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SC bouncer ousts N Srinivasan; IPL doubtful, BCCI in a shambles

March 26, 2014

N_SrinivasanNew Delhi, Mar 26: Expressing shock over the revelations in the report submitted by the justice Mukul Mudgal committee in a “sealed envelope”, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked BCCI president N Srinivasan to step down to ensure a fair investigation into the IPL corruption saga.

A bench of justices AN Patnaik and FM Ibrahim Kalifulla fumed at senior counsel Ariama Sundaram, who also counts Subrata Roy Sahara among his clients. “You ask Mr Srinivasan to step down, otherwise we will give our verdict asking him to step down,” the bench said.

The judges, who made their way into the jam-packed courtroom at 10:30am, expressed anguish over Srinivasan’s refusal to give up his position. More so after his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was found to be involved in betting-related activities during his time as team principal of IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings, owned by Srinivasan’s company, India Cements Ltd.

“Why are you (Srinivasan) still there? Why don’t you step down? It is so nauseating,” the bench fumed. It also rejected all arguments of the BCCI, including Srinivasan’s decision to appoint a committee to look into the IPL fiasco. The bench dismissed Sundaram’s submission that the Supreme Court-appointed panel (Mukul Mudgal committee) enjoyed all the benefits, including the right to record the statement of police officials. Conversely, the BCCI-appointed panel, which comprised two retired judges, did not have these benefits at the time of primary investigation. For the record, the BCCI-appointed committee had given Meiyappan a clean chit.

What must be hitting Srinivasan harder is that three out of five vice-presidents in the cricket board are now raising their voices against him.

Shivlal Yadav, Ravi Savant and Chitrak Mitra have all said that Srinivasan must abide by what the Supreme Court says.

So what next for Srinivasan?

As of now, the BCCI has not called for any meeting. Srinivasan is tight-lipped, secretary Sanjay Patel has cut short his Asian Cricket Council meeting and rushed back to Chennai and IPL chairman Ranjib Biswal has left for the UAE where the first leg of IPL 7 will be staged.

“We have 48 hours. Srinivasan may resign on Wednesday,” an insider said. In fact, senior BCCI officials did not hesitate to toe the Supreme Court’s line on Tuesday. “The BCCI must abide by the observation,” said Yadav, vice president (South Zone). In fact, Yadav is tipped to take over as interim president.

Also, this could well be the end of Srinivasan’s dream of taking over as chairman of the International Cricket Council, which underwent administrative and financial “reforms” recently. Srinivasan joined hands with Cricket Australia and the England and Wales Cricket Board to form ‘The Big Three’, which would effectively run world cricket.

“This is a domestic matter of the BCCI and the ICC has no comment to offer at this stage,” ICC media manager Sami-ul-Hasan said. ICC CEO Dave Richardson, who had expressed delight over the BCCI’s decision to host the IPL in the UAE, made no official comment on Tuesday.

Secretary of Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) Aditya Verma, on whose pursuance the matter has reached where it is now, told dna that “there is no escape route left for Srinivasan”.

“I was confident that the honourable court will open the sealed envelope today. And with this, there is no way that Srinivasan can escape now. Not just he, but his team CSK and other corrupt teams should be scrapped from the IPL. Our stand has been vindicated and people should understand that cricket is being damaged by these corrupt administrators for their personal use,” said Verma.

IPL in jeopardy

A BCCI office-bearer who is also associated with the IPL governing body said the IPL Season VII this year could be given a miss in order to clear the muck. What’s worse is that franchises Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals can be terminated.

Way ahead for Srini

He is likely to quit today. With board members voicing their dissent, he may find it difficult to claw back to the top of Indian cricket board again. “If he doesn’t step down, it will be our responsibility to save the game of cricket from further embarrassment,” an official said.

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Agencies
March 10,2020

Mumbai, Mar 10: The addition of two new members, including the chairman, in the national selection committee, has not changed the panel's stance on M S Dhoni, who will "have to perform" in the upcoming IPL to be considered for T20 World Cup selection, a top BCCI official told PTI.

The Sunil Joshi-led selection panel met for the first time in Ahmedabad on Sunday to pick a rather "straightforward" squad for the three ODIs against South Africa beginning in Dharamsala on March 12.

Fit-again Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shikhar Dhawan made their way back into the side.

Joshi's predecessor MSK Prasad had made it clear that the team has moved on from Dhoni and he has to first play to be considered for selection.

Dhoni, who has not played since the World Cup semi-final loss to New Zealand in July, will be making his highly-awaited comeback in the IPL beginning March 29.

