Auluck: Samuels the Gladiator

Samuels the Gladiator - on and off the field

Marlon Samuels produced an innings for the ages at the Eden Gardens on Sunday (April 3) night. It was gladiatorial in conception, avuncular in execution as he bided and bided and bided his time, taking the run-chase deep into the contest before stepping on the gas.

Marlon, magnificent Marlon, had not so much laboured as eased to 50 in 47 deliveries when suddenly, he sprang to life. As if only then remembering that there was an ICC World Twenty20 to be won and lost, he embarked on a spectacular ball-striking spree, warming the cockles with a series of crisply struck strokes straight down the ground to home in on England’s 155 for 9.

With 19 needed off the last over, Samuels sat back and watched young turk Carlos Brathwaite take Ben Stokes apart. 6, 6, 6, 6. Game over. West Indies repeat champions, England crushed and deflated as a trophy that was firmly in their pocket for large parts was snatched away at the proverbial last minute. Eden roared in approbation, Samuels was the toast alongside Brathwaite.

It is more than likely that Samuels had moved into the zone towards the later stages of his extraordinary innings, that he may not remember much about how he despatched each delivery exactly in the manner in which he wanted to. If he does requisition a video to watch himself with bat in hand, he will come away impressed and potentially a little awed. But if he also watches some of his other actions, he should certainly not be as impressed and awed.

One of the more difficult things to maintain is grace under pressure. It’s alright to be emotional, to wear one’s heart on his sleeve, to give vent to feelings, to add colour and character and drama to proceedings. It is not alright to be disrespectful and downright offensive, as a fair bit of Samuels’s behaviour was immediately before and much after the trophy was won.

Samuels has had a heavy cross to bear over the last several years. A two-year suspension in 2008 for his involvement in match-fixing. A bat-throwing brain fade with Shane Warne at the receiving end during the Big Bash League in 2013. The cheeky, hat-clutched-to-chest, raised-hand-to-temple send-off to Stokes in the Grenada Test of last April. Reticent and reserved and often insulated from his teammates even inside his dressing room, Samuels the latent volcano erupts from time to time. With the bat, like in the World T20 finals in 2012 and on Sunday, and without it too.

No sooner had Brathwaite smashed Stokes for the third of his four straight sixes on Sunday than Samuels had a go at his old mate in full hearing of Kumar Dharmasena, the standing umpire. Predictably, charges were levelled, Samuels was fined 30% of his match fee. Then, after the fourth six, as the rest of his team congregated to celebrate an astonishing and popular triumph, he ripped his shirt off and charged towards the English dugout, spewing expletives. Before things could get out of hand, he was enveloped in a cocoon of love by his support staff with Phil Simmons and Curtly Ambrose prominent among them. Gently, they prised Samuels back into the confines of the celebratory huddle because after all, it was a moment of celebration, not retribution. And then, to cap it all off, when the player of the match arrived at the press conference, he lifted both his still padded legs on to the table and held forth for five minutes, speaking his mind on Stokes and Warne but also stating his case as a family man. Not sure Samuels will look back at this as one of his prouder moments. 

Auluck: Dhoni loses his cool again, this time for no reason

World T20: Dhoni loses his cool again, this time for no reason

Mohali: It was pre-match training ahead of the big game against Australia on Sunday when MS Dhoni made news for the wrong reasons.
After a game of football, which Team India always starts its training with these days, Dhoni was getting ready to go to the nets when a photojournalist tried to get his attention for a photo.
Dhoni, for some reason, didn't like that and retorted: "Cricket khel lein?" (can you allow us to play cricket).
The photojournalist didn't get the sarcasm and asked: "Are you asking me to play cricket?"
To that Dhoni replied: "If you would have been capable of that, you would have been here." And then the skipper left for the nets.
This is for the second time in less than a week that Dhoni has vented out at a journalist, after it happened first in the post-match press conference in Bengaluru where India beat Bangladesh by a run.
Dhoni then had lashed out at a journalist saying "I know you are not happy that India has won."

Magnificent Kohli powers India into semifinals

 

Magnificent Kohli powers India into semifinals

Virat Kohli lived up to the hype of being probably the greatest chaser in the history of the limited-overs game by scoring a fiery unbeaten 82 in 51 balls under immense pressure to guide India to the semifinals of the ICC World Twenty20 2016 with a six-wicket win over Australia.

Opting to bat first on a batsman-friendly strip at the at the PCA IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali on Sunday (March 27), Australia rode on cameos from Usman Khawaja, Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell, and a string of contributions from their lower order, to reach 160 for 6 on a surface which began to slow down during the course of their innings.

India got off to a shaky start, reaching 49 for 3 from 7.4 overs. Yuvraj Singh hung around and made a crucial 21, but it was Kohli’s unbeaten knock, with nine fours and two sixes, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s 10-ball 18, that carried India to a win which seemed improbable at one stage.

India now face West Indies in the semifinal in Mumbai on March 31.

Earlier, until Ashish Nehra forced Khawaja to drive at a gentle awayswinger and nick to Dhoni, India were on a hiding to nothing. Khawaja set stall with the very first ball of the evening, pulling Nehra through square-leg, though the experienced left-arm paceman got his own back with five successive dots.

Clearly, Khawaja was going to take the fight to India when the ball was hard and new, just about the only time when fluent timing could be guaranteed. Jasprit Bumrah’s second over triggered an avalanche of boundaries with Khawaja the primary enforcer and Finch only marginally behind. Bowling a perfectly hittable length, Bumrah was taken apart by Khawaja much like he had been by Tamim Iqbal in Bangalore, going for four fours to immediately push India on to the back foot.

While Nehra held his own from the pavilion end, Dhoni was at a loss to staunch the flooding at the other. Each of Khawaja’s first six scoring strokes had been a four; feeling somewhat left out, Finch opened his broad shoulders to deposit R Ashwin twice over long-on in the offspinner’s first over. A legside wide that flew to the fence contributed to 22 runs from that over so that Australia had clattered to 53 without loss after four overs.

Dhoni persisted with the parsimonious Nehra for a third over and the move paid off the dangerous Khawaja departed. It was to be a crucial passage; 54 had been realised by the openers in a mere 26 deliveries, with seven fours and two sixes. The next 15.4 overs produced the exact same number of fours and sixes and only 106 more runs as India wended their way back, the discipline in their bowling fusing beautifully with the slowing nature of the track which practically ruled out free-spirited strokeplay.

