Indian batsmen didn't apply themselves: Sehwag

Virender Sehwag opined the toss played a crucial factor in India's defeat to New Zealand. © Getty

India put in a disappointing performance to slip towards a 47-run defeat against New Zealand in their opening encounter of the ICC World T20, 2016 at the Vidarbha Cricket Association stadium in Nagpur on Tuesday (March 15). The trio of Ish Sodhi, Nathan McCullum and Mitchell Santner bowled with flight and guile to account for nine wickets as New Zealand successfully defended what was widely expected to have been a sub-par total of 126.

Commenting on India's poor show, Sehwag lamented the fact that the batsmen did not apply themselves. He further added that the toss played a vital role in helping New Zealand to pip India. However, the swashbuckling opener was pleased that the Indian Women's team started their World T20 campaign on a bright note with a 72-run victory against Bangladesh Women. "It was a mixed day for India. Women's team won against Bangladesh, but men's team lost to New Zealand. I believe India lost as the batsmen didn't apply themselves," Sehwag said in an exclusive chat with cricbuzz.

"If they had thought of playing (all) 120 deliveries, India could have won the game easily, but unfortunately, some soft dismissals and bad shot selection cost them dearly. Toss made a big difference as New Zealand won it and batted first, and they put on 126 runs on the board. And when India were chasing, they batted only 18.1 overs and got all-out for 79."

Sehwag, though, praised New Zealand for their well-executed strategy. The visitors picked three spinners and dropped the able pace duo of Trent Boult and Tim Southee. "I was surprised when I saw that Southee and Boult were not part of New Zealand's playing XI. I thought they planned really well and their strategy was good. That is why they picked three spinners. New Zealand's spinners picked nine wickets between them."

When Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni rotated the strike with singles and twos to keep the scorecard ticking, India were still in the game. However, Sodhi picked up the crucial wickets of Kohli and Jadeja in successive overs to ensure New Zealand took control of the proceedings. Sehwag reckoned that those two scalps of Kohli and Jadeja turned the game in New Zealand's favour.

"I think when Sodhi got Kohli and Jadeja's wickets in two overs, it was a big moment for New Zealand. The way Kohli and Dhoni were batting, it looked like they will play till the end and finish the game. Unfortunately, Sodhi got Kohli's wicket and then Jadeja's wicket, and the Indian batting collapsed.

Sehwag summed up by saying that if India play to their potential, they can still overcome Australia, Pakistan and Bangladesh in their group and progress to the semi-final. "I predicted that New Zealand and India will qualify from the group. I hope that India will cope up with this defeat and come hard at Pakistan and try to win that game. I am sure that if they play to their potential, they will beat Pakistan, Australia and Bangladesh."

Rohit, spinners give India big win in warm-up

India added gloss to their tag of pre-tournament favourites with a 45-run victory © Getty

Rohit Sharma scored a blazing unbeaten 98 and four bowlers picked up two wickets each as India began their World T20 campaign with a convincing 45-run win over West Indies in a warm-up encounter at the raucous Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday (March 10).

Rohit, who bludgeoned nine fours and seven sixes in his 57-ball essay, shared an 89-run stand for the third wicket with Yuvraj Singh (31 off 20) to help the hosts notch up 185 on the board before the bowlers, led by Pawan Negi and Ravindra Jadeja - the two left-arm spinners - bowled West Indies out for 140 inside their quota of 20 overs. 

It was a warm-up game and the result counts for little at this time but the fixture served a timely reminder of where these teams are at the moment. India, already in the middle of a purple patch in T20Is, were able to keep their bench strength match-ready. Mohammed Shami, playing in an India shirt for the first time since the 2015 World Cup, and Negi, so often condemned to warming the benches, put in performances that added gloss to India's tag as pre-tournament favourites. West Indies, on the other hand, encountered familiar problems with bowling and playing spin. 

