Women's World Cup, Semi-Finals: Confident India Eager To Upset Australia

Christchurch, Mar 2: India captain Virat Kohli on Monday said the under-fire Rishabh Pant has got a "lot of chances" but the team is not looking to try someone else in the youngster's place just yet as one player can't be singled out in a collective failure.

Pant has been under the scanner for the past one year because of his inconsistent run. His tally of 60 runs across four innings in the 0-2 Test series loss to New Zealand, which concluded here on Monday, has only amplified the debate whether it was prudent to leave out a keeper of Wriddhiman Saha's calibre and back Pant.

"...we have given him (Pant) a lot of chances in the home season as well starting from Australia. Then he was not playing for a bit. In turn he really worked hard on himself," Kohli came to Pant's defence after the series here.

"You need to figure out when is the right time to give someone else a chance. If you push people too early, they can lose confidence," he added.

"...collectively, we didn't perform. I don't believe in singling him out. We take the hit together as a group whether it's the batting group or as a team."

When asked if he believes Pant has taken his place in the side for granted, Kohli made it clear that the culture of this team doesn't encourage anyone to think along those lines.

"I don't see anyone taking his place for granted in this team. That's the culture we have set. People are told to take responsibilities and work hard. Whether it happens or not is a different thing. Then you can have a conversation with the players," he said.

"But no one has come here thinking I am going to play every game or I am indispensable," he added in no uncertain terms.

Kohli, just like head coach Ravi Shastri, made it clear that Pant can make a difference in overseas conditions and he won't like to deviate during future tours.

"The time that he didn't play, he really worked hard on his game. So we thought this is the right time because of his game and the way he plays because he can make a difference lower down the order.

"That was our planning behind it. We can't really fluctuate when it comes to what we planned," he added.

Mumbai, May 26: Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar said that if he was playing currently he and Virat Kohli would have been the best of friends off the field, but real enemies whenever they stepped on the field.

Akhtar also said that he would have liked to challenge Kohli to drive the ball.

"Virat Kohli and I would have been the best of friends as both of us are Punjabi, but on the field, we would have been the best of the enemies. I would have loved to get inside the head of Kohli. I would have told him that you cannot play a cut or pull shot against me," Akhtar told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

"I would have gone wide of the crease and bowled a ball that would go away from him, I would have forced him to drive the ball as it is his favourite shot. So I would keep forcing him to play the drive shot at my pace," he added.

Akhtar also said that he wishes that Kohli could have played against some of the top bowlers in the game.

The Rawalpindi Express said that Kohli would have enjoyed the challenge of facing bowlers like Wasim Akram, Shane Warne, and Waqar Younis.

"I would also keep talking to him, because if I get him to lose his focus then that would have been great. The great thing about Kohli is that he gets more focused when he is challenged. But I believe Virat Kohli would have still scored the same amount of runs if I was playing," Akhtar said.

"I really wish that he had played against Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shane Warne, and then Virat would have also enjoyed the challenge," he added.

Akhtar played 224 matches for Pakistan in international cricket and took 444 wickets across all formats.

Over the years, comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have been 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 has 70 centuries across all formats.

Currently, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in second place in the Tests rankings.

New Delhi, May 23: Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday said India will not host any international event in immediate future and fans will have to learn to live with the new normal of sporting activities happening behind closed doors in the post-COVID-19 world.

Rijiju's statement gain greater significance in the context of the suspended IPL, which the BCCI wants to host in October-November in case of the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia is postponed.

"We have been working for quite some time now to resume sporting activities but before that, we have to think about practice and training. We are not going to have a tournament kind of situation immediately," Rijiju was quoted as saying by India Today.

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"We have to learn to live with the situation where sporting events will have to be carried forward without spectators in stadiums and sports venues," he added.

Talking specifically about the 13th edition of IPL, which has been put on hold for an indefinite period due to the pandemic, Rijiju said it is the government's prerogative to take a call on conducting any tournament in the country.

"In India, the government has to take a call and it will take a call depending on the situation. We cannot put health at risk just because we want to have a sporting event.

"Our focus is fighting Covid-19 and at the same time, we will have to work a mechanism to get back to normalcy. It is difficult to confirm dates but I am sure we will have some kind of sporting events this year," he said.

Rijiju's statement came close on the heels of Sports Authority of India (SAI) laying out a detailed Standard Operating Procedure for the resumption of sporting activities across the country in a phased manner.

"In the background, their (athletes) fitness and everything has been tracked. They are in touch with the coaches, the fitness experts, the high-performance directors. We are monitoring each and every athlete who are of the higher stature, who played for India and higher clubs," he said.

"Now it has been laid out. SAI has prepared a detailed SOP. These are prepared by experts from different fields. This SOP has already been issued to all sports federations and other sports bodies including govt stakeholders. So, based on this SOP training will start."

Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths on May 23

The Sports Minister, however, reiterated that resumption of sporting activities will entirely depend on guidelines of respective states and local administrations.

"We have been clearly advising that health and safety are top priorities. Besides that we have to keep in mind two other things, one is the guidelines issued by the Home Ministry, second, is the guidelines issued by the administrations of the respective localities or states. So, these are to be taken into account," he said.

"But we have clearly stated that sports complexes and stadiums are open, other than that there should not be any activities till the lockdown is there or we come up with a renewed kind of advice."

Asked about the prospect of the Tokyo Games that were scheduled for this year but were postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic, the Sports Minister said he is hopeful of the quadrennial event taking place on the revised dates.

"Olympics is still far away and we have full confidence in the Japanese government and IOC and every country will support that the conduct of Tokyo 2021 will not be postponed. There are too many stakes in Olympics, so it is difficult to even foresee that the Olympics can be postponed," he said.

"As far as India's preparation goes, we are at the best stage of our preparation of any Olympics so far in history. This is going to be India's biggest contingent so far and have medal-winning prospects. But I am not saying we are so prepared to finish in the top 10 or 5 but our long term target is that India will be in the top 10 in 2028.