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There's only heartbreak for India's 100-Test veterans

November 24, 2012

shewag

Mumbai, November 24: If Virender Sehwag thought he could join the likes of Colin Cowdrey, Javed Miandad, Gordon Greenidge, Alec Stewart, Inzamam-ul Haq, Ricky Ponting and Graeme Smith to become the eighth man in history to score a hundred in his 100th Test, he was mistaken.

Viru was only following the norm: No other Indian batsman who has playing his 100th Test has managed to get to three figures.

Monty Panesar, the man who got him out, earned that name because he could get the ball to spin and bounce like a python, following which his teammates christened him 'Monty Python'.

Sehwag appeared clueless against a full length delivery that turned from outside leg-stump and was bowled while playing across the line for 30. Like other Indian batsmen in their 100th Test, he too endured heartbreak.

India's 100 Test veterans have generally seen other batsmen get to three figures on their special occasion. Sunil Gavaskar was the first Indian to get there against Pakistan at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium in 1984 and he made 48 and 37. Zaheer Abbas (168) and Mohinder Amarnath (101) scored hundreds in the drawn game.

Dilip Vengsarkar was capped for the 100th time on his home ground at the Wankhede against New Zealand on a dustbowl and India suffered an embarrassing defeat with the skipper managing scores of 25 and a blob.

Krish Srikkanth was the closest anyone got to scoring a hundred as the dashing opener made 94. While Kapil Dev reached the coveted mark in Karachi, we won't analyse his 100thTest effort as he qualifies more as an all rounder.

What about Sachin Tendulkar, though? The master got to the mark at the Oval in 2002 and he looked good for a three-figure score, but his efforts were cut short at 54 as he fell LBW to Andrew Caddick. The players he saw making tons in that high-scoring draw were Michael Vaughan (195) and Rahul Dravid (217).

Dravid, like Vengsarkar, reached the 100-Test mark at the Wankhede and like the former skipper and chief selector, he was the captain of a side that lost badly. Dravid's contribution in that Test against England was 52 and 9. Andrew Strauss (128) was the gate-crasher of the Wall's party.

Barring VVS Laxman, who featured in a win over Australia, in Nagpur, in 2008, none of the batsmen playing in the 100th Test have tasted victory.

In fact, Laxman's 64 in the first innings of that Test, is the highest score by an Indian batsman playing in his 100th Test. His 100th Test saw tons from Sachin Tendulkar (109) and Simon Katich (102).

Sehwag, playing in his 100th Test has already seen Cheteshwar Pujara reach three figures from the comfort of the dressing room when he would have preferred to do the same in the heat and dust in the middle. He has a chance to do that in the second innings, though. Can Viru break the jinx?



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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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News Network
June 24,2020

New Delhi, Jun 24: Former England skipper Michael Vaughan has slammed UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson for not allowing recreational cricket to resume.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had described the cricket ball as a 'natural vector of disease' and ruled out recreational cricket's return in the country.

Hearing Johnson's argument, Vaughan tweeted: "Hand sanitiser in every players pocket. Use every time you touch the ball ... SIMPLE ... Recreational Cricket should just play from July 4th ... utter nonsense it's not being allowed back ... #Cricket."

Johnson was responding to a question from Conservative MP Greg Clark in the House of Commons, and it was then that Johnson said that it is too soon to lift current restrictions to allow the return of recreational cricket.

"The problem with cricket as everybody understands is that the ball is a natural vector of disease, potentially at any rate. We've been around it many times with our scientific friends," ESPNCricinfo had quoted Johnson as saying.

"At the moment, we're still working on ways to make cricket more COVID-secure but we can't change the guidance yet," he added.

Johnson had announced various relaxations on Tuesday, but the return of recreational cricket was not a part of them.

However, this statement given by Johnson will have no impact on the Test series between England and West Indies, scheduled to begin from July 8.

However, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has said that it is looking to resume recreational cricket in the country around July 4.

The board has also said that cricket is a low-risk sport as it is a non-contact sport.

"We believe that cricket is a non-contact sport, with very low risks of exposure, and that it can be played as safely as many other activities being currently permitted," the ECB said in an official statement.

"It is our strong desire to work with Government to see the return of recreational cricket on or around 4th July, as they continue to lift other restrictions more broadly across society," it added.

All international cricket has also been suspended since March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, it is set to resume to from July 8 as England and West Indies will lock horns in the three-Test series.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

New Delhi, Jul 28: 'Your character stood out for me than the number of runs you scored," said India skipper Virat Kohli while explaining his decision to give opening Mayank Agarwal a Test debut in the 2018-19 Australia series.

Mayank Agarwal had made his Test debut against Australia in the third Test of the four-match series.

Playing the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Agarwal managed to register a half-century in his very first innings in the longest format.

"I had seen you play for RCB, even then you played international bowlers with conviction and you would take them on. You were performing in first-class matches in a dominating way. That is something always stood out with you, I would say your character stood out for me than the number of runs. I knew you would be fearless without having any baggage," Kohli told Mayank Agarwal in a video posted on the official website of BCCI.

In the longest format of the game, Agarwal has managed to score 974 runs from 11 matches at an average of 57.29 with three centuries as an opening batsman.

The Indian skipper also explained as to what makes him notice in a player and added that it is important that guys in the team look to face new challenges and emerge triumphantly.

"For me, the biggest marker is how a person approaches the game, so for example when you opened and we made Vihari open with you. The first opportunity we presented Vihari to open the batting, he said yes to it and that matters me to the most," Kohli said.

"I opened in my first series for India, I said yes to this opportunity and things worked out fine for me. So, a guy who wants to get into tough situations will come out either holding his head high or learning from his mistakes," he added.

Kohli and Mayank would soon be seen in action for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab respectively in the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting from September 19 in the UAE.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar keep on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

At present, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings. Kohli has so far played 86 Tests, scoring 7,240 runs with 27 centuries at an average of 53.62.

His knock of 254 against South Africa at Pune in 2019 remains his highest Test score to date. When it comes to ODIs, the current Indian skipper has played 248 matches and has 43 centuries.

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