On a flat Eden wicket, one on which the captains - MS Dhoni and Darren Sammy - mutually agreed that India would bat first, the hosts got off to a rather sedate start.

Rohit, as he often does in limited-overs, began in rather tepid fashion. Dhawan was far more assured in an opening stand of 32. The left-hander, fresh from a half-century in the Asia Cup, helped himself to a flurry of well-timed boundaries even as his partner bided his time at the start of the innings. The duo added 32 runs inside five overs before the introduction of left-arm spinner Sulieman Benn accounted for Dhawan (21) 

A 20000-strong crowd at the Eden Gardens rose expectantly at the fall of the first wicket, hoping to catch star batsman Virat Kohli in action but this being a warm-up game, the Indian team management was more concerned about giving their fringe players a run. Ajinkya Rahane walked in at three and attempted to get going straight away, only to be beaten by Benn's turn and getting stumped. Rohit and new batsman Yuvraj Singh steadied the innings and by the half-way mark India reached 62 for 2. 

Rohit, who had meandered to 25 off 28 balls, suddenly turned a switch on. The carnage began early in the second half when off-spinner Ashley Nurse was brought into the attack. The youngster, called in to replace Sunil Narine, conceded 16, with Rohit peppering the mid-wicket boundary. When Andre Russell came back into the attack in the next over, he was slammed straight back over his head for a six. 

Russell followed that with a fuller delivery, Rohit simply walked across his stumps and lapped him over the short-fine fielder. 31 runs came of two overs as India rocketed to 93 in 12 overs with Rohit completing a 37-ball half-century. 

Sammy brought himself into the attack in the 13th over and should have had Yuvraj on 7, only for Nurse to grass a straight forward chance at deep mid-wicket. The flamboyant left-hander, unwilling to be left behind by Rohit's belligerence, then unfurled a succession of powerful drives and a monster straight six before falling for a 20-ball 31.

Ravindra Jadeja, Pawan Negi and Hardik Pandya were promoted up the order but couldn't make a significant mark on the innings. Rohit, on the other hand, powered into the 90s with a nonchalant flicked-six off Taylor before failing to score off the last two deliveries of the innings to remain unbeaten, two short of a century.

West Indies had reason to believe that they could hunt down 185. It was a flat wicket and openers Chris Gayle and Johnson Charles had added 26 off the first two overs of the chase bowled by Ravichandran Ashwin and Harbhajan Singh. Jasprit Bumrah, Dhoni's go-to man, cleaned Gayle up with a skiddy inswinger, giving India a much-needed opening. Shami then forced Charles to edge one to the keeper bringing in two new batsmen to the crease simultaneously.

It was the perfect setup for Dhoni to employ his classic choke by spin. Negi and Jadeja bowled out their spells in one go conceding just 41 from their 8 overs while returning two wickets apiece. Jadeja's surprise round-arm deliveries proved too hard for West Indies to get away while Negi was generous in his use of flight and got significant purchase off the wicket. 

By the 13th over, West Indies had slipped from 36 for 1 to 84 for 6 with India's outfielding, particularly that of Rahane (four catches) functioning in top gear. Shami returned for a second spell and accounted for Ashley Nurse while Pandya got amongst the wickets as well to send West Indies hurtling towards an inconsequential but an eye-opening defeat. 

Brief Scores: India 185/6 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 98*, Yuvraj Singh 31; Jerome Taylor 2-26) beat West Indies 140 in 19.2 overs (Chris Gayle 20; Pawan Negi 2-15, Ravindra Jadeja 2-26) by 45 runs

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World T20 played to empty stands in Nagpur

The players had to play in front of empty stands. © Getty

The manner in which the Indian cricket board goes about the ticket distribution process season after season where international cricket is concerned, seems irrational. As if embarrassments caused in the past weren't a concern, this week the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) made things worse for itself, as well as the BCCI, by waiting until the last minute to make tickets available for the World Twenty20 qualifiers to fans in Nagpur.

