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Murali Kartik, the former India spinner, said the ban on his offbreaks is a setback for Sunil Narine but added rushing him back into bowling could be detrimental to Narine and his team Kolkata Knight Riders

Nagraj Gollapudi29-Apr-20150:56

“I feel sorry for Narine” – Hogg

Former India spinner Murali Kartik said the ban on Sunil Narine’s offbreaks was a setback and added rushing him back into bowling could be detrimental to Narine and his team Kolkata Knight Riders.”It is already hurting him [Narine] in terms of physical and emotional pain because just to be called or to be put on the suspect [actions] list is a big thing,” Kartik told ESPNcricinfo. “You can see it is hurting. He is not the Narine we have known because his economy rate has gone up and his wicket-taking ability has gone down.”Narine’s economy rate in five matches this season is 7.35, a noticeable increase from the 5.77 he has managed across three previous seasons. In those five matches, Narine has gone wicketless thrice. In 47 previous IPL matches, he had gone wicketless in only 13 matches.”He needs to have very strong people around him,” Kartik said. “People who need to give him the belief that by changing and remodelling his action he can comeback. And secondly he needs to given a bit of time because it is a scar – not just a mental scar but a scar on your record.”If he is going to be questioned again it is a lots of mental stress for both the team management as well as the player. Are you trying to tell me that if there is no Sunil Narine, there is no team? Unless they feel his other deliveries are going to be as effective and play him.”Kartik said it would be impossible for Narine to refrain from bowling his stock delivery. “You are so used to doing it. (But now that) He has been reported for his offspinner because they have spotted some flex when he bowls it.”Kartik felt the greatest challenge for a bowler asked to remodel his action was to suddenly stop doing something that has been ingrained in them since they started learning his art. He pointed out Saeed Ajmal’s struggles in the on-going Bangladesh series, where the once dangerous Pakistan off spinner was dealt with easily by the opponents. “To unlearn and re-learn something and be as effective as before it does not happen. I have not seen anyone doing that at least in the short term.”

Indian officials have questioned why crucial video footage that could have shed light on the alleged altercation between James Anderson and Ravi Jadeja is not available

George Dobell19-Jul-2014Indian officials have questioned why crucial video footage that could have shed light on the alleged altercation between James Anderson and Ravindra Jadeja is not available.The Indian team allege that Anderson initiated physical contact with Jadeja during the lunch break on the second day of the first Investec Test at Trent Bridge.Anderson will attend a preliminary hearing in London on Tuesday morning, after he was charged with a Level 3 offence under the ICC’s code of conduct. If the charge is upheld, Anderson could be suspended for anything up to four Tests. The hearing will be held over teleconference with Australian Gordon Lewis presiding.While players from both teams are set to provide conflicting evidence, India have requested that footage from a video camera situated just outside the dressing rooms where the incident occurred be made available.A Nottinghamshire spokesman confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that a camera had been installed in the relevant area but insisted that it had not been active at the time.India have reacted with incredulity to the response that the camera was not switched on at the time. They have also expressed some disappointment that none of the broadcasters appear to have footage of the alleged incident.But the ECB and Nottinghamshire deny any suggestion that any evidence has been suppressed. Instead, they say that the camera was installed only a few weeks ago in order to provide visitors to the club’s website with some insight to life inside the pavilion during major games. It is not currently online and the ECB insists it never has been.The development is the latest in an episode that has done nothing to improve relations between the teams. While India captain MS Dhoni has said Anderson “crossed the line” during the alleged altercation, England captain Alastair Cook has said India are using the incident as “a tactic” to sideline England’s leading bowler and have made “a mountain out of a molehill” by escalating it to a Level 3 offence.England also hit back by making a complaint about Jadeja leading to the ICC levelling a Level 2 charge.But a BCCI official confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that their complaint was the result of building frustration at Anderson’s behaviour. The official stated that India felt they had a responsibility to bring a case against the player as he had, in their words, earned a reputation with opposition teams around the world as being unusually abusive.They were also unhappy that Paul Downton, the managing director of England cricket, intervened to try to persuade India coach, Duncan Fletcher, to have the charge withdrawn. However, the ECB has indicated that Fletcher was initially open to a more amicable solution and it was Dhoni who wanted to take the matter further.Certainly there seems little chance that the issue can be resolved with a handshake. While the ICC chief executive Dave Richardson confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that the complaints could be withdrawn, the India camp is adamant that Anderson’s behaviour is a boil that needs lancing and there appears to be very little common ground between the opposing sides.

