Roelant Oltmans sacked: As national coach exits, here's a look at his journey in Indian hockey

Agencies
September 3, 2017

Sept 3: On Saturday, Roelant Oltmans' reign as head coach of India's national men's hockey team came to an end after Hockey India sacked him for inconsistent performances and a lack of trust over his long term objectives.

Oltmans' journey with Indian hockey started in 2013 when he came in as the high performance director, and later became the national team's head coach in 2015 after Paul van Ass was dismissed. The current high performance director David John will be in charge of the team till a new head coach is found.

The decision was taken after a three-day review meeting, where Hockey India was unimpressed with Oltmans' presentation about the future of the national team.

"He (Oltmans) gave his presentation over the past two days but the committee felt the team now needs a new direction as it had not performed as we would have liked under him," John said.

"We want consistency. We want to finish in top three in international events. We want to win the Asia Cup, Hockey World League Finals and Asian Games. We want to finish on the podium in Commonwealth Games, next year's World Cup and 2020 Olympics," John added. 

After getting fired, Oltmans said, "We all (foreigners) know India is not the easiest of countries to work – especially in the sporting sector because of a host of issues. But in my mind, I was always prepared. When I took up the offer, I knew someday I will be sacked, but I was ready for that.

"I have no regrets because I know I have left a certain legacy for Indian hockey in the past four-and-a-half-years. The team has made significant progress and I just hope the process which I had set continues in the future," Oltmans added.

Here's a look at some of the major highlights of Oltmans' tryst with Indian hockey:

– January, 2013: Hockey India appoints Oltmans as high performance director. His main job was to formulate a long-term vision for senior, junior and sub-junior hockey teams.

– October, 2014: The then head coach of the men's national team Terry Walsh had resigned from his post over financial dispute and Hockey India put Oltmans in charge on a temporary basis.

– December, 2014: As an interim coach, Oltmans looked after the team in the Champions Trophy where India reached the last four stage. In the semis, they lost to arch-rivals Pakistan and also had to suffer defeat against Australia in the bronze medal match.

– February, 2015: Oltmans was relieved of his duties as interim coach as Hockey India named Paul van Ass of Netherlands as coach on a long-term basis.

– July, 2015: Just months into his job, van Ass was forced to exit after his alleged on-field public spat with the then Hockey India president Narinder Batra. Oltmans was then asked to take over the men's team as head coach till the 2016 Rio Olympics.

– August, 2015: India had a good start under new coach Oltmans as they put up impressive shows against France and Spain during their Europe tour.

– December, 2015: Oltmans oversaw India's remarkable outing in the Hockey World League in which they defeated Netherlands in penalty shootout to clinch the bronze medal.

– April, 2016: Oltmans guided India to the final of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup where they lost to Australia 0-4.

– June, 2016: India and Australia once again met in the final of the Champions Trophy in London and Oltmans' team once again faced defeat in penalty shootout.

– August, 2016: At the Rio Olympics, India qualified for the quarter-finals where they lost to eventual silver medallists Belgium.

– October, 2016: Oltmans' team won the Asian Champions Trophy in Malaysia. In the final, they overcame Pakistan's challenge by beating them 3-2.

– June, 2017: India finished a disappointing sixth in the Hockey World League Semi-Final. Oltmans came under pressure after his team suffered losses against lower-ranked sides like Malaysia and Canada.

– August, 2017: Oltmans faced severe criticism when India lost both their matches to Belgium, but victories over Netherlands and Austria gave him some respite.

– September, 2017: Hockey India removed Oltmans as head coach for lack of a proper vision and under-performance of the national team.

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News Network
February 21,2020

Wellington, Feb 22: shant Sharma's lion-hearted bowling effort met its match in Kane Williamson's elegance as New Zealand ended an attritional second day of the opening Test against India with a slight upper-hand, here on Saturday.

After another lower-order collapse that saw India get bundled out for 165, Ishant, coming straight back from an ankle injury, took three for 31 in 15 overs despite Williamson's effortless 89 in New Zealand's day-end score of 216 for 5.

New Zealand now lead by 51 runs.

Mohammed Shami (1/61 in 17 overs), during his final spell of the day, removed Williamson, who couldn't check an uppish drive. Henry Nicholls' (17 off 62 balls) struggle seemed to have hampered Williamson's rhythm.

During the final hour, Ravichandran Ashwin (1/60 in 21 overs), who also bowled beautifully throughout the day, relieved Nicholls' of his agony with a delivery that had drift and a hint of turn as India skipper Virat Kohli snapped the low catch at second slip.

Williamson looked good as he hit some delightful strokes square off the wicket. The square drive on the rise off Jasprit Bumrah (0/62 in 18.1 overs), followed by a cover drive, showed his class.

In all, the New Zealand skipper hit 11 boundaries off 153 balls.

Bumrah, in particular, was punished by Williamson, who also back-cut him for a boundary and Taylor then punished another half volley through the covers.

There were quite a few loose deliveries on offer from the Indian pacers and in between a few did beat the bat. With the 'Basin' baked in sunshine, batting became lot more easier and Black Caps seized the initiative.

Bumrah, in particular, failed to find his length consistently. Either he bowled too full and drivable length deliveries or too short that even Rishabh Pant failed to gather with the ball going a couple feet over his head.

