India vs West Indies: Pitch was challenging to bat on, says Mayank Agarwal

Agencies
August 31, 2019

Kingston, Aug 31: India opener Mayank Agarwal who played a knock of 55-run against West Indies in the second Test said that the wicket was challenging for batting as the ball was moving in the first session.

"It was challenging initially, I thought in the first session the ball was doing a bit. Roach and Holder bowled on great areas. It was not easy to bat on as there was a lot of moisture in the pitch," Agarwal told reporters during a presser here.

After being put in to bat, India had a steady start as openers KL Rahul and Agarwal laid down a foundation for the team. Both the batsmen put up a stand of 32 runs, but their resistance was cut short as Windies skipper Jason Holder had Rahul (13) caught at first slip.

Agarwal hailed Holder's bowling spell as he scalped three wickets and bowled six maiden overs. He returned with the figure of 3-39.

"I think Holder was bowling on great areas and not giving us an inch to score. He does not give many free deliveries to score runs. The pressure is always there. As a batsman you know, you are not getting much out of him," Agarwal said.

When asked about the debutant Rahkeem Cornwall's bowling Agarwal said that his bowling is very consistent and it was not easy to score runs off him. Cornwall bagged one wicket and bowled eight maiden overs.

Virat Kohli scored 76 runs before he was scalped by Holder. Agarwal and Kohli stitched a partnership of 69 runs for the third wicket.

He continued, "I think Rahkeem forms good clusters and is very consistent. It was not easy to score on his bowling. It was very important for me and Virat Kohli to actually get a partnership going."

India posted a score of 264/5 on day one of the second Test of the two-match series against West Indies here at Sabina Park on Friday.

Both Hanuma Vihari and Rishabh Pant remained unbeaten on 42 and 27 respectively at the close of play on day one.

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News Network
March 13,2020

Mar 13: The start of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the world's most lucrative cricket competition, has been postponed from March 29 until April 15 over the coronavirus, the Indian cricket board said Friday.

"The Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to suspend IPL 2020 till 15th April 2020, as a precautionary measure against the ongoing Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation," the BCCI said in a statement.

The two-month Twenty20 competition is estimated to generate more than $11 billion for the Indian economy and involves cricket's top international stars.

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Agencies
March 15,2020

Chennai, Mar 15: Wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni has left the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) training camp following the postponement of the Indian Premier League (IPL) amidst the coronavirus scare.

The former India skipper had joined the CSK's camp earlier this month in order to practice for the upcoming IPL season.

CSK's official handle tweeted a video of Dhoni and captioned the post as: "It has become your home sir!" Keep whistling, as #Thala Dhoni bids a short adieu to #AnbuDen".

Thirty-eight-year-old Dhoni has been currently enjoying some time away from the game. He last played competitive cricket during the 2019 World Cup.

Dhoni had to face criticism for his slow batting approach during India's matches in the tournament.

Earlier this year, Dhoni did not find a place for himself in the BCCI's centrally contracted players list.

BCCI had released the list of central contract list of players for the period from October 2019 to September 2020.

On Friday, BCCI decided to postpone the IPL until April 15 as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus pandemic.

On Saturday, all the IPL franchises met in Mumbai to discuss as to how to go on with the tournament in the future.

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News Network
July 12,2020

New Delhi, Jul 12: Former India batsman Sachin Tendulkar has urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to do away with 'umpire's call' whenever a team opts for a review regarding a leg-before wicket (LBW) decision.

The Master Blaster has also said that a batsman should be given out if the ball is hitting the stumps.

Whether more than 50 per cent of the ball is hitting the stumps or not should not be matter, he further stated.

"What per cent of the ball hits the stumps doesn't matter, if DRS shows us that the ball is hitting the stumps, it should be given out, regardless of the on-field call," Tendulkar tweeted.

With this tweet, the former India batsman also shared a video, in which he has a discussion with Brian Lara regarding the working of DRS.
"One thing I don't agree with, with the ICC, is the DRS they have been using for quite some time. It is the LBW decision where more than 50 per cent of the ball must be hitting the stumps for the on-field decision to be overturned," Tendulkar said in the video.

"The only reason they (the batsman or the bowler) have gone upstairs is that they are unhappy with the on-field decision, so when the decision goes to the third umpire, let the technology take over, just like in tennis, it's either in or out, there's nothing in between," he added.

This call for doing away with umpire's call has been recommended by many former players.
Whenever a verdict pops up as 'umpire's call, the decision of the on-field umpire is not changed, but the teams do not lose their review as well.

ICC recently introduced some changes to the game of cricket, and they gave all teams liberty of extra review as non-neutral umpires will be employed in Test matches due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As a result, all teams will now have three reviews in every innings of a Test match. 

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