India could give up on their demand of 100% accuracy if their reservations against umpire’s-call decisions in lbws are addressed

Sidharth Monga at the Gabba20-Dec-20145:26

‘Umpiring needs to be consistent’ – Dhoni

India could give up on their demand of 100% accuracy if their reservations against umpire’s-call decisions in lbws are addressed. There is a growing feeling among the team that many of the marginal calls tend to go against them, which cannot be overturned by DRS as it stands today. It is a big departure from the days when India were happy with the uncertainty of human error.”Okay, we can still get our heads around its not being 100%,” a source in the team told ESPNcricinfo, “but all the marginal calls are going against us. The umpire’s call is one of our major objections with the system.”At the press conference later in the day, MS Dhoni echoed the view.There has been increasing pressure on India to better articulate their stance against the DRS, with a few howlers going against them, howlers that wouldn’t have needed any sophisticated technology to be overruled. In Adelaide, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane and Wriddhmian Saha fell to catches that basic replays would have overruled. Cheteshwar Pujara and R Ashwin had to deal with wrong calls in Brisbane, calls that simple slow-motion replays would have corrected.However, it was the marginal decisions that stuck with Dhoni too; he feels the DRS is being used more to “justify” the umpire’s decisions than to arrive at the right calls.”It is a very interesting question, but what is more important is that there are a lot of 50-50 decisions that are not going in our favour,” he said, when asked if there was any possibility of India revising their position, given the circumstances. “We are at the receiving end more often than not. And what happens in DRS, even when the DRS is around, those decisions won’t go in our favour.”Because if the umpire has given out, you take DRS, it is still out, because DRS is often used to justify the decision given by the umpire. What is important is to use DRS to give the right decision irrespective of whether the umpire has given it out or not out. There are a lot of ways to use the DRS, but this is something that needs to be put in a specific way. That it doesn’t really matter if the umpire has given out or not out, if the ball hits the stumps [in projection] it is out; if half the ball hits the stumps you are out.”Dhoni did empathise with the umpires, but wasn’t impressed with their consistency. Asked if he was happy with the umpiring in this game, Dhoni said: “It can certainly improve but also it is very tough for those two individuals. Not to forget it has been very hot. They stand there for five days. We come back. Apart from lunch and tea they don’t get any break. When we bat they are still on the field. When Australia bat they are still on the field.”It is tough on them, but I always try to tell them, ‘Try to be consistent through the Test.’ There have been quite a few 50-50 calls that we are on the receiving end of. Irrespective of whether there is DRS or not, we will be on the receiving end according to the decision given by the umpire.”

Paul Farbrace has said he has not yet made a commitment to England, and remains conflicted over whether to become England’s assistant coach or remain head coach of Sri Lanka,

Andrew Fidel Fernando21-Apr-2014Paul Farbrace has said that he has not yet made a commitment to England, and remains conflicted over whether to become their assistant coach or remain head coach of Sri Lanka, after talks with SLC yielded no concrete decisions on Monday.He said there had been “nothing untoward” in his tenure with Sri Lanka that would drive him away from his current position, but admitted the prospect of working with England was an alluring one.Soon after arriving in the country on Monday, Farbrace had met with a SLC delegation, which included board members, chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya, and Ranjit Fernando, who had headed the panel that proposed Farbrace as head coach.Farbrace had laid out his position, and SLC had expressed a desire to keep him on board. Further talks are scheduled for Tuesday, when SLC may present incentives for Farbrace to remain in his current position.”It’s just about making sure that we would make the right decision,” Farbrace told ESPNcricinfo. “It’s a hard one because it’s between the country of your birth and where you live and everything else, and yet I’ve had a wonderful time in Sri Lanka, even since the last time I was here. I understand people’s upset and disappointment, but sometimes opportunities come and you have to decide what’s the right one to take.”Farbrace’s tenure has been marked by off-field upheaval, as much as on-field success. The team has lost only one out of 18 matches under his watch, but the players remain locked in a contracts dispute with the board, seven weeks after their previous agreements expired. Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara have also clashed with SLC officials over the announcement of their T20 retirements, but Farbrace said his experience in the role had not been soured by off-field events.”I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Sri Lankan team. I did last time and I thoroughly enjoyed it this time. If I wasn’t enjoying it, it would be a pretty easy decision to make,” he said. “There’s nothing untoward, sometimes an opportunity comes up and you have to give it 100% consideration. That’s the same with any job. There’s no story behind it or anything like that. It’s just a case that since Thursday afternoon there’s been some interest [from ECB], it’s just a case of how far you take the interest.”Farbrace confirmed he had not applied for a role with England, and that it had been the ECB that approached him about the assistant coach role. SLC secretary Nishantha Ranatunga suggested the salary ECB had offered was beyond what SLC could match.”If you look at it from a human point of view, I am sure they are paying him more than a board like us can pay him,” Ranatunga said. “He didn’t demand for anything from us, but said that the ECB had offered an attractive package. We indicated to him that we would like him to stay in the position.”He had just arrived. He came straight to SLC from the airport, so we wanted him to have a rest and come back to us.”SLC’s executive committee has been in discussions over how to take negotiations with Farbrace forward on Tuesday.

