India erred in Perth by not including spinner: Manjrekar

Agencies
December 18, 2018

Mumbai, Dec 18: Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar feels India made a mistake in not including a front- line spinner in the second Test that Australia won on Tuesday at Perth to square the four match series 1-1.

He said the team management should take the blame for selections which have "back-fired.

"(Australian spinner) Nathon Lyon is a great bowler, so we can't assume that a (Ravindra) Jadeja would have been as effective (as him).

"But India, I think, made an error in going with four seamers, specially (with) Umesh Yadav and not Bhuvneshwar Kumar," Manjrekar, an expert with official broadcaster Sony Pictures Networks, told PTI.

"If there was one spinner (in the team) there's always cracks and roughs, especially with left-handed batsmen in the opposition, to exploit. Jadeja could have been of more use than the fourth seamer", he said.

"So, it was a selection error that may have also contributed to India eventually losing the match," explained the 53-year-old batsman-turned-commentator.

India crumbled in the face of Australia's remarkable turnaround and crashed to a 146-run defeat in the second Test of the four-game rubber to squander the 1-0 lead gained in the series opener at Adelaide.

The hosts levelled the four-match series after India were bowled out for 140 runs in 56 overs in their second innings on the fifth and final day.

Lyon finished the match with eight wickets, including a five-for in the first innings, and was adjudged the Man-of- the-Match.

As per experts, India had committed selection errors in the past, following which the team lost.

"You don't lose because of one factor and you can't say that we lost because of poor selection. But you can say that there have been selections which have taken the world by surprise, not just a few people.

"These are selections which are unexpected and eventually have proved to be wrong selections. The team management will have to take responsibility for those selections that have back-fired," Manjrekar remarked.

He opined that India could go in with Mayank Agarwal and Murali Vijay as openers in the next Test at Melbourne commencing on December 26.

At the same time, he also remarked that if the team did not want to put pressure on Agarwal, then Hanuma Vihari was an option to launch the innings.

"These are Australian conditions. Hanuma Vihari, when you see him bat, you get an impression that this is a guy, who has a good technique.

"His scoring shots are straight in front of the wicket and he seems calm temperamentally. He is clearly a batsman who has the game to bat at (number) 1, 2 and 3. So the sense is there having Vihari bat at the top of the order," he said.

The former right-handed middle order batsman said the team should not have high expectations from Agarwal, who opens for Karnataka.

"Even if you play Mayank Agarwal, we should not have high expectations because it is extremely tough for an Indian batsman to straightaway go into a Test match on an Australian pitch, especially at the top of the order, where the Kookaburra ball does a lot.

"So if India does not want to take that risk and put undue pressure on Agarwal, then Vihari is an option (to open the innings). But I will personally still go with Mayank Agarwal and Murali Vijay," he said.

Manjrekar said India does not have too many options when it comes to selecting openers.

"He (Vijay) was pretty okay when he got that 20 (in the second innings) and we don't have too many options," explained Manjrekar.

Young Mumbai opening batsman Prithvi Shaw, who sustained an injury while fielding in the practice game prior to the series opener, was Monday ruled out of the entire series.

The selectors have named Agarwal as his replacement for the remainder of the Test series along with the fit-again all-rounder Hardik Pandya.

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News Network
January 29,2020

Hamilton, Jan 29: India defeated New Zealand in the third T20 International via Super Over to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series here on Wednesday.

India posted a competitive 179 for five at Seddon Park after being sent into bat. Opener Rohit Sharma top scored for India with a 65-run knock while skipper Virat Kohli contributed 38 runs in team's total.

Later, skipper Kane Williamson smashed a 48-ball 95 but New Zealand faltered in the final over to take the match into the Super Over.

Needing nine runs of the last over, New Zealand lost Williamson and Ross Taylor to finish at 179 for six and tie the match.

In the Super Over, New Zealand scored 17, a target which India overwhelmed in the final ball with Rohit smashing Tim Southee for two consecutive sixes.

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Agencies
May 17,2020

Berlin, May 17: Top-flight football in Germany kicked off again on the weekend, becoming the first major sports league in the world to resume play, as parts of Europe took more tentative steps towards normality after the devastation unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic.

With the worldwide death toll past 310,000 and the global economy reeling from the vast damage caused by lockdowns, the reopenings in some of the hardest-hit countries provided much-needed relief from the pandemic.

The French returned to the beach and Italy announced a resumption of European tourism with outbreaks in Europe slowing, but the rising number of fatalities in the United States and Brazil were a grim reminder of the scale of the crisis, with more than 4.6 million infections reported globally.

With governments trying to reopen their economies while avoiding the second wave of infections that could necessitate more lockdowns, Germany's Bundesliga resumed its season on Saturday with games played in vacant, echoing stadiums.

