All posts by h716a5.icu

On a day when the most exciting moment was a decision by MS Dhoni not to have a keeper for a delivery, the Indians completed a facile five-wicket win against Derbyshire

The Report by Sidharth Monga in Derby03-Jul-2014
ScorecardFile photo: Mohammed Shami was given a good workout on the final day, bowling with good rhythm and intensity•Getty ImagesIn the middle of the afternoon, with Ishant Sharma almost in his run-up, the batsman Billy Godleman was left nonplussed as the keeper MS Dhoni ran towards the unmanned cover region. As the 50-odd spectators and others looked on bemused, Dhoni made his way to short cover and took position.Now, this had been a low-intensity match and Dhoni is known for doing strange things, but surely he was not going to bowl without a wicketkeeper, although you were allowed to do that within the laws. Surely Ishant was not bowling that poorly, although he did have no-ball troubles. Turned out Dhoni was waving his midwicket fielder to move to short cover at the right exact spot where he stood. That might have been the most demonstrative you had seen Dhoni as a captain on a cricket fieldIt definitely was the most exciting moment of the third day, or even the match where any number of players could play as long only 11 fielded and batted, where you had to declare your innings after 90 overs and 45 overs, and where the Indians took the term “warm-up” too seriously as they were more intense in the nets than they were in the middle.In the end, though, set 142 to win in 45 overs by the lowly placed Derbyshire, the Indians reached home comfortably with M Vijay finding some touch and Ajinkya Rahane adding 39 to his 47 not out in the first warm-up match. More importantly, Mohammed Shami, who missed the first innings with a mild calf strain, bowled with reasonable intensity for his 11-2-39-1.In the process, a trend was set. India got their hands on the prestigious Royal Crown Derby Trophy, which will now be played between Derbyshire and the touring Test side every year, or whenever the ECB grants the county a warm-up fixture. The public that paid to get in, though, will hope the two teams will take the fixture more seriously in the future.There was general grumbling about it at the ground, but you can’t blame the sides too much. The Indians knew what they wanted from this game- acclimatisation to the conditions, getting in long spells, testing their endurance and fitness, and giving all their 18 players some time in the middle.Derbyshire themselves have had an unfortunate season, losing four possibly first-choice players to injury and illness, fighting to get off the bottom of the table. They were hardly going to be the side to cause psychological indent on the tourists.So when the hosts began their 45 overs of the final day, 15 behind on the first innings, they batted cautiously. Shami would have assuaged some of the Indian fans’ concerns as he looked fit and in good rhythm. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, likely to be Shami’s new-ball partner next week, induced the edge from the first-innings half-centurion Ben Slater.Shami and Staurt Binny took the other two wickets to fall, but post lunch India did not use their first-choice bowlers, which assisted Derbyshire in setting a target big enough to give the batsmen a bit of a workout.In the chase, Indians lost Shikhar Dhawan early to one that stayed low, but Vijay batted attractively for his 53-ball 41 before retiring out. In this innings, the Indians decided to let Rahane and Rohit Sharma have a go. Rahane made the most of it, but Rohit fell as he gave left-arm spinner David Wainwright the charge and edged him through to first slip. Wriddhiman Saha and Gautam Gambhir, who did not get to bat in the first innings, saw the tourists through with 8.3 overs to spare.

A four-wicket haul from Marchant de Lange ensured South Africa A finished on top on the first day of their four-day match against Australia A in Townsville

