Ostwal, Raghuvanshi help India lift Asia Cup U-19 trophy after comprehensive win over Sri Lanka

EXCLUSIVE | Walking the talk - Inside Story of how Himachal Pradesh won the Vijay Hazare Trophy

Himachal Pradesh players were ecstatic and emotional and why not. After all, they had created history. They were the bunch of cricketers who had anchored the side to their first Vijay Hazare title. And so was captain Rishi Dhawan who had led this team from the front not just to the winning triumph but to a DREAM. A dream that many had seen. A dream that he himself had seen. A dream that is now a reality. In an EXCLUSIVE chat with OneCricket and Cricketexchange Rishi talks about how special this win is not just for him but for Himachal Pradesh cricket after putting in hard work for so many years. “It feels amazing after the historic win. We have had confidence in our team as we have been performing well for the past 4-5 years but were not getting that finishing touch. We finally got it this year, so it feels great. The mix in the team was good. All the players performed really well. Prashant, Nikhil, Amit and in the bowling unit we have Pankaj Jaiswal, Akash Vashisht who have performed really well. It’s a total team effort and the whole team has produced a brilliant show in the tournament,” he said. While Shubham Arora played an important role in the final against Tamil Nadu after scoring a century, Prashant Chopra had been among the runs consistently for the side in the tournament. Apart from these two, the middle-order and Rishi himself chipped in with important runs every now and then. Hailing the team, the right-hander said that it was the all-around show from the unit that helped clinch the title. “We got good batting wickets in the tournament. Like earlier, we played in Mumbai, so the tracks there had helped on offer for the batters. From the very starting, our focus was to play all the 50 overs and try not to give away many wickets. Our plan was to save wickets for the slog overs so that we can accelerate then. In almost 80% of the matches that we played, we scored a lot of runs in the final overs,” Dhawan noted. “Moreover, the batting order performed really well. Prashant gave us good starts then in the middle-order, we had Nikhil and Amit who chipped in with valuable contributions and then me and Akash and partnerships in 2-3 games which were really crucial and important. Overall, as I said this is a team effort. The good part was that we didn’t just have a couple of match-winners but there were different players in all the matches who made contributions.” An emotional Dhawan credited Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association for providing the players with facilities and also thanked Anurag Thakur for his hard work and efforts. “Obviously, you can’t create history in one and it’s a process that goes on. I really want to give credit to the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) who provided us with a lot of facilities. The infrastructure is good, we have indoor stadiums as well. We have at least 6-7 grounds where national level games can be held. Apart from this, the preparations are good, we get to play a lot of matches. So, I really want to thank the association and especially Anurag Thakur sir for his efforts. He had worked really hard for this. It was everyone’s dream that Himachal Pradesh should win a title and it has now come true.” The 31-year-old revealed how the players couldn’t control their emotions after qualifying for the finale and how he got the side back in the groove. “The players were really emotional after we made a place in the final. We had this feeling that we have been working hard for so many years and now we have got the reward so it was really emotional for us. But after all the celebrations and all, we got back into the groove that we are left with one game and kept in mind that we have to play our game and not really think about the opponent. We want to give our 100% and keep it simple,” he said. Looking at the conditions, Tamil Nadu had made some tweaks in their batting order in the finale and sent the lower-order batters up the order. Though they were reduced to 40/4, Dinesh Karthik and Baba Indrajith steadied the ship for the side. Karthik in fact, went on to notch a ton. Talking about the same, Dhawan admitted that his side had come under some pressure while DK was at the crease but as they had played at the venue earlier, they had the idea that it would be a high-scoring clash. “Dinesh Karthik is of course a big player and the way he was playing, the players were under some pressure despite getting a good start. But we had played a couple of games at the venue, so we had the idea that the wicket would gradually assist the batsmen. The outfield is fast. So somewhere down the line, we had this in mind that a high score will be put on the board eventually. In fact, we chose to field after winning the toss to take advantage of the conditions in the first hour. But we knew after 10-15 overs, the pitch will assist the batters,” he said. “We were expecting a change in the lineup because we knew they would also try to shield their important batters in the initial phase. But we had a plan of picking up as many wickets as we can,” he added. Himachal Pradesh had won the final by 11 runs (VJD Method). When asked if that was in his mind, Dhawan said in the affirmative that he was keeping the scoring rate in check. He further talked about the interaction that he had with Arora in the middle. “Being a senior player, I had to take up the onus and moreover, Shubham was a bit tired as well. He had kept wickets earlier and then he batted throughout, so he was tired. He in fact, called the physio also a couple of times during the drinks break to get the stretching done. He told me that he wasn’t really able to run so I just told him that don’t give away your wicket because a wicket at that point of time would have put us under pressure.” “I told him that I will take up the responsibility of scoring the runs and asked him to rotate the strike. Also, the VJD thing was going on in the back of our minds and a wicket there would have pushed us on the back foot,” he revealed. The Vijay Hazare Trophy will now be followed by the Ranji Trophy and the Himachal Pradesh side will be back to work. “We will be resting for 2-3 days and then we will start with the preparations for the Ranji Trophy. We are starting the tournament in Mumbai from January 13, 2022.” When asked about how much importance does IPL keep in being a platform for youngsters for showcasing the talent, Dhawan replied that it does keep a lot of importance. “You see, social media is so powerful that you get noticed if you perform well. This is a BCCI tournament so everyone knows how big this opportunity is for everyone. So, this thing is in everyone’s back of the mind and it only depends upon you how you take it. If you just enjoy the process, it enhances the performance,” he concluded.