Scores of cricket fans were left clueless on Tuesday (March 8) when the VCA Stadium in Jamtha hosted a double-header -­ Hong Kong vs Zimbabwe and Afghanistan vs Scotland­ and those who wanted tickets had no idea where to buy them from. As a result, the matches were played to empty stands.

While a random draw of lottery system had been conducted online to sell tickets for matches involving the Indian team, fans had been expecting to buy tickets at the counter for the less popular games such as the qualifiers. "The stadium was empty and I thought I could have just bought a ticket and entered," said Ashok Naidu, who drove from the centre of the city to Jamtha ­approximately 18 kms ­to watch some cricket but was asked to go back to the city to buy tickets. Several fans were forced to return empty-handed from Jamtha.

On Wednesday, the VCA opted to send a press release to select media houses, saying tickets for the March 10 double-header would be made available at the old VCA stadium premises. However, the VCA did not share the press release with TOI, which left hundreds of readers clueless about buying tickets. "They could've certainly used some common sense and planned this better. Unless they were expecting online buyers to flood the gates for these qualifiers," a cricket official following the VCA ticket fiasco said.

A cricket website quoted a VCA official justifying that advertisements had been placed in local newspapers informing about the ticketing policy. However, the same official failed to explain why the information had not been passed on to the BCCI or the ICC so that fans could be updated about the same. Incidentally, Nagpur is home to BCCI president and International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman Shashank Manohar.

"It's the onset of summer and temperature is touching 40 degrees. Fans came all the way to Jamtha ­a long drive from the city limits on the national highway ­and had to return empty handed. The gates were locked and it was then that it occurred to them that no ticketing facilities were available at the stadium," the official added.

Tickets have been priced as low as Rs 100 for a single game and Rs 200 for the double-header. "Those who were still keen on watching the game had to go back all the way to the old stadium and return to Jamtha ­ a drive of close to 36 km and ended up watching very little cricketing action," a journalist covering the World Twenty20 event said. For a stadium that boasts of a 45,000-capacity, the stands remained eerily empty as VCA took its own time trying to rectify things. The BCCI is responsible for the tournament's ticketing policy but state associations have the discretion to plan the distribution process. While most other stadiums hosting T20 matches have chosen to sell tickets at their respective stadium gates, the VCA strangely made plans that left the ordinary cricket fan reeling in the heat.

Once again, in trying to justify what had happened, a VCA official said: "Before criticising, you should see that today (March 10) everything went fine." For long now, the BCCI's ticketing policy for international matches has been a mess. It has perennially found itself at pains to clarify how many tickets it actually puts up for sale.

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Shami in focus in India's warm-up match against West Indies

Mohammed Shami has only played a few domestic games and club games since the 2015 ODI World Cup © AFP

It's not often that a team goes into a major tournament without any specific areas of concern. Team India are in that enviable position as they prepare for the World T20 championship with the first of two warm-up games, against West Indies at Eden Gardens, on Thursday (March 10) evening.

Having won back-to-back T20 series against Australia and Sri Lanka, followed by their sixth Asia Cup triumph with an all-win record last Sunday, the Men in Blue will look to maintain their remarkable momentum and consistency. India have a settled unit with all the batsmen among runs and youngsters Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya bowling well in tandem with veteran Ashish Nehra. On Thursday, though, the focus will be on Mohammad Shami, who was ruled out of the Asia Cup with a knee injury.

The nippy right-arm medium-pacer's match exposure since last year's World Cup has been limited to a couple of domestic T20 matches for Bengal and a few club games. Yet, the team management has not given up hope and is trying to get him ready before India's tournament opener, against New Zealand in Nagpur on March 15. Team director Ravi Shastri made it amply clear that the pacer is very much in India's scheme of things. "He will be playing tomorrow and we will have a look at how he goes," he said on Wednesday.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni did say recently that it will be difficult to accommodate Shami in the playing XI, given the form of the quick bowlers. But the skipper and other members of the think tank will be wary of possible injury issues which could rule out any member of the regular playing XI any time. Thus, it will be a big boost for Team India if Shami is declared fit for the tournament. "He will have to prove his fitness and the physio is working with him," Dhoni had said.

