BCCI did not show enough courtesy: Sharmila Tagore

November 7, 2012

Sharmila_Tagore

The forthcoming India-England series will be for the Anthony De Mello Trophy. There have been calls to name the silverware after Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, the former India captain who died last year, but the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has decided to retain the name that has been attached to the home series between India and England for the last 60 years.

“India-England Test series in India is played for the Anthony De Mello Trophy instituted in 1951,” the BCCI said in a statement on Tuesday evening. De Mello is the first secretary of the BCCI, and the board said his name will continue to be associated with the trophy as a “recognition of his contribution to Indian cricket.”

The BCCI’s decision has caused anguish in the Pataudi family. Sharmila Tagore, wife ofthe late Pataudi, said the board did not show enough courtesy.

The Pataudi Trophy was named after Pataudi family — the father-son duo of Iftekar Ali Pataudi and MAK Pataudi — by the England Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2007.

It was a suggestion by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the first England-India Tests. Subsequently, the ECB commissioned the trophy as a symbol of supremacy for the teams when India played in England.

Sharmila is unhappy that the BCCI did not bother to inform her about its decision directly. “It is simple courtesy that the BCCI tells me directly that the name cannot be changed. Why should it respond through the media?” she asked. A few days back, she had written to board president president N Srinivasan asking him to follow the ECB example. However, her pleas did not cut ice with the BCCI.

“I thought it was natural that the BCCI followed the ECB and named the trophy after Tiger,” Sharmila, currently in London, told DNA. “The point is that Tiger did not belong to my family alone. He belonged to the entire country. If the BCCI has the wish and intention, it has the power to change the name,” she felt.

Pataudi was invited by the ECB during the presentation of the 2007 and again last year, when India travelled to England. “It was a fitting gesture by the ECB to recognise Tiger’s contribution,” she said. When contacted, the ECB refused to be drawn into the issue saying it was a matter for the Indian board to decide.



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News Network
June 2,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 2: Bangladesh opening batsman Tamim Iqbal has said that he was ashamed on seeing the training regime of Indian skipper Virat Kohli.

Iqbal said that the incident happened two-three years back as he thought to himself that why he cannot do the same even when he is the same age as Kohli.

"I must say this, it is not because I am talking to an Indian commentator, India is our neighbour so whatever things they do, it affects Bangladesh as well. We follow what is happening in India, when India changed its approach towards fitness, it impacted Bangladesh the most," Iqbal told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

"I have no shame in admitting this, when I saw Virat Kohli running around two-three years ago, I was ashamed of myself, I thought this is a guy who is probably my age, but he is training so much and I have not doing even half of it. We have a great example in our team as well, Mushfiqur Rahim manages himself well regarding fitness," he added.

During his initial days of international cricket, Kohli was fond of chicken which he has admitted several times during media interaction.

But in 2013, the 31-year-old batsman intentionally shifted his focus to fitness, diet, and training.

Now he has become punctual about his diet which has given him a different character on and off the field.

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

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

Currently, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings.

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News Network
April 7,2020

London, Apr 7: Bowling coach Waqar Younis feels that it was the absence of pacers Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Amir which saw Pakistan getting whitewashed during Australia tour last year.

Amir and Riaz had quit the red-ball format ahead of the matches against Australia in 2019.

"Just before the Australia series, they ditched us and we had the only choice to pick youngsters.

We were the new management and decided to go on with taking in the younger lot and groom them. ESPNcricinfo quoted Younis as saying.

Pakistan was not able to win a single match in Australia as they got defeated both in T20Is and Test series.

"It's not like we have lost a lot, but yes they left us at the wrong time. But anyway, we don't have any grudge against them," Younis added.

"We cannot control players' choice on what they want to play, but then there should be a mechanism so we all are on board. "It's not like I am saying we could have won in Australia but we could have done better than what we have done," he opined.

Amir gave up the red ball format in July in order to manage his workload and extend his white-ball career for Pakistan as well as in T20 leagues around the world, while Riaz took an "indefinite break" from Test cricket in September last year.

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News Network
May 2,2020

Melbourne, May 2: After becoming the number one side in Test cricket, Australia's head coach Justin Langer has said that his team has won back the respect of the country.

Australia dethroned India from the top spot in Tests and now the Men in Blue are in the third place.

Langer came in as the coach of Australia after the 2018 ball-tampering scandal and it took him some time to get the side back to winning ways.

Ever since the return of David Warner and Steve Smith, Australia went on to become a commendable side and the results reflect that.

"We have got lots of work to do to become the team we want to be. But over the last couple of years, not only have we performed well on the field, we have performed well off it. We have earned some respect back from other teams around the world but also from Australia," Langer said in an official statement.

"When we started on this journey, there had been a lot of talk about Australia wanting to be No. 1 in the world in all three forms of the game.

We took a different approach. Not once did we talk about being No. 1 ranked in the world. We wanted to be No.1 in our values and process. That is what I am most proud of," he added.

In the latest ICC rankings update, that rates all matches played since May 2019 at 100 per cent and those of the previous two years at 50 per cent, Australia (116) have taken over from India as the top-ranked side in the ICC men's Test team rankings with New Zealand (115) remaining in second place.

India is now third with 114 points. With only two points separating them, this is the second closest the top three teams have been since the Test rankings were launched in 2003.

The closest for the top three teams were in January 2016, when India had led Australia and South Africa by a single point.

Australia has also moved to the top spot in the T20I rankings for the first time in the format.

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