India’s hopes rest heavily on Zaheer Khan’s shoulders

November 13, 2012

zak

Mumbai, November 13: Zaheer Khan is reckoned by most teams as one of the experts with the shining as well as the old ball. He has cultivated the happy knack of breaking a partnership making the reverse swing work; one of the reasons why the Indian team management must be hoping that the extremely dexterous left- arm seamer regains fitness for the exacting demands of Test cricket.


Moreover he’s the most experienced Indian bowler; Ishant Sharma has not exactly returned to the big league after an ankle surgery and Umesh Yadav is yet to take the big stride in international cricket.


The two spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha, have been successful in recent times against the West Indies and New Zealand, but like Yadav they have not sent down a ball to English batsmen in Test cricket.


The first Test against England starts on Thursday and after a three-day camp at the Brabourne Stadium here, where he went about a prescribed training meticulously and made his lower and upper limbs work to some degree of satisfaction.

Things would become clearer after he goes through the rigours at Motera.

Heavy exertions

He is 34 years old, has played 85 Tests (291 wickets) and 200 One-Day Internationals (282 wickets) over a period of 12 years. In the course of these heavy exertions he has strained his body parts and, hence, cannot be fit as a fiddle.


There is so much risk in his selection in the XI especially after he broke down after bowling 13.3 overs in the first Test at Lord’s in the English summer of 2011.


It was a major setback India did not recover from, because the clever Zaheer had caused the downfall of Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook for 22 and 12 runs respectively.


India lost the series 0-4. Even Mahendra Singh Dhoni sent down eight overs in the first innings once Zaheer left the field.


Zaheer returned for the four-Test series against Australia and showed his versatile craft taking four for 77 and three for 53 at Melbourne, three for 122 at Sydney, two for 92 at Perth and two for 96 and one for 38 at Adelaide for a collection of 15 wickets at 31.80.


He was less successful against New Zealand at home recently.

Get-fit visits to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) have been frequent in the last few years; he sent down 20.5 overs in the Ranji Trophy match against Railways at the Wankhede, conceded 41 runs and picked up a wicket before leaving the ground for medical attention.


“He is just cramping a bit. He has had a long day and was probably dehydrated.

“He has worked hard enough. In the last month he trained well,” said Mumbai captain Ajit Agarkar.

The selectors picked him in the 15-member squad after receiving the okay from physical trainer Ashish Kaushik.

Zaheer would have got 11 days to work on his fitness and will possibly undergo a fitness test on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning.

The heat will be telling at Ahmedabad, ranging from 33 degrees Celsius to 38, and India will take an important call.

He is India’s fourth leading bowler after Anil Kumble (619 wickets), Kapil Dev (434) and Harbhajan Singh (406).


He has played two home Tests against England — at Chennai and Mohali in the 2008-09 series — and got the wickets of Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Graeme Swann and Steve Harmison in the first Test and Strauss, Cook, and Swann in the second; most of them top flight batsmen and just the reason Dhoni would hope to get the all clear signal before he writes the team sheet before the toss.

So vital is Zaheer Khan to India’s bowling attack.

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News Network
May 3,2020

New Delhi, May 3: In a startling revelation, India speedster Mohammed Shami has claimed that he thought of committing suicide thrice while battling personal issues a few years ago, forcing his family to keep a watch over him at all times.

He said his family members feared he "might jump" from their 24th floor apartment.

Shami, one of India's leading bowlers in recent years, opened up on his personal and professional life during an Instagram chat with teammate and limited overs squads' vice-captain Rohit Sharma.

"I think if my family had not supported me back then I would have lost my cricket. I thought of committing suicide three times during that period due to severe stress and personal problems," Shami revealed during the session on Saturday.

Now one of the mainstays of Indian bowling attack across formats, the 29-year-old was struggling to focus on his cricket, then.

"I was not thinking about cricket at all. We were living on the 24th floor. They (family) were scared I might jump from the balcony. My brother supported me a lot.

"My 2-3 friends used to stay with me for 24 hours. My parents asked me to focus on cricket to recover from that phase and not think about anything else. I started training then and sweated it out a lot at an academy in Dehradun," Shami said.

In March 2018, Shami's wife Hasin Jahan had accused him of domestic violence and lodged a complaint with the police, following which the India player and his brother were booked under relevant sections.

