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Focus on Ashwin, Shami as India take on NZ in opening warm-up

[email protected] (Agencies)
May 27, 2017

London, May 27: Premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin will be in focus alongside speedster Mohammed Shami when defending champions India take on New Zealand tomorrow in their opening warm-up game ahead of the Champions Trophy here.

ashwin

After a hectic six weeks of Indian Premier League, the two warm-up games will help the 'Men In Blue' get back into the 50-over groove and the emphasis will be on team combination moving into the tournament-proper.

India last played an ODI against England, back in January this year.

Since the match doesn't have official status, all 15 members in the squad will get a chance to play.

All eyes will be on Ashwin as he is coming from a two- month break after the BCCI wanted him to opt out of the IPL in order to recover from fatigue after playing all 13 Tests in a gruelling home season.

The warm-up matches will provide Ashwin with much-needed game time as he fights for his place with Ravindra Jadeja in case the team management decides to go with one specialist spinner in the playing XI.

It will be a good opportunity for Ashwin to test his skills against the likes of Kane Williamson, Martin Guptill, and Tom Latham on a placid Oval track where 300 plus is considered to be a par score.

Ashwin has not exactly had a great time in white ball cricket but the Tamil Nadu off-spinner had recently said that he is ready with a bagful of new tricks for the Champions Trophy.

One can expect him to try out new variations in these warm-up games.

Another bowler who is expected to bowl a few overs is Shami. He has not played 50-over cricket for India since the World Cup semi-final in Sydney, back in 2015.

A fit Shami is an asset with his ability to work up brisk pace, swing the ball both ways and hit the blockhole. With Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah along with Hardik Pandya looking good to make it to the playing XI in India's tournament-opener against Pakistan, Shami would look to make a case for himself.

Among the batsmen, Rohit Sharma will again be batting at the top of the order after not opening the innings for Mumbai Indians during the entire IPL.

While it's a different format, Rohit will certainly need to make some mental adjustments of facing the new ball first- up.

He had played a couple of Vijay Hazare Trophy matches for Mumbai after recuperating from a hamstring surgery but that was also more than two and half months back.

Shikhar Dhawan has been lucky to get a look-in considering Lokesh Rahul had a shoulder surgery. Dhawan, who was adjudged the 'Best Batsman' during the 2013 edition, would like to once again cement his place atleast in the limited overs squad.

Mitchell McClenaghan, Tim Southee and Trent Boult make up for a very potent seam attack in any conditions -- something skipper Virat Kohli would fancy as he is slowly getting back to form.

The middle-order trio of MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and Kedar Jadhav will also seek to gain requisite confidence before the game against Pakistan on June 4.

Squads

India: Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni (wk), Yuvraj Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Dinesh Karthik, Jasprit Bumrah

New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Tom Latham, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Luke Ronchi (wk), Neil Broom, Jimmy Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme, Corey Anderson, Mitchell Santner, Jeetan Patel, Adam Milne, Mitchell McClenaghan, Tim Southee, Trent Boult.

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Agencies
March 26,2020

Karachi, Mar 26: Pakistan's centrally-contracted cricketers will contribute Rs 5 million to the national government's emergency fund to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ehsan Mani on Wednesday said apart from centrally-contracted players contributing Rs 5 million, the employees in the board, up to the senior manager level, will contribute their one day's salary.

Those employed as general managers or on higher posts will give two days' salary to the fund.

"The PCB will collect all these funds and deposit it to the government's coronavirus fund," he said.

Pakistan has recorded more than 1,000 positive cases of the deadly virus, which has claimed more than 19,000 lives all over the world.

"It is the history of the cricket board that we always stand by the government in difficult times," Mani said.

The PCB has already given its high performances centre in Karachi at the national stadium to be used by paramedical staff working at the special coronavirus hospital set up at the expo centre in the in the city.

Mani said though cricket has been disrupted by the virus outbreak but it was far more important for the nation to stand by the government and also take all precautionary steps during the pandemic.

Pakistan's centrally-contracted players are entitled to monthly salaries ranging from Rs 5 to 12 lakh besides match fee and other earnings.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Sunday said the Women's IPL or the Challenger series, as it is better known, is "very much on", ending speculation about the parent body not having a plan for Harmanpreet Kaur and her team.

The men's IPL will be held between September 19 and November 8 or 10 (final date yet to be locked in) in the UAE due to the surge in Covid-19 cases in India. The women's IPL will also be fit in to the schedule, according to the BCCI chief.

"I can confirm to you that the women's IPL is very much on and we do have a plan in place for the national team also," Ganguly told PTI ahead of the IPL Governing Council meeting later on Sunday.

The BCCI president, who is awaiting a Supreme Court verdict on waiver of the cooling-off period to continue in the position, did not divulge details but another senior official privy to the development said that women's Challenger will be held during the last phase of IPL like last year.

"The women's Challenger series is likely to be held between November 1-10 and there could be a camp before that," the source said.

The former India captain also said that the centrally contracted women players will have a camp which has been delayed due to the prevailing situation in the country.

"We couldn't have exposed any of our cricketers -- be it male or female to health risk. It would have been dangerous," Ganguly said.

"The NCA also remained shut because of Covid-19. But we have a plan in place and we will have a camp for women, I can tell you that," he added.

The BCCI's cricket operations team is chalking up a schedule where Indian women are likely to have two full-fledged white-ball series against South Africa and the West Indies before playing the ODI World Cup in New Zealand. 

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News Network
February 13,2020

Feb 13: Veteran India batsman Suresh Raina feels Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the best captain India ever had.

Raina and Dhoni play for the same IPL franchise -- the Chennai Super Kings --, which is also led by the latter.

"I think we have the best captain who has changed the Indian team like anything. Now we have that same aura in our dressing room," Raina said on 'The Super Kings show' on Star Sports Tamil.

The 38-year-old Dhoni has retired from Test cricket but his future in the limited overs formats is a subject of intense speculation.

The two-time World Cup-winning former captain took a break from cricket after India's exit from the 2019 World Cup in England. He is set to be back in action at the IPL, where he will captain the CSK, starting March 23.

With three restricted stands at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai finally being reopened, Raina urged the fans to fill the venue in every CSK home game.

"We have all the seats available. Hopefully, we'll have more fans now so that there is it will be more energy on the field," the 33-year-old Raina, a former India batsman, said.

Raina, who last played for India in 2018, also expressed his excitement about the prospect of playing with CSK's latest acquisitions.

"This year we have a lot of new talent in our team. Piyush (Chawla) is there, then we have Hazelwood, Sam Curran, Sai Kishore from Tamil Nadu, he has been bowling really well for them. So, I think we have a lot of mixture of youngsters and seniors."

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