The nomination of Sourav Ganguly, the former India captain, to be the next president of the Indian cricket board (BCCI) is a welcome development, though the ‘election’ process had several worrying aspects. One, the election was done through negotiations rather than voting — this means that there was a lot of give and take among the politicians, businessmen and powerbrokers who control BCCI. Two top officials were elected on the basis of their blood ties with ministers in the Union Government, not on the basis of their affinity with and services to cricket. Finally, Ganguly’s elevation could end up being ineffectual and merely symbolic because he would be president for less than one year before demitting office and undergoing a compulsory three-year cooling-off period.
Jay Shah, the son of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, is set to be BCCI secretary, while Arun Singh Dhumal, brother of Minister of State Anurag Thakur, will be the treasurer. These appointments are significant for they show that politicians have not lost interest in running cricket, and that cricketers might well be used as pawns in efforts to keep control of the influential and super-rich BCCI. As in old India, the inheritance of power remains hereditary in new India. The ideal of cricketers running BCCI by hiring professional managers — as is done in international golf or tennis, for instance — remains out of reach.
Yet, the symbolism of a former top cricketer, who led the Indian team with distinction, becoming BCCI president is very strong indeed. It’s a departure from the past when princes, businessmen and politicians held the position. Another very important development is the formation of a cricketers’ association and election of two of its members to the BCCI’s apex council. Thus, finally, player representatives will sit in BCCI meetings and have a say in how the game is run. If they remain united and committed to cricket rather than power and their personal interests, cricketers might well succeed in edging out politicians and businessmen, who would do well to focus on the much more critical job of running the country and its economy.
DUBAI (TIP): India captain Mithali Raj was named in the ICC Women’s ODI Team of the Year while left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht was the lone cricketer to find a place in both the ODI and T20 teams of the year announced by the world body. Besides the duo, Moga girl Harmanpreet Kaur has found a place in the ICC Women’s T20I Team of the Year. ICC announced the women’s ODI and T20I teams of the year with England’s Heather Knight named as the captain of the 50-overs side and Stafanie Taylor of West Indies appointed skipper of the 20-overs side.
The teams were selected taking into consideration players’ performances from September 21, 2016 to date.
Bisht, 31, from Uttarakhand is ranked 14th in the ODIs and 12th in the T20Is. She took 34 wickets in 19 matches and 11 wickets in 7 T20Is in the period under consideration.
ODI Team of the Year: Tammy Beaumont
(Eng), Meg Lanning (Aus), Mithali Raj (Ind),Amy Satterthwaite (NZ), Ellyse Perry, (Aus), Heather Knight (captain) (Eng), Sarah Taylor
(wk) (Eng), Dane van Niekerk (SA), Marizanne Kapp (SA), Ekta Bisht (Ind), Alex Hartley (Eng).
T20I Team of the Year: Beth Mooney (wk) (Aus), Danni Wyatt (Eng), Harmanpreet Kaur (Ind), Stafanie Taylor (captain) (WI), Sophie
CUTTACK (TIP): India defeated Sri Lanka by a massive 93 runs in the first T20 International, here on December 20. Sri Lanka were bowled out for 87 runs with Yuzvendra Chahal picking four wickets.
Earlier, opener KL Rahul’s classy 61 and some sensible batting from Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Manish Pandey powered India to a challenging 180 for three.
In absence of the first-choice opener Shikhar Dhawan, Rahul grabbed the opportunity with both hands hitting seven fours and one six en route to a 48-balls 61 after they were put in by Sri Lanka skipper Thisara Perera.
Rahul and number three Shreyas Iyer (24) put together 63 runs from 46 balls as India looked to push for a 200 on a two-paced Barabati wicket before Sri Lanka bounced back dismissing the duo in 11 balls.
But former skipper Dhoni, who was promoted to number four, smashed an unbeaten 22-ball 39 and finished with a huge six over square leg.
Manish Pandey provided fine support to Dhoni with an unbeaten 32 from 18 balls as the duo added an unbeaten 68 runs from 34 balls to prop up the total.
Rahul paced his innings brilliantly and also successfully reviewed to overturn an LBW decision when he was on 23.
Sri Lanka looked to attack through Mathews and brought him back in the ninth over to break the partnership.
