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AB de Villiers reminds India of their poor record in South Africa

December 5, 2013

AB_de_VilliersJohannesburg, Dec 5: South African cricket captain AB de Villiers on Wednesday reminded India of its poor track record in South Africa as the three-match series starts on Thursday with the first ODI at the Wanderers here.

De Villiers is very much aware of India's poor record in South Africa. The Indians have won only five of the 25 matches they have played against the home team in their own backyard.

"We need to remember we're playing against a sub-continent team coming here who've had a very bad record here and there's no need for us to stand back," he said.

"They're certainly not the best bowling attack in the world, there's no doubt about it. They've got a decent bowling attack that batters sometimes feel they can get on top of and then they seem to get wickets.

"We won't be underestimating them, but we do feel we can get on top of them if we do the hard yards and have wickets in hand at the end of the innings," he said.

Notwithstanding the 1-2 ODI series loss against Pakistan, De Villiers said that the Proteas are not underdogs against India.

"Some of the really knowledgeable guys will say we're underdogs, but there is no way we are going to stand back and allow that to happen," De Villiers said here on Wednesday.

"There's no chance against anyone in South Africa that we can afford to be called the underdogs. I know if we play anywhere near our full potential, there's no one in the world that can stop us here in our conditions," he added.

While the Indians are chasing and setting a target of 300 with ease in each and every ODI over the last couple of months, De Villiers feel that it would be different when the World No 1 ODI side play in South African conditions.

De Villiers said fast bowler Vernon Philander, who injured his shoulder during Tuesday's training, has a 50-50 chance of playing.

"He did have a bit of an accident yesterday (Tuesday), he fell on his shoulder, so there's a bit of a 50/50 call tomorrow (Wednesday) when it comes to Vern. Vern is a very skilful bowler, especially when the conditions allow him to show off his skills. He's not a huge swing bowler, but he gets it to talk off the deck, so he needs a bit of assistance, especially in the shorter version," he said.

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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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News Network
January 12,2020

New Delhi, Jan 12: Flamboyant India all-rounder Hardik Pandya was on Saturday pulled out of the India A team's tour of New Zealand after he failed mandatory fitness tests in Mumbai.

The selectors had picked him in the squad without testing him in the Ranji games.

Tamil Nadu captain Vijay Shankar has been drafted into the India A team and he has already boarded the flight to New Zealand where they will play two 50-over warm-up games, three List A games and two four-day 'Tests' against the home A team.

It has been learnt that Pandya failed a couple of mandatory fitness tests and his scores were well below the permissible range suggesting that he is far from being fit for international cricket. In this situation, pulling him out of the India A squad was expected.

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Agencies
April 25,2020

London, Apr 25: Former Australian cricketer Graeme Watson who was fighting cancer, has died at the age of 75.

Primarily a middle-order batsman and a medium-pace bowler, he featured in five Tests from 1967 to 1972 and two ODIs in 1972, ESPNcricinfo reported.

The all-rounder earned the national call during the 1966-67 tour of Rhodesia and South Africa. Watson slammed a half-century in the first innings of the second Test of the series.

However, the medium-pace bowler was ruled of the next test after suffering an ankle injury. He returned for the fourth Test in Johannesburg where scalped his career-best 2 for 67 but failed to leave a mark with the bat as Kangaroos lost the series.

In 1971-72 he moved to Western Australia and played a major role in their Sheffield-Shield win in 1971-72, 1972-73, and 1974-75 seasons.

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