Samuels recovers West Indies from early damage

November 6, 2013

Marlon_SamuelsKolkata, Nov 6: West Indies rode on Marlon Samuels’ attacking knock to recover from early damage and post 107 for the loss of two wickets at lunch on the opening day of the first cricket Test against India at the historic Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday.

Making his debut, Mohammad Shami got his maiden Test scalp in the form of Kieran Powell (28) after Bhuvneshwar Kumar gave India the initial breakthrough by picking up the prized wicket of Chris Gayle (18).

Asked to bowl, the Indian bowlers exploited the early conditions to great effect and removed both the West Indies’ openers in side the 50-run mark.

But Samuels showed resilience before attacking Indian spinners and together with steady-looking Darren Bravo rebuilt the West Indies innings with an unbroken 60-run partnership.

Samuels was unbeaten on 45 from 55 balls during which he hit seven fours and two sixes, while Bravo was batting on 16 at the lunch break.

The ongoing match, which is Indian maestro Sachin Tendulkar’s penultimate and 199th Test and last one at the Eden, saw half-empty stands as many chose to stay way after West Indies won the toss and elected to bat.

With some visible and wide cracks on the wicket, Sammy did not hesitate to bat up front as the visitors went with two frontline pacers and two spinners, giving a maiden Test cap to left-arm seamer Sheldon Cotterrell.

The slow and dead Eden turner behaved nothing differently and was uninspiring for the bowlers. The ball stayed low while the odd one rose as India began with Bhuvneshwar and Shami.

Playing his first Test at his home ground, Shami was impressive as he troubled both Powell and Gayle.

Gayle went about his business in his usual brisk way and even had an inside edge off Shami but was lucky as the ball missed the stumps to race to the boundary.

With both the West Indies openers looking rusty, Dhoni introduced Ashwin in the 10th over but the result was no different as Powell slammed the off-spinner over his head before hitting a four two balls later.

But there was some respite in store for the Indian camp as Bhuvneshwar gave the first breakthrough in the first ball of the next over, removing a dangerous-looking Gayle.

Going for an expensive drive sans footwork, Gayle edged a Bhuveneshwar’s seaming delivery straight to Murali Vijay at second slip.

Dhoni made a smart change bringing in Shami from the High Court end four overs later that resulted in the second wicket in the form of Powell, the Bengal pacer’s maiden Test scalp.

Powell was caught by a running Bhuvneshwar at mid-off when he mistimed a pull off the first bouncer of the day from Shami.

But after an encouraging first session, the Indian bowlers lost the plot as Samuels and Bravo mixed caution with aggression to take West Indies forward without any further damage.

For India, in-form Rohit Sharma is the other debutant in the match. The talented Mumbai batsman got his maiden Test cap, six years after making his ODI debut on June 23, 2007.

Day 1: Scoreboard at lunch

West Indies 1st innings

Chris Gayle c Vijay b Kumar 18

Kieran Powell c Kumar b Mohammed Shami 28

Darren Bravo not out 16

Marlon Samuels not out 45

Extras: 0

Total: (for 2 wickets in 33 overs) 107

Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-47

Bowling: Kumar 9-3-27-1, Shami 7-1-39-1, Ashwin 10-7-22-0, Ojha 7-3-19-0.

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Agencies
May 22,2020

India's cricket board will not push for the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia to be postponed but would consider staging the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the October/November slot if it becomes available, a senior BCCI official has told Reuters.

This year's IPL, which is worth almost $530 million to the BCCI, has been indefinitely postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic while the World Cup, which is scheduled to begin on Oct. 18, is also in jeopardy.

Reports in Australian media have suggested India's influential board may look to push for the World Cup to be postponed to open up a window for the IPL.

World Cup contingency plans are on the agenda at next week's International Cricket Council (ICC) board meeting but BCCI treasurer Arun Singh Dhumal said India would not be recommending it be pushed back.

"Why should the BCCI suggest postponing the Twenty20 World Cup?" Dhumal told Reuters by telephone.

"We'll discuss it in the meeting and whatever is appropriate, (the ICC) will take a call.

