IPL 2020: Confusion Over Start Date Deepens

The BCCI President Sourav Ganguli confirmed that start date of the 13th edition of the cash-rich T20 league would be March 29 and that there would be fewer double-headers this season. But IPL start could be delayed a little.

Confusion over IPL start date

The International Cricket Council (ICC) is going to conduct its board meeting on March 29 in Dubai. It is the date when IPL will take off in India. BCCI tried to convince ICC shit its board meeting as both are big events and their dates are clashing. But ICC turned down the request of shifting its board meeting.

The problem with BCCI is that many of is members would be busy attending the important board meeting on the start date of the IPL. So, BCCI is left with no option other than to delay IPL matches.

ICC made a case

International Cricket Council will hold a series of meetings from March 27-29 and the dates for these meetings had been fixed in August 2019. Also, the concerned persons were informed about the meetings in advance. Since preparations have been made, there is little chances of ICC accepting BCCI’s request of change of dates.

Options for BCCI

Sources told that ICC dates were always announced in advance so no ground for changing dates now. BCCI has also withheld schedule of the tournament that is expected to start on March 29 in Guwahati. The ICC has even fixed dates for next conference. It will meet on July 17 and 18 this year in Cape Town.

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IPL 2020: Royal Challengers Bangalore To Get A New Name And Logo

Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) is going to change its name ahead of Indian Premier League 2020 season. Their social media activity gave a hint regarding change of name before start of IPL 2020. An important announcement regarding change of name could be made on February 16.

RCB social media activity

On Tuesday, RCB removed pictures from Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts. Also, it changed the name to Royal Challengers. The Hindustan Times reported that RCB could come up with a new name and logo and an announcement regarding the same could be made on February 16.

Reason for change of name

According to reports, a faction of RCB fans wants to change Bangalore as it is the old name of Silicon Valley. After some discussions, the RCB agreed to change Bangalore to Bengaluru before the start of IPL 2020.

RCB in IPL

By far, RCB has been the most favoured team in IPL due to a star-studded line-up that includes Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers but it has yet to receive its first IPL trophy. Its performance has been super but it failed to meet expectations of its fans in the last 12 IPL seasons. For IPL 2020, RCB has associated with Muthoot Corp as its title sponsor.

Source: https://bit.ly/3bBLjNN

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IPL 2020: Mukesh Ambani Owned Mumbai Indians Team Bags INR 100 Crore Sponsorship For The Upcoming Tournament

Mumbai Indians (MI)bagged sponsorship contract worth INR 100 crore in two deals with Marriot Bonvoy and Astral Pipes. Owned by leading businessman Mukesh Ambani, Mumbai Indians is the four-time champions of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

MI confirms INR 100 crore dea

Spokesperson of Mumbai Indians confirmed that the team has managed to get the deal. With this deal, MI has become the first Indian sports franchise to clinch one billion deal. While not much info is revealed about the deal, the spokesperson only said that the deal with Marriot Bonvoy is worth INR 30 crore. The company would have its logo on the right side of the jersey. Astral Pipes would have their logo on the non-leading arm of the jersey.

Marriot Bonvoy has earlier bean associated with Manchester United, Formula One, Bayern Munich, NFL and the NBA but it is for the first time that the brand is investing on an Indian sports franchise.

It is the consistence performance of MI that keeps the team on top of the chart for the fourth consecutive season, according to the findings of Duff & Phelps.

Last year, MI got three-year sponsorship worth INR 75 crore from Samsung. Other sponsors of the team were Colors (back of jersey), Reliance Jio (lead arm), Sharp (back of helmet), Usha International (front of the helmet), Burger King and William Lawson (trouser).

Factors helping Mumbai Indians in their cause

• Four-time IPL champions
• Mukesh Ambani owned high-profile team
• Being in the financial capital keeps them in limelight

Mumbai Indians would start their campaign in the leadership of Captain Rohit Sharma. They will play their first match against Chennai Read the rest

U-19 World Cup Final: Bangladesh Beat India In A Dramatic Rain-Washed Victory

Bangladesh cricket team beat India in the U-19 World Cup final in a dramatic rain-washed match in Potchefstroom. It was the maiden Under-19 title for Bangladesh. Akbar Ali, captain of Bangladesh cricket team, led his team to victory.

Bangladesh won U-19 World Cup final

The Bangladesh team needed 178 to win but it lost its wickets in quick succession. There was a time when the match tilted towards India when Bangladesh was 102 for 6 wickets. But the captain took a stand and made 43 not out to led his team to the maiden victory.

