Home
Cricket News
Virat Kohli To Clarify His Stand On Playing Sa Odis In Press Conference On Wednesday Reports

Virat Kohli to clarify his stand on playing SA ODIs in press conference on Wednesday: Reports

After being removed as the ODI skipper of the Indian cricket team, Test captain Virat Kohli will address the media for the first time tomorrow i.e. on December 15 and it is expected that he will be speaking on matters related to his removal as India captain. With rumours buzzing about a rift between him and Rohit Sharma, Kohli is also expected to put an end to the same and clarify his position on playing the ODI leg of the South Africa series.

BCCI Treasurer Arun Dhumal along with Hyderabad Cricket Association's president Mohammad Azharuddin made things extremely murky in the last couple of days stating that Kohli had asked for leave during the ODI leg of the tour. Since then several unnamed BCCI officials have come forward refuting the same to add to the ongoing confusion.

Time of India journalist K Srinivas Rao tweeted about the development Kohli will be addressing a press briefing on Wednesday and potentially could speak about the ongoing issues to put a stop to the rumour mongering.

It is worth noting that ever since the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the removal of the 33-year-old Kohli as skipper of the One-Day side and appointed 34-year-old Rohit as his successor in the 50-over format on December 08, Kohli had not said a word either on his social media or in the press.

Therefore this media briefing becomes extremely important given that the reason for his removal as given by BCCI head Sourav Ganguly was that the board wanted uniformity in red and white ball leadership. Ganguly had also said that the board never wanted Kohli to quit T20I captaincy but since he did that, the board had no other choice but to make Rohit the full white-ball captain and appointed him as blithe T20I and ODI captain.

Virat Kohli had announced before the start of the second leg of the Indian Premier League in the UAE that the T20 World Cup 2021, which was held in UAE and Oman would be his last as captain of the Indian team in the shortest format. He had also announced the IPL 2021 to be his last IPL as leader of the RCB franchise.

Discover more

CSA tweaks bio-bubble norms for India tour

Cricket South Africa has made some tweaks to the bio-bubble norms as the Indian team is slated to tour the African nation later this month. Anyone testing positive for Covid-19 will be isolated within the hotel room if clinically stable. "Considering that all those within the ecosystem will be vaccinated, the positive case will isolate within the hotel room if clinically stable," CSA's chief medical officer Shuaib Manjra told ESPNcricinfo. "Contacts will continue playing and training with non-medical interventions strictly observed, and tested daily." "Whilst at the end of the third wave we considered moving from a strict BSE to a managed environment, the Omicron variant and high levels of community transmission have forced a strict BSE," Manjra stated. The fixtures had come under dark clouds after the detection of Omicron variant in the country but the two boards decided to rejig the schedule and the T20I series was scrapped. India are scheduled to play three Tests and as many ODIs during the tour of South Africa. The Test series will begin on December 26 in Centurion while the ODIs commence on January 19, 2022 in Paarl.

Ford Trophy 2021-22 | Matthew Bacon, Josh Finnie star in Otago win over defending champions Canterbury

It has been a nice week for the Otago side as after registering a victory in the Super Smash 2021-22 against Northern Knights on Sunday, December 12, they defeated defending champions Canterbury in the Ford Trophy 2021-22 to register their first win in the tournament. Otago rode on the bowling performance from Matthew Bacon who picked a four-wicket haul and then backed it up from an unbeaten fifty from Josh Finny to finish the 50 over match in only the 43rd over. Along with Finnie, skipper Neil Broom and Dale Phillips also played good hands with the bat to help in the chase. The chase of 223 started cautiously for the hosts at the University Oval in Dunedin as openers Hamish Rutherford and Phillips added 48 for the first wicket and made sure that early overs of swing was negotiated. Phillips continued t hang around with skipper Broom who joined him after Rutherford was caught by Cam Fletcher off the bowling of Will Williams. The duo had added 36 before Phillips was removed by Henry Shipley. Soon Nick Kelly followed and Otago were suddenly 87-3. It was then that Finney arrived and partnered his captain to a 95 run stand. During this partnership, Broom reached his fifty. But as he got out, Anaru Kitchen followed him as well, once again two wickets fell in a bunch. But Finnie, who was well settled at the crease at 60 off 53 balls, made sure that there were no more casualties and an unbeaten 38 run stand with Michael Rippon saw his team through. Earlier in the day, after winning the toss and deciding to field first, Otago broke early and got the wicket of Jock Boyle, who was removed by Matthew Bacon. Instead of getting back in grooves and playing cautiously, the Canterbury batters kept trying to play wayward shots and kept getting out, ultimately getting reduced to 90-6, before Henry Shipley paired up with Theo van Woerkom and the two added 96 for the seventh wicket to add some respectability to the Canterbury innings. However, that stand was eventually broken by Bacon who then went on to pick four wickets in the entire game. Post the van Woerkom wicket, Shipley too departed after completing his fifty (55 off 67). Shipley was also the highest scorer in the Canterbury innings. In the end, the team got all out on 222 in the 50th over. Apart from Bacon’s four wickets, Kitchen picked three and Jacob Duffy two for Otago.