This is where Ishant came into the picture. While he was lucky to get opener Tom Latham out with a delivery drifting on leg-stump, the other opener Tom Blundell (30) had a typical Ishant dismissal written all over it.

The ball was full on the off-stump channel and jagged back enough to find the gap between his bat and pad.

Williamson and Taylor then had a partnership of 93 runs during which New Zealand also got the lead before Ishant, coming back for his third spell, bowled one that reared up from good length and proved to be an easy catch for Cheteshwar Pujara at short-leg.

Once Nicholls came in, Williamson, who was batting fluently, suddenly had a player at the opposite end who scored only 4 off 34 balls.

Looking good for his 22nd Test hundred, Williamson, in his bid to get another boundary, couldn't check a cover drive and the low catch was taken by substitute fielder Ravindra Jadeja.

Earlier, New Zealand's debutant Kyle Jamieson and veteran Tim Southee took four wickets apiece as Indian innings folded in 68.1 overs.

Jamieson (4/49 in 16 overs) and Southee (4/49 in 20.1 overs) took four of the five wickets that fell on the second morning with India adding only 43 runs to their overnight score of 122 for 5.

Rishabh Pant (19) started with a six but then a horrible mix-up with senior partner Ajinkya Rahane (46) resulted in a run-out and the little chance of recovery was gone for good.

It was a poor call from the senior player and Pant had to sacrifice his wicket in the process.

Ashwin then received a beauty from Southee, pretty similar to what Prithvi Shaw got, while Rahane inside edged one while trying to leave it alone.

With India at 132 for 7, Rahane knew that time was running out as he played a square drive off Trent Boult to get him a boundary.

Southee then got rid of Rahane when he tried to shoulder arm a delivery that made a late inward movement. Mohammed Shami's entertaining 21 then enabled the visitors to cross the 150-run mark.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

Dubai, Jan 11: India opener KL Rahul has retained the sixth position while skipper Virat Kohli and left-hander Shikhar Dhawan have advanced one place each in the latest ICC Men's T20I player rankings after the conclusion of the series against Sri Lanka.

India won the T20I series 2-0 with one match getting washed out. Rahul, the highest-ranked Indian batsman, has gained 26 points and is now at the sixth spot with 760 rating points.

Rahul is just six points behind Australia's Glenn Maxwell after scores of 45 and 54 in his two innings against Sri Lanka.

Kohli, top-ranked in Tests and ODIs, is in the ninth position while Dhawan is on 15th. Manish Pandey has advanced four places and is ranked at the 70th.

India's fast bowlers have made notable gains in the first T20I update of the year and would be encouraged as they prepare for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2020 in Australia.

Player of the series Navdeep Saini has rocketed from 146 places to 98th while Shardul Thakur has re-entered in 92nd position after both finished with five wickets in the series. Jaspreet Bumrah has gained eight places to reach the 39th position.

For Sri Lanka, Dhananjaya de Silva has gained 72 places to reach 115th among batsmen after aggregating 74 runs while spinner Lakshan Sandakan has moved up 10 places to reach 29th position after grabbing three wickets in the series.

In the ICC Men's team rankings, India have gained two points but remain at fifth position with 260 points, while Sri Lanka have lost two points and now have 236 points and are at the eighth spot.

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News Network
July 3,2020

Karachi, Jul 3: Pakistan limited overs captain Babar Azam is tired of his constant comparisons with India skipper Virat Kohli and says he would rather be compared to the greats at home.

Babar, six years younger to Kohli, has a long way to go in getting close to Kohli's staggering numbers across formats. The India skipper has 70 hundreds to his name and averages more than 50 in all three formats.

"I would be more happy if you compare to me say a Javed Miandad, Muhammad Yousuf or Younis Khan. Why compare me to Kohli or any Indian player?" asked the 25-year-old, who is in England with the national team, said in an online media interaction on Thursday.

Babar has scored 16 international hundreds and averages more than 50 in ODIs and T20s. In 26 Tests, he has scored 1850 runs at 45.12.

He also said that he is not targeting any English bowler for the series next month.

"I don’t see who the bowler is or his reputation. I just try to play each ball on merit. England no doubt has a top bowling attack and they have advantage of playing at home but this is a challenge I want to score runs in," he said.

Before the squad’s departure for England, Pakistan batting coach Younis Khan said that pacer Joffra Archer will be a handful for the Pakistani batsmen.

Babar said that he would try to play every English bowler on merit but conceded that after getting runs in Australia last year, he was keen to leave his footprint in the coming Test and T20 series in England.

Reminded that some former Test players had already written off Pakistan for the England series, Babar said they were entitled to their opinion.

"But we don’t have a bad team and already we have been enjoying our training. It is good to be back on the field after such a long lay-off. I think we have the bowlers to trouble them like Abbas, Naseem, Shaheen and others while we have some experience in our batting line-up."

Babar said he would love to get a triple century in a Test match.

"When you score a century, you naturally want to go on and convert that into a double or a triple century. This is something I would like to do during the Test series.

"I like to play my natural game but my selection of shots depends on the conditions and bowlers."

Babar also ruled out any problems in the Pakistan dressing room due to the presence of former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed, who was sacked last year.

But he said that since Muhammad Rizwan had been playing in all formats for Pakistan in recent times, he would be the starting keeper in the Test series ahead of Sarfaraz.

"I think we first have to give Rizwan a proper chance and Sarfaraz is there as back up."

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