The judicial commissioner Gordon Lewis didn’t consider James Anderson guilty in the Level 3 hearing against him because he didn’t believe he had enough evidence to go by in a case that carries severe sanctions

Sidharth Monga03-Aug-2014In what was necessarily a he-said-she-said case, with no concrete evidence and witnesses “hopelessly biased” in favour of their own team, Gordon Lewis, the judicial commissioner, has said that “ironically” it was the BCCI counsel that helped him make his mind up that James Anderson could not be considered guilty.In his written verdict, which ESPNcricinfo has access to, Lewis has said that he was not “comfortably satisfied” given the lack of audio or video evidence, or a detailed neutral witness, that Anderson was guilty. However, when he weighed up the two vastly different accounts presented by both the sides, it was ironically Adam Lewis, the lawyer representing India and Ravindra Jadeja, who might have unwittingly saved him the dilemma when he made his final submission.”During that submission Mr [Adam] Lewis posited his ‘two push theory’ for which there was not an iota of supporting evidence,” the commissioner said in his verdict. “And that submission I suspect came from Mr Lewis’ frustration in trying to make sense out of two totally conflicting versions of the evidence. It was an effort to find an explanation for the inexplicable, based on the conflicting evidence the tribunal had heard.”It wouldn’t have helped Jadeja’s case that he “embellished” evidence during his cross-examination. “… The extent and force of that contact is unknown, despite Jadeja’s response in cross-examination, that the push was hard and caused him to break stride. That evidence seemed to me to be a recent embellishment, as Jadeja had not previously said this nor had any other witness.”The account of the only “closest to unbiased” witness, Trent Bridge steward David Doyle, wasn’t exhaustive. Doyle said in his written statement that he saw Jadeja turn around. “I couldn’t see who exactly he was heading towards,” his statement said. “As Jadeja was turning, Dhoni stopped him and turned him back and they both then proceeded up the stairs to the changing rooms.” When contacted on telephone during the hearing, Doyle said that Jadeja “took one or two steps back towards the England players”. He also said that MS Dhoni stopped him and turned him back.This case was brought to ICC’s notice after an incident between Anderson and Jadeja as the players were walking off for lunch on the second day of the Trent Bridge Test last month. India alleged that Anderson had pushed Jadeja in the corridor between the playing field and the dressing rooms. England didn’t deny that Anderson had pushed Jadeja, but said he did so in self-defence when Jadeja had turned aggressively towards him. There was no ICC or ACSU camera in that corridor, and the webcam that was there did not work on the day.The commissioner Lewis didn’t consider Anderson guilty because he didn’t believe he had enough evidence to go by in a case that carries severe sanctions.”Essentially, the Indian position is that without provocation, Anderson pushed Jadeja in the back causing him to turn around,” Lewis’ verdict said. “Jadeja said Anderson continued to abuse him in the corridor and had ultimately pushed him in the back and told him to ‘f***ing go back to the dressing room’. Jadeja denies any aggression on his part and particularly he denies that he ever turned around or did anything that could be considered aggressive on his part. To the extent that any of the alleged conduct was viewed by other Indian players and team staff members, they support Jadeja’s evidence.”According to Anderson’s version of the incident it was Jadeja who was the aggressor and without provocation. In the corridor, as they approached the steps that led upstairs, Anderson said that Jadeja suddenly turned around and aggressively came towards him and ‘got right up in my face’. He said he instinctively put up his hands as Jadeja still had a cricket bat in his hand. He said that he put up his hands in a defensive manner because of the way in which Jadeja came at him. Anderson claims to have been completely taken aback by Jadeja’s ‘aggressive action’. According to Anderson, Jadeja’s action in walking back to stop in front of him caused Jadeja to block Anderson’s way and the way of his team mates who were coming behind him. Anderson said he then used his right arm to push Jadeja’s shoulder to get him to turn around and go back towards the Indian dressing room. He agrees he said words along the lines, ‘F*** off and get in your dressing room’.”Importantly Anderson denies pushing Jadeja in the back or in any way provoking him after entering the corridor. Obviously one version of the facts must be untrue, but the existing CCTV image is unhelpful and the witnesses hopelessly biased in favour of one party or the other.”Lewis has also explained his thought process in arriving at the decision, and how it came down to guessing what might have happened. “I considered then the different standards of proof pertaining to charges at different levels under the Code, and with a level 3 charge the penalty could be four to eight suspension points or 2 to 4 Test matches. In monetary terms the loss of between $A40,000 and $A80,000 approx. In my view with potential penalties that severe, for me to be “comfortably satisfied” pursuant to Article 6.1, something close to beyond reasonable doubt was required.”I then turned my mind to downgrading the charge to level 2 pursuant to Article 7.6.5. I considered whether I could be comfortably satisfied that an offence at that level had been committed when the sanction for a first offence potentially equated to between $A10,000 and $A30,000 (the fees payable as half of Anderson’s fee in the second test and his payment for a further full test match). When a Tribunal is dealing with someone’s livelihood, sanctions of that magnitude in my view, certainly require a standard of proof that is more than on the balance of probabilities and again I was not satisfied that an onus requiring a standard of proof at that higher level, had been discharged.”As I reflected on the evidence and the final submissions made by the representatives of the parties, I turned my mind to a possible downgrading of the charge to level 1. At this point, Mr. Lewis’ final submission became relevant. He was helpfully guessing at what might have happened and inadvertently inviting me to do the same. And whatever a Tribunal should or should not do, is to guess to achieve an outcome. In short I do not know on the evidence, and to the relevant standard of proof, what happened in the corridor leading to the stairway in those few seconds after the batsmen and fielding side came in for lunch. I cannot be comfortably satisfied as to the truth of either version of the evidence.”