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Aug-2014
ScorecardMarchant de Lange picked up 4 for 53•Getty ImagesA four-wicket haul from Marchant de Lange ensured South Africa A finished on top on the first day of their four-day match against Australia A in Townsville. The Australian batsmen struggled to build any momentum after captain Moises Henriques won the toss and chose to bat, with wicketkeeper Peter Nevill the only man to register a half-century as they were bowled out for 239.Phillip Hughes was unable to replicate his outstanding form from the recent quadrangular one-day series in Darwin and was caught at slip off Hardus Viljoen for 23, leaving Australia A at 2 for 29 after his opening partner Marcus Stoinis also fell cheaply. Tom Cooper and Callum Ferguson built a solid 80-run stand before both were caught behind off de Lange, Cooper for 36 and Ferguson for 47.Included as a specialist batsman, Matthew Wade showed signs that he might guide the home team to a respectable total but on 32 he dragged a short ball back on to his stumps to provide Viljoen his second wicket. Allrounder Michael Neser, playing against the country of his birth, provided support for Nevill before he was caught off Simon Harmer for 31.The end came over the next 11 overs as de Lange picked up two more wickets to finish with 4 for 53 and Nevill ended up unbeaten on 53. In reply, South Africa A reached stumps at 1 for 26 with Reeza Hendricks on 9 and Viljoen yet to score, having just lost David White, caught behind off the bowling of Neser for 17.

They will call it “Shantry’s Match” and men reading about it will think themselves accursed they were not there

Paul Edwards at New Road11-Sep-2014
ScorecardFew pictures exist of Jack Shantry’s batting, but there was much to capture during his maiden hundred•Getty ImagesThey will call it “Shantry’s Match” and men reading about it will think themselves accursed they were not there.On a mellow September afternoon when Worcestershire’s hopes of winning promotion were in severe and unexpected peril, the county’s No. 9 batsman, Jack Shantry, fresh from taking his 50th wicket of the season on the second evening of the game, strode out to the middle at New Road and struck his maiden first-class century with some of the cleanest and simplest hitting you are likely to see.In company with Joe Leach, Shantry extended Worcestershire’s second innings total from 171 for 7, which represented a paltry lead of 34, to 279 for 8 when Leach was lbw to Zafar Ansari for 50.Then Shantry added a further 71 with Mitchell McClenaghan, who added to the mood of fiesta at New Road by playing a scoop shot and a reverse sweep off Jade Dernbach. In case you have not noticed, Dernbach is neither a slow bowler nor a terribly placid soul on the field. He was not pleased by the New Zealander’s temerity.But no one else’s strokeplay, however outrageous, could detract from Shantry’s innings in all its mad, “up guards and at ’em” glory. He began by taking 14 off a Stuart Meaker over with an orthodox straight drive, a top edge for six over third man and a curious heave, seemingly of his own devising, which may have some place in a book on baseball.Before long, Leach, who had made 70 in the first innings, took his cue from his partner and their stand became something of a hitting contest. When Shantry slashed a drive through point, Leach responded by whacking Gareth Batty cleanly off his length and over long-on for six. The fifty partnership came up in 45 balls and Surrey’s bowlers began to wilt.The crowd, as crowds will when enraptured by the utterly unexpected, cheered every blow as it cracked around New Road. Before Leach and Shantry came together it had seemed likely that Worcestershire’s season would end in anti-climax with a third-day defeat and promotion nothing like secure.Nor has Shantry’s innings changed everything: Surrey are 30 for 1 and need another 187 runs to win the game but they have already lost Rory Burns, lbw to McClenaghan for 5. All the same, the pitch has been lively in the first hour of these golden early autumn mornings and there is work for Gary Wilson’s men to do. And there will at least be cricket on the last day of the season here.That it should be so is credit to Shantry’s daring, underpinned by the support of Leach and McClenaghan. When Dernbach was recalled to the attack, Shantry glanced him down the leg side before thrashing him over midwicket. A single off Batty took him to his fifty off 37 balls. The hundred partnership came up after the pair had been batting for 15 overs and Leach reached his fifty off 67 balls.Inexplicably, Ansari’s left-arm spin was only introduced into the attack in the 71st over but he earned an immediate reward with the wicket of Leach. Nothing, though, could stop Shantry now. It was as if he knew that this was his day and he was damned if he was not going to enjoy it.He cut Batty for four to overtake his previous first-class best of 55 not out and then he hit Ansari over long-on for six. Encouraged by McClenaghan’s shot selection, which seemed to come from an emporium of the bizarre, Shantry drove, cut and slashed on. He reached his century, which came off 86 balls with 18 fours and a six, by leg glancing Dunn to the boundary.New Road rose and cheered and clapped. Don Kenyon, Tom Graveney and Graeme Hick have made centuries on this ground and not received ovations more warm or heartfelt. Shantry, a beam on his face as wide as the Severn, raised his bat to the pavilion, to the new hotel and to the Basil D’Oliveira stand. Dolly would have loved this knock, you know.Shantry raised his bat one more time for good measure and he even lifted it towards the cathedral, as if expecting divine applause; who knows, perhaps he got it. When Dernbach ended the innings a few minutes later, we went through the whole bally rigmarole again but nobody minded a bit. Not even Surrey. Well, not much.And all this followed a half-day’s cricket in which Worcestershire had looked nothing like a Division One batting side. From the moment Daryl Mitchell inside-edged Dernbach onto his wicket in the fourth over of the morning to that when Ben Cox obligingly hoicked Dunn to deep square leg Dernbach at 2.28, the home team’s players had looked unnerved by what was at stake.This may have worried their coach Steve Rhodes and it certainly justified the county’s decision to sign Alex Gidman, which was announced on the second evening of this game. It also caused furrowed brows among the spectators watching their last days of sport at this cricketing Elysium. They experienced relegation here only two years ago and even if they secure a top division place over the next fortnight, the loyal supporters at this gentle, lovely, homely club with its cakes, bookstalls and postcard views have no wish to spend their winter fretting over what might lie ahead.Well, if all their players show Jack Shantry’s courage, and if they also recruit an effective overseas player this winter, they need not worry too much. Promotion has yet to be clinched, and with Vikram Solanki batting serenely, Surrey may still be favourites to win this game; but the happy boisterous crowd who streamed out of New Road on Thursday evening knew that they had seen something which will warm them should fog wreathe the Severn and Teme in a few months’ time.

