Rishabh Pant receives first dose of COVID vaccine ahead of WTC Final

Swashbuckling wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant received his first Covid-19 vaccine dose on Thursday, 13 May. Pant, who recently led the Delhi Capitals in the absence of Shreyas Iyer will be an integral part of the Indian side which will travel to England for the ICC World Test Championship Final against New Zealand.

The whole contingent will stay in England the whole of July and will prepare themselves for the five-match Test series slated to be hosted by England starting from August.

Taking to his Twitter handle, Pant posted a photo of him taking the first jab of the vaccination. “Got my first jab today. When you are eligible, please step up and get the vaccine. The sooner we do it, the sooner we can beat this Virus,” wrote Pant on his Twitter handle along with the picture.

Pant has been the centre of attraction ever since MS Dhoni hung his boots. Time and again he has been questioned for his shot selections, fitness-related issues and temperament. Even head coach Ravi Shastri and batting coach Vikram Rathore made it clear in press conferences that Pant will be told about his deficiencies and needs to sort out certain things in his game.

The way he responded in the series against Australia will forever remain a hallmark of his career. Pant played two career-defining innings of 97 and an unbeaten 87 in the last two Tests and played an instrumental role in India’s historic series win Down Under in the absence of as many as eight first-XI players.

Meanwhile, the current situation in India looks gloomy as more than three and half lakh cases have reported each day. With the tour of England just around the corner, it was important that the players get their first dose of the vaccine.

Skipper Virat Kohli, his deputy in Tests Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma have all taken the first dose of the vaccination in different centres across the country. Among the Indian contingent, it was head coach Ravi Shastri who got the first jab in the first week of March when it was made available for all the senior citizens.

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Ramesh Powar appointed India Women’s coach

Former India international Ramesh Powar has been recommended by the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) headed by Madan Lal to once again become the coach o the Indian Women’s team. Powar edged incumbent WV Raman and Hrishikesh Kanitkar in a close fight to get the nod of CAC. The BCCI in its official statement said, “The three-member Cricket Advisory Committee comprising Ms Sulakshana Naik, Mr Madan Lal and Mr Rudra Pratap Singh interviewed the applicants and unanimously agreed on Mr Powar’s candidature.” The 42-year-old Mumbai born served as India Women’s coach on a prior occasion in 2018 and also guided the team to that year’s T20 World Cup semifinal. Under him, the Indian eves won 14 T20 matches in a row, before he was removed by the board after a fallout with the T20 skipper of the team, Mithali Raj, who is currently captains the ODI and Test team. Having played two Tests and 31 ODIs for the national team, Powar carries a lot of experience with himself and his recent achievement of guiding the Mumbai team to a Vijay Hazare Trophy title added to the credentials to get him the job. Although Raman, the current coach’s contract expired last October, the BCCI asked him to continue till April. Powar would look to make a few changes before the team traves to England for a one-off Test three T20Is and three ODIs series on Junes 2, as they were beaten comprehensively at home by the South African eves just recently.

Watch the ball is what I say to myself always: Suryakumar Yadav

The rise of Surykaumar Yadav has been steady. While he did make a name for himself with some brisk knocks for the Kolkata Knight Riders, it has been the Mumbai Indians which has given him enough opportunities to make sure that he realises his potential. Following his exploits for the five time champions in the IPL, SKY was given the elusive India cap for the T20I series against England not too long ago. One of the most stylish batsmen going around, Suryakumar Yadav is the Indian version of AB de Villiers with no apparent weakness as such. He has the ability to play shots all across the ground which makes for a pleasant viewing. His trademark extra cover drive has been a signature of his career so far. During a recent video posted by the Mumbai Indians, SKY revealed what he does to always keep his focus on the game. He recalled the fact that he has written Watch the ball (WTB) all over the bat so that whenever he faces a ball he gets a reminder that seeing the ball is the most important thing. He also revealed what motivates him to keep doing well over the years. “If I run two continuously on successive deliveries, I get tired and end up playing a loose shot the next ball. So to remind me of that situation, I just write ‘Watch the Ball’ that’s it. People used to say that you have become childish and all, I reply okay doesn’t matter. I am not here to please anyone,” Surya said. “I just need to think what the situation is. That time I just watch the ball and and react according to what’s happening out there and not thinking that what he is going to bowl or I need to play this stroke or something like that. So it keeps me in the present,” Surkaymar quipped. In all likelihood, Surykumar Yadav will be a part of the limited pvers squad for the tour of Sri Lanka and he will definitely look to make a strong case for himself for selection in the T20 World Cup squad. With several frontline players not being part of the series, it will give a huge opportunity to SKY to make sure that he makes the No 3 position his very own.

India's bowling coach Bharat Arun commends 'all-rounder' Shardul Thakur, rues missing Hardik Pandya

India’s bowling coach Bharat Arun has spoken very highly of Shardul Thakur who can offer an all-around dimension to the Indian Test team. However, he said that deciding on his future with respect to his presence in the team and finding more such players is up to the selector. “It is more of a selectors’ job to find them and then we can develop those all-rounders. Shardul has proved he can be an all-rounder. What he did in Australia was fabulous,” Arun said during the interaction facilitated by Ironwood Education Company. Shardul Thakur has come into the reckoning for his dual performances in the Brisbane Test against Australia where he scored 67 runs with the bat to bail India out of trouble in the first innings and scalped seven wickets across both innings to give India a chance of winning the game and the series. Subsequently, he has been included in the Indian squad for the tour of England where they are slated to play six Test matches starting with the World Test Championship final against New Zealand and then a five-match Test series against hosts England. India did not select either of Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who could have performed in both disciplines. Arun also rated Pandya’s ability very highly and said India would not find such talents so easily. He lamented the back injury and the subsequent surgery he suffered meant that the all-rounder had to give up on bowling. “I wish you could just wish and develop bowlers like that. Hardik is an outstanding talent, but unfortunately, he had to undergo a back operation and then it’s not very easy to come back after that. He bowled against England, I thought he did a really good job. But, to sustain that we need to manage him well and build on his strength,” he added. India will depart for the UK in the first week of June and play New Zealand in the WTC final from June 18. The team will meet England in the Test series starting in the first week of August.

India retain top spot in ICC Annual rankings update; South Africa equal their lowest ranking in history

The Indian team emerged as the top-rated Test team after the annual rankings were updated by the International Cricket Council for the cycle of May 2020 to May 2021. The update released on Thursday, May 13, also sees the other World Test Championship finalists New Zealand lurch behind the Indians by just one point. But, with the latest update being issued which rates the matches played in the last 12 months at 100% and those played in the preceding 24 months 50%, Australia have been relegated to the fourth position. But thanks to the same system, England’s 4-0 defeat to Australia in 2017-18 Ashes is out of the consideration zone for rankings and has put the Poms to number three. South Africa on the other hand have been forced to seventh position in the lastest rankings because of their dismal run in Test cricket over the last 24 months. This is also their lowest ever ranking in the history of the game so far. Among the gainers is West Indies, reaching to the sixth position, their best ever in last eight years, courtesy a 2-0 series win against Bangladesh and 0-0 draw at home against Sri Lanka. Pakistan after winning two back to back Test series against South Africa and Zimbabwe remain at the fifth position as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe complete the rest of the table. Although Afghanistan and Ireland also have Test statuses, they have not been able to get a lot of games to be ranked thus far.