Tag: India tour of England

LONDON: Indian captain Rohit Sharma has reiterated his faith in the out-of-form Virat Kohli and stated that he does not require any reassurances after the star batter failed to break out of his slump.

Kohli has been enduring a rough patch with the bat and remains unable to bring up his 71st ton since his last century against Bangladesh in 2019. His recent dismal performances during India’s tour of England have sparked many concerns about his place in the Indian team.

The right-handed batter once again failed to impress in the second ODI at Lord’s as he was dismissed for a mere 16 runs while India lost the match by 100 runs.

At the post-match media briefing, Rohit was asked by a reporter if Kohli needed reassurances from the captain or the management during his ongoing rough patch with the bat. The Indian captain replied in negation.

“He [Kohli] has played so many matches. He is playing for so many years. He is such a great batsman, so he does not need reassurance.” he said.

Rohit expressed his hope that a solid performance by Kohli in an inning or two would help in regaining his form while praising the star batter’s glorious run in the past.

“Form goes up and down, that is part and parcel of any cricketer’s career. So, a player like him, who has played for so many years, who has made so many runs, who has won so many matches, for him, he only needs one or two good innings (to bounce back). That is my thinking and I am sure all those who follow cricket will think similarly,” he maintained.

“We have seen performances of every player go up and down, but the quality of the player never gets worse. That we all should keep in mind. That is very important. He has made so many runs, check his average, how many hundreds he has made, he has (vast) experience of doing that. There is a slump in every player’s life. Even in the personal life, it comes,” he concluded.

READ: Topley’s six-for aids England stun India in second ODI to keep series alive

LONDON: Reece Topley stormed through the Indian batting line with a six-wicket haul to help England beat India by 100 runs in the second One-Day International, here at Lord’s on Thursday. 

Fast bowler Topley shone with his career-best figures of 6/24 as India were bowled out on 146 while chasing a 248-run target posted by England.

India displayed a mediocre batting show as England’s pace attack effectively dismantled their top order forcing India to distress on 31/4 within the 12 overs.

Topley led the charge for England getting rid of the opening pair early. Indian skipper Rohit Sharma went back without scoring while his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan fell cheaply on 9.

Wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant fell prey to Brydon Carse on a duck while Virat Kohli’s rough patch with the bat continued to haunt the star batter as he ended up getting an outside edge on David Willey’s bowl.

After the initial collapse, India’s middle order put up a slight resistance with Suryakuymar Kumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami building a few unstable partnerships to push the scoreboard to 140/6.

The Blue shirts underwent another collapse in the lower order losing the last four wickets by adding just 6 runs to the total.

For England, apart from sensational bowling figures produced by Topley, Willey, Carse, Moeen Ali and Liam Livingstone bagged a wicket each.

Earlier, the hosts reached a competitive total of 246 with help of astounding knocks by Moeen Ali, Willey, Livingstone and Jonny Bairstow after being put to bat by the Indian skipper.

Moeen remained the top scorer of the match with his cautious knock of 47 off 64 balls, including two boundaries and two sixes.

Meanwhile, Willey and Livingstone scored glittering 41 and 33, respectively, after Bairstow smashed 38 at run a ball in the top order.

England have now levelled the three-match ODI series 1-1 after the victory with the final encounter to be held on Sunday at Manchester.

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LONDON: Jasprit Bumrah stormed through the top order as India thrashed England by 10 wickets in the first One-Day International at Oval on Tuesday.

Fast bowler Bumrah shone with his career-best figures of 6-19 as England were bowled out on 110 in just 25.2 overs after Indian skipper Rohit Sharma put the hosts to bat first.

Indian captain then starred with the bat and scored an unbeaten 76 runs, combined excellently by Shikhar Dhawan with 32 not-out as the tourists chased the paltry target in 18.4 overs.

England underwent one of the worst starts to their batting as Bumrah sparked the hosts’ collapse in his first over removing Jason Roy and Joe Root on a duck.

Test skipper Ben Stokes followed suit and went for a golden duck in the next over by pacer Mohammed Shami.

England’s red-ball hero Jonny Bairstow fell cheaply on 7 as Bumrah sent him back to the pavilion in a caught-behind wicket in the 6th over.

Liam Livingstone became the fourth batter of the top six to get out on a duck as Bumrah bowled him out in the 8th over reducing the hosts to hosts to 26-5.

After the initial collapse, England lower order failed to impress as well despite remaining successful in avoiding the embarrassing record of the team’s lowest ODI total of 86 all out against Australia at Old Trafford in 2001.

England skipper Jos Buttler remained the top scorer for his team with his 30 off 32 balls, laced with six boundaries.

For India, apart from sensational bowling figures produced by Bumrah, Shami grabbed three wickets while young pacer Prasidh Krishna bagged one.

After the victory in the first game, India now have a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series with the second match scheduled on Thursday at Lord’s.

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BIRMINGHAM: India stand-in captain Jasprit Bumrah starred with the ball after smashing Stuart Broad for the costliest over in the Test history to drive his team towards a dominant position as England were reduced to 84/5 on a rain-hit second day in the rescheduled final test, here at Edgbaston.

India were bowled out for a mammoth 416 after all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja reached his second Test hundred in the first inning. Indian skipper Bumrah played a late cameo of 31 runs, taking the veteran pacer Broad to the task, who conceded 35 runs in an over.