South Africa are expected to name a full strength ODI squad for the tours to New Zealand and Australia in preparation of next year’s World Cup

Firdose Moonda29-Sep-2014South Africa are expected to name a full strength ODI squad for the tours to New Zealand and Australia in preparation of next year’s World Cup. All their previously injured and rested players should be available for the trip, which begins with three ODIs in New Zealand from October 21, and is followed by five ODIs and three T20s in Australia.A slew of South African players were battling with wear and tear after their winter trips to Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. The two chief concerns were Morne Morkel and JP Duminy, who picked up shoulder and knee niggles, and were in danger of sitting out of the triangular series final against Australia. Both passed fitness tests and played in the match, which South Africa won, but were ruled out of the CLT20 in order to have sufficient recovery time.Also made to sit out of the CLT20 was Dale Steyn, who could have represented the Cobras. CSA’s medical team asked for Steyn to sit out the tournament to manage his workload, even though Cobras’ bowling stocks were already depleted by a stress fracture which will rule Beuran Hendricks out of action until at least December.Cobras, however, were buoyed by Vernon Philander’s return to full fitness after a hamstring injury which forced him to sit out the triangular series. Philander was rested from the three ODIs against Zimbabwe which preceded the tri-series but now that he has recovered, he could be part of South Africa’s touring party.That may mean no room for Kyle Abbott, who played four matches in Zimbabwe, unless Wayne Parnell’s shoulder injury is more serious than initially thought. Parnell hurt himself while playing for the Warriors in the season’s first four-day fixture, but the franchise’s coach, Piet Botha, expected him to need just 10 days to recover.South Africa’s selectors will also have to consider whether to give Lonwabo Tsotsobe, who is match-fit after ankle surgery, another opportunity in a bowler-heavy line-up. Ryan McLaren, who suffered a broken arm courtesy Mitchell Johnson in the triangular, should also be fit to travel.In the spin department, Imran Tahir should make the trip after a short stint with Hampshire, and Aaron Phangiso will provide him competition. No changes are anticipated in the batting line-up with all the regulars fit and most of them getting game time in recent weeks.Quinton de Kock and Rilee Rossouw have played in the first-class competition and Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis and David Miller are at the CLT20. AB de Villiers is the only batsman who has had a complete break. None of the teams de Villiers plays for qualified for the CLT20, and he was not involved in the start of the domestic season, which has allowed him time off ahead of a busy summer.

