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Coach Powar Heaps Praise On Role Model Mithali Raj Outlines Need For Improvement In Batting

Coach Powar heaps praise on 'role model' Mithali Raj, outlines need for improvement in batting

India Women skipper Mithali Raj has shown over the course of the ODI series against England Women why she is still the number one bet for the country to win the World Cup in New Zealand next year. The 38-year-old hit three consecutive fifties in the series with the last one coming in a stellar run chase and the coach Ramesh Powar was delighted by the skipper’s performance and said that she deserves every accolade in the world.

“I think she deserves every praise in the world out there. She has been a great server of the game for the past 22 years and she is a role model for a lot of girls out there,” Powar was heard saying in a video uploaded by the BCCI on Twitter. “She won us this game single-handedly. Chasing 220 on a low bounce track is not easy and she still got us over the line,” he added.

However, the coach, who was appointed just ahead of this England series, feels that the team’s batting needs to get better if they aim to do well in the upcoming World Cup. “I think bowlers brought us back in this game and we have a lot to learn from this series. Bowling and fielding have improved immensely. Batting has to be up if we are aiming at the World Cup,” said the 43-year-old.

Praising the bowling unit further, Powar also appreciated the efforts put in by senior player Jhulan Goswami in improving the team. “Jhulan Goswami is one of the legends of women’s cricket and her work ethic, preparations, commitment towards the game, towards the team and the dressing room and young players is commendable. It makes a huge difference to us as a team,” he said.

The Indian team, having collected four points from a draw in Tests and a win in ODIs would at least look to win the T20I series 2-1 to square up in the entire tour with hosts England who are two pits ahead at six points courtesy of their two wins in the ODI series. The shortest format begins with the first T20I at Northampton on July 8.

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Dinesh Karthik apologises for 'neighbour's wife' remark

Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik has apologised for his on-air ‘neighbour’s wife’ comment in the third and final ODI of the series between England and Sri Lanka. Karthik issued an apology in his first commentary stint and conceded that he got it all wrong and extended an apology and promise of not repeating it ever again. “I want to apologise for what happened last game,” said Karthik. “It’s definitely not what I intended. I got it all wrong, I want to apologise to everybody who heard that. I got a lot of stick from my mum and my wife, actually, for saying that. I’m really sorry for that, it shouldn’t happen again,” Karthik said while calling the third game from Sky Sports. Karthik had landed himself in big controversy when he had explained his teammates love for the gears of other teammates by taking a reference of ‘neighbour’s wife.’ His comment did not go down well for the fans of the game and his remark was termed ‘sexist on Twitter. “Batsmen and not liking bats – they go hand in hand. Most of the batters don’t seem to like their bats. They either like another person’s bat or… bats are like a neighbour’s wife, they always feel better,” Karthik had said. Karthik is in the UK since the World Test Championship final between India and New Zealand and in all likelihood will stay put for the upcoming Test series between India and England starting early next month.

Mark Boucher upbeat of Proteas' chances in T20 World Cup, to keep an eye on IPL in UAE

