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Cook Braced for Fierce Ashes Battle

Alastair Cook insists England are fully aware they will need to be on top of their game “to do something special” in Australia this winter.

Cook’s men will head Down Under chasing a fourth successive Ashes series victory, a feat last achieved in 1890 under the leadership of the great W.G. Grace.

“What is in front of us is the opportunity to play well and to do something special and to win four in a row, which hasn’t been done for a very long time, and as a side you want to be involved in that sort of thing,” he told ecb.co.uk. Continue reading “Cook Braced for Fierce Ashes Battle”

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OLD ENOUGH

MS Dhoni has made it clear that age is not a criterion in the selection of the Indian team. Currently, a lot of senior players are out of the team. All of them are more than 30 years of age and people have started believing that some of those guys might never be able to make a comeback.

But, Dhoni’s statements suggest that the doors haven’t been closed yet for the senior players. Continue reading “OLD ENOUGH”

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KOHLI HITS ONE HUNDRED

The stand-in captain of the Indian cricket team, Virat Kohli, scored yet another century in the first ODI match against Zimbabwe and guided India to a comfortable 6-wicket victory.

It was Kohli’s 15th ODI ton. He is the quickest in the world to reach that milestone. He has done that in just 108 games.

It was a seaming pitch at Harare and batting was not that easy. India had to hunt down a target of 229 runs and they lost both their openers cheaply.

But, Kohli as usual showed fantastic composure and put up a partnership of 159 runs with the debutant Ambati Rayudu for the 3rd wicket to take India close to the target.

Although, Kohli got dismissed after completing his century but, before that, he had put the match beyond Zimbabwe’s reach.

Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik saw India home quite comfortably after that.

Talking to the reporters in the post match press conference, Kohli said, “It’s fantastic to start the tour on a winning note. It was not easy at the start as the ball was moving around. It was important to survive that tough period and we managed to do that.”

“I would like to congratulate Ambati Rayudu for having a great debut match. He waited for quite a few years to make it to the Indian team and when he got his chance today, he grabbed it with both hands.”

Rayudu scored a half century and ended up being not out on 63 runs. He faced 84 deliveries and hit 4 fours.

When asked about the performance of the bowlers, Kohli said, “I think they did a fine job. They hit great areas and didn’t let the Zimbabwe openers get off to a quick start.”

India had gone into his match with a young bowling attack as the frontline bowlers have been rested for this series.