This auction was only meant for filling places: Shukla

February 4, 2013

ShuklaChennai, Feb 4: The IPL players' auction for the sixth edition of the tournament held today was not exactly a grand affair but chairman Rajeev Shukla said that franchises wanted to only fill specific slots in their squads, adding that a full-fledged auction will be held next year.

"It's not a full-fledged auction, that will be held next year. The franchises this time only wanted to fill the places in the squads. It's not like it has gone down and all," Shukla told reporters after the auction.

Rising Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell emerged as the surprise million-dollar buy, fetching a whopping USD one million (Rs 5.3 crore) from Mumbai Indians. Asked about the Pakistani players' absence, coming in the backdrop of the recent tension at the LoC, Shukla said, "We are not against Pakistani players. There are Pakistani coaches, umpires, supports staffs in the IPL.

"But as of now the players are not in our mind. We will discuss that with the franchises and see." And about Luke Pomersbach, who was bought by Kings XI Punjab and who was detained by the Delhi police last year following allegations that he had assaulted a US citizen, Shukla said, "That controversy is over, compromise has taken place. We are only responsible for players' behaviour on the field."

Venky Mysore, Kolkata Knight Riders' chief executive, said the inclusion of Sri Lankan spinner Senaka Senanayake will add a new dimension to their attack. "Sunil Narine is available, almost all of our players are. But the success we had with him and our conditions, we thought we could intensify that kind of attack. We are happy with buying Senanayake, who will add a new dimension to our set-up. And Ryan McLaren as well who will add to our pace back-up," Mysore said.

Gurunath Meiyappan, who was at the Chennai Super Kings table, said they were happy with the addition of youngsters. "We wanted to pick some youngsters, wanted more pace. (Dirk) Nannes is not young but he is very experienced. The others, (Ben) Laughlin and Jason (Holder) are young. Chris Morris has a big future ahead of him. We only wanted bowlers in this auction," Meiyappan said.

Shilpa Shetty, co-owner of Rajasthan Royals, said, "We made sure we invested in the right players to fill in the gaps. We're very happy with the auction. The problem we found last year was we lacked in the bowling attack. So we set out to fix that."

Rahul Dravid, who is Rajasthan Royals mentor, said, "We're happy, a couple of things we wanted to address from the last season... our death bowling from the last season was disappointing. I thought taking (James) Faulkner and (Fidel) Edwards would help us address the issue."

New outfit Sunrisers Hyderabad's co-mentor, Kris Srikkanth, said the team has good balance. "We hope to perform in the coming season which will be our first effort in IPL. We have good balance now as we were able to acquire perfect talent for each slot. We are extremely happy.

On picking Sri Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera, Srikkanth said, "He was a good buy. Coach Tom Moody was Sri Lanka coach earlier, he knows the capabilities of Thisara. He adds strength to our plan for successes in the coming season."

In a statement issued later in the evening, Royal Challengers Bangalore said they were "delighted with the purchase of new players in the auction". "RCB have strengthened their bowling line up considerably apart from adding classy all-rounders which provides a great amount of flexibility in playing squad selection.

"The formidable RCB batting line up will be benefited with additional support in all departments of the game," the statement said.

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Agencies
August 5,2020

New Delhi, Aug 5: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Bollywood celebrities have taken it to their social media platforms to express their excitement and shared their thoughts.

Taking to Twitter handle, senior Bollywood actor Anupam Kher extended his best wishes to his legion of followers for the Ram Janmabhoomi Pujan.

While 'Masti' actor Riteish Deshmukh, on the micro-blogging site tweeted multiple hashtag 'Jai Shree Ram' to mark the historic day.

'Queen' actor, Kangana Ranaut's official Twitter handle team wrote: "What could not happen in 500 years happened this year.... this is not picture of the day but the moment of many centuries #JaiShreeRam #RamMandirAyodhya"

Actor Kirron Kher, legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar, filmmaker Ashok Pandit and others also marked the day and expressed their excitement.

Earlier, evergreen star Hema Malini, through an audio recording congratulated the devotees of Lord Ram on the occasion.

The Mathura MP expressed her excitement on the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the much-awaited Ram Temple.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi performed the special Bhoomi Poojan at Ayodhya ahead of the foundation stone laying ceremony.

He also released a commemorative postage stamp on 'Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir'. Earlier, Prime Minister Modi had offered prayers at the Hanuman Garhi Temple in Ayodhya.

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News Network
February 11,2020

Melbourne, Feb 11: Opener David Warner received Allan Border Medal, while all-rounder Ellyse Perry bagged Belinda Clarke medal in the 2020 Australian Cricket Awards on Monday.

Warner secured his third (2016, 2017, 2019) Allan Border Medal and Perry a trio of Belinda Clarke Awards (2016, 2018, 2019) as voted by their peers, umpires and the media across all forms and every game of international cricket in 2019.

Warner dominated the ICC World Cup with 647 runs including a highest score of 166 at an average of 71.88, including three centuries. He then rebounded from a challenging Ashes series to dominate at home in the T20I series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the Test series against Pakistan - which included his memorable innings of 335 not out in Adelaide - and the Test series against New Zealand.

Warner (194) outpolled Ashes hero Steve Smith by a single vote for the Allan Border Medal with paceman Pat Cummins, the ICC International Cricketer of the Year, third in the polling with 185 votes.

