BCCI says there is no fight between Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Indian cricket team has been making media coverage for wrong news for the past few days. The rumour that is getting more media attention is the conflict between Test skipper Virat Kohli and ODI skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. However, the Indian cricket board has denied it saying there is no rift between them.

This rumour of rift between two captains came after Kohli questioned some of Dhoni’s on-field decisions during the Bangladesh tour. After India’s 1-2 ODI series loss to Bangladesh earlier this month, Dhoni, in response to the question about his captaincy, said that he will be happy to step down from captaincy if that will improve things for the team.

However, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Anurag Thakur has changed the topic and said that the new advisory panel, which comprised of former Indian cricketers- Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and V.V.S. Laxman, is about to select the new head coach. Now they are short listing names for a future coach. It is expected that they will very soon announce the name of a new head coach.

When asked about the much speculated series between India and Pakistan at the end of the year, Thakur said that the discussion about the series will take place at a BCCI meet in July. 

MS Dhoni will stick to his strategies in ODI series

Few hours are left to start the three-match ODI series between Bangladesh and India. Both teams will try to win the opening match. Both teams are expecting to face a tough competition. After Bangladesh whitewashed the Pakistan cricket team in their home ground, India should think of playing their best team against the host.

It is not yet sure what the team condition would look like. Indian ODI skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni might get many advices from teammates and others. After India’s good performance in one-off Test match, some may think that Dhoni may apply Virat Kohli’s theory of going in with five specialist bowlers. However, he has defended Virat Kohli’s approach by saying that every individual’s approach to captaincy is different. He wants to stick to his strategies in the limited-overs format against Bangladesh.

There is no doubt that the hosts will try to take revenge of their defeat in the quarter-final match of the World Cup 2015 in Australia. Two wrong umpiring decisions went against Bangladesh which is thought to be the main reason of their defeat. Cricket lovers reacted strongly against it. 

Forbes Magazine ranks MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli among the highest paid athletes of the world

According to Forbes Magazine, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli were ranked among the highest paid athletes of the world. There is no doubt that both these two Indian cricketers dominant the list when it comes to the highest paid cricketers of the world. This magazine showed that Dhoni’s annual income in the last year was $27.43, but other sources indicated his income was almost $35 million. Virat Kohli earned $11.3 million. UK magazine Sports Pro in May last year ranked him the second most marketable athlete behind Lewis Hamilton, British Formula One driver. The interesting thing is that in this list he was followed by superstars like Usain Bolt, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Compared to the Indian cricketers, the Australian cricketers’ earnings are very less in amount. However, their skipper Michael Clarke earned $6 million in 2013 and became the highest paid sports star based in the country. His income was more than an entire NRL playing roster. His payment will be increased after Cricket Australia’s decision to increase the payment of the top 20 contracted Australian players.

According to this contract, average Australian cricketers who play all three formats of the game will get at least $1 million a year just from playing cricket while senior players like Clarke, Shane Watson and David Warner will earn $2 million a year just for playing cricket. The minimum salary is about $220,000. 

Mahendra Singh Dhoni bid farewell to Test cricket on Tuesday

Indian cricket team will have to play the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy without Mahendra Singh Dhoni as he announced his retirement from the longer version of cricket game on Tuesday.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni announced his retirement soon after the end of third test after India ensured their series defeat against Australia with one match left at hand. They lost to Australia 2-0 in the four-match series. India lost their first two matches and drew the third on Tuesday.

Virat Kohli, who was the deputy of MS Dhoni, will lead the team in the last test match. The fourth and final test will be played in Sydney from January 6.

There is no doubt that his decision of taking retirement from Test cricket has come as a big blow for the national team. Behind this decision, he has showed the strain of playing all formats of cricket as the only reason. However, he will continue leading India in the shorter formats of the game- ODI and Twenty20 cricket.

The 33-year-old wicket keeper-batsman has so far played 90 test matches since making his test debut in 2005 and scored 4,876 runs at an average of just over 38. Under his leadership, Indian cricket team won their first World Cup in 28 years. On Tuesday, he reached a new milestone. Scoring 3454 runs with the bat as Test captain, he became the Indian captain to score the most runs in Tests. Previous record holder was Sunil Gavaskar who announced his retirement as captain after scoring 3449 runs.

He is considered as one of India’s greatest Test captains because under his leadership India became the No. 1 team in the Test Rankings. So, it will be really difficult for team India to do well without his service both as wicket keeper-batsman and captain.

According to Forbes, he is the world’s highest paid cricketer earning, $31.5 million in 2014. 

Former Indian players back MS Dhoni

Indian skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, has come under criticism after his team’s poor performance last year. Because of the Indian cricket team’s bad performance at home some critics had suggested that Dhoni should be replaced.

However, Dhoni has been supported by former Indian cricketers Dilip Vengsarkar, Ajit Wadekar and Rahul Dravid. They think that Dhoni should continue his duty as captain and lead the current team. They expressed their opinion at the golden jubilee celebration of a city-based sports club at Bhuvaneshwar.

Dhoni is surely going throw a tough time. However, it does not mean that he is struggling with the bat. He is one of few batsmen who are playing well.

India’s defeat at the hands of England and Pakistan made their fans upset. It should have to be mentioned here that India’s performance was below than average. India’s recent team is no longer considered a tough team at their own soil. They need to improve a lot in all departments of the game.

