Leaving out Yuvi in four bowler set-up is impossible: Dhoni

October 1, 2012
Yuvi_Solid_performence

Colombo, October 1: All praise for Yuvraj Singh's small but notable contributions in India's World Twenty20 campaign so far, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said the all-rounder, who returned to cricket after beating cancer, is an indispensable part of his T20 line-up.

Yuvraj, playing his first international event after recovering from a rare germ cell cancer, has been in decent form both with the bat and ball besides making his mark as an agile fielder.

The 30-year-old effected a run out, picked up two crucial wickets besides contributing 19 runs with the bat in the Super Eight win against Pakistan last night which kept India's chances of making the semifinals alive.


"If we look at our combination, we play seven batsmen and you can't leave out someone like Yuvraj Singh. We had never considered the option of leaving out Yuvraj," Dhoni said at the post-match press conference.

"Our bowling line-up is such that we need a left-arm bowler who can take the ball away from the batsman. Also he is a brilliant fielder as you saw with the run-out today," he added.

Yuvraj's fitness has been questioned by former India captain Ravi Shastri but Dhoni feels that the senior player is certainly fit for this format.

"I am not really concerned about his fitness as far as this format is concerned. He has worked really hard at the NCA for the past few months. He has also played some active T20 matches before coming into international cricket. More so the batting time in the middle will certainly help him as in domestic cricket, you don't get the kind of bowlers you get here."

The question of combination was asked and Dhoni's reply was the cliched "horses for courses".

"Our combination always depends on the kind of wicket we get. Like it will be very difficult for me to say what will be my strategy for the next match," Dhoni said.

"Also we have the liberty of watching how the wicket behaves during first match and that certainly has an impact on our team selection for the next game," he explained.

He praised Virat Kohli for his consistency and defended both Kohli and Yuvraj for not trying to finish it with 20 deliveries left as that would have bettered their run-rate.


"I think they have played in the way they should have. There are times when you go for shots and lose wickets which increase the pressure on the side. Here when they realised that even if they get out they are not going to lose the match, they did go for big shots."

The skipper also felt that Pakistan losing wickets at regular intervals made it difficult for the arch-rivals to put up a big score.

"When you lose wickets at regular intervals, around 10th or 12th over, there is a dilemma whether to go all out or to play for par-score. Normally, teams choose the second option."

After the hammering his bowlers received at the hands of Australia, Dhoni felt that they recovered well to have a "good day" in office.

"We don't have 145 kmph bowlers. We have bowlers who are slightly slower but do have the skill to get opposition batsmen out. But they need some help from the wicket in order to perform. During last match, the rain really made it difficult for them to grip the ball," Dhoni said.

Asked about the next game against South Africa, Dhoni was forthright.

"We can't make plans right away as a lot of things will depend on the result of the earlier (Australia vs Pakistan) match. May be we will have some plans but then we might not need that plan at all."

South Africa have already lost two matches and look like bowing out from Super Eights and Dhoni felt that not "clicking as a unit has been their problem."

"They have a complete side with two good fast bowlers, Jacques Kallis, two spinners. They have batsmen like AB (De Villiers), Hashim Amla and Duminy. But then in this format, you need to click as a team.

"You need one guy to score 50 and lot of other guys need to play those little 15, 20 run innings. Unless you have a Chris Gayle in your side who can alone make the difference that shifts the momentum in your favour."



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coastaldigest.com web desk
August 3,2020

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will not end its partnership with Chinese companies. Vivo, the Chinese smartphone maker, is the main sponsor of the new IPL season as well. Apart from Vivo, PayTM and Dream 11 will also be at the helm of the 13th edition of the IPL. The IPL governing council meeting on Sunday decided to retain the old sponsors.

As soon as the IPL GC announced the decision of retaining the sponsors, a huge number of fans took to Twitter to slam the board for the same. #BoycottIPL started trending as the users urged others to boycott the tournament for the Chinese connection.

Earlier, the demand for exclusion of Chinese companies from the IPL was strong in the wake of the India-China border dispute. But the BCCI cannot abruptly end its collaboration with them. Because of the signed contract itself. And in this age of declining economy, it is difficult to find new sponsors quickly.

The current BCCI contract with Vivo is for five years. Vivo has invested Rs 2,199 crore to become the main sponsor of the IPL. The contract was signed in 2017. However, the BCCI’s move is paving the way for new discussions as calls are mounting across the country to boycott Chinese companies.

The BCCI announced other important decisions besides retaining sponsors. The IPL will be held from September 19 to November 10. The Indian government has given permission to the BCCI to hold the IPL in the UAE. With this, all obstacles in the way of organizing the tournament were removed.

