Time to stop playing meaningless ODI matches says legend Rahul Dravid

September 13, 2014

Mumbai, Sep 13: Former India captain and batting legend Rahul Dravid has said of the three formats of the game, ODI cricket at present was largely irrelevant and struggling to survive and consequently there should be more tournaments like Champions Trophy or World Cup to give it a proper context.

Dravid LegendFormer India captain and batting legend Rahul Dravid has said of the three formats of the game, ODI cricket at present was largely irrelevant and struggling to survive and consequently there should be more tournaments like Champions Trophy or World Cup to give it a proper context. "I think one-day cricket is seriously struggling. One-day cricket, without a context, is struggling. One-day cricket, if you look at it from the point of view of Champions Trophy or the World Cup, is relevant," he said at an interactive session after delivering the 6th Dilip Sardesai Memorial Lecture . "I think all the other one-day cricket should actually be driven towards playing Champions Trophy and World Cup. I think there are meaningless one-day games and too many one day games can actually be a problem.

"So, that is something that can be cut off and people can play less one-day (bilateral) cricket and more ODI tournaments," Dravid said." When you have three formats of the game and playing 10 months a year and playing different tournaments, it is going to be harder and harder on players to manage the workload," the 41-year-old Batting legend said. Speaking about the proliferation of illegal bowling actions with highly successful Pakistan off-spinner Saaed Ajmal having recently banned for it, Dravid said 'chucking' was not a crime but a technical fault that can be corrected.

"The ICC has a rule in place. When they reviewed a lot of old film footage they actually found that having that elbow bent at 15 degrees was actually pretty normal. That is what everyone was doing. Glenn McGrath had a slight bend in his elbow but up to 15 degrees, so he was not chucking. They have a system in place. "What I am really glad about is that they are enforcing it strictly and they are reviewing it. I give them the benefit of doubt. The ICC is being more vigilant and they are not saying that once you have cleared in 2009, you can't be checked again. So they have got to keep monitoring it and watching it closely and if bowlers develop different kinds of deliveries, then why not have them checked?"

"Personally I don't think you should see chucking as a crime. I think it is just a technical fault that people have and view it like that. You have a technical fault in your action, go out and correct it and come back," said the former Test batting stalwart. "You have (bowled) a no-ball when you overstep the line and nobody says you are cheating. They say come back behind the line and here they say come back behind 15 degrees and play the game."

In the context of some Indian players being accompanied by wives and girlfriends during the Test series that they lost 1-3 to England, he said it should be allowed. "The guys play 10 or 11 months a year. If you don't allow their wives or girlfriends on tour then that would be a bigger problem. I don't think you can start blaming wives or girlfriends for performance," he said, referring to the dismal run of Virat Kohli whose girlfriend was with him in England.

Though he has scored five double Test hundreds and also got involved in a series-turning 376-run partnership with V V S Laxman against Australia at Kolkata in 2001 when he scored 180 and Laxman notched up 281, Dravid said he is more satisfied with his two half centuries in Kingston, Jamaica in the 2006 Test series against the West Indies. "The two innings that gave me the most satisfaction were scoring those two fifties against West Indies in a Test match in Kingston in Jamaica, in 2006. The series was tied at 0-0 and I was captain of the side and was feeling a bit of pressure that India needed to win the series.

"We go into the last Test and we play on a terrible wicket and as soon as you looked at the wicket you knew this match wasn't going to last more than three days. I got a couple of fifties in that game and I think only (Ramnaresh) Sarwan got a 50 for West Indies in the second innings. "When I look back on my career, I got a double hundred at Adelaide, I think scoring those two 50s in really difficult conditions and winning the Test match for India, probably gave me the most satisfaction."

He felt today's youngsters should aim to play all the three formats of the game. "I remember growing up I always wanted to be a Test cricketer. All the stories I heard were exploits in Test cricket. My father told me about (Sunil) Gavaskar's 776 runs (in his debut series in 1971 in the West Indies and G R Vishwanath's 96 (in Chennai against West Indies in 1975-76) and so I grew up in Bangalore hearing about Test cricket, that's how I grew up and that is how I played. "One-day cricket was there and it was an after thought. After three days of Ranji cricket and at the end of the fourth day they would put in an ODI game against the same team and lot of times you would give the 13th, 14th and 15th person a chance," he said.

It changed in 1996 and I realised I need to be good at this (one-day cricket) if I wanted to play for a long period of time. It was a transition for me and I had to learn how to adapt," said the "Wall", who played 344 ODIs and scored nearly 11,000 runs. Success in Test and ODI needs certain skills and abilities. If you do not possess these skills and abilities, you need to work on them," he added.

