Dhoni-Sehwag rift forced BCCI intervention: sources

October 12, 2012

Doni_Shewag

The alleged, and apparent, rift between the Indian captain MS Dhoni and Virender Sehwag has hogged the media limelight for quite some time now. The seeds of unrest were sown during the final of the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 final in 2007 when Dhoni dropped Sehwag and pitch-forked an uncapped Yusuf Pathan in the team. Since then reams have been written about the two senior cricketers being at loggerheads with each other.

Recently, Dhoni dropped Sehwag from India's XI for the World Twenty20 Super Eights match against Australia which sparked off a kerfuffle. Dhoni opted to open the innings with Irfan Pathan as India were pulverized by nine wickets and eventually couldn't make it to the semi-finals.

In a sensational revelation, a BCCI official, on the condition of anonymity, told Cricketnext that when Dhoni conveyed his decision to Sehwag to drop him for the crucial game against Australia, the opener was irate. A blazing tiff ensued and Dhoni ended up accusing Sehwag of deliberately under-performing to undermine his captaincy. Things came to a head and top brass of the BCCI had to intervene and placate the simmering row.

"When Sehwag angrily questioned Dhoni's decision to leave him out for the crucial match, Dhoni shot back and questioned Sehwag's loyalty towards the team," said the official. "Dhoni told Sehwag that he was in superb touch during IPL 5 while he was captaining Delhi Daredevils but had done little of note in last two years in all formats during his captaincy. Sparks flew thick and fast and high authorities of the BCCI had to intervene and diffuse the tension."

He continued: "Dhoni feels that Sehwag doesn't perform to his full potential and is very reckless in his approach. He probably thinks that Sehwag is forging a faction in the team to turn a few key players against him and usurp the captaincy. Sehwag's ambition to lead the Indian side is well known. Sehwag, on the other hand, feels he is hard done by Dhoni on several occasions. He thinks Dhoni lends patronage to lesser-talented cricketers like Ravindra Jadeja, RP Singh and Piyush Chawla but never misses a chance to queer his pitch."

The official also said that Dhoni's walking away with a major part of the applause for India’s triumph in the 2011 World Cup did not go down well with Sehwag. "He [Sehwag] strongly believed it was a team effort. Since then, things went from bad to worse and he made several statements claiming that India won the trophy because of strong team and not due to Dhoni's outstanding leadership."

Meanwhile, a source close to Sehwag dismissed talk of him under-performing. "Sehwag has been playing for India for 12 years and established himself as one of the greatest batsmen India have ever produced. It is deplorable to question Sehwag's commitment to the team," he toldCricketnext. "Sehwag was hurt when he was axed from the team for big matches on a number of times like the final of the 2007 World Twenty20 and the CB Series final against Australia in 2008 when Robin Uthappa replaced him, but he doesn't harbour animosity against Dhoni.

"He has performed brilliantly under Dhoni's captaincy between 2008 and 2010 so how could he possibly undermine Dhoni? Sehwag is the kind of batsman who thrives on self-belief and confidence. A captain must show faith in his abilities but this has not been the case of late. He felt unwanted in the team at times and his confidence eroded. Team management must not fiddle with his confidence. Sehwag is a man of steely temperament and he'll bounce back very soon."

Madan Lal, the former Indian allrounder and coach, has followed Sehwag's career very closely and believes that Sehwag cannot afford to under-perform as no player can take his place in the team for granted. "Sehwag is a special talent but even he can't afford to take his place for granted in the team. No player can think of under-performing as your place would be under scanner. Sehwag was dropped on a few occasions because his form was patchy," he said. "He's a mature and sensible cricketer. I've known him for years and he will never indulge in such petty shenanigans. As for a rift between Dhoni and Sehwag, I think the media is blowing it out of proportion. There might be a difference of opinion, which is natural in a team sport, but I don't see anything more to it. Ultimately, the collective objective of the team is to perform well on the field for their country and all other issues are peripheral."




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News Network
March 28,2020

Milan, Mar 28: Juventus star Paulo Dybala revealed how he "struggled to breathe" after contracting coronavirus which has killed over 9,000 people in Italy.

The Argentine international announced last Saturday he was one of three Juventus players to catch the virus along with Daniele Rugani and Blaise Matuidi, who both had no symptoms.

"I feel better now after some strong symptoms," the 26-year-old Dybala told JTV channel.

"A couple of days ago I was not well, I felt heavy and after five minutes of movement I had to stop because I was struggling to breathe.

"Now I can move and walk to start trying to train, because when I tried in the past few days I started to shake too much.

"I gasped for air and as a result I couldn't do anything, after five minutes I was already very tired, I felt the body heavy and my muscles hurt.

