Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara remain steady in ICC Test ranking

Agencies
April 4, 2018

Dubai, Apr 4: India skipper Virat Kohli and Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara held on to their second and seventh position respectively in the latest ICC Test Player Rankings released today.

The 29-year-old Kohli had a total of 912 points, 17 points behind Australia's Steve Smith, who is comfortably placed at the top of the Test player ranking. Pujara, on the other hand, had 810 points.

India Test spinner Ravichandran Ashwin slipped one place in the bowlers ranking to take the fifth position with 803 points, while Ravindra Jadeja held on to his second spot in the all-rounders ranking.

South Africa opener Aiden Markram, meanwhile, sustained his surge towards the top during an amazing first year in Test cricket, making his way to ninth position among the batsmen ranking, which also took into account performances in the drawn second Test between New Zealand and England in Christchurch.

The 23-year-old's knocks of 152 and 37 not only contributed to South Africa's massive 492-run victory over Australia in Johannesburg for a 3-1 series win but also helped him move up six places to ninth position.

Markram has broken into the top 10 for the first time and is now among a select group of 10 cricketers led by Don Bradman who have scored 1,000 runs or more in their first 10 Tests.

Markram's opening partner Dean Elgar, too, has advanced after scoring 100 runs in the Test, including a knock of 81 in the second innings, while captain Faf du Plessis (up five places to 17th) and Temba Bavuma (up 12 places to 39th) are the other South Africa batsmen to make significant gains.

For Australia, captain Tim Paine has jumped eight places to 53rd position while for England, captain Joe Root moved up one place to third. Wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow was up by three places to 13th and Mark Stoneman moved 14 places to 64th.

Among bowlers, South Africa pacers made gains after ruling the roost in Johannesburg Test.

Pace bowler Vernon Philander's player of the match effort of nine for 51 has lifted him six places to third and player of the series, Kagiso Rabada, remains at the top, adding three points to take his tally to 902.

Morne Morkel, who first broke into the top 10 in January 2010, touched 800 rating points for the first time in his career and is now ranked joint-sixth along with Australia's Pat Cummins, who has risen up from 18th with nine wickets in Johannesburg.

In other movements, New Zealand's player of the match Tim Southee has moved up three places to take the 13th slot, while Stuart Broad has gained five slots to reach 12th place.

Meanwhile, New Zealand have leapfrogged Australia to third place in the ICC Test Team Rankings.

The swapping of places has resulted in a clear gain of USD 100,000 for New Zealand as they will now receive USD 200,000 from ICC for taking third spot at the cut-off date of 3 April.

Australia will get half that amount after finishing fourth.

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News Network
June 11,2020

New Delhi, Jun 11: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has indicated that this year's IPL could be conducted in empty stadiums, insisting that all possible options are being explored to ensure that the suspended event does take place despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a letter to all the affiliated units sent late on Wednesday after the ICC Board meeting, Ganguly seemed confident of an IPL this year despite its current status of being indefinitely suspended because of the raging pandemic, which has claimed more than 8,000 lives in India.

"The BCCI is working on all possible options to ensure that we are able to stage IPL this year, even if it means playing the tournament in empty stadiums," Ganguly wrote.

"The fans, franchises, players, broadcasters, sponsors and all other stakeholders are keenly looking forward to the possibility of IPL being hosted this year.

"Recently, a lot of players both from India and other countries, participating in the IPL have shown keenness on being part of this year's IPL. We are optimistic and the BCCI will shortly decide on the future course of action on this," the former India captain said.

It is widely speculated that the IPL is eyeing the October event if the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in Australia at that time is postponed. The ICC has deferred a decision on the World Cup's fate until next month.

Ganguly also said that the BCCI is working on the domestic schedule while exploring various formats which would make tournaments like Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Vijay Hazare "competitive and feasible".

"Moving ahead, the BCCI is in process of planning the domestic competitions for the next cricketing season. We are working on various options and formats in our endeavour to ensure that various domestic tournaments are held, they stay competitive and participation feasible," said the former India captain.

"The BCCI will come up with more details in next couple of weeks," he added.

He also informed that BCCI is preparing a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for resumption of cricket in all state units to ensure medical safety of those involved.

The president also informed that the BCCI has made "all efforts to release funds/grants to its various members."