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News Network
July 22,2020

Derbyshire, Jul 22: Ahead of the upcoming Test series against England, Pakistan pacer Sohail Khan has credited bowling coach Waqar Younis for teaching him how to swing the ball late.

On the third day of the practice match between Azhar Ali's Team Green and Babar Azam's Team White, the 36-year-old Khan returned figures of five for 50 in 20.1 overs which saw the former fold for 181 in the first innings before they staged a comeback on the final day to win the match by six wickets.

Prior to the practice match, Sohail had a conversation with bowling coach Waqar Younis on the art of late swing. The pacer shared how the presence of the bowling legend in the support staff helped him gear up for the four-day match.

"The conditions in England are swing conducive so every fast bowler gets the ball to move. I asked Waqar bhai to teach me how to swing the ball late. It took him only two minutes to explain it to me. It is because of his tips that I took five wickets in the first innings," Khan said in a release issued by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

"I am eager to learn from Waqar Bhai. I follow him wherever he goes and speak to him about the art of bowling as he has an abundance of knowledge to share. A few days back I was struggling with something while bowling, I thought of reaching out to him and even before I spoke to him about it, he said he knew what I wanted to talk to him about and he explained it to me in a minute," he added.

During Pakistan's tour of England in 2016, Sohail played a crucial role in helping Pakistan secure a 2-2 Test series draw by returning two five-wicket hauls in as many matches.

In total, he picked up 13 wickets at 25 apiece and finished as the third-best wicket-taker.

"Definitely, it is an honour for me to return to the side. I had taken two fifers here against England in 2016 and now in the practice match, I have started off with five wickets so I am feeling very good. We had been at our homes for the past four months due to coronavirus so starting off on a high feels nice," Khan said.

Prior to Sohail's five wickets, 17-year-old Naseem Shah made a big impact when he took five wickets for Team Green. The strength of Pakistan's pace attack was further established as Mohammad Abbas and Shaheen Shah Afridi picked up three wickets each providing valuable support to Naseem and Sohail respectively.
Naseem and Shaheen finished the match with six and four wickets respectively.

Shedding light on the youngsters' performances, Sohail said: "It gives me immense pleasure to see Naseem Shah. He bowls consistently at 150kph. Just like him, Shaheen Shah Afridi is another good bowler. I like both of them."

"It gave me great happiness to see Naseem pick five wickets in the first innings. He is in rhythm and is looking great. What is astonishing is that he is playing in these conditions for the first time but still he is doing so well. Shaheen has also been phenomenal," he added.

Pakistan and England are slated to play three Tests and as many T20Is against each other. The first Test will be played at Manchester from August 5.

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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
April 25,2020

New Delhi, Apr 25: The love and loyalty of the fans will never let him leave Royal Challengers Bangalore till the time he is playing IPL, skipper Virat Kohli said on Friday.

RCB have reached the IPL final thrice but have not gone on to win the trophy.

During a live session on Instagram with former South African captain and RCB teammate AB de Villiers, Kohli said winning the tournament remains the goal but he would not leave the team irrespective of the results.

"It has been such an amazing journey. It is always going to be our dream, winning the IPL together. There is no scenario where I could think of leaving the team ever.

"You can feel emotional about the season not going well but till the time I am playing IPL, I am never leaving this team. The fans, their loyalty has been amazing," said the India skipper.

Responding to Kohli's feelings towards RCB, De Villiers too acknowledged the support of fans over the past nine years. Kohli, on the other hand, has been with RCB since 2008.

"Same for me. I never want to leave RCB but to do that I got to keep scoring runs. I am not the captain you see," said the South African in jest.

Both recalled their early days in international cricket and their growth as cricketers and friends.

Kohli said at times, the youngsters coming in have too much regard for the "system" and he wants to see them break the norm.

"I want to see youngsters coming in scoring 500-600 runs. I want people to break the norm. Sometimes I feel people have too much regard for the system in sport. When you break the shackles, you do something special."

Kohli also acknowledged contribution of Mark Boucher, Gary Kirsten and Duncan Fletcher early on in his international career.

"Gary always gave me positive feedback. Boucher told me in 2008 to improve my game against the short ball. He had the vision. Then Fletcher, he had a keen eye for the game. So many people who have contributed (to my growth)," said Kohli.

De Villiers picked the 119 at Wankhede in the 2015 series decider as his best knock against India. Kohli picked the 119 he scored in Johannesburg Test in 2013.

"I was always really motivated to win the series after 2-2 . I was incredibly motivated to do something special," de Villiers said.

They also picked their combined South Africa and India ODI team. It included Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ab de Villiers, Jacques Kallis, M S Dhoni (captain), Yuvraj Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal, Dale Steyn, Jasprit Bumrah and Kagiso Rabada.

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