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

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.

Cricket Australia confirms Indian players faced racial abuse in Sydney Test

Cricket Australia has confirmed Indian players were subjected to racial abuse in the third Test of the series at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The board further said that the investigation is still on while it is looking at footage from CCTV cameras, and ticketing data along with interviews with spectators to assess and identify the culprits. However, the board cleared the six spectators who were evicted on the fourth day of the Sydney Test as the investigation found they did not engage in any racist behaviour. “CA confirms that members of the Indian cricket team were subjected to racial abuse. CA's own investigation into the matter remains open, with CCTV footage, ticketing data and interviews with spectators still being analysed in an attempt to locate those responsible,” CA head of security and integrity Sean Carroll said in a statement. "CA's investigation concluded that the spectators filmed and/or photographed by the media in the Brewongle Stand concourse at the conclusion of the 86th over on day four of the test did not engage in racist behaviour." "CA's investigation concluded that the spectators filmed and/or photographed by the media in the Brewongle Stand concourse at the conclusion of the 86th over on day four of the test did not engage in racist behaviour." Cricket Australia has submitted its findings to the International Cricket Council (ICC) and has also asked the New South Wales Police if they have completed their investigation. The first episode of racial abuse was reported when the Indian team management led by the captain Ajinkya Rahane and other senior players such as Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin reported those incidents against pacers Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah to the match officials after the end of the third day’s play in Sydney. Match officials took cognisance of the matter and suggested instant reporting of these issues the next time they were to face and Siraj did that on the fourth day when match officials halted the game for a period of 10 minutes when those six individuals who now have been cleared of the charges of racial abuse were evicted from the ground.