By: Cricketnext Staff
News18.com
Last Updated: January 31, 2023, 23:47 IST
New Delhi, India
Hello and welcome to our daily blog for January 31, 2023, Tuesday. On Monday, after a series-levelling win on a tricky Lucknow track, Hardik Pandy’s Team India has arrived in Ahmedabad for the decider, scheduled to be played on Wednesday. The second game on Sunday was a low-scoring affair but still turned out to be a nail-biter. Chasing 100 runs initially seemed easy, but when the New Zealand spinners began to get through, the situation turned intense. However, a match-winning stand between captain Hardik Pandya and vice-captain Suryakumar Yadav took the hosts home safely. Read More
Team India players including Suryakumar Yadav and Shubman Gill went out to watch the Bollywood movie Pathaan ahead of the third T20I against New Zealand at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. The three-match T20I series is currently tied at 1-1 with New Zealand winning the first match, while the hosts bounced back in Lucknow to level it. (Read Full Story Here)
The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) on Tuesday named Chandika Hathurusingha as the new head coach of the men’s national team. Hathurusingha will return to coach the men’s national team for a second spell. He previously worked as the head coach for the Tigers between 2014 and 2017. The Sri Lankan has agreed to a two-year contract with the BCB and his tenure will begin in February. He will replace Russell Domingo at the helm, who resigned at the end of 2022. (Read Full Story Here)
Out-of-favour Indian batter Ajinkya Rahane is returning to county cricket for a stint with Leicestershire. The 34-year-old, who last played a Test in January last year, is set to join Leicestershire after the IPL and will be available for eight County matches, as well as the entire One Day Cup, the club announced on Tuesday. (Read Full Story Here)
A fluent century by Ricky Bhui and his association with Karan Shinde helped Andhra overcome the blow dealt by skipper Hanuma Vihari’s injury on day one of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against defending champions Madhya Pradesh. Thanks to Bhui’s unbeaten 115 and Shinde’s 83 not out, Andhra ended the day at a strong 262 for two.
Sent in to bat by MP captain Aditya Shrivastava, the visiting team got off to a brisk start with C R Gnaneshwar (24) and Abhishek Reddy (22) adding 37 runs. (Read Full Report Here)
Flamboyant India batter Suryakumar Yadav has played down the controversy surrounding the 2nd T20I Ekana pitch which came under the scanner for not being well suited for the shortest format. Suryakumar, who is India’s vice-captain for the ongoing New Zealand T20Is, said that the pitch is not in the team’s control and it’s their job to adapt to the conditions and play accordingly. After India’s nervy victory in the second T20I, skipper Hardik Pandya lashed out at the Ekana Pitch and termed it a shocker. The curator was blamed for the fiasco and had been sacked. (Read Full Story Here)
New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson empathised with his fellow players giving up central contracts for lucrative T20 league deals but said there is still enough “pull” to represent the country in big-ticket events, such as the World Cup. Three New Zealand players — Trent Boult, Martin Guptill and Jimmy Neesham — gave up their central contracts last year to play in different T20 leagues across the world. (Read Full Story Here)
Flamboyant India wicketkeeper batter KL Rahul has resumed training ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. Rahul, recently, tied the knot with Bollywood actress Athiya Shetty in a private ceremony as he took a rest for the ODI series against New Zealand. The stylish opener has been picked in India’s squad for the first two Test matches against Australia as he is also named deputy for Rohit Sharma. (Read Full Story Here)
Ahead of India’s Test assignment against Australia, Virat Kohli was spotted visiting the Swami Dayanand Giri Ashram in Rishikesh on Tuesday, January 31. Kohli paid a visit to the ashram along with his wife Anushka Sharma. Needless to say, devotees present at the spiritual place in Uttarakhand surrounded Kohli to catch a glimpse of the star Indian batter. Kohli was seen posing for selfies and giving autographs at fans’ request. Now, a video has gone viral in which Kohli can be heard courteously requesting fans not to shoot videos. The talismanic batter reminded the fans that Ashram is not the ideal place for filming. (Read Full Story)
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is all set to make his comeback in competitive cricket with IPL 2023 as he has already started his training for the upcoming season where he will lead Chennai Super Kings once again. The veteran wicketkeeper batter has been spending time in nets for the last couple of weeks to get him ready for this year’s IPL which could also be his last. (Read Full Story And Watch Video)
Sune Luus will captain South Africa in the upcoming Womens T20 World Cup, which takes place from February 10-26, with regular skipper Dane van Niekerk, who has not played international cricket since September 2021, left out of the squad for the showpiece event due to not meeting Cricket South Africa’s fitness requirements. (Read Full Story Here)
Pakistan cricket team chief selector Haroon Rashid has opened doors for Mohammad Amir’s comeback to the national team. Amir announced his retirement from international cricket in 2020 after citing unjust treatment by the team management. The left-arm seamer has been playing franchise leagues around the world after quitting the Pakistan team. (Read Full Story)
Australia all-rounder Grace Harris believes the inaugural Women’s Premier League (WPL) will make the Indian national women’s team a much bigger powerhouse than what they already are now and can even help them match Australia’s standard too. Five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians, Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore, along with the Adani Group and Capri Global, won bids last week to own teams in the WPL set to begin from March this year, with the BCCI fetching INR 4669.99 crore in total bids. (Read Full Story)
India all-rounder Deepti Sharma has climbed to second spot and has the top position — currently occupied by England’s Sophie Ecclestone — in her sights in the latest ICC T20I bowling rankings announced on Tuesday.
