Sourav Ganguly hails MS Dhoni as one of the greatest Indian ODI players

"I have earlier seen many one day players and also played with many cricketers. But as a package of batting, wicket keeping and captaincy, he (Dhoni) has been outstanding for India," Ganguly said.

After former India cricket captain Dilip Vengsarkar called Mahendra Singh Dhoni the best one-day match finisher ever, ex-star Sourav Ganguly Saturday rated the Jharkhand dasher as one of the

greatest Indian ODI players.

Praising Dhoni for leading his team to an amazing victory in the tri-series final against Sri Lanka Thursday, Ganguly said: "I have seen the entire match. It is really wonderful to see the kind of ice cool nerve as well as temperament he showed in the final."

Speaking at a programme of Bengali news channel ABP Ananda, he hailed the "cool" skipper's skill, ability as well as temperament.

"As a superb one-day player, Dhoni possesses tremendous match finishing ability. I think in ODI, Dhoni is one of the greatest players of all times for India," he observed.

Dhoni smashed 16 runs in the last over to help India win the Tri-Nation series at the Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad. His innings was reminiscent of the one he played in Mumbai where he struck an unbeaten 91 against Sri Lanka in the World Cup 2011 final.

"I have earlier seen many one day players and also played with many cricketers. But as a package of batting, wicket keeping and captaincy, he (Dhoni) has been outstanding for India," Ganguly said.

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New faces brighten Indian cricket

The India under-19 team’s victory in the Top End series in Darwin (Australia) must gladden the hearts of the junior national selection committee members and the cricketing fraternity in general.

Right from the warm-up game against Papua New Guinea, Vijay Zol’s team trounced Australia and New Zealand twice in the league and dominated the tournament.

Vijay Zol

The convincing win in the final on Friday was a reflection of the quality of the team selected by Chandrakant Pandit and his committee.

With only Zol and Mumbai’s Akhil Herwadkar making the cut from the team that won the ICC Under-19 World Cup last year at Townsville (Australia), Pandit would have been anxious to know the outcome of the series. This was the first preparatory tour lined up by the BCCI leading to the ICC Under-19 World Cup in Dubai in February 2014.

The India Under-19 team will play a Test and one-day series in Sri Lanka soon and a quadrangular one-day series at home in which the other teams would be Australia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Sources close to the planning of the Indian team said that the selection committee has picked the team taking into account the players’ ability to excel in conditions in Australia, India, Sri Lanka and Dubai and also the potential of the players to make the India ‘A’ and India senior teams.

GOOD START

While Sandeep Patil’s committee has had the satisfaction of making bold decisions for the home series against Australia, the ICC Champions Trophy and the tri-series in the West Indies, Pandit’s committee has made a good start with Zol leading by example.

Earlier this week, Pandit’s committee picked two teams — the India under-23 team for the Asian Cricket Council Emerging Teams Cup and the India under-19 teams for four-day and one-day games in Sri Lanka.

Patil and Pandit’s committee have selected players from Jammu & Kashmir; off- spinner Parveez Rasool in the Indian team for the one-day series in Zimbabwe and opening batsman Shubham Khajuria in the under-19 team for the Sri Lanka tour.

Pandit’s committee has also recognised the performances of wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Vishwanadh (under-19) and seamer Sandeep Warrier for the ACC Emerging Teams Cup to be played in Singapore.

There are some familiar faces in the under-23 team, but the committee has given opportunities to Mumbai’s Kaustubh Pawar, Maharashtra’s Ankit Bawane, Guajarat’s Manpreet Juneja, Smit Patel, Jasprit Bumrah and Akshar Patel, Himachal Pradesh’s Prashant Chopra and Haryana’s Harshal Patel.

BIGGEST BREAK

The biggest break though has come for Kerala’s Sanju Vishwanadh. He is the vice-captain of the under-19 team. Uttar Pradesh’s left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav has taken time to impress, but Abey Kuruvilla, former chairman of the BCCI junior selection committee, said: “He’s a bright future. He bowls the googly and chinaman. He is also a handy bat. He has been with Mumbai Indians for two seasons.”

