ICC World Cup 2019: Sourav Ganguly picks his Indian squad

Agencies
April 15, 2019

Kolkata, Apr 15: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly termed the current Indian pace attack as “fantastic” and said the duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami will play a crucial role during the World Cup.

“The Indian pace attack is fantastic. Whether its Bumrah or Shami, the Indian pacers are performing consistently. The pacers will play an important factor for the team in England,” said Ganguly.

According to Ganguly, Umesh Yadav will go to the World Cup as fourth pacer after Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Shikhar Dhawan might be going through a lean patch (in international cricket) off late, but Ganguly backed the aggressive left-hander to partner Rohit Sharma up the order.

“The opening combination should not be tweaked. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan are the ideal pair to give India a fast start. But KL Rahul is also there,” he said.

“Shikhar and Rohit should open. Other than the two, Rahul is another batsman who can open.”

Ganguly feels in-form India skipper Virat Kohli should continue to bat at the crucial no.3 position followed by Ambatti Rayudu, Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav.

“Virat is being Virat. He is on top of his game,” he said. “Virat should bat in his usual number 3 slot. Rayudu at 4, Dhoni at 5 and Kedar at number 6.”

The resurgence of Vijay Shankar will prove to be a headache for the selectors, opines Ganguly, adding that Ravindra Jadeja shouldn’t be considered for selection in the World Cup squad at the cost of the Tamil Nadu all-rounder.

“Ravindra Jadeja should not be in the World Cup team. Vijay Shankar bowled beautifully in the Nagpur match (second ODI against Australia in March). I think Vijay deserves his World Cup spot,” he said.

Ganguly reiterated that India are among one of the favourites to win the World Cup, starting May 30 at the Oval, London.

“India are one of the favourites for sure. But West Indies, New Zealand, Sri Lanka are also there in the mix. Recently Sri Lanka have been in terrific form. They defeated South Africa. I think it will be a superb World Cup,” he said.

Australia may be going through one of their worst phases but Ganguly still believes the return of Steve Smith and David Warner will be a big boost for the reigning world champions.

“Australia may be going through a rough patch. But there is no doubt that the return of Smith and Warner will change the entire complexion of the team and with Maxwell already there, they will be a totally different outfit,” he said.

Ganguly feels it’s too early to predict India’s playing XI in the World Cup but has picked up his 15-man probable squad.

Sourav Ganguly’s India World Cup squad: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Ambati Rayudu, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Kedar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Vijay Shankar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav.

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News Network
May 11,2020

Kabul, May 11: Four back-to-back roadside bombs exploded in a northern district of Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Monday, wounding four civilians including a child, police said. Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz said a clearance team was at the site of the attacks.

Militants have carried out several roadside bombings and rocket attacks in Kabul and other parts of the country in recent weeks, but Monday's four consecutive explosions appeared to be the first coordinated effort for some months.

The Taliban has not carried out any large attacks in the city since they signed a landmark withdrawal deal with the US in February, meant to pave the way for peace in the country. No group has claimed the attacks. The explosions come as authorities are trying to impose a lockdown in the capital to curb the spread of coronavirus in the country.

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News Network
February 1,2020

Washington, Feb 1: The Indian economy experienced some abrupt slowdown in 2019 due to turbulence in non-banking financial institutions and major reform measures such as GST and demonetisation, but it is not in a recession, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has said.

"The Indian economy indeed has experienced an abrupt slowdown in 2019. We had to revise our growth projections, downwards to four percent for last year. We are expecting 5.8 per cent (growth rate) in 2020 and then an upward trajectory to 6.5 percent in 2021," Georgieva told a group of foreign journalists here on Friday.

"It appears that the main reason for this slowdown was the non-banking financial institutions experiencing a turbulence," she said on the eve of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presenting the annual budget in Parliament on Saturday.

She said India had undertaken some important reforms that over the longer term would be beneficial for the country, but they do have some short-term impact.

"For example, coming with the unified tax system, and the demonetisation that took place. These are steps that over time are beneficial, but of course they might, might be somewhat disruptive over short term," Georgieva said in response to a question.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director said that there is not a lot of fiscal space in India. “But we also recognise that the policies of the government on that side, on the fiscal side have been prudent. We will see how the reading of the budget, the submission of the budget goes, tomorrow,” she said.

In the medium-term, she said, the IMF remains optimistic about India. “This is why we see that upswing potential for the growth in the country,” she said.

Georgieva said that the current economic slowdown cannot be described as a recession. "No.... You're far from that. But it is a significant slowdown, not the recession," she said.

The IMF managing Director noted that the consumption in India also slowed down and that contributed to the overall slowdown in the economy. The IMF would be keen to see what India does to get relatively sound macroeconomic fundamentals to pay off in terms of better growth trajectory, she said ahead of the budget.

One thing that is important for India is that budgetary revenue have been below target. "The country knows that. The finance minister knows it. They need to increase budgetary revenue collection so they can improve their fiscal position. I said it's tight on the spending side, but I also want to stress that there is room to improve collection on the revenue side," she said.

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News Network
June 2,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 2: Bangladesh opening batsman Tamim Iqbal has said that he was ashamed on seeing the training regime of Indian skipper Virat Kohli.

Iqbal said that the incident happened two-three years back as he thought to himself that why he cannot do the same even when he is the same age as Kohli.

"I must say this, it is not because I am talking to an Indian commentator, India is our neighbour so whatever things they do, it affects Bangladesh as well. We follow what is happening in India, when India changed its approach towards fitness, it impacted Bangladesh the most," Iqbal told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

"I have no shame in admitting this, when I saw Virat Kohli running around two-three years ago, I was ashamed of myself, I thought this is a guy who is probably my age, but he is training so much and I have not doing even half of it. We have a great example in our team as well, Mushfiqur Rahim manages himself well regarding fitness," he added.

During his initial days of international cricket, Kohli was fond of chicken which he has admitted several times during media interaction.

But in 2013, the 31-year-old batsman intentionally shifted his focus to fitness, diet, and training.

Now he has become punctual about his diet which has given him a different character on and off the field.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have also kept on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar managed to call time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

Currently, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings.

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