Yuvraj Singh named in probables' list for World Twenty20

July 19, 2012

yuvaraj

Mumbai, July 19: After picking the team for the ODI tour of Sri Lanka on July 4, chief selector Krish Srikkanth had commented how he would love to have the option of picking Yuvraj Singh for the World T20 in Sri Lanka.

The southpaw, who staged a brave recovery from germ-cell tumour, has made the first cut. The Srikkanth-led committee picked the 30-year-old in a 30-man preliminary squad for the World Twenty20 to be played in the Island Nation from September 18 to October 7.

Yuvraj, who has not played competitive cricket since the two home Tests against the West Indies in November, only recently began training at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. The squad for the biennial tournament, the inaugural edition of which was won by India in 2007, must be finalised by mid-August.

Yuvraj was man of the tournament in India's victorious 2011 World Cup campaign and was also the architect of India's World T20 win in 2007, where he smashed the fastest fifty in international cricket off 12 balls by smashing England seamer Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over in Durban. If he is fit enough to make the final squad, he will be welcomed by the team which failed to progress beyond the Super Eights of the last two editions of the tournament, in England and West Indies respectively.

Two weeks ago, Yuvraj had expressed a desire to make a comeback to the Indian team via the shortest format of the game. "The serious match practice that I can get ahead of World T20 is Moin-ud-Dowla Trophy and Buchi Babu tournament but I am still not aware about the dates of these tournaments. May be I can play some matches during New Zealand's tour of India."

However, Yuvi refused to give himself a timeframe. "I can't really give a timeframe but I have to see how my body is recovering and how fast I can come on the field. I might take six months, I might take two months. I don't know. But the day I feel 100 % I will surely be back."

Wednesday turned out to be a good day for ignored off-spinner Harbhajan Singh too. The feisty sardar, who has been out of favour since team's tour of England, figured in the preliminary squad along with Punjab batsman Mandeep Singh and Ambati Rayudu, who had an impressive IPL. Tamil Nadu seamer L Balaji, who last played for India in 2009 against Sri Lanka, also got in riding on his IPL show.

India's preliminary squad:

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Umesh Yadav, Ashok Dinda, Ajinkya Rahane, Manoj Tiwary, Rahul Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Mandeep Singh, Piyush Chawla, Ravindra Jadeja, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, Naman Ojha, Dinesh Karthik, Praveen Kumar, L Balaji.


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News Network
July 16,2020

Kolkata, Jul 16: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday went into home quarantine after his elder brother and Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) joint secretary Snehasish Ganguly tested positive for Covid-19.

Snehasish, a former Bengal first-class player, has been admitted to the Belle Vue hospital in Kolkata after his COVID report came positive.

"He was suffering from fever for the last few days and his test report came positive today. He's been admitted to Belle Vue Hospital," a CAB official said.

"The reports arrived late in the evening. As per health protocols, even Sourav will have to be in home quarantine for a stipulated period," a source close to the BCCI President added.

Snehasish had shifted to their ancestral house, where Sourav is based, in Behala after his wife and in-laws at his Mominpur residence tested positive for the dreaded virus.

The former India captain was, however, unavailable for a comment on the development.

Recently, during an interview to India Today, Sourav had spoken about how life around him has changed, making people more vulnerable.

"My brother visits our factories everyday and he is more at risk," the former batting star had said

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Agencies
August 3,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: The finals of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 will be played on November 20, the sources within the BCCI confirmed on Sunday.

The IPL's governing council met earlier today, and it has also been decided that the evening matches will start at 7:30 pm, half an hour earlier than usual.

Jay Shah, the secretary of BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and Arun Dhumal, treasurer of BCCI did not attend the IPL's governing council meeting.

"The tournament will run for 51 days, usually the IPL should go on for 49 days as per the constitution, however in the meeting it has been decided that we will go to Supreme Court for conducting the IPL in 51 days," sources within the BCCI said.

"As the tournament is running for 51 days, we will get the chance to play fewer doubleheaders, there would be just 10 double headers, evening matches will start at 7:30 and the afternoon matches will start at 3:30. 

The matches will be played across three venues at Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah as travelling here by road is easier and bio-secure environment can be maintained," he added.

The IPL's governing council also confirmed that Women's IPL will also go on and four teams would be participating in it.

"When it comes to women's IPL, there would be four teams and the matches would be played at the time of playoffs for men's IPL," the source said.

The source within the BCCI also said that the governing council would be meeting again to discuss the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for all the franchises that need to be followed in the IPL.

The governing council meeting discussed the quarantine measures along with the standard operating procedures (SOP), bio bubble training facilities, stay and travel of the players.

Issues related to the broadcaster, shifting, and scheduling of the tournament, and DXB app to be downloaded for players and other officials were also discussed as well.

A few days earlier, the IPL Governing Council chairman Brijesh Patel had confirmed that the 13th edition of the mega event will commence on September 19 in the UAE.

This year's IPL was slated to commence from March 29 but the tournament was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) had also confirmed receiving the official Letter of Intent from the BCCI to host the 2020 edition of the IPL.

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News Network
February 17,2020

Hamilton, Feb 17: Mayank Agarwal found form on his birthday and Rishabh Pant mixed caution with his customary aggression as India’s warm-up fixture against New Zealand XI ended in a draw here on Sunday.

The match was called off an hour after lunch with India reaching 252 for four just 48 overs into their second innings.

Agarwal, who had gone through a wretched period since the second Test against Bangladesh, retired on 81 off 99 balls with 10 fours and three sixes to his name.

To the relief of the Indian team management, Pant played in his customary manner to reach 70 off 65 balls, but also showed discretion when the opposition bowlers were in the midst of a good spell. There were four sixes -- two each off leg-spinner Ish Sodhi and off-spinner Henry Cooper.

While Sodhi was hit down the ground, Cooper was dispatched over extra cover on a couple of occasions. He didn’t curb his aggression, though, there were times when he was ready defend the spinners and also leave some of the deliveries.

Even though Pant is considered a better batsman than Wriddhiman Saha, the innings might have come too late in the day considering that the latter is a better keeper and possibly a more responsible batsman in pressure situations.

The biggest positive to have emerged from the New Zealand second innings is Agarwal’s poor run coming to an end. The Seddon Park track easing out was definitely a factor but Agarwal’s footwork was more assured as he played some glorious on-drives and pull-shots off fast bowlers.

Before this game, Agarwal had played 10 competitive games including first-class, ODIs and List A matches and couldn’t cross the 40-run mark in 11 completed innings. He even bagged a pair against New Zealand A in an unofficial Test match.

Once he had got his form back, he didn’t come out to bat after lunch giving Saha an opportunity to score an unbeaten 30, his runs coming mostly against non-regular bowlers.

The Agarwal-Pant pair added 100 runs in 14.3 overs and it also helped that part-timers like Cooper was introduced into the action.

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