You are lucky to have Tendulkar, Dhoni: Henriques

March 11, 2013

dhoni-sachin

Mohali, Mar 11: India is lucky to have the experience of senior players such as Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar and it would be a big challenge for Australia to make a comeback in the third Test, all-rounder Moises Henriques said.

"It's a different challenge. It is certainly very tough to win over here, to win Test matches over here, against very experienced Indian team and very experienced Indian spinners," Henriques told a press conference after his team had an extended session at the nets.

"You have guys like (M S) Dhoni and (Sachin) Tendulkar still leading the team around as senior players, obviously it very lucky to have those characters around. They are very strong team, especially here (at home) and they play very well. So it's a big challenge for all of us.

"For a lot of Australian players it is their first tour to India, so it is a new challenge. We are all doing as much we can to learn from every match we play here. We got to learn faster because we need to win this Test match," he added.

Australia themselves are lacking in experience after the retirement of stalwarts such as Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey recently.

Henriques heaped praise on Indian spinners R Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh, terming them as "fantastic bowlers" and said they have to take positives from the two Test losses and quickly learn from their mistakes.

"Obviously we have to learn from what we haven't done well in the first couple of Test matches. Obviously, we lost a lot of wickets to spin. We haven't scored enough runs as we should have," he said.

Asked what was the message from their team management after two losses in Chennai and Hyderabad, Henriques said, "The message is basically to stay positive and stay truthful to your plans and if you have a plan keep backing it and if you don't (then) to find out what the right plan is for you."

The all-rounder, who has just featured in two Tests, said the break ahead of the third Test has helped the team to think and strategise their plans.

"I think with a little bit of break between the second and third test allowed players time to work on making sure they know their plans and executing what their plan is," Henriques said.

The 26-year-old said Australia will look to target the first session of play to get off to a positive start.

"I think the first session whether be it with bat and ball, we want to make it a good one so that we can start off the Test very well," he said.

Asked about his own performance, Henriques said he would look to make more impact with the ball.

"I feel I am playing my role with the ball keeping it tight, but limited impact in terms of getting breakthroughs and things like that. I had a very quiet second Test match. If selected in the Third, hopefully, I can impact the game a little bit more," he said.

The struggling Australian side has been dealt a further blow after wicketkeeper Matthew Wade injured his ankle, putting him in doubt for the Mohali Test, starting on Thursday.

Though Henriques said that Wade was in "pretty good spirits in the change room", the team's media manager Matt Cenin said things will be much clearer tomorrow.

"He was playing basketball (on Saturday, at a private school in Chandigarh) when he sprained his ankle. He had a scan done this morning and have sent these back to Australia to be reviewed by our specialists and we should have update sometime tomorrow," Cenin said.

Wade was in doubt ahead of the second Test as well after he fractured his cheekbone during training but he played with the pain and scored a 62 in the first innings.

Brad Haddin, who played four Tests in India during the 2008 tour by the Australians, has been now put on standby for injured Wade.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
May 26,2020

Some of the ICC guidelines on resumption of cricket border on the impractical and will need a review when the cricketing world is closer to action, feel former players Aakash Chopra, Irfan Pathan and Monty Panesar.

Last week, the International Cricket Council recommended a host of "back to cricket" guidelines including 14-day pre-match isolation training camps to ensure the teams are free from COVID-19.

The world body issued training as well as playing guidelines which will drastically change the way the game is played.

Among them are regular hand sanitising when in contact with the ball, no loo or shower breaks while training, minimising time spent in the changing room before and after a game, no use of saliva on ball and no handing over of personal items (cap, sunglasses, towels) to fellow teammates or the on-field umpires.

"Social distancing is very doable in individual sport but very tough in a team sport like cricket and football. If you need a slip during the game, would you not employ it?

"If the team is going through a 14-day quarantine and is being tested for COVID-19, I am fine with that process. Now, after that, if we have more guidelines for the players during the game, then you are making things complicated. Then there is no point of a quarantine period," former India pacer Pathan told PTI.

Safety cannot be compromised but regularly sanitising hands during the game will be too much to ask from the players.

"Safety is paramount but we should not make the game complicated. If a bowler or fielder has to sanitise hands every time he touches the ball, then it would be very difficult.

"You can shorten the process of giving the ball to the bowler. Instead of the usual chain (wicket-keeper to cover fielder to bowler), the keeper can straight away give the ball to the bowler but even then the bowler will have to sanitise hands six times in an over," said Pathan seeking more clarity on the guidelines.

Former India opener Chopra said it is still pre-mature to prepare a fixed set of guidelines for resumption of cricket as the situation is evolving "every day".

"That (regular hand sanitisation after contact with ball) is obviously impractical but my big question is when the game happens in a bio secure environment and everyone is quarantined and tested, do these additional measures make a difference?

"On the field, I can still understand but what happens when you go back into the dressing room? How do you practice social distancing there? So it becomes quite complicated.

"To be honest it is all very premature. Once they get closer to resumption, which will take some time, there will be more clarity," said Chopra.

International cricket is likely to resume in July with England hosting West Indies and then Pakistan.

Bundesliga football league has already begun in Germany behind closed doors and by the time cricket resumes, more sporting competitions would have restarted and Chopra feels that will help cricket decide the way forward in post COVID-19 times.

"By the time cricket resumes, more football would have started after Bundesliga. Cricket can take lessons from there, collect data and ideas and see what is practical and what is not."

Former England spinner Panesar foresees the start of the England-West Indies series making things a lot clearer for the entire fraternity than they are at the moment.

"The 14 day quarantine is very much needed and well done to the ICC for including that. I think we will see resumption of international cricket with England hosting West Indies in July. We might have some practical ideas then, the other countries would also be watching keenly and will learn how to go about it.

"But measures like regular hand sanitising is not going to be practical. May be you could sanitise every one hour but it can't be regular during the game," said Panesar.

While Pathan feels the on-field safety measures will make managing over-rate a bigger challenge for teams, Chopra said no loo or shower breaks during training won't be that much of an issue.

"Training is still controllable. You don't have to be there for a long time but you would still have to use the restroom at some stage. You may avoid taking a shower but you will have to use the restroom.

"I think the idea of these guidelines is to make cricketers more aware that you have to take care of yourself and inculcate habits which are in everyone's interest in the current scenario," added Chopra.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
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.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
May 9,2020

Tokyo, May 9: As the world continues to grapple with coronavirus pandemic, the organisers of Tokyo Game Show have cancelled 2020 showpiece event.

TGS 2020 was slated to be played from September 24 to September 27 at the Makuhari Messe convention center. However, there now talks going on for holding an online event instead.

According to the Verge, this is the first time that TGS has ever been cancelled since it started in 1996.

TGS 2020 gained more attention because of its status as the last major trade show before the launch of the upcoming next-gen consoles, the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.