Offspinner Sunil Narine has been withdrawn from the West Indies entire tour of India just five days before the first ODI in Kochi

Nagraj Gollapudi03-Oct-2014The WICB has decided to withdraw offspinner Sunil Narine from the entire India tour. A WICB spokesperson confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that Narine was being called back home after the Champions League T20 banned him from bowling having called his action illegal.The West Indies board later sent a press release stating that Narine had been withdrawn to allow him “the opportunity to have his action assessed and plan his return to cricket”. The decision to stand down Narine leaves West Indies with no specialist spinner for the one-dayers against India. A replacement player is yet to be named.Clive Lloyd, the West Indies chairman of selectors, was unhappy with the Champions League T20’s procedure for dealing with suspect actions. “I am disappointed that our best bowler could suddenly be out of the tour,” he said. “I am quite disappointed about the procedure that surrounded the ‘calling’ of Sunil in the Champions Trophy tournament. These things have the potential to disrupt the team’s preparation for a critical series against India but we will have to overcome this hurdle.”From October 8, West Indies will play five ODIs and a T20 against India, before three Tests. Narine’s bowling ban is restricted only to the Champions League and other BCCI-run tournaments like the IPL, but the decision to remove him from the tour means scrutiny on him has now extended into international cricket as well.Narine’s absence will be more immediately felt by his IPL team, Kolkata Knight Riders, who will be without their best bowler in Saturday’s CLT20 final against Chennai Super Kings. The Knight Riders management was surprised with the umpires’ ruling on Narine, particularly the fact that two days after his faster delivery was reported, his action for several deliveries was termed suspect.However, Venky Mysore, Knight Riders’ CEO, said that the franchise would comply with the measures recommended by BCCI, so that Narine can bowl in BCCI-run tournaments like the IPL. Mysore said he did not want to question the authority of the umpires. “Those are the rules. We accept that. We will be very supportive of everything that Sunil wants to do,” Mysore said. “If WICB reaches out, we are always there to support them. We are going to miss him in the final, but we are there to do everything to support him as we don’t want his career to get affected.”I have to say the timing is surprising and so is the fact that he was the only one called twice in the tournament. But we will do everything to help him to put this behind him.”

Sri Lanka, who were supposed to tour India for three Tests in August 2015, will now host the series, Nishantha Ranatunga, the SLC secretary has said

Sa'adi Thawfeeq and Amol Karhadkar19-Oct-2014Sri Lanka, who were supposed to tour India for three Tests in August 2015, will now host the series, according to SLC secretary Nishantha Ranatunga. The decision has come in the wake of Sri Lanka agreeing to plug the gap in India’s home calendar after West Indies’ pullout.”As we are obliging India with a five-match ODI series there next month, India are obliged to return the tour next year and we have switched the Test series,” Ranatunga said.The BCCI, however, is yet to confirm the swap. It is understood that the BCCI has held preliminary discussions with SLC in this regard. The proposal of switching the venue for the 2015 Test series will be put before the working committee for consideration, which will “finalise” the arrangement, according to a senior BCCI functionary.By hosting the three-Test series with India, SLC stands to make around $ 7-8 million, according to Ranatunga. There will be no ODIs or T20Is included in the itinerary.India haven’t hosted Sri Lanka for Tests since 2009, and the last time Sri Lanka hosted India for Tests was in 2010, the series that marked the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan.The next available slot for a Test series between the two teams, as per the new FTP, is in August 2017 when India visit Sri Lanka for three Tests, five ODIs and one T20.

