England captain, Alastair Cook, proves yet again why he's top of the line

November 19, 2012

alastair-cook

Ahmedabad, November 19: Alastair Cook is not a crowd puller. But he can pull his weight in the team and score runs. Despite his elegant touch as a left-hander, he is not in the same mould as, say, a David Gower.

But let's accept it: he is not as boring to watch as Allan Border was! But he will surely settle for AB's 11,174 Test runs.

"Cook knows how he can score runs. He cuts the ball well, plays the odd sweep, plays straight, plays resolute. He has got defensive qualities and he has got good judgment and good decision making ability.

These are the qualities you need to make runs," said former England captain and batting coach Graham Gooch. It's not easy to please Gooch. But he appeared mighty pleased with Cook.

"He crafted a hundred today, put together a hundred. It is a different skill than scoring a hundred. When things go well and it all fits into place, people score hundreds. The boy just made it happen.


This is as any innings he has played, and it came under great pressure after a poor first innings. If you get bowled out for less than 200, then you are up against it because there is so much time left in the game.

"He can play such knocks because he is one of the best players in the world. It is not just physical skill I'm talking about. You need skill between the ears," Gooch said.

Some of Cook's figures ooze world class. He was the second youngest after Tendulkar to reach 5,000 Test runs at age 26. He has Test hundreds in Perth (versus both Warne and McGrath), Durban, Galle, Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney, Nagpur and now Ahmedabad.


Except in New Zealand and the UAE, he averages more than 40 in other countries.

If his 766 runs in the historic Test series win Down Under in 2010-11 are mind-boggling, he scored his second consecutive hundred on Sunday following on in as many attempts (the previous one was the 118 in Galle 2007 in a rain-curtailed draw).

Cook did not score a boundary in the last 19 overs on Day 4 but Matt Prior was relatively aggressive at the other end, it did not make much difference.

A former wicketkeeper in the England dressing room - Andy Flower - will also be pleased with Cook.

But the England skipper needs to score more than 232 (Flower's score in the Nagpur draw of 2000) if they are to save this Test.

And yes, Cook can always look at his 294 against India in the Birmingham Test last year, batting for 773 minutes, for inspiration.

Motera Musings

KP falls to left-arm spin, again
When Kevin Pietersen was in the middle in both the innings, there was an unmistakable buzz. The eagerness among the spectators and the Indian team was palpable. Sadly, in both the innings, KP was a huge disappointment. Not because he fell for 17 and 2, but the manner in which he was dismissed. In the first innings he played down the wrong line to Ojha and saw his middle-stump knocked down. Then, in the second innings, he played a horrible predetermined sweep off a fuller-length delivery and was bowled round the legs. Presumably, there are less talented but more balanced batsmen in the England camp. KP has already got special treatment after the 'texting' drama. Now, he must prove he is a special Test player in Indian conditions. Time the England think-tank weighed his special ability and special inability on pitches like the one in Motera.

New Aswhin style
Off-spinner Ashwin tried various ways to keep the batsmen guessing. One of them was getting to the bowling crease by running between the umpire and the wickets despite bowling over the wicket! It proved to be a futile exercise as he is wicketless in the second innings despite bowling 41 overs.

Relentless spin
Dhoni's decision to not employ the services of part-time operators Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag on Sunday was somewhat baffling. But some of his moves worked. He shuffled his bowlers and opted for the left-arm spin of Pragyan Ojha when it was least expected. In the first over, he got rid of Jonathan Trott, a sharp chance plucked by Dhoni behind the wickets. For almost the entire Day 4, only spinners operated from the media end. Only at the fag end of the day, he gave three back to back overs to pacemen. The quickies did not bowl consecutive overs at any time in the first innings.

Low and slow
The low and slow nature of the wicket was well indicated by the way the slip fielders were stationed to the fast bowlers. At times, Dhoni kept just the second slip. And whenever he kept the first slip, it was positioned way ahead of him and not behind, which is where first slip fielders conventionally stand. Cook edged an Umesh Yadav delivery in the 81st over but it fell short of Kohli at second slip.




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News Network
May 28,2020

New Delhi, May 28: India is not at risk of losing hosting rights for next year's Twenty20 World Cup despite its cricket board's failure to secure a tax exemption for the event, a key BCCI official has told Reuters.

Tax exemptions for International Cricket Council (ICC) events are listed as a requirement in host agreements and the BCCI was supposed to confirm they had secured one by May 18.

ESPNcricinfo, citing correspondence between the two bodies, has reported that the ICC has threatened to shift the tournament away from India over the issue.

However, BCCI treasurer Arun Singh Dhumal told Reuters that would not happen and that negotiations were continuing.

"There is no risk to the tournament," he said by telephone.