Fresh from a series win in a five-match series against West Indies, South Africa coach Mark Boucher is upbeat about Proteas chances in the ICC World T20 scheduled to be played in the UAE and Oman. He said the conditions are likely to be similar to what they have played in against the Windies and run-scoring will be a tough ask on pitches. "We are probably going to be playing in conditions like this in the UAE. The wickets after the IPL are going to be a bit dry. It's not the same as we're used to back in South Africa where you can go out and bash your way to 180 to 200 runs. You've got to be skillful here; you've got to be smart," Boucher said. Boucher highlighted the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League scheduled just prior to the T20 World Cup and said that worn pitches in the tournaments will make the conditions even more extreme come the global tournament. He said that the South Africa team management will have their eyes glued to the developments in the IPL to formulate a blueprint for the big ICC event. He also made no reservations about the fact the spinners will have a massive role to play in the outcome of the event. "If anything, it's going to go even further into subcontinent conditions, on the extreme side. They are playing the IPL there, there's not a lot of grounds and those wickets are going to be worn so scores will probably go even further down," he said. "It's going to be tough to bat on especially at the back end, like we saw here. We will have an idea of what scores are going to be by watching the IPL and then taking a look and assess how the wickets are playing during the beginning part of the World Cup. I suspect spinners will play a massive role,” Boucher said. South Africa clinched the five-match series 3-2 against an all-strength Windies side in their home conditions but lack of form and consistency by some batsmen have not lost relevance in Boucher’s views. However, he chose to cherish a series win over a strong team despite not off the members performing at par with their potential. He expressed hope that they will regain form in upcoming matches leading up to the marquee event which could provide the Proteas with much-needed impetus lower down the order which could be very crucial on slower and lower surfaces in the UAE. "There are a couple of guys out of form but if you are winning series against a strong team with a couple of guys out of form, you must be doing something right. We need to get some guys in form. Maybe there is an opportunity for us to get those guys in form so we can finish off innings better,” Boucher said. "If we can get all the guys firing on all cylinders, we've got an idea of what could be our strongest line-up and once that happens, then you end up finding an extra 15-20 runs which, in these conditions it becomes a very difficult total to face, especially when it's so dry," he said. Boucher though showered praise on the new skipper Temba Bavuma for utilising all the resources at his disposal to the fullest and bowlers for putting their hands up by executing plans. "We've got to get guys playing a lot smarter and we saw that in our bowling. Our bowling throughout the whole series was fantastic and Temba has had a fantastic series managing the bowlers apart from one or two gambles that didn't pay off,” Boucher asserted. South Africa have had a successful tour of the West Indies where they won the Test series 2-0 and followed it up with another series win in T20Is. Boucher would hope the twin series win in the Caribbean islands will start off a new journey for the Proteas who have not had great success over the last few years.

Matthew Wade to continue playing with 'nothing to lose' attitude as T20 audition looms

Australia’s wicketkeeper-batsman Matthew Wade has said that he has made peace with the fact that every tour he travels with the Australian side could be his last opportunity in case of no performance. Wade, a veteran of 94 ODIs, said that all along in his career at the highest level, it has always been a continuous audition process where he never felt like a player who has cemented his place in the side. However, the left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman has now accepted that he has nothing to lose from here on and that he will try to cash in on every opportunity presented to him. "Think every time you play for Australia is a bit of an audition, I've never really been a cemented player in the team so it'll be no different going into this tour. I've played 90-odd one-dayers and every tour I went on felt like I needed to perform or I wouldn't be on the next tour,” Wade said in St. Lucia. "As I've spoken about before I'm in a different place with my life and my cricket, if I get opportunities to play games of cricket again for Australia whether that be one or two games here or 10 and the World Cup, whatever comes my way I'll take," said the batter with 3906 international runs under his bag across all formats. Matthew Wade has travelled to West Indies where Australia are scheduled to play a five-match long T20 series and a three-match ODI series.

India have 'even-money chance' of defeating England in their home conditions: Ian Chappell

Former Australian captain and now an eminent commentator Ian Chapell has commended the fast bowling attack of the Indian Test side and said that they can challenge and win against England in their home conditions in the upcoming series. Writing in his regular column for ESPNcricinfo, Chappell said that India have improved their pace bowling department in a big way and have joined the other sides that have been pace-dominant over the years. He credited Virat Kohli-led’s side success in Australia and on the path to the World Test Championship final to the pacers. “In recent years India have joined the ranks of pace-bowling proficient teams. As a consequence, they have enjoyed success in Australia, reached the final of the WTC, and now have an even-money chance of beating England on their home turf,” Chappell said in his column. India won the series against Australia in Australia even with an injury-plagued squad and defeated England at home to reach the inaugural edition of the WTC final. India lost the World Test Championship to New Zealand in the final but their chances in England have not diminished one bit due to that loss. India will have an under-pressure England batting lineup after they lost their first Test series to New Zealand at home since 1999 while the pacers also could not extract as much movement as the Kiwi pacers did.