BBL left frustrated by the withdrawal of Pakistan players

Not surprised at all: Former India cricketers react to Kohli’s resignation as India Test captain

Virat Kohli’s decision to quit the captaincy of the Indian Test side was not an easy one and there was always going to be reading between the line by former cricketers. It did happen. While some said that they saw it coming, for others it was a complete shocker. Former India captain and part of the commentary panel in the recently concluded test series between South Africa and India, Sunil Gavaskar said that he always saw that coming once India lost the series. "I'm not surprised at all. I thought that it might have come at the presentation ceremony, but that would have looked like it has come out of a sense of anger having lost the series. So, I think a little bit of gap and the decision has come, “ he said on India Today. "Looking at the fact that he had been removed as ODI captain. Yes, having lost this series, that was always possible. If you don't win, what happens? Doesn't matter if he's been individually successful, in a team sport, the captain is the one where the buck stops,” added the legend of the game. Kiran More, former India wicketkeeper and a BCCI selector, said that the way things panned out with Kohli in the last three months, shouldn’t have. “The way he has left is a bit sad. The way people have treated him, and I am not talking of the BCCI, and criticised him was not fair. Let’s not forget he is a World Cup winner (2011). He has got 70 international hundreds and is a special player. I am disappointed with the way people were talking about him and the way his captaincy was criticised. For me, he is a legend. Performance-wise, we cannot touch him,” said More in a chat with News18. Madan Lal, a World Cup-winning former cricketer and also a former member of the selection committee was not impressed with the decision that Kohli took. “What next? He’ll keep on playing for the country and keep on performing. The game is all about performance, nothing else. You have to keep on performing and keep on playing. At the end of the day, it is the performance that counts,” said Lal. “Kohli has done a very good job as a captain. I wanted to see him as Test captain for one or two years. I like his aggressive nature. People talk about Indians not being aggressive and here we have had a captain who’s aggressive, who wanted to win everything,” he added further.

India to quarantine in Mumbai before leaving for Women’s World Cup

The Indian women’s team will be in Mumbai for a seven day quarantine period starting Sunday, 16 January. The teaam will be completing the necessary Covid-19 precautions before flying out to New Zealand where they will prepare for the Women’s World Cup scheduled to be held during the months of March-April. The Indian team will be flying out on 24 January to play the hosts for a five match long ODI series and one T20I game. Veteran Indian pacer Jhulan Goswami has been public about how good this is for the preparation of the World Cup and how it puts India in a very good position.

The Ashes | Green strikes at stroke of Tea to break England’s best opening stand of the tour

The Australian man with the magic-Cameron Green struck at the stroke of Tea on the third day of the fifth and final Ashes Test going on at the Blundstone Arena in Hobart. Calling him the man with the magic because it was a magical stand, the highest so far between the two England openers that he broke. Chasing a target of 271, after dismissing Australia for 155 in their second innings, England got off to a great start as openers Rory Burns and Zak Crawley put up the best opening stand of the tour for the England team. Having put on 68 for the first wicket and with just one over to negotiate before Tea, Rory burn was played down after deciding to leave Cameron Green delivery which was coming in, but by the time he decided to leave, the ball had made contacts with the bat and ricocheted on the stumps. Earlier in the second session, Australia, which started from 141-8, with Alex Carey and skipper Pat Cummins at the crease, managed to add 14 runs to their total before both Carey and Cummins were dismissed by Stuart Broad and Mark Wood respectively. Carey was the highest scorer of the innings for the Aussies as he got out one short of his fifty while Wood was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with his career-best figures of 6-37. Broad picked three wickets and Chris Wokes got one.

Inspiration for many: Pakistani cricketers to Virat Kohli’s resignation as Test captain

The sudden resignation of Virat Kohli as India Test captain has triggered some very emotional reactions among the fans and the cricketing fraternity in India. But as the day passed, it came to light that it wasn’t just India, but even the cricketers from across the border in Pakistan also felt that it is almost the end of an era as far as test captaincy is concerned. Ahmed Shehzad, one of the Pakistani batters, who was touted to be the Kohli of that country and whose looks were always compared to the Indian captain said that Kohli was one of the great ambassadors of the game as a skipper. Along with Shehzad, young pacer Naseem Shah also expressed his love for the Indian captain and called him an inspiration. Among the former cricketers from the nation of the great fast bowlers, Azhar Mahmood, who also played in the Indian Premier League against Virat Kohli and was part of the Pakistan support staff during the Champions Trophy of 2017 where Virat Kohli led India lost in the final to Pakistan, also expressed his admiration towards the outgoing India captain. Rashid Latif, former wicket-keeper batter of Pakistan and a keen observer of Indian cricket shared a video that was indicative that nobody stopped Kohli from resigning.