Story World of Cricket with India- End of Day 1

[shantanu_rooney]

9 February,2008

(Kirsten appointed new India Coach)

India have named Gary Kirsten as the permanent successor to departing head coach Lalchand Rajput. Kirsten, currently the director of a cricket academy in Cape Town, will start on 1 September.

The appointment comes less than a day after Lalchand Rajput decided to step down after just one year in the role following India's victory in the ICC Twenty 20 World Cup.

"Gary has been identified for some time as a leading candidate as a future Indian head coach," said BBCI secretary executive Niranjan Shah.

The 42-year-old once opened the batting for the South Africans and has scored many runs in both forms of the game. It was thought his main rivals for the job were Sri Lanka's Tom Moody, Bangladesh's Dav Whatmore and New Zealand's John Wright - who all have experience at the top level.

But Kirsten said: "It is an honour to have been appointed as head coach and to succeed Greg and Lalchand, who has been an outstanding coach of the Indian team.

"I have enjoyed my years at the National Academy in Cape Town .The challenge of this new role excites me and I look forward to meeting up with the players on their return to India and to leading India to success in both Test and one-day cricket."

Shah added: "The BBCI has developed a contingency and succession plan for all key management positions and this is part of that.

"Gary is highly respected as an innovative and inspiring player and is an ideal person to accept this appointment.In addition to the preparation of the Test team for the upcoming Test series versus the South Africans in one month's time, Gary will also commence the important work of preparing a new strategy for one-day cricket."

The appointment was backed by Indian captain Anil Kumble, who said: "He's obviously done really well at the Academy. He's got a great enthusiasm for the game, he's forward-thinking and I really do think it's a great appointment for the Indian game. He's got a great opportunity. The India team and the Indian game has got a lot of talent and we have to find the character and attitude to match that - but we have got a lot of talent to work with."

# In a vote on the BBC Sport website, a majority 58% of nearly 6,000 respondents said Kirsten was the right man to take over as India head coach, with 42% disagreeing.​

 

[westindies2007]

nice start

 

[treva]

Will be following this very closely. Good to see another story like that of mine and Mongrels.

 

[Ollie_H]

What happening to your Lanka story?

 

[shantanu_rooney]

What happening to your Lanka story?

thats gonna continue I am a bit busy making a new scorecard so will take time for the next update

shantanu_rooney added 25 Minutes and 38 Seconds later...

BCCI announces Sponsors and Fixtures

BCCI are delighted to announce Indian Oil as their major sponsors for the upcoming South African tour of India . South Africa would play thre test series in India .

BCCI have also confirmed other sponsors like Nikon, Exite, Pepsi, Kingfisger and Hero Hondo as sponsors of the test series . On the other hand BCCI have announced local Neo Cricket as official broadcasters of the Series . Neo Sports has won the race to telecast the Test Series . ESPN Star, Ten Sports and Zee Sports had also bid for the rights .

BCCI last night in a meeting held in Mumbai have announced the official fixtures of the upcoming tour starting soon .

3 Day Match - 10-12 Feb. Mumbai vs South Africa @ Mumbai
Indian Oil 1st Test - 15-19 Feb. India vs South Africa @ Chennai
Indian Oil 2nd Test - 24-28 Feb. India vs South Africa @ Delhi
Indian Oil 3rd Test - 3-7 March. India vs South Africa @ Jaipur

The selectors will be meeting today at Mumbai to decide the 12 man squad for the upcoming first test match .

Africans arrive without Nel

South African selectors have not included fast bowler Andre Nel in their touring party for the upcoming Test Series in India. Albie Morkel has been included thanks to some good performances in the domestic first class cricket in South Africa. While Carl Langelvelt has opted to stay out as he doesnt want to be selected in the team due the colour of his skin. Others to miss out are Johan Botha, Vedran Philander and Herschelle Gibbs. Neil McKenzie's good recent form has earned him a recall in the side and hope to make the most of it .
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South African Test Squad: G.Smith(c), N.McKenzie, J.Kallis, M.Boucher, H.Amla, A.Prince, D.Styen, M.Ntini, P.Harris, A.Villiers, J.Duminy, M.Morkel, A.Morkel, R.Petersen, M.Zondeki​

 

[ursonly11]

doing great job Shantanu , Keep it up man !

