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Crucial role of Indian-origin players in world cricket AsianVoiceNews
Indian-origin player Haseeb Hameed who was in the news lately for making it to the England Cricket team's tour of Bangladesh makes one retrospect about the number of players of Indian-origin in International Cricket teams. The 19 year old Hameed was selected in the squad following his success in country cricket, as he became the youngest player in Lanchashire's history to score a thousand first-class runs. India fares on the top in the Cricket world. With a record drive in the history of the sport, Indian-origin players in other teams are proof of how deep the Cricket spirit runs amongst the people. Hameed is not the first player of Indianorigin to play in the English team, and most certainly, isn't the last. The team has seen pioneer players like Nasser Hussain, former England captain, Monty Panesar, Ravi Bopara and Samit Patel. They all managed to etch their names, making
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Haseeb Hameed
not one, but two countries proud. Warwickshire offspinner Jeetan Patel won the Professional Cricketers' Association (PCA) Most Valuable Player award for a second time, recently. He played for the New Zealand Black Caps in all three formats until 2014, when he chose to quit international cricket and focus on county instead. He currently plays county for Warwickshire in England. Patel made his debut as a supersub for the Kiwis during their tour of
Zimbabwe, in 2005. He was a full member of the team, and replaced Craig McMillan for Zimbabwe's innings, taking 1 for 47. His first home international was the fourth ODI of Sri Lanka's 2005–06 tour of New Zealand, when he clinched the 'Man of the Match'. His Test debut was against South Africa in the second Test of NZ's 2006 tour of South Africa. Team coach John Bracewell called him a "long term investment".
Another current international cricketer of Indian-origin worth mentioning is Hashim Amla. The right handed batsman and former captain of the Proteas, Amla was South Africa's Test captain from June 2014 to January 2016. He became the fastest cricketer to reach 2000 Runs in ODIs in January 2011, in his 40th ODI innings. He is currently ranked as the world's eight batsman in Tests and fifth in ODIs, by the International Cricket Council. Also to his name is the achievement of becoming the first South African to score a Test match triple century when he scored 311 not out against England in 2012. Well-known cricketers have marked various teams, including West Indies, where players like Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Alvin Kallicharran, Ramnaresh Sarwan, and others contributed to the team's success; and Australia, with Gurinder Sandhu.
Injury may force Wood to miss India tour Mark Wood, the England pacer, is likely to miss India tour after it was revealed that he fractured a bone on his left ankle while bowling for Durham against Surrey in a County Championship match last month. Wood has already missed the ongoing Bangladesh tour. This will be the third surgery on Wood's ankle in the last 12 months. He only recently returned to the national side for the home series against Pakistan, but the surgery is likely to keep him out of action for long. "Woody showed his commitment to Durham with the way he bowled 35 overs in that Surrey game, and we know now that he also showed a hell of a lot of courage and resilience," England's National Physiotherapy Lead Ben Langley said on Sunday.
Mark Wood
"His foot and ankle swelled up hugely during the game, which was obviously worrying, and then we were perplexed when nothing significant showed up on the first scan. It was only when we got him in for a second scan that we discovered he'd been playing on
despite having fractured a bone. So it's a different injury to what he's had the previous surgery for, and there's no reason to think that when he's had this bone fragment removed, he won't be able to get back to bowling as well he has for Durham, England Lions
and England in the second half of the 2016 summer," he added. Wood first had a surgery last November after missing the third Test against Pakistan in UAE. The 26year-old experienced pain again earlier this year during a pre-season and was forced to have his second surgery. He then made his competitive return for Durham and was mightily impressive in the Natwest T20 Blast semi-final in which he picked up four wickets to send his side to the final. He was then picked in the One-Day International squad to face Pakistan where he picked up seven wickets in four matches. He could now potentially target the limited overs leg of the India tour in January for his comeback.
