Sourav Ganguly tips KKR to win IPL 5

May 27, 2012

ganguly

Kolkata, May 27: Rating Gautam Gambhir ahead of Mahendra Singh Dhoni as far as captaincy is concerned, former India skipper Sourav Ganguly on Saturday put his money on Kolkata Knight Riders to win the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League.

The Indian selectors might have lost faith in Gambhir who was removed from vice-captaincy ahead of the Asia Cup, but Ganguly named the Delhi opener as the skipper to lead his best XI also featuring Dhoni.

"Gautam Gambhir is the best captain of the IPL. I really liked the way he supported his players. He persisted with Yusuf Pathan as he delivered his best performance (for KKR) in two years," Ganguly said, referring to the allrounder's 21-ball 40 in their win over Delhi in the first qualifier.

The Dhoni-led Super Kings who play their third final in as many years may be the favourites on paper but Ganguly put both the teams at par and hoped the Knight Riders would win their first title in five years.

"I want to wish both the teams. But I want to see a new champion. I think KKR would win this time," he said.

"Gambhir would be equally confident on the field. They (KKR) are a pretty balanced side and have been consistent this season. They have the players to win matches."

Ganguly however said Gambhir would not have to prove the selectors anything.

"I don't think he would play with a mindset that he would have to prove something. The way they have performed this season is enough to inspire themselves for the big day tomorrow," Ganguly said.

The Bengal icon however said the core CSK players could be "role models" for any side.

"They have stuck to their side for five years with players like Dhoni, Vijay, Badrinath being the core of the side all these time. They can be a role model for any T20 side."

"I've always said Dhoni is unparallel in the short versions, though there would always be a question mark on him when it comes to Test cricket," Ganguly said.

The veteran said toss would play a crucial role at the Chepauk and also key would be the way Dhoni's men tackle mystery spinner Sunil Narine.

"Toss would be vital. I'm sure (Gautam) Gambhir would hope to win the toss and set a target. The whole game would change if Gambhir wins the toss.

"But at the same time, Chennai's 50 per cent job would be done if they manage to tackle Narine.

Ganguly also did a post-mortem on the disastrous exit of Delhi Daredevils and held skipper Virender Sehwag responsible.

"He did the biggest mistake by inviting Chennai to bat after winning the toss. The decision of not playing spinners Shahbaz Nadeem and Roelof van der Merwe was also surprising," he said about Delhi's 86-run loss last night.

Ganguly further said that Sehwag blundered in Pune when he opted for just one spinner on the slow track as they lost to KKR who made their first final in five attempts.

"Delhi got completely wrong in their team combination in Pune. Even in my dream I cannot think of playing one spinner and four seamers on Pune track," Ganguly said.

"Sehwag is responsible for both KKR and CSK's passage into the final. I just failed to understand his decisions," Ganguly said.

Asked about his team's flop show as they finished with the wooden spoon, Ganguly, in a lighter vein, replied: "The trend in IPL has been the team that finishes last plays the final..."

"We did not bat well. Be it Ganguly or Clarke. We will have to start from zero next time. I'm yet to decide on my role in the team next year," he said without ruling himself out for the IPL-VI.

Ganguly's Best XI: Gautam Gambhir (c), Chris Gayle, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Cameron White, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Jacques Kallis, Sunil Narine, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Lasith Malinga; Stand-bye: Virender Sehwag; Coach: Stephen Fleming.


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News Network
February 14,2020

Los Angeles, Feb 14: Tributes to the late Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers legend who died last month in a helicopter crash, will play a major role in Sunday's 69th NBA All-Star Game.

This year's annual showcase of league talent will be played in Chicago and feature numerous nods to Bryant, a five-time NBA champion who also matched a league record with four NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player awards.

Bryant, an 18-time NBA All-Star, died at age 41 on January 26 in a crash near Los Angeles that also took the life of his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others.

All-Star teams guided by LeBron James of the Lakers and Greek star Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks will compete to win each of the first three quarters, which will all start 0-0 and last 12 minutes.

At the start of the fourth quarter, the clock will be turned off and a final target score will be established by taking the leading club's cumulative score through the first three quarters and adding 24 points -- the number representing the jersey number worn by Bryant for the final 10 seasons of his NBA career.

The first team to reach the cumulative target score will win the NBA All-Star Game.

All-Star Game jerseys will also honor Bryant and his daughter.

Team Giannis players will wear jersey number 24 in tribute to Kobe while Team LeBron players will wear jersey number two, the number his daughter wore when playing youth basketball.

Both teams will wear jersey patches displaying nine stars, representing the nine people who were killed in the crash.

Academy Award-winning actress and Grammy Award-winning singer Jennifer Hudson, a Chicago native, will perform a special tribute to Bryant, his daughter and the others who were killed in the crash. Her performance will begin the night ahead of the player introductions.

James and Antetokounmpo each chose their squads from available starters and reserves voted and selected to the All-Star contest.

Team LeBron starters will include James, his Lakers teammate Anthony Davis, NBA scoring leader James Harden of Houston, Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers and Slovenian guard Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks.

Team Giannis starters include the Greek big man, Cameroon stars Joel Embiid of Philadelphia and Pascal Siakam of Toronto and guards Kemba Walker of Boston and Trae Young of Atlanta.

A record eight All-Star Game players from outside the United States also include Frenchman Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz on Team Giannis and Team LeBron reserves Ben Simmons of Australia and the Philadelphia 76ers, Lithuanian Domantas Sabonis of Indiana and Serbian Nikola Jokic of Denver.

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News Network
July 14,2020

New Delhi, Jul 14: Indian bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who features in the list of A category players released by BCCI, has revealed his first-ever paycheck.

Bhuvneshwar was participating in a question and answer session on Twitter where he gave his take on fans' queries.

The 30-year-old bowler was asked about his first paycheck by a fan and Bhuvneshwar responded by saying, "It was for Rs 3000. I shopped and still managed to saved some."

During the question and answer session Bhuvneshwar picked Barcelona striker Lionel Messi over Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo.

The right-arm bowler also revealed that football and badminton are his favourite sports other than cricket.

Earlier this year, Bhuvneshwar was named in the list A category of players. BCCI had released the list of centrally contracted players for the period from October 2019 to September 2020. Annually, A category players get Rs 5 crore.

The right-arm bowler would have been in action for Sunrisers Hyderabad if the Indian Premier League (IPL) had commenced from March 29. However, the tournament was postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Agencies
January 16,2020

New Delhi, Jan 16: Mahendra Singh Dhoni was on Thursday dropped from the BCCI's list of centrally contracted players, raising fresh doubts on the future of the former India captain who has not played since the World Cup semifinal loss to New Zealand last year.

The BCCI announced the central contracts for the period of October 2019 to September 2020. Dhoni was in the A category, which fetches a player Rs 5 crore, until last year.

Skipper Virat Kohli, his deputy Rohit Sharma and top pacer Jasprit Bumrah were retained in the highest A+ bracket of Rs 7 crore.

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