Page 16 - Virat Kohli

Test cricket at low point in West Indies, mass exodus to US likely: Sarwan

Ramnaresh Sarwan, one of the most prolific batters to have played for the West Indies, is leading a comfortable life after retirement but when one talks him to him about the health of Test cricket in the region, he paints a grim picture, fearful of a talent exodus to the USA. The unexpected growth of T20 cricket and players' preference for the shortest format has put red-ball cricket on the backburner. First-class teams play as little as five games per season, which Sarwan thinks should be increased to at least 10. Speaking to PTI, the 44-year-old also lamented the lack of cricket facilities in the region. He featured in 87 Tests and 181 ODIs aggregating more than 10,000 runs across formats and played alongside fellow Guyanese Shivnarine Chanderpaul and the great Brian Lara for the better part of his career. "Yeah well Test cricket is at a very low point to be honest. Among the games that we are playing again in the Caribbean, I don't think it's sufficient to develop our players but

Fifties, hundreds don't matter, I want to bat with tempo: Rohit Sharma

He fell short of a potentially record-shattering hundred, but milestones "don't matter" to India skipper Rohit Sharma, whose sole aim while batting is to "put bowlers under pressure" by hitting them all over the field. Rohit's 92-run knock that came off 41 deliveries steered India to a 24-run win over former champions Australia in their final Super 8 outing of the ongoing T20 World Cup on Monday. The record for the fastest T20 World Cup hundred belongs to West Indian swashbuckler Chris Gayle, who pulled it off in 47 deliveries in the 2016 edition. Expectedly adjudged player of the match for the memorable effort, which was punctuated by eight sixes and seven fours, the 37-year-old said his focus was only on maintaining the "tempo" of the match. India will take on England in the second semifinal on June 27. "It was a good wicket, and you want to try and back yourself to play those kinds of shots. I've been trying to do that for a few years now, and I'm glad it came off today. The ...

T20 WC 2024: How many semifinals has India won in T20 World Cup history?

A look at how India has performed in their previous four semi-finals in T20 World Cup history

Zimbabwe tour: Gill to lead, Riyan Parag first from NE to get India call-up

Dashing Assam batter Riyan Parag on Monday became the first north-eastern cricketer to get an India call-up as a new-look T20 squad led by Shubman Gill was unveiled for next month's five-match series in Zimbabwe which will not feature any of the senior stars. The series starting July 6 will be held entirely in Harare. The national selection committee didn't pick any of the first team players, who are currently playing the T20 World Cup in the West Indies. All the seniors like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav and Ravindra Jadeja have been rested after a gruelling three-half months, including the hectic IPL. Even the likes of Shivam Dube, Arshdeep Singh, and Kuldeep Yadav have been given a break. It is believed that the selectors want to broaden the pool of players looking at the 2026 T20 World Cup in India. The announced squad marks a landmark for 21-year-old Parag, who had a stellar IPL season for the Rajasthan Royals with 573 runs which put him in the .

India vs Afg: We understood conditions & planned accordingly, says Rohit

India skipper Rohit Sharma on Thursday lauded the team for their comfortable 47-run victory over Afghanistan, attributing the clinical all-round display to better planning which was possible due to extensive knowledge about local conditions. India dishd out a superlative show as they posted 181 for 8 and then returned to dismiss Afghanistan for 134 to register a comfortable 47 run win. "The last two years we've played T20s here, so we understand the conditions and planned accordingly. We adapted well and got 180, which was a great effort from the batters. We had class bowlers who defended it perfectly," Rohit said during the post-match presentation. "Everyone came in and did their job, that's critical and we dwell on it. SKY and Hardik's partnership was critical at that point, we needed someone to bat deep which they did." Jasprit Bumrah was the standout bowler as he returned with brilliant figures of 4-1-7-3. "We know Bumrah's class and what he can do. Important for us to use him

T20 World Cup 2024 AFG vs IND: Will Kohli and Indian fielders bounce back?

Virat, who has hit only five runs in the three innings so far in the T20 World Cup, has smashed 201 runs in four innings against the Afghans

You are one of the greats: Legendary WI pacer Wesley Hall tells Kohli

Legendary West Indies pacer Wesley Hall has seen a lot of great batters over the years and in his opinion, Indian superstar Virat Kohli belongs right at the top with the all-time legends of the game. The 86-year-old from Barbados, who formed a lethal bowling partnership with Charlie Griffith in the 1960s, also feels that the modern day West Indies players can't be expected to turn down million-dollar contracts in franchise cricket though it does impact the health of Test cricket in the region. In stark contrast to the nomadic life of a current international cricketer, Hall played 48 Tests in a career spanning 16 years. He was a special guest at the Kensington Oval here on Tuesday when he met members of the Indian team and presented his autobiography to Kohli and head coach Rahul Dravid on the sidelines of their second training session. Having also served as sports minister of Barbados, the man of many talents reserved humbling words for Kohli in his brief chat with the former India

