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guyanatimesGY.com
tuesday, august 4, 2015
Captain Kohli keen on 5-man attack
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Virat Kohli
ndia Test captain Virat Kohli has hinted that he will stick to a five-bowler strategy in Sri Lanka. Under Kohli, India had played five bowlers in the one-off Test against Bangladesh as well. Now, speaking ahead of his team’s departure for Sri Lanka, he once again stressed the importance of taking 20 wickets in a Test match, while also pointing out that such a strategy will require his bowlers to chip in with the bat too when required. “That [playing with five bowlers] could be a big possibility. The idea is to take 20 wickets,” Kohli said. “That’s that only way you win a Test match and I strongly believe we need to have the best bowlers playing in the squad.” R Ashwin is a competent batsman, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harbhajan Singh can also be handy. Ashwin has scored 1009 runs in 25 Tests, including two centuries and four fifties at an average of 36.03, while Bhuvneshwar finished as the fourth-highest run-getter for India on the tour of England in 2014, with 247 runs in five matches - 25 more than Cheteshwar Pujara and 113 more than Kohli himself. Harbhajan also has the distinction of scoring two centuries of his own, consecutive ones against a New Zealand attack that included Chris Martin and Daniel Vettori. Kohli has called for more from each of the three to pave the way for a successful sixbatsmen/five-bowler combination. “We have people like Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harbhajan Singh, who are very handy with the bat”, Kohli said. “Ashwin averages about 40 in Test-match cricket. So, I don’t see any reason why he can’t be the allrounder for us. It is all about giving people goals and asking them to improve on certain aspects and provide that extra balance the team requires. I
strongly feel that you have to play a stronger bowling side to win Test matches. And your batsmen have to take more responsibility, which is challenging but at the same time it is exciting.” Kohli also confirmed that there is a three-way tussle among M Vijay, KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan for the opening spots. “It has been a spot that has been contested very strongly,” he said. When Dhawan was jettisoned for the Sydney Test in January this year, following poor returns of 167 runs in six innings, Rahul made his maiden Test century. Rahul had shaken off his forgettable debut in Melbourne, where he had only four runs in two innings while staying in the middle for only 18 minutes. But then he missed the Test in Bangladesh due to dengue fever, and Dhawan marked his comeback with 173 off 195 balls in a 283run opening partnership with Vijay. Dhawan went on to be the leading run-scorer for India in the subsequent three-match ODI series, as the competition grew stiffer. “We saw KL Rahul coming through Australia, batting really well,” Kohli said. “That was a time where Shikhar was not performing consistently. So, KL stepped in beautifully and now Shikhar has got runs again. Vijay has got runs for us consistently. So, its just a matter of shift in the balance.” Vijay has been the most consistent batsman for India in recent Tests: the opener had tallied 402 runs in five Tests in England before piling up 482 in four Tests in Australia. “I think he [Vijay] has been a guy who has been very solid for us at the top of the order,” Kohli said. “He has really improved his game in the last one, oneand-a-half years. He has given us solid starts everywhere we have played Test matches over the past 12 months.” There had been reports in
the Indian media that Vijay had some injury concerns but Kohli expected Vijay to be “match fit” well before the start of the only tour game, on August 6. “No, I don’t see any issues with Vijay’s fitness,” Kohli said. “As far as I know, Vijay is almost 100% straightaway and I am sure he will be match fit even before the warm-up game.” Kohli said that the opening combination would be picked on form after the three-day practice match: “Who is playing well at that particular stage. We have a warm-up game to see things in Sri Lanka as well. Problem of plenty is never bad. Might as well having three guys playing well rather than two guys not playing well and one playing well. I am not really worried about that.” With Rohit Sharma being a natural stroke-maker, Kohli felt that giving him more time at No. 3 would bolster the middle order. “He is someone who, if he gets going, even in a Test match, he could take it away from the opposition. That could actually be the difference between winning a Test match and lagging behind throughout. “So, I think that was the whole idea. He has done well in Australia when he has batted at three. I think he needs to get more opportunity there. Once he settles there, he could be the catalyst in the middle order. He can keep the scoring rate going. He is so naturally gifted that once he gets in, he has got massive scores for Mumbai. We want to give him that game time and give him ample opportunity to get that big score and in quick time.” Rohit has scored only 98 runs in three innings at No. 3 at an average of 32.66. At No. 6 he averages 50.37. Kohli had recently turned out for India A in the second unofficial Test, against Australia A, in Chennai, where he had looked in good touch despite managing only 61 across both innings. He had worked with India A coach Rahul Dravid, he said. “I wanted to practice on pitches that are much more difficult as far as spinners are concerned. I got decent practice in the last one week. “Sweeping is one aspect of the game I was always looking to improve upon. I played it a lot in Australia and I figured on turning wickets it is something you have to have as a batsman. He [Dravid] was helping me from the sidelines [during the A game], if he saw something that had to be corrected while playing that particular shot. That was indeed helpful, to have him closely monitor what I was trying to do.” (Cricinfo)
