Ravi Shastri rates Virat Kohli in highest league among Indian captains of the past

“You don't come halfway around the world just to win a semi-final,” Jimmy Neesham dreams big for NZ

When the whole of New Zealand dugout was celebrating after Daryl Mitchell hit the winning runs against England, James Neesham and Kane Williamson were the mute spectators of that emotional outburst. It was more peculiar and eye-catching for Neesham to not react and celebrate as he is known for his wit and humour on social media. Later on, he justified his case while replying to a tweet and gave an insight of him meaning business just at the right time for the Blackcaps. He was the chief tormentor for Eoin Morgan’s England and changed the momentum in an 11-ball 27 innings towards the Kiwis’ favour but the absolute absence of emotions and later justification highlighted his hunger. He has doubled down on his hunger for the ultimate goal and ruled that they have not travelled so far from their homes to “ just to win a semi-final”. Neesham said that while the Blackcaps deserved to celebrate resoundingly after the heroic win over England, the larger goal of winning the T20 World Cup is still ahead of them and a bigger and grand celebration would come only after achieving that purpose. "It's a situation worthy of celebrating I guess - winning a semi-final - but you don't come halfway around the world just to win a semi-final," Neesham said. "We've got our sights pretty firmly set on the game in a few days' time... I'm personally, and we as a team, are not getting ahead of ourselves. One game to go and I'm sure there will be a bigger outpouring of emotion if we manage to get across the line.” When Neesham walked out to bat in the semi-final, the Blackcaps were in a precarious situation needing 54 runs off the last 29 balls. At the other end of the crease was Mitchell who was finding it tough to hit boundaries and was midway through a sluggish 40-ball 46 till the 16th over. The tide started to shift towards New Zealand as Neesham took the attack to Chris Jordan and deposited him twice into the stands to plunder 23 runs off him. He was ruthless in his approach and seemed to be on a mission that he has confirmed now. Neesham said that he was eyeing to hit every ball for six as he was feeling good about hitting and timing the ball. His onslaught rubbed onto Micthell as well and he took the initiative from the next over by hitting Rashid for a big six after Neesham’s whirlwind innings. "I just said to Daz [Daryl Mitchell], I hit CJ [Chris Jordan] for a six-second ball and Daz sort of came down and said: 'what do you think?' I just said I'm going to try and hit every ball for six," Neesham told NZC's media team. "It doesn't always come out of the middle but chunked a couple and got enough to get over the rope. Yeah, ended up doing reasonably comfortably in the end..”

Cricket in Commonwealth Games: India Women to play Australia Women in opening encounter

The women’s T20 cricket will be included in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 and will take place at the Edgbaston Stadium from the 29 July. The bronze and gold medal matches will be played on August 7 while the tournament will commence with the encounter between India and Australia. India will then play Pakistan on July 31 and Barbados on August 3. “The women’s cricket T20 competition will be held at the Edgbaston Stadium from the 29 July, with the bronze and gold medal matches taking place on 7 August. The first match on the schedule will see Australia take on India in the early session,” the ECB said in a statement. Matt Kidson, Director of Sport for Birmingham 2022, said: “Not surprisingly we have already sold thousands of tickets for both the netball and cricket T20 sessions through our ticket ballots, but we know that some fans have been waiting to find out the details of the match schedules before choosing which sessions they want to attend, so we’re expecting these sports to sell quickly, when ticket sales go live.”

“We won so much, people weren't used to us losing,” Ravi Shastri describes criticism of Team India

India were the firm favourites to win the T20 World Cup being played in the UAE as they were deemed a well-rounded team covering all the bases. But, it turned out, they could not produce performances in the big games against New Zealand and Pakistan and were knocked out of the tournament before making it into the knockout stage. It was also a critical tournament for the team management with all of the skipper Virat Kohli, head coach Ravi Shastri, bowling coach Bharat Arun and fielding coach R Sridhar being in their roles for the last time. Coaches’ tenures were to end after the world cup and Kohli had announced he would relinquish captaincy from the format. Now, having left the Indian team as the coach, Ravi Shastri has opened up on the losses that knocked them out of the tournament and the fallout of those losses on the side. Shastri has said that people are not used to Men in Blue losing games in the recent past and hence there are “pistols and pens' ' coming out after solitary loss and downplaying the numerous wins they have had as a side. He said that the side has learnt to take losses on their chin and move on accepting it as a part of the sport. "In India, Cricket is a religion. You win 5 games and then when you lose, pistols and pens come out, and sometimes it's acidic. You just got to take it on the chin. We won so much, people weren't used to us losing," he said. However, he reiterated his rating of the current Indian team as “the greatest team” and said that their performance in the last few months have vindicated his early rating as well. He said that people tried to discredit his views of the team but the team has produced the goods to live up to his claims which was called as “ bold and bombastic” by his critics. "This was a young team in transition over the last 7 years. Many in the media didn't know the potential of this team. I said that this was the greatest team and knew what i said and they lived up to it. They (media) called my statements bold and bombastic. I have taken the bullet for 7 years”

England coach Chris Silverwood leaves Eoin Morgan to decide his own future

England head coach Chris Silverwood has put his weight behind limited-overs skipper Eoin Morgan and said that it’s on him to decide on the future. "He's got to make that decision himself," Silverwood said on Thursday according to an ESPNCricinfo report. “His mind had already gone on to the next [World Cup], what do we need to do, what are we looking for. As soon as those conversations start, in my mind, that is it for us: he's in. He wants it, and he wants to lead. I think he will make his mind up when he's ready,” he further added. The Morgan-led side lost to New Zealand in the semi-final after Daryl Mitchell and James Neesham produced a brilliant batting display. Talking about the loss, Silverwood admitted that the players were disappointed. “We have got a group of lads who are hurting, which you can understand as well. To get so close, touching distance, and then to have it snatched away… we had the game under control for a lot of the time, [but Neesham] came in and played some exceptional shots, made life difficult for us,” he said. England had been in some brilliant form during the T20 World Cup but bowed out of the tournament after suffering a defeat in the semis.