 

[JD10]

stiff not there oh dear good updates mate

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Munaf in as Sreesanth out

(Sreesanth left out of the first test squad)

After a long meeting with the Test skipper Anil Kumble and new coach Gary Kirsten the selectors have finalize the 12 man squad for the first test taking place at Chennai. Sreesanth who had a brilliant South African tour just before the World Cup has been left out of squad. While injury prone paceman Munaf Patel will travel with the team to Chennai. Other names include out of form Wasim Jaffer, paceman Zaheer Khan and Irfan Pathan. RP Singh, Yuvraj Singh both have been left out of the squad. The selectors have bagged on experience rather than youth as they have opted for the fab four Tendulkar, Laxman, Ganguly and Dravid. The selectors will be hoping that the team perform and wins the test match to take a early advantage in the Test Series.
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Indian Test Squad: A.Kumble(c), MS.Dhoni, S.Tendulkar, S.Ganguly, R.Dravid, VVS.Laxman, I.Pathan, W.Jaffer, v.Sehwag, M.Patel, H.Singh, Z.Khan

Mumbai announce squad

While, Mumbai Cricket association(MCA) has announced their 12 man squad which would play the 3 day warm up game against the Proteas on the 10th of Feb. Squad has some known names like Ajit Agarkar, Rohit Sharma and Ramesh Powar who are eager to prove themselves.

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Mumbai Squad: A.Muzumdar(c), A.Agarkar, N.Kulkarni, R.Powar, R.Sharam, A.Rahane, V.Samant, V.Mane, W.Mota, S.Hazare, S.Kukreja, A.Nayar ​

 

[Ayub 95]

Nice start KUTGW

 

[shantanu_rooney]

Proteas held by Sharma outslaught

Tour match, Wankhede, day three of three (stumps): Mumbai 217 & 363-5 drew with South Africa 582-7d

(Sharma double century saves Mumbai)

Rohit Sharma struck his maiden double ton as Mumbai staved off defeat on the final day against South Africa.The ranji side faced a long day at the crease after the Proteas declared on their overnight 582-7, a lead of 365.

But Nagpur-born Sharma made 209, with 32 fours and three sixes, to steer the hosts to 363-5 and keep South Africa to a draw ahead of the first Test.Paul Harris took 4-122, while Dale Steyn leaked 40 from his first six overs before ousting Wasim Jaffer for 81.

Makhaya Ntini responded well after conceding 37 runs in his first seven overs, recording seven maidens in figures of 0-60 from 20 overs.Morne Mokel, thought to be sparring with Ntini for the Test team's second seamer's spot, was slightly more economical with a return of 0-57.

It was Harris, who did the damage with four wickets in the final session but he conceded almost six runs per over. Openers Sharma and Jaffer profited from a little bit of luck and attacking fields in the morning, with a large proportion of boundaries coming either to third-man or through Jaffer's favourite mid-wicket area.

Jaffer, lbw to Steyn off the first ball of the match, this time began the day by clipping the same bowler to the leg-side boundary.He survived a Steyn lbw appeal off his second ball and should have gone on eight when he mis-hooked Ntini and was reprieved by a comical mix-up between Neil McKenzie and Ashwell Prince at backward point.

The pair finished the morning session within eight runs of one another out of 142.But Sharma upped the ante, particularly when hitting Harris over the top, adding 50 runs in the first hour after lunch - while Jaffer managed nine.

With a point to prove , when Sharma went on the offensive his footwork and lofted driving down the ground off Harris was impressive.And his accumulation in a wider arc off the pace bowlers was equally confident and effective.

Jaffer had almost ground himself to a halt, meanwhile, by the time Steyn (1-78) ripped out his middle-stump with a yorker shortly before tea to end a 247-run stand for the first wicket.Amol Muzumdar fell just after the final interval, caught for 33, and Sharma soon followed to a catch at mid-wicket as four late wickets fell for 31 runs.

​

 

[Jaztheman]

Rohit Sharma made 209! Well if South Africa want a chance of beating India then they should really be beating their domestic teams.

Great presentation and loving your new story. Keep it up.

 

[treva]

Seems SA batted very well but couldn't bowl out Mumbai. Three days is not very long to win a game so I doubt they'll worry too much about the result. Rohit Sharma has put himself into massive contention for a spot under Gary Kirsten.

 

[khalek]

Well played by Rohit, great batting and Saffers batted very well too. Looking forward to the test series.

Nice presentation Shantanu !

 

[JD10]

Why isn't Ishant Sharma in the test team i protest! great stuff mate

 

[Pakistani Army]

Great start so far with this Shantanu. A nice idea to do it in BBC style as these in my opinion are more interesting. The presentation is fantastic! Lets see if you can stick to this one.