T20 World Cup: Kohli expected to shine as India ponder Kuldeep question

Virat Kohli will be expected to hit his straps after a lean run while left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav will anxiously wait for his chance when title-favourites India face a sprightly Afghanistan in their opening Super 8 fixture of the T20 World Cup here on Thursday. The big talking point ahead of the game is the Indian team combination. Will India go in with the same line-up that worked for them in the group league stage or bring in their best spinner over the last 12 months, Kuldeep, at the expense of a specialist pacer now? At the start of the tournament, skipper Rohit Sharma had expressed his keenness to include all four all-rounders -- Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, and Ravindra Jadeja -- in the playing eleven. That strategy suited the Indian team in the bowler-friendly conditions in New York and the captain is expected to retain the winning combination that stretches their batting till number 8. The only way to fit Kuldeep into the team is to either drop Mohammed Sira

Virat Kohli tops celebrity rankings with a brand value of $227.9 million

Combined brand value of top 25 Indian celebrities reached $1.9 billion in 2023, marking an 18% increase from 2022, showed Kroll's 'Celebrity brand valuation report 2023: Brands, Business, Bollywood'

T20 World Cup 2024: After beating Kohli, Babar Azam now goes past Dhoni

During Pakistan's final group-stage clash against Ireland in Florida on Sunday, Babar played the anchor role and struck 32* off 34 deliveries

Indian sports beyond the boundary

Nandan Kamath looks at sports like an onion and, through nuanced argument, peels its many layers to provide insight and understanding

IND vs PAK T20 World Cup 2024: Why do Pakistani bowlers fear Virat Kohli?

Kohli has been dismissed only once by Pakistanis in his five innings against them in T20 World Cup history

T20 World Cup 2024: Babar pips Kohli to become highest run-getter in T20Is

Babar overtook Kohli during Pakistan's tournament opener in T20 World Cup 2024 against the United States of America

Top five takeaways for India after IND vs IRE T20 World Cup 2024 match

Rohit Sharma, who hadn't got going in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 was finally able to find form when he hit a fifty in this game

T20 World Cup: Virat Kohli in New York, here's why he didn't play vs BAN?

On Friday, Kohli joined Team India for the T20 World Cup, five days after his other team members

Virat Kohli to Rohit Sharma: Top 5 run scorers in T20 World Cup history

Despite not featuring in the first three editions of the T20 World Cup, Kohli is miles ahead of the rest of the batters when it comes to scoring runs in the mega-event

T20 World Cup 2024: Last chance for Kohli-Rohit to end ICC trophy draught?

It's tough to find two cricketers who are so different from each other yet so closely intertwined by the same thread of fate as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Rohit's initiation into top-flight cricket came at the idyllic Belfast in 2007 and Kohli's a year later at the more conventional Dambulla. Another intriguing chapter of this journey toegther will potentially come to an end next month in the stunning Caribbean Isles. The next T20 World Cup is in 2026, to be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka, but Rohit would be touching 40 then and Kohli would be 38. The 50-over version is a further one year away. It's hard to see them playing in any of those, considering the increasingly strike-rate oriented nature of the game. So, both Rohit and Kohli will want to leave the stage with the winner's medal around their neck next month. Should they achieve that, it would be their second each after the 2007 T20 World Cup (Rohit) and the 2011 50-over showpiece (Kohli). And it will be a perfect

Kohli's social media presence on par with Ronaldo, Messi, says Ross Taylor

Over the past couple of years, Kohli's influence in the world of cricket as well as on social media has increased tremendously

T20 World Cup: Rohit-led Team India arrives in NYC, Kohli to join later

Skipper Rohit Sharma was among the 10 India squad members that landed here on Sunday morning for the T20 Word Cup with Virat Kohli and vice-captain Hardik Pandya being the notable absentees in the first batch of arrivals. Also part of the travelling party was head coach Rahul Dravid and the rest of the support staff. Rohit, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel were among the players who arrived here. Reserve players Shubman Gill and Khaleel Ahmed were also with them. Kohli, who played the IPL Eliminator in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, will link up with the rest of the squad later and likewise for Hardik, who had gone to the UK after the completion of the IPL league stage. In his first year as Mumbai Indians captain, the five-time champions failed to make the play-offs. As Rajasthan Royals were involved with Qualifier 2 in Chennai on Friday night, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Yuzvendra Chahal and Ave

RR vs RCB Eliminator: Kohli first player to hit 8000 runs in IPL history

Virat Kohli is the only batter who even scored the 7000 runs milestone in Indian Premier League, as Shikhar Dhawan, who is thesecond highest run-scorer in IPL, has 6769 runs in his kitty