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
May 30,2020

New Delhi, May 30: Former world chess champion Viswanathan Anand will be finally reaching India late on Saturday after being stuck in Germany for over three months due to the travel restrictions imposed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Yes.. Anand will be returning today," the chess maestro's wife Aruna told PTI on Saturday morning. Anand, who boarded an Air India flight (AI-120) from Frankfurt on Friday night will reach Bengaluru via Delhi.

He is expected to reach Bengaluru at 1.15 pm. The five-time world champion will undergo 14 days quarantine as per rules laid down by the Karnataka government.

"He will complete quarantine procedures and come to Chennai as per protocol," Aruna Anand said. The flights from Germany are only scheduled to land only in Delhi and Bengaluru.

The chess ace was in Germany to play in the Bundesliga chess league and was to return to India, but was forced to stay put after the COVID-19 outbreak disrupted sporting schedules across the globe, apart from restricting movement.

He was staying near Frankfurt and was doing online commentary for the Candidates tournament which was called off mid-way due to the pandemic and led the Indian team in the Online Nations Cup early this month.

Anand had been in touch with his family in Chennai on a regular basis via video calls and kept himself busy with chess-related work.

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News Network
February 29,2020

Feb 29: India were all out for 242 in their first innings following a stunning battling collapse, triggered by paceman Kyle Jamieson on the opening day of the second cricket Test against New Zealand at the Hagley Oval, here on Saturday.

India were steady at 194 for five at tea but lost wickets in quick succession after the play resumed. Jamieson returned figures of 14-3-45-5.

Hanuma Vihari top-scored for India with his combative 55 while Prithvi Shaw (54) and Cheteshwar Pujara (54) hit contrasting half-centuries.

Virat Kohli's (3) poor run continued while his deputy Ajikya Rahane (7) also fell cheaply.

India lost last five wickets for 48 runs, of which 26 were contributed by last-wicket pair of Mohammed Shami (16) and Jasprit Bumrah (10).

Brief Scores:

India 1st innings: 242 all out in 63 overs. (H Vihari 55, P Shaw 54, C Pujara 54 batting; Kyle Jamieson 5/45, Tim Southee 2/38, ).

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Agencies
July 8,2020

New Delhi, Jul 8: After a hiatus of 116 days, international cricket will be resuming today as England and West Indies lock horns in a three-match Test series.

Since March, no international cricket has been played due to the coronavirus pandemic. Because of this virus, whole sporting action across the world came to a standstill.

Australia and New Zealand had played the last international cricket match on March 13 behind closed doors, but the remaining two ODIs of this particular series were cancelled due to COVID-19.

India and South Africa's ODI series also met the same fate due to the pandemic.
It was looking as if it will take a while for sports to come back, but slowly and steadily, all different sports have managed to get into gear and provide fans some respite in these turbulent times.

German football league Bundesliga was the first one to come back, and the organisers set the template as to how to go about conducting tournaments behind closed doors, keeping all safety protocols in check.

Soon after, La Liga, Premier League, and Serie A followed and all major football leagues came back on the television screens across the globe. Formula One kickstarted last week with the Austrian Grand Prix and now it is the time for cricket to resume.

The series between England and West Indies will be played behind closed doors and the matches will be played in Southampton and Manchester. This will be the first time in the 143-year long history of Test cricket that the matches will be played without no crowds.

The England-Windies Test series will be held at Hampshire's Ageas Bowl and Lancashire's Emirates Old Trafford, which have been chosen as bio-secure venues. After the series against West Indies, England would also lock horns with Ireland in three ODIs and Pakistan in three ODIs and as many T20Is.

However, the series against West Indies will be followed closely across the world as all other boards would be looking to see as to how cricket series can be scheduled in their own backyard with the current scenario regarding coronavirus.

The dates for three Tests against West Indies are:

First Test: July 8-12 at Ageas Bowl
Second Test: July 16-20 at Emirates Old Trafford
Third Test: July 24-28 at Emirates Old Trafford

Windies side had arrived in the UK in mid-June and the entire camp had to quarantine themselves for 14 days at Manchester.

For the entire tour, the West Indies squad will live, train and play in a 'bio-secure' environment in England as part of the comprehensive medical and operations plans to ensure player and staff safety.

The bio-secure protocols will also restrict movement in and out of the venues.
Both England and West Indies have played intra-squad practice matches to get some cricketing form back.

While England played their practice match in Southampton, Windies played theirs at Manchester.

West Indies will be led by Jason Holder, while Ben Stokes would captain England in the first Test as regular skipper Joe Root has left the bio-secure bubble to attend the birth of his second child.

England squad for the first Test: Ben Stokes (captain), James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Joe Denly, Ollie Pope, Dom Sibley, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.

West Indies squad for the first Test: Jason Holder (captain), Jermaine Blackwood, Nkrumah Bonner, Kraigg Brathwaite, Shamarh Brooks, John Campbell, Roston Chase, Rahkeem Cornwall, Shane Dowrich, Shannon Gabriel, Chemar Holder, Shai Hope, Alzarri Joseph, Raymon Reifer, and Kemar Roach.

As safety precautions against the coronavirus, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has also brought about some changes to the playing conditions. The new guidelines include the ban of saliva to shine the ball and allowing replacement of players displaying symptoms of COVID-19 during a Test match.

Players will not be permitted to use saliva to shine the ball. If a player does apply saliva to the ball, the umpires will manage the situation with some leniency during an initial period of adjustment for the players, but subsequent instances will result in the team receiving a warning.

A team can be issued up to two warnings per innings but repeated use of saliva on the ball will result in a 5-run penalty to the batting side. Whenever saliva is applied to the ball, the umpires will be instructed to clean the ball before play recommences.

Also, the requirement to appoint neutral match officials has been temporarily removed from the playing conditions for all international formats owing to the current logistical challenges with international travel. The ICC will be able to appoint locally based match officials from the ICC Elite Panel of Match Officials and the ICC International Panel of Match Officials.

Moreover, teams will be allowed to replace players displaying symptoms of COVID-19 during a Test match. In line with concussion replacements, the match referee will approve the nearest like-for-like replacement. However, the regulation for COVID-19 replacements will not be applicable in ODIs and T20Is.

The ICC had also confirmed an additional unsuccessful DRS review for each team in each innings of a match, keeping in mind that there may be less experienced umpires on duty at times.

This will increase the number of unsuccessful appeals per innings for each team to three for Tests and two for the white-ball formats.

The first Test between England and West Indies gets underway later today from 3:30 PM IST.

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