"If the Australia government announces that the tournament will happen and Cricket Australia is confident they can handle it, it will be their call. BCCI would not suggest anything."

While Australia has seen new infections of the novel coronavirus slow to a trickle and is gradually easing travel curbs and social distancing restrictions, hosting a 16-team World Cup would be a Herculean task for Cricket Australia.

Dhumal questioned whether the tournament should go ahead if it had to be played without spectators and said the Australian government would play a key role in any decision.

"It all depends on what the Australian government says on this - whether they'd allow so may teams to come and play the tournament," he added.

"Will it make sense to play games without spectators? Will it make sense for CA to stage such a tournament like that? It's their call."

Cricket Australia chief executive Kevin Roberts was guarded about the prospects of staging the tournament as scheduled on Friday.

"We don't have clarity on that one, yet. But as the situation continues to improve, you never know what might be possible," he said.

"It's ultimately a decision for the ICC."

The ICC has said it was unlikely to make a final call on the fate of the World Cup until August but some boards are in the process of making contingency plans in the event of a postponement.

While the BCCI recognised an open October-November window would suit the IPL, Dhumal said there was no point in making plans until there was some certainty about the World Cup.

"If we have the window available, and depending on what all can be organised, we'll decide accordingly," he added. "We can't presume that it's not happening and go on planning."

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Agencies
August 3,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: The finals of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 will be played on November 20, the sources within the BCCI confirmed on Sunday.

The IPL's governing council met earlier today, and it has also been decided that the evening matches will start at 7:30 pm, half an hour earlier than usual.

Jay Shah, the secretary of BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) and Arun Dhumal, treasurer of BCCI did not attend the IPL's governing council meeting.

"The tournament will run for 51 days, usually the IPL should go on for 49 days as per the constitution, however in the meeting it has been decided that we will go to Supreme Court for conducting the IPL in 51 days," sources within the BCCI said.

"As the tournament is running for 51 days, we will get the chance to play fewer doubleheaders, there would be just 10 double headers, evening matches will start at 7:30 and the afternoon matches will start at 3:30. 

The matches will be played across three venues at Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah as travelling here by road is easier and bio-secure environment can be maintained," he added.

The IPL's governing council also confirmed that Women's IPL will also go on and four teams would be participating in it.

"When it comes to women's IPL, there would be four teams and the matches would be played at the time of playoffs for men's IPL," the source said.

The source within the BCCI also said that the governing council would be meeting again to discuss the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for all the franchises that need to be followed in the IPL.

The governing council meeting discussed the quarantine measures along with the standard operating procedures (SOP), bio bubble training facilities, stay and travel of the players.

Issues related to the broadcaster, shifting, and scheduling of the tournament, and DXB app to be downloaded for players and other officials were also discussed as well.

A few days earlier, the IPL Governing Council chairman Brijesh Patel had confirmed that the 13th edition of the mega event will commence on September 19 in the UAE.

This year's IPL was slated to commence from March 29 but the tournament was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) had also confirmed receiving the official Letter of Intent from the BCCI to host the 2020 edition of the IPL.

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News Network
April 24,2020

New Delhi, Apr 24: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday extended wishes to the "most prolific batsman of all time" Sachin Tendulkar on his 47th birthday.

ICC took to Twitter and wrote: "Happy birthday to Sachin Tendulkar, the most prolific batsman of all time! To celebrate, we will give you the opportunity to vote for his top ODI innings in a bracket challenge! Stay tuned to join the celebrations."

The Maharashtra-born player had an illustrious career in the game, creating several records.
Tendulkar made his debut in Test cricket on November 15, 1989. In the same year on December 18, he played his first ODI match.

The legendary cricketer has the most number of runs in the longest format of the game, amassing 15,921 runs. Along the way, Tendulkar scored 51 Test centuries, most by any player.

Things are no different in ODI cricket as Tendulkar atop the list of most runs in this format as well. He has accumulated 18,426 runs in ODI which includes 49 tons.

Tendulkar represented the country in six World Cups during his career that lasted for 24 years. He was the part of the 2011 World Cup-winning squad.

This year, Master Blaster decided not to celebrate his birthday due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis in the country.

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