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Fletcher's wings clipped, Shastri appointed Team Director

August 19, 2014

Fletchers wingsNew Delhi, Aug 19: Cracking the whip following India's shambolic Test series against England, The BCCI today virtually sidelined coach Duncan Fletcher by appointing former captain Ravi Shastri as the Team Director while giving a "break" to bowling coach Joe Dawes and fielding coach Trevor Penny for the upcoming one-day series.

Under pressure to act after India's disastrous performance in the Test series, the BCCI also appointed former players Sanjay Bangar and Bharat Arun as assistant coaches and R Sridhar as the fielding coach as it revamped the team management.

While Fletcher will continue as the head coach of the team, the shake-up is a clear indication that his wings will be clipped with Shastri taking over as the Director for the one-day series beginning from August 25.

This is not the first time that Shastri has been appointed as a part of 'Damage Control' exercise. In 2007 after the World Cup debacle in the West Indies, the former India all-rounder was appointed as a 'Cricket Manager' for the tour of Bangladesh after Greg Chappell was sacked.

"In culmination of the discussions among all the office-bearers of the BCCI over the last couple of weeks, the BCCI has decided to avail the services of former India captain, Mr. Ravi Shastri, to oversee and guide the Indian cricket team for the forthcoming one-day international matches against England," a press release issued by the BCCI said.

"Mr. Duncan Fletcher will continue as Head Coach while Ravi Shastri will be the overall in-charge of Cricket affairs of the Indian Team."

The support staff will have a more Indian look with Kings XI Punjab chief coach Sanjay Bangar, India U-19 coach Bharath Arun and colts fielding coach M V Sridhar being roped in place of Dawes and Penney.

"In their continuing efforts to re-energise the support to the team, the BCCI has given a break to the bowling coach Mr Joe Dawes and the fielding coach, Trevor Penney, for the one-day series and appointed Sanjay Bangar, former Indian all-rounder, and former India fast bowler Bharath Arun as the Asst. coaches of the team.

India's humiliating 1-3 defeat in the Test series had prompted many former cricketers to call for Fletcher's immediate ouster, saying that he had not contributed anything.

The former cricketers had also questioned the leadership abilities of captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who has a poor track record in overseas conditions. The BCCI, however, has not disturbed Dhoni for the time being.

Under Fletcher, India have now lost 13 Tests outside the sub-continent with seven in England, four in Australia, one each in New Zealand and South Africa.

41-year-old Bangar had played 12 Tests and 15 ODIs in early 2000, with his gritty half-century at Headingley opening in overcast conditions in a memorable victory still remembered.

Bangar, considered to be one of the brightest young coaches, had guided an unhrealded Kings XI Punjab team to the final of the IPL and has been widely acclaimed as a shrewd tactician with brilliant knowledge about the domestic set-up and its cricketers.

Karn Sharma, a member of current India ODI team had made his debut under Bangar's captaincy at the Railways and has attributed a lot of his success to him.

Having only retired from active cricket a year earlier, Bangar is believed to have the best ringside view and is also seen as a future coach of the Indian cricket team by many.

Bharath Arun had opened the bowling with legendary Kapil Dev in 2 Tests and 4 ODIs in the mid 80's without much success.

Arun, who will probably be the bowling coach, has been heading the NCA's bowling unit for a close to seven years now and is best known for guiding the Unmukt Chand-led India U-19 team to World Cup victory in Australia back in 2012.

His record while coaching the senior teams has not been great as under his tutelege, the Bengal team relegated from Ranji Trophy's Elite to Plate Group back in 2007-08 domestic season.

Fielding coach R Sridhar, a former Ranji Trophy player for Hyderabad, has been India U-19's fielding coach and the junior players swear by his work ethic. He has also been a fielding coach with the Kings XI Punjab in the IPL.

"R Sridhar will join the support team as the fielding coach for the one-day series." 52-year-old Shastri, has played 80 Tests and 150 ODIs for India scoring 3830 and 3108 runs respectively. He also has 151 Test and 129 ODI wickets.

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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
May 27,2020

Bengaluru, May 27: Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar has revealed that he was never able to dismiss Inzamam-ul-Haq in the nets.

The Rawalpindi Express praised the former Pakistan skipper and said Inzamam could see the ball one second earlier than the rest of the batsmen could.

"Honestly, I don't think I could ever get him (Inzamam) out, he had the time and I always felt he saw the ball a second earlier than the rest of the batsmen because I had a complicated action unlike Brett Lee, I felt I could never dismiss Inzamam-ul-Haq," Akhtar told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

"I couldn't get him out in the nets, I think he could see the ball a second before anyone else," he added.

Inzamam played 120 Tests and 378 ODIs for Pakistan.

He finished his career with 20,569 runs across all formats.

The right-handed batsman called time on his career in 2007 and he played his last Test against South Africa in Lahore.

On the other hand, Akhtar played 224 matches for Pakistan in international cricket and took 444 wickets across all formats.

The Rawalpindi Express last played an ODI in 2011 as he played against New Zealand in the 50-over World Cup.

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News Network
March 2,2020

Mar 2: Indian captain Virat Kohli was left frustrated and deflated as New Zealand won the second Test inside three days in Christchurch on Monday to sweep the series.

India started the day at 90 for six and were all out for 124, before New Zealand chased down the required 132 to win for the loss of three wickets in 36 overs.

It ended a disappointing tour for India and Kohli as New Zealand, who won the first Test by 10 wickets early on day four, wrapped up the series with ease.

New Zealand are now unbeaten in their last 13 home Tests, winning nine of them, and in the past decade their record as hosts is played 39, won 20, drawn 13 and lost five.

In the latest series, on traditional New Zealand green wickets, India managed scores of 165, 191, 242 and 124, reflecting the low contributions from Kohli of 2, 19, 3 and 14.

Kohli came to New Zealand as the world's top Test batsman and oozing charm as he described New Zealand as the “nice guys” of cricket.

But during the series he lost his top ranking to Australian Steve Smith and when Kane Williamson went for three in the first innings of the second Test the pressure showed when he gave the New Zealand skipper a very animated send-off.

There was further evidence of frustration when he was caught on camera yelling an obscenity at a group of New Zealand supporters on Sunday.

The end came quickly for India on day three as Tim Southee and Trent Boult tormented the batsmen with their variety of inswing and outswing deliveries targeting both sides of the stumps.

Hanuma Vihari was the first to fall, in Southee's second over, when he turned a legside delivery too fine and was caught by BJ Watling diving to his left.

Five balls later and with no addition to the score, India's other overnight batsman Rishabh Pant was caught behind off a Boult delivery that swung away.

Mohammed Shami was caught for five by Tom Blundell at deep mid-wicket and Jasprit Bumrah was run out when trying to give the strike to Ravindra Jadeja, who was unbeaten on 16.

Boult and Southee signed for most of the dismissals with Boult taking four for 28 and Southee three for 36. The swing pair accounted for 25 of the 40 Indian wickets in the series.

There was enough seam and swing available for India to keep the New Zealand batsmen guessing but Bumrah and Umesh Yadav were unable to apply consistent pressure and Mohammed Shami was troubled by a sore shoulder.

New Zealand coasted through a century opening stand by Tom Latham and Blundell before losing three quick wickets.

Latham notched his 18th half-century and second of the Test before he was caught behind off Yadav for 52, Kane Williamson had a short stay for five, and Blundell went for 55.

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