Virat Kohli reveals the best cricketing advice he received came from Sachin Tendulkar

The batting maestro played alongside Kohli towards the end of his career

What’s the story?

Newly-appointed Indian limited-overs captain Virat Kohli revealed that the best cricketing advice that he has got so far came from his hero Sachin Tendulkar. MS Dhoni’s decision to step down as limited-overs captain has meant the 28-year-old has been appointed as captain of the Indian team across all formats.

Kohli, who led the U-19 side to victory in the 2008 U-19 World Cup will now captain India in all formats beginning from the ODI series against England, which begins on January 15 at Pune. Speaking to Mandira Bedi during a talk show, Kohli spoke about the advice he got from Sachin.

“When I approached him about my game, the advice I got from was to believe in your own game and believe in the way you want to prepare and do not follow someone and that helped and from that onwards, I was really comfortable,” the Indian captain said.

In case you didn’t know…

Ever since he was given the Indian limited-overs captaincy, Virat Kohli has had a mixed bag off the field. While he was appointed brand ambassador of Gionee, following in the footsteps of Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt, he was removed from his post as brand ambassaor of Adidas as the sportswear manufacturing giant chose against renewing his contract.

The heart of the matter

The 28-year-old had a year to remember in 2016 as he scored over 2,500 runs, finished as the leading run-scorer in the calendar year and almost broke Rahul Dravid’s record of most runs in a calendar year by an Indian batsman.

One of the reasons why he has been at home across all formats has been his incredible ability to adapt and change gears depending on the situation and format. From being a player who doesn’t hit the ball in the air as a conscious effort in Tests to one that clears the ropes with ease, Kohli has certainly created his own unique style and followed Tendulkar’s advice.

Speaking about being given the captaincy across all formats, Kohli admitted that it was an honour that he was thought of as worthy of taking over from MS Dhoni. While he admitted that captaincy didn’t come as a surprise, he described the pressure as fun and not stressful.

What next?

After captaining the Indian team to a 4-0 series win over England in the Test series, Virat Kohli will hope to continue his stellar run in the shorter formats in the ODI series against England that begins on January 15. It will be interesting to see how the Indian team perform under Kohli’s leadership in the shorter formats.

Sportskeeda’s take

It certainly looks as though Kohli has taken Tendulkar’s advice to heart as he has created a name of himself with his unique style of batting, one which brought him over 2,500 runs in 2016 and established him as one of the stars of the modern game across all formats.

Source: Sportskeeda.

 

Virat will win more games as captain than I ever did: Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, on Friday, addressed the media for the first time after stepping down as India’s ODI skipper. Dhoni raised the curtains on why he finally chose to hand over the batons to Virat Kohli in limited-overs cricket.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni with Virat Kohli

Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be featuring in the first ODI against England to be played on January 15 at Pune.

The 35-year-old batsman further revealed that the South Africa series in 2015 was, in his mind, last as limited overs skipper.

Here are the highlights from his conference:

• Dhoni doesn’t believe in split captaincy–having two different captains for Tests and ODIs.
• Dhoni said that to captain a side in Tests is more difficult than captaining a side in limited overs.
• ‘Virat Kohli is ready to captain the limited overs side.’
• He will do all he can to help Kohli with his captaincy and keep a close eye on the field positioning.
• ‘It made no sense for me to continue. People even questioned me when I quit midway through the Test series in Australia. Sometimes you need to look at the bigger picture.’
• ‘In my mind, the series in India against South Africa was my last. After that it was pretty easy to judge why I went to Zimbabwe. Because of that finally, I told BCCI officially I won’t be captaining anymore.’
• Dhoni spoke about how his role as a batsman changed over the years because he was needed down the order.
• The erstwhile Indian captain said that he would have liked to bat at No.4 and could have scored more runs. He always considered that the team’s need is greater than his wishes.
• Dhoni said as captain his aim was always to finish off the games.
• Dhoni thinks that the present Indian team has the potential to win games everywhere and the pool of fast bowlers can do well in any condition.
• ‘From the beginning of his career he wanted to learn and there was a hunger to win matches. He wanted to be in the middle of it all.’
• According to Dhoni, Virat Kohli will win more games as captain than he did.
• Dhoni said that this team could be the most successful Indian team ever and rewrite history.

Dhoni, who led India for over nine years, also asserted that wicketkeeper of any team is always a vice-captain, irrespective of whether he is announced vice-captain or not.

The wicket-keeper batsman, who made his ODI debut in December 2003 against Bangladesh in Chittagong, also said a lot of things did change since the time he took over the captaincy in 2007 to now.

“The requirement of the team has changed as well. No fixed batting order for me. The guys at the top did remarkably. I will change my role as per the responsibilities given to me. Depending on where I am batting, I will bat accordingly,” Dhoni said.

