New Zealand tour will help in preparing for 2015 World Cup: MS Dhoni

January 12, 2014

World_Cup2015Mumbai, Jan 12: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni feels that the upcoming tour of New Zealand will be an ideal exposure trip for his young brigade as it prepares to defend the World Cup, which will be held in just over a year's time in the Trans-Tasman nations.

"As far as experience is concerned, yes the next World Cup will be in Australia and New Zealand, so most of the players will get the feel, about the wickets. When I first went to New Zealand, the fielding position was very confusing. The shape of the grounds are very unusual," Dhoni said during his team's pre-departure press conference.

"We had to keep fine leg very deep and from a wicket keeping angle it looked like it was square leg. So it takes time to adjust. Overall, it would be a good exposure," Dhoni said at the pre-departure conference here today.

He predicted an exciting series in New Zealand and said that some of the matches could be high scoring, especially with the new ICC rules.

"The grounds in New Zealand are different. In most places, there are drop-in pitches. It has been seen that the matches can be high scoring, especially with the new rule changes. When we went last time, we had played according to the old rules.

"And according to the new rules, probably some of the matches could be high scoring. But it will depend on what kind of wicket we are playing the match. If it is a flat wicket, small ground, and if there is a good partnership, the batsmen bat well, then in that scenario you can see that there could be lot of high scoring matches," Dhoni added.

"In their team, they have lot of interesting talents, there are many new players who are doing well and it is also their home condition. So I think overall, it looks exciting. It looks like an exciting series. Let's hope for the best," he said.

The Indian captain said the previous series in South Africa yielded a lot of positives for the team, without elaborating.

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News Network
June 11,2020

New Delhi, Jun 11: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has indicated that this year's IPL could be conducted in empty stadiums, insisting that all possible options are being explored to ensure that the suspended event does take place despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a letter to all the affiliated units sent late on Wednesday after the ICC Board meeting, Ganguly seemed confident of an IPL this year despite its current status of being indefinitely suspended because of the raging pandemic, which has claimed more than 8,000 lives in India.

"The BCCI is working on all possible options to ensure that we are able to stage IPL this year, even if it means playing the tournament in empty stadiums," Ganguly wrote.

"The fans, franchises, players, broadcasters, sponsors and all other stakeholders are keenly looking forward to the possibility of IPL being hosted this year.

"Recently, a lot of players both from India and other countries, participating in the IPL have shown keenness on being part of this year's IPL. We are optimistic and the BCCI will shortly decide on the future course of action on this," the former India captain said.

It is widely speculated that the IPL is eyeing the October event if the T20 World Cup scheduled to be held in Australia at that time is postponed. The ICC has deferred a decision on the World Cup's fate until next month.

Ganguly also said that the BCCI is working on the domestic schedule while exploring various formats which would make tournaments like Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Vijay Hazare "competitive and feasible".

"Moving ahead, the BCCI is in process of planning the domestic competitions for the next cricketing season. We are working on various options and formats in our endeavour to ensure that various domestic tournaments are held, they stay competitive and participation feasible," said the former India captain.

"The BCCI will come up with more details in next couple of weeks," he added.

He also informed that BCCI is preparing a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for resumption of cricket in all state units to ensure medical safety of those involved.

The president also informed that the BCCI has made "all efforts to release funds/grants to its various members."

"Associations which have made proper submission of their accounts and funds utilization certificates have already received their grants," he said.

The other units will also receive their grants once they submit relevant documents, the president assured while informing that vendors have also been paid.

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Agencies
March 1,2020

New Delhi, Mar 1: Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif on Sunday heaped praise on Ravindra Jadeja after the all-rounder took a spectacular catch on the second day of the Christchurch Test against New Zealand.

Jadeja grabbed a one-handed stunner at deep square leg in the 72nd over to dismiss Neil Wagner, who had to depart after scoring 21 runs.

"Sir Jadeja for a reason! Jadeja Airlines, flying high! Terrific stuff," Kaif tweeted.

In the match, Jadeja also impressed with the ball. The left-handed bowler took two wickets while giving away 22 runs.

On day two, India bundled out New Zealand on 235 runs in the second Test. However, in their second innings, Indian batsmen again struggled to tackle the New Zealand pacers and lost six wickets with a lead of just 97 runs.

India went to stumps at 90/6, with Trent Boult doing the majority of the damage with three wickets.

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Kuala Lumpur, Jan 9: BWF World Championships defending champion PV Sindhu on Thursday cruised to the quarterfinals of the ongoing Malaysia Masters after winning a second-round match.

The 24-year-old had the upper hand in the clash and thrashed Japan's Aya Ohori in straight games 21-10, 21-15 that lasted for 34-minute. The world number six will now play in her quarterfinal match on January 10.

Earlier in the day, Saina Nehwal defeated South Korea's An Se Young 25-23, 21-12 in 38 minutes. The first game saw back and forth action between both shuttlers. In the end, Nehwal kept her cool to win the match.

On Wednesday, the 29-year-old had outclassed Belgium's Lianne Tan 21-15, 21-17 to progress to the pre-quarterfinals.

Shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the tournament after losing their matches to Japan's Kento Momota and Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei respectively. 

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