Rayudu to quit first-class cricket to focus on shorter formats

Agencies

November 4, 2018

New Delhi, Nov 4: India's ODI specialist Ambati Rayudu announced his retirement from first-class cricket to focus on ODIs and T20s.

The 33-year-old Rayudu is one of the key members of the Indian ODI side but has never played Test cricket.

"This is to inform that Ambati Rayudu, Hyderabad captain and member of the India ODI team, has decided to retire from the longer version of the game including Ranji Trophy (multi day) to focus on limited overs cricket and T20 cricket," Hyderabad Cricket Association said in a press release.

"He will continue to play international and domestic matches of shorter version. He has thanked BCCI, Hyderabad Cricket Association, Andhra Cricket Association, Baroda Cricket Association and Vidharbha Cricket Association," the release further stated.

Rayudu, who recently made a comeback into the Indian team by virtue of a successful IPL for Chennai Super Kings, is being seen as India's number four batsman going into the ODI World Cup in England.

He recently had a productive ODI series against West Indies, scoring 217 runs with a hundred and half-century, prompting both skipper Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri to single him out for special praise.

There is a possibility that Rayudu, who will next play for India in January and February in eight ODI matches against Australia and New Zealand, wanted to conserve his energies as he doesn't want to fail another fitness test.

Earlier this year, Rayudu had failed to make the ODI tour of England despite being selected after he failed to clear the mandatory Yo-Yo test. It was then widely believed that due to the exhaustion of IPL, where he scored 600 plus runs for CSK, the Hyderabad batsman couldn't clear the 16.1 mark.

According to sources in the know of things, Rayudu probably didn't want to exhaust himself by playing gruelling Ranji Trophy as it might affect his Yo-Yo test performance before the tour of Australia.

With virtually no chance of donning the India whites, Rayudu called time on his 17-year-long first-class career in which he scored 6,151 runs from 97 games. This included 16 hundreds at a healthy average of 45.56 and highest score of 210.

It was only natural that Rayudu, who has scored 1,447 runs in 45 ODIs at an impressive average of 51.67, decided to concentrate on the format which has paid dividends for him. Also, the fact that he is an IPL regular made his choice easier.

However, it was the longer format where a 16-year-old Rayudu initially made his mark in the Ranji Trophy for Hyderabad before a tiff with erstwhile HCA boss Shivlal Yadav's son Arjun made him shift to Andhra.

He did come back before joining the rebel Indian Cricket League and was banned by the BCCI. He then got amnesty and was back in Hyderabad. Later, he shifted to Baroda where he played for a number of seasons and also made his senior international debut during that period.

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Virat Kohli only Indian again in Forbes' list of highest-paid athletes

News Network

May 30,2020

New York, May 30: Cricket superstar Virat Kohli remains the only Indian in the Forbes' list of world's highest-paid athletes with total earnings of USD 26 million, jumping to the 66th spot from 100 in the 2020 standings.

Kohli's earnings from endorsement stand at USD 24 million and USD 2 million from salary/winnings. The 31-year-old is also the only cricketer in the top-100 list.

With earnings of USD 25 million, Kohli was ranked 100th in 2019 and 83rd in 2018 with USD 24 million.

Tennis legend Roger Federer has toped the list for the first time with earnings of USD 106.3 million, rising from fifth place last year.

Football icons Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are second and third respectively with earnings of USD 105 and USD 104 million.

The others in the top-10 are Neymar (football), LeBron James (basketball), Stephen Curry (basketball), Kevin Durrant (basketball), Tigers Woods (golf), Kirk Cousins (American football) and Carson Wentz (American football).

The athletes' earnings have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic which led to suspension of sporting activities all around the world.

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Saina Nehwal is the only Indian to feature in the world’s 20 most charitable athletes, as per a list compiled by the US based website in Athletes Gone Good.

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Kohli and I would have been real enemies on the field: Shoaib Akhtar

News Network

May 26,2020

Mumbai, May 26: Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar said that if he was playing currently he and Virat Kohli would have been the best of friends off the field, but real enemies whenever they stepped on the field.

Akhtar also said that he would have liked to challenge Kohli to drive the ball.

"Virat Kohli and I would have been the best of friends as both of us are Punjabi, but on the field, we would have been the best of the enemies. I would have loved to get inside the head of Kohli. I would have told him that you cannot play a cut or pull shot against me," Akhtar told Sanjay Manjrekar in a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

"I would have gone wide of the crease and bowled a ball that would go away from him, I would have forced him to drive the ball as it is his favourite shot. So I would keep forcing him to play the drive shot at my pace," he added.

Akhtar also said that he wishes that Kohli could have played against some of the top bowlers in the game.

The Rawalpindi Express said that Kohli would have enjoyed the challenge of facing bowlers like Wasim Akram, Shane Warne, and Waqar Younis.

"I would also keep talking to him, because if I get him to lose his focus then that would have been great. The great thing about Kohli is that he gets more focused when he is challenged. But I believe Virat Kohli would have still scored the same amount of runs if I was playing," Akhtar said.

"I really wish that he had played against Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shane Warne, and then Virat would have also enjoyed the challenge," he added.

Akhtar played 224 matches for Pakistan in international cricket and took 444 wickets across all formats.

Over the years, comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar have been growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli has 70 centuries across all formats.

Currently, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in second place in the Tests rankings.

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CSK's success due to Dhoni's instincts, behind-the-scenes work, feel Dravid and Srinivasan

Agencies

August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: Batting great Rahul Dravid has attributed Chennai Super Kings' consistent run in the IPL to skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's instincts, game-smarts and the incredible amount of work that goes behind the scenes.

N Srinivasan, the former BCCI president and head of India Cements, which owns the CSK franchise, agreed that Dhoni is a man of instinct who doesn't believe in attending team meetings and going over data.

Both were speaking at a webinar organised by the Great Lakes Institute of Management.

"If you look at the success CSK has had, they've got really good access to data and they've got really good access to people behind the scenes and they've run cricket teams at the junior level," Dravid said at the webinar according to ESPNcricinfo.

The former India captain added, "They understand talent and they've obviously got a good scouting process in place. But, what they also have is a captain who really understands instincts.

"So, I mean, look, I know Dhoni quite well and I hope he hasn't changed, but I know Dhoni is probably not one to look at reams of data and statistics."

The Super Kings have won the lucrative tournament three times -- one less than Mumbai Indians -- and reached the knockouts in each of the 10 seasons they have been a part of.

Srinivasan also spoke about how Dhoni's instinct and judgement contributed to his team's success at a time when a lot of emphases is placed on data.

"We're awash with data just now. To give you an example, there are bowling coaches and in a T20 game, they play videos of every batsman whom they're going to come against and they see how he got out, what's his strength, what's his weakness etc.

"So, MS Dhoni doesn't attend this, he's a pure instinct man. The bowling coach, (head coach Stephen) Fleming will be there and everybody will be there, everyone is giving opinions, (but) he'll get up and go.

"In the context of instinct, he feels that okay he can assess a batsman or player on the field, that's his judgement. On the other hand, there is so much of data that is available to help a person also analyse. It's a very difficult line to draw (between data and instinct)."

Srinivasan also recalled how Dhoni once refused to take "one outstanding player" suggested by the franchise boss as that could have broken the team's cohesion.

"There was one outstanding player that we suggested to MS, he said: 'no sir, he will spoil the team'. The cohesion within the team is important and see in America, franchise-based sport has been there for such a long time," he said.

"In India, we're just starting and we're new to it. But we at India Cements have had a lot of experience running teams at junior levels."

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