LPL 2021: Seekkuge Prasanna's heroics hand Colombo Stars 5-wicket win over Kandy Warriors

Colombo Stars defeated Kandy Warriors by 5 wickets in Colombo after chasing down a target of 147 runs in the Lanka Premier league fixture in Colombo. The Colombo team didn’t really have a great start to the chase Pathum Nissanka departed in the very first over for a duck and the side lost wickets at regular intervals to get reduced to 61/4 in the 13th over. But it was Seekkuge Prasanna brilliance with the bat as he anchored the side to a win eventually. Prasanna struck an unbeaten 32 off 6 deliveries which included five maximums during the course. Apart from him, Dinesh Chandimal also played a major role in providing the side with resistance and chipped in with a 27-ball 44. Earlier, in the day the warriors started off the proceedings pretty well as openers Kennar Lewis and Asalanka stitched a partnership of 77 runs. But the latter’s departure broke the shackles and the Kandy side saw a middle order collapse. While Lewis struck 62 off 44, he didn’t really find support from the other end. The Kandy Warriors were eventually restricted to 146/9 in 20 overs. Chameera scalped a four-wicket haul for 35 runs in 4 overs. Mathews talked about the track and the turn that it had an offer. “Probably yes, to be very honest. We thought the wicket might play better. But we understand because we are playing so many matches here and it is difficult to maintain. We knew it was going to turn, all in all a great game. I could run those ones and twos, just that had to manage a bit. We call him (Prasanna) rocky. He was fantastic. We have the firepower,” he said after the match.

Ford Trophy 2021-22 | Know all about the premier List A tournament of New Zealand

The premier List-A tournament of New Zealand, the Ford Trophy is back for its 50th or Golden Jubilee edition. The tournament which started in 1971-72, has travelled a long way from forty overs per side where one over consisted of eight balls to standardised 50 over aside. How has the tournament evolved? In its 50th year now, the tournament has been named and renamed many times due to sponsorship reasons. The tournament started out as New Zealand Motor Corporation Knock-Out in 971-72 and remained so till 1976-77. Though the name was changed to Gillette Cup for the two seasons between 1977-78 and 1978-79, it remained knockout and continued to be so till the National Knock-Out in 1979–80, in terms of playing rules. However, from 1980-81 to 1984-85 the competition was played in a league format with all six teams playing each other once and the top two teams playing off in a final for the trophy. The rule changed once again as from 1985-86 to 1988-89, the side on top of the league after a single round-robin were declared champion. All this while the name of the tournament remained Shell Cup due to sponsorship reasons. From 1989-90 onwards, the semi-final and final were introduced with the top four teams making it to the semis and then the winners from those semi-finals competing in a final. It went on till 1992-93. In 1993-94, the format changed and now teams played each other on a home and away basis, thereby playing 10 matches in the league format before qualifying for semi-finals and then finals. This format kept on till the 2008-09 season. However, in between the name of the competition was changed as Shell’s sponsorship contract ended in 2001. From 2001-02 onwards, it was known as State Shield up until 2008-09. In 2009/10, the rules were changed once again and from that season onward, now teams play each other once (five games) followed by three randomly selected teams a second time, forming an eight-game round-robin and then play the semi-finals and final to decide the winner. For 2009-10 and 2010-11, the league was without a sponsor and hence named New Zealand One-Day Cricket Competition. It was with the 2011-12 season that Ford has come on board as the prime sponsor of the tournament. The winners Into its 50th season now, the trophy has been won most by Canterbury, who were also the inaugural winners in 1971-72. Canterbury have so far won 15 titles with the latest coming in the last season 2020-21. Auckland who last won the trophy in 2019-20, have also won 12 trophies so far with the first one coming in just the second season i.e. 1972-73. Apart from these two giants in terms of the number of trophies won, the other teams haven’t found so much success as of yet. While Wellington, Northern Districts and Central Districts have won eight, seven and six titles each, Otago, the team from the Southern Island only has two titles to its kitty with the last one coming way back in 2007-08 and the first one in 1987-88. The current season As far as the current season is concerned, it started on November 30, 2021, at Seddon Park, Hamilton where Canterbury beat home team Northern Districts by seven wickets. Post that only two games have been completed as the third match was washed out. In the second game, Wellington beat Otago by 13 runs while in the fourth match, Otago had their first win in the tournament as they beat Canterbury by five wickets. The tournament is scheduled to have its semi-finals on February 27 at the John Davies Oval in Queenstown. The date and venue for the final would be decided post that.