Madhav Mantri, the former India wicketkeeper, has died aged 92 in Mumbai after a heart attack

Amol Karhadkar23-May-2014Madhav Mantri, the former India wicketkeeper, has died following a heart attack at a private clinic in Mumbai on Friday. He was 92.Mantri played four Tests for India in the 1950s, and though he couldn’t quite establish himself in the national team, he was a consistent performer for a dominant Bombay side on the domestic circuit. He captained Bombay to three Ranji titles, and scored 2976 runs at an average of 53.14, besides taking 69 catches and 23 stumpings.He was admitted to hospital on May 1 after suffering a mild heart attack, and died after another heart attack early on Friday morning.Mantri, who was Sunil Gavaskar’s uncle, was a national selector from 1964 to 1968 and the Mumbai Cricket Association president from 1988 to 1992. He was also manager of the Indian team on the England tour of 1990, and served as BCCI treasurer between 1990 and 1992.The BCCI called Mantri’s demise a big loss to Indian cricket. “Indian cricket will be indebted to him,” BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel said. “Several cricketers, from Sunil Gavaskar to Sachin Tendulkar, had the privilege of being guided by him in their formative years.”The Mumbai Cricket Association also paid tribute. “He may have looked diminutive, but Madhav Mantri was well and truly one of the giants of Mumbai and Indian cricket,” Sharad Pawar, the MCA president, said. “The game of cricket and cricket administration were dearer to him than anything else.”Pawar also praised Mantri’s cricketing insights. “A visionary, he was among the earliest cricketing gurus in India to recognise and emphasise the importance of fielding, at a time when this department of the game was not valued as much as batting and bowling.”

