieved the feat during the ongoing fourth and final Test against South Africa being played at The Wanderers.

On Friday - the opening day of the Test match -- England captain Joe Root's single through the covers took the Three Lions to a landmark 500,000 run-mark in the longest format of the game. They achieved the feat in their 1022nd Test match.

Australia comes second in the list, with 432,706 runs in 830 Tests. India, meanwhile, are third, with 273,518 runs in 540 Tests, followed by West Indies (270,441 runs in 545 Tests).

In the third Test played at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth, England had become the first team to play 500 Test matches on foreign soil. Australia are the second team to play the most away Test with 404 matches they have played so far.

India have played 268 Tests on foreign soil in which they have won 51, lost 113 and 104 have ended in a draw.

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News Network
June 25,2020

Jun 25: After asserting that the 2011 World Cup final was "sold" by "certain parties" in Sri Lanka to India, the island nation's former sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has now called his claim a "suspicion" that he wants investigated.

The Lankan government has ordered an enquiry into the matter and a special Police investigation unit recorded Aluthgamage's statement on Wednesday. He told the team that he was only suspicious of fixing.

"I want my suspicion investigated," Aluthgamage told reporters.

"I gave to the Police, a copy of the complaint I lodged with the International Cricket Council (ICC) on 30 October 2011 regarding the said allegation as then Sports Minister," he said.

Aluthgamage has alleged that his country "sold" the game to India, a claim that was ridiculed by former captains Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene who demanded evidence from him.

Set a target of 275, India clinched the trophy thanks to the brilliance of Gautam Gambhir (97) and then skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (91).

"Today I am telling you that we sold the 2011 world cup, I said this when I was the sports minister," Aluthgamage, who was the sports minister at the time, had stated.

Sangakkara, the captain of Sri Lanka at that time, asked him to produce evidence for an anti-corruption probe.

"He needs to take his 'evidence' to the ICC and the Anti corruption and Security Unit so the claims can be investigated thoroughly," he tweeted.

Jayawardene, also a former captain who scored a hundred in that game, ridiculed the charge.

"Is the elections around the corner...like the circus has started...names and evidence?" he asked in a tweet.

Aluthgamage said that in his opinion no players were involved in fixing the result, "but certain parties were."

Both Aluthgamage and the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa were among the invitees at the final played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Following his allegations, Aravinda de Silva, the former great who was the then chairman of selectors, has urged the BCCI to conduct its own investigation.

De Silva has said he is willing to travel to India to take part in such an investigation despite the current COVID-19 threat.

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News Network
May 9,2020

May 9: Filipina weightlifting star Hidilyn Diaz noticed live-streamed concerts were collecting money for coronavirus relief and was struck by inspiration: why not raise funds with an online workout?

Since then the Olympic silver-medallist -- and strong contender for her country's first Games gold -- has made enough money to buy food packs for hundreds of hard-hit families in the Philippines.

Diaz has done it all from Malaysia, where she was training to qualify for the now-postponed Tokyo Olympics when much of the world locked down against the virus in March.

"I thought (distribution) would be impossible because I'm not physically present," Diaz, 29, told news agency.

"It's a good thing that I have trusted friends and trusted family members who understand why we need to do a fundraising."

That circle of supporters has handed out the packages, which include vegetables, eggs and rice, to more than 400 families.

The food was bought with donations from about 50 people who joined sessions that lasted up to three hours, and gave them a rare chance to train with an elite athlete.

Diaz rose to fame in 2016 after snagging a surprise silver in the 53 kilogramme category in Rio, becoming the Philippines' first female Olympic medallist and ending the nation's 20-year medal drought at the Games.

Two years later, she won gold at the Asian Games in Indonesia.

However, her quest to qualify for Tokyo is on hold ahead of the Games' rescheduled opening in July 2021.

"I thought all the hard work would soon be over... then it was extended," she said. "But I'm still thankful I can still continue with (the training) I need to do."

Still, the lockdown broke her daily training regimen, keeping her away from weights for 14 days for the first time in her career.

"I felt like I was losing my mind already. I've been carrying the barbell for 18 years and all of a sudden it's gone. Those were the kinds of anxiety that I felt," she said.

But she got access to some equipment, and with her coach's urging, got back to work. She was relieved to find her strength was still there.

Instead of a Tokyo berth, the past months have been about a different kind of accomplishment for Diaz: helping her countrymen get through the coronavirus crisis.

Rosemelyn Francisco's family in Zamboanga City, Diaz's home town, is one of the first to get help from the athlete's initiative, and is deeply grateful.

Her family was not wealthy to begin with, and the pandemic has cost her husband his construction job.

"The food she donated has all everything we need, including eggs," said Francisco, 27.

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