How 'out-of-cash' KXIP almost lost Chris Gayle at IPL auction

Agencies
April 27, 2018

New Delhi, Apr 27: Chris Gayle has proved to be quite a bargain buy for Kings XI Punjab in the ongoing Indian Premier League but co-owner Ness Wadia revealed that the team almost lost the destructive opener at the auction, thinking it had run out of cash.

Gayle had unexpectedly gone unsold twice before KXIP bought him for his base price of Rs 2 crore. Wadia explained how the franchise got lucky with the Jamaican.

"We had only Rs 2.1 crore left and if we had bid for Chris earlier (at the auction) and another team came up with a counter bid, we did not have the money to buy him. Luckily, no other team bid for him and we were more than happy to get third time lucky," Wadia said.

KXIP, who had retained just one player in Axar Patel before the auction, spent big bucks in their bid to build a team for the future. Gayle was their final buy and the Rs 2 crore they spent on him meant they were left with just Rs 10 lakh, using almost their entire purse of Rs 67.5 crore.

Two months later, Gayle has proved all his critics wrong with two half centuries and a sensational 104 in four innings. He has even exceeded the expectations of team mentor Virender Sehwag, who had said that the Rs 2 crore spent on Gayle and Yuvraj Singh will be recovered even if they both won them a couple of games.

The 38-year-old has been exceptional so far but a big knock from the 36-year-old Yuvraj is still awaited. In fact, the stylish southpaw was dropped from the playing eleven against Sunrisers Hyderabad last night.

"Yuvi is not among the runs at the moment but we hope that he will bounce back. He is of good value to the franchise and that is why we got him back," said Wadia referring to Yuvraj, who was KXIP captain in the first two seasons.

Yuvraj may not be in the best of form but the big bucks spent at the auction seem to have paid-off with the team doing well in the first half of the season under new captain Ravichandran Ashwin. Besides Gayle, performances from KL Rahul, Ankit Rajpoot and young Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb Zadran have stood out.

Wadia too is pleased with the performance so far after disappointment in the previous three seasons.

"We wanted to build a team for the long term. We wanted to spend more money. We wanted an Indian captain and to be honest we wanted Ashwin at any cost. He is a genius and knows what it takes to win (having won IPL at CSK).

"We were very clear that if we spent the money we would get what we were looking for. That was the difference with the old strategy. Bringing an Indian captain also brings in a lot of flexibility," said Nadia adding that going for Afghan spin sensation Zadran as very much Ashwin's idea.

Talking about the evolution of IPL over the last decade, Wadia is relieved that being part of the tournament was finally making financial sense.

"Finally, it is making sense (financially) after 10 years. It has been a long wait. The most important thing is when we got into the IPL the focus was on to promote sport. IPL has led to the emergence of cricket leagues around the county. I am so glad about that. 

"It has given the players a career option. It has led to leagues in other sports too."

Where does IPL go from here on?

"There has to be more international matches (for the teams), more exposure. If you include the pre-season camp, we get about an eight week period in one year.

"A second tournament or a smaller tournament outside India would be very beneficial for everyone," he added.

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News Network
March 23,2020

Colombo, Mar 23: Sri Lankan batting great Kumar Sangakkara has said he is currently in self-quarantine, following his government's guidelines for those recently returning from Europe, which has now become the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authorities are concerned over people returning from the most-affected COVID-19 countries in Europe not registering with the police and practising isolation.

"I have no symptoms or anything like that, but I'm following government guidelines," Sangakkara told News First.

"I arrived from London over a week ago and the first thing was there was a news bulletin saying that anyone who had travelled from within March 1 to 15 should register themselves with the police and undergo self-quarantine. I registered myself with the police."

The former captain said this even as the government confirmed there have been at least three cases of recent returnees attempting to hide the novel coronavirus symptoms from authorities.

Both Sangakkara and his former teammate Mahela Jayawardene have been active on social media, urging Sri Lankans to avoid panic and to exercise proper social distancing, as the country went into curfew on Friday evening.

Sri Lanka has so far reported more than 80 active COVID-19 positive cases in the country.

Across the world, the number of infected has crossed three lakh besides a death toll of more than 14,000 people.

Meanwhile, former Australia pacer Jason Gillespie has also gone into a two-week isolation after returning from the United Kingdom.

Gillespie, who is the head coach at Sussex, had been in Cape Town with the team for a pre-season tour, which was cut short as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.