A round-up of all the World Cup 2015 qualifiers on January 15, 2013

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jan-2014Christi Viljoen’s all-round heroics helped Namibia to a crushing 91-run win over Netherlands in Mount Maunganui. Batting first, Namibia’s openers added 35 in 6.2 overs before both departed in quick succession. Sarel Burger, the captain, and Craig Williams built on their good work by adding 57 runs for the third wicket. Although Netherlands struck twice in three overs, Namibia were well in control as Gerrie Snyman (74) and Viljoen (46*) compiled an 85-run partnership to help take Namibia to 253 for 6. Mudassar Bukhari was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3 for 40.The Netherlands chase began with Michael Swart and Wesley Barresi falling for low scores as Netherlands stumbled to 25 for 2. Peter Borren, the captain, and Stephan Myburgh added 40 before things came undone as Viljoen and Bernard Scholtz plucked three wickets in quick succession to leave Netherlands at a precarious 66 for 5. Michael Rippon hit a plucky 44 off 73 balls, but couldn’t keep the chase on course as Netherlands succumbed to a 91-run loss. Viljoen once again starred with figures of 4 for 33.UAE captain Khurram Khan put in a solid performance with bat and ball to ensure his side maintained their undefeated record in New Zealand as they recorded a comfortable 80-run win over Canada in Rangiora. UAE posted an imposing 286 for 6 after winning the toss and batting first in an innings highlighted by a 130-run second wicket partnership between Khurram (88) and Amjad Ali (91). Khurram – who also picked up a fine for disciplinary breaches during the game – was eventually run out with six overs remaining while Ali was bowled by Khurram Chohan, who finished with Canada’s best figures on the day taking 3 for 65, but the rest of the Canadian attack lacked penetration.In reply, Canada’s top order was wiped out inside of five overs to leave them struggling at 9 for 3 before captain Jimmy Hansra partnered with Raza-ur-Rehman to resuscitate the innings with an 89-run partnership for the fourth wicket. However, UAE’s bowling unit managed to keep the run rate down and Khurram eventually broke the stand by dismissing Rehman at the start of the 30th over for 43. With the required run rate getting out of hand and victory unlikely, Canada focused on batting out all 50 overs. Hansra finished on 100 not out off 119 balls as Canada ended on 206 for 6. Khurram was named Man of the Match after finishing with 2 for 35 in nine overs to go along with his first innings half-century.

A round-up of the second day’s play of Group A’s fifth round matches from the Ranji Trophy

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Nov-2013
ScorecardFile photo: Parthiv Patel hit eight fours during his unbeaten 75•ESPNcricinfoOpener Samit Gohel and Parthiv Patel ‘s half-centuries stabilised Gujarat who were closing in on Jharkhand’s first-innings total of 289 at the end of day two in Jamshedpur.Gujarat lost Priyank Panchal in the sixth over, caught off Shahbaz Nadeem, before Bhargav Merai was run-out in the 10th, leaving them at a precarious 23 for 2. However, the visitors recovered as Goel and Parthiv batted out the remaining 47.1 overs, to finish strongly at 168 for 2, heading into the third day. Gohel, who struck an unbeaten 102 in the previous game against Punjab, hit 10 fours during his 66 while Parthiv’s 75, which included eight fours, meant he has scored a fifty in all but one of his five Ranji games this season.Jharkhand began the day at 194 for 5, but were dealt an early blow when Kumar Deobrat was dismissed for 5. They rallied with a 42-run seventh-wicket partnership between Saurabh Tiwary and Nadeem. Both were dismissed within five overs of each other and though the tail did wag slightly, Jasprit Bumrah picked up a five-wicket haul for the second match running, to bundle them out for 289.
ScorecardManish Pandey’s 11th first-class century helped Karnataka to a first-innings lead and take control of their match againt Odisha in Cuttack.Pandey came in with Karnataka at 72 for 2 and nursing the loss of their openers. However, he batted out the remaining 70 overs of the day to ensure Karnataka finished strongly at 288 for 4, 62 runs more than Jharkhand’s first-innings score of 226.Pandey struck 13 fours and two sixes during his unbeaten 108, and added 114 for the third wicket with KL Rahul, who made 67. Rahul was caught behind by Subhrajit Sahoo off Biplab Samantray in the 57th over, but another solid partnership followed for the visitors- a fourth-wicket stand of 71 between Pandey and Kunal Kapoor- that took them beyond 250.The Jharkhand bowlers endured a frustrating day on the field, with Samantray, Deepak Behera and Basant Mohanty managing one wicket each.
ScorecardMumbai taught Vidarbha lesson or two at the Wankhede, taking firm control at the halfway stage of their Ranji Trophy Group A match. At stumps on day two, after bundling out Vidarbha for 113 for a first-innings lead of 148, Aditya Tare and Ajinkya Rahane’s unbroken century stand for the second wicket helped Mumbai get to 179 for 1.With Tare and Rahane at their sublime best, any of Vidarbha’s hopes of stretching Mumbai in their first-ever Ranji clash evaporated. Ending the day trailing by 327 runs, Vidarbha seem to be headed for a huge defeat, and Mumbai, their third victory in four games this season.Read the full report here.
ScorecardOn a green track at Lahli, the match between hosts Haryana and Punjab seems set for a close finish. At the end of the second day, Haryana have a 96-run lead but are also five wickets down and the Punjab pacers, particularly, Sandeep Sharma and VRV Singh will be looking to knock the side over quickly on the third morningRead the full report here.

