India win toss, elect to bat against Afghanistan

Chennai, Jan 26: Former India cricketer Kapil Dev on Saturday said that it will be a big loss for the Indian side when MS Dhoni decides to hang up his boots.

"I think he has served the country so well and nobody has done it like him. Everyone has to retire sooner or later. He is not playing matches currently. So I don't know when he will come out one day and say -- I have had enough. I think it will be our loss because he is such a fabulous cricketer," Dev told reporters here.

In the recently released BCCI contracts list, Dhoni did not find a place for himself. The former World Cup winning captain Dev said that it is unfortunate that Dhoni was not included in the contract list.

"I feel sorry that they have not included him. 

Tendulkar, Gavaskar had to witness the same. It's not my job and I am not there to give the contract to anyone. It is the job of the cricket board. So, I don't know. You can ask this question to the cricket board. They will be able to answer this question," Dev said.

The 38-year-old Dhoni is 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. 

Especially in the games against England and New Zealand (semi-final), he had to bear the brunt of netizens, who deemed him as the reason for the Men in Blue's loss.

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

New Delhi, April 4: India skipper Virat Kohli has said that the 2014 Test series against England was the lowest point of his career.

He made the revelation during a candid Instagram Live session with former England batsman Kevin Pietersen.

To date, the 2014 Test series in England remains one of the worst Test series for Kohli as he averaged just 13.40 from 10 ten innings with his highest score being 39.

"I felt like as a batsman, you know you are going to get out in the morning as soon as you wake up. That was the time I felt like that there is no chance I am getting runs. And still to get out of bed and just get dressed for the game and to go out there and go through that, knowing that you will fail, was something that ate me up," Kohli told Pietersen.

However, just four years later, Kohli made a triumphant return to England as he scored a century in the opening Test of the 2018 series and finished as the highest run-getter in the series.

Kohli told Pietersen that the performance in 2014 came because he was just thinking about his own batting.

"2014 series happened, for all the younger guys listening, because I was too focused on doing well from a personal point of view. I wanted to get runs. I could never think of what does the team want me to do in this situation," Kohli said.

"I just got too engulfed with England tour - if I perform here, Test cricket, in my mind I am going to feel established and all that crap on the outside, which is not important at all," he added.
During the chat, Kohli talked about his favourite format in cricket and he also revealed the main reason for turning into a vegan.

Tokyo, Apr 14: Tokyo organizers said Tuesday they have no B Plan in the event the Olympics need to be postponed again because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Masa Takaya, the spokesman for the Tokyo Olympics, said organizers are proceeding under the assumption the Olympics will open on July 23, 2021. The Paralympics follow on Aug. 24.

Those dates were set last month by the International Olympic Committee and Japanese officials after the coronavirus pandemic made it clear the Olympics could not be held as scheduled this summer.

We are working toward the new goal, Takaya said, speaking in English on a teleconference call with journalists.

We don't have a B Plan. The severity of the pandemic and the death toll has raised questions if it will even be feasible to hold the Olympics in just over 15 months. Several Japanese journalists raised the question on the call.

All I can tell you today is that the new games' dates for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games have been just set up, Takaya said.

In that respect, Tokyo 2020 and all concerned parties now are doing their very best effort to deliver the games next year." IOC President Thomas Bach was asked about the possibility of a postponement in an interview published in the German newspaper Die Welt on Sunday.

He did not answer the question directly, but said later that Japanese organizers and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe indicated they could not manage a postponement beyond next summer at the lastest.

The Olympics draw 11,000 athletes and 4,400 Paralympic athletes and large support staffs from 206 national Olympic committees.

There are also questions about frozen travel, rebooking hotels, cramming fans into stadiums and arenas, securing venues, and the massive costs of rescheduling, which is estimated in Japan at 2 billion- 6 billion.

Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto addressed the issue in a news conference on Friday. He is likely to be asked about it again on Thursday when local organizers and the IOC hold a teleconferene with media in Japan.

The other major question is the cost of the delay; how much will it be, and who pays? Bach said in the Sunday interview that the IOC would incur several hundred million dollars in added costs. Under the so-called Host City Agreement, Japan is liable for the vast majority of the expenses.

This is impossible to say for now, Takaya, the spokesman said.

It is not very easy to estimate the exact amount of the games' additional costs, which have been impacted by the postponement."

Tokyo says it's spending 12.6 billion to organize the Olympics. But a Japanese government audit published last year says the costs are twice that much. Of the total spending, 5.6 billion in private money. The rest is from Japanese governments.