The 25-year-old off-spinner, who is leading the wicket-taker’s list in the ongoing Women’s T20I Tri-series in South Africa with nine scalps, has reduced the England left-arm spinner’s lead to just 26 rating points. (Read Full Story)
Former India captain Virat Kohli opened up on the advice he would like to give his 16-year-old self. Kohli, who is widely regarded as the best batsman of the modern era, made his international debut in 2008 after guiding India to U-19 World Cup glory in the same year. The batting maverick worked hard on his game and became one of the most consistent performers with the bat across formats with 74 international centuries under his belt. (Read Full Story Here)
Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir believes that apart from variations in pace, it is equally important for left-arm fast-bowler Arshdeep Singh to sort out his issue of bowling no-balls.
Arshdeep had made his T20I debut against England in July 2022, picking 33 wickets in 21 matches during the year at an average of 18.12, strike rate of 13.30 and economy rate of 8.17.
He also stepped up admirably in Jasprit Bumrah’s absence to pick ten wickets for India in the Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia and even earned a nomination for ICC Emerging Men’s Cricketer of the Year award.
After Australia decided not to play a tour game in India, former captain Steve Smith backed the move, calling it ‘the right decision.’
Smith is part of the Australian contingent which departed from Sydney Airport on Monday that will play a four-match Test series in India, a nation where they hadn’t had success since 2004. Speaking on this issue, he said playing a tour game may not be the best move as the host associations dish out different wickets which are ‘irrelevant’ to actual match conditions.
Cricket is a game filled with tense moments and emotions, but once in a while, we witness some lighter moments on the field. Well, in this case, off the stadium. The incident happened in an ILT20 match in Sharjah between the MI Emirates and Desert Vipers at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on January 29, Sunday.
Emirates batted first and put up a humongous score of 241 runs on the board in the ILT20 match in Sharjah. This included some massive hits. On one occasion, Dan Mousley smacked the ball out of the stadium. In a video clip shared by the International League T20 on Twitter, we can see a fan trying to navigate his way as the ball lands on the road. He then picks it up and makes his way to the other side of the road, having a brief chat with a driver from a passing car.
Meanwhile, if this report is true, then Arthur could become the first online coach in the cricket world. Reacting to this whole saga, former cricketer Shahid Afridi expressed his concerns on the kind of coaching that would be imparted. “Well even I don’t know what type of coaching will happen or what the plan is. The concept of online coaching by a foreign coach for the national team is beyond comprehension.”
In what could be a major shocker, Pakistan Cricket Board is all set to reinstate former coach Mickey Arthur. However, he will not be available in person! The former coach will be available online throughout the year, being available only in person during the 2023 ODI World Cup, claimed some media reports.
It is learnt that top officials of the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) have orally expressed their desire to host a few IPL games there to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
“It’s a verbal request. We have been told that RCA has rejuvenated the stadium, and have asked us if we can consider Jodhpur as a new venue for a few IPL games. The board will take a call on it only after the recce team submits its report,” a source in the BCCI was quoted in the report.
On Monday, the Indian team arrived in Ahmedabad for the final fixture of the New Zealand series. The members of the team received a traditional welcome at the hotel. Meanwhile, Ishan Kishan tried to pull off Prithvi Shaw’s cap but the trick failed as the latter resisted while getting welcomed by the hotel official.
The BCCI shared the video of their arrival on social media and wrote, “Hello Ahmedabad. We are here for the third & final T20I of the #INDvNZ series.”
Though India registered a nervy six-wicket win over New Zealand in the second T20I, captain Hardik Pandya criticised the ‘spin-dominating’ pitch here, calling it shocker of a wicket and not suitable for T20 cricket.
Indian bowlers — Arshdeep Singh (2-7), Yuzvendra Chahal (1-4), Kuldeep Yadav (1-17), Deepak Hooda (1-17), Washington Sundar (1-17) and Hardik Pandya (1-25) — produced a sensational performance to restrict New Zealand to 99/8 in 20 overs.
Chasing a small total on a challenging pitch, India were also in trouble after they were reduced to 50/3 in 10.4 overs but Suryakumar Yadav once again showed his class.
Yadav played a crucial knock (26 not out off 31), stitched vital partnerships with Washington Sundar (10) and Hardik Pandya (15 not out), and eventually hit the winning boundary for India in the last over.
“To be honest, it was a shocker of a wicket. Both the games we have played so far. I don’t mind difficult wickets. I am all up for that, but these two wickets are not made for T20. Somewhere down the line the curators or the grounds that we are going to play in should make sure they prepare the pitches earlier,” Hardik Pandya said in the post-match presentation.
Get the latest Cricket News, Schedule and Cricket Live Scores here
TAGS