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India bounce back in style in Kabaddi World Cup Asian Voice | 15th October 2016
After the loss in the opening game, the mighty Indians got their 2016 Kabaddi World Cup campaign back on track with an emphatic 54-20 win over Australia on Saturday. Jolted after their loss to the South Koreans on Friday, Indians showed why they are the best in the business as they outclassed the Australians by handing allouts four times before the final whistle was blown. The famed Indian defenders seemed to have learnt their lessons as they worked like a well-oiled machine, throwing the debutants' raiders out at will. Skipper Anup marshalled his troops well, unleashing India's young and talented raider Pardeep Narwal to fetch early points and race into lead. He then brought on the lanky Ajay Thakur and Nitin Tomar and allrounder Sandeep Narwal to extend the lead. Having acquired a sizable lead going into the second half, the Indians slowed down the pace of the game, consolidated their lead and made substitutions, bringing in local Ahmedabad lad Kiran Parmar towards the later part of the game. The Aussies were quick on their feet as they relied on bonus points to keep their score ticking but clearly lacked in the technical aspect of the game they are still learning. Anup said the win would give confidence to the boys. “The plan was to put pressure on them from the beginning and we managed to execute our plans well,” the skipper said. He said that making changes was their strategy to prepare well for their tie against Bangladesh. Koreans, Iranians continue to rock: After surprising India on the opening night, Republic of Korea steamrolled first-timers Argentina 68-42 to register their second win. Iranians too were in no mood to spare the opposition. The men in black crushed Thailand 64-22 to notch up their second win as well. In the third match of the day, Japan overwhelmed USA 45-19. The Koreans were quickly off the blocks, handing their oppositions their first all out as early as in the third minute and thus began a long series of all outs. All the seven South Americans on the mat were sent back three more time making it a one-way traffic by the time the first half was done. The Koreans were sitting pretty on a 43-11lead going into the second half when the Argentines came roaring back on the other side of it. Pakistan barred: The 12-nation Kabaddi World Cup kicks off last week, with a decision to bar Pakistan from competing. International Kabaddi Federation (IKF) chief Deoraj Chaturvedi said Pakistan has been denied entry because of a spike in tensions between India and Pakistan. "This is not the right time to engage with Pakistan," Chaturvedi said. "Pakistan is a valuable member of the IKF but looking at the current scenario and in the best interest of both the nations, we decided that Pakistan must be refrained from the championship."
Raina returns to India ODI squad; Ashwin, Jadeja rested
Mahendra Singh Dhoni will lead a squad that is a blend of youth and experience for the first three OneDay Internationals (ODIs) against New Zealand. Several senior players, who were rested for the Zimbabwe tour in June this year, return to the ODI squad. Some of the players who performed well in the Quadrangular A-Team series in Australia recently have also been named in the team selected by the newly-formed panel, headed by former India wicketkeeper-batsman MSK Prasad, in its maiden selection assignment.
While seniors like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Amit Mishra, who were rested for the Zimbabwe series in June, return to the ODI setup, the injured Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were not picked, nor was Ishant Sharma, who is recovering from Chikungunya. The selectors also chose to rest R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, while Mohammed Shami too has been given a break. Also returning to the team is Suresh Raina, who wasn't part of the selectors' scheme of things. The 29-
Suresh Raina
year-old left-handed batsman last played an ODI in October 2015 and was subsequently left out of the team owing to poor form. Justifying the inclusion of Raina, Prasad said: "We had given a break to Raina in the Zimbabwe series and he has comeback as he did well in the Duleep Trophy,
got runs there. We needed a middle order batsman who can also bowl. This is a relatively young team with Jadeja, Ashwin and Shami rested. So we needed somebody who can bat and contribute with the ball." Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya was chosen over Stuart Binny for the pacebowling all-rounder's position, but it remains to be seen if he makes it into the XI considering his dwindling stocks that has followed his promising Twenty20 International (T20I) debut in Australia. The 22-year-old, who had a forgettable outing in the
World T20 competition earlier this year, is yet to feature in an ODI. Manish Pandey, who has shown good form in limited-overs cricket, holds on to his spot. The 27-yearold right-hander scored his maiden ODI century against Australia earlier this year and was also the highest run-getter in the quadrangular series. The likes of Mandeep Singh, Kedar Jadhav and Dhawal Kulkarni also earned themselves berths in the ODI squad following good performances in the four-team series in Australia. There is no spot for
legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who had an impressive outing during the Zimbabwe series. Axar Patel and Mishra are the front-line spinners while Jayant Yadav too will be vying for a spot in the eleven. In the pace department, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav and Dhawal Kulkarni are the options available for Dhoni. Bumrah, whose accurate yorkers have served the team well ever since his international debut in January this year, has shown steady growth as a limited-overs cricketer.