Shastri appointment approved but no decision on Dravid, Zaheer

Agencies
July 15, 2017

New Delhi, Jul 15: The Committee of Administrators (CoA) today said the Indian cricket team’s support staff will be recruited after consultation with head coach Ravi Shastri by July 22, effectively putting on hold Zaheer Khan and Rahul Dravid’s appointments.shastri

In a meeting attended by CoA members Vinod Rai, Diana Edulji and BCCI CEO Rahul Johri, the CoA approved the appointment of Shastri. However, the committee did not implicitly specify whether Dravid and Zaheer were on board as consultants for specific overseas tours, as had been claimed by the BCCI.

As per the minutes of the meeting, the “appointments of other consultants will be decided by the committee in consultation with the head coach”.

The CoA has formed a four-member panel, which includes acting Board President C.K. Khanna and CEO Rahul Johri, to decide on the remuneration of newly-appointed head coach Shastri and other members of the support staff.

Edulji and BCCI Acting Secretary Amitabh Choudhary are the other members of the committee which will meet on July 19.

This was decided after a CoA meeting today.

The new committee will reach out to CoA with its recommendations on July 22, three days after the team leaves for the Sri Lanka tour.

“We have taken all the recommendations of the CAC for Ravi Shastri as head coach and we will further discuss with him the appointment of other coaches. We have set up a committee and they will speak to them (CAC), communicate with them after talking to Shastri. The support staff has been decided in consultation with the head coach,” Rai told reporters after the meeting.

“Three appointments which are core to the coaching team have been decided. But we have to consult each one of them, we have to ascertain their willingness and have to ensure that there is no conflict of interest issue.”

The three-member Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) had named Shastri as head coach while Dravid and Zaheer were appointed batting and bowling consultants respectively for specific overseas tours.

However, the CoA clarified that they (Zaheer and Dravid) were mere recommendations and not appointments.

“There is no such thing as a contract as yet. It’s only a recommendation. It’s not an appointment. A recommendation has been made and the CoA has to act on the recommendation, that recommendation will be acted upon in consultation with the head coach.”

India will play the first Test against Sri Lanka on July 26.

Asked about the CAC letter expressing “pain” at the perception that appointments of Dravid and Zaheer were forced upon Shastri, Rai said, “CAC has done a lot of correspondences with the CEO and with me also. And we have reacted to each one of those things.”

An advertisement for Indian senior team manager will be released immediately. Similarly, an advertisement for managers of the A team and Under-19 team will also be released.

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News Network
January 13,2020

Mumbai, Jan 13: India captain Virat Kohli indicated at dropping himself down the batting order to accommodate both Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul in the playing XI against Australia in the first ODI of the three-match series starting Tuesday.

With vice-captain Rohit Sharma an automatic pick, the team management is left with tough choice of selecting either Dhawan or Rahul in the XI. But the skipper sees no reason why both can't play together.

"Look, a guy in form is always good for the team. ...You obviously want to have the best players available and then chose from what the combination should be for the team. There might be a possibility that all three (Rohit, Shikhar and Rahul) might play. It will be interesting to see what balance we want to take in on the field," Kohli said on the eve of the match.

Asked if he would he be happy to bat lower down the order, Virat said,"Yeah, big possibility. I would be very happy to do so. Look I am not possessive about where I play. I am not insecure about where I bat," said the skipper.

For Kohli, it is more important as to what kind of leadership legacy he leaves behind rather than chase personal glory.

"Being the captain of the team, it is my job to make sure that the next lot is also ready. A lot of the other people might not look at it that way, but your job as a captain is not only to look after the team right now, but also to prepare a team that you leave behind when you eventually pass it onto someone else," he added.

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Agencies
August 7,2020

Islamabad, Aug 7: Former Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, known for his blistering deliveries on the cricket field, recently baffled many with a deadly off-field bouncer by claiming he is willing to eat grass if it enabled an increase in budget for his country's Army!

