Give Tendulkar his emotional space: Anil Kumble to critics

November 30, 2012
Kumble

New Delhi, November 30: Amidst the growing clamour for Sachin Tendulkar's retirement, former India skipper Anil Kumble on Thursday hit out at critics questioning the veteran batsman's place in the team, saying he should be left alone and given the "emotional space" and respect he deserves.

Tendulkar's prolonged lean patch led many people to question his place in the Indian team but Kumble says it's not the time to point fingers at him but support him.

"There have been instances when he has been the sole reason for India's wins, but he has never been the sole reason for India's losses. It’s best to leave it to him to deal with what is in front of him now, because no one else has been in his position. No one else has played 192 Tests, made 34,000 runs, or scored 100 centuries. Let's not jump the gun, let's give the man the respect he deserves," Kumble wrote in his column for the 'Week' magazine.

"For 23 years, he has helped people dream, he has made them feel better emotionally. More's the reason why we need to give him his emotional space now," he wrote.

"...This is the time for him to be left alone. He is such a great player that he doesn't need anyone else's advice on how to score runs. He just needs people to back off and allow him to work out what he needs to return to run-scoring ways, which I am confident he will," he added.

Kumble said that it's not only Tendulkar, who is going through a bad phase but the whole Test team and implying that team is doing bad because of Tendulkar's poor form would be highly unfair.

"For the first time, people are questioning his place in the team. The expectations are that he should retire because his performances over the last year or so haven’t matched the standards he has set over the previous 22 years. Yes, we have not seen the best of Sachin in this phase, but it is not just him alone. If you look at the overall picture, the team has struggled in Test cricket, so are we suggesting that India are still a one-man army, still totally dependent on Sachin? I think not," he said.



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News Network
April 24,2020

New Delhi, Apr 24: Veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh said he doesn't think Mahendra Singh Dhoni will play for India again, adding to the guessing game over the future of the superstar former captain.

Dhoni, 38, has not appeared for club or country since last year's 50-over World Cup and India's coronavirus lockdown could threaten his chances of getting back into the national team.

The Indian Premier League, the main platform before this year's scheduled T20 World Cup, is likely to be truncated or cancelled because of the pandemic.

Harbhajan, who plays with Dhoni at IPL side Chennai Super Kings, said international retirement was on the cards for Dhoni and that he was increasingly being asked about his teammate.

"It's up to him. You need to know whether he wants to play for India again," Harbhajan said in an online forum.

"As far as I know him, he won't want to wear India's blue jersey again. IPL he will play, but for India I think he had decided the (2019) World Cup was his last."

Dhoni, who gave up Test cricket in 2014, started training for the Super Kings in March but has not commented on his international future.

Dhoni led India to win the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in 2007. He hit a six to seal the 2011 World Cup final victory and, along with it, his status as a national hero. He has amassed 10,773 runs from 350 ODIs.

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News Network
March 31,2020

New Delhi, Mar 31: Australia batsman David Warner on Tuesday decided to shave off his head to show support towards all those people who are working relentlessly on the frontline in the battle against coronavirus.

After shaving off his head, Warner also challenged his Australian team-mate Steve Smith and India skipper Virat Kohli to do the same.

Warner, shared a time-lapse video on Instagram, of him shaving his head, and captioned the post as: "Been nominated to shave my head in support of those working on the frontline #Covid-19 here is a time-lapse. I think my debut was the last time I recall I've done this. Like it or not".

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Australia's death toll stands at 19, as per the Sydney Morning Herald.

As of 8 am today, 4460 people across Australia have tested positive for COVID-19.

The World Health Organisation had termed coronavirus as a 'pandemic' on March 11.

Earlier in the day, Australia Test skipper Tim Paine also confirmed that the side's tour of Bangladesh is unlikely due to the virus spread.
"You don't have to be Einstein to realise (the Bangladesh tour) is probably unlikely to go ahead, particularly in June. Whether it's cancelled or pushed back, we're not quite sure at the moment," cricket.com.au quoted Paine as saying.

Currently, Australia has 296 points in the WTC from 10 matches, while India has 360 points from nine matches.

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News Network
July 24,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 24: Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who was earlier banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for breaching the Anti-Corruption Code, on Friday, said that people are bound to make mistakes and the important thing is that how well they make a comeback.

Shakib was banned from all forms of cricket on October 29 last year after he accepted the charges of breaching the ICC's Anti-Corruption Code. He will be able to resume international cricket from October 29, 2020.

"You have to be honest. You just can't lie to the people and pretend different things. Whatever happened has happened. People are bound to make mistakes. You are not 100%. The important thing is how well you can comeback from those mistakes. You can tell other people not to make those mistakes. Tell them the path so that they never take those paths," Shakib told Deep Dasgupta in a videocast hosted by ESPNcricinfo.

The 33-year-old all-rounder said he has seen many controversies ever since he was first made captain in 2009. He had trouble with the board chief, selectors and the media, mainly about selectorial decisions and not being made permanent captain between 2009 and 2010.
He believes those experiences have changed him as a person over time.

"I think [it's] combination of both [controversy following him, and vice versa]. I got the responsibility so early in my career, I was bound to make mistakes. I was captain when I was 21. I made a lot of mistakes, and there are so many things that people think about me. Now I realise that it was my fault in some areas, and in some I was misunderstood. But I get it completely. It is part and parcel in the subcontinent," Hasan said.

"Of course I will try to minimise [my mistakes] as much as I can, but by the time I got married, and now I have two kids, I understand the game and life better. It has made me a calmer person than I was in my twenties. I have changed quite a lot. People won't see me doing a lot of mistakes now. My two daughters changed my life completely," he added.

Shakib is likely return to international cricket during Bangladesh's proposed Test series against Sri Lanka in October. 

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