The IPL matches will be played at 7.30 pm Indian time (6 pm UAE time). Most matches are about one match a day. There are a total of ten ‘double headers’ (two matches a day) in the tournament. Franchisees are allowed to appoint as many replacements as they want in the new season in view of the new health situation. At the same time, the maximum number of players a franchise can accommodate is 24. The BCCI is also planning to host a women’s IPL tournament.

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News Network
June 13,2020

New Delhi, Jun 13: Five centrally contracted Indian cricketers including Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja and KL Rahul have been issued notices by National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) for failing to disclose their whereabouts as the BCCI cited "password glitch" as the reason for delay.

The other players to have received the notice include women stars Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma, who are among the five cricketers in the 110 strong National Registered Testing Pool (NRTP). Speaking to PTI, NADA DG Navin Agarwal confirmed that BCCI has sent an official explanation for their five NRTP players' failure to submit whereabouts.

"There are two ways to fill up the whereabouts form in the ADAMS (Anti Doping Administration & Management Systems) software. Either athlete does it himself or association fills it up on his or her behalf," Agarwal said. "Now athletes in some discipline aren't educated enough or do not have access to internet and find themselves unable to handle the whereabouts clause of the ADAMS or upload the filled up

"They use assistance of their concerned federations. So federations have accepted responsibility of uploading their whereabouts," Agarwal said.

He said cricketers too at times find it tough to complete the process on their own. "Similarly in cricket also, although these people are well qualified and they can do it, perhaps they don't have the time for whatever reasons, so the federation concerned, the BCCI has taken upon itself the responsibility of uploading their whereabouts." So why didnt BCCI upload the the three-month whereabouts this time?

"Well they have given an explanation which appears to be reasonable but a decision will be taken. They have said that there has been a glitch with regards to password in ADAMS. Now they have said that issue has been resolved," Agarwal added. NADA DG added that "BCCI's explanation will be discussed as to whether it will be counted as one of three filing failures or not. It will be decided on the explanation given and how they (BCCI) proceed from here."

While country has been under lockdown, the rule to submit three months of whereabouts is mandatory. Three such failures to disclose leads to one Anti Doping Rule Violation (ADRV), which could lead up to two years of suspension upon hearing.

While BCCI has "officially gagged" its employees from talking to the media, it couldn't be ascertained that why as normal a glitch as a password error took days to resolve. A BCCI veteran, who has been privy to cricket operations, asked why the five cricketers were not told to upload the form themselves.

"This was lockdown period where they are not living out of suitcases. Some of the names have also engaged in multiple instagram chats and podcasts which their agents are managing," he said.

"If cricket operations team were having a glitch in fixing password, well the five cricketers could have been asked to do so and they would have done it individually with some guidance. "Probably NADA would be lenient this time but if it becomes an official warning, then who's responsible," he added.

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News Network
June 24,2020

New Delhi, Jun 24: Star Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan deeply regrets his "silly mistake" of not reporting a corrupt approach by an Indian bookie to the ICC, leading to his one year suspension from the game.

Shakib was banned for two years, one year of it suspended, for failing to report corrupt approaches during an IPL edition by an alleged Indian bookie named Deepak Aggarwal.

"I took the approaches too casually When I met the anti-corruption guy and told them and they knew everything. Gave them all the evidence and they knew everything that happened," Shakib told Harsha Bhogle on 'Cricbuzz in Conversation'.

"To be honest, that's the only reason I was banned for a year, otherwise I'd have been banned for five or 10 years," he added on the ICC's investigation.

The 33-year-old, who was in brilliant form before the ban, amassing 606 runs in the 2019 World Cup in the UK, said he regrets how he went about the situation.

"But I think that was a silly mistake I made. Because with my experience and the amount of international matches I've played and the amount of ICC's anti-corruption code of conduct classes I took, I shouldn't have made that decision, to be honest."

Lesson learnt, Shakib's advice to all young criceters is to never take any such message lightly.

"I regret that. No one should take such messages or calls (from bookies) lightly or leave it away. We must inform the ICC ACSU guy to be on the safe side and that's the lesson I learnt, and I think I learnt a big lesson," he added.

The all-rounder, whose ban ends on October 29, said he became a bit arrogant and never felt he was doing anything wrong by not reporting the bookie's approach immediately.

"Because you do most things right in your life, you tend to get arrogant with some decisions. You may not realise but you're doing wrong by the books. It never came to my mind that I am doing something wrong

"It was just a feeling of 'okay, what's going to happen, leave it' and I continued with my life. But that's the mistake I made. And that happens," Shakib said.

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