Fit-again Zaheer Khan overlooked, Rohit Sharma named in Test squad for Sachin Tendulkar's farewell series

November 1, 2013

ZaheerKhanMumbai, Nov 1: Zaheer Khan may have lost oodles of weight and regained his form, but the selectors have instead picked Mohammad Shami for the two-Test series against West Indies starting on November 6. The rubber, which will be Sachin Tendulkar’s last, could well be Rohit

Sharma’s first after the classy right-hander found a place in the 15-man squad on the back of some consistent performances in ODIs.

Zaheer, who generated decent pace and bowled 30 overs for his five wickets for Mumbai against Haryana earlier this week, last played for the country in December 2012. The selectors also ignored his performances in the recent ‘A’ series against the West Indians in Hubli and Shimoga.

Shami, who has done his bit in the ongoing ODI series against Australia, is one of four pacers in the squad. The others are Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and — believe it or not — Ishant Sharma. Ashok Dinda, who was part of the squad in the Australia series earlier this year, has been dropped.

The spin department comprises R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra. Ravindra Jadeja, who did well during the 4-0 win over Australia, has been advised rest by the team’s physiotherapist.

Harbhajan Singh may have picked up nine wickets in Punjab’s Ranji opener against Odisha but he, too, was ignored. The good news is that the discards (including Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir) will get at least two more Ranji games (November 7-10 and November 14-17) to make their case before India travel to South Africa in December.

Shikhar Dhawan will open the batting with M Vijay. Cheteshwar Pujara, Tendulkar and Virat Kohli will occupy the next three sports. Sharma, who has eased into the opener’s role in ODIs, was preferred over Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh. He is certain to make his Test debut in Kolkata (November 6-10).

Squad: MS Dhoni (C & WK), M Vijay, S Dhawan, C Pujara, S Tendulkar, V Kohli, R Sharma, A Rahane, R Ashwin, P Ojha, A Mishra, I Sharma, B Kumar, M Shami, U Yadav

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Agencies
March 15,2020

Chennai, Mar 15: Wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni has left the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) training camp following the postponement of the Indian Premier League (IPL) amidst the coronavirus scare.

The former India skipper had joined the CSK's camp earlier this month in order to practice for the upcoming IPL season.

CSK's official handle tweeted a video of Dhoni and captioned the post as: "It has become your home sir!" Keep whistling, as #Thala Dhoni bids a short adieu to #AnbuDen".

Thirty-eight-year-old Dhoni has been currently enjoying some time away from the game. He last played competitive cricket during the 2019 World Cup.

Dhoni had to face criticism for his slow batting approach during India's matches in the tournament.

Earlier this year, Dhoni did not find a place for himself in the BCCI's centrally contracted players list.

BCCI had released the list of central contract list of players for the period from October 2019 to September 2020.

On Friday, BCCI decided to postpone the IPL until April 15 as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus pandemic.

On Saturday, all the IPL franchises met in Mumbai to discuss as to how to go on with the tournament in the future.

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News Network
May 15,2020

New Delhi, May 15: Former England skipper David Gower feels Sourav Ganguly has the right "political skills" to lead the ICC one day and he has already displayed that as BCCI president, which is a "far tougher job".

The elegant left-hander is very impressed with Ganguly's leadership abilities and believes that he has what it takes to head the global body in the future.

"One thing I have learnt over the years is that if you are going to run BCCI, you need to be many, many things. Having a reputation like he (Ganguly) has is a very good start, but you need to be a very deft politician.

"You need to have control of a million different things," Gower said ahead of "Q20", a unique chat show for the fans presented by 'GloFans'.

Gower reckons being president of the BCCI is the toughest job imaginable in world cricket.

"And of course, you need to be responsible for a game that is followed by, I mean, should we say a billion people here in India," he said.

"We all know about the immense following for cricket in India. So it is indeed a wonderful thing to behold. Sourav has the toughest task imaginable in charge of BCCI, but so far I would say the signs are very good.

"He has listened, given his own opinion and has pulled strings gently," he said.

Political skills are a must in administration and that's where Gower finds his fellow left-hander ticking all the boxes.

"He is a very, very good man and has those political skills. He has the right attitude and can keep things together and will do good job. And if you do a good job as BCCI chief in the future, who knows?

"But I would actually say the more important job, to be honest, is running BCCI. Being head of ICC is an honour, there is a lot that can be done by ICC, but actually look at the rankings, look at where the power is heading up. BCCI is definitely the bigger job," he said.

On the cricketing front, Gower believes World Test Championship has given the format much-needed context.

"The idea of this World Test Championship has come about for one very simple reason that people are worried about the survival of Tests. Back in the seventies, eighties, I don't think we needed context to be fair.

"Test cricket was very much more obviously the most important format and if there was anything to be judged by, it was the performances in Test matches both as an individual and as a team.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Sunday said the Women's IPL or the Challenger series, as it is better known, is "very much on", ending speculation about the parent body not having a plan for Harmanpreet Kaur and her team.

The men's IPL will be held between September 19 and November 8 or 10 (final date yet to be locked in) in the UAE due to the surge in Covid-19 cases in India. The women's IPL will also be fit in to the schedule, according to the BCCI chief.

"I can confirm to you that the women's IPL is very much on and we do have a plan in place for the national team also," Ganguly told PTI ahead of the IPL Governing Council meeting later on Sunday.

The BCCI president, who is awaiting a Supreme Court verdict on waiver of the cooling-off period to continue in the position, did not divulge details but another senior official privy to the development said that women's Challenger will be held during the last phase of IPL like last year.

"The women's Challenger series is likely to be held between November 1-10 and there could be a camp before that," the source said.

The former India captain also said that the centrally contracted women players will have a camp which has been delayed due to the prevailing situation in the country.

"We couldn't have exposed any of our cricketers -- be it male or female to health risk. It would have been dangerous," Ganguly said.

"The NCA also remained shut because of Covid-19. But we have a plan in place and we will have a camp for women, I can tell you that," he added.

The BCCI's cricket operations team is chalking up a schedule where Indian women are likely to have two full-fledged white-ball series against South Africa and the West Indies before playing the ODI World Cup in New Zealand. 

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