Stepping out against Mathews, Rahul was hit awkwardly in the abdominal region when on 37 as he had to be attended to by the physio.
But he braved the pain and took on the Lankan former skipper and in the next ball dispatched Mathews over square leg with a crunching pull and completed his second T20 half- century in 34 balls.
There was no looking back for India but Sri Lanka slowed down the run-rate, removing Iyer and Rahul in space of 11 balls.
Iyer edged one behind the stumps and Rahul was deceived by a slower one by skipper Perera.
Dhoni came in at four to a rousing reception by a capacity crowd of 43,000 and he did not disappoint as India added 66 runs in the last five overs without losing a wicket.
Four off eight balls, Rahul decided to break free with an inside out lofted shot against Chameera en route to his boundary in the third over. 11 runs came from Danajaya’s next over with boundary each by Rahul and Sharma as India were going strong for 38 for no loss from 29 balls when Mathews gave the first breakthrough dismissing the Indian skipper.
Looking to clear the midwicket, Sharma mistimed and a brilliant forward diving catch by Chameera ended his innings for 17, but not before he became the second Indian to reach 1500 T20 runs after Virat Kohli. Sharma got to the milestone when he was on 15.
After some uncertainty and confusion, Ravi Shastri has been appointed the head coach of the Indian cricket team. Shastri’s appointment was a foregone conclusion because of the good vibes he shares with captain Virat Kohli; the icing on the cake is the appointment of Zaheer Khan as the bowling consultant and Rahul Dravid as the batting consultant for overseas Test series. In his playing days, Shastri was a very intelligent cricketer, considered by many as the best captain India never had. As a coach, his main quality is the optimism and confidence he brings in — as the master of hortatory speeches, he has no equal.
The selection of Zaheer as the bowling coach and Dravid as the batting consultant on tours are inspired choices. The three men who made this decision — Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman — have all played a lot of cricket with both Zaheer and Dravid. Zaheer was a very fine pace bowler who lost his way in the initial part of his career before becoming a very skillful bowler. Even as a player, he was a fine mentor to the fast bowlers in the Indian team. Dravid, the most technically adept Indian batsman since Sunil Gavaskar, has shown a great appetite for coaching, finding success with India’s junior and A teams. As India play a lot of Test cricket away from home in the next couple of years, Dravid can play a very important role in mentoring the batsmen.
A word about the selection of the coaches — the process was muddled and confused. Anil Kumble, the previous head coach, was simply chucked out despite a fine record with the team. Ganguly did not wish to name the replacement coach/coaches “in a hurry”, making a mockery of the process and deadlines. It was left to the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators to direct BCCI to end the confusion. Hopefully, all associated with the process have learnt their lessons, which they would bear in mind when the time comes to repeat this exercise.
MUMBAI (TIP): As the clock begins to tick away for the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) to zero in on Team India’s new coach, a question – better asked sooner than later – has become the talking point.
How exactly do the members of this committee propose to recuse themselves from any potential conflict in settling for who they think will be a suitable candidate for the position of the national coach? To be fair, there’s no conflict to mention in definitive terms. Yet, as the word itself (conflict) continues to trigger panic in the country’s cricketing fraternity these days, there’ll be questions asked and answers will have to be given if there is lack of clarity.
To date, the CAC has not gone into the details of why they chose Anil Kumble over Ravi Shastri in 2016, knowing the latter’s contribution and who the team wanted. “If details are not given, people will speculate. Was there board politics involved? Was there an ego issue between individuals?
Was there a serious conflict of interest? And when answers to such things come out from unexpected places, they end up giving way to all kinds of controversies,” say those tracking developments from close quarters. Shastri and Kumble, both, lived up to their roles impressively, but it is not the ability of the candidates that is coming in to question. Instead, it is the ability of the CAC to do the right thing that went unanswered last year and once again comes under the scanner.
KINGSTON (TIP): Skipper Virat Kohli led from the front with a fluent century as India today wrapped up the five-match series 3-1 with a convincing eight wicket win over West Indies, here on July 6.
Asked to bowl, comeback man Mohammed Shami bagged four wickets as an under-fire India produced a disciplined bowling effort to restrict West Indies to a modest 205 for nine.
