Category: Sports

The cricket-crazy fans in Kolkata came, they watched and they applauded. But Indias maiden pink ball Test wouldnt have been possible had it not been for new BCCI President Sourav Ganguly. It was his vision and he left no stone unturned to ensure that India not only finally played a Day-Night Test, but also organised it in a manner that was nothing short of a spectacle.

Speaking to IANS, during the final session on the second day of the Test between India and Bangladesh, Ganguly said it almost felt like it was a World Cup final being played at the historic ground.

“Just take a look around (fans with their camera lights on to click pictures). Do you see this? Have you seen this in Test cricket? When was the last time you had a capacity crowd watching a Test match? Feels like it is a World Cup final,” he smiled.

The satisfaction to see his efforts bear fruit was clearly visible but what the pink ball Test also did was took him back to the famous 2001 Test between India and Australia that changed the graph of Ganguly, the captain.

“Oh! It is an absolutely amazing feeling. Feels great. Look for yourself. It brings back memories of the 2001 Test match if you ask me. This is what Test cricket should be, packed stadiums,” he said.

Does it bring joy that his effort resulted in such a beautiful outcome that even someone like a Rahul Dravid said he would have loved to be a part of Day-Night Tests? Ganguly’s joy knew no bounds.

“It is very kind of him. Feels very good when your teammates compliment you. Coming from him, it is special. I am very happy. Yes, it is a very satisfying feeling,” he said.

Does he also miss being a part of the pink ball era? “You cannot say that as we have all had our time. When we were playing, the T20 had just come in and look at how it has spread and now this. So you cannot think that way,” he smiled.

Asked if things will only get bigger and better now that the first pink ball Test has been played, Ganguly decided to play the waiting game, but was quick to add that the atmosphere would only get better if oppositions like England, South Africa and Australia were to play Day-Night Tests in India.

“Too early to talk of the future. We will all sit down and discuss the way ahead after this one. But just imagine the frenzy if you have teams like England, South Africa and Australia playing pink ball Tests against India. Think what the crowd will get to witness,” he pointed.

The Test also saw Virat Kohli become the first Indian to score a hundred in pink ball Test and for Ganguly, the India skipper is one of the best he has seen. Coming from the man who played with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and V.V.S. Laxman, this is no mean assessment.

“Oh he is just brilliant. What a knock. I have played alongside some of the best and he definitely belongs in that category. Just a pleasure to watch the consistency with which he scores runs. He is a run-machine,” he said.

While India decimated Bangladesh, the next challenge in Test cricket will be slightly tougher against New Zealand as India will be travelling to Kiwiland. But Ganguly is confident that this team can deliver.

Virat Kohli became the first Indian to score a century in a Pink ball Test when he got to the 3-figure score on Day 2 of the ongoing 2nd Test against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Virat surpassed Ricky Ponting to grab 2nd place in the list of captains with the most Test hundreds. Kohli now has 20 hundred as captain while former South Africa captain Graeme Smith leads the pack with 25 tons.

Virat Kohli also went past Steve Smith on the list of batsmen with most hundreds in Test cricket. Kohli is now tied at the 17 spot alongside South Africa’s Graeme Smith and Australia’s Allan Border who also have 27 Test hundreds.

Virat Kohli is now third on the list of most international hundreds after Ricky Ponting and Sachin Tendulkar. Kohli has scored 70 tons in 438 innings whereas Ponting has amassed 71 three-figure scores in 668 innings. India legend Sachin Tendulkar leads the pack with 100 hundreds in 782 innings.

Having scored 41 international hundreds as captain, Kohli also equalled Ricky Ponting record of most number of centuries as a skipper across all formats.

Fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar and left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav have been named in India’s squad for the limited-overs series against West Indies at home.

They will be joined by regular skipper Virat Kohli, who was rested for the Twenty20 International leg of the Bangladesh series, and fast bowler Mohammed Shami, who will also make a comeback into the T20I squad.

Shardul Thakur and Khaleel Ahmed, who played the Bangladesh T20Is, were left out, along with Krunal Pandya, who has been replaced by Ravindra Jadeja. The other notable omissions are Rahul Chahar and Sanju Samson, who were both a part of the squad for the Bangladesh series, but did not get a game. 

Meanwhile, Shivam Dube, who impressed in that series, has earned his maiden one-day international call-up, as has Deepak Chahar, who made his ODI debut in the 2018 Asia Cup. Both Khaleel and Navdeep Saini have been left out from India’s last ODI assignment, which was also against West Indies. 

