Sourav Ganguly all set to become BCCI President: Reports

Agencies
October 14, 2019

Mumbai, Oct 14: Meetings and counter meetings ruled the roost as the affiliated units of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), along with the bigwigs of the board, met in Mumbai on Sunday.

At the end of the day, former India skipper Sourav Ganguly is leading the race to be the next BCCI President, according to reports, while ex-India batsman Brijesh Patel is likely to bag the position of IPL Chairman.

Jay Shah and Arun Dhumal are being seen as the other new faces who will take control of the BCCI when the Committee of Administrators (CoA) hand over power to the BCCI office bearers on October 23.

While Brijesh Patel was leading the race to take over as President, Ganguly is said to have made it clear that he wanted only one post, unless Jay Shah was becoming the next BCCI chief. It will be interesting to see who between Jay Shah and Arun Dhumal be the Secretary and who will be made the Treasurer. Jay Shah could in fact be the Treasurer, reports suggest

But there was more to the Sunday post-lunch back-door meetings than just two names emerging as the next faces of the BCCI, as it was a three-way battle between Brijesh, Jay Shah and Ganguly. The former India captain was also offered the post of IPL Chairman, but it is being said that Ganguly turned down the offer at around 6 pm on Sunday evening.

But it all started on Saturday evening.

The long meeting between the bigwigs of Indian cricket administration in the national capital on Saturday ended without a unanimous decision. While the likes of Anurag Thakur, N. Srinivasan, Sourav Ganguly, Rajeev Shukla and Niranjan Shah met in the capital, a few senior members, who will represent their respective associations in the BCCI elections, had their own closed door meeting in Mumbai.

The likes of Jayesh George and Prabhtej Patel could also be handed the other hot seats in what will be a fresh start for the BCCI office bearers after the CoA regime comes to an end.

The affiliated units of the board will now be apprised of these names as Monday is the last date for filing nominations for the office bearers' posts and the five candidates are set to do the same in person.

While Ganguly's name was all but certain for the position of President till Sunday afternoon, the stalwarts of the game believed that Jay Shah and Brijesh could be slightly ahead in the race with the latter becoming the President and Jay Shah taking over as Secretary.

Those aware of the jigsaw that is BCCI politics believed that a final call would be taken only during dinner on Sunday in Mumbai and that is exactly how it panned out.

"The old warhorses felt that the way forward was to have equal representation, and while only five names can be given for the top spots, the Apex Council will also see a similar widespread representation. The idea is to give people their right to express themselves," a BCCI functionary told IANS.

It will also be interesting to see how the Supreme Court decides to act on the Electoral Officer's decision to disqualify eight full members of the board as they were not fully compliant with the newly registered constitution of the BCCI.

"We are approaching the Supreme Court on Monday. Basically, the recommendation by the CoA was sent to the Electoral Officer and the Amicus Curiae. Since the officer has said that we are not qualified, we will go to the court. That is the only option left because the court allowed us to conduct the elections and said the disqualification didn't apply to the Apex Council members which is what has been incorporated," an official of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association

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Agencies
August 5,2020

New Delhi, Aug 5: "Want to know what makes him tick," said Australian pacer Kane Richardson will talking about playing alongside Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.

The IPL 2020 will be played in the UAE from September 19-November 10 and the tournament will run for 53 days.

In the players' auction which was conducted in December 2019, RCB managed to bag key players like Richardson, Chris Morris, Aaron Finch, Dale Steyn, Joshua Philippe, and Isuru Udana.

In an interaction with news agency, Richardson talked about playing alongside Kohli and the learning curve which is in store for him by being in the same squad as Proteas great Dale Steyn.
"Huge. These guys (Virat, AB de Villiers) are the absolute legends of the game. Anything I can learn from them will be a bonus, that's for sure.

I am really looking forward to playing with Virat, there are few more competitive players in the world. I am really looking forward to seeing what makes him tick," Richardson said.

The 29-year-old pacer also said that he would want to learn from Steyn as to how to be consistent in all formats of the game over a long period of time.

"There are loads I can learn from Dale. He has been amongst the best at the highest level for so long. His control and ability to swing the ball without losing his pace is really impressive. 

I look forward to getting in his ear about how he performs so consistently over a long period, in all forms," said Richardson who has 39 ODI wickets to his credit.

Richardson has so far played 14 games in his IPL career so far and has picked up 18 wickets. The bowler played for Pune Warriors India in 2013, Rajasthan Royals in 2014, and RCB in 2016.

