IPL 2021 player auctions on 18th February

Kuldeep would be the man to watch out for: Bharat Arun warns England

Indian bowling coach Bharat Arun has warned the England team about India chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav saying that he is going to be one of the most lethal bowlers for India against the English side. Kuldeep, 26, didn’t play in any of the Tests against Australia, Arun said it wasn’t because of the lack of talent or form but mostly because the team went horses for courses. "Horses for courses is the best thing and when he gets a chance to play, he will show what he can do because he is bowling magnificently now and in India when we play these four Tests (against England) it will be his time,” Arun said. Talking about the rotation policy, Arun, a former fast bowler for Team India said that to keep the bowlers fresh, rotation is the only way out. "Now we are blessed with great bench strength. This tour has taken a lot out of the boys, but now in the future when you have seven fast bowlers raring to play for the country.” With the number of Tests we are going to play four against England here and five in England it will be very handy. They will all be rotated and we will make sure the best team is put forward," added the 58-year-old. With Jadeja out of contention due to a fractured thumb, Kuldeep might get a chance of making his first appearance in whites for India after two year’s time. In six Tests that he has played so far, the Uttar Pradesh man has taken 24 wickets with an average of 24.12.

Want to be a proper all-rounder in future: Rashid Khan

Afghanistan cricketer Rashid Khan has made a good name for himself all around the globe but the spinner wants to be known as a “proper all-rounder”. ''Exactly (I see myself as an all-rounder). I said earlier that I started my career as a batsman. But later I worked more on my bowling. I am working on my batting now and I have got areas to improve on and I want to be a proper all-rounder in future,'' said Rashid. Rashid scored a 40-ball 48 against Ireland in the third ODI and followed it with a four-for to anchor Afghanistan to a win eventually. “When the team needs me I have to deliver. At the end when we need 40 or 50 runs then you have to stand up and deliver for the team. Yes I am considering myself as a proper all-rounder and whenever I get an opportunity, doesn't matter if I come at number eight or number nine, I just need to have that mentality that I have got skills and talents and I have to just go and express that,'' he said. Rashid also talked about his own bowling and suggested that he doesn’t really need to change a lot of things. ''I don't think I have to change my mindset because mostly I am bowling at the end of the innings, when teams and the players are going after the bowlers and they want to score runs,'' said Rashid. 'You will see that I am bowling my last four overs in last 10, and at the same time I am bowling short spells of about two-three overs. I don't think like it's a T20 or ODI, I just try to keep it simple for myself. I know my plans and I know my line and length matters whichever format I am playing, because as long as you are bowling your best delivery it is the best in any format,'' he said.

ICC announces Player of the Month awards starting January; Pant, Root others in contention

For instant recognition of the players across all formats of the game among male and female cricketers, the International Cricket Council has brought in the ICC Player of the Month awards that will be decided after voting from an independent ICC Voting Academy. The academy will be composed of former players, broadcasters, and journalists from around the world, the ICC said in its statement. The award will commence from the ongoing January month of this year which according to the council has seen many stellar performances. ICC has named performances from newcomers such as Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, T. Natarajan, Rishabh Pant, Rahmanullah Gurbaj along with experienced players such as Ravichandran Ashwin, Joe Root, Steve Smith. ICC has also mentioned the performances of Marizanne Kapp, Nadine de Klerk, Nida Dar who will represent female cricketers in the awards. Disclosing the nomination process for the monthly awards, ICC said that three entries will be taken for each category by the ICC Awards Nominations Committee on the basis of the performances and achievement of players in that particular calendar month. Then, the ICC Voting Academy and fans around the world will vote for their best performances of the month. The Voting Academy will retain 90 per cent of the vote while the fans of the game will retain 10 per cent of the vote and they will submit the vote on ICC website on the first day of every month. The council said that the winner of the award will be disclosed on every second Monday of the following month.

It was Virat Kohli’s idea to ask Pant to bat at number 5: Vikram Rathour

Wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant played a couple of crucial knocks against Australia during India’s successful run. Pant scored a fighting 97 in the third Test to lead India to a draw from a crunch situation while remained unbeaten on 89 in the fourth Test to take the side over the line while chasing 328 in Brisbane. Batting coach Vikram Rathour while chatting with R Ashwin told that initially it was Virat Kohli’s idea to ask Pant to bat at number 5. “It came from Virat to be honest,” Rathour said. “He said, ‘in case we play both left-handers, it will be a good idea if we can send Pant at No. 5 so that we can have a left-right combination. We discussed it with Ajinkya also. Then during the match, in the first innings, we decided to let him go at No.6.” Rathour further revealed why they decided to send him at no. 5 in the 2nd innings at SCG. "Irrespective of when we lose wickets, this is the last innings, and we were going for the runs. The intent was not to draw the Test. Till we can, we were going to go for the win. That was the right time to send him in,” Rathour added. Talking about head coach Ravi Shastri’s opinion about the same, Rathour told that Shastri is a great believer of left-right combination. “Ravi Shastri is a great believer of left-right combination and thought for a long time that Australians don’t bowl that well to the left-handers. And Ajinkya agreed to send him at No.5." "I was telling Ajinkya if we get a good start we can send him at No. 4 in the first innings but that didn’t happen,” Rathour added. India won the four-match series 2-1 and defended the Border-Gavaskar trophy.