League heavyweights Borussia Dortmund hosted rivals Schalke at the all-but-empty Signal Iduna Park -- which would usually be packed with more than 80,000 raucous fans.

"It's sad that matches are played in empty stadiums, but it's better than nothing," said 45-year-old Borussia Dortmund fan Marco Perz, beer in hand, as he prepared to watch the game on TV.

Dortmund's Erling Braut Haaland became the first player to score a goal after the two-month shutdown and celebrated by dancing alone -- away from his applauding teammates -- in keeping with the strict hygiene guidelines which allowed the league to resume.

The only noise was the cheering and clapping of players and coaches.

League champions Bayern Munich will play Union Berlin in the capital on Sunday, with the resumption in Germany seen as a test case as other top sports competitions try to find ways to resume play without increasing health risks.

"The whole world will be looking at Germany, to see how we get it done," said Bayern boss Hansi Flick.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of Italy, however, said Saturday he needed more guarantees before the government can give the green light for the resumption of its top football league, which is struggling with logistical difficulties as clubs try to arrange training sessions and quarantine facilities.

With the Northern Hemisphere's summer approaching, authorities are moving to help tourism industries salvage something from the wreckage.

Italy, for a long stretch the world's worst-hit country, announced that European Union tourists would be allowed to visit from June 3 and a 14-day mandatory quarantine would be scrapped.

"We're facing a calculated risk in the knowledge that the contagion curve may rise again," Conte said during a televised address.

"We have to accept it otherwise we will never be able to start up again."

In France, the first weekend after the strictest measures were lifted saw many ventures out into the spring sunshine -- and hit the beach.

In the Riviera city of Nice, keen swimmers jumped into the surf at daybreak.

"We were impatient because we swim here all year round," said retiree Gilles, who declined to give his full name.

With the threat of a second wave of infections on their minds, authorities in many countries have asked people not to throng public spaces like beaches as they are made accessible again.

Officials in parts of England on Saturday warned people to stay away from newly reopened beauty spots and avoid overcrowding.

Germany also saw the latest in a growing wave of anti-lockdown protests in many parts of the world, with rallies in major cities bringing together conspiracy theorists, anti-vaccine activists and other extremists.

There were similar protests in France, Switzerland and Poland.

Since emerging in China late last year, the coronavirus has whipped up a catastrophic economic storm, which has left tens of millions unemployed in the United States and many are wondering when a recovery will be possible.

With more than 88,000 deaths and 1.47 million confirmed coronavirus cases, the United States is the worst-hit country on the planet, and the administration of President Donald Trump has faced intense criticism of the way it has handled the crisis.

Former president Barack Obama took a swipe at the response to the pandemic, telling graduates at a virtual commencement ceremony that many leaders today "aren't even pretending to be in charge" -- a remark widely regarded as a rare rebuke of his successor.

Trump is keen to reopen the US economy -- the world's largest -- despite warnings from experts that infections could flare up again if social distancing measures are eased too quickly.

Forty-eight of the 50 US states have now eased lockdown rules to some extent.

Much like Trump and his political allies, Brazil's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro is also keen to end lockdowns, which he claims have unnecessarily damaged the South American nation's economy over a disease he has dismissed as "a little flu".

But the virus has continued its deadly march in Brazil, where the death toll passed 15,000 on Saturday and it became the country with the fourth-largest coronavirus caseload with 230,000 infections.

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News Network
July 12,2020

New Delhi, Jul 12: Former India batsman Sachin Tendulkar has urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to do away with 'umpire's call' whenever a team opts for a review regarding a leg-before wicket (LBW) decision.

The Master Blaster has also said that a batsman should be given out if the ball is hitting the stumps.

Whether more than 50 per cent of the ball is hitting the stumps or not should not be matter, he further stated.

"What per cent of the ball hits the stumps doesn't matter, if DRS shows us that the ball is hitting the stumps, it should be given out, regardless of the on-field call," Tendulkar tweeted.

With this tweet, the former India batsman also shared a video, in which he has a discussion with Brian Lara regarding the working of DRS.
"One thing I don't agree with, with the ICC, is the DRS they have been using for quite some time. It is the LBW decision where more than 50 per cent of the ball must be hitting the stumps for the on-field decision to be overturned," Tendulkar said in the video.

"The only reason they (the batsman or the bowler) have gone upstairs is that they are unhappy with the on-field decision, so when the decision goes to the third umpire, let the technology take over, just like in tennis, it's either in or out, there's nothing in between," he added.

This call for doing away with umpire's call has been recommended by many former players.
Whenever a verdict pops up as 'umpire's call, the decision of the on-field umpire is not changed, but the teams do not lose their review as well.

ICC recently introduced some changes to the game of cricket, and they gave all teams liberty of extra review as non-neutral umpires will be employed in Test matches due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As a result, all teams will now have three reviews in every innings of a Test match. 

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