IPL 2019: Russell will bat up the order if situation demands,says KKR coach Kallis

Agencies
April 24, 2019

London, Apr 24: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) coach Jacques Kallis feels Andre Russell will definitely come up higher in the batting order if the situation demands.

His remarks come after the underutilisation of Russell with the bat in the IPL match against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday.

"It certainly hadn't been one of our plans but if the situation arises then it's something we'll think of. It's a matter of what the team needs in such a situation and what the captain and management come up with, and we feel where each player is suited to play."

"But like I said, if a situation arises where Andre or someone else can come up the order, we've got to perhaps try one or two things a little differently," ESPN Cricinfo quoted Kallis as saying on Tuesday.

Russell has been in a fine form in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as he has scored 392 runs at an average of 65.33 and a strike rate of 217.77.

KKR lost the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad and as a result, they are positioned at the sixth place in the IPL league standings with just 8 points.

The team decided to give their players a break ahead of their next clash in the IPL and Kallis was of the view that the break will allow the players to be fresh and hopefully turn the season around for the team.

"We felt that the guys needed a break. They were given the freedom to do what they want for the next couple of days. It has been a disappointing couple of games for us, so we thought that guys can go away and do what they want." 

"They could go home if they wanted to, and some guys felt they wanted to get a little practice which they couldn't get here, so they went to Mumbai. Our practices here are optional, so it's just about getting guys refreshed and mentally up for the game," Kallis said.

The KKR coach also talked about the mood in the team and said the players are not negative but frustrated with the results not going in their favour in the past few games.

"I think they are frustrated, but I wouldn't say they are negative. They do realise we've still got a chance of qualifying. We've just got to play some good cricket."

"I've said all along that in this format, it's the little percentages you need to improve to turn things around and we're not far off. We just need to do the little things a little bit better," Kallis said.

The former South African player said that not taking enough wickets in the matches is probably costing the team and it ends up creating more pressure on the captain.

"The frustrating part of this season has been not taking wickets and if you don't take wickets upfront you are under pressure for the whole innings," Kallis said.

"I think we've probably taken 20-21 wickets in ten games, which has put us under a lot of pressure. Yes, your bowling unit is going to be under pressure, you can't quite be as attacking, you almost have to be defensive when there are wickets in hand. So yeah, the key for us is taking more wickets upfront, and making life a little easier in the middle and end period," he added.

Kolkata Knight Riders will take on Rajasthan Royals on April 25 at Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata.

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News Network
February 24,2020

Wellington, Feb 24: Indian batsmen's inadequacies in adverse conditions were laid bare as they crashed to an embarrassing 10-wicket defeat against a ruthless New Zealand side that wrapped up the opening Test in just over three days here on Monday.

Starting the day on 144 for four, India were all out for 191 in their second innings. This was only a shade better than their dismal 165 in the first innings, which eventually proved to be decisive.

Trent Boult (4/39 in 22 overs) and Tim Southee (5/61 in 21 overs), the most under-rated new ball pairs in world cricket, showed that when it boils down to playing incisive seam and swing bowling, this batting line-up is still a work in progress.

The required target of nine runs was knocked off by New Zealand without much ado for their 100th Test win.

India's last defeat was against Australia at Perth during the 2018-19 series but the loss at the Basin Reserve would hurt them more because the visitors have not surrendered in such a fashion of late.

There was no resistance from a star-studded line-up and more than intent, the failure was due to poor technique on a track that had something on the third and fourth day as well.

This is a team that plays fast bowling much better than their predecessors, the reason for their success on the bouncy Australian tracks.

But when it comes to facing conventional seam and swing bowling in testing conditions, they are yet to learn the art of saving a Test match.

India had lost the mental battle on the first day itself when they saw the moisture on the wicket.

The toss became a factor and not for one session did they look comfortable. Mayank Agarwal was the only batsman, who felt at home in patches, as New Zealand showed what a Test match strategy is all about.

If the first innings was about mixing back of length deliveries with fuller length balls, the second innings saw the pacers coming from round the wicket and targeting the rib-cage. The line was disconcerting and it stifled them for good.

It affected their mindset and once Ajinkya Rahane and Hanuma Vihari stepped out on the fourth morning, defeat was written all over as both looked ill-equipped to handle such high quality seam bowling.

Rahane (29 off 75 balls) and Vihari (15 off 79 balls) are players who only play long-form cricket at the international level and both are known for their patience.

But little would have the Indian vice-captain apprehended that he would get a delivery from Boult, which he thought would move away after pitching but it held its line and he had no option but to jab at it, and all he got was an edge.

Southee, who bowls a lovely classical outswinger, then bowled an off-cutter from the other end and before Vihari could comprehend, it came back sharply to peg the stumps back.

Within first 20 minutes, the two seasoned practitioners of swing had knocked the stuffing out of India's resistance.

Rishabh Pant (25 off 41 balls) batted only in the manner he can and played one breathtaking shot off Southee, a slog sweep off a 130 kmph-plus delivery to the deep mid-wicket boundary.

But there was too much left to do with too little support from the other end. Bending on one knee, he tried another audacious slog scoop but couldn't clear.

Southee, who had a terrific match, deservingly completed his 10th five-wicket haul and all it took was 16 overs to end the innings and the match.

New Zealand now have 120 points in the World Test championship and India stayed on top with 36 points.

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Agencies
January 19,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 19: Opening batsman Rohit Sharma on Sunday became the third-fastest batsman to register 9,000 runs in the 50-over format.

He achieved the feat in the ongoing third ODI against Australia here at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Only Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers have achieved the feat faster than Rohit.

Sharma brought up the milestone in the first over of the Indian innings as he clipped Mitchell Starc away for a single.

With this, the right-handed batsman has become just the sixth Indian to achieve the milestone.

Apart from Sharma, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, and Sachin Tendulkar have more than 9,000 runs in the 50-over format.

Overall, 20 batsmen have more than 9,000 ODI runs to their name.

In the match between India and Australia, the former won the toss and elected to bat first.

Steve Smith played a knock of 131 runs to propel Australia to 286/9 in the allotted fifty overs.

 

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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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