Chance for India hopefuls to impress

February 6, 2013

India_hopefuls

Mumbai, Feb 6: The five-day Irani Cup match between Mumbai and the Rest of India, commencing at the Wankhede stadium here on Wednesday, offers a good chance for some India rejects to press for recalls and other aspirants to showcase their talent in front of the national selectors.

Rest of India, led by one-day discard Virender Sehwag, has a good all-round team on paper and the list includes Harbhajan Singh and S Sreesanth -- eager for India call-ups after being ejected out of the team on basis of form or fitness or both.

The rest outfit also contains openers Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay either of who can open with Sehwag and push for berths in the Test team to take on Australia later this month.

Vijay was the third opener for the lost Test series against England without playing a game while Dhawan could force his way in with a solid display as replacement for under-performing Delhi mate Gautam Gambhir.

Sehwag, a certainty for the opening Test at Chennai from February 22, would also be eager to get among the runs against a good Mumbai attack spearheaded by Dhawal Kulkarni after being cold-shouldered for the one-day series against England.

Mumbai would be led by Abhishek Nayar, a top pick in last Sunday’s IPL auction by Pune Warriors, in the absence of the injured Ajit Agarkar.

There is the consistent domestic performer Wasim Jaffer also in the mix of openers though the 34-year-old campaigner last played for India in a Test at Kanpur five years ago against South Africa.

There are also middle-order aspirants from both sides, with Mumbai opener Ajinkya Rahane too in the lot after being chosen by the selectors as a middle-order batsman in the team which played against England in the four-Test rubber.

The others include Suresh Raina and Manoj Tiwari, from the Rest ranks, and Rohit Sharma from Mumbai.

Senior batsman Sachin Tendulkar, who figured in Mumbai’s knockout run to the Ranji crown, would get another chance to get into the groove for the Australia series after being run out cheaply in the final against Saurashtra.

Two bowlers whose performance will be keenly watched are Harbhajan and Sreesanth. Both feisty cricketers would be extra keen to push their claims for an India Test slot.

Harbhajan has not really done anything remarkable after being picked, after a long gap, for the first two Tests against England and then discarded afterwards. But his rival for the off-spinner’s spot in the Indian squad, R Ashwin, seems to have lost his edge and the selectors would be keen to watch how the seasoned Harbhajan performs against the strong Mumbai batting line up.

Sreesanth has been out of cricket action with injuries for a long time. How he shapes up in the golden chance he has got to press for Test selection would be interesting to watch.

There are some other young pace hopefuls from both teams -- Kulkarni from Mumbai and Shami Ahmed and Ishwar Pandey from RoI -- trying to catch the selectors’ nod.

This would be the second Irani Cup tie to be held this season, done to accommodate the change of tournament schedule recommended by the Cricket Board’s technical committee.

The Sourav Ganguly-headed panel had suggested that the annual tournament be held after the conclusion of the Ranji Trophy instead of at the beginning of the season.

Last year’s Ranji Trophy winners Rajasthan had taken on and lost by an innings to the Rest of India at Bangalore at the beginning of the season in September, 2012.

Teams (from): Mumbai: Abhishek Nayar (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Wasim Jaffer, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Dhaval Kulkarni, K Pawar, Hiken Shah, Aditya Tare, Ankit Chavan, Javed Khan, Shardul Thakur, Vishal Dabholkar.

Rest of India: Virender Sehwag (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Manoj Tiwary, Suresh Raina, Wri¬ddhiman Saha, Harbhajan Singh, S Srees¬anth, Pragyan Ojha, Ishwar Pan¬dey, Abhimanyu Mithun, Ambati Ray¬udu, Shami Ahmed and Jalaj Saxena.

Umpires: Shavir Tarapore and Subroto Das; Third umpire: Ravi Belur. Match referee: Sunil Chaturvedi.

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News Network
February 27,2020

Melbourne, Feb 27: Shafali Verma's 34-ball 46 followed by a superlative performance from the bowlers helped India notch up a narrow four-run win over New Zealand in a crucial group A match of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup on Thursday.

Invited to bat, India posted a below-par 133 for eight against New Zealand in the crucial group A match with Shafali top-scoring with a 34-ball 46 and Taniya Bhatia chipping in with a 25-ball 23.

India, however, produced a disciplined performance with the ball to restrict New Zealand to 129 for six and register their third successive win in the tournament.

With this win, India topped Group A, having beaten Australia and Bangladesh in their last two outing.

Defending the total, India introduced spin straight away but Deepti Sharma bled 12 runs with opener Rachel Priest (12) hitting her for two boundaries.

But experienced pacer Shikha Pandey removed Priest in the next over when she had her caught at mid wicket.

With Shikha and left-arm spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad bowling in tandem, New Zealand played with caution to reach 28 for one.

