Sachin Tendulkar set for return against New Zealand, Yuvraj Singh likely for World T20

August 9, 2012

sachin_yuvi Mumbai, August 9: Sachin Tendulkar is all set to return to the Test arena after a break of two months but all eyes will be on another veteran VVS Laxman's future when selectors pick the squad for the two-match series against New Zealand starting August 23.

The selectors will also pick the final squad for the World Twenty20 Championship in Sri Lanka in September and Yuvraj Singh, who is training at the NCA after recovering from a rare germ cell cancer, is in contention for a spot.

"It will depend on the fitness certificate that he will get from the NCA," a selection committee source told PTI.

The first Test against New Zealand will be held in Hyderabad while the second match will be played at Bangalore from August 31.

"There are two schools of thought on Laxman. One is that we should groom a youngster before the series against England, while the other wants to give Laxman a chance to play at home," the source said.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coach Duncan Fletcher will be attending the meeting.

Incidentally, this will be India's first Test series after their 0-4 drubbing during at the hands of Australia, earlier this year.

Tendulkar, who decided to take a break from the recently concluded limited overs series in Sri Lanka, will be fresh and raring to have a go at the New Zealanders, who had a forgettable Test series against the West Indies.

The series will also be important as it will be the start of Team India's journey without a man responding to the name of Rahul Dravid.

Talented India A captain Cheteshwar Pujara, who has long been touted as Dravid's ideal replacement, is likely to get a long rope to prove his worth in Test cricket.

Rohit Sharma's string of failures and Pujara's impressive show for India A in West Indies makes the latter's case stronger.

Pujara has played three Test matches in 2010 with the highlight being a 72 against Australia in Bangalore in India's successful run chase.

The most interesting part of Friday's meeting will certainly be selection committee's stance on Laxman's future.

Speculation is rife as to whether the first Test at Hyderabad could be his swansong after having had a dismal tour of Australia, where he managed a meagre 155 runs from eight innings at an average of less than 20.

His fitness and running between the wickets have also come under the scanner time and again.

Nearing 38, the 'Very Very Special' man of Indian cricket is not getting any younger.

The only thing that might force the selectors to persist with Laxman for the next 10 Test matches at home is his experience. With no Dravid, the exit of Laxman would mean that Tendulkar will be the only vastly experienced batsman in the Indian middle-order.

Virat Kohli has already established himself after his impressive show against Australia Down Under and Ajinkya Rahane will come in as the reserve opener after Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.

Sehwag, Gambhir, Kohli, Tendulkar, Laxman, Pujara and Dhoni, in all likelihood, will be the seven batsmen while Zaheer Khan, Umesh Yadav are likely to operate with the new ball. Gangling pacer Ishant Sharma is also in contention provided he is declared fit.

The other question marks will be on Sehwag and Zaheer's fitness as they had to come back home before the one-off Twenty20 against Sri Lanka. Hopefully, with two weeks left for the New Zealand series, they would recover in time for Tests.

Irfan Pathan, after his good all-round show in Sri Lanka, may be inducted in the squad of 15 as an all-rounder but he may not readily get a chance in the playing XI.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, in all likelihood, will complete the first XI.

It will be interesting to see whether senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh gets a look in although on current form, it will be very difficult.

He has played three first-class county matches so far for Essex taking only two wickets. The first match against Gloucestershire was a wash-out where he got to bowl only 14 overs. Against Hampshire, he bowled 30.3 overs taking 1/76 in the process.

Against Leicestershire, he had figures of 1/96 from 37 overs. Statistically, he may not figure in the list but one can never discount his match-winning performances on Indian pitches.

In case, Harbhajan is overlooked once again, Rahul Sharma will make it in the squad as the third frontline spinner given that there are very few other options.

The 15th and last place would have multiple contenders. Rohit may be down on form but his sheer talent will still keep him in contention.

With no quality fast bowlers in Black Caps rank and matches supposed to be held on slow tracks of Uppal and Chinnaswamy Stadiums, Suresh Raina's chances cannot also be ruled out as he can also bowl off-breaks.

Manoj Tiwary also has a case after making full use of whatever opportunities he has been handed but he is certainly behind Rohit and Raina in this race for the final spot in the squad.



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Agencies
April 25,2020

London, Apr 25: Former Australian cricketer Graeme Watson who was fighting cancer, has died at the age of 75.

