Maxwell, Warner crush India

February 9, 2015

Adelaide, Feb 9: India’s preparations for the cricket World Cup suffered a jolt as Australia thrashed the defending champions by 106 runs with Glenn Maxwell and David Warner striking blistering centuries in their first warm-up game here on Sunday.

Maxwell Warner

Electing to bat at the Adelaide Oval in a match where the two teams used their full 15-member squads, the hosts rode on Warner’s 104 and Maxwell’s 57-ball 122 to put up a mammoth 371 all out in 50 overs. Warner made his runs off 83 balls.

The hard-hitting Maxwell smashed 11 boundaries and eight towering sixes. Warner found the fence 14 times and cleared it twice. India were then bowled out for 265 in 45.1 overs to give the hosts another morale-boosting win ahead of the quadrennial event.

Ajinkya Rahane top-scored for the visiting side with a 52-ball 66, while Shikhar Dhawan (59) and Ambati Rayudu (53) too made half-centuries. But their efforts proved too less as the rest of the batsmen crumbled in the face of some aggressive bowling by the Aussies on a surface that looked pretty good for batting.

Pacer Pat Cummins was the most successful bowler for Australia as he returned figures of three for 30, while there were two wickets apiece for Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson and Josh Hazlewood.

Still in his comeback trail in international cricket following a month-long sabbatical due to a hamstring injury, 33-year-old pace spearhead Johnson had impressive figures of two for 26.

The star-studded Indian batting line-up that includes the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni failed to impress.

So was the case with all-rounder Stuart Binny and Ravindra Jadeja who were also smashed by the Australian batsmen.

‘It’s been tough to pick final XI’

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni admitted that he is having a difficult time?in identifying his playing eleven for the high-voltage World Cup clash against arch-rivals Pakistan.

“It has been difficult for us. When the batsmen click, the bowlers don’t and when the bowlers do, the batsmen fail. We need to sort that out.

What’s important is that we have one more game in our hand and before playing Pakistan it would be good to have the first XI in our hand,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation. The Indian captain though said “there are plenty of positives in the game” for them.

Asked what he was looking at for identifying the final team, Dhoni said there were quite a few things to watch.

“It will depend on our utility cricketers. If the pitches remain as it is, we need our spinners to use the bounce more. It’s a very long tournament and what we have seen is the team that does well is the one that comes from the bottom and moves rapidly up,” he said.

?Speaking about his first ball dismissal against Australia in the warm-up match, he said,”I just played my shot with so many runs needed and the fielder up, but I never really thought it would go right to Starc.”

Australian captain George Bailey was naturally happy with his side’s performance.

“It was a great performance for us. I think you?can always improve. Early wickets?would be nice to blow the game out of the water. We’d like to have lost a few less wickets and I’d like?Starc to catch with both hands,” he said.

Score board

Australia

Warner b Axar 104

Finch c Kohli b Binny 20

Watson c Axar b Mohit 22

Smith b Yadav 1

Bailey c Jadeja b Shami 44

Maxwell (retired) 122

Marsh c Rahane b Yadav 21

Johnson c Mohit b Shami 19

Starc c Dhoni b Mohit 0

Cummins b Shami 5

Doherty (not out) 0

Extras: (B-2, LB-5, W-3, NB-3) 13

Total: (all out; 48.2 overs) 371

Fall of wickets: 1-62, 2-115, 3-120, 4-185, 5-227, 6-318, 7-345, 8-346, 9-371.

Bowling: Binny 6-0-41-1, Kumar 5-0-31-0, Shami 9.2-0-83-3, Yadav 9-1-52-2, Mohit 6-0-62-2, Ashwin 6-1-29-0, Axar 5-0-47-1, Jadeja 2-0-19-0.

INDIA

Rohit c Finch b Hazlewood 8

Dhawan c Starc b Johnson 59

Kohli b Starc 18

Rahane c Marsh b Cummins 66

Raina (run out) 9

Rayudu c Haddin b Hazlewood 53

Dhoni c Starc b Cummins 0

Binny b Johnson 5

Jadeja c Warner b Cummins 20

Axar (not out) 5

Ashwin c Cummins b Starc 1

Extras (LB-3, W-17, NB-1) 21

Total (all out, 45.1 overs) 265

Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-53, 3-157, 4-172, 5-173, 6-173, 7-185, 8-254, 9-258.

Bowling: Starc 4.1-0-16-2, Johnson 6-0-26-2, Hazlewood 6-1-25-2, Marsh 6-0-38-0, Doherty 7-0-51-0, Maxwell 4-0-29-0, Watson 3-0-21-0, Cummins 6-1-30-3, Smith 3-0-26-0.

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Agencies
August 5,2020

New Delhi, Aug 5: "Want to know what makes him tick," said Australian pacer Kane Richardson will talking about playing alongside Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.

The IPL 2020 will be played in the UAE from September 19-November 10 and the tournament will run for 53 days.

In the players' auction which was conducted in December 2019, RCB managed to bag key players like Richardson, Chris Morris, Aaron Finch, Dale Steyn, Joshua Philippe, and Isuru Udana.