The Bengal pacer bowled for more than half an hour at nets during the team's practice session at Eden on Wednesday afternoon. He took it easy to start with, before bowling from his full run-up and at his usual pace not long after. He shared one of the nets with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Pandya, as the trio bowled to Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli. He dislodged Rohit's off stump once as Shastri watched from behind. He tried the yorker a few times, which was appreciated by Kohli.

Nehra left the ground with an ice pack wrapped around his right knee. There was no official word on his fitness, and it remains to be seen whether the left-arm pacer plays on Thursday.

The West Indies squad did have a week-long camp in Dubai, but their two warm-up games in Kolkata (the second one will be against Australia on Sunday) will give them the chance to finalise the combination for their opener against England in Mumbai.

Most of the players in this Caribbean side play T20 across the world in different leagues and have the potential to create a flutter if they can gel as a unit. Skipper Darren Sammy will look to do just that in the warm-up ties before going into the tournament proper.

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India-Pakistan World T20 clash moved to Kolkata

Initially scheduled to be held in Dharamsala, the change of venue has taken place after the Pakistan Cricket Board expressed concerns over security in the city. © AFP

The highly-anticipated India-Pakistan clash of the World T20 has been moved to the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Wednesday (March 9).

"The decision to relocate the match has been made for security reasons. The concerns initially arose following alleged public comments recently reported by the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, warning of demonstrations and attempts to disrupt the peaceful conduct of the match. "Our concerns relate both to uncertainty as to the level of those threats as well as the level of commitment to implement any security plan developed to mitigate such treats," David Richardson, the CEO of the International Cricket Council, said in a press conference held in the national capital on Wednesday.

"The decision was not taken lightly. The ICC and the BCCI understand the disappointment that is likely to be felt by many over the decision to move the match. But the safety and security of the event is of paramount importance to the ICC and we have taken into consideration the concerns shared with us by our security advisors as well as Pakistan Cricket Board," he added.

Richardson also reiterated that all the adequate security measures will be in place to ensure the World T20 is conducted in a safe and secure environment, even as the venue change for the big game comes merely 10 days ahead of the fixture. "I would like to confirm that the ICC has been assured by all relevant state authorities that all adequate security measures are in place and will be implemented to ensure that the event is staged in a safe and secure environment for all stakeholders."

Initially scheduled to be held in Dharamsala, the change of venue has taken place after the Pakistan Cricket Board expressed concerns over security in the city. Virbhadra Singh, the Himachal Pradesh chief minister, had said last week that the state government would be unable to provide security for the highly-anticipated fixture.

There appears to be a political undertone to the sudden turn of events as Anurag Thakur, the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), pushed for the game to be held in the picturesque location for months while Virbhadra, a Congressman, opposing it.

A two-member security delegation from Pakistan assessed the conditions in Dharamsala on Tuesday. A Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) official in the know of proceedings, however, explained that the delegation were satisfied with the board's efforts at the venue but had concerns over the areas outside the stadium where the team would travel.

"The security delegation were happy with the security inside the ground and the stadium premises. But their main concern was with the areas outside and the team's movements outside the stadium, on the roads etc. The state refused to use force against people if they protested outside and that was a major concern for the Pakistan authorities. Pakistan have communicated to BCCI that their first preference is Kolkata and second is Mohali," he told Cricbuzz.

The official also admitted that the possible move would be a disappointment, as Dharamsala had been preparing to host the marquee clash for over six months. "It was such a huge game, we have been preparing for this for the last six months and we were very excited. But that's the way life goes," he added.

Following the change of venue, Richardson put forth a couple of options for fans who have already purchased the Dharamsala match ticket. "As far as those who have purchased tickets online for the match, they will be offered the choice of a full refund or the opportunity to exchange their tickets for ones for the Kolkata match."