Playing only his second ODI after a long injury lay-off, Shami picked up four wickets giving 48 runs from his 10 overs to pull West Indies back.
Besides Shami, Umesh Yadav gave him ample support from the other end and returned with impressive figures of three for 53. For West Indies, Shai Hope topscored with a patient 51 off 98 balls during which he hit just five boundaries,while his brother Kyle made 46 off 50 deliveries with nine fours to his credit.
Later chasing the total, India hardly faced any trouble as Kohli (111 not out) and ever-consistent Ajinkya Rahane (39 off 51) shared 79 runs for the second wicket in 17.5 overs to set the platform for the comfortable win.
Virat Kohli lets out a roar after getting to his 28th ODI ton, West Indies v India, 5th ODI, Kingston. Pic courtesy: AFP
Today’s match was a test of character for Kohli and his men after the unexpected 11 run loss against the hosts in the low scoring fourth ODI in Antigua.
But Kohli meant business as he anchored India’s chase with his 28th ODI century that came off 115 balls balls and was studded with 12 fours and two sixes Besides the early dismissal of Shikhar Dhawan, the Indians were in complete control of the chase.
In the pursuit of the target, India lost Dhawan in the last delivery of the opening over, caught by Evin Lewis off Alzarri Joseph.
But thereafter, it was Kohli and Rahane’s show as the duo dominated the proceedings with consummate ease. While ever-consistent Rahane played the second fiddle, Kohli played with aggression from the onset.
But Rahane was unlucky to miss out on his fifth consecutive half-century of the series as he was dismissed Devendra Bishoo adjudged LBW in the 19th over. He struck five boundaries during his knock.
But Kohli played a chanceless knock and dictated the terms. He showed his class and brought up his 28th ODI century, a record 18th while chasing, with a boundary of Kesrick Williams.
Together with Dinesh Karthik (50 not off 52 balls), Kohli stitched unbeaten 122 runs for the third wicket to take India home with 79 balls to spare.
Earlier opting to bat,West Indies made a decent start before the hosts lost their first wicket in the ninth over when Lewis (9) was caught by India skipper Kohli off the Hardik Pandya’s (1/27) second delivery of the innings.
Hope brothers, Kyle and Shai then shared 37 runs off 45 balls for the second wicket before Umesh struck twin blows in consecutive balls to peg West Indies back. Kyle, who was looking good, struck Umesh for two consecutive boundaries in the 16th over but in search of one too many he perished, picking out Dhawan at midwicket while trying to attempt for an ambitious pull.
Umesh then had Roston Chase LBW for a duck with a full and straight delivery in the next ball. The batsman went for the review but to no avail with West Indies slumping to 76 for three by the end of the 16th over.
Shai and Jason Mohammed (16) then stitched 39 for the fourth wicket before Kedar Jadhav (1/13) struck with his golden arm, dismissing the latter with a straight forward return catch.
Young Shai held one end up and and played with caution to notch up his second half-century of the series in the 38th over. Together with skipper Jason Holder, Shai added 48 runs for the fifth wicket to keep West Indies’ innings afloat. While Shai played with caution, Holder was aggressive from the onset and piled up his 36 runs off just 34 balls with the help of four boundaries and one six.
But an irresponsible shot led to Holder’s dismissal as he was holed out to Dhawan at long-on to hand Shami his first wicket. An over later Shami struck again when he dismissed Shai with the set batsman attempting an ambitious shot and Ajinkya Rahane did the rest by latching on to an outstanding running catch at midwicket. Shami again struck in his next over removing Ashley Nurse, who chipped one straight to Kuldeep Yadav at short midwicket.
Shami also accounted for Devendra Bishoo, caugh by Dhoni behind the stumps. Rovman Powell (31 off 32 balls) played a good hand towards the end to get West Indies past the 200-run mark.
KINGSTON (TIP): India skipper Virat Kohli has broken Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most centuries in One-day Internationals while chasing. Kohli led from the front with a fluent century as India yesterday wrapped up the five-match series 3-1 with a convincing eight-wicket win over the West Indies. This was Kohli’s 28th hundred in One-day cricket, 18 of which have come while chasing. Tendulkar took 232 innings to reach 17, while Kohli has reached the milestone in only 102 innings.
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