For Bhuvneshwar, it will be test of fitness, as the seamer has been unavailable for India’s 2019 home season so far. The 29-year-old has been troubled by injuries since last year. Most recently, he injured his hamstring during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019. He had been undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. He turned out for Uttar Pradesh in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, India’s domestic T20 competition, last week.

West Indies lost their previous T20I assignment 1-2 against Afghanistan earlier this month, while India defeated Bangladesh 2-1 in their latest T20I series. The two teams will play three T20Is, starting with the first game on 6 December, followed by as many ODIs. 

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be a special guest as India take on Bangladesh in the historic pink-ball Test match that begins from Thursday. The Ministry of External Affairs confirmed that the Bangladesh prime minister will be at Eden Gardens in Kolkata to witness the first day-night Test between the two teams.

The growing concerns over limited turnout in Test matches across the country prompted Ganguly to make his first big move of announcing a Day/Night Test within weeks after taking over BCCI’s 39th president. The decision has resulted in a straight surge in ticket sale as CAB confirmed of a full house in the first three days of the Test match.

Skipper Virat Kohli said Thursday he welcomed the “buzz” around India’s grand day-night Test debut but said pink-ball matches should not become a regular occurrence. India begin their pink-ball journey against Bangladesh on Friday in Kolkata, with the first four days sold out, contrasting with daytime Tests in India when crowds are often sparse.

“This can be a one-off thing. It should not in my opinion become a regular scenario, because then you are losing out on that nervousness of the first session in the morning,” Kohli told reporters at Eden Gardens.

“The entertainment of Test cricket lies in the fact that the batsman is trying to survive a session and the bowler trying to get a batsman out.” But he added: “It’s great to create more buzz around Test cricket.”

R Ashwin’s words following India’s win in the first Test against Bangladesh in Indore sums up the uncertainty around how the pink SG ball would work for spinners. Ashwin is the type of cricketer who’s known to think hard and deep about the minute aspects of the game, and even he’s waiting to figure out the latest entrant to Test cricket – the pink SG ball.

It’s common knowledge that a pink ball, as opposed to the traditional red one, has more lacquer for better visibility, especially in twilight. The pink ball shines more, making it easier to pick under lights. The extra lacquer also means the ball will appear new for more time than the red ball, which, along with cooler temperatures in evenings, aid pacers. 

The Eden Gardens Test between India and Bangladesh will be the first time an SG pink ball will be used in Test, or even first-class, cricket. Even the Duleep Trophy day-night matches of 2016, 2017 and 2018 were played with pink Kookaburra balls.

Unlike the Kookaburra, the SG ball is known for a more prominent seam, which could mean good news for spinners too. There have been complaints from prominent domestic players that pink (Kookaburra) balls offer little help for bowlers because of the lack of seam, making life very easy for batsmen. It remains to be seen if the bigger seam in SG changes that.

Ajinkya Rahane spoke about the different aspects of the SG pink ball, saying even spinners got good ‘revs’ (revolutions) on the ball due to the seam, but stressed it’s early days to assess the differences between the two balls.

“We played against spinners in Bangalore, and they were getting good revs on the ball. Yes, the shine is completely different to the red ball, but it’s very hard to compare with SG ball and the Kookaburra ball,” he had said after a practise session in Bangalore.

“I’ve never played with the pink ball. And what I’ve heard from other people is that the Kookaburra ball is actually really easy for the batsmen. But what we saw in Bangalore and played in Bangalore is that the SG ball was doing a bit for the fast bowlers. For spinners, it is difficult but it is very hard for me to say right now about Kookaburra and SG ball.”

Cheteshwar Pujara has more experience than Rahane, having played the 2016 Duleep Trophy where he top-scored with 453 runs from three innings. Pujara made an interesting point about spin and pink ball, saying a few players found it difficult to pick the variations of a wrist spinner with the pink ball.

“During the day, there will be no visibility issues with the pink ball. In my experience, the twilight period and the period under lights are more difficult. Those sessions will be crucial,” he told bcci.tv. “My experience as a batsman was a good one. Even as a team we did well. But some of the other players I had spoken to said that especially when facing a wristspinner, their wrong’uns were difficult to pick. When Kuldeep (Yadav) was bowling, it was difficult to pick his wrong’un.”

Interestingly, numbers back this assessment. Spinners have dominated bowling charts in all three day-night Duleep Trophies. In 2016, five of the top six wicket takers were spinners, with Kuldeep leading the pack with 17 wickets from three matches. In 2017, the top eight wicket takers were all spinners, with Karn Sharma at the top. The following year, three of the top five were spinners with left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar at the top.

