Pride at stake, India eye consolation win in Cook's farewell Test

Agencies
September 6, 2018

London, Sept 6:  Battered after yet another deflating series defeat, the Indian cricket team will be aiming to pick up pieces while spoiling Alastair Cook's farewell party in the fifth and final Test against England starting Friday.

With England taking an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-Test series, the final match at the Oval is only of academic importance but Virat Kohli will want to finish on a definite high.

A scoreline of 2-3 will definitely look much better than 1-4 and India will any day take Test win.

Chief coach Ravi Shastri has tried to keep the morale of the team high by calling it the "best travelling side in last 15 years", something that is not corroborated by facts.

A statistical lowdown will show that India under Sourav Ganguly's leadership drawn Test series in England (2002) and Australia (2003-04) apart from winning a Test in West Indies (a team that had Brian Lara, Carl Hooper, Shivanarine Chanderpaul) and a series in Pakistan.

Under Rahul Dravid, India won twin series in West Indies (2006) and England (2007) apart from winning a Test in South Africa.

Under Anil Kumble, India won a Test match on a bouncy Perth for the first time while under Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the Indian team won a series in New Zealand and also for the only time drew a series in South Africa.

Having lost back to back overseas series in South Africa and England, the myth of being good travellers has been busted and they have not been able to convince that they are good enough to win a series outside sub-continent.

Kohli-led side though has retained its number one Test ranking despite series' losses in both overseas tours in 2018 thus far.

In this backdrop, Kohli's India will be playing a Test match where team combination will again come under focus.

While they would want to play the best possible eleven, there is also a case for experimentation with the line-up.

With Prithvi Shaw's inclusion in the Test squad, the Indian selectors are looking ahead to the next line of openers. And with Murali Vijay dropped, they need to firm up plans ahead as attention will soon turn to the tour of Australia in December.

A school of thought suggests that Shaw should be thrown into the deep end of the pool to ascertain if he can take on the pressure of facing the best bowlers international cricket has to offer.

Even if he fails to get going in this one-off Test, at age 18, Shaw still has time to climb the ladder again. Meanwhile, any success on his part will provide an easy answer to the opening conundrum ahead of the Australian tour.

The other school of thought suggests that the current opening combination of Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul ought to be retained.

If the selectors are indeed looking ahead, this could prove to be a last chance for either of them to impress before the series against West Indies and the domestic first-class season begins back at home. Early indicators are that Shaw will have to wait for his chance, at least until the home season.

Elsewhere though, India will be looking to play with their lower-middle order and bowling combinations. With Hardik Pandya failing to impress with the bat, the management could trial Hanuma Vihari in the middle, as he is also a handy spinner.

Ravindra Jadeja looks set to play his first Test on tour, with Ravichandran Ashwin not bowling in the nets on Wednesday and moving gingerly as well.

While there is no confirmation from the management, it has been reliably learnt that he has aggravated his hip strain and will miss out on the final Test.

Jasprit Bumrah could also be rested keeping in view the Asia Cup beginning next week in the UAE. The pacer, along with Shardul Thakur, is part of India's limited-overs' squad and as such Umesh Yadav could make a comeback into the side.

For England, this Test will be marked more by emotion than anything else. One of their greatest ever, Alastair Cook, takes his final bow and leaves the hosts potentially searching for two openers for their tour of Sri Lanka later in the year.

Given that an unchanged squad for this fifth Test was announced after Cook went public with his decision to retire, the selectors retain faith in Keaton Jennings who seemed to have turned a confident corner in the second innings at Southampton.

England could also opt to rest one of James Anderson and Stuart Broad in light of their workloads, as Chris Woakes is fit again and available for selection.

The pitch, on Wednesday, bore a green tinge like all other wickets in this series. However, it was more an uneven sprinkling than an even covering.

Teams:

India: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik, Rishabh Pant (wk), Karun Nair, Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Hanuma Vihari, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.

England: Joe Root (c), Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Oliver Pope, Moeen Ali, Adil Rashid, Sam Curran, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes, Ben Stokes.

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Agencies
May 26,2020

Some of the ICC guidelines on resumption of cricket border on the impractical and will need a review when the cricketing world is closer to action, feel former players Aakash Chopra, Irfan Pathan and Monty Panesar.

Last week, the International Cricket Council recommended a host of "back to cricket" guidelines including 14-day pre-match isolation training camps to ensure the teams are free from COVID-19.

The world body issued training as well as playing guidelines which will drastically change the way the game is played.

Among them are regular hand sanitising when in contact with the ball, no loo or shower breaks while training, minimising time spent in the changing room before and after a game, no use of saliva on ball and no handing over of personal items (cap, sunglasses, towels) to fellow teammates or the on-field umpires.

"Social distancing is very doable in individual sport but very tough in a team sport like cricket and football. If you need a slip during the game, would you not employ it?

"If the team is going through a 14-day quarantine and is being tested for COVID-19, I am fine with that process. Now, after that, if we have more guidelines for the players during the game, then you are making things complicated. Then there is no point of a quarantine period," former India pacer Pathan told PTI.

