Race to the top: Kohli chases Smith in ICC Test ranking

Agencies
September 10, 2019

Dubai, Sept 10: Steve Smith and Pat Cummins on Tuesday consolidated their positions at the top of the ICC rankings after helping Australia score a 185-run victory over England in the fourth Test in Manchester to retain The Ashes.

Smith's player of the match effort of 211 and 82 runs in the two innings has lifted him to 937 rating points, only 10 less than his all-time best aggregate achieved in December 2017.

He is now 34 points ahead of India captain Virat Kohli and virtually assured of remaining at the top at the end of the five-match series.

A match haul of seven for 103 has helped Cummins equal his career-best aggregate of 914 points, which is the joint fifth-best of all time and joint best for Australia along with Glenn McGrath, who reached his best in 2001.

Cummins is a good 63 rating points ahead of South Africa fast bowler Kagiso Rabada, with India’s Jasprit Bumrah in third place. Josh Hazlewood is in the top 10 for the first time this year, progressing from 12th to eighth.

Jos Buttler (up four places to 37th) and Rory Burns (up six places to a career-best 61st) for England and captain Tim Paine (up six places to 60th) of Australia have also moved up the batting list in the latest rankings update carried out on Monday and which also takes into account performances in the Chattogram Test.

Afghanistan's 224-run conquest over Bangladesh in Chattogram has resulted in major gains for their players.

Former captain Asghar Afghan’s scores of 92 and 50 have taken him from 110th to 63rd position while Rahmat Shah’s century in the first innings has helped him move from 93rd to 65th.

Captain Rashid Khan’s player of the match effort of 11 for 104 has lifted him from 69th to 37th while all-rounder Mohammad Nabi has retired from Tests in 85th position after gaining 21 slots.

For Bangladesh, left-arm spinners Shakib Al Hasan and Taijul Islam have inched up one slot each to 21st and 22nd, respectively. Off-spinner Nayeem Hasan has advanced 21 places to 66th position.

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News Network
February 3,2020

New Delhi, Feb 3: Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar feels there are a lot of similarities between the Virat Kohli-led Team India and the Pakistan team when Imran Khan had led it as both captains instill strong self-belief in their respective teams.

Manjrekar also said that Pakistan under Imran had found different ways of winning matches even when it seemed all was lost.

"India under Virat in NZ reminds me of Pakistan under Imran. Strong self belief as a team. Pakistan under Imran found different ways of winning matches, often from losing positions. That only happens when the self belief is strong," Manjrekar tweeted.

The cricketer turned commentator expressed his opinion after India completed a rare 5-0 whitewash with a seven-run victory over New Zealand in the final T20 International in Mount Maunganui on Sunday.

Manjrekar also lauded KL Rahul, now also shouldering wicket-keeping duty, for his impressive showing in recent times.

"Samson & Pant... the next batting brigade of India obviously have the skill & the power game they just need to infuse a small dose of Virat's batting 'smarts' (mind) into their game," Manjrekar wrote.

The victory at the Bay Oval saw India stretch their record for most successive T20I wins.

This was their eighth win in a row, bettering the previous three instances when they won seven successive matches.

Kohli is the most successful Test captain in Indian cricket history, winning 11 consecutive series at home and are on top of the ICC rankings.

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News Network
April 28,2020

New Delhi, Apr 28: IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore's Director of Cricket Operations Mike Hesson returned to New Zealand on Tuesday after being stranded in India for over a month amid the nationwide lockdown to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ex-New Zealand player and coach had arrived in India on March 5 for the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League but was stuck in the country after the lockdown was imposed and all flights were suspended.

"What a wonderful sight after spending over a day on a bus to get to Mumbai airport. The staff on @FlyAirNZ were simply outstanding on our return to New Zealand," Hesson tweeted.

He also thanked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the New Zealand Embassy in India, New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

"Special thanks to Down pointing backhand index @NZinIndia @MFATNZ @narendramodi @jacindaardern #repatriationflight #india #NZ" he added.

To stem the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, India and New Zealand had announced lockdowns in their respective countries last month, alongside travel restrictions, forcing the 45-year-old to stay in Bengaluru.

While India remains in lockdown till May 3, New Zealand eased its stringent measures on Tuesday.

The IPL, which was originally scheduled to get underway on March 29, has been suspended until further notice due to the pandemic.

The cornavirus outbreak, that originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has infected over 30 lakh people across the world while killing more than two lakh.

All sporting events, including the Tokyo Olympics, have either been cancelled or postponed.

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Agencies
March 1,2020

New Delhi, Mar 1: Former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif on Sunday heaped praise on Ravindra Jadeja after the all-rounder took a spectacular catch on the second day of the Christchurch Test against New Zealand.

Jadeja grabbed a one-handed stunner at deep square leg in the 72nd over to dismiss Neil Wagner, who had to depart after scoring 21 runs.

"Sir Jadeja for a reason! Jadeja Airlines, flying high! Terrific stuff," Kaif tweeted.

In the match, Jadeja also impressed with the ball. The left-handed bowler took two wickets while giving away 22 runs.

On day two, India bundled out New Zealand on 235 runs in the second Test. However, in their second innings, Indian batsmen again struggled to tackle the New Zealand pacers and lost six wickets with a lead of just 97 runs.

India went to stumps at 90/6, with Trent Boult doing the majority of the damage with three wickets.

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