The upheaval in his personal life forced his employer BCCI to withheld the player's central contracts for a while.

"Rehab was stressful as the same exercises are repeated every day. Then family problems started and I also suffered an accident. The accident happened 10-12 days ahead of the IPL and my personal problems were running high in the media," Shami told Rohit.

Shami said his family stood like a rock with him and the support helped him get back on his feet.

"Then my family explained that every problem has a solution no matter how big the problem. My brother supported me a lot."

Speaking about another painful period in his life after his injury in the 2015 World Cup, Shami said it took him almost 18 months to get back on the field.

"When I got injured in the 2015 World Cup, after that it took me 18 months to fully recover, that was the most painful moment in my life, it was a very stressful period.

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News Network
June 11,2020

New Delhi, Jun 11: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has indicated that this year's IPL could be conducted in empty stadiums, insisting that all possible options are being explored to ensure that the suspended event does take place despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a letter to all the affiliated units sent late on Wednesday after the ICC Board meeting, Ganguly seemed confident of an IPL this year despite its current status of being indefinitely suspended because of the raging pandemic, which has claimed more than 8,000 lives in India.

"The BCCI is working on all possible options to ensure that we are able to stage IPL this year, even if it means playing the tournament in empty stadiums," Ganguly wrote.

"The fans, franchises, players, broadcasters, sponsors and all other stakeholders are keenly looking forward to the possibility of IPL being hosted this year.

"Recently, a lot of players both from India and other countries, participating in the IPL have shown keenness on being part of this year's IPL. We are optimistic and the BCCI will shortly decide on the future course of action on this," the former India captain said.

It is widely speculated that the IPL is eyeing the October event if the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in Australia at that time is postponed. The ICC has deferred a decision on the World Cup's fate until next month.

Ganguly also said that the BCCI is working on the domestic schedule while exploring various formats which would make tournaments like Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Vijay Hazare "competitive and feasible".

"Moving ahead, the BCCI is in process of planning the domestic competitions for the next cricketing season. We are working on various options and formats in our endeavour to ensure that various domestic tournaments are held, they stay competitive and participation feasible," said the former India captain.

"The BCCI will come up with more details in next couple of weeks," he added.

He also informed that BCCI is preparing a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for resumption of cricket in all state units to ensure medical safety of those involved.

The president also informed that the BCCI has made "all efforts to release funds/grants to its various members."

"Associations which have made proper submission of their accounts and funds utilization certificates have already received their grants," he said.

The other units will also receive their grants once they submit relevant documents, the president assured while informing that vendors have also been paid.

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News Network
January 23,2020

Jan 23: Quinton de Kock has been named as the new captain of the South Africa One-Day International side, taking over from Faf du Plessis, who is dropped altogether from the three-match series against England next month.

Du Plessis led South Africa in their disastrous 2019 World Cup campaign and has hinted at international retirement from all formats following the Twenty20 global finals in Australia later this year.

"We all know the quality of the player that Quinton de Kock has grown to become," CSA director of cricket Graeme Smith said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Over the years we have watched him grow in confidence and become one of the top ODI wicket-keeper batsmen in the world. He has a unique outlook and manner in which he goes about his business and is tactically very street smart."

De Kock leads a 15-man squad with five uncapped players in seamers Lutho Sipamla and Sisanda Magala, left-arm orthodox spinner all-rounder Bjorn Fortuin, opening batsman Janneman Malan and wicketkeeper-batsman Kyle Verreynne.

Magala, leg-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, seamer Lungi Ngidi and hard-hitting opening batsman Jon Jon Smuts must pass fitness tests before they can join the squad.

Fast bowler Kagiso Rabada will be rested for the series, while allrounders Chris Morris and Dwaine Pretorius have also not been able to force their way in.

"The road towards the 2023 Cricket World Cup starts now and we want players doing well in our domestic structures to see the rewards of the hard work that they have put in," CSA Independent Selector Linda Zondi added.

The first ODI will be staged in Cape Town on Feb.4th, with the second in Durban three days later and the final match of the series to be held in Johannesburg on Feb.9th.

Squad: Quinton de Kock (captain), Reeza Hendricks, Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Jon Jon Smuts, Andile Phehlukwayo, Lutho Sipamla, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Sisanda Magala, Bjorn Fortuin, Beuran Hendricks, Janneman Malan, Kyle Verreynne.

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