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. 

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. 

Virat Kohli receives Arjuna Award

Virat Kohli, who is considered as the most prolific and reliable batsman of the Indian cricket team, was given Arjuna Award on Saturday (August 31). He has received this prestigious award from President Pranab Mukherjee.

The 24-year-old player is happy to be presented with Arjuna Award. He is feeling excited after being conferred with this honor. He has posted a message on his Twitter account saying, “Kohli said it was a "surreal experience" to be presented with Arjuna Award. "Cant describe the feeling while getting the arjuna award. Surreal experience. Big honour. #happy #proud.”

He was at the centre of attraction at the awards ceremony. While he was receiving the award, he was given a loud applause. Since making his international cricket debut for India in 2008, he has been consistently performing well. He has become the permanent member in the team.

In five years of his cricket career, he has already achieved many awards. Playing 113 ODI matches, he has scored 4575 runs at an average of 49.72 including 15 centuries and 24 half-centuries. In 18 Tests, he has scored 1175 runs with four centuries and six fifties. He has also scored 558 runs with four half-centuries in 20 Twenty20 Internationals.

Virat Kohli condemned other batsmen for losing the match

Royal Challenger Bangalore captain, Virat Kohli, blamed his batsmen for not doing well against Deccan Chargers in their last group match that was played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad. They lost the match by 9 runs to their opponent.

With this defeat, they also lost their hope of qualifying for the IPL play-offs. If they could win the match, they had the highest possibility to be one of the four teams in the qualifier round.

As it was closely contested match and RCB lost the match for just few runs that is why, Virat Kohli is very upset. RCB bowlers restricted the opponent team to a modest total of 132 for 7 in 20 overs.

Jean-Paul Duminy played an aggressive innings of 53-ball 74 which helped Deccan Chargers to make competitive score in a bowling friendly pitch.

Zaheer Khan took two wickets while Vinay Kumar claimed three wickets. Another wicket was taken by Prasanth Parameswaran.

In reply, RCB scored 123 for 9 in their allotted over. It seems that the wicket of Kohli decided the match result. He scored 42 from 40 balls including two boundaries and two sixes.

However, all the credit should go to Chargers bowler Dale Steyn who picked 3 wickets for 8 in 4 overs. For his performance he was given man of the match award.

Deccan Chargers captain Kumar Sangakkara is happy that his team ended the season with a victory at home.