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ICC denies Aamir permitted to play domestic cricket

LAHORE: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has categorically denied that suspended fast bowler Mohammad Aamir has been allowed to play domestic cricket by the game’s world governing body.

Speaking to Dawn from Dubai, a spokesman of the ICC confirmed that the ICC Board had already constituted a four-man committee during the ICC annual conference week last month, on the request of the Pakistan Cricket Board interim committee chairman Najam Sethi, but clarified that any decision regarding Aamir’s five-year ban would only be made by the ICC Board.

“Any decision to give any sort of relaxation to Mohammad Aamir will only be made by the ICC Board. The four-man committee comprising Giles Clarke, Wally Edwards, Imran Khawaja and Keith Oliver will present its recommendations to the ICC Board, which will review these before making its decision. Until such time, Aamir will remain suspended from all cricket activities,” the spokesman said.

“Any reports that the ICC has allowed Aamir to play domestic cricket or club cricket or use PCB facilities are incorrect,” the spokesman added.

Aamir, along with his then skipper Salman Butt and another pacer Mohammad Asif, was banned for five years by an independent anti-corruption tribunal of Michael Beloff in 2011 after he was found guilty of spot-fixing during the Lord’s Test in August 2010.

While Salman and Asif appealed against the bans, Aamir admitted his guilt, attended rehabilitation programmes and also cooperated with the ICC with its investigations. On Aamir’s attitude, the PCB wants his five-year ban should be ended in three years.

During last month’s ICC conference, Sethi had pleaded Aamir’s case and had requested the ICC Board to reduce his penalty. Upon Sethi’s request, a committee was constituted to look into the ICC Anti-Corruption Code, as well as Aamir’s case and make recommendations.

While the next ICC Board meeting is scheduled in October, it is not necessary that a decision on Aamir will be made in that meeting.

“It will be premature to comment when the recommendations will be presented and when the ICC Board will make its decisions,” the ICC spokesman remarked.

On Salman Butt, the ICC spokesman said the former Pakistan captain was yet to contact the ICC.

“We have seen media reports in which he has accepted his involvement in spot-fixing and has apologised, but till this date, he has not contacted the ICC or its ACSU.

“Salman has to come out clean, share information and help the ACSU in its investigations,” he concluded.

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At times, you need to play boring cricket - MSD

The skipper admitted that since it was the final, he took the risk of playing despite not having fully recovered from his hamstring injury.

After guiding the team to an exciting tri-nation ODI series triumph, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni made it clear that he is ready to play "boring cricket" while chasing low scores if it ensures a victory for his team.

"At times in these low scoring matches, you need to play boring cricket. It doesn't matter whether you win in the 48th or 49th over," Dhoni said at the post-match media conference having got his team past the finishing line with two balls to spare.

The skipper admitted that since it was the final, he took the risk of playing despite not having fully recovered from his hamstring injury.

"Sometimes you don't really wait to be 100 hundred percent fit. The problem with hammy (hamstring) injury is that there is a chance of re-occurence. Since it was the final and we have two months off after this, I thought about taking the risk," he said.

Questioned on how he played despite restricted movements, he answered, "I just tried to avoid the pressure on my right hamstring and trying to deviate that pressure." He was all praise for young Virat Kohli's leadership skills.

"Virat did a tremendous job with a young side. Now he will be leading the team to Zimbabwe where it will be a good exposure for the new set of bowlers who are not as experienced as the current crop. If they do well, our bench strength will only increase," the skipper pointed out.

The witty side of the skipper came to the fore when asked about him scolding Ishant Sharma for misjuding a single and risking getting run-out in the process.

"The problem with tall fast bowlers is that there is a lot of distance between the brain and the receptors," Dhoni answered in a tongue-in-cheek manner.

On a serious note he added, "I was avoiding singles in the 49th over because if I had to play the last couple of deliveries and I happned to miss it, it would have increased pressure on Ishant. He is not very good at rotating strike and also with him I could have at the best run a single."

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