Teenage tearaways are part of the fabric of Pakistan cricket but schoolboy seamer Naseem Shah could redefine the term “wunderkind” if selected during the Test series in Australia.

The 16-year-old from Lower Dir district on the border of Afghanistan would eclipse former home captain Ian Craig as the youngest Test debutant on Australian soil. Craig took the field as a 17-year-old against South Africa in 1953, scoring a half-century at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Naseem, with only seven first class matches under his belt, is the youngest of three teenagers competing for a pace bowling slot in the opening match at the Gabba on Thursday.

Uncapped Muhammad Musa and another 19-year-old, Shaheen Afridi, who has three Tests to his credit, are the other two jostling in a pace unit that also includes the more seasoned pair of Mohammad Abbas and Imran Khan.

Coach Misbah-ul-Haq and his fellow selectors have been criticised by Pakistan media for placing too much expectation on such young shoulders, particularly against an ascendant team that thrives on home pitches.

But the Pakistan staff believe boldness is key to transforming their seventh-ranked side into a global force.

Gambling on youth has seen some of the nation’s emerging talents suffer bruising initiations in the past and ultimately end up left by the wayside.

Yet it has also unearthed a number of gems.

Waqar Younis, the country’s second-highest Test wicket-taker after Wasim Akram, made his 1989 debut against India in Karachi a day before his 18th birthday.

He took four wickets in the first innings and went on to amass 373 victims in a career of 87 matches.

Now Pakistan’s bowling coach, Waqar said Naseem reminded him of Australia’s fiery fast bowler Dennis Lillee.

“He’s got a very similar action. He’s not as big as Dennis – Dennis was a big guy – but when he gets it right, he’s a handful,” Waqar told local media last week.

NO BAGGAGE

Australia seamer Pat Cummins, who took a match-winning seven-wicket haul as an 18-year-old debutant against South Africa, said Naseem’s inexperience could work for him.

“Sometimes that’s almost better, when you start off a little bit naive,” Cummins told reporters.

“You just want to go out and bowl fast and not be clouded by the baggage of a few long days in the dirt.”

Naseem is carrying a heavy burden of grief, however, following the death of his mother last week.

He was offered the chance to head home but elected to stay with the Pakistan group to fulfil his family’s wishes for his career, team management said.

After missing a day of the tour game against Australia A while on compassionate leave, he returned to the side and bowled eight overs, dismissing Test opener Marcus Harris with a brutal, rising delivery.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) retained opener Parthiv Patel for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 banking on his performance in the previous edition of the lucrative tournament. Parthiv Patel provided stability to the Royal Challengers Bangalore batting line-up and also played some quickfire knocks during the previous edition of IPL. Parthiv Patel, 34, scoring 373 runs at the top of the order in the previous edition was also a huge positive for the Bangalore franchise. However, former Australia cricketer turned expert Dean Jones appeared to question RCB’s decision to retain Parthiv Patel. Replying to Mike Hesson, who is the Director of Cricket Operations at RCB, Jones tweeted, “You kept @parthiv9?”

Patel rejoined the Bangalore franchise in 2018 and since then has been a constant in the playing XI. He had previously played for RCB in 2014.

Among other IPL franchises, Patel has played for Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians and SunRisers Hyderabad.

He has the experience of playing 139 IPL matches and has scored 2,848 runs at an average of 22.60. The Ahmedabad batsman has a high score of 81 runs in the tournament and notched 13 half-centuries in his IPL career.

RCB, who have never won an IPL title, finished at the bottom of the table with five wins in the previous edition.

