Gambhir, Yuvraj dropped from Champions Trophy squad

May 4, 2013

ShewagMumbai, May 4: Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh were today dropped, while in-form wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik and pacer Umesh Yadav were recalled to the 15-member Indian cricket squad for the upcoming Champions Trophy in England.

Paceman Irfan Pathan and Vinay Kumar also forced their way into the team announced by BCCI Secretary Sanjay Jagdale after a meeting of the selection committee here.

Murali Vijay, who has not been in the best of forms in the ongoing IPL, surprisingly found favour with the national selectors, who decided to drop pacer Ashok Dinda and batsman Ajinkya Rahane from the squad, which has Mahendra Singh Dhoni as captain.

Leg-spinner Amit Mishra, who has performed well in the IPL, was also included in the team which will have Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin as the two other specialist tweakers.

Shikhar Dhawan, who made his Test debut with a breathtaking hundred against Australia recently, expectedly got the selectors' nod as the number one opener.

The national selectors sprung a surprise by sacking Gambhir, whose form has been patchy of late. He has scored 320 runs in 11 games in the ongoing IPL, including three half-centuries.

Team: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik, Murali Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Irfan Patan, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Vinay Kumar.

Clearly, the selectors are looking to blood in young openers keeping in view the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Yuvraj's ouster was not entirely unexpected considering that the left-hander has not been in the best of form in the ongoing IPL.

Yuvraj has been without a half-century in his eight IPL matches for Pune Warriors, managing just 156 runs at an average of 22.28 with the best being a 34. Considering the seam-friendly conditions in England, the selectors have opted for five pace bowlers with Ishant Sharma spearheading the attack.

The squad has five specialist batsmen in Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Vijay and Dhawan, while Dhoni and Karthik are the two wicketkeeper-batsmen.

In Gambhir's absence, Dhawan and Vijay are likely to be the opening combination though Karthik could also be an option since there are just two specialist openers in the squad.

India and South Africa are scheduled to kick off the contest on June 6 at the Sophia Gardens at Cardiff, Wales in a Group B match.

India will then take on the West Indies at the Kennington Oval in London on June 11 before concluding the four-team group engagement on June 15 against arch-rivals Pakistan at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka form Group A.

The top two teams from each group would progress to the semi-finals scheduled on June 19 and 20 at the Kennington Oval and Sophia Gardens respectively with the winners advancing to the June 23 final to be played at Edgbaston.

This would be the first international engagement for the Indian team after the conclusion of the four-Test series against Australia on March 24.

Team: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik, Murali Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Irfan Patan, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Vinay Kumar.

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News Network
March 2,2020

Mar 2: Indian captain Virat Kohli was left frustrated and deflated as New Zealand won the second Test inside three days in Christchurch on Monday to sweep the series.

India started the day at 90 for six and were all out for 124, before New Zealand chased down the required 132 to win for the loss of three wickets in 36 overs.

It ended a disappointing tour for India and Kohli as New Zealand, who won the first Test by 10 wickets early on day four, wrapped up the series with ease.

New Zealand are now unbeaten in their last 13 home Tests, winning nine of them, and in the past decade their record as hosts is played 39, won 20, drawn 13 and lost five.

In the latest series, on traditional New Zealand green wickets, India managed scores of 165, 191, 242 and 124, reflecting the low contributions from Kohli of 2, 19, 3 and 14.

Kohli came to New Zealand as the world's top Test batsman and oozing charm as he described New Zealand as the “nice guys” of cricket.

But during the series he lost his top ranking to Australian Steve Smith and when Kane Williamson went for three in the first innings of the second Test the pressure showed when he gave the New Zealand skipper a very animated send-off.

There was further evidence of frustration when he was caught on camera yelling an obscenity at a group of New Zealand supporters on Sunday.

The end came quickly for India on day three as Tim Southee and Trent Boult tormented the batsmen with their variety of inswing and outswing deliveries targeting both sides of the stumps.

Hanuma Vihari was the first to fall, in Southee's second over, when he turned a legside delivery too fine and was caught by BJ Watling diving to his left.

Five balls later and with no addition to the score, India's other overnight batsman Rishabh Pant was caught behind off a Boult delivery that swung away.

Mohammed Shami was caught for five by Tom Blundell at deep mid-wicket and Jasprit Bumrah was run out when trying to give the strike to Ravindra Jadeja, who was unbeaten on 16.

Boult and Southee signed for most of the dismissals with Boult taking four for 28 and Southee three for 36. The swing pair accounted for 25 of the 40 Indian wickets in the series.

There was enough seam and swing available for India to keep the New Zealand batsmen guessing but Bumrah and Umesh Yadav were unable to apply consistent pressure and Mohammed Shami was troubled by a sore shoulder.

New Zealand coasted through a century opening stand by Tom Latham and Blundell before losing three quick wickets.

Latham notched his 18th half-century and second of the Test before he was caught behind off Yadav for 52, Kane Williamson had a short stay for five, and Blundell went for 55.

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Agencies
January 19,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 19: Opening batsman Rohit Sharma on Sunday became the third-fastest batsman to register 9,000 runs in the 50-over format.

He achieved the feat in the ongoing third ODI against Australia here at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Only Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers have achieved the feat faster than Rohit.

Sharma brought up the milestone in the first over of the Indian innings as he clipped Mitchell Starc away for a single.

With this, the right-handed batsman has become just the sixth Indian to achieve the milestone.

Apart from Sharma, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, and Sachin Tendulkar have more than 9,000 runs in the 50-over format.

Overall, 20 batsmen have more than 9,000 ODI runs to their name.

In the match between India and Australia, the former won the toss and elected to bat first.

Steve Smith played a knock of 131 runs to propel Australia to 286/9 in the allotted fifty overs.

 

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Agencies
January 14,2020

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