After a rough first day with the bowl, England displayed a dismal batting show as Bumrah stormed through the host’s top order grabbing three early wickets. Alex Lees, Zak Crawley, and Ollie Pope were sent back to the pavilion by the skipper at regular intervals amid the spells of rain.

England star batter Joe Root managed to survive India’s furious pace attack for a brief before he fell prey to Mohammad Siraj on 31 in a caught-behind wicket just before the conclusion of the day.

Meanwhile, nightwatchman Jack Leech proved futile in serving the purpose as he was efficiently removed by Mohammad Shami on a duck.

England will resume the proceedings of the third day with the overnight score of 84/5 with skipper Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow on the crease.

READ: Bumrah overtakes Brian Lara to score most runs in an over in Test cricket

NEW DELHI: India have announced squads for the three-match T20I and ODI series against England with Rohit Sharma named as captain of the Indian side after being ruled out of the rescheduled Edgbaston Test due to Covid-19.

Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravindra Jadeja, and Rishabh Pant will be rested for the first T20I on July 7 at Southampton, just two days after the conclusion of the Test.

Indian skipper in the recently concluded two-match T20I series against Ireland, Hardik Pandya, made a return to the ODI squad after missing out last ODI series against West Indies while left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan also managed to find a spot in the ODI squad.

Meanwhile, left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh has received his maiden ODI call-up.

India are set to lock horns against the hosts England in three-match T20I series set to commence on July 7, followed by three ODIs on July 12, 14, and 17.

Squad: 

1^st T20I: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Venkatesh Iyer, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik

2^nd and 3^rd T20I: Rohit Sharma (c), Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Shreyas Iyer, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik

ODI series: Rohit Sharma (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh

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BIRMINGHAM: Former Indian captain and head coach Rahul Dravid has backed Virat Kohli and urged the star batter to contribute with match-winning performances -whether a 50 or a 60- as Team India prepares to face England in the rescheduled final Test at Edgbaston on July 1.

Dravid, in his pre-match press conference, put his weight behind Kohli, who has not scored a century since 2019 in any format, and stated that as a head coach he only wanted the batter to make match-winning contributions.

“Obviously, the standards that he has set, people only see hundreds as a success but for me, from a coaches’ perspective, we want contributions from him — match-winning contributions, whether it is a 50 or a 60,” he said as quoted by HindustanTimes. 

“As players, you go through these phases and I don’t think you need the motivation to be very honest with you and I think in Virat’s case it is nothing to do with lack of motivation or desire,” he added

Dravid praised the 34-year-old batter for his hard work and fitness and believed he still had a long career ahead of him.

In my opinion, he is on the right side of 30 and he is an incredibly fit guy. He is one of the most hardworking guys that I have come across and his desire and hunger and the whole attitude of looking after himself,” he concluded.

It is worth mentioning here that India’s current Test skipper Rohit Sharma has been undergoing isolation after he was tested positive for Covid-19, making his availability for tomorrow’s match doubtful.

Although India has called Mayank Agarwal as batting cover but still waiting for further tests of Rohit to announce his replacement as a skipper of the Indian team.

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LEICESTER: Team India faced a major setback on Sunday as the skipper Rohit Sharma tested positive for Covid on the third day of the ongoing warm-up match against Leicester and went into isolation ahead of rescheduled Test against England on July 1.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced on its official Twitter handle that Indian captain Rohit has tested positive after he underwent the Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) on Saturday. He is currently undergoing isolation and treatment by the BCCI medical team.

“UPDATE – #TeamIndia Captain Mr. Rohit Sharma has tested positive for COVID-19 following a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) conducted on Saturday. He is currently in isolation at the team hotel and is under the care of the BCCI Medical Team,” BCCI tweeted.

UPDATE – #TeamIndia Captain Mr Rohit Sharma has tested positive for COVID-19 following a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) conducted on Saturday. He is currently in isolation at the team hotel and is under the care of the BCCI Medical Team.

— BCCI (@BCCI) June 25, 2022

Indian skipper didn’t come out to bat on the third day of the warm-up game against Leicestershire, meanwhile, his participation in the rescheduled final Test against England in Edgbaston on July 1, might be under clouds.

Rohit is currently the highest scorer for India in the series, which ended abruptly last year, scoring 368 runs in four matches with an impressive average of 52.27.

It is worth mentioning here that India is currently leading the five-match Test series against England 2-1. The touring side will also play three T20I matches and as many ODIs against the hosts during the tour.

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NEW DELHI: Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has tested positive for Covid-19 and missed the flight to England for the upcoming rescheduled Test against England.

Ashwin has undergone quartine and will only join the Indian squad after meeting all the protocol requirements, reports the EspnCricinfo website.

“Ashwin hasn’t traveled with the squad to the UK as he has tested positive for Covid-19 before departure,” a BCCI source confirmed to Press Trust of India (PTI) as reported by the website.

“But we are hopeful that he will recover well in time before the Test match starts on July 1. However, he might miss the practice game against Leicestershire,” he added.

Meanwhile, the head coach Rahul Dravid along with Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant will join the squad shortly in Leicestershire as they have already reached London after concluding the home T20I series against South Africa.

The rest of the Indian contingent is already in Leicestershire and undergoing training sessions under the supervision of bowling coach Paras Mhambrey and batting coach Vikram Rathour.

India will play the one-off Test against England from July 1 to July 5 to complete the five-match Test series that ended abruptly last year. India is currently leading the series 2-1. Rohit Sharma will captain the Indian side for the first time in an overseas Test.

The touring side will also play three T20I matches and as many ODIs against the hosts during the tour.

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