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Series in bag, India look for a whitewash

June 19, 2014

Benny PoweredMirpur, Jun 19: Having recorded an improbable victory, a confident Indian team would look to go for the kill by completing a 3-0 rout when it meets an out-of-sync Bangladesh in the final one-dayer on Thursday.

Defending a paltry 105 with an astounding show, the ‘Men In Blue’ will be on cloud nine as they gear up for a ‘Whitewash’ of Mushfiqur Rahim and Co. More than dismissing Bangladesh for 58, what Stuart Binny’s unbelievable figures of 6/4 did was to ensure that home team’s confidence hits nadir and Suresh Raina’s boys will now go for the jugular in the final match of the series to end on a high.

Raina will be happy that while his openers set up a well-deserved win in the first ODI, his seamers did a splendid job on Tuesday. If his middle-order batsmen can get some runs under their belt, the team will feel that they have ticked all the boxes during this hurriedly sandwiched series before the England tour.

For India, the only cause of concern will be the performance of their middle-order batsmen Ambati Rayudu and Cheteshwar Pujara. While Rayudu was unbeaten during the first match, Pujara has been dismissed cheaply for scores of 0 and 11 in both matches although he suffered in the first one due to an umpiring error.

With the series already pocketed, it would be interesting to see whether skipper Raina along with coach Duncan Fletcher experiments a bit with the middle-order. Time is certainly running out for Pujara as far as his place in the ODI side is concerned. Not the quickest of fielders, Pujara has not even managed a score 20 plus in the five ODIs he has played so far.

Rayudu, on his part, has never looked in control of situations in the 12 ODIs that he has played so far. A strike-rate of less than 70 in ODIs in these days with field restrictions loaded in favour of batsmen is not exactly what is expected from a specialist willow wielder. If the team management has an objective of trying out all the fringe players, then the likes of Kedar Jadhav and Manoj Tiwary would deserve a go in the middle-order in place of Rayudu and Pujara.

The opening duo had a bad day in the second game but is certain to continue while the bowling attack, after the performance of Mohit and Binny, is likely to remain unchanged.

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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
July 6,2020

New Delhi, Jul 6: India's cricket chief Sourav Ganguly says improved fitness standards and a change in culture have led to the country developing one of the world's best pace attacks.

Spearheads Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah are part of a battery of five formidable quick bowlers that have helped change India's traditional reliance on spin bowling.

"You know culture has changed in India that we can be good fast bowlers," Ganguly said in a chat hosted on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Twitter feed.

"Fitness regimes, fitness standards not only just among fast bowlers but also among the batters, that has changed enormously. That has made everyone understand and believe that we are fit, we are strong and we can also bowl fast like the others did."

The West Indies dominated world cricket in the 1970s and 1980s led by a fearsome pace attack that included all-time greats such as Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Malcolm Marshall and Joel Garner.

Recently Indian quicks have risen to the top in world cricket with Shami, Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in a deadly arsenal.

"The West Indies in my generation were naturally strong," the former India captain said.

"We Indians were never such naturally strong... but we worked hard to get strong. But I think it is the change in culture as well that is very important."

Shami last month claimed that the current Indian pace attack may be the best in Test history.

"You and everyone else in the world will agree to this -- that no team has ever had five fast bowlers together as a package," said Shami.

"Not just now, in the history of cricket, this might be the best fast-bowling unit in the world."

Shami took 13 wickets during India's 3-0 home Test sweep over South Africa last year, while Bumrah has claimed 68 scalps in 14 Tests since his debut.

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Agencies
February 13,2020

New Delhi, Feb 13: Sanjiv Chawla, a key accused in the match-fixing scandal involving former South African cricket team captain Hansie Cronje in 2000, was extradited from the UK on Thursday, Delhi Police said.

The 50-year-old British national, accompanied by a crime branch team from London, reached IGI Airport this morning, a senior officer said.

He is likely to be taken to the crime branch office for questioning, he added.

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