Just a few hours after a comeback victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas kept his hopes of reaching the semifinals of the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time since 2015 alive, Rafael Nadal suffered a reversal of fortunes when defending champion Alexander Zverev defeated Daniil Medvedev in straight sets, eliminating Nadal from the season-ending championships.
Nadal had lost his opening round-robin match to Zverev in straight sets and when Zverev defeated Medvedev 6-4, 7-6(4) in Friday’s final round-robin match, it meant that three of the four players in Group Andre Agassi – Nadal, Tsitsipas and Zverev – all had won two matches and lost one. 
Tsitsipas finished top of the group after going 5-2 in sets and will consequently face Roger Federer, who finished second in Group Bjorn Borg, in Saturday’s first semifinal at 2pm GMT.
Nadal and Zverev both had two wins and one defeat, but Zverev had won the match between the two (and also had a better record in sets won and lost – 4-2 to Nadal’s 4-4) and consequently progressed to the semifinals for the second straight year.
Zverev will face Dominic Thiem, who impressed with victories over Federer and Novak Djokovic in Group Bjorn Borg, in Saturday’s second semifinal at 8pm GMT.
The defeat for Medvedev caps off a poor debut at the season-ending championships for the Russian, who climbed to world no. 4 after a sensational mid-season run of form saw him reach six straight finals, including winning Masters 1000 Series titles in Cincinnati and Shanghai and finishing runner-up to Nadal at the US Open in an electrifying five-set final. It’s a shame that the Russian finishes his ATP season on a four-match losing streak, having gone out of the Paris Masters early to Jeremy Chardy and gone 0-3 on his maiden appearance at the O2 Arena.
Zverev did lead the head-to-head 4-1 coming in, however, with Medvedev’s sole victory coming in the last encounter between the two in the Shanghai Masters final. Asked what Zverev did differently this time to change the result, Medvedev quipped: ‘He chose a different court probably 20 times faster.’
Medvedev added: ‘So I don’t think there was another tournament where I was so bad on return during the whole year. That’s where the result came from. … He didn’t have that many chances on return, either. Funny, tennis.’
Medvedev and Nadal are both due to play next week at the inaugural Davis Cup Finals in Madrid, so their seasons are not quite over yet.
Zverev has endured a difficult season in the wake of last year’s sensational ATP Finals victory, but returning to the scene of his biggest career achievement seems to have unlocked some more proactive, free-swinging tennis than we have seen from him for much of this year, and in a close encounter with Medvedev he was the sharper and more focused player (perhaps unsurprising given that Medvedev had no chance of reaching the semifinals).
The German seized an early break for 2-0 and although Medvedev dug out of a 0-30 hole to hold at 1-3 and keep the deficit to one break, the Russian never really had an opportunity to exert much pressure on Zverev’s serve until Zverev served for the set, and even then the world no. 7 climbed out of a 0-30 hole to wrap up a one-set lead.
The second set was characterized by efficient holds of serve for both men, particularly Medvedev, who won his first 14 points of the set on serve. The world no. 4 did create a tense 30-30 situation on Zverev’s serve at 2-3, having done well to force a volley error from Zverev and then profited from a double fault, but Zverev pulled out a big delivery under pressure to get to game point and went on to hold, and the run of one-sided service games resumed.

MS Dhoni has not played international cricket or even any competitive game since the end of India’s World Cup campaign in July. The former India skipper scored a fighting fifty in the narrow semi-final loss to New Zealand. And soon after the tournament ended, he left everyone surprised by taking a sabbatical from the game.

At first, it was assumed that he would return to action at the start of the home series. However, the wicketkeeper-batsman further extended his break and is yet to return to action. As a result, he missed the tour of West Indies as well as the home assignments against South Africa and Bangladesh. But it looks like the long wait to see Dhoni in action is set to come to an end soon.

The veteran cricketer was recently seen hitting the nets for the first time since taking the break. He is currently in his hometown Ranchi and started working on his fitness towards the end of last month. And on Thursday, he was seen having a few hits in the nets.

There was a point in Virat Kohli’s career when he said had felt terribly low. Kohli was referring to his disastrous tour of England in 2014 when he returned scores of 1, 8, 25, 0, 39, 28, 0, 7, 6 and 20 in five Tests, averaging 13.40 in 10 innings.

“I have gone through a phase in my career where I had felt that it was the end of the world. I just didn’t know what to do and what to say to anyone, how to speak, how to communicate. To be honest, I couldn’t have said that I am not feeling great mentally and I need to get away from the game. Because you never know how that’s taken,” said Kohli at Indore on Wednesday.

Kohli was replying to how he felt about Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell taking a break from cricket to deal with mental health issues. Maxwell, 31, pulled out towards the end of October. His announcement was accompanied by a statement from Cricket Australia’s sports psychologist Dr Michael Lloyd. Nic Maddinson, Victoria’s 27-year-old opening batsman, followed Maxwell citing similar reasons. Last February, 21-year-old Will Pucovski, another Victoria batsman, was left out of the Australia Test squad for Sri Lanka due to mental health concerns.

Need to speak out

“To be very honest, you guys have a job to do. We guys have a job to do and everyone is focused on what we need to do. It is very difficult to figure out what’s going on in another person’s mind. So, when you get to the international stage, every player that’s in the squad needs that communication – that ability to speak out. I think what Glenn has done is remarkable. He set the right example for cricketers all over the world,” said Kohli. “If you are not in best frame of mind, you try, try and try, but as human beings you reach a tipping point at some stage or the other and you need time.”