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Sehwag makes way for Pujara in ODI squad against England

January 7, 2013

shewag

New Delhi, Jan 7: The Sandeep Patil-led National Selection committee bit the bullet and axed senior batsman Virender Sehwag from India’s squad for the first three ODIs against England.

Sehwag’s exclusion from the playing eleven in the final one-dayer against Pakistan on Sunday was an ominous sign of things to come in Sehwag’s way. Young Ajinkya Rahane, who had been waiting in the wings for quite some time now, was selected in his place.

It’s a different matter that the Mumbai batsman managed just four runs at Feroze Shah Kotla here on Sunday in the third one-dayer.

Sehwag has been going through a prolonged slump in form in all formats of the game and speculation was rife that the axe may fall on him. Sehwag has averaged just 22.54 in the last 11 one-dayers he has played in the last 12 months.

This is the second time the Delhi batsman has been dropped from the Indian squad, the first time being in 2007 before he made a comeback the next year in Australia.

Saurashtra batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, who has been in fine form in Tests and in the ongoing domestic season, has been drafted in his place to bolster the middle-order.

The top order has been consistently crumbling of late and the lack of runs from Sehwag and his partner Gautam Gambhir has not helped India’s cause. Sehwag has scored just one half century in 12 innings.

Pujara has been impressive in the Test series against England, scoring two hundreds at Ahmedabad and Mumbai in the first and second Tests respectively. He had been scoring consistently at the domestic level as well and also made a double century in Ranji Trophy against Madhya Pradesh last week, where he reached 200 from 150 in just 17 balls.

The sword was also hanging on Gambhir but for the moment he has been retained in the 15-member squad. While Gambhir has done little of note in Tests and T20s in the last one year or so, his record in one-dayer has been encouraging. Surprisingly, the selectors continued to show faith in Rohit Sharma despite his long struggle with the bat.

As expected, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shami Ahmed have been retained.

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News Network
June 13,2020

Mumbai, Jun 13: Vasant Raiji, who was India's oldest first-class cricketer at 100, died in Mumbai in the wee hours of Saturday.

Raiji was 100 years old and is survived by his wife and two daughters.

"He (Raiji) passed away at 2.20 am in his sleep at his residence in Walkeshwar in South Mumbai due to old-age," his son-in-law Sudarshan Nanavati told PTI.

Raiji, a right-handed batsman, played nine first-class matches in the 1940s, scoring 277 runs with 68 being his highest score.

He made his debut for a Cricket Club of India team that played Central Provinces and Berar in Nagpur in 1939.

His Mumbai debut happened in 1941 when the team played Western India under the leadership of Vijay Merchant.

Raiji, also a cricket historian and chartered accountant, was 13 when India played its first Test match at the Bombay Gymkhana in South Mumbai.

Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and former Australian skipper Steve Waugh had paid a courtesy visit to Raiji at his residence in January when he had turned 100.

It has been learnt that the cremation will take place at the Chandanwadi crematorium in South Mumbai on Saturday afternoon.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Sunday said the Women's IPL or the Challenger series, as it is better known, is "very much on", ending speculation about the parent body not having a plan for Harmanpreet Kaur and her team.

The men's IPL will be held between September 19 and November 8 or 10 (final date yet to be locked in) in the UAE due to the surge in Covid-19 cases in India. The women's IPL will also be fit in to the schedule, according to the BCCI chief.

"I can confirm to you that the women's IPL is very much on and we do have a plan in place for the national team also," Ganguly told PTI ahead of the IPL Governing Council meeting later on Sunday.

The BCCI president, who is awaiting a Supreme Court verdict on waiver of the cooling-off period to continue in the position, did not divulge details but another senior official privy to the development said that women's Challenger will be held during the last phase of IPL like last year.

"The women's Challenger series is likely to be held between November 1-10 and there could be a camp before that," the source said.

The former India captain also said that the centrally contracted women players will have a camp which has been delayed due to the prevailing situation in the country.

"We couldn't have exposed any of our cricketers -- be it male or female to health risk. It would have been dangerous," Ganguly said.

"The NCA also remained shut because of Covid-19. But we have a plan in place and we will have a camp for women, I can tell you that," he added.

The BCCI's cricket operations team is chalking up a schedule where Indian women are likely to have two full-fledged white-ball series against South Africa and the West Indies before playing the ODI World Cup in New Zealand. 

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Agencies
March 13,2020

New Delhi, Mar 13: The remaining ODI series between India and South Africa has been called-off amidst the rising concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.

"The second and third ODI between India and South Africa in Lucknow and Kolkata respectively are called off," the BCCI source told media persons.

The first match of the series was abandoned due to rain and wet outfield without a toss at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) stadium on Thursday.

The second and third ODI was scheduled to be played at Lucknow and Kolkata on March 15 and 18 respectively. Earlier on Thursday, the BCCI has decided to play the remaining two ODIs behind closed doors.

"After holding discussions with the MYAS and MOHFW, the BCCI on Thursday announced that the remaining two One-day Internationals (ODIs) of the three-match series of South Africa tour of India, 2020, will be played without any public gathering, including spectators," the BCCI had said in a statement.

The Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry has advised all the federations to avoid large gatherings.

World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday had declared the coronavirus outbreak a 'pandemic' and expressed deep concerns.

The coronavirus disease was first detected in Wuhan in China's Hubei province, in late December, and has since spread worldwide.

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