BBL 11 | Brisbane Heat replaces injured Tom Abell with Pakistani import Fakhar Zaman

Big Bash League side Brisbane Heat have signed up Pakistan top order batter Fakhar Zaman as a replacement for their overseas player Tom Abell after the latter was not able to get fit for the later stages of the tournament. Talking about the signing, Wade Seccombe, the Heat's head coach, said, "Fakhar will join us in Melbourne ahead of the game against the [Melbourne] Renegades [on January 6]," "Due to Queensland's current border restrictions, he will need to spend 14 days outside of the state before he can play in Queensland. We are pleased he will be with us for what are shaping as key games. He is a classy performer who gets the job done in the teams he has played for so we are confident he can settle in quickly,” the coach further added. Englishman Abell, who travelled to Australia with the England Lions squad joined Heat at the start of the season but subsequently injured himself in only his second game and it was confirmed on Friday that he will not be able to further take any part in the league. The 27-year-old has returned to the United Kingdom and will now rehabilitate to get ready for the Pakistan Super League in late January where he will represent Karachi Kings. Fakhar, who has mostly played as an opener in his career but of late made himself an able number three player has an experience of 175 T20s and can come in handy for the Heat, who are currently placed fifth in the BBL points table.

Smriti Mandhana nominated for ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year 2021 award

India’s Smriti Mandhana has received the nomination for the biggest individual cricketing honour for the calendar year as she finds her name in the four members shortlist for the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy for 2021, which is given to the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year every calendar year. Along with this, she has also been nominated for the ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year 2021 award. The 25-year-old Mandhana was in scintillating form this year, though she was not cracking it every game, but per5formed exceptionally well overall. In tidal the left-hander scored 855 runs in 22 internationals at an average of 38.86 with one century and five half-centuries to her name, The one century, her debut Test hundred came against Australia in a challenging condition. Alongside Mandhana, England’s Tammy Beaumont, who also had a superb year with the bat has been nominated for the prestigious award. South African opener Lizelle Lee and Ireland’s Gaby Lewis also find themselves fighting for the same award. While Beaumont has scored 872 runs in 21 internationals at an average of 48.44 with one century and eight half-centuries, Lee has to her kitty 864 runs in 19 internationals at an average of 57.6 with one century and seven half-centuries. The Irish woman Lewis, who registered her name in the record books by becoming the first Irish player, male or female to hit a T20I century, has scored 624 runs in 15 internationals at an average of 52 with one century and four half-centuries. In the ICC Women’s T20I Player of the Year 2021 category, Mandhana is once again in the company of Beaumont and Lewis and also has England Vice-Captain Nat Sciver for competition. Beaumont is the only one that finds herself in all three categories of nominations for women cricketers at the ICC awards as she is also in the race to be crowned ICC Women’s ODI Player of the Year. In that list, she is accompanied by Lizelle Lee, West Indies’ Hayley Matthews and Pakistan’s Fatima Sana. The winners of the Women’s Awards will be announced on January 23 while the Men’s Awards, Spirit of Cricket, and Umpire Award will be announced on January 24.

Williamson, Root crunched between Pakistan’s Rizwan and Shaheen for ICC Player of the Year 2021 award

The International Cricket Council (ICC), after having announced the nominees for T20I and ODI players of the year in the Men’s category, announced the nominees for the Player of the Year award, the biggest honour in the year ending award shows that the ICC hosts every calendar year. The player which wins the award is presented with the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy. The nominees include four players who had a superb year in all three formats and if not all three then, at least in one format to supersede performances of others in even all three formats of the game. England’s Test skipper Joe Root, who scored a record 17808 Test runs, most for any English batter in a calendar year and third-highest for any batter in the world ever. In total though, the 31-year-old scored 1855 runs in 18 international matches at an average of 58.37 with 6 centuries, two of which were double hundreds in challenging conditions such as India and Sri Lanka. Thanks to the solid performances, the Englishman even reached the summit of the MRF Tyres ICC Test Player Rankings for batting, Next on the list is Pakistan quick Shaheen Afridi. The 22-year-old was a revelation in world cricket this year. He took a total of 78 wickets in only 36 international matches at an average of 22.20. His most fulfilling performances came in the shortest format though as he scalped 23 wickets in 21 matches and shone brightly in Pakistan’s historic win over India in the T20 World Cup. In Tests too, the left-hander was able to get the ball move on his wishes as he took 7 wickets in only 9 matches at a staggering average of 17.06. New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson will also present his strong case for the award, not mainly as a player, but as a leader. Though he also has 693 runs in 16 internationals at an average of 43.31 with one century to boast of for a batter, it is mainly his leadership skills that put him up on the pedestal with the rest of the best players. He led New Zealand to its first-ever world title in cricket as the Kiwis own the World Test Championship 2021 by beating India in the final. He then carried that momentum and also saw his side claim the number one spot in Test rankings. It could have been icing on the cake had the Blackcaps managed to beat the Trans-Tasman rivals in the T20 World Cup final. Williamson tried his level best with a 43-ball 85 to propel his side to set up the highest total to chase in a World Cup final. But it wasn’t enough. But even the fact that his team was able to make the two world event finals in the same calendar year speaks volumes about his leadership skills. Last on the list is the Pakistan run machine for the year 2021, Mohammad Rizwan. The batter scored 1915 runs in 44 internationals at an average of 56.32 with 2 centuries to his name. He also had to his credit 56 dismissals as a wicketkeeper. His best however was shown in the t20iS where he scored staggering 1326 runs in only 29 matches at an average of 73.66 and a strike rate of 134.89. His fighting spirit was also on display during the T20 World Cup where he took to the field in the semi-final even after having undergone severe treatment just days before the big game.