Back into the attack, Deepti then cleaned up Bates with a beauty of a delivery as New Zealand slipped to 30 for two.

Poonam Yadav and Radha Yadav then mounted the pressure on the Kiwis and soon the Black Caps were 34 for 3 when the former dismissed skipper Sophie Devine (14).

Maddy Green (24) and Katey Martin (25) then tried to resurrect the innings with a 36-ball 43-run stand.

However, Gayakwad returned to remove Green, who danced down the pitch only to end up with an outside edge as Bhatia did the rest.

Radha then dismissed Martin to leave New Zealand at 90 for 5 in 16.3 overs.

Needing 44 off 21 balls, Kerr (34) blasted four boundaries to accumulate 18 runs in the penultimate over bowled by Poonam to bring the equation down to 16 off six balls.

In the final over, Heyley Jensen (11) and Kerr cracked a four each but Shikha held her nerves in the end to complete the win.

Earlier, 16-year-old Shafali provided the fireworks as India scored 49 for one in the powerplay overs. But they lost six wickets for 43 runs to squander the good start.

Smriti Mandhana (11), who returned to the playing XI after missing the last match due to illness, departed early but Shafali and Taniya (23) kept the scoreboard ticking, adding 51 runs for the second wicket.

In the 10th over, Taniya was caught by Amelia Kerr at backward point, while Jemimah Rodrigues (10) was caught by Kerr in the 12th over as India slipped to 80 for 3.

Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur's (1) poor form also continued as she was soon back to the hut after being caught and bowled by Leigh Kasperek.

Shafali, who was dropped at long-on in the 8th over and at mid-wicket in the 10th over, then holed out to Jensen at deep extra cover. She had four hits to the fence and three maximum shots in her innings.

Left-handed batter Deepti Sharma (8) and Veda Krishnamurthy (6) brought up the 100 in the 15th over but both departed soon as India slumped to 104 for 6.

Radha Yadav then blasted 14 off nine balls, which included a six in the final over, to give some respectability to the total.

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News Network
March 29,2020

New Delhi, Mar 29: Former Indian batsman Wasim Jaffer on Sunday picked his all-time IPL team and appointed wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni as its captain.

Jaffer's team's feature opener Rohit Sharma, current Indian skipper Virat Kohli, all-rounder Hardik Pandya, spinner R Ashwin, and pacer Jasprit Bumrah as seven domestic players.
While the foreign players spot have been occupied by West Indies' swashbuckling batsman Chris Gayle, all-rounder Andre Russell, Afghanistan's spinner Rashid Khan, and Sri Lanka's veteran pacer Lasith Malinga.
Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been picked as 12th man by Jaffer.

Earlier this month, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to postpone the IPL to April 15, 2020, as a precautionary measure against COVID-19 outbreak.
The board also assured that it will work in unison with the Sports Ministry and will adhere to the guidelines issued.

The 13th edition of IPL was scheduled to commence from March 29. 

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News Network
June 9,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 9: Former India skipper Rahul Dravid has said that Virat Kohli understands that the real respect for him as a cricketer will come through success in the longest format of the game.

Dravid, popularly known as 'The Wall', also said that Test batsmanship has become exciting to watch now as batters play aggressive shots more often.

"I actually believe Test batsmanship has become more exciting than before, the aggressive element of Test batsmanship is going forward, players are playing shots and it is good to see, a good thing for India is Virat Kohli really values Test cricket, he understands that the real respect for him as a cricketer will come from his success in Test cricket," Dravid told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

He also said that defensive batting in cricket is not irrelevant, but added that players can have successful careers without having a good defensive technique.

"I don't think it is becoming irrelevant, maybe the value of defensive batting is not the same as it was a generation ago, it can never become irrelevant, I think you still need to defend your wicket if you want to score suns, I feel now you can survive without a good defensive technique in cricket," Dravid said.

"Today, you do not need to have a good Test career to have a successful career, look at the best players in the world today, a lot of them have a good defensive technique and they can play out difficult periods of the game," he added.

The 47-year-old Dravid also said that all young players want to represent their country in all three formats during their initial days, but eventually, they become realistic as time passes by.

"I would say in my interaction with the younger players, everyone's hero is someone who has succeeded in all formats of the game. I think all players start off wanting to play all formats, but then guys get a little realistic about their careers, superstars of the game will still want to play to all formats of the game," Dravid said.

Dravid is the only player in the history of cricket to be involved in two 300-plus ODI partnerships.

He played 164 Tests, 344 ODIs and one T20I for India. Dravid had announced his retirement from international cricket in March 2012.

He finished his career with 48 international centuries.

He has also coached the Indian junior sides (India U-19 and India A) and he is now the head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA).

Dravid has also led the side during his playing days and under his leadership, the side had managed to register their first Test series win in England.

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