A round-up of the Ranji Trophy Group A matches played on December 9, 2014

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Dec-2014Group A
ScorecardSuryakumar Yadav struck 17 fours during his 114•PTI Karnataka’s bowlers wrapped up Tamil Nadu’s lower order in a hurry to seal a 14-run first-innings lead, and their batsmen drove home the advantage to leave them in a dominant position going into the final day. With Robin Uthappa and Mayank Agarwal laying the second-innings platform with a 163-run opening stand, Karnataka ended the third day 263 ahead with six wickets in hand.Starting the day 240 for 5, trailing by 50, Tamil Nadu were bowled out for 274. The slide began when their captain R Prasanna, who had added eight runs to his overnight 51, was run-out following brilliant work from the wicketkeeper CM Gautam, who picked up the throw and flung himself at the stumps to find the batsman short of his crease. The last five wickets added only 19 runs.Tamil Nadu had reason to feel aggrieved with the umpiring. Kaushik Gandhi and Dinesh Karthik had already fallen victim to poor decisions on the second day, and their innings ended when L Balaji, batting on 11, was given out lbw to Sreenath Aravind when the ball clearly looked to be heading down the leg side.Having secured the lead, Karnataka extended it at a rapid clip, with the opening stand coming at over four runs an over. Uthappa was first to go for a 117-ball 76, before Agarwal followed after the addition of four more runs to Karnataka’s total, run out for a 113-ball 80. Kunal Kapoor didn’t last too long either, and the fall of three wickets for 11 runs opened the door a fraction for Tamil Nadu but Manish Pandey and Karun Nair shut it quickly with a 59-run fourth-wicket stand. It ended with minutes left to go for close of play, M Mohammed bowling Nair for 35.
ScorecardSuryakumar Yadav notched his second 50-plus score of the match, muscling a lively 115, but a five-wicket haul from the medium-pacer Ram Dayal helped bowl Mumbai out for 254 in the second innings, meaning that Jammu & Kashmir needed 237 to open their Ranji Trophy campaign with a win. Mumbai began the day at a tricky 66 for 4, but Suryakumar muscled his way to a fifth first-class ton, which included 17 fours, to lead a recovery. However, Dayal (5 for 75) and Umar Nazir (4 for 49) dealt blows at regular intervals to dismiss the hosts for 254. Besides Suryakumar, no other batsman was able to cross 37. J&K lost Adil Reshi for 12 in the 10th over of their chase, but Shubham Kharjuna and Bandeep Singh ensured there were no other casualties, and took the team to 58 for 1 at stumps, meaning that the visitors need another 179 runs for a famous victory.
ScorecardHalf-centuries from Mohnish Mishra and Harpreet Singh revived Madhya Pradesh from a poor start to their second innings after they had conceded a 99-run first-innings lead to Railways at the Karnail Singh Stadium. MP lost its openers with only 21 runs on the board but Mishra stemmed the slide with a 93-run stand for third wicket with captain Devendra Bundela. The partnership also helped the team erase the deficit.However, both batsmen were dismissed with the lead standing at 40. It was Harpreet then who lifted the team further to safety, taking the lead past 100. He was dismissed for 69 off 107 balls four overs before the close of the day.Earlier, Railways had managed to add only 27 runs to their overnight total of 253 for 7. Arindam Ghosh was dismissed for 120 by Puneet Datey in the 104th over. Datey struck again next ball to complete his maiden first-class five-for and Ishwar Pandey wrapped the innings in the next over with the wicket of Anureet Singh.
ScorecardBengal bowlers, led by Ashok Dinda’s burst with the second new ball, dismissed the remaining seven Baroda wickets to help Bengal earn a healthy 101-run first-innings lead. Despite the good work of Bengal bowlers, the penultimate day’s play belonged to Baroda debutant Deepak Hooda, who scored a stylish century at the Reliance Stadium.To read the full report, click here.

