Dhoni tells me not to cross the line of aggression: Kohli

June 11, 2012

Dhoni_Stop

Virat Kohli's on-field aggression has been the topic of discussion in the cricket fraternity but the India vice-captain is working hard on changing his attitude with words of wisdom from his skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

"I have been speaking to MS (Dhoni) a lot about it. He is one who doesn't sink or go above that line. He is someone who is always around that calm line. It is important to learn such things from such important people.

"He keeps telling me that once I stay around that line I would keep improving as a cricketer. Once that graph goes too much above or drops you end up putting yourself under pressure," Kohli said on Sunday.

Asked whether vice-captaincy has made him more conscious, he stated, "When I became vice-captain, people around me told me that I need to change my aggression. Because people are watching me more and I need to change my aggressive attitude.

"You learn with time. Initially, I reacted in a way I shouldn't have. When I look back now...it was not natural. The build-up and the pressure or the special occasions make it tough to control the aggression."

Call him a senior batsman in the team, and the 23-year-old retorts, "Please, I am not a senior batsman in this team. Good performances in a mere couple of seasons don't make anyone a senior batsman. A person becomes senior batsman when he has performed consistently for six or seven years."

By his own admission, Virat had put a lot of pressure on himself prior to the IPL after a great international season.

"To be honest, I was feeling the pressure more during the first half of IPL. I thought that I have set certain standards and I have to live up to it. It shifted me away from game plan. Latter half (of IPL), I was back on track.

"I am happy that it happened soon, I was able to realise that and able to learn from it. It is important you need to know your mindset and how to meet the expectations regardless of whether you are in or out of the team."

Asked if he is under extra pressure with Rahul Dravid's retirement opening the door for another youngster among the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara, Rohit Sharma or Ajinkya Rahane in the Test XI, Kohli said, "It's impossible to match consistency of someone like Rahul bhai. But I thrive in pressure situations. If there isn't pressure, there is isn't any fun."

"I like challenges. You look to improve in areas that you wouldn't have thought before. I don't pay attention to comparisons. Six or seven of us are there who will all be playing for India for a long time. Among the lot I will leave Rohit out as he is way talented among the lot. I know we will all be colleagues in the Indian team in near future."

Kohli felt that 10 Tests at home will give the new-look middle-order time to settle down before they play overseas.

"It's a good thing that we will play at home. Remember England and Australia beat us in their backyard. I can site my example. Before Tests in Australia, I had played against West Indies and got a few runs, it boosted my confidence."

And what was it that he did differently in Australia, Kohli replied with a wry smile, "I stopped reading the newspapers. In the first two matches, I was getting influenced by what all was being written and said about me. Criticism is natural when you are not doing well.

"I just blocked that out of my system. I started believing in myself. I kept telling myself that I had 8 ODI hundreds and that can't be fluke. I am good enough to do well at this level. I was in a zone and I played in a manner I wanted to. I didn't try and copy someone else."

According to Kohli, Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus are the two best pacers he has played against, with Sunil Narine and Saeed Ajmal being the two most difficult spinners to face.

Since there isn't any chance to play the longer version of the game before the New Zealand Test series, Kohli said that he is going to increase his batting time at the nets.

"We will have some practice games. Even if we don't have, I am sure to increase the hours I put in at the nets. I will be batting for at least three hours. Each individual has his own way of preparing. I will again be starting from zero and would like to improve as a batsman," he concluded.



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News Network
February 5,2020

Aukland, Feb 5: Striker Navneet Kaur scored a brace to guide the Indian women's hockey team to a convincing 3-0 win over New Zealand in the last game of its five-match tour here on Wednesday.

Navneet found the net in the 45th and 58th minutes, while Sharmila scored a field goal in the 54th minute as India drew curtains on the New Zealand tour on a bright note.

After a goalless opening two quarters, Navneet finally broke the deadlock for India in the 45th minute.

Sharmila then doubled the lead when she struck a powerful shot past the New Zealand goalkeeper in the 54th minute. Navneet found the net again just two minutes from the final hooter with a beautiful field strike.

India began the tour by thrashing New Zealand Development squad 4-0 before suffering close 1-2 and 0-1 defeats to the home senior team.

In penultimate game of the tour, skipper Rani's lone strike handed India a 1-0 win over Great Britain.

"...I am happy we produced three goals against New Zealand in the last match. This tour gave us a good insight about where we need to improve and one of the things is to create faster play than we do now," said India's chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne.

