Fletcher's wings clipped, Shastri appointed Team Director

August 19, 2014

Fletchers wingsNew Delhi, Aug 19: Cracking the whip following India's shambolic Test series against England, The BCCI today virtually sidelined coach Duncan Fletcher by appointing former captain Ravi Shastri as the Team Director while giving a "break" to bowling coach Joe Dawes and fielding coach Trevor Penny for the upcoming one-day series.

Under pressure to act after India's disastrous performance in the Test series, the BCCI also appointed former players Sanjay Bangar and Bharat Arun as assistant coaches and R Sridhar as the fielding coach as it revamped the team management.

While Fletcher will continue as the head coach of the team, the shake-up is a clear indication that his wings will be clipped with Shastri taking over as the Director for the one-day series beginning from August 25.

This is not the first time that Shastri has been appointed as a part of 'Damage Control' exercise. In 2007 after the World Cup debacle in the West Indies, the former India all-rounder was appointed as a 'Cricket Manager' for the tour of Bangladesh after Greg Chappell was sacked.

"In culmination of the discussions among all the office-bearers of the BCCI over the last couple of weeks, the BCCI has decided to avail the services of former India captain, Mr. Ravi Shastri, to oversee and guide the Indian cricket team for the forthcoming one-day international matches against England," a press release issued by the BCCI said.

"Mr. Duncan Fletcher will continue as Head Coach while Ravi Shastri will be the overall in-charge of Cricket affairs of the Indian Team."

The support staff will have a more Indian look with Kings XI Punjab chief coach Sanjay Bangar, India U-19 coach Bharath Arun and colts fielding coach M V Sridhar being roped in place of Dawes and Penney.

"In their continuing efforts to re-energise the support to the team, the BCCI has given a break to the bowling coach Mr Joe Dawes and the fielding coach, Trevor Penney, for the one-day series and appointed Sanjay Bangar, former Indian all-rounder, and former India fast bowler Bharath Arun as the Asst. coaches of the team.

India's humiliating 1-3 defeat in the Test series had prompted many former cricketers to call for Fletcher's immediate ouster, saying that he had not contributed anything.

The former cricketers had also questioned the leadership abilities of captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who has a poor track record in overseas conditions. The BCCI, however, has not disturbed Dhoni for the time being.

Under Fletcher, India have now lost 13 Tests outside the sub-continent with seven in England, four in Australia, one each in New Zealand and South Africa.

41-year-old Bangar had played 12 Tests and 15 ODIs in early 2000, with his gritty half-century at Headingley opening in overcast conditions in a memorable victory still remembered.

Bangar, considered to be one of the brightest young coaches, had guided an unhrealded Kings XI Punjab team to the final of the IPL and has been widely acclaimed as a shrewd tactician with brilliant knowledge about the domestic set-up and its cricketers.

Karn Sharma, a member of current India ODI team had made his debut under Bangar's captaincy at the Railways and has attributed a lot of his success to him.

Having only retired from active cricket a year earlier, Bangar is believed to have the best ringside view and is also seen as a future coach of the Indian cricket team by many.

Bharath Arun had opened the bowling with legendary Kapil Dev in 2 Tests and 4 ODIs in the mid 80's without much success.

Arun, who will probably be the bowling coach, has been heading the NCA's bowling unit for a close to seven years now and is best known for guiding the Unmukt Chand-led India U-19 team to World Cup victory in Australia back in 2012.

His record while coaching the senior teams has not been great as under his tutelege, the Bengal team relegated from Ranji Trophy's Elite to Plate Group back in 2007-08 domestic season.

Fielding coach R Sridhar, a former Ranji Trophy player for Hyderabad, has been India U-19's fielding coach and the junior players swear by his work ethic. He has also been a fielding coach with the Kings XI Punjab in the IPL.

"R Sridhar will join the support team as the fielding coach for the one-day series." 52-year-old Shastri, has played 80 Tests and 150 ODIs for India scoring 3830 and 3108 runs respectively. He also has 151 Test and 129 ODI wickets.

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Agencies
April 12,2020

London, Apr 12: Former Formula 1 legendary driver Stirling Moss died at the age of 90 on Sunday.

"All at F1 send our heartfelt condolences to Lady Susie and Sir Stirling's family and friends," Formula 1 said in a statement.

Often referred to as the greatest driver never to win the world championship, Moss contested 66 Grands Prix from 1951 to 1961, driving for the likes of Vanwall, Maserati and Mercedes, where he famously formed a contented and ruthlessly effective partnership with lead driver Juan Manuel Fangio.

In his 10-year-long stint at the tracks, Moss took 16 wins, some of which rank among the truly iconic drives in the sport's history - his 1961 victories in Monaco and Germany in particular often held up as all-time classics.

Moss won the 1955 Mille Miglia on public roads for Mercedes at an average speed of close to 100mph, while he also competed in rallies and land-speed attempts.

Following an enforced retirement from racing (barring a brief comeback in saloon cars in the 1980s) after a major crash at Goodwood in 1962, Moss maintained a presence in Formula 1 as both a sports correspondent and an interested observer, before retiring from public life in January of 2018.

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News Network
April 2,2020

New Delhi, Apr 2: BJP MP and former cricketer Gautam Gambhir on Thursday said that he will donate his two year's salary to PM-CARES Fund to support the battle against coronavirus pandemic in the country.

"People ask what can their country do for them. The real question is what can you do for your country? I am donating my 2 year's salary to #PMCaresFund. You should come forward too! @narendramodi @JPNadda @BJP4Delhi #IndiaFightsCorona," Gambhir tweeted.

The total number of coronavirus cases in India climbed to 1965 on Thursday after 131 people confirmed positive in the past 12 hours, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

At present, there are 1764 COVID-19 active cases in the country and 50 people have died due to the lethal infection.

Interestingly, on this day in 2011, India lifted its second World Cup title after a drought of 28 years. Gambhir played a crucial role in the final and anchored the run-chase.

India won its first World Cup in 1983 under the leadership of former all-rounder Kapil Dev. 

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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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