Sri Lanka’s Test opener Kaushal Silva has said his focus over the coming matches will be to better his conversion rate of fifties to hundreds and play important innings for Sri Lanka

Andrew Fidel Fernando31-Dec-2014Kaushal Silva is no stranger to the next step. His story so far has been full of incremental advances. At 28, he is already a veteran of Sri Lanka’s arduous domestic staircase. From among his team-mates he had excelled for the longest in first-class cricket, before being granted a stretch in the national side.Now, a full year since getting his big chance, he has embedded himself in the top order, with an average of 40.30 in 2014. But making it into the side has not quite been enough. The hunger that propelled him to 28 first-class hundreds before becoming a Test regular, now compels him to strive for a new standard of achievement at the top level as well. Having converted only one of his seven half-centuries into a ton, the next level might just mean a better conversion rate, Silva said.”I’m not satisfied with just hitting fifties,” Silva said. “I want the hundreds. I’ve done that at the club level and A team level, so I’m desperate to get over that hurdle here. Maybe there’s a lack of concentration sometimes. I remember sweeping to get out after I’d hit 95 against Pakistan, and another occasion when I played a bad shot in the 80s. But in those situations, I need to go on for the team’s sake.”Opening partner Dimuth Karunaratne’s young Test career had similarly been plagued by an inability to make more of his starts, but he found the skill and desire to make his first big Test score in the second innings in Christchurch. His 152 in difficult conditions saw him partly shake off a reputation for being a batsman who gives his wicket away too lightly.”I’ve batted a lot with Dimuth at SSC, and he’s a batsman who has hit a lot of big hundreds at the A team and club levels,” Silva said. “I’m very happy for him about his first ton. It’s great for me, as we’re always talking about how we should negotiate those early overs.”Watching him do that is a big challenge for me, because I’m thinking I have to do really well in the next Test as well. I’ve also been hitting 30s and 40s, and so the next target is something much bigger. I want to score heavily.”Silva’s partnership with Karunaratne had been moderately successful in their last tour together, in England in June, when they strung together opening stands of 54, 25, 37 and 40. While those were not imposing partnerships, they helped significantly ease pressure on Kumar Sangakkara, who did not miss crossing fifty once in the series, and finished as the highest run-getter.In Christchurch, Sri Lanka collapsed in the first innings when their openers produced only four between them, but fared much better in the second innings, when Silva and Karunaratne put on 85 for the first wicket.Sri Lanka fared better in the second innings in Christchurch when the opening pair of Dimuth Karunaratne and Kaushal Silva added 85•AFP”The opening combination is very important to the team in a place like New Zealand, because we set things up for the whole batting line-up,” Silva said. “We really saw that in the second innings, where the tone for the innings was set by the partnership between me and Dimuth. In England we were able to have a few good partnerships at the top, and that was a reason for our success there.”As an opener, my plan is to somehow negotiate the first 15-20 overs – to make the new ball old. The two of us were talking a lot about batting out that period. In these conditions, Trent Boult and Tim Southee are very good, but we thought if we rotate the strike and take quick singles, they won’t be able to bowl at a single batsman for a long time. Their rhythm can change then, which might lead to more scoring opportunities for us. That’s what our plan was in the second innings, and that’s what we will try to emulate in Wellington.”Sri Lanka had had extended preparation time before the tour of England, when the Test specialists had spent two weeks training in Sussex while the limited-overs leg of the tour took place. Silva said that intensive preparation had been key to his good performance in England – where he scored 146 runs with two fifties – but having now played a Test as well as the two-day warm-up game, in New Zealand, he feels he has a clearer idea of what it takes to prosper against the hosts.”There’s no huge difference between English and New Zealand conditions, but there is a difference in the attacks. These bowlers pitch it up more than the England attack, and their swing is greater. The thing Boult and Southee do well is swing it late. I’ve never faced bowlers who swing it so late, and are still so accurate. They are both in the top-ten world rankings, and it’s a big challenge for us in these conditions, but we have the quality to counter them – I believe that firmly.”In England there was more seam than swing, so here, we really have to be mindful of what our scoring areas are. We can’t drive as much as we do in Sri Lanka, so we have to identify those things. We’ve got to restrict ourselves to the good scoring areas, and only move to our normal games after we’ve settled down at the crease.”

