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Long rope for struggling paceman Ishant Sharma

October 21, 2013

Chandigarh, Oct 21: After India lost the third one-dayer against Australia on Saturday after being in the driver's seat, skipper MS Dhoni vented his frustration at the post-match press conference and said, "The individuals will have to step up. You can't spoon-feed bowlers at the international level." He also added, "I think the last few overs were disappointing, it is an area of concern and it is getting worse."ishant

With 'Captain Cool' fuming, many thought there would be a change in personnel for the final four ODIs in the series, especially in the fast bowling department. The player whose position in the team looked most shaky was Ishant Sharma who was smashed for 30 runs in an over by James Faulkner, a match-turning over.

However, the selection panel has decided to retain the same squad for the rest of the series. The BCCI tweeted an unchanged 15-member squad, which means Ishant may get another chance to redeem himself.

The selection was not a big surprise if one recalls what Dhoni had to say on Saturday. "The bowlers who are waiting in wings, they can wait a bit more. Once somebody goes out of the side, tendency is that they are forgotten, they keep talking about new bowler. I always feel that people who are in the side should be given the rope, does not matter if he is a bowler or a batsman," the Indian captain said. "If it is a selection matter, I will discuss it with the selectors and not at a press conference. If you base everything on one or two games, the whole team will have to be changed. One can't drop a player on the basis of one off day."

However, how long will be the rope? Ishant, who has played 51 Tests and 68 one-dayers so far, has an average of 37.99 in the longer version of the game and 32.36 in ODIs while his economy rate is close to six in ODIs. As far as strike-rate is concerned, the lanky medium-pacer picks a wicket every 69 balls in Tests and takes nearly six overs to scalp a victim in the 50-over version!

While there is no questioning Ishant's talent, his inconsistency and lack of adaptability for an experienced bowler cannot be ignored. While Faulkner batted brilliantly and took the game away from India, Ishant only made it easier for him. Where were the yorkers, the slower ones, the cutters, the variety? Vinay Kumar too hasn't looked the part in the series so far and has proved easy fodder for the Australians.

Says former Indian medium-pacer Chetan Sharma: "Ishant, over the last three years, hasn't set the world on fire. There are several other talented fast bowlers in the country, in fact even in this squad who should be given a chance now. Umesh Yadav and Mohit Sharma should be given a chance. We need to build a pool of good fast bowlers for the 2015 World Cup," he added.

The other pace options in squad, apart from Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Vinay Kumar, are Mohammad Shami and Jaydev Unadkat. Other than the two pacers, Amit Mishra, who was the highest wicket-taker in the five-match ODI series against Zimbabwe with 18 wickets, is also sitting out.

Squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain and wk), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Vinay Kumar, Amit Mishra, Ambati Rayudu, Mohammad Shami, Jaydev Unadkat.

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News Network
April 8,2020

London, Apr 8: England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler has raised more than 65,000 pound (USD 80,000) to help fight the coronavirus by auctioning off his World Cup final shirt.

Buttler's shirt, which he wore when completing the last-ball run-out that saw England beat New Zealand at Lord's last year, was sold to raise money for specialist heart and lung centres provided by the Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals in London.

Buttler, who earlier in the showpiece match had hit a fifty and batted in the Super Over, put his long-sleeve keeping jersey up for sale on eBay a week ago.

By the time the auction closed on Tuesday, the shirt had attracted 82 bids with the winner paying 65,100 pound.

Buttler, speaking on Monday, said: "It's a very special shirt but I think it takes on extra meaning with it being able to hopefully go to the emergency cause.

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Agencies
January 5,2020

Mumbai, Jan 5: India captain Virat Kohli has refrained from making any comments on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), without gaining full knowledge on the sensitive subject.

The CAA will grant Indian nationality to people belonging to minority communities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians -- in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of residence in India instead of 12, even if they don't possess any proper document.

In 2016, Kohli had termed demonetisation as the "greatest move in history of Indian politics", which met with sharp criticism from a lot of quarters, with people questioning his knowledge on the subject.

With Guwahati witnessing massive protests against the CAA till some days back, Kohli was asked about it and the Indian skipper weighed his words carefully.

"On the issue, I do not want to be irresponsible and speak on something that has, you know, radical opinions both sides. I need to have total information, total knowledge of what it means and what is going on and then be responsible to give my opinion on it," Kohli said ahead of India's first T20 International against Sri Lanka.

The skipper made it clear that he will not like to get embroiled in a controversy by commenting on a subject that he is not well aware of.

"Because you can say one thing and then someone can say another thing. So, I would not like to get involved in something that I don't have total knowledge of and it's not going to be responsible on my part to comment on it." However Kohli on his part was happy with the security arrangements and felt that the city is "absolutely safe".

"The city is absolutely safe. We didn't see any problems on the roads," Kohli said, giving his thumbs-up for the match at the Barsapara Stadium.

The Assam Cricket Association is using this match as a "curtain-raiser" ahead of their maiden IPL match this season as Rajasthan Royals have adopted this venue.

There has been deployment of Rapid Action Force for the teams and ACA secretary Devajit Saikia has said the spectators will not even be allowed to bring along handkerchiefs and towels on the match-day as the traditional Assamese scarf was used for protests against CAA.

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Agencies
July 31,2020

Hampshire, Jul 31: David Willey's maiden five-wicket haul guided England to a six-wicket victory over Ireland in the first ODI here on Friday.

With this win, the hosts have taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series.

Chasing a small target of 173 runs, England got off to a bad start as opener Jonny Bairstow was given LBW in the third over, bowled by Andy McBrine. Jason Roy was then joined by James Vince and the duo added 22 runs on the board before the former was dismissed.

Craig Young then got hold of Vince, who was caught behind after scoring 25 runs. Sam Billings and Tom Banton then took the charge of the chase but the latter too was caught behind which ended his 11-run innings.

Banton's dismissal brought skipper Eoin Morgan on the field. Billings and Morgan played stunning innings and kept scoring boundaries. Morgan struck a scintillating six on the last bowl of the 28th over to take England over the line. Morgan scored 36 runs while Billings played a knock of 67 runs.

Earlier, after being asked to bat first, Ireland witnessed a poor start as Paul Stirling was dismissed in the very first over of the innings, bowled by Willey. Andy Balbirnie then joined Gareth Delany but Willey struck again in his next over, removing Balbirnie.

Delany then played furiously and smashed three consecutive boundaries to Saqib Mahmood in the fourth over. However, the fall of wickets did not stop as England took three wickets in quick succession. Mahmood bowled Harry Tector while Delany and Lorcan Tucker were sent back to the pavilion by Willey.

Kevin O'Brien and Curtis Campher then took the charge and played cautiously, taking their struggling side over the 50-run mark. Adil Rashid got hold of O'Brien (22) in the 22nd over before Simranjit Singh was run out in the same over.

Andy McBrine was the next batsman and he played brilliantly along with Campher, who went on to complete his half-century. Both formed a 66-run partnership before McBrine (40) was dismissed by Tom Curran.

Campher remained unbeaten on 59 but failed to find a partner as England bundled out Ireland on 172 runs.

The second ODI between both teams will be played on Saturday.

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