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Pakistan want Kolkata or Mohali to stage World T20 clash against India

Pakistani security team arrive at Dharamsala to conduct a security assessment © AFP

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Shahryar Khan said on Tuesday (March 8) evening that conflicting signals emanating from India over Dharamshala as the venue for the India-Pakistan World T20 match have forced them to seek a change in location for the marquee contest.

The PCB sent a letter to this effect to the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday. Late-night TV reports said the Pakistani security team had advised the cricket squad to not travel to Dharamshala and even the trip to Kolkata on Wednesday may be delayed by a day.

"The Himachal CM has not committed full security for the match and the Indian government has also not come up with any assuring statement so far," Khan told TOI. "Under the circumstances, how can we allow our team to play there?"

A concerned PCB boss said the "real issue" was lack of clarity from the Indian government after the "Dharamshala tension" erupted. "Our real problem is that we haven't got any security arrangement details from the government of India. We are still waiting to hear from them officially. We at least need to be told about the position of the protesters in Dharamashala or about Shiv Sena's threat," Khan said.

Khan said PCB would consult the government of Pakistan before taking a final call. According to him, the PCB wants either Mohali or Kolkata to stage their World T20 clash against India.

"I have sent an email to the ICC that if Dharamshala has a problem hosting Pakistan-India World T20 game, the match should be played either in Mohali or Kolkata. The Pakistan board is also open to the idea of playing it else where as long as the safety and security of the Pakistani cricketers is taken care of."

Khan said that since Pakistan are already playing their matches in Mohali and Kolkata, it would be easy for the team to play at these venues. Sources in Pakistan cricket establishment told TOI that there are concerns across the border over how police will control unruly mobs, over security of Pakistani fans and journalists and also about the arrangements if Pakistan wins the game. Khan, however, refused to comment on it.

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India-Pakistan clash will go on in Dharamsala: WT20 director

© Getty

Amidst heavy speculation, MV Sridhar, the World T20 2016 tournament director, stated on Tuesday (March 8) that the marquee clash between India and Pakistan will go on in Dharamsala as per schedule on March 19.

"The match is on. The state and central governments are on board and all security arrangements have been made," Sridhar said after a meeting with MK Singla, Special Secretary (Internal Security) in the Home Ministry.

According to a PTI report, Singla said that the team of officials from Pakistan which had visited Dharamsala after security concerns cropped up recently, has expressed satisfaction at the arrangements made in the stadium as well as hotels. Singla also stated that Kangra District Magistrate and local Inspector General of Police assured full protection to players and the venue.

Sridhar, however, conceded that a few more issues are yet to be sorted out and said that stated that discussions with Home Ministry officials remained inconclusive in that regard. He, however, did not divulge what those 'issues'.

Sridhar, who is also general manager of cricket operations of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, was accompanied by Neeraj Kumar, the Indian Premier League anti-corruption and security unit head and former Delhi Police Commissioner, and a few other BCCI officials. Representatives of Himachal Pradesh government were also present.

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Pakistan delay travel to India over security issues

© Getty

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has reportedly stopped their men's and women's team from travelling to India for the World Twenty20 over security concerns. After a three-man team from Pakistan assessed the arrangements in Dharamsala on Tuesday (March 8), the board has decided that the team should not play at the venue.

"PCB has delayed national women's and men's cricket team from travelling to India.The final decision on teams departure to India for T20 World Cup will be taken after a formal go-ahead by the interior ministry," Amjad Hasan, PCB's director media, was quoted as saying by The Dawn.

Earlier, Virbhadra Singh, the chief minister of the Himachal Pradesh, had stated that he would not be able to provide security for the game.

As per schedule, both the Pakistan teams were supposed to fly out to India on Wednesday (March 9) but an instruction to defer that itinerary has come at the 11th hour. The Shahid Afridi-led side are scheduled to face India in Dharamsala on March 19.

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