Safety cannot be compromised but regularly sanitising hands during the game will be too much to ask from the players.

"Safety is paramount but we should not make the game complicated. If a bowler or fielder has to sanitise hands every time he touches the ball, then it would be very difficult.

"You can shorten the process of giving the ball to the bowler. Instead of the usual chain (wicket-keeper to cover fielder to bowler), the keeper can straight away give the ball to the bowler but even then the bowler will have to sanitise hands six times in an over," said Pathan seeking more clarity on the guidelines.

Former India opener Chopra said it is still pre-mature to prepare a fixed set of guidelines for resumption of cricket as the situation is evolving "every day".

"That (regular hand sanitisation after contact with ball) is obviously impractical but my big question is when the game happens in a bio secure environment and everyone is quarantined and tested, do these additional measures make a difference?

"On the field, I can still understand but what happens when you go back into the dressing room? How do you practice social distancing there? So it becomes quite complicated.

"To be honest it is all very premature. Once they get closer to resumption, which will take some time, there will be more clarity," said Chopra.

International cricket is likely to resume in July with England hosting West Indies and then Pakistan.

Bundesliga football league has already begun in Germany behind closed doors and by the time cricket resumes, more sporting competitions would have restarted and Chopra feels that will help cricket decide the way forward in post COVID-19 times.

"By the time cricket resumes, more football would have started after Bundesliga. Cricket can take lessons from there, collect data and ideas and see what is practical and what is not."

Former England spinner Panesar foresees the start of the England-West Indies series making things a lot clearer for the entire fraternity than they are at the moment.

"The 14 day quarantine is very much needed and well done to the ICC for including that. I think we will see resumption of international cricket with England hosting West Indies in July. We might have some practical ideas then, the other countries would also be watching keenly and will learn how to go about it.

"But measures like regular hand sanitising is not going to be practical. May be you could sanitise every one hour but it can't be regular during the game," said Panesar.

While Pathan feels the on-field safety measures will make managing over-rate a bigger challenge for teams, Chopra said no loo or shower breaks during training won't be that much of an issue.

"Training is still controllable. You don't have to be there for a long time but you would still have to use the restroom at some stage. You may avoid taking a shower but you will have to use the restroom.

"I think the idea of these guidelines is to make cricketers more aware that you have to take care of yourself and inculcate habits which are in everyone's interest in the current scenario," added Chopra.

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News Network
April 21,2020

New Delhi, Apr 21: India skipper Virat Kohli on Tuesday said people seem to have become more compassionate while coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and hoped the sense of gratitude towards frontline workers like doctors and police personnel remains even after the crisis is over.

Speaking in an online class organised by "Unacademy", Kohli and his actor wife Anushka Sharma spoke at length about the challenges they faced before tasting success.

"The one positive out of this crisis that we as a society have become more compassionate. We are showing more gratitude to the frontline workers in this war, be it police personnel, doctors or nurses.

"I hope it stays this way even after we overcome this crisis," said Kohli with Sharma seated next to her.

Kohli said the pandemic has taught the world a very important lesson.

"Life is unpredictable. So, do what makes you happy and not get into comparisons all the time. People have a choice now how to come out of this phase. Life is going to be different after this," said the skipper.

For Sharma, the pandemic has forced people to care about the basics in life.

"There is a learning in all of this. Nothing happens without a reason. If the frontline workers were not there, we would not have access to basics," she said..

"This has taught us that no one is special than the other. Health is everything. We are more connected as a society now," she added.

During the session, Kohli was asked about the moment when he felt most helpless.

"I felt nothing was working for me when I was not picked for the state team initially. I cried the whole night and asked my coach 'why did I not get selected'?" he responded.

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Agencies
August 1,2020

Colombo, Aug 1: Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has expressed his interest in playing the inaugural edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL), scheduled to start from August 28.

Pathan is among 70 foreign players to have shown interest in playing the LPL, ESPNcricinfo reported.

It is believed that Pathan has taken permission from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to take part in the competition. 

BCCI doesn't allow active players to participate in other T20 leagues but Pathan announced his retirement in January this year.

Former swashbuckling all-rounder Yuvraj Singh also played in a foreign league last year. He played for Maratha Arabians in the T10 League in Abu Dhabi.

According to ESPNcricinfo, Pathan will now be put in a player draft unless one of the five franchises choose him to be a marquee player. The details of the draft, and the franchise owners, are yet to be finalised and announced. 

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is also waiting on some government clearances even as it decides on franchise owners. The five franchises will represent Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Dambulla and Jaffna.

On Monday, SLC Executive Committee granted approval for the tournament.

"The 23 match League will be played on the four international venues of R Premadasa International Cricket Stadium, Rangiri Dambulu International Cricket Stadium, Pallekele International Cricket Stadium and Suriyawewa Mahinda Rajapakse International Cricket Stadium. Five teams named after the cities of Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Dambulla and Jaffna will participate in the League," SLC said in a statement on Monday.

Sri Lanka has controlled the spread of COVID-19 better than many other cricket-playing nations.

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