Playing India in India is the ultimate challenge: Daryl Mitchell

New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell has said that playing in India is the ultimate challenge in Test cricket and that the Indian side is a world-class unit. 

“It’s probably one of the ultimate challenges in Test cricket - coming out to India and taking them on in their conditions. They are obviously world-class and they did show that in the Test. It was nice to fire a few shots and put them under some pressure. 

We obviously would have liked to do well here but it was not to be this time. We will take a lot of learnings from this experience and look forward to the next visit,” Mitchell said according to Cricket.com. 

The two sides had faced each other in a two-match Test series. The first clash in Kanpur had ended in a draw while the Blackcaps were totally outplayed in the second Test in Mumbai. 

The visitors were bowled out for 62 in reply to India’s 325 in the first innings and were then bundled out for 167 to suffer a defeat by 372 runs. 

While New Zealand lost the match, their spinner Ajaz Patel etched his name in the record books after he bagged a 10-wicket haul in the first innings and became only the third bowler to achieve the feat in Test cricket.

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BAN vs PAK | 2nd Test, Day 5: Tigers sinking every hour, lose two crucial wickets in second session

Bangladesh have no one but themselves to blame for the position they found themselves in the last session of the fifth and last day of the second Test against Pakistan at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka. In the last session, they need to play out at least 37 overs with only four wickets in hand and they are still training by 66 runs following on in their second innings. The situation could have been better had their batters shown a bit of patience and perseverance. While they were bowled out for 87 in the first innings in reply to Pakistan’s 300-4 declared, but in the second innings, the hopes were still alive when Liton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim were batting. The two got together when Bangladesh were in all sort of trouble at 25-4 in only the ninth over following on. But the two put up a valiant 73 run stand and were looking to steer the home team to a draw just when Liton’s lapse in concentration resulted in him hitting a half-tracker straight to Fawad Alam at deep mid-wicket. Rahim then got together with Shakib Al Hasan, the top scorer from the first inning and the two senior statesmen of the team put together 49 runs and most importantly played out 19 overs. But once again, rather than the bowling or fielding putting any pressure, it was the batsmen at fault. Shakib ran for a quick single and though Rahim dived to save himself, his bat was lifted in the air even as he crossed the popping crease when bails were removed by wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan. On first look it didn’t look out and even the appeal looked like a formality, the umpire was not interested in going to the third umpire, but Rizwan’s insistence meant that he had to. In replays, it was confirmed to be out and a frustrated Rahim walked out of the stadium on 48 as Teat was called. At the time of writing this, the Tigers were 159-6 with Shaikb and all-rounder Mehidy Hasan at the crease and still 32 overs to be bowled.

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Rewarding ground staff, old ritual in Indian cricket

Recently, former India captain and the new head coach Rahul Dravid had rewarded the Green Park Stadium’s ground staff a sum of Rs 35,000 for preparing a sporting pitch after the conclusion of the first Test against New Zealand. Later, the Indian team rewarded Rs 35,000 to the Wankhede Stadium ground staff after the second Test. The instances of the Indian players and the team’s generosity have been there in the past too. Re-calling something of similar sorts, Mahesh who was Eden Gardens’ head groundsman for 25 years had taken care of the pitches at the Bangabandhu Stadium against all odds. “The final-eve witnessed a downpour and when I reached Bangabandhu Stadium early in the morning on the day of the final of ICC Knockout Trophy, the ground resembled a large swimming pool. The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) officials had given up. I asked for some extra buckets and additional manpower to do what looked like an impossible job. The stadium’s drainage wasn’t perfect. Things had to be done manually,” Mahesh, now 70-plus, recalls for The Indian Express. “The secretary of the BCB gave me a hug and tucked a 100-dollar bill in my pocket,” he said. Mahesh and his colleagues have been rewarded by the Indian players after the domestic matches too. “Teams gave us bakshish after domestic matches as well,” he said. Cuttack’s Barabati Stadium curator Pankaj Babu revealed that while the curators supervise the pitch and the ground preparations, it is the ground staff that does the main job. “See, we supervise pitch and ground preparations. But ground staff does the main job. Players know that and hence reward them. This has been happening for long. Sometimes, even foreign teams have done it,” he said.

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Selectors not yet ready to take a call on Virat Kohli's ODI captaincy before South Africa tour

Right from the day India were eliminated from the group stage of the T20 World Cup, which was Virat Kohli’s last assignment as the leader of the T20I side, the debate of whether he should be the captain of even the ODI format has picked up the pace. There are ideas supporting full-time captaincy to Rohit Shara of both the white-ball formats while leaving only the Test cricket for Virat Kohli to oversee but the other school of thought contest the idea citing lack of time between now and the next ODI World Cup scheduled to take place in 2023. There is no easy answer to those questions and it seems even the national selectors are finding it tough to reach a conclusion on this contentious issue that has a far-reaching impact on those players and the Indian team. There were reports that Kohli will be stripped of his leadership duties from ODIs and Rohit will be elevated for the role as early as in the series against South Africa starting next month. The selectors, however, are not in hurry and they are looking to bide their time and have a comprehensive discussion with Kohli over his batting and overall feelings over leading the side. “The ODI captaincy is a sensitive issue. There is a school of thought that Rohit Sharma should be given charge of all white-ball cricket after being appointed the T20I captain. But for that, the selectors need to sit with Virat Kohli and know where he stands with his batting. The situation will have to be discussed with Rohit too because he is also seeking clarity on his role,” TOI quoted a BCCI source as saying. If Kohli is relieved of his leadership role, India will be looking towards an uncharted territory of full-fledged split captaincy which has been a popular and successful theme with the Indian side. MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli tried to do so for a couple of years before Dhoni left the job for Kohli to have full control over with his ideas and imagination and hence it would be fascinating to see how the trio of Rahul Dravid, Kohli and Rohit Sharma bring about the next phase of transition in Indian cricket.