In an interaction with news agency, Richardson talked about playing alongside Kohli and the learning curve which is in store for him by being in the same squad as Proteas great Dale Steyn.
"Huge. These guys (Virat, AB de Villiers) are the absolute legends of the game. Anything I can learn from them will be a bonus, that's for sure.

I am really looking forward to playing with Virat, there are few more competitive players in the world. I am really looking forward to seeing what makes him tick," Richardson said.

The 29-year-old pacer also said that he would want to learn from Steyn as to how to be consistent in all formats of the game over a long period of time.

"There are loads I can learn from Dale. He has been amongst the best at the highest level for so long. His control and ability to swing the ball without losing his pace is really impressive. 

I look forward to getting in his ear about how he performs so consistently over a long period, in all forms," said Richardson who has 39 ODI wickets to his credit.

Richardson has so far played 14 games in his IPL career so far and has picked up 18 wickets. The bowler played for Pune Warriors India in 2013, Rajasthan Royals in 2014, and RCB in 2016.

For this year's IPL, RCB has also bagged Australia's limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch, and Richardson thinks having a familiar face in the camp would help him to settle better in the franchise.

"Finchey is an awesome player and a fantastic leader. I am sure it will help to have two Aussies in the side along with Josh who is playing his first tournament after a massive summer in the BBL. We are all professionals, I'm sure it won't take long for us to gel as a side," Richardson said.

However, before the IPL starts, Australia is expected to tour England for a limited-overs series, comprising of three ODIs and as many T20Is.

The side was last seen in action in March this year as they played one ODI against New Zealand in Sydney. After the first match, the remaining two ODIs were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Talking about the series against England, Kane replied: "We will be fresh, that's one thing, while the England players have been in a bubble for some time now. As long as we get enough practice in before and possibly some centre wicket it should not be an issue."

"They are World Cup holders and the number one ranked side for a very good reason. It will be a tough series also given they will have played a fair bit of cricket together by then. We know we need to work hard on our one-day game which will be a priority over the next period," he added.

The pacer also talked about how the lockdown was like for him, and Richardson feels that everyone would come back strong as a result of this break.

"The break from playing has been refreshing, to be honest. We have come back strong and are well into pre-season training with our states. As a bowler, our loads are not at their peak but we are working towards getting ready for a tour of the UK in a few weeks," Richardson said.

The Australian quick has so far played 25 ODIs and 18 T20Is, managing to take 39 and 19 wickets respectively.

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News Network
July 16,2020

Kolkata, Jul 16: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Wednesday went into home quarantine after his elder brother and Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) joint secretary Snehasish Ganguly tested positive for Covid-19.

Snehasish, a former Bengal first-class player, has been admitted to the Belle Vue hospital in Kolkata after his COVID report came positive.

"He was suffering from fever for the last few days and his test report came positive today. He's been admitted to Belle Vue Hospital," a CAB official said.

"The reports arrived late in the evening. As per health protocols, even Sourav will have to be in home quarantine for a stipulated period," a source close to the BCCI President added.

Snehasish had shifted to their ancestral house, where Sourav is based, in Behala after his wife and in-laws at his Mominpur residence tested positive for the dreaded virus.

The former India captain was, however, unavailable for a comment on the development.

Recently, during an interview to India Today, Sourav had spoken about how life around him has changed, making people more vulnerable.

"My brother visits our factories everyday and he is more at risk," the former batting star had said

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News Network
May 15,2020

New Delhi, May 15: Former England skipper David Gower feels Sourav Ganguly has the right "political skills" to lead the ICC one day and he has already displayed that as BCCI president, which is a "far tougher job".

The elegant left-hander is very impressed with Ganguly's leadership abilities and believes that he has what it takes to head the global body in the future.

"One thing I have learnt over the years is that if you are going to run BCCI, you need to be many, many things. Having a reputation like he (Ganguly) has is a very good start, but you need to be a very deft politician.

"You need to have control of a million different things," Gower said ahead of "Q20", a unique chat show for the fans presented by 'GloFans'.

Gower reckons being president of the BCCI is the toughest job imaginable in world cricket.

"And of course, you need to be responsible for a game that is followed by, I mean, should we say a billion people here in India," he said.

"We all know about the immense following for cricket in India. So it is indeed a wonderful thing to behold. Sourav has the toughest task imaginable in charge of BCCI, but so far I would say the signs are very good.

"He has listened, given his own opinion and has pulled strings gently," he said.

Political skills are a must in administration and that's where Gower finds his fellow left-hander ticking all the boxes.

"He is a very, very good man and has those political skills. He has the right attitude and can keep things together and will do good job. And if you do a good job as BCCI chief in the future, who knows?

"But I would actually say the more important job, to be honest, is running BCCI. Being head of ICC is an honour, there is a lot that can be done by ICC, but actually look at the rankings, look at where the power is heading up. BCCI is definitely the bigger job," he said.

On the cricketing front, Gower believes World Test Championship has given the format much-needed context.

"The idea of this World Test Championship has come about for one very simple reason that people are worried about the survival of Tests. Back in the seventies, eighties, I don't think we needed context to be fair.

"Test cricket was very much more obviously the most important format and if there was anything to be judged by, it was the performances in Test matches both as an individual and as a team.

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