Wet outfield forces early end to SA/Bangladesh Test
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Not even additional covers could have saved the Test
he rain was not even there but it had the last say in this series. The final day of the Dhaka Test was called off before the scheduled start of play, and despite clear skies, because the outfield was deemed too waterlogged to play on. That meant four of the five days in this match were washed out and six of the 10 in the series overall, and will lead to questions over the wisdom of scheduling a series in the midst of the monsoon. South Africa will wonder most about that. The cost of the shared spoils is five points on the Test rankings, which does not rob them of their No. 1 spot but will close the gap between them and the chasing pack, irrespective of the final outcome of the Ashes. Bangladesh gain six points and no movement on the table but would have earned some respect for their plucky performance across both games. Things were just threatening to go awry for the hosts when the weather intervened. After a solid show for most of day one - the only day when play was possible - steered by their captain Mushfiqur Rahim, they lost
4 for 31 in the last hour. By then, Dale Steyn had found substantial reverse swing after earlier becoming the 13th bowler, and second South African, to take 400 Test wickets. Steyn was in his 17th over when play stopped. He, and the rest of the two teams, spent the last four nights waiting for it to restart. Heavy rain, some monsoonal, some caused by cyclone Komen, washed out days two, three and four and the aftermath made play impossible on day five. Despite the porous draining system, the outfield had taken too much rain. The umpires gauged it would take between four and five hours to dry before any action could begin, and it being the final day, decided that was impractical. Umpire Richard Kettleborough also said that the Chittagong ground drained well but Mirpur had not in the breaks between all the rain. Some of the South Africa players, including captain Hashim Amla, stood around the pitch, bowling a bit on one of the side pitches. But curator Gamini de Silva
rushed to the middle, motioning them to leave the square. Later Amla joked that they were practicing their offspin ahead of their India tour. The Bangladesh players put up stumps as goalposts for their final football match of the season. The coaching staff and manager also joined them and slowly, the presentation ceremony and the press conferences were held. When they were heading out for their football match an hour after the call-off, one of the Bangladesh players pointed to a teammate that they were not playing the match when the sun was blazing down. At exactly 1:23pm, however, it rained heavily in Mirpur. The early call-off started to make sense again, at the end of what has been an impressive series for Bangladesh against a South Africa still slowly stirring from a three-month break. Bangladesh will now enjoy some time off while South Africa return home for a limited-overs series against New Zealand before a high-profile tour of India and a home series against England. (Cricinfo)
PCB considers hosting T20 league in Qatar
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fter failed negotiations with the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB), the PCB has formally approached Qatar to host its own Twenty20 league in Doha, in February 2016. ESPNcricinfo understands that a formal proposal is being sent to the Qatar Olympics Association, asking to upgrade the only cricket stadium in the country. The PCB had initially planned to host the franchise-based T20 league in UAE, Pakistan’s virtual home since 2009. However, when the board approached the ECB to secure the venues during the third week of June, they learned that the organisers of the Masters Champions League - a tournament for retired international cricketers - had already booked the stadiums for the February window. The MCL was unveiled at the Burj Al Arab on June 3, with former cricketers Brian Lara, Adam Gilchrist and Wasim Akram all in attendance as icon players. The ECB, which is the sole regulator of cricket in
the UAE, refused to lease out the three stadiums to Pakistan, given the MCL had already locked the deal. Zafar Shah, the chairman of the MCL, independently tried to chalk out a way to accommodate both the leagues within the February window, but the dates could not be worked out. It is likely the PCB will wait another month before going forward with Doha as the alternative venue for the inaugural version of the league. It is understood that Pakistan even see Doha as a potential venue to host their Under-19, Women and A games on a long-term basis. The PCB has been floating the idea of hosting their own T20 league for the last five years, though the talks never really materialised into anything substantial. Logistical issues led to an indefinite postponement of the league in 2013, and while there was an attempt to revive the tournament in 2014, with the PCB inviting various parties to acquire rights for the Pakistan Super League (PSL), the quality of the bids meant
that the board put their plans on hold again. The PCB’s chairman Shaharyar Khan and executive committee head Najam Sethi have both been at loggerheads in public over the tournament, but the board recently defused the situation by issuing a press release stating that both men were supporting each other. The PCB is racing against time, but the board said it was “determined” to host its first league involving highprofile players from around the world. During Zaka Ashraf’s regime, the PSL business model - unveiled in January 2013 - was expected to fetch the PCB “in excess of $100 million”. The PCB had also announced the base prices of players for a proposed auction, though they did not reveal the pool of players who had signed up for the tournament. The current design of the league is based on the draft system, according to which the distribution of top players among the five franchises will be equally managed.
(Cricinfo)