Source: Yahoo

Rahane, Pant whip England’s full-strength side

Young Rishabh Pant has a bright future ahead of him

Indian cricket appears to be in safe hands. On Thursday, India’s young ‘A’ team, led by Ajinkya Rahane, defeated a strong England XI by six wickets in the second practice ODI, chasing down the challenging 282-run target with more than 10 overs to spare.

Youngsters shone bright for the home team. Skipper Rahane stroked a fluent 91 (83b, 10×4, 1×6) while Saurashtra batsman Sheldon Jackson gave him company with a languid 59. The opening pair added 119 before Jackson was dismissed.

There was, however, no let up in the scoring rate. Delhi wicketkeeper-batsman and India U-19 star Rishabh Pant hammered out 59 (36b, 8×4, 2×6) and partnered Suresh Raina (45, 34b, 7×4) in an electric 78-run stand.

England XI had earlier made a terrific start after winning the toss with half-centuries from Hales (51) and Bairstow (64). A tight spell of spin bowling from Parvez Rasool (3/38) triggered a miniature collapse for the visitors and reduced them to 198/8.

A last wicket association of 71 between Adil Rashid (39) and David Willey (38) helped England XI to 282, before the innings concluded 7 balls before its stipulated quota.

The teams now move to Pune for Sunday’s first of three ODIs.

Brief scores: England XI 282 in 48.5 overs (Jonny Bairstow 64, Alex Hales 51, Parvez Rasool 3/38) lost to India ‘A’ 283/3 in 39.4 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 91, Rishabh Pant 59, Sheldon Jackson 59, David Wiley 1/32)

Source: Yahoo

World Cup 2015, India vs Bangladesh: India roar into semis after defeating Tigers

India, growing in confidence with every match, thrashed Bangladesh by 109 runs on Thursday in the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

The defending world champions made light work of their clash at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, outclassing their Asian neighbours to stretch their unbeaten run at the tournament to seven games.

Rohit Sharma plays a shot against Bangladesh in Melbourne. (Source: AP) 

India will now play either Australia or Pakistan in the semi-finals in Sydney next week and on current form, they will be hard to beat.

Batting first, India compiled a daunting total of 302 for six, built on the back of a magnificent century from Rohit Sharma, who completed his first World Cup hundred with a slice of luck.

One of the most dangerous batsmen in the world, his return to form could not have come at a better time for an Indian team that struggled in the lead-up to the World Cup but is rapidly gaining momentum.

Rohit scored a brilliant 137 against Bangladesh in the quarter-final

Rohit was caught in the deep when he was on 90 but was given a second life when the umpires ruled that Rubel Hossain’s delivery was above waist-height and therefore a no-ball, although television replays suggested otherwise.

Rohit went on to make 137 off 126 balls, highlighted by 14 boundaries and three sixes, while the left-handed Suresh Raina chipped in a with a quickfire 65 after India had waddled along to 115-3 and needed a lift.

 

 

Suresh Raina scored a 57-ball 65 which laid the platform for a big total. (Source: Reuters)

Bangladesh, appearing in their first World Cup quarter-final, kept the Indian batsmen in check through the first 35 overs, stalling their run-rate with their spin bowlers.

But they dropped their heads after Rohit was given his reprieve and gave up 147 runs off the last 15 overs, leaving themselves a near impossible run-chase at one of cricket’s biggest and most intimidating cauldrons.

Bangladesh are one of the most improved sides in cricket. They beat England to make the quarter-finals but found India too hot.

Jadeja played a quick-fire innings at the end to take India to 302. (Source: Reuters)

Tamim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes came out all guns blazing, smacking 31 off the first six overs but when they fell in successive balls in the next over the run-chase was doomed.

Their frustrations were compounded by India’s excellent fielding, once one of their weakest points but now one of their strongest.

India have bowled out their opponents in all seven matches they have played at the World Cup, another ominous warning for their remaining challengers.

Shikhar Dhawan took a juggled catch on the fine leg boundary rope to send Mahmudullah, who had scored two consecutive hundreds in the Pool stage, on his way for 21.

Then the Indian captain and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni took a diving catch to remove Soumya Sarkar for 29 to effectively end any hopes of a Bangladesh upset.

Source: Indian Express

 

 

Kings XI Punjab were the best side of IPL 2014: Shahrukh Khan

Priety Zinta (left) and Shahrukh Khan. File Photo

Kolkata Knight Riders won the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2014 in a thrilling finale against Kings XI Punjab at Bangalore and their owner Shahrukh Khan’s joy knew no bounds. He dedicated the victory to his youngest son Abram. But, during the victory celebrations, he was seen sporting the Kings XI Punjab jersey.
Shahrukh is close friends with Priety Zinta, the owner of the Punjab team. He said after the game on Sony Six, “The reason I am wearing this jersey (KXIP) is because Kings XI Punjab is the best team in the IPL.”
Punjab have dominated all teams in the IPL 2014 except for Kolkata and the Mumbai Indians. They had fancied their chances in the final when they scored 199, but Manish Pandey’s innings helped script a tremendous run-chase.