Tag: Dhoni

Kuldeep Yadav secured a 4-wicket haul

Just like his debut test, Kuldeep Yadav secured a 4-wicket haul in the first innings of his second test as well and his wonderful spell left Sri Lanka in dire straits on the second day in Pallekele.


The stand-out thing about Kuldeep’s bowling was the heart with which he bowled.

When he initially tried to loop the ball, the Sri Lankan batsmen came at him and hit him for a few boundaries, but, the youngster didn’t get intimidated.

Normally for someone who hasn’t had that much of exposure in test match Cricket, it’s very easy to take the safety first approach and start pushing the ball through rather than looping it so that he doesn’t go for too many boundaries.

But Kuldeep didn’t show any reluctance in looping it again and that fetched him the rewards as the Sri Lankan glove-man Niroshan Dickwella who had been lofting him pretty convincingly failed to read the flight properly on one occasion giving his counterpart Wriddhiman Saha the opportunity to catch him outside the crease. (more…)

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PAKISTANI CRICKETER DODGES JAIL USING CONTRACT CLAIMS

Pakistani Cricketer Mustafa Bashir escaped wife battery jail time after he claimed he was joining a top cricket outfit, The Sunreports.


The player and his legal reps claimed the 34-year old had been offered a deal by cricket club Leicestershire just before his arrest.

It was this claims that helped him escaped getting jailed but there are reports that the claims could have been false. The Sun report says the LeicestershireCounty Cricket Club did not ever hold talks with the player regarding a possible deal, not to talk of offering him a deal.

Bashir repeatedly hit his woman FakharaKarim, 33, for her life choices. He claimed she was now wearing westernized clothes, turning against her family and socializing with ‘English slag girls.’

There are claims that he once said: “If I hit you with this bat with my full power then you would be dead.” There are even claims that he eventually hit her when he felt she spent too much time on the phone, speaking with friends that he did not approve of.

The Judge Richard Mansell QC also heard that he forced his wife to drink bleach when they had a row regarding him going on a cricket tour in the Netherlands.

His wife Karim claimed she was fearful for her life but she eventually took the courage to approach the police for help.

“I now feel strong enough to report this to the police. I did fear from my life, he told me he was going to kill me,” she said. (more…)

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YOU CAN’T DO IT ALL YOURSELF – MIKE HESSON

The coach for the New Zealand Cricket team, Mike Hesson was of the notion that even though his captain – Kane Williamson – will take their whitewash at the Australian series hard, he needs to learn just how to share the burden.


Last week, Saturday to be precise saw the wounded and weary New Zealanders catch the early flight out of Melbourne. They will rejoin their domestic Twenty20 sides. On December 23, they will reassemble in Christchurch to prepare for the one day series opener on Boxing Day holding in Bangladesh.

Williamson was without Ross Taylor, his trusty deputy during the series in Australia. However, Taylor would be looking forward to a comeback in January for the Bangladesh Tests.

The pain of this 3-0 whitewash will linger for a while for the New Zealand captain, especially considering their 68 runs, which was the closest losing margin in Sydney. (more…)

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Gujarat Lions might not be using Dwayne Bravo for Upcoming matches

The Gujarat Lions might not be using Dwayne Bravo, the batsman, to the fullest.


In the set-up of the Chennai Super Kings, the previous team Bravo played for, his position was always in the higher middle order and he would come to bat at the fall of the second or at maximum, the third wicket.

But, Gujarat, despite that Suresh Raina is leading them who was at CSK as well and was even a part of the team management there as the vice-captain, has regularly kept Bravo down at no. 7.

The batting order of Gujarat is lengthier than that of the Super Kings because they play with many all-rounders, but, still, one can say that Bravo’s position can be above someone like Ravindra Jadeja who is more of a swinger of the willow and is not a manipulator of the strike at all.

Whenever Jadeja finds himself at the crease at a time when there are 40-50 deliveries to see off, he gets into a state of confusion in regard to which way he should bat and trying not to get out, he ends up blocking too many which Bravo, if promoted, would not do because he has a better batting sense and not only can he keep changing the ends, but, can also, get the odd big shots in between keeping the innings fluid.
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Dwayne Smith has had a change in role at Gujarat Lions

Dwayne Smith has had a change in role at Gujarat Lions of late and he is bowling more than usual.


In fact, in the last couple of matches, he has bowled the maximum number of overs that a bowler can bowl which is 4 and, his 6 scalps at an average of 8 has justified it too.

Also, in batting, his slot has been swapped with that of Aaron Finch whose placement in the middle order did not pay any dividends.

Smith was having problems at the top too tackling the extra pace up front and it was probably in the interests of both and also, of the team that the alteration of the batting positions of the two was done.

So, the role of Smith, going into the playoffs, is now of an all-rounder who will be bowling with the new ball and batting maybe at 5 with a licence to go for the kill.

Because of Smith bowling as much as he is, Gujarat would go a bowler less in Qualifier 1 in Bangalore and get that inexperienced lower middle order packed with an extra batting resource in the form of an Indian domestic batsman. (more…)

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Ian Bell would be pretty disappointed that he could not take advantage of the start

Ian Bell would be pretty disappointed that he could not take advantage of the start that he had managed to get in on a green seaming wicket at Edgbaston on the first day of the third test match.

After Australia was bowled out for just 136, England lost one of the openers and Bell came on to bat at his new position of no. 3.

He was willing to dominate straightaway and was playing his shots.

But, just for a second while facing the off spinner Nathan Lyon, he got a bit reckless or that cost him his wicket.

He was on 54 and could easily have gone on to convert that into a century, but, a rush of blood made him go down the track to Lyon who was smart enough to drag the length of the delivery just a little bit to ensure Bell does not get to the pitch of it.

The ball dipped on Bell and he only ended up lofting the ball in the air to be caught at the short midwicket position.

Not too many overs were remaining in the day’s play at that point of time. In fact, only 10 minutes after that, a rain break saw the umpires calling it the stumps. So, Bell would be sitting in the dressing room and would be kicking himself for the shot that he went for. (more…)

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