In the last year, they lost to Australia, England and Pakistan. Dhoni should leave T20 captaincy in order to focus captaincy in ODI and Test format. Selectors also find a suitable one in his place.

MS Dhoni’s participation in 3rd ODI is not sure

There is a doubt whether Indian skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, would play in the final ODI match against Pakistan. During practice at the Kotla in Delhi, he complained of soreness in his back. If he is announced not fit then wicketkeeper-batsman, Dinesh Karthik, will replace him in the squad.

When asked about Yuvraj Singh’s absence at the practice session, he said that if someone’s participation was doubtful then it was he. Yuvraj did not come as it was an optional practice session.

MS Dhoni’s absence on Sunday’s game will give birth to the question of who will take over the captaincy. It has become a big problem for the host because there is no player who has been officially announced as vice-captain.

Selection committee will have to find a suitable one who can lead the Indian cricket team successfully. They may have three choices and they are Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir. Among them one will be selected as stand-in captain in the absence of Dhoni.

However, everything will depend on the final decision of Dhoni’s fitness that will be taken on the morning of the match.

This news has come as a shock to the host as they have already lost the ODI series to their arch-rival Pakistan and they will be trying their best to avoid their first home ODI series whitewash since 1983-84.

MS Dhoni expresses his happiness for Yuvraj Singh’s return to international cricket

Indian cricket captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, is happy for the return of Yuvraj Singh. The hard hitter middle order batsman made his return to the international cricket with the T20 match against New Zeland on Tuesday.

It was Yuvraj Singh’s first international match after 10 months since he underwent the treatment of rare germ cell cancer.

MS Dhoni thinks that Yuvraj can take confidence from his performance against New Zealand played on September 11 at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium. According to Dhoni, Yuvraj will get the much needed confidence from the game ahead of the T20 World Cup.

Bowling two overs, he gave 14 runs and then coming to bat, he scored an aggressive 34 off 26 balls.

Though India lost the match by one run, Dhoni was happy for the return of Yuvraj Singh in the international cricket.

His performance against New Zealand is enough to prove that he is physically fit for the shortest format of cricket tournament.

Yuvraj Singh has been included in India’s T20 squad. His selection will boost the team to do well in the upcoming T20 World Cup starting in Sri Lanka on September 18.

There is no doubt that the inclusion of Yuvraj brings a balance to the team with his all-round skills.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is aware of Sunil Narine

It looks like that Chennai Super Kings skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, is afraid of facing Kolkata Knight Riders’ bowler, Sunil Narine, in the final match of the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) that is scheduled to take place today at 14:30 GMT (20:00 Indian Standard Time).

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is considering the mystery spinner a threat for his team for claiming the third IPL title at a row. According to him, Sunil Narine could cause a great damage in the CSK batting line up when they will meet KKR for title clash.

Dhoni is well aware about the variation of Narine’s bowling. The West Indian bowler has puzzled batsmen with his trickery this season, and has become an important part in KKR team. He also kept an important role to secure KKR’s place in the final of the tournament.

There is no doubt that Narine is a good bowler. But Indian players are well-known for playing against spin bowling. If they keep their focus on just only one bowler then it will be a great mistake. KKR has good all-rounders like Shakib Al Hasan.

Now, it is the time to see if Narine can stop CSK from claiming their third IPL title.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni gets the Spirit of the Cricket award

Indian skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, is the only player from the World Champions team to have won the ICC Annual Awards 2011. He won the Spirit of the Cricket award for calling back England batsman Ian Bell in the Trent Bridge Test.

He was selected for this award for showing the right spirit in agreeing to allow Ian Bell to continue his batting despite he was run out in controversial circumstances during the second Test at Trent Bridge in July.

NDTV SPORTS reported:

On what was the last ball before tea on the third day, Bell hit the ball towards the boundary. He mistakenly thought it had gone for four, left his crease and headed towards the pavilion assuming the session was over and the ball dead. Meanwhile the ball, which had not reached the rope and therefore was still in play, was returned to the middle, the bails removed and Bell was correctly given run out.

Upon reflection during the tea interval and following a request from the England team, Dhoni withdrew the appeal and recalled Bell thus turning boos into cheers from the appreciative Nottingham crowd.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni not only brought success for his country but also he and his teammates showed the right spirit after allowing Ian Bell to continue batting. Other players should learn from him.

MS Dhoni’s 64-ball 108 leads India to get 117-run victory over New Zealand

Many people are now searching on net to get the information about the fastest centurion in ODI format of cricket. This thing came at a time when Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored a quick century against New Zealand in a practice match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai.

With scoring a hundred, MS Dhoni has proved that he can play a big role for his team in the upcoming World Cup. Playing an innings of 108 off just 64 balls, he led Indian cricket team to score 360 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in 50 overs. In his aggressive innings, he hit 11 boundaries and 3 sixes.

India won the match by 117 runs as New Zealand lost all wickets and managed to score 243 in 43.1 overs.

When Dhoni came to bat, India’s score was 148-3 in 29.1 overs. In this situation, he made partnership with Gautam Gambhir and took India to 216-4. Gambhir scored 89 runs from 85 balls, including 11 boundaries. After that, Dhoni made 124 runs partnership with Suresh Raina for the fifth wicket stand. Suresh Raina also played an important role after scoring 50 runs from 26 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes.

Though it is a practice match, MS Dhoni has at least scored a century after a long time. I think that with his century, he could send a warning message to his opponents.