Dhoni's absence was quite a big hole to fill: Fleming

Agencies
April 27, 2019

Chennai, Apr 27: The absence of Mahendra Singh Dhoni's "comforting" presence in the middle was a void Chennai Super Kings found too difficult to fill, coach Stephen Fleming said after a rare loss in the ongoing IPL.

Hosts CSK lost by 46 runs to Mumbai Indians in their return-leg Indian Premier League encounter, which Dhoni missed due to fever.

"Yeah sure, think you know the answer to that. Dhoni is a great leader and a great player. He's been a constant for us for so many years. You just get into the rhythm while having him there. When you take a leader like that out, there are going to be some holes to fill. It's not that we're not trying to fill it. It's just that the hole is quite big," Fleming said on Friday.

"It takes a mammoth effort to lift the team when you have one of your best players unavailable."

When CSK played without Dhoni for the first time in IPL 2019, they suffered a six-wicket thrashing by Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 17. The team's showings have been below-par in the two matches Dhoni could not play.

"The two games we played when we lost Dhoni the performances have been well below par. There is comfort when he is there, but he didn't bat in the last game. I think the players are good enough and have experience and that's the key when we have situations which don't go our way." the former New Zealand captain said.

Fleming attributed the defeat to loss of wickets at regular intervals and failure to put together partnerships.

"Look batting-wise we lost wickets consistently throughout so the pitch had enough in it to create problems if you were losing wickets. The partnership in the front with Rohit and Lewis was quite important.

"If we would have kept taking wickets, it might be 135-140, we felt it was tough to drag it to 155, but we needed good partnerships at the top to minimise the effect of their spinners but we didn't get that and it wasn't our day really, a lot of things didn't go our way, we didn't create enough to make them go our way" he added.

Fleming said he was concerned with repetitive mistakes committed this season and hoped for a team performance in the remaining games.

"If we do have situations that don't go our way, we should have the experience of dealing with it; which we haven't at the moment. I think what concerns me is repetitive mistakes we made many times this season. The fact that we are still at the top of the table is a testament to bowlers and individual performances.

"We don't want to wait until it's too late, we have two games left, and hopefully, the finals. We should be able to pull off a team performance", he added.

Fleming spoke about the consistency in selection and how Murali Vijay, who has been on the fringes, had an opportunity to win the game for the team on Friday night.

"The consistency in the selection has given us fruits, Watson (in the last match) was a good example of that. Vijay has been on the fringe throughout the tournament, he's trained well, today was an opportunity for him, he batted well but he also had a chance to win the game for the team.

"We will back our international players as much as we can, but you'll have to earn your place in this team," he added.

Mumbai leg-spinner Rahul Chahar, who bowled well but was not among wickets, said losing the toss was good for his team.

He said the team's bowling coach Shane Bond and mentor Zaheer Khan had always trusted his abilities and helped him out at the practice sessions.

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News Network
May 24,2020

Melbourne, May 24: Former Australia captain Mark Taylor does not foresee the T20 World Cup scheduled in October-November going ahead and wants the ICC to take a decision during its Board meeting this week.

Taylor also feels that if IPL takes place during the window the T20 World Cup was to be held, the Australian players are likely to be cleared by their Board to take part in the cash-rich league in India.

The ICC Board meets on May 28 to discuss a host of issues related to COVID-19 pandemic, including a revamped schedule and the fate of the men's T20 World Cup in Australia.

For latest updates and live news on coronavirus, click here

"My feeling is the World T20 won't go ahead in Australia in October as planned. Is it going to be viable to have a world tournament in October or November? The answer to that is probably no," Taylor, also a former Cricket Australia (CA) director, was quoted as saying by 'Nine Network'.

"It would probably be good (if a decision is made this week). Because then everyone can start planning and we can stop sitting here and saying 'well ifs, buts or maybes'."

CA chief executive Kevin Roberts has said that a call on the fate of the T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held from October 18 to November 15, may potentially not come until August.

Read: Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths

But players and administrators around the world are keen for some certainty and many have predicted that the 16-team event will soon be postponed.

There are reports that the BCCI is eyeing the October window for the IPL though officially it maintained, that it will not consider new dates of the cash-rich league until the T20 World Cup's fate is decided.

Taylor said the CA wants to keep BCCI happy so the Australia players are likely to be cleared for the IPL if it happens in October.

Pat Cummins, who was bought for a record amount of Rs 15.50 crore in last year's IPL auction, is among the Australians keen to take part in this year's competition.

"The Cricket Australia board will want to keep India happy. So they may want to let the players go to India if the IPL goes ahead," Taylor said.

"Because they want India to come here this summer and play, which will be our biggest summer in terms of dollars. That's the sort of discussion going on. No doubt."

Virat Kohli's team is scheduled to arrive in Australia for a Test tour starting November, which will go along way in addressing CA's financial woes triggered by teh COVID-19 pandemic.

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News Network
May 6,2020

May 6: They have similar impact on their teams but Virat Kohli is driven by sheer passion to subdue the rivals while Steve Smith just enjoys batting, says Australia opener David Warner.

India skipper Kohli and top Australian batsman Smith are arguably the top two cricketers of the current era. They achieve new milestones consistently, invoking debates, who is better between them.

"Virat's passion and drive to score runs is different to what Steve's would be," Warner said while speaking to Harsha Bhogle on 'Cricbuzz in Conversation'.

"Steve is going out there for a hit in the middle, that's how he sees things. He's hitting them out in the middle, he's having fun, he's enjoying himself, just does not want to get out."

Warner feels, while Kohli is batting he is aware that if he sticks around the middle his team will be on top of the proceedings.

"Virat obviously doesn't want to get out but he knows if he spends a certain amount of time out there, he's going to score plenty of runs at a rapid rate. He's going to get on top of you. That allows the guys coming in, especially in the Indian team you've got a lot of players who can be flamboyant as well."

The Australian opener added that both men are mentally strong and a good knock by them boosts the morale of the entire team.

"When it comes to cricket, they both have got the mental strength, the mental capacity to score runs. They both love spending time in the middle.

"They stabilise, they boost morale - if they score runs, everyone else's moral is up. If they are out cheaply you almost sense that on the field that everyone is (down on morale and thinking) 'now we all have to step up'. It's a very bizarre situation," he added.

Asked about the similarities between himself and Kohli, who are both live wires on the field, Warner said the passion to do better than the opponent keeps him going.

"I can't speak for Virat, obviously, but it's almost like we got this thing in us when we go (out to the middle) we need to prove people wrong, prove someone wrong."

"If you're in that contest, and if I'm going at him for example, you're thinking, 'Alright, I'm going to score more runs than him, I'm going to take a quick single on him'. You are trying to better that person in that game. That's where the passion comes from."

Warner also explained how he breaks down a match into smaller competitions.

"Obviously you want to win the game but you almost break it down to: If I can score more runs than Virat, or if Pujara scores more runs than Steve Smith, you have these little contests and that's how you try to narrow the game in the sense that if we do these little things, we can be ahead of the game or we can be behind the game.

"The passion is driven by...I know my sense - one, the will to win and two, wanting to do better than that person in the opposition," said Warner.

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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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