"If Allah ever gives me the authority, I will eat grass myself but I will increase the budget of the army," said Akhtar in an interview with ARY News.

The 'Rawalpindi Express', considered the fastest bowler in history said he does not understand why the civilian sector cannot work in collaboration with the Armed forces.

"I will ask my army chief to sit with me and make decisions. If the budget is 20 per cent, I will make it 60 per cent. If we insult each other, the loss is ours only," the once feared fast-bowler said.

Akthar had also claimed to ARY News interview that he was willing to take a bullet for his country and had turned down a county stint just because he wanted to fight the 1999 Kargil War.

Ties between India and Pakistan have been strained in the recent months over several issues, the latest being Pakistan's attempt to broach in the UNSC the issue of Kashmir on the first anniversary of the India's move to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and to split the erstwhile state into two union territories .

Pakistan also has not been in a good financial position and under prime minister Imran Khan, himself an all rounder cricketer, has added nearly USD 22 billion, that is 35 per cent to the nation's international debt pile in the last two years, according to an Asia Times report in July.

While Pakistan recently received USD 1.39 billion from the IMF to cushion the economic shocks caused due to COVID-19 outbreak, Akthar had a few months ago proposed that a joint cricket match be played between India and Pakistan to raise funds to fight the coronavirus. The suggestion that was put down by cricketers in India.

Meanwhile the 'Pindi boy' whose deadly pace and bounce was once dreaded by batsmen had recently taken to Twitter to deny former India cricketer Virender Sehwag's claim of sledging him.

Sehwag along with other Indian crickerters such as Harbhajan Singh and even Rahul Dravid had been at the receiving end of Akthar's sledging and antics during their playing days.

"Yes, totally self made story by him. Mujhe yeh bol k bach k jana kidhar tha us nay," Akthar tweeted to a report in which Sehwag claimed that he had sledged the 'Rawalpindi Express' by telling him that Sachin Tendulkar was his father.

During an awards ceremony Sehwag had recounted that fed up with Akthar's sledging and retaliated by telling him to say the same things to Tendulkar, who smashed the 'Pindi boy' for a six. Sehwag quipped that he told Akthar then that "Baap baap hota hai".

In the recent ARY interview, asked about the allegation made against him by former India cricketer Virendra Sehwag that he makes pro-India comments for greater following on social media channels, Akhtar said, "I cannot talk on the basis of hate." 

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News Network
July 2,2020

Jul 2: Cricket Australia has decided to not use the Dukes ball from this summer's Sheffield Shield, having used it alongside Kookaburra for four seasons.

CA has confirmed that the Kookaburra ball will be used for the entire 2020-21 first-class season.

Australia has been using Dukes ball since the 2016-17 season in Shield matches with an aim to help its cricketers prepare for the hostile English conditions.

CA's Head of Cricket Operations, Peter Roach, said the decision to axe the Dukes was the right call. "The introduction of the Dukes ball has been a worthwhile exercise, particularly in the lead up to overseas Ashes series where the Dukes is used so well by our English opponents," Roach said.

"We have been happy with how the ball has performed when used in Australian conditions over the past four seasons. We do, however, feel that reverting to one ball for 2020-21 will provide the consistent examination of our players over a full season that CA and the states are presently seeking. The Kookaburra is the ball used for international cricket in Australia and many parts of the world and we see benefits this season of maximising our use of it," he added.

Roach said the ineffectiveness of spinners in first-class cricket in recent times played a role in CA's decision to do away with the Dukes. "We have noted that spin bowlers in the Sheffield Shield have been playing less of a role in recent seasons, most notably in games when the Dukes ball is in use. We need spinners bowling in first-class cricket and we need our batters facing spin. We hope that the change to one ball will have a positive benefit here," he said.

The CA official, however, didn't rule out the possibility of re-introducing it later.

"We see a definite opportunity to reintroduce the Dukes ball at some stage in the future."

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