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News Network
January 7,2020

Indore, Jan 7: With the first T20I being washed out, India and Sri Lanka will now hope that rain gods stay away from the Holkar Stadium when the two teams face each other in the second match of the ongoing three-game series on Tuesday.

Only toss could take place on Sunday at Guwahati`s Barsapara Cricket Ground before rain gods came in and left damp spots on the pitch thus forcing the game to be called off without a ball being bowled.

Hairdryers were used to dry the pitch after water seeped in through leaking covers at the Barsapara Stadium, a sight which is not usually seen in international cricket. And that hasn`t gone down well with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) which now awaits chief curator Ashish Bhowmick`s report on the same.

The Men in Blue, who enjoyed a brief break, are coming into the series on the back of T20I series victories against Bangladesh and West Indies respectively and thus would be the more confident side out of the two.

Just like Guwahati, the team management and other Indian cricket fans would focus on comeback man Jasprit Bumrah who is making his return to international cricket. Bumrah has been out of action after India`s tour of the West Indies in July-August due to a stress fracture on his back and thus would be rearing to go and perform for the team.

Dhawan, like Bumrah, was not part of the West Indies series after he hurt his knee during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The left-handed opener was not at his absolute best in the T20I series against Bangladesh and faced criticism from several quarters.

While Bumrah will grab more eyeballs during the remaining two matches, the series is also important for left-handed opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan, making a comeback into the team post knee injury.

However, recently, he scored a century in the Ranji Trophy and showed glimpses of returning to form.

In the bowling department, the team management would be checking out how the likes Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur react to pressure situations in death overs alongside Bumrah in the absence of frontline speedsters Mohammed Shami Deepak Chahar and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Young-off spinner Washington Sundar would like to put up performances to ensure that he gets to be part of the squad travelling to Australia for the World T20 in October.

Shivam Dube would also like to perform better - both with bat and ball - till Hardik Pandya is fully fit and back in action.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant - like recent times - will once again be watched with careful eyes. Pant knows that he cannot take things lightly and need to perform as Sanju Samson as already warmed the benches for six straight T20Is.

For Sri Lanka, the remaining two matches of the series would be about giving match practice to the likes of Angelo Mathews who is returning to the national side having last played a T20I against South Africa in August 2018

In their last T20I series, Sri Lanka suffered a 0-3 rout in Australia as all their three departments failed to put in a commanding performance.

India and Sri Lanka have faced each other in 17 T20Is, out of which India have won 11 -- joint most for them against all opponents faced in shortest format.

With the three-match series now effectively turning into a two-game affair, both India and Sri Lanka would want to win in Indore to make sure they can`t lose the series. Also, Sri Lanka have never beaten India in a bilateral T20I series, a record which they would desperately like to change in the remaining two games.

Squads:

India: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur, Manish Pandey, Washington Sundar, Sanju Samson.

Sri Lanka: Lasith Malinga (c), Dhanushka Gunathilaka, Avishka Fernando, Angelo Mathews, Dasun Shanaka, Kusal Perera, Niroshan Dickwella, Dhananjaya De Silva, Isuru Udana, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Oshada Fernando, Wanindu Hasaranga, Lahiru Kumara, Kusal Mendis, Lakshan Sandakan, Kasun Rajitha.

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Agencies
August 3,2020

Silverstone, Aug 2: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton on Sunday won his seventh British Grand Prix title after a dramatic last-lap at the Silverstone Circuit.

Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas were at the first and second spot respectively until tyre drama struck.

Second-placed man Bottas was the first to suffer as his tyre deflated on lap 50, resulting in 11th place finish. Hamilton also suffered a similar issue before the final few seconds of the race.

However, with Max Verstappen having opted to pit a few laps from the end to try and claim the fastest lap, Hamilton had enough time in hand to just cross the line first, five seconds ahead of Verstappen and the third-placed Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

McLaren's Carlos Sainz had been set to finish fourth, but his own last lap tyre issue saw him eventually come home P13, allowing Renault's Daniel Ricciardo to claim fourth, following a late pass on the sister McLaren of Lando Norris.

Renault's Esteban Ocon finished sixth, having enjoyed a race-long battle with Lance Stroll's Racing Point, with Pierre Gasly having enjoyed a fine race to finish seventh for AlphaTauri.

Alex Albon finished eighth for Red Bull, having recovered from a lap 1 tussle with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen that saw him fall to last, while Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 10, Vettel holding off a late charge form the recovering Mercedes of Bottas.

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