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Upbeat Afridi regains Twenty20 captaincy

September 17, 2014

Karachi, Sep 17: Shahid Afridi returned as Pakistan’s Twenty20 captain on Tuesday and then announced that he was looking forward to leading a team of “lion-hearted cricketers” to international laurels including the next T20 World Cup in 2016.

AfridiThe flamboyant all-rounder has replaced Mohammad Hafeez, who stepped down as skipper earlier this year after Pakistan failed to reach the T20 World Cup semi-finals in Bangladesh.

In addition, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has reaffirmed that Misbah-ul-Haq will continue to captain Pakistan in Tests and One-day Internationals till next year’s ICC World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

“In line with my policy of taking decisions democratically I consulted Cricket Committee and my Board members before announcing these decisions. I wish both Afridi and Misbah very good luck in their upcoming assignments,” PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said in the statement.

Chosen ahead of young contender Sohaib Maqsood primarily because of his vast experience, Afridi stressed that he would lead by example and put the country’s underachieving Twenty20 team on the victory path.

“I’m honoured to get national captaincy again,” he told ‘The News’ in an interview soon after PCB announced that Afridi has been installed as the T20 captain till the 2016 edition of the Twenty20 World Cup.

“It’s an exciting responsibility and the fact that the team management is backing my completely gives me great confidence,” he said.

Afridi made it clear that as captain he would not live with “chicken-hearted” players and would instead support boys exhibiting a “lion-hearted approach”.

“As (Twenty20) captain my message to the players would be simple: don’t be scared of failure,” he said.

“There is no place for chicken-hearted players in the Twenty20 format. You need a lion-hearted approach and that’s what I intend to promote in our team,” he added.

Pakistan reached the final of the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa and then went on to win the coveted title two years later in England. But since then Pakistan’s performance graph in the tournament has dipped.

Afridi believes that unlike the past when Pakistan were among few teams with plenty of expertise in the slam-bang format, other sides have really caught up.

“Winning Twenty20 matches isn’t easy for us anymore,” he said. “Other teams have gradually learned how to flourish in this format and have hence improved.”

But Afridi was quick to make it clear that under his command Pakistan would be one of the major contenders for the T20 World Cup in 2016.

“We have a good Twenty20 team and all we need is to show that killer instinct needed to win major tournaments,” he said.

Afridi was Pakistan’s hero in their title-winning triumph in 2009 when he produced match-winning performances in the semifinal and final.

But his personal stats have taken a hit in recent times and Afridi is fully aware of it.

“I need to regain my form both with the bat and ball,” he said. “As captain I know that I will have to lead by example because that’s the only way you can get the best out of the players.”

Afridi, 34, was forced to give up captaincy in the summer of 2011 following a public spat with team coach Waqar Younis and the then PCB chairman Ijaz Butt.

Butt is long gone but Waqar is back in the saddle as national coach. However, Afridi is certain that what happened in 2011 following Pakistan’s World Cup semi-final defeat against India would not get repeated in the future.

“What happened in the past stays in the past,” he said. “I would want to focus on the present and as far as Vicky bhai (Waqar) is concerned I must say that he is a changed man and I’m enjoying working with him,” he added.

During his previous stint as captain, Afridi captained Pakistan in 19 Twenty20 Internationals between August 2009 and April 2011. Pakistan won eight and lost 11 matches under his captaincy.

He is one of the most capped players in the Twenty20 format and also one of its most accomplished. In 74 appearances, Afridi has accumulated 1112 runs at an average of 19.17 and a strike rate of 144.04. He has also bagged 77 wickets at 22.61. Over the last 12 months, he has taken 10 wickets at an average of 26.80 in 11 matches and scored 173 runs at a strike rate of 150.

Afridi will begin his latest stint as captain with a one-off Twenty20 International against Australia in Dubai on October 5.

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Agencies
January 5,2020

Mumbai, Jan 5: India captain Virat Kohli has refrained from making any comments on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), without gaining full knowledge on the sensitive subject.

The CAA will grant Indian nationality to people belonging to minority communities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians -- in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of residence in India instead of 12, even if they don't possess any proper document.

In 2016, Kohli had termed demonetisation as the "greatest move in history of Indian politics", which met with sharp criticism from a lot of quarters, with people questioning his knowledge on the subject.

With Guwahati witnessing massive protests against the CAA till some days back, Kohli was asked about it and the Indian skipper weighed his words carefully.

"On the issue, I do not want to be irresponsible and speak on something that has, you know, radical opinions both sides. I need to have total information, total knowledge of what it means and what is going on and then be responsible to give my opinion on it," Kohli said ahead of India's first T20 International against Sri Lanka.