For all of India’s talk about the World Cup being a fresh start, it is difficult to escape the notion that it will take a supreme effort of mental strength and physical hardness to retain the trophy held aloft at the Wankhede Stadium four years ago

Daniel Brettig07-Feb-2015For all of India’s talk about the World Cup being a fresh start, it is difficult to escape the notion that it will take a supreme effort of mental strength and physical hardness to retain the trophy held aloft at the Wankhede Stadium four years ago.The best measure of the difficulty facing MS Dhoni and his squad is the fact that they are confronting a schedule deemed so ruinous by England that they submitted themselves to the horrors of last year’s back-to-back Ashes series and the 5-0 sweep down under in order to avoid the Australia/World Cup double tour that had become their lot since 2002-03.India are hoping that a strong recent record in ICC events means the barren passage of their Australian tour so far means nothing, just as the supremacy of the hosts in the Tests and triangular series will be less significant than the fact that only four members of the Australian squad – Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Shane Watson and Mitchell Johnson – have played in a World Cup before. But on the eve of an Adelaide Oval warm-up fixture that has long had its ticket allocation exhausted, Dhoni admitted there was little between India being brought to the boil for the Cup and being barbecued by their schedule.”Well, I know how to cook. There’s a very fine line, especially if you do barbecue, you can understand that,” Dhoni said in Adelaide. “But when we went and played the Champions Trophy we were in a similar situation like this, and the guys stepped up, and that’s what I feel is important in the ICC tournaments. If you see the past, there have been quite a few teams that do really well in the ICC tournaments.”They may not be the best of teams when it comes to the bilateral series, but they have always stepped up when it comes to the ICC tournaments. What we have seen is how you rise to an occasion like this and how you take the confidence forward to something that’s more important and somewhat different to a bilateral series.”A couple of elements of India’s World Cup blueprint – what other colour could it possibly be? – have come together in the improving fitness of Rohit Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Rohit is set to play on Sunday and Bhuvneshwar is also likely, though it remains to be seen whether Ishant Sharma is also back after time away from training.More problematic is the lack of runs provided in recent times by Shikhar Dhawan, whose early wicket has been the common denominator in numerous stuttering Indian innings since their arrival in Australia. The loss of early wickets is particularly ruinous to India for their tail is longer than most, and Dhoni emphasised the need for a platform to be set, even if it is not done so at the sort of speed the team had once been used to.”We knew the new ball is something that’s key. If you can get partnership going when you’re batting and if you can take wickets with the new ball, it becomes relatively easy to capitalise in those middle overs,” he said. “But I feel the middle overs will be the key factor, how you rotate in the middle overs, what kind of a run rate you achieve, the minimum number of wickets you lose when you are batting will be the key factor.”When you are bowling, how many wickets you can take in the middle overs will be crucial, because again, that will put pressure on the opposition so that they can at least go from the 35th over onwards with the second Powerplay and the slog. We haven’t had much opportunity to bowl in the slog overs. That’s something that will only come into action once the World Cup starts. We have got a couple of practice games, and apart from that we have quite happy with everyone, how they have come up.”The issues of the middle order seemed to play on Dhoni’s mind more than most during the Tests and ODIs up to this point of the tour, and he agreed that approaches needed to change among some of his batsmen. “That’s something, depending on the conditions, we have to alter a bit,” he said. “Wickets in hand is something that’s really our strength, but it will be slightly different.”That’s why I said the middle overs will be the key feature for us, how we rotate, what kind of options we have got, what kind of shots we play, where we can get the most number of runs with minimal risk, and once we have wickets in hand, we can really exploit the conditions. The ball will come on to the bat nicely, and if there’s an error from the bowler’s side we can make the most out of it.”But we are not that deep when it comes to batting. It’s somewhat different to some of the other teams. Yes, to some extent when you lose quick wickets it does play in your mind, especially when the No. 5 or 6 batsman, they’re going to bat. They can’t just freely play their shots, they have to calculate, and it’s slightly different, the reason being when you bat like 3 or when you’re batting at 4, you know there are four or five batsmen behind you, but when you’re batting lower down the order and you know you have to get a decent score, but at the same time you can’t lose too many wickets or play a high-risk shot.”Strength of character and clarity of mind will be required to make India’s shortish batting order function to a level that can contend for the Cup. And in at least one respect, Dhoni showed tremendous resolve on Saturday – when acknowledging the news that his wife had given birth to a daughter back home, but declining to pine for home. “I’ve been blessed with a baby daughter,” he said. “Mum and daughter both are good. But as of right now I’m on national duty, so I think everything else can wait. World Cup is a very important campaign, and everything can wait as of now.”If fatherhood cannot faze Dhoni, then India, for all their travel miles, might still have a chance.