"Now I'm fine. My fiancee Oriana (Sabatini) has also overcome the symptoms."

Dybala has scored 13 goals in all competitions this season, including in league leader's Juventus's last game against Inter Milan before Serie A and all sport in Italy was suspended.

"The goal against Inter was the greatest emotion, (Aaron) Ramsey provided the perfect assist - it's a pity that there was no public," added Dybala.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

New Delhi, Jul 28: 'Your character stood out for me than the number of runs you scored," said India skipper Virat Kohli while explaining his decision to give opening Mayank Agarwal a Test debut in the 2018-19 Australia series.

Mayank Agarwal had made his Test debut against Australia in the third Test of the four-match series.

Playing the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Agarwal managed to register a half-century in his very first innings in the longest format.

"I had seen you play for RCB, even then you played international bowlers with conviction and you would take them on. You were performing in first-class matches in a dominating way. That is something always stood out with you, I would say your character stood out for me than the number of runs. I knew you would be fearless without having any baggage," Kohli told Mayank Agarwal in a video posted on the official website of BCCI.

In the longest format of the game, Agarwal has managed to score 974 runs from 11 matches at an average of 57.29 with three centuries as an opening batsman.

The Indian skipper also explained as to what makes him notice in a player and added that it is important that guys in the team look to face new challenges and emerge triumphantly.

"For me, the biggest marker is how a person approaches the game, so for example when you opened and we made Vihari open with you. The first opportunity we presented Vihari to open the batting, he said yes to it and that matters me to the most," Kohli said.

"I opened in my first series for India, I said yes to this opportunity and things worked out fine for me. So, a guy who wants to get into tough situations will come out either holding his head high or learning from his mistakes," he added.

Kohli and Mayank would soon be seen in action for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab respectively in the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting from September 19 in the UAE.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar keep on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

At present, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings. Kohli has so far played 86 Tests, scoring 7,240 runs with 27 centuries at an average of 53.62.

His knock of 254 against South Africa at Pune in 2019 remains his highest Test score to date. When it comes to ODIs, the current Indian skipper has played 248 matches and has 43 centuries.

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News Network
March 4,2020

Sydney, Mar 4: Teenage Indian batting sensation Shafali Verma on Wednesday rose to the top spot in the ICC women's T20 International rankings, riding on her stellar run at the ongoing World Cup here.

The 16-year-old Verma takes over from New Zealand's Suzie Bates, who had been the top batter since October 2018 after wresting the spot from West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor.

However, Smriti Mandhana has slipped a couple of rungs to sixth in the latest list.

Verma and England spinner Sophie Ecclestone will go into the semifinals of the event as the top ranked batter and bowler respectively. India will take on England on Thursday.

Verma's explosive batting at the top of the order saw her score 161 runs in four innings, including knocks of 47 and 46 against Sri Lanka and New Zealand. It helped her become only the second India batter after Mithali Raj to top the women's T20I batting rankings, according to an ICC statement.

Ecclestone, who took eight wickets in four matches including a best of three for seven against the West Indies, is the first England bowler to be number one since Anya Shrubsole in April 2016 and the first England spinner at the top since Danni Hazell in August 2015.

Among the Indian bowlers, Poonam Yadav is up four places to eighth after a good run in World Cup.

Some valiant performances from Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Athapaththu have seen her move from 18th to 14th spot for batters.

England's Nat Sciver is again in the top 10 and captain Heather Knight in the top 15 for the first time.

South Africa opener Laura Wolvaardt has advanced 23 places to 44th, while Pakistan's Aliya Riaz has gained 24 places and is 48th while New Zealand's Maddy Green is in the top 100 after advancing 28 slots.

In the bowlers' list, leg-spinners Amelia Kerr of New Zealand (up two places to fourth) and Australia's George Wareham (up nine places to 10th) have made significant gains in the latest rankings update.

Other bowlers to advance include new-ball bowler Diana Baig of Pakistan (up 34 places to 13th), Shashikala Siriwardena of Sri Lanka (up seven places to 14th), Anya Shrubsole of England (up five places to 17th), Dane van Niekerk of South Africa (up 12 places to joint-22nd) and Shikha Pandey of India (up 23 places to joint-22nd).

New Zealand captain Sophie Devine is now the sole number one all-rounder after coming into the tournament as a joint number one along with Australia all-rounder Ellyse Perry.

India's Deepti Sharma has advanced nine places to seventh, the first time that she is among the top 10 in the all-rounders' list after also moving up to 53rd among batters.

Australia remain at the top of the T20I team rankings with 290 points and England in second position with 278.

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