The skipper made it clear that he will not like to get embroiled in a controversy by commenting on a subject that he is not well aware of.

"Because you can say one thing and then someone can say another thing. So, I would not like to get involved in something that I don't have total knowledge of and it's not going to be responsible on my part to comment on it." However Kohli on his part was happy with the security arrangements and felt that the city is "absolutely safe".

"The city is absolutely safe. We didn't see any problems on the roads," Kohli said, giving his thumbs-up for the match at the Barsapara Stadium.

The Assam Cricket Association is using this match as a "curtain-raiser" ahead of their maiden IPL match this season as Rajasthan Royals have adopted this venue.

There has been deployment of Rapid Action Force for the teams and ACA secretary Devajit Saikia has said the spectators will not even be allowed to bring along handkerchiefs and towels on the match-day as the traditional Assamese scarf was used for protests against CAA.

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News Network
April 7,2020

Bengaluru, April 7: India batsman Robin Uthappa has said that he reckons he still has a World Cup left in him, despite being out of the team for than four years.

Uthappa had last played a match for the Men in Blue in 2015 on the tour of Zimbabwe.

"Right now I want to be competitive. I still have that fire burning in me, I really want to compete and do well. I honestly believe I have a World Cup left in me, so I'm pursuing that, especially the shortest format. 

The blessings of lady luck or god or whatever you call it, plays a massive factor," ESPN Cricinfo quoted Uthappa as saying.

"Especially in India, it becomes so much more evident. I don't think it is as evident when you're playing cricket outside of India. But in the subcontinent and India especially, with the amount of talent that we do have in our country, all of those aspects become evident," he added.

The 34-year-old Uthappa has played 46 ODIs and 13 T20Is for India and he was also a part of the T20 World Cup-winning squad in 2007.

Uthappa has scored 934 runs in ODIs at an average of 25.94, while in T20Is his numbers are 249 runs at an average of 24.90.

"You can never write yourself off. You would be unfair to yourself if you write yourself off.

Especially if you believe you have the ability and you know that there is an outside chance. So I still believe in that outside chance," Uthappa said.

"I still believe that things can go my way and I probably can be a part of a World Cup-winning team and play an integral role in that as well.

Those dreams are still alive and I think I'll keep playing cricket till that is alive," he added.

Uthappa had enjoyed great success with IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders. He went on to become their leading run-scorer in the 2014 edition.

However, he was released by the side after a below-par 2019 season, and last November he was picked up by the Rajasthan Royals for the 2020 edition.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: Batting great Rahul Dravid has attributed Chennai Super Kings' consistent run in the IPL to skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's instincts, game-smarts and the incredible amount of work that goes behind the scenes.

N Srinivasan, the former BCCI president and head of India Cements, which owns the CSK franchise, agreed that Dhoni is a man of instinct who doesn't believe in attending team meetings and going over data.

Both were speaking at a webinar organised by the Great Lakes Institute of Management.

"If you look at the success CSK has had, they've got really good access to data and they've got really good access to people behind the scenes and they've run cricket teams at the junior level," Dravid said at the webinar according to ESPNcricinfo.

The former India captain added, "They understand talent and they've obviously got a good scouting process in place. But, what they also have is a captain who really understands instincts.

"So, I mean, look, I know Dhoni quite well and I hope he hasn't changed, but I know Dhoni is probably not one to look at reams of data and statistics."

The Super Kings have won the lucrative tournament three times -- one less than Mumbai Indians -- and reached the knockouts in each of the 10 seasons they have been a part of.

Srinivasan also spoke about how Dhoni's instinct and judgement contributed to his team's success at a time when a lot of emphases is placed on data.

"We're awash with data just now. To give you an example, there are bowling coaches and in a T20 game, they play videos of every batsman whom they're going to come against and they see how he got out, what's his strength, what's his weakness etc.

"So, MS Dhoni doesn't attend this, he's a pure instinct man. The bowling coach, (head coach Stephen) Fleming will be there and everybody will be there, everyone is giving opinions, (but) he'll get up and go.

"In the context of instinct, he feels that okay he can assess a batsman or player on the field, that's his judgement. On the other hand, there is so much of data that is available to help a person also analyse. It's a very difficult line to draw (between data and instinct)."

Srinivasan also recalled how Dhoni once refused to take "one outstanding player" suggested by the franchise boss as that could have broken the team's cohesion.

"There was one outstanding player that we suggested to MS, he said: 'no sir, he will spoil the team'. The cohesion within the team is important and see in America, franchise-based sport has been there for such a long time," he said.

"In India, we're just starting and we're new to it. But we at India Cements have had a lot of experience running teams at junior levels."

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