Dhoni comes back as captain as Rohit takes rest

Agencies
September 25, 2018

Dubai, Sept 25: Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Tuesday had a date with destiny as he got to lead India for the 200th time in ODIs, nearly two years after giving up captaincy on his own terms.

With skipper Rohit Sharma and his deputy Shikhar Dhawan being rested after four matches in six days, it was nothing but sheer destiny that India's most successful captain walked out alongside match referee Andy Pycroft and Afghanistan skipper Asghar Afghan for the toss in their Asia Cup game.

Dhoni has never bothered about milestones and that is why he remained unfazed while calling time on his Test career with 10 short of 100 matches, a benchmark for any cricketer worth his salt.

It didn't matter to Dhoni one bit even though he had no competition.

No wonder when the decision to quit ODI captaincy was announced in early January 2017, his fans were less surprised. It didn't matter that he had a chance to captain India in 200 ODIs.

But then if destiny had made an elaborate plan, it was not in Dhoni's hands to change the script.

"I was not really sure of where I am standing. I have captained in 199 ODIs, so this gives me an opportunity to make it 200. It's all destiny and I always believed in that," Dhoni said with a poker face when Russell Arnold posed the question at the toss.

Since numbers didn't matter during his halcyon days, it was all the more expected that it would matter even less when he is in the twilight of his illustrious career.

"It's not in my control, once I left captainship," he said when asked if he ever thought that he would be able to complete 200 ODIs as captain.

Then came the usual Dhoni answer.

"Good to complete 200, but I don't think it really matters," he sounded business as usual.

But people who were used to see him lead for 10 years were happy.

"He is hundred percent the most popular Indian captain," Sunil Gavaskar made the most telling statement

Teams:

India: KL Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, Mahendra S Dhoni (captain), Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Siddarth Kaul, Kuldeep Yadav, K Khaleel Ahmed

Afghanistan: Mohammad Shahzad, Javed Ahmadi, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan (captain), Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Gulbadin Naib, Aftab Alam, Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

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News Network
May 27,2020

Bengaluru, May 27: Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar has revealed that he was never able to dismiss Inzamam-ul-Haq in the nets.

The Rawalpindi Express praised the former Pakistan skipper and said Inzamam could see the ball one second earlier than the rest of the batsmen could.

"Honestly, I don't think I could ever get him (Inzamam) out, he had the time and I always felt he saw the ball a second earlier than the rest of the batsmen because I had a complicated action unlike Brett Lee, I felt I could never dismiss Inzamam-ul-Haq," Akhtar told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

"I couldn't get him out in the nets, I think he could see the ball a second before anyone else," he added.

Inzamam played 120 Tests and 378 ODIs for Pakistan.

He finished his career with 20,569 runs across all formats.

The right-handed batsman called time on his career in 2007 and he played his last Test against South Africa in Lahore.

On the other hand, Akhtar played 224 matches for Pakistan in international cricket and took 444 wickets across all formats.

The Rawalpindi Express last played an ODI in 2011 as he played against New Zealand in the 50-over World Cup.

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News Network
April 22,2020

Dhaka, Apr 22: Star Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has decided to auction the bat he used during the 2019 ODI World Cup to help raise money for the fight against deadly coronavirus pandemic.

Shakib, who is currently serving a two-year ban from all forms of cricket -- one of which is suspended -- for not reporting corrupt approaches, is the second Bangladeshi cricketer after wicket-keeper batsman Mushfiqur Rahim to auction a personal cricketing gear to raise money for the cause.

"I had said before that I want to put up a bat for auction. I have decided to auction the bat I used in the 2019 World Cup. It's a favourite bat of mine," Shakib said during a Facebook live session.

The 33-year-old all-rounder had a hugely successful World Cup in England last year, scoring 606 runs in eight matches at an average of 86.57, which included two centuries and five fifties.

Besides, he also picked up 11 wickets in the tournament and became the only cricketer to score 600 plus runs and scalp 10 wickets in a single edition of the World Cup.

"I had a good World cup with the bat and ball. There were some good performances especially with the bat. I had used a single bat throughout the World Cup and even used tapes on it to get through games," Shakib said.

"It's not that this bat has only been used at the World Cup. I have scored over 1500 runs with this bat and had used it prior to the tournament and after it as well.

"Although I like the bat a lot but I have decided to put it up for auction with the thought that maybe it can leave some contribution to forming a fund during the ongoing coronavirus crisis."

The money raised from the auction will go to the Shakib Al Hasan foundation.

"This is a very special bat to me, but my people are even more special to me," Shakib said.

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News Network
April 8,2020

London, Apr 8: England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler has raised more than 65,000 pound (USD 80,000) to help fight the coronavirus by auctioning off his World Cup final shirt.

Buttler's shirt, which he wore when completing the last-ball run-out that saw England beat New Zealand at Lord's last year, was sold to raise money for specialist heart and lung centres provided by the Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals in London.

Buttler, who earlier in the showpiece match had hit a fifty and batted in the Super Over, put his long-sleeve keeping jersey up for sale on eBay a week ago.

By the time the auction closed on Tuesday, the shirt had attracted 82 bids with the winner paying 65,100 pound.

Buttler, speaking on Monday, said: "It's a very special shirt but I think it takes on extra meaning with it being able to hopefully go to the emergency cause.

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