Jammu & Kashmir shocked domestic heavyweights Mumbai with a historic four-wicket win by chasing down 237 on the last day at the Wankhede Stadium

Devashish Fuloria at the Wankhede Stadium10-Dec-2014
Scorecard1:45

Agarkar: One of the biggest shocks for Mumbai

It would have made perfect sense had the Jammu & Kashmir players charged from the sidelines once Obaid Haroon called Hardeep Singh for the winning single. Or if they had danced in the middle like a team that had just won a World Cup. Or if loud shrieks of joy had burst in the dressing room as the team assembled for a meeting. All would have been appropriate and fitting for the scale of their achievement, for Mumbai had only lost five Ranji matches at the Wankhede in the last 15 years, all of them to major teams.Instead, the J&K group just got up on the feet, shook each other’s hands, embraced, and made a slow approach towards the pitch, as Hardeep took his light blue helmet off after completing the run and raised his bat towards them. They had been sitting by the boundary for a while, anxiously waiting and gorging on bananas, cheering every single without being overtly boisterous. Samiullah Beigh was padded up. He was there too, not inside the dressing room. Still, the muted reaction was quite a contradiction after they had brought a legendary team down on its turf.The only time it looked like the players were excited was when the news filtered that Sachin Tendulkar was in the Mumbai dressing room and the J&K players, most of whom were in Mumbai for the first time ever, could get a chance to meet him in person. Most of them ran back to the dressing room, waiting for Tendulkar to emerge and greet them. However, they were left a tad disappointed as Tendulkar left after a brief meet-up with their coach, Sunil Joshi, and their media manager. It was a minor low on a day of highs though and this team is pretty good in handling lows.Parvez Rasool on…

How their preparation was affected by floods…
“We lost a month of practice because of floods. The guys prepared themselves mentally after that and made do with practice wherever possible. The guys from Jammu played in Jammu. The guys from Srinagar also moved elsewhere. It’s good that even after such adversity, we were able to perform well. We also had a 15-day camp in Nagpur and that helped us all. Our coach’s hardwork and experience had an impact on the boys too.”
Losing out on home advantage…
“Every team gets home advantage. Last year we won three out of four of our home matches. This year we don’t have a home game, but we will have to manage with whatever we have with us.”
Beating Mumbai in Mumbai…
“We did so well here without much preparation, it’s a big thing for us. One thing this proves is that our players have a lot of potential. If they get good facilities and infrastructure, they can grow further.”