Perry enjoyed an incredible year with both bat and ball, starting with dominant Ashes performances which included an innings of 116 in the Test in Taunton and 11 wickets in the three ODIs.

Her figures of 7-22 at Canterbury were the best ODI figures by an Australian woman's player. She backed that up against the West Indies by taking 3-17 in the opening ODI and then scoring 112 not out in Antigua before finishing the year with a solid series against Sri Lanka at home. Perry (161) was a comfortable winner of her third Belinda Clarke Award from Alyssa Healy (153) and Jess Jonassen (87) taking second and third place respectively in the voting.

Breakout batsman Marnus Labuschagne's superlative Test summer and Ashes series secured him the Male Test Player of the Year. Having replaced Steve Smith as a concussion substitute in the Lord's Test, Labuschagne went on to make 353 runs at 50.42 in the Ashes.

His outstanding form continued at home with a first-up 185 against Pakistan at the Gabba and a Test high 215 against New Zealand in Sydney. He scored 347 runs at an average of 173.5 against Pakistan and 549 runs at 91.5 against New Zealand. Limited overs captain Aaron Finch (38) capped a stellar year by being voted the Men's One-Day International Player of the Year ahead of Usman Khawaja (33) and Warner (24).

Finch's year included a massive series against Pakistan in the UAE with 451 runs at 112.75, including knocks of 116, 153 not out and 90. He then dominated the World Cup with 507 runs at 50.7, including 153 against Sri Lanka and 100 against England at Lords. Warner (19) continued his magical year in the T20I game to become the Men's T20 International Player of the Year from Glenn Maxwell (16). Kane Richardson and Steve Smith (8) tied for third.

Alyssa Healy claimed top honours as the women's One-Day International Player of the Year with 39 votes ahead of Perry (33) and Jonassen (19). Healy scored a double by also claiming the women's T20 Player of the Year with 18 votes, ahead of Jonassen and Meg Lanning who were tied on 15. It was the second consecutive year that Healy has won the women's ODI and T20 Awards.

West Australian veteran Shaun Marsh was voted Men's Domestic Player of the Year with 1322 runs at 52.88 in all forms of the game, including the highest score of 214, while breakout paceman Wes Agar was named the Bradman Young Cricketer for his 41 wickets at 22.62 in the year.

Molly Strano and Tayla Vlaeminck took the prized Women's Domestic Player of the Year and Betty Wilson Young Cricketer of the Year awards respectively.

Strano took 28 wickets in 22 games while Vlaeminck's 19 wickets for the year reinforced her enormous potential.

Former Hobart Hurricane Corrine Hall was named Community Champion for her work as an Ambassador of the Kindness Factory, grassroots cricket, and upcoming book Victress, which features 35 iconic female athletes and their stories. Each portrait is accompanied by the athlete's story, with a particular focus on how kindness impacted their journey.

The awards for international cricket are based on votes from players, umpires and the media on a 3-2-1 basis from each match. For the domestic awards, the votes are collected from all players.

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News Network
April 6,2020

London, Apr 6: As the coronavirus brings the international sports calendar to a grinding halt, news agency Sport looks at three long-standing habits which could change forever once competition resumes.

Saliva to take shine off swing bowling

It's been a tried and trusted friend to fast bowlers throughout the history of cricket. But the days of applying saliva to one side of the ball to encourage swing could be over in the aftermath of Covid19.

"As a bowler I think it would be pretty tough going if we couldn't shine the ball in a Test match," said Australia quick Pat Cummins.

"If it's at that stage and we're that worried about the spread, I'm not sure we'd be playing sport."

Towels in tennis - no touching

Tennis players throwing towels, dripping with sweat and blood and probably a tear or two, at ball boys and girls, has often left fans sympathising for the youngsters.

Moves by officials to tackle the issue took on greater urgency in March when the coronavirus was taking a global grip.

Behind closed doors in Miki, ball boys and girls on duty at the Davis Cup tie between Japan and Ecuador wore gloves.

Baskets, meanwhile, were made available for players to deposit their towels.

Back in 2018, the ATP introduced towel racks at some events on a trial basis, but not everyone was overjoyed.

"I think having the towel whenever you need it, it's very helpful. It's one thing less that you have to think about," said Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas when he was playing at the NextGen Finals in Milan.

"I think it's the job of the ball kids to provide towels and balls for the players."

Let's not shake on it

Pre-match handshakes were abandoned in top football leagues just before the sports shutdown.

Premier League leaders Liverpool also banned the use of mascots while Southampton warned against players signing autographs and stopped them posing for selfies.

Away from football, the NBA urged players to opt for the fist bump rather than the long-standing high-five.

"I ain't high-fiving nobody for the rest of my life after this," NBA superstar LeBron James told the "Road Trippin' Podcast".

"No more high-fiving. After this corona shit? Wait 'til you see me and my teammates’ handshakes after this shit."

Basketball stars were also told not to take items such as balls or teams shirts to autograph.

US women's football star Megan Rapinoe says edicts to ban handshakes or even high-fives may be counter-productive anyway.

"We're going to be sweating all over each other all game, so it sort of defeats the purpose of not doing a handshake," she said.

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