Primarily a middle-order batsman and a medium-pace bowler, he featured in five Tests from 1967 to 1972 and two ODIs in 1972, ESPNcricinfo reported.

The all-rounder earned the national call during the 1966-67 tour of Rhodesia and South Africa. Watson slammed a half-century in the first innings of the second Test of the series.

However, the medium-pace bowler was ruled of the next test after suffering an ankle injury. He returned for the fourth Test in Johannesburg where scalped his career-best 2 for 67 but failed to leave a mark with the bat as Kangaroos lost the series.

In 1971-72 he moved to Western Australia and played a major role in their Sheffield-Shield win in 1971-72, 1972-73, and 1974-75 seasons.

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News Network
June 18,2020

Jun 18: Sri Lanka "sold" the 2011 World Cup final to India, the country's former sports minister said on Thursday, reviving one of cricket's most explosive match-fixing controversies. Mahindananda Aluthgamage, who was sports minister at the time, is the second senior figure to allege the final was fixed, after 1996 World Cup-winning skipper Arjuna Ranatunga. "I tell you today that we sold the 2011 World Cup finals," Aluthgamage told Sirasa TV. "Even when I was sports minister I believed this."

Aluthgamage, sports minister from 2010 to 2015 and now state minister for renewable energy and power, said he "did not want to disclose" the plot at the time.

"In 2011, we were to win, but we sold the match. I feel I can talk about it now. I am not connecting players, but some sections were involved," he said.

Sri Lanka lost the match at Mumbai's Wankhede stadium by six wickets. Indian players have strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Ranatunga, who was at the stadium as a commentator, has previously called for an investigation into the defeat.

"When we lost, I was distressed and I had a doubt," he said in July 2017. "We must investigate what happened to Sri Lanka at the 2011 World Cup final."

"I cannot reveal everything now, but one day I will. There must be an inquiry," added Ranatunga, who said players could not hide the "dirt".

Sri Lanka batted first and scored 274-6 off 50 overs. They appeared in a commanding position when Indian superstar Sachin Tendulkar was out for 18.

But India turned the game dramatically, thanks partly to poor fielding and bowling by Sri Lanka, who were led by Kumar Sangakkara.

Sri Lankan cricket has regularly been involved in corruption controversies, including claims of match-fixing ahead of a 2018 Test against England.

Earlier this month, the Sri Lankan cricket board said the International Cricket Council was investigating three unnamed former players over alleged corruption.

Sri Lanka introduced tough penalties for match-fixing and tightened sports betting restrictions in November in a bid to stamp out graft.

Another former sports minister, Harin Fernando, has said Sri Lankan cricket was riddled with graft "from top to bottom", and that the ICC considered Sri Lanka one of the world's most corrupt nations.

Former Sri Lankan fast bowler Dilhara Lokuhettige was suspended in 2018 for corruption relating to a limited-overs league.

He was the third Sri Lankan charged under the ICC anti-corruption code, following former captain and ex-chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya, and former paceman Nuwan Zoysa.

Jayasuriya was found guilty of failing to cooperate with a match-fixing probe and banned for two years. Zoysa was suspended for match-fixing.

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News Network
July 25,2020

New Delhi, Jul 25: Former India spinner Anil Kumble said that he has never understood why people compared him with Australia's Shane Warne.

Kumble was doing an Instagram live session with former Zimbabwe pacer Pommie Mbangwa and it was then that the spinner also talked about being the third-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket.

"It feels really wonderful to finish with these many wickets. I never bothered about statistics or what my average should be, I wanted to bowl the whole day and be the one to take wickets. To finish as the third-highest wicket-taker in Tests alongside Murali and Warne is very special. All three of us played in the same era, there were a lot of comparisons, I do not know why people compared me with Warne. Warne was someone really different and he was on a different plane," Kumble told Mbangwa during the interaction.
"These two guys could spin the ball on any surface so it became really difficult for me when they started comparing me with Warne and Murali. I learnt a lot by watching them both bowl," he added.

The Indian spinner announced his retirement from international cricket in 2008. He finished with 619 wickets in the longest format of the game.

He has the third-highest number of wickets in Tests, only behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and Australia's Shane Warne (708).

Kumble is the second bowler in the history of international cricket after England's Jim Laker to take all ten wickets in an innings of a Test match.

He had achieved the feat against Pakistan in 1999 at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi. Kumble had bowling figures of 10-74 from 26.3 overs in the second innings of the Test match.
Kumble will be coaching Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League (IPL). 

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