Rain helped Bangladesh

A brief flurry of rain came as a big respite for Bangladesh team that was limping to target at 163 for 7 wickets. When the rain stopped, the score was adjusted to 172 from 46 overs under DLS. Bangladesh needed only 7 runs in 30 balls and it was an easy target for Bangladesh.

Indian players shined

Opening batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal made highest 88 runs in 121 balls. The 18-year old left-handed batsman from Uttar Pradesh was stand-out batsman for the defending champion. He made three 50s and one century in the competition. His total score of 400 runs and average of 133.33 runs made him Player of the Tournament. Avishek Das the most successful bowler. He took 3 wickets for 40 runs.

Bangladesh was trembling from beginning

Despite getting a good start by Parvez Hossain Emon and Tanzid Hasan, Bangladesh can’t collect runs and keep losing wickets in search of runs. But their captain and the rain made it favourable for Bangladesh.

Source: https://bit.ly/38b4N9I

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India VS New Zealand Live Score Of 2nd ODI At Eden Park

India gets a target of 274 runs in the second ODI of a series of 3-ODIs with Kiwis. The match is being played at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. Kiwis won the toss and choose to bat first. Martin Guptill (79) and Ross Taylor (73) added 152 runs in the score. For India, Chahal took three wickets and Shardul and Jadeja took one wicket each.

New Zealand batting

Kiwis made 273 runs at 8 wickets in 50 overs. The opening batsmen did a great job by adding 93 runs to the score. They played well till 10 overs in which the maximum runs were scored.But after 15 overs, Indian bowlers started putting pressure on the Kiwis. New Zealand team lost quick wickets while trying to make runs.

India batting

Prithvi Shaw and Manik Aggarwal. From Kiwi side, Bennett started to bowl but gave 12 runs in the first over. Shaw hit the ball to boundary thrice for 4-runs. It could be a good start to win the match but the Kiwis developed pressure on India. At the time of writing the story, Virat Kohli was playing with Shaw to control the weak start of Indian team.

Source: https://bit.ly/372EXDy

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India And Pakistan To Play In Semi-Final Of ICC U-19 World Cup 2020

Pakistan cricket team entered the semi-final of ICC U-19 World Cup 2020 by defeating Afghanistan by six-wickets in the quarter-final match. Pakistani team would face India in the semi-final to be played at Potchefstroom on February 4.

Pakistan won quarter-final

The match was played in Benoni, South Africa on Friday. Pakistani bowlers gave an impressive performance in the match. Also, the batsman did well. The debuting batsman Mohammed Huraira made stunning 64 runs to pull Pakistan in the match.

Afghanistan batted first

Afghanistan cricket team choose to bat first and scored 189 runs 49.1 overs. For Afghanistan, the skipper Farhan Jakheel scored highest 40 runs against Pakistan. But others could do no magic. On the bowling side, Mohammad Aamir Khan dismissed three Pakistani batsmen. He was the most successful bowler from Afghanistan.

Pakistan batting

The opening batsman Huraira made a half-century while chasing the target of 189 runs. Batsman Hyder Ali contributed 28 runs but Wasim Akram and Mohammad Haris remained not out at 25 and 29 respectively. Together the three batsmen accumulated 63 runs for the fifth-wicket and placed Pakistani team in a strong position.

India in semi-final

Pakistan would face its arch-rival India in the semi-final of ICC U-19 World Cup 2020. India that has already entered the semi-final after defeating Australia in a quarter-final match is ready for the battle. India defeated Australia on 28 January. With Pakistan and India playing semi-final match, the tournament has become very interesting.

Source: https://bit.ly/36PWqie

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Asia Cup 2020: India Won’t Play In Pakistan

BCCI said that it has little objection in PCB hosting Asia Cup but Indian cricket team won’t go to Pakistan for the tournament. The Asia Cup is scheduled in September this year and it is considered important for World Cup preparation.

India won’t play in Pakistan

BCCI said that the Asia Cup should be neutral because it wasn’t an option to go to Pakistan for playing. A senior BCCI official said that hosting was never an issue with India because the venue should be neutral. And it was important because India won’t play in Pakistan.

The official made it clear that the present conditions didn’t allow India to go to Pakistan for playing. There were little chances of India going to Pakistan to take part in a multi-national tournament. If the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) wanted to go ahead without India then it could. Bur if ACC wanted India to take part in Asia Cup then it had to be held outside Pakistan.

Asia Cup

In 2018, India was hosting Asia Cup but had to shift to UAE due to visa issues with Pakistani cricketers. BCCI hosted Asia Cup in UAE at that time. The official said that PCB could also host Asia Cup in that manner.

