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
June 18,2020

New Delhi, Jun 18: Premier Indian off-spinner R Ashwin has described Mahendra Singh Dhoni as a "massive influence" on his career, revealing that at the beginning of his IPL stint, he was driven by an intense desire to get the former captain's attention.

Ashwin got his contract with CSK, one of the most successful IPL sides, in 2008 and said the stint with CSK shaped his career.

"IPL and CSK is a stage that everyone wants. For me it was more about recognition. MSD did not know who Ashwin is, (Matthew) Hayden and (Muttiah) Muralithan did not know who Ashwin is. The first thing that came to my mind was that 'I will show these people that Ashwin is here'," Ashwin told Harsha Bhogle on 'Cricbuzz in Conversation'.

"I don't know it was being foolish or arrogance but that was how I was made. Nobody was giving me a chance that Ashwin will play alongside Muralitharan or ahead of Muralitharan. I thought, I will get there ahead of him one day," he added.

Ashwin said Dhoni, who led CSK, had "massive influence" on him and the only way to impress him was by troubling him in the nets.

"I got the eye of Hayden, Jacob Oram, and Stephen Fleming while bowling to them at the nets. They were finding it difficult to face me in the first year (2008) but I had not caught the eye of MSD," he said.

"I never had massive interactions with him. It was going to the nets and getting MSD...he was hitting Muralitharan out of the park and I thought, if I bowl better than him, I met get to play ahead of Murali.

" I got his attention when I got him during a Challenger trophy and celebrated like a crazy kid," he recalled.

After that, Ashwin said during CSK's match against Victoria Bushrangers in the now defunct Champions League, he volunteered to bowl the Super Over and Dhoni gave him the ball without hesitation.

Ashwin did not fare well and ended up conceding 23 runs. The off-spinner said when Dhoni walked past him after the match, he only said that, "you should have bowled the carrom ball."

"MS always maintained that you are exceptionally skilful and you should keep doing what you do."

Ashwin has been very successful against the left-handers as 189 of his 365 wickets are of southpaws. Ashwin credited his engineering background and advice from Duncan Fletcher for the success.

"He made a statement that changed cricket. He said it's all about geometry and left it at that. Understanding angles (engineering background) has given me edge over others," he said.

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News Network
June 13,2020

Melbourne, Jun 13: Former Australia wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist and current opener David Warner have expressed gratitude to two Indian students for helping people in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gilchrist thanked Sharon Varghese, an Indian student who did her Bachelors in Nursing from the University of Wollongong.

Varghese has been was working on the frontline along with other health care workers to look after the residents of aged-care during the global health crisis.

"She gave up her time to work as an aged-care worker throughout that time. Sharon, I want to say congratulations on the selfless act and for wanting to thank people in Australia because you have enjoyed three and a half years living here. And that’s wonderful to hear," Gilchrist said in a video message.

"Just want to let you know, all of Australia, all of India and more importantly, your family will be so very proud of your efforts."

In another short video, Warner thanked Queensland-based Indian student, Shreyas Sheth.

"Namaste. I am here to say thank you to Shreyas Sheth who is doing selfless work to help others during the COVID crisis. Shreyas is doing his Masters in Computer Science at the University of Queensland and he has been part of University’s outreach program, preparing and delivering food packets to students in need right now," Warner said in the video.

"So I just want to say ‘good on ya’. I am sure your mum and dad and India are proud of you. Keep up the great work."

The videos were shared by Austrade India official twitter account, which have hit almost 10 thousand views in last one week.

Apart from the two cricketers, another Social Media Influencer Amy Aela also sent her thank you note to Liya, an Indian student from Griffith university for her work in providing mental health support to communities in Australia during the pandemic.

"Liya I just want to thank you...we definately need more people like you...just remember that Australia is so so proud of you, India is proud of you..please keep up the good work," Aela said.

Former Australian footballer Craig Foster also sent his thank you message to another Indian origin nurse Arushi from Deakin University. More than 100,000 Indian students are studying in Australia, currently making them one of the biggest cohorts of international students in the country.

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News Network
May 2,2020

Melbourne, May 2: After becoming the number one side in Test cricket, Australia's head coach Justin Langer has said that his team has won back the respect of the country.

Australia dethroned India from the top spot in Tests and now the Men in Blue are in the third place.

Langer came in as the coach of Australia after the 2018 ball-tampering scandal and it took him some time to get the side back to winning ways.

Ever since the return of David Warner and Steve Smith, Australia went on to become a commendable side and the results reflect that.

"We have got lots of work to do to become the team we want to be. But over the last couple of years, not only have we performed well on the field, we have performed well off it. We have earned some respect back from other teams around the world but also from Australia," Langer said in an official statement.

"When we started on this journey, there had been a lot of talk about Australia wanting to be No. 1 in the world in all three forms of the game.

We took a different approach. Not once did we talk about being No. 1 ranked in the world. We wanted to be No.1 in our values and process. That is what I am most proud of," he added.

In the latest ICC rankings update, that rates all matches played since May 2019 at 100 per cent and those of the previous two years at 50 per cent, Australia (116) have taken over from India as the top-ranked side in the ICC men's Test team rankings with New Zealand (115) remaining in second place.

India is now third with 114 points. With only two points separating them, this is the second closest the top three teams have been since the Test rankings were launched in 2003.

The closest for the top three teams were in January 2016, when India had led Australia and South Africa by a single point.

Australia has also moved to the top spot in the T20I rankings for the first time in the format.

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