"It was a pretty straightforward selection meeting and since Dhoni was obviously not in the reckoning this time (for South Africa series), there was no formal talk about his future," a BCCI source told PTI.

"He will be back in the reckoning only if he has a good IPL. And why only him, there are so many senior and young players who will play in the IPL. If they do well, they are ought to be considered too. So, you could see some surprise inclusions," he said.

The T20 World Cup will be played in Australia in October-November and the games India play after the IPL leading up to the mega event will also be a factor in the final squad selection.

"But the performance in the IPL could be the clincher," the source added.

Head coach Ravi Shastri too has hinted that Dhoni could be back after a good IPL but his future remains a subject of intense speculation as he has not played a game in more than seven months.

With his heir apparent Rishabh Pant not setting the world on fire and K L Rahul being groomed into a full-time wicketkeeper-batsman, Dhoni's comeback cannot be ruled out.

His countless fans will finally get to see him in action when he leads Chennai Super Kings against defending champions Mumbai Indians in the IPL opener at Wankhede Stadium on March 29.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

New Delhi, Jul 28: 'Your character stood out for me than the number of runs you scored," said India skipper Virat Kohli while explaining his decision to give opening Mayank Agarwal a Test debut in the 2018-19 Australia series.

Mayank Agarwal had made his Test debut against Australia in the third Test of the four-match series.

Playing the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Agarwal managed to register a half-century in his very first innings in the longest format.

"I had seen you play for RCB, even then you played international bowlers with conviction and you would take them on. You were performing in first-class matches in a dominating way. That is something always stood out with you, I would say your character stood out for me than the number of runs. I knew you would be fearless without having any baggage," Kohli told Mayank Agarwal in a video posted on the official website of BCCI.

In the longest format of the game, Agarwal has managed to score 974 runs from 11 matches at an average of 57.29 with three centuries as an opening batsman.

The Indian skipper also explained as to what makes him notice in a player and added that it is important that guys in the team look to face new challenges and emerge triumphantly.

"For me, the biggest marker is how a person approaches the game, so for example when you opened and we made Vihari open with you. The first opportunity we presented Vihari to open the batting, he said yes to it and that matters me to the most," Kohli said.

"I opened in my first series for India, I said yes to this opportunity and things worked out fine for me. So, a guy who wants to get into tough situations will come out either holding his head high or learning from his mistakes," he added.

Kohli and Mayank would soon be seen in action for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab respectively in the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting from September 19 in the UAE.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar keep on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

At present, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings. Kohli has so far played 86 Tests, scoring 7,240 runs with 27 centuries at an average of 53.62.

His knock of 254 against South Africa at Pune in 2019 remains his highest Test score to date. When it comes to ODIs, the current Indian skipper has played 248 matches and has 43 centuries.

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News Network
May 19,2020

Karachi, May 19: Babar Azam wants to take a leaf out of Imran Khan's aggressive captaincy and besides cricket, he is also brushing up his English to become a "complete leader" like the World Cup-winning all-rounder.

Last week, the star batsman took over the reins of Pakistan's white-ball cricket after being appointed as the ODI skipper.

Azam, who was one of the world's leading batsmen across formats last year and already the T20 skipper, replaced wicket-keeper batsman Sarfaraz Ahmed as the ODI captain for the 2020-21 season.

"Imran Khan was a very aggressive captain and I want to be like him. It is not an easy job captaining the Pakistan team but I am learning from my seniors and I have also had captaincy experience since my under-19 days," Azam said.

He said that to be a complete captain one must be able to interact comfortably with the media and express oneself properly in front of an audience.

"These days I am also taking English classes besides focussing on my batting," he said on Monday.

The 25-year-old Babar said he was not satisfied with Pakistan's current standing in international cricket.

"I am not happy with where we stand and I want to see this team go up in the rankings."

Babar said captaincy would be a challenge for him but it would not affect his batting.

"It is an honour to lead one's national team so it is not a burden for me at all. In fact, after becoming captain, I have to lead by example and be more responsible in my batting."

Babar hoped the T20 World Cup is held this year in Australia as he wanted to lead his team in the ICC event.

"It would be a disappointment if the event was not held or rescheduled because I am looking forward to playing in the World Cup and doing well in it," he said.

About plans for Pakistan to fly to England in July to play three Tests and three T20 internationals amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Babar said a lot of hard work and planning would be required to make the players feel comfortable and safe.

"Touring England won't be easy. Health and safety of players is of great importance and the tour will only be possible when proper arrangements are in place," he said.

"Both England and Pakistan team fans, along with the cricketers, are missing cricket because of the pandemic."

"We will still try to perform to the best of our ability despite no support from the fans in the stadium," he added.

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