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6 candidates short-listed for India's head coach's job

Agencies
August 13, 2019

New Delhi, Aug 13: Six candidates, including incumbent Ravi Shastri, were on Monday short-listed for the high-profile post of the Indian cricket team's head coach.

The six candidates are former New Zealand coach Mike Hesson, ex-Australia all-rounder and Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody, former West Indies all-rounder and Afghanistan coach Phil Simmons, ex-India team manager Lalchand Rajput, former India fielding coach Robin Singh and Shastri.

The candidates will give a presentation to the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) headed by the legendary Kapil Dev, and a final decision will be arrived at by end of this week or early next week.

Besides the country's first World Cup-wining skipper Dev, the newly-appointed CAC comprises Anshuman Gaekwad and former women's team captain Shantha Rangaswamy.

"These six will give a presentation for the head coach before CAC. It has been learnt that these six have been short-listed for an interview with the CAC," a senior BCCI official, privy to the development, told PTI.

Before leaving for the tour of West Indies, captain Virat Kohli had said that he is in favour of Shastri continuing as the head coach of the Indian team despite the criticism he faced following the semi-final ouster from the World Cup.

The current support staff comprising Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun, batting coach Sanjay Bangar and fielding coach R Sridhar were given a 45-day extension following the World Cup, covering the ongoing West Indies tour from August 3 to September 3.

While the names of Hesson and Moody have been doing the rounds for a while, Simmons, who has had successful stints with Ireland and Afghanistan cricket teams, is also in the fray now.

Simmons also served West Indies for a brief while, helping them to victory in the 2016 World T20 tournament in India before taking over as head coach of the Afghanistan national team in 2017.

Among the Indians, Robin served as the fielding coach of the Indian team when it won the inaugural World T20 under Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy in 2007.

Rajput, who was the head coach of the team when it won the World T20, also had stints with Afghanistan and Zimbabwe.

Hesson recently parted ways with IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab. Hesson coached the Black Caps for six years, highlighted by their memorable run to the 2015 Cricket World Cup final in Melbourne, a semifinal finish at the 2016 World Twenty20 in India and a home Test series win over England in April 2018 which lifted them to third on the world rankings.

India may have failed to win the T20 World Cup in 2016 and the ODI World Cup in 2015 and 2019, but the Shastri-Kohli duo helped the country climb to the top of the Test rankings with a historic series triumph in Australia.

Shastri was the team director till June 2016 until India lost in the World T20 semi-finals before being reappointed as head coach in 2017 after Anil Kumble's departure.

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coastaldigest.com web desk
August 3,2020

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will not end its partnership with Chinese companies. Vivo, the Chinese smartphone maker, is the main sponsor of the new IPL season as well. Apart from Vivo, PayTM and Dream 11 will also be at the helm of the 13th edition of the IPL. The IPL governing council meeting on Sunday decided to retain the old sponsors.

As soon as the IPL GC announced the decision of retaining the sponsors, a huge number of fans took to Twitter to slam the board for the same. #BoycottIPL started trending as the users urged others to boycott the tournament for the Chinese connection.

Earlier, the demand for exclusion of Chinese companies from the IPL was strong in the wake of the India-China border dispute. But the BCCI cannot abruptly end its collaboration with them. Because of the signed contract itself. And in this age of declining economy, it is difficult to find new sponsors quickly.

The current BCCI contract with Vivo is for five years. Vivo has invested Rs 2,199 crore to become the main sponsor of the IPL. The contract was signed in 2017. However, the BCCI’s move is paving the way for new discussions as calls are mounting across the country to boycott Chinese companies.

The BCCI announced other important decisions besides retaining sponsors. The IPL will be held from September 19 to November 10. The Indian government has given permission to the BCCI to hold the IPL in the UAE. With this, all obstacles in the way of organizing the tournament were removed.

The IPL matches will be played at 7.30 pm Indian time (6 pm UAE time). Most matches are about one match a day. There are a total of ten ‘double headers’ (two matches a day) in the tournament. Franchisees are allowed to appoint as many replacements as they want in the new season in view of the new health situation. At the same time, the maximum number of players a franchise can accommodate is 24. The BCCI is also planning to host a women’s IPL tournament.

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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
January 9,2020

Jeddah, Jan 9: Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde criticised the new Supercopa format and said that "football has become a business and as a business it looks for income".

"The bottom line is football has become a business and as a business it looks for income. That's the reason we are all here," Goal.com quoted Valverde as saying ahead of Barca's semi-final against Atletico.

"It's a completely different format to what we're used to. It was always the first title and the opener of the season and to me, that seemed fine," he added.

The Supercopa was traditionally a two-legged affair played between the winners of La Liga and the Copa del Rey at the beginning of the season, but following last term's one-off meeting between Barca and Sevilla in Tangier, Morocco, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) went ahead with a full revamp.

Instead of just two teams being involved, the Supercopa has been expanded to also include the runners-up from La Liga and the Copa - meaning Barca and Valencia are joined by Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. It is also set to be hosted in Saudi Arabia for the next three editions.

"It's been changed and let's see, it will be judged once it has happened. It's interesting, with four good teams, but from a sporting point of view, I'm not sure," Valverde said.

"We must bear in mind that the football we are involved in is an industry, sources of income are sought and in the same way that there are special connotations in this country, there are also in Morocco, where we played last year," he added.

Barcelona will face Atletico Madrid in the semifinal of the Supercopa at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah on January 10.

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