In the build-up to the season, the region was ravaged by devastating floods. When other teams were getting their pre-season preparations sorted, a J&K player was attending a funeral of a friend; when players around the country were spending time in gymnasiums, some J&K players were busy clearing up the mess the floods had left behind; when teams would have been planning of their home-match strategies, the J&K players had no clue where their home venue would be. As the water receded, J&K, among the big boys for the first time, realised they didn’t have a home advantage to exploit this year. All their games were to be away matches, against Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Bengal and others. It’s one way to travel around the country, but not the one they would have chosen for sure.Playing their first match at the Wankhede would have been nerve-wracking, but the team had taken some confidence from the win against a star-studded Delhi in the Vijay Hazare Trophy earlier this season. Their players, including their impressive seamers, had also been part of the zonal teams this year. The team’s confidence was also boosted, according to one J&K player, as they saw the grass being shaved off from the pitch once the locals had seen their seam attack. That seam-bowling group did go on to make an impression, picking up 14 wickets on what Parvez Rasool thought was a “dead” pitch.Although J&K suffered a collapse in the first innings, a maiden century from Shubham Khajuria, an India Under-19, had ensured they had the lead – a lead in Mumbai. Beat that for a confidence-booster. So when they came out on the fourth morning with nine wickets in hand, 179 adrift of a historical win, they knew they had the wares to go all the way. An early wicket was lost, a 52-run partnership followed. Another wicket, then another partnership.Shardul Thakur tested Khajuria and Rasool with a bounce barrage, with his aggressive stares, with his frequent conversations, but then he sprayed it wide down the leg side for four and it signalled a change of momentum. Next over, the 46th, Khajuria whipped two superbly-timed boundaries, against the turn of Vishal Dabholkar, through midwicket. Then Rasool reverse-swept in the same over to pick up four more. But J&K have seen things are never that simple. They had lost five wickets for one run in the first innings; today they lost both set batsmen at the same score. Khajuria chipped one back to Iqbal Abdulla and Rasool was bowled round his legs by Dabholkar.Waseem Raza joined Hardeep ahead of Haroon and Beigh, a surprise move that seemed to have added hesitation among the batsmen rather than trouble the opposition. Twice, the two batsmen argued after completing ill-advised singles. There was hesitation a third time too, but Raza, going for a second, was well short of a throw from third man. However, the two had added a vital 44.There is nothing that gives as much relief to the batting team, and annoys the bowlers at the same time, as an outside edge. Hardeep got one through the vacant first slip off Thakur. Once that gap was plugged, Haroon got another through second slip off the same bowler. Those two edges had a finality to them; there were no more jitters and J&K strolled through, Hardeep playing a dogged hand of 41*.”Hardeep is a senior player. He won a game last year as well, against Goa,” Rasool said after the win. “We were expecting him to draw from his experience and deliver for us. Shubham [Khajuria] played a tremendous innings. He has played India Under-19 and scored 160-odd at that level. We brought him from that level because we needed someone at the top. He has had a good impact since his arrival.”Beating Mumbai in Mumbai is a big thing. But our graph has been going up for the last three years. People said that we will know the difference between Plate and Elite leagues this time, but this win will serve as an answer to them, and proves that we can play at this level.”There was that same calmness in Rasool’s voice that had been in his team’s body language at the win. It was an indication that J&K had not lost the perspective that this still was going to be a tough tournament for them. It was also a sign that they were not overawed by the gigantic steel and concrete structure that can, at times, be suffocating for visiting teams. But perhaps for a team hardened by tough experiences within and beyond the cricket field, a win against Mumbai in Mumbai was not an emotional big deal. It was just a matter of fact.

The Indian team management has denied a report that they had pulled up the host broadcaster during the Centurion ODI for showing a clip of Virat Kohli getting injured during the first ODI with a caption that said, “Kohli – softened up”

Sidharth Monga 13-Dec-2013The Indian team management has denied a report that they had pulled up the host broadcaster during the Centurion ODI for showing a clip of Virat Kohli getting injured during the first ODI with a caption that said, “Kohli – softened up”. A report in on Thursday said, “SuperSport’s director was summoned to the Indian changing room during the innings interval and an explanation [was] demanded. His argument for ‘editorial relevance’ was countered with angry accusations of ‘inappropriate behaviour’, disrespect, and a suggestion that he ‘sticks to the cricket’ in future.”An Indian team official said he was not aware of what had happened. An official communication 10 minutes later said, “Once rain stopped play we did meet the producer of SuperSport but it was for discussing something else and not about the clip shown of Virat.”A SuperSport representative confirmed that “discussions” had taken place without going into details. A spokesperson said, “SuperSport is aware that discussions took place between a member of its production staff and members of the Indian touring party at SuperSport Park on 11 December. SuperSport will continue to produce the matches during the current tour to world-class specifications and with regard to editorial context.”During the Wanderers ODI, Kohli was hit in the rib area by a Morne Morkel short ball. While he did not flinch or show pain on the field, he later applied an ice pack on the bruise. The clip being referred to in this incident showed the whole sequence: first his getting hit, then him with an ice pack, and then practising a pull. One of the TV commentators said the clip was shown on the request of the commentary team on air at the time because they were discussing facing fast bowling and coming back from getting hit.Members of the SuperSport commentary team said they had not been informed of any developments and were not given any instructions.