Taijul Islam, Al-Amin Hossain and Arafat Sunny have been handed national contracts for 2015, while Imrul Kayes and Shafiul Islam have also returned to Bangladesh’s list of contracted players, having missed out in 2014

Mohammad Isam15-Jan-2015National players contract list for 2015

A+ (Tk Two lakh/$2565 per month) – Mashrafe Mortaza, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Tamim Iqbal
A (Tk 1.7 lakh per month) – Mahmudullah
B (Tk 1.2 lakh per month) – Rubel Hossain, Nasir Hossain, Imrul Kayes
C (Tk 90,000 per month) – Mominul Haque, Anamul Haque, Shafiul Islam
D (Tk 60,000 per month) – Taijul Islam, Al-Amin Hossain, Arafat Sunny
IN – Taijul Islam, Al-Amin Hossain, Arafat Sunny, Imrul Kayes, Shafiul Islam
OUT – Abdur Razzak, Robiul Islam, Sohag Gazi

Taijul Islam, Al-Amin Hossain and Arafat Sunny have been handed national contracts for 2015, while Imrul Kayes and Shafiul Islam have also returned to Bangladesh’s list of contracted players, having missed out in 2014.Taijul and Sunny won the contracts following a productive first year in international cricket in which they contributed 48 wickets together, while Al-Amin was included as he became a dependable bowler for the team in the limited-overs formats.Abdur Razzak missed out on a contract for the first time in 10 years, while Sohag Gazi was also omitted since he had been banned from bowling in international matches for having an illegal action. Robiul Islam’s injury concerns – he played just two Tests in 2014 – meant that he too was without a contract.BCB president Nazmul Hassan confirmed that the players would not be getting a salary bump, but said the board had increased the number of contracted players from 12 in 2014 to 14 this year.Nazmul added that the board had named Khaled Mahmud, the former Bangladesh captain and one of the current BCB directors, as the team manager in the World Cup. He also clarified that the BCB would not be sending two extra bowlers with the Bangladesh squad for their two-week camp in Brisbane.Meanwhile, in a major move, Naimur Rahman, Bangladesh’s first Test captain and now a member of parliament, replaced Akram Khan as the BCB’s cricket operations committee chairman. Akram will now head the BCB’s tournament committee. “I have been working as an MP for more than a year, and there too I have done overtime. In this new role I will also have to work overtime,” Naimur said.Enayet Hossain Siraj, who was the cricket operations chairman before Akram, was named the new head of the working committee.Six ex-cricketers – Jahangir Shah, ASM Faruque, Shafiqul Haque, Mainul Haque, Ishtiaq Ahmed and Athar Ali Khan – were named in the BCB’s wishlist to be a part of the newly formed technical committee.The board also approved the long-term strategic plan, developed by Ross Turner, which aims to improve the team’s Test ranking and also develop the game in the country at the grassroots level. “He will now have to continuously monitor it and update us,” Nazmul said.