Commenting on his side's performance during the tour, Marijne said, "Sometimes we tend to keep the ball too long on the stick and then we create pressure. We need to avoid that by passing faster.

"On the defence side, we need to be a bit more calmer and need to improve our tackling. We will have a four week camp after a short break when we return home and we will be working on these points."

The Indian team will return home on February 7.

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Agencies
February 13,2020

New Delhi, Feb 13: Sanjiv Chawla, a key accused in the match-fixing scandal involving former South African cricket team captain Hansie Cronje in 2000, was extradited from the UK on Thursday, Delhi Police said.

The 50-year-old British national, accompanied by a crime branch team from London, reached IGI Airport this morning, a senior officer said.

He is likely to be taken to the crime branch office for questioning, he added.

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News Network
January 27,2020

Hamilton, Jan 27: In awe of Jasprit Bumrah, New Zealand wicketkeeper Tim Seifert says the Indian speedster's subtle variations have been difficult to pick in the ongoing T20 series and his side needs to a learn a thing or two about adapting from the visitors.

India beat New Zealand by seven wickets in the second T20 International in Auckland on Sunday to grab a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

Bumrah returned with figures of 1-21 from his four overs as Indian skipper Virat Kohli changed his bowling plans from the first game.

"Even in the first game, Bumrah bowled slower balls that were going wider. Normally, death bowlers get into straighter lines, plus yorkers and mix it with chest height. He kind of changes things a lot and is tougher to play," Seifert said.

"...the ball was holding a lot more which made it tougher. So sometimes as a batsman you have to move away from the stumps and see if they bowl straight. I was backing myself to do something different instead of just standing there at the wicket," said the stumper, who remained unbeaten on 33 off 26 balls.

"It was tricky and the ball was holding a little bit. When Kane (Williamson) got out in the over against Yuzvendra Chahal, we knew it was the over to push because they had Bumrah coming back," he added.

He said New Zealand batsmen need to take a cue from their Indian counterparts on how to adapt to different conditions quickly.

"...Indian batsmen showed how to get under the ball and time it. They showed it a couple of times that and on the slower wickets you just have to keep it like that. Once you lose your shape, you are not in position," he said.

"Try to get them (bowlers) off line or off balance, try to get into that position to hit good balls. That's T20 cricket as well. Sometimes it's going 100 per cent but some times you have to take a breath and re-assess. Indian batters did that well."

Seifert believes New Zealand bowlers did reasonably well in the two games but they have been outplayed by the Indian batsmen.

"To be honest, in the first game they were 110-1 and they had wickets in hand. We didn't bowl too badly in that first game. In the second game, we only got 130 and it is tough to bowl at Eden Park (with that total)," he said.

"170 was the target in mind but once you get 130 on the board, that was going to be very hard at Eden Park against a team that is very strong and playing really well. But our spinners were outstanding. Good balls have gone to boundary.

He said coming into the T20 series on the back of a lost Test rubber in Australia also didn't help New Zealand's cause in the first two games.

"Boys are coming off a Test series (in Australia) and a lot of them haven't played T20 cricket for a while," he said.

"But for some like me, I have had the Super Smash for the last two months, so I have played a lot of T20 cricket. They have two games under their belt now so hopefully they will have a better understanding."

Asked if New Zealand would want to play on India's strength of chasing, Seifert replied, "Even in ODI cricket, India have chased down big totals but I think on that wicket it was going to get slower and slower.

"But with that small target on Eden Park, something special has to happen with top six (for a collapse). One batsman got fifty and the other was batting very well. We needed top five-six in the first 10 overs," he said.

The Black Caps are still confident of bouncing back in the series.

The third T20 will be played here on Wednesday before back-to-back matches in Wellington and Mt Maunganui. Seifert said they would like to replicate the 2019 tour of India, where New Zealand came out 2-1 victorious in the three-match series.

"We have lost the first two games but we haven't played badly. We definitely haven't played our best though while India has played very well. If we lose the series on Wednesday, it is not the end of the world. But if we can turn things around, and win, we will take things from there," he said.

"We won the series 2-1 last time, so we have to treat it like a three match series again. But we have to treat it like the first two are must-win games."

"We are not playing our best at the moment. There are 20-odd games before the World Cup, and that tournament is the pinnacle, so we will get there (in preparation),” he signed off.

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