"Associations which have made proper submission of their accounts and funds utilization certificates have already received their grants," he said.

The other units will also receive their grants once they submit relevant documents, the president assured while informing that vendors have also been paid.

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News Network
February 17,2020

Hamilton, Feb 17: Mayank Agarwal found form on his birthday and Rishabh Pant mixed caution with his customary aggression as India’s warm-up fixture against New Zealand XI ended in a draw here on Sunday.

The match was called off an hour after lunch with India reaching 252 for four just 48 overs into their second innings.

Agarwal, who had gone through a wretched period since the second Test against Bangladesh, retired on 81 off 99 balls with 10 fours and three sixes to his name.

To the relief of the Indian team management, Pant played in his customary manner to reach 70 off 65 balls, but also showed discretion when the opposition bowlers were in the midst of a good spell. There were four sixes -- two each off leg-spinner Ish Sodhi and off-spinner Henry Cooper.

While Sodhi was hit down the ground, Cooper was dispatched over extra cover on a couple of occasions. He didn’t curb his aggression, though, there were times when he was ready defend the spinners and also leave some of the deliveries.

Even though Pant is considered a better batsman than Wriddhiman Saha, the innings might have come too late in the day considering that the latter is a better keeper and possibly a more responsible batsman in pressure situations.

The biggest positive to have emerged from the New Zealand second innings is Agarwal’s poor run coming to an end. The Seddon Park track easing out was definitely a factor but Agarwal’s footwork was more assured as he played some glorious on-drives and pull-shots off fast bowlers.

Before this game, Agarwal had played 10 competitive games including first-class, ODIs and List A matches and couldn’t cross the 40-run mark in 11 completed innings. He even bagged a pair against New Zealand A in an unofficial Test match.

Once he had got his form back, he didn’t come out to bat after lunch giving Saha an opportunity to score an unbeaten 30, his runs coming mostly against non-regular bowlers.

The Agarwal-Pant pair added 100 runs in 14.3 overs and it also helped that part-timers like Cooper was introduced into the action.

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Agencies
July 7,2020

Mumbai, Jul 7: Australias second largest city Melbourne is set to go for another round of lockdown — for six weeks — from midnight Wednesday as the coronavirus has reared its ugly head in Victoria. And this has further confirmed that this years T20 World Cup in Australia is practically not possible. Even as the ICC keeps delaying the announcement, BCCI hopes that the official call will now be taken with this latest development.

Despite ICC's Financial and Commercial Affairs Committee (F&CA) chief Ehsan Mani as well as Cricket Australia making it clear time and again that hosting a T20 World Cup in the October-November window is practically impossible, the ICC hasn't made an official announcement and that hasn't impressed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Speaking to media persons, a BCCI official said that it is only the ICC which has kept speaking about delaying the inevitable — announcing a postponement — even as Cricket Australia chairman Earl Eddings wrote to the international body that it looks highly unlikely that a T20 World Cup can be hosted in these trying times.

"As it is there were so many logistical difficulties and that is perfectly understandable. The Australian government has been addressing the public health issue efficiently and there are regulations in place which are crucial to address the challenges. In that background even Cricket Australia has been practical in their assessment of the situation.

"With this present situation where Melbourne is in lockdown, the ICC really must take the final call of closure on the issue if they have any concept of responsible decision making," the official said.

Not just CA chairman Eddings, but also Mani — who is also the PCB chief — recently told the media that the T20 World Cup cannot be held in a bio-secure environment.

"We have had a lot of discussions and the feeling is it (T20 World Cup) would not be possible this year. ICC has World Cups lined up in 2021 and 2023, so we have a gap year where we can adjust this event. God forbid if some player(s) falls ill or mishap occurs during the tournament, it will have a big impact and create panic in the cricket world and we can't take that risk. Having a bio-bubble environment is feasible for say a bilateral series like Pakistan in England, but it is very difficult when 16 teams are involved," he had said.

Cricket Australia's interim CEO Nick Hockley echoed the sentiments when he said the biggest challenge was to get the players from so many teams into the country.

"Our biggest challenge is getting 15 teams into the country. If I compare it with the prospect of a bilateral tour, you're talking about bringing one team in and then playing individual matches. But the prospect of bringing 15 teams in and having six or seven teams in one city at the same time, it's a much more complex exercise," he had said.

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