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‘Sometimes less is more’: Sourav Ganguly’s pointed message to ICC over proposed changes

Agencies
October 16, 2019

Kolkata, Oct 16: Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, who is set to become the BCCI president, on Tuesday expressed his reservations over the ICC’s attempt to stage the 50-over World Cup every three years. The World Cup has traditionally been a quadrennial event since its first edition in 1975. However, the 1992 edition was held after a five-year gap and the 1999 edition after a three-year gap. “Sometimes less is more in life. So we have got to be careful with that. And the football World Cup happens every four years and you see the madness,” Ganguly told reporters at the Cricket Association of Bengal office here.

Ganguly arrived to a rousing welcome in Kolkata after filing his nomination papers for the BCCI president’s post in Mumbai on Monday. He is expected to be elected unopposed in the BCCI elections on October 23.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is planning to propose a Futures Tours Programme (FTP) in which T20 World Cup will be played every year and the 50-over World Cup once every three years.

“That’s a decision the ICC has to make I’m not in a position to talk or comment on it. As in when when I get an opportunity to be a part of the discussion, I will speak,” the former India captain said.

The 47-year-old however said back to back T20 World Cup is the way forward with the rising popularity of the shortest format.

“When Champions Trophy first came in, I played the tournament in 1998. I’ve captained two Champions Trophies getting to finals in both and being the joint winners in one so at that time it was a huge tournament. “But with the advent of T20, people come to the ground more than any other tournament. So I think that’s the reason ICC has changed it. The demands will change according to the situation and ICC will have to deal with it.” The atmosphere here on Tuesday was quite similar to when Ganguly had returned to Kolkata after scoring a debut Test century at Lord’s.

“1996 was 30 times bigger than this. And that will always be the most important day of my life when I first played a Test match for India. Nothing can beat that.

Ganguly said the cricket administration in the country is going through an emergency situation.

“It’s actually an emergency as I have said before and I’m happy to get the responsibility to turn it around. That’s what matters. When it’s tough people believe that you are good enough to do it. That’s my biggest responsibility.

“India is the biggest powerhouse in cricket and should ge the due repsect. Not only financially, but as a team we are probably the best team in the world at the moment. India needs a lot more than they have got.” Ganguly said the BCCI headquarters will remain in Mumbai.

“Obviously all the officers, president, secretaries will have their own offices to work and make sure the daily work goes on. BCCI setup system is a lot more organised than state associations. So from that point of view, it’s going to be a mix and match of both.” “I’m here to do a job for everyone and make Indian cricket a lot more clean administration wise. To get the backroom ready and smooth for everyone. I cannot contribute much on the field.” Asked whether it’s once again a comeback for him like he did in the cricketing field after being snubbed by former India coach Greg Chappell, Ganguly said: “I’ve not got hurt much. If you see in the cricket history of India, only three players have made it to 300 ODIs and 100 Tests. Dravid and Tendulkar and luckily me. Maybe Kohli will play more than that.

“So if I see from that point of view I don’t think I can expect more than that. When you stay at the top things will not be rosy all the time. It’s in everybody’s life you go up and down and come back. That happened to me and I dealt with it.” Ganguly took charge of CAB after the demise of Jagmohan Dalmiya and the former captain said if he achieves 50 per cent of what Dalmiya had achieved as a cricket administrator he would be more than happy.

He was also excited to see Bengal player Wriddhiman Saha making an impact once again with Team India but hoped that he improves his batting.

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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
February 18,2020

Feb 18: Spinner Poonam Yadav claimed three wickets as India geared up for the ICC women's T20 World Cup with a thrilling two-run win over the West Indies in a low-scoring warm-up match in Brisbane on Tuesday. Electing to bat, India posted a lowly 107/8 in their stipulated 20 overs before returning to restrict the West Indies to 105/7. Chasing 108 to win, West Indies were comfortably placed at 57 for one in 13 overs when Deepti Sharma struck, cleaning up opener Lee-Ann Kirby (42) to trigger a collapse. Soon skipper Stafanie Taylor (16), Chedean Nation (0) and Deandra Dottin (1) were back in the hut as West Indies slipped to 67 for five in the 17th over.

Hayley Matthews (25) and Chinelle Henry (17) blasted three fours and a six in the 19th over to leave them with 11 to get off the last six balls.

Henry blasted Poonam for a four but the Indian dismissed Matthews in the fourth ball.

West Indies needed three runs off the last ball but Henry was caught by Veda Krishnamurthy.

Earlier, India's top-three failed to fire as they were reduced to 17 for three in 3.1 overs.

Opener Smriti Mandhana (4) lasted just six balls, while Jemimah Rodrigues (0) failed to open her account.

Young Shafali Verma blasted a couple of fours before being caught by Britney Cooper off Shamilia Connell (2/20).

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (11), too, didn't stay long, while Krishnamurthy was cleaned up by Afy Fletcher (1/26), as India slumped to 52 for five in 11.2 overs.

Deepti Sharma made a 32-ball 21 before becoming a victim of Anisa Mohammed (2/16), while Pooja Vastrakar (13) was removed by Aaliyah Alleyne (1/9).

Stafanie taylor then got rid of Taniya Bhatia for 10. Shikha Pandey finally smashed a 16-ball 24 to give some respectability to the total.

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News Network
June 24,2020

New Delhi, Jun 24: Star Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan deeply regrets his "silly mistake" of not reporting a corrupt approach by an Indian bookie to the ICC, leading to his one year suspension from the game.

Shakib was banned for two years, one year of it suspended, for failing to report corrupt approaches during an IPL edition by an alleged Indian bookie named Deepak Aggarwal.

"I took the approaches too casually When I met the anti-corruption guy and told them and they knew everything. Gave them all the evidence and they knew everything that happened," Shakib told Harsha Bhogle on 'Cricbuzz in Conversation'.

"To be honest, that's the only reason I was banned for a year, otherwise I'd have been banned for five or 10 years," he added on the ICC's investigation.

The 33-year-old, who was in brilliant form before the ban, amassing 606 runs in the 2019 World Cup in the UK, said he regrets how he went about the situation.

"But I think that was a silly mistake I made. Because with my experience and the amount of international matches I've played and the amount of ICC's anti-corruption code of conduct classes I took, I shouldn't have made that decision, to be honest."

Lesson learnt, Shakib's advice to all young criceters is to never take any such message lightly.

"I regret that. No one should take such messages or calls (from bookies) lightly or leave it away. We must inform the ICC ACSU guy to be on the safe side and that's the lesson I learnt, and I think I learnt a big lesson," he added.

The all-rounder, whose ban ends on October 29, said he became a bit arrogant and never felt he was doing anything wrong by not reporting the bookie's approach immediately.

"Because you do most things right in your life, you tend to get arrogant with some decisions. You may not realise but you're doing wrong by the books. It never came to my mind that I am doing something wrong

"It was just a feeling of 'okay, what's going to happen, leave it' and I continued with my life. But that's the mistake I made. And that happens," Shakib said.

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