Good bowling, not game plan, is slowing Warner: Finch

Agencies
June 10, 2019

Jun 10: Australia fans used to watching David Warner give his side a blistering start in limited-overs cricket may be scratching their heads at the pedestrian rate the left-hander is scoring at in the Cricket World Cup.

Needing to give Australia a flying start in pursuit of India's 352-5 on Sunday, the 32-year-old scored a painfully slow 56 from 84 balls and did not score a run for 14 deliveries at one point.

His 66.66 strike rate in the 36-run loss at the Oval was almost 30 points below his career average of 95.47 in the 50-overs format.

In Australia's first game in Bristol against Afghanistan, arguably the weakest bowling unit at the tournament, Warner scored an unbeaten 89 to guide his side to an easy seven-wicket win.

However, he took 114 balls to accumulate the runs and only hit eight fours on a ground that has short straight and square boundaries.

Warner entered the World Cup having blazed his way to a competition-leading 692 runs in the Indian Premier League, but Australia captain Aaron Finch said he had not consciously decided to be more circumspect in the longer format.

"No, it hasn't been a plan, a team plan or an individual plan for David," Finch told reporters of Warner's relatively slow scoring rate.

"I think they bowled really well early. They bowled nice and straight, back of the length, where the ball was just skidding quite low to start with.

"They just didn't give us any width to get away or any length to really work with, either over the top or get a drive away.

"Their bowling plans were pretty simple but really effective on a wicket like that."

India's bowling coach Bharat Arun said they had developed a short-pitched bowling plan to Warner that would make him uncomfortable and not allow him to free his arms, something opening bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar adhered to strictly on Sunday.

Warner scored only 22 from 44 balls in his opening 61-run stand with Finch.

While Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah restricted Warner at the top of the innings, Finch had special praise for India's spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, who dried up the runs in the middle of the innings.

"Their spinners probably had a bigger impact than what ours did," Finch said.

"Well, they did have a bigger impact than what our spinners did, through the middle overs in particular where the ball was just starting to hold up."

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News Network
June 15,2020

Melbourne, Jun 15: Star Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is the best fielder in the game right now, according to Australian batting star Steve Smith, who also rated KL Rahul as the most impressive among the younger crop.

Smith, who answered questions sent in by his fans on Instagram on Sunday, also said the Indian Premier League is his favourite tournament to play in.

Jadeja known for his quick and sharp fielding tactics has earned praise from several former players and respect from the current stars and Smith is no different.

Asked who the best fielder in the current lot of players Smith simply replied stating it was Jadeja.

When quizzed about which Indian player has impressed him the most, the Australian batting mainstay said: "KL Rahul. Very good player!"

Rahul, who has played 36 Tests, 32 ODIs and 42 T20Is for Indian, has become a regular member of the national team in white-ball cricket. Besides showcasing his skills with the willow, Rahul also bears the responsibility of being the wicketkeeper in the limited overs format.

Asked Mahnedra Singh Dhoni, Smith responded saying the former Indian skipper is a "Legend! Mr Cool". While he called the current captain Virat Kohli a "freak" when it comes to batting ability.

The Rajasthan Royals batsman, who rated his first innings his 144 at Birmingham in the first Ashes Test last year as his favourite Test knock till date, said the Indian Premier League (IPL) is his favourite tournament.

"Tough to beat the IPL. Playing with and against the best players from around the world."

India is scheduled to travel to Australian for a full series later the year and the 31-year-old said : "Can''t wait. Going to be awesome."

Asked about his opinion on India batting great Rahul Dravid, Smith said "what a lovely gentleman and seriously good player."

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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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Agencies
March 3,2020

Mumbai, Mar 3: India on Tuesday retained their number one spot and captain Virat Kohli remained static at second in the ICC rankings despite a dismal Test series against New Zealand.

India have 116 rating points, six more than New Zealand with third-placed Australia accumulating 108 points. The 0-2 result against New Zealand was India's first series loss in the World Test Championship.

Kohli remains in second position in the batting rankings despite a forgettable Test series in which he made 38 runs in four innings, the ICC said in a statement.

New Zealand opener Tom Blundell and his Indian counterpart Prithvi Shaw and debutant paceman Kyle Jamieson were among the biggest movers in the rankings, released on Tuesday.

Blundell had a successful series against India, scoring 117 runs in four innings, with one half-century, which put him among the top two run-scorers in the series.

The performance meant he was rewarded with a jump of 27 places to No. 46. Shaw, who returned for his first series since his Test debut against West Indies in 2018, and made a punchy 54 in the first innings of the Christchurch Test, rose 17 places to No.76.

Australia's Steve Smith retained his top spot, holding a 25-point advantage over Kohli. Smith's apprentice Marnus Labuschagne jumped one spot to round off the top three, taking the place of New Zealand captain Kane Williamson.

England all-rounder Ben Stokes and India opener Mayank Agarwal moved a spot each and swapped places to break into and fall out of the top 10 respectively.

Among bowlers, Tim Southee's Player of the Series winning performance against India took him into the top five, with a jump of two places to No.4, while Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult returned to the top 10, gaining four places each to occupy the seventh and ninth positions respectively.

But the biggest gainer was Jamieson, who rose from No. 80 to 43.

There was only one change in the top ten among all-rounders, with Southee dropping a spot to No.10 and team-mate Neil Wagner falling out of the top 10 with a drop of four spots.

As with the bowling rankings, Jamieson, who frustrated India with handy lower order runs, gained big on the all-rounders' table, rising 26 places to No. 22.

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