BCCI said that neutral venues were always available as alternative. The official recalled the 2009 incident when Sri Lanka cricket team was attacked in Pakistan. But Sri Lanka and Bangladesh cricket teams had no issue in playing in Pakistan. But India had different issues with Pakistan.

Source: https://bit.ly/3aTHCCL

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ICC U-19 World Cup: India Beat Australia

Australia was defeated by Indian cricket team in the Super League quarter-final 1 of the ICC U-19 World Cup. India batted first and set the target of 233/9 in 50 overs. But Australian team failed to chase the target in record time.

Indian batting

Yashasvi Jaiswal and Atharva Ankolekar helped India set a big score for Australia. Together they accumulated 117 runs. Jaiswal made 62 runs and Ankolekar made 55 runs and remained not out. India lost wickets at regular intervals but the batting side was strong enough to make a challenging score. There was a time when India was reduced to 144/6.

Yashasvi Jaiswal

He put a brave foot before Australian team that bowled well. He looked terrific while smashing Australian bowlers. He delivered six 4s and to 6s in 82 deliveries and made 62 runs. It was his third 50 in the tournament. He made 59, 29, 57 and 62 in the tournament. But his biggest strength was that he remained unmoved by the regular fall of wickets at the other end.

Atharva Ankolekar

After the dismissal of Jaiswao, Atharva took the bold stand of making runs while saving wickets. And his partnership with Ravi Bishnoi took Indian score to above 200 mark. He made 61-runs with Bisnoi. He scored 55* runs with five 4s and one 6.

Australian batting

Soon after the start of their inning, Australian team was reduced to 17/4 in no time. But opening batsman Sam Fanning and W/K batsman Patrick Rowe added 51 runs for fifth-wicket but they failed to chase the target.

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Virat Kohli Is A Better Batsman Than Steve Smith Said Dean Jones

Indian skipper Virat Kohli and Australia’s former captain Steve Smith are undoubtedly the two finest batsmen of the world. Both the batsmen were involved in India-Australia series that India clinched with 2-1 score.

Kohli-Smith batting in India-Australia series

Virat Kohli won the home series with 2-1 but Kohli was the second highest run-maker in the series. He made a total of 183 runs with two half-centuries in the series. On the contrary, Smith became the highest ran-maker. His highest scores were 98 and 131.

Choosing the best batsman

Cricket lovers enjoy comparing star cricketers to find their best. In this series, England’s former skipper Michael Vaughanvoted for Virat Kohli and kept Smith at number two. But Australia’s former cricketer Dean Jones has a different opinion on the best batsman of the world.

In the total run score, Virat Kohli is 25 runs behind Steve Smith that has made 7227 runs in Test Cricket. Also, Kohli is far behind Smith in limited over format. But still Kohli is the best according to Dean Jones.

Upcoming India series

Team India is visiting New Zealand for a full-fledged tour starting 24 January. The tour includes five T20Is; three ODIs and two-match test series that will be a part of the ICC Test Championship.

The ability of Team India to play longest form of cricket is undisputed but Indian cricketers would be eager to make their mark in all formats of cricket and continue to rule … Read the rest

India VS Australia: India Lost The First Match In 3-Match ODI To Australia By 10-Wickets

India lost the first ODI against Australia by 10-wickets at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai. With this win, Australia now leads the three-match series by 1-0. It was the biggest defeat for India in the 50-over format in recent times.

India batted first

Aaron Finch won the toss and choose to field. On the Indian side, Virat Kohli pushed himself down to No. 4 in a bid to adjust Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, and KL Rahul.

Rohit Sharma was the first to bowl out. He was on 10 when David Warner took his catch on the over of Mitchell Starc. Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul accumulated 121 runs for the second wicket after the dismissal of Rohit Sharma. But KL Rahul was caught at 47 by Steve Smith off Ashton Agar in the 28th over. In the next over, Pat Cummins dismissed Shikhar Dhawan. Virat Kohli took a big stand at 4th wicket by hitting six at the first ball of 32nd over but he got bowled by the leg-spinner Adam Zampa on the next ball.

Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja put up some resistance to the Australian attack but Shreyas was bowled out and Pant got injured by a short-ball from Pat Cummins. KL Rahul took the gloves in his absence. Together the Indian team could make only 250 runs.

Australia batting

It was an easy chase for Australian batsmen. David Warner made 128 off 112 balls and Aaron Finch scored 110 of 114 balls. It was the fourth-consecutive ODI win against India in India.

Source: https://bit.ly/387fhX7

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