For this year's IPL, RCB has also bagged Australia's limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch, and Richardson thinks having a familiar face in the camp would help him to settle better in the franchise.

"Finchey is an awesome player and a fantastic leader. I am sure it will help to have two Aussies in the side along with Josh who is playing his first tournament after a massive summer in the BBL. We are all professionals, I'm sure it won't take long for us to gel as a side," Richardson said.

However, before the IPL starts, Australia is expected to tour England for a limited-overs series, comprising of three ODIs and as many T20Is.

The side was last seen in action in March this year as they played one ODI against New Zealand in Sydney. After the first match, the remaining two ODIs were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Talking about the series against England, Kane replied: "We will be fresh, that's one thing, while the England players have been in a bubble for some time now. As long as we get enough practice in before and possibly some centre wicket it should not be an issue."

"They are World Cup holders and the number one ranked side for a very good reason. It will be a tough series also given they will have played a fair bit of cricket together by then. We know we need to work hard on our one-day game which will be a priority over the next period," he added.

The pacer also talked about how the lockdown was like for him, and Richardson feels that everyone would come back strong as a result of this break.

"The break from playing has been refreshing, to be honest. We have come back strong and are well into pre-season training with our states. As a bowler, our loads are not at their peak but we are working towards getting ready for a tour of the UK in a few weeks," Richardson said.

The Australian quick has so far played 25 ODIs and 18 T20Is, managing to take 39 and 19 wickets respectively.

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News Network
March 31,2020

New Delhi, Mar 31: Australia batsman David Warner on Tuesday decided to shave off his head to show support towards all those people who are working relentlessly on the frontline in the battle against coronavirus.

After shaving off his head, Warner also challenged his Australian team-mate Steve Smith and India skipper Virat Kohli to do the same.

Warner, shared a time-lapse video on Instagram, of him shaving his head, and captioned the post as: "Been nominated to shave my head in support of those working on the frontline #Covid-19 here is a time-lapse. I think my debut was the last time I recall I've done this. Like it or not".

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Australia's death toll stands at 19, as per the Sydney Morning Herald.

As of 8 am today, 4460 people across Australia have tested positive for COVID-19.

The World Health Organisation had termed coronavirus as a 'pandemic' on March 11.

Earlier in the day, Australia Test skipper Tim Paine also confirmed that the side's tour of Bangladesh is unlikely due to the virus spread.
"You don't have to be Einstein to realise (the Bangladesh tour) is probably unlikely to go ahead, particularly in June. Whether it's cancelled or pushed back, we're not quite sure at the moment," cricket.com.au quoted Paine as saying.

Currently, Australia has 296 points in the WTC from 10 matches, while India has 360 points from nine matches.

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News Network
July 1,2020

New Delhi, Jul 1: After being named as India's 'Most Valuable Player' in Test cricket in the 21st century, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja on Wednesday said that he will always aim to give his best for the country.

His remark came as Jadeja achieved an MVP rating of 97.3 and as a result, he was also rated as the second most valuable player Test player worldwide, only second to Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan.

"Thank you Wisden India for naming me the 'Most Valuable Player'. I would like to thank all my teammates, coaches, fans, and well-wishers for your support as I aim to give my best for our country. Jai Hind," Jadeja tweeted.

Based on CricViz's market-leading analytics, each player in world cricket was awarded an 'MVP rating' by Wisden using a statistical model to rank their 'match impact' compared to their peers.

Jadeja has played in 49 Tests from 2012, managing to score 1,869 runs and has also picked up 213 wickets.

"It might come as a surprise to see Ravindra Jadeja, India's spin-bowling all-rounder, feature as India's number one. After all, he's not even always an automatic pick in their Test team. However, when he does play he is picked as a frontline bowler and has batted as high as No.6 - contributing to a very high match involvement," the official website of Wisden quoted CricViz's Freddie Wilde as saying.

"But Jadeja's position is based on more than simply volume: it's what he does when he's involved that really counts. The 31-year-old's bowling average of 24.62 is better than Shane Warne's and his batting average of 35.26 is better than Shane Watson's. His batting and bowling average differential of 10.62 runs is the second-best of any player this century to have scored more than 1,000 runs and taken 150 wickets. He is an all-rounder of the very highest quality," he added.

With the bat in hand, Jadeja has managed to score one century and 14 fifties in the longest format of the game.

He was last seen in action during India's two-Test series against New Zealand earlier this year.

He would have been in action for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL had the tournament commenced from March 29.

However, the IPL has been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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