"That is a work in progress. We are discussing it with the ICC and we'll resolve it."

The BCCI encountered a similar problem when it hosted the event in 2016 when the government refused to provide a tax exemption, and there has been no change in New Delhi's stance despite the board's appeals.

Failure to secure that exemption in 2016 saw the ICC withhold an equivalent sum from India's share of revenue from the governing body's grants and it appears to be taking an even harder line this time around.

"There are certain timelines within the agreements that we collectively work towards to ensure we can deliver successful world class events and continue to invest in the sport of cricket," an ICC spokesperson told Reuters.

"In addition to this the ICC Board agreed clear timelines for the resolution of the tax issues which we are guided by."

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News Network
February 11,2020

Mt. Maunganui (New Zealand), Feb 11: KL Rahul struck a combative 112 but New Zealand completed a 3-0 whitewash of India by winning the third ODI by five wickets, here on Tuesday.

Rahul helped India recover from a shaky start to post a challenging 296 for 7 but the Kiwis overhauled the target with 17 balls to spare.

This is the first whitewash that India has suffered in an ODI series in more than a decade.

Sent in to bat, India were down 62 for 3 in the 13th over after the dismissals of Mayank Agarwal (1), captain Virat Kohli (9) and Prithvi Shaw (40) but Rahul got a useful ally in in-form Shreyas Iyer (62) to take India to a competitive total.

Rahul, who hit nine fours and two sixes during his 113-ball innings, and Iyer stitched exactly 100 runs from 18.2 overs for the fourth wicket to revive the Indian innings.

After the end of the promising innings of Iyer, Rahul shared another 107 runs for the fifth wicket with Manish Pandey (42).

The Kiwis were off to a confident start in their chase with Martin Guptill (66) and Henry Nicholls (80) and putting on a 106-run stand. However, wrist spinner Yuzvendra Chahal took three wickets to bring India back in the game.

Colin de Grandhomme (58) and Tom Latham (32), though, took their side past the finish line with an unbeaten 80-run partnership.

Brief Scores:

India: 296 for 7 in 50 overs (KL Rahul 112, Shreyas Iyer 62; Hamish Bennett 4/64).

New Zealand: 300 for 5 in 47.1 overs. (H Nicholls 80, M Guptill 66; Y Chahal 3/47).

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News Network
June 22,2020

New Delhi, Jun 22: Claiming to be saddled with faulty equipment from China, the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF) on Monday called for a boycott of sports apparatus made in that country after the violent face-off in eastern Ladakh killed 20 Army personnel last week.

The IWLF ordered four weightlifting sets, comprising barbells and weight plates, from Chinese company 'ZKC' last year. The body said that the equipment turned out to be faulty and the weightlifters are no longer using them.

"We should boycott all Chinese equipment. The Indian Weightlifting Federation has taken the decision that it will not use any equipment made in China," IWLF secretary general Sahdev Yadav said.

The IWLF, in a letter, has informed the Sports Authority of India (SAI) about its decision to stop using any equipment made in China.

"In a letter to SAI we have written that IWLF won't be using the Chinese equipment," he said.

"In future also we will not use made in china sets. We will use sets made by Indian origin companies or any other company but not from China," Yadav added.

National coach Vijay Sharma revealed that the plates were found to be sub-standard when the lifters started training again earlier this month following the easing of the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.

"The sets were spoilt. We can't use them now," Sharma said.

"All the weightlifters in the camp are against China. They have stopped using Chinese apps like Tik Tok. Even while ordering things online, they check where the product has been manufactured," he added.

Asked why the sets were even ordered, Sharma said they had no option as the equipment from China is to be used in the Tokyo Olympics and lifters needed to be familiar with it.

"We had ordered four sets from China for Olympic training a year ago. Now, since we have resumed training post the lockdown we haven't used them. All the lifters are against the use of Chinese equipment," he said.

He said equipment was ordered from China for the first time.

"We don't order equipment from China as the quality is very bad. This was the first time we got it."

The weightlifters are currently training with equipment made in Sweden.

"Post the lockdown we started training on sets from Swedish company 'ELICKO'. SAI has issued 10 sets for us. The main training takes place with those. Maximum international competitions have sets from ELICKO," Sharma said.

Yadav also said that there are ready alternatives to Chinese equipment.

"We have a lot of alternatives. We already have good Indian sets and we also have equipment from Sweden. We will use that, why should we use Chinese?" Yadav said.

Calls to boycott China-made goods erupted across India after the Galwan valley clash last Monday. It was the most violent face-off between the troops from the two countries in more than four decades.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has said it is open to boycotting Chinese products in the wake of the incident.

The BCCI will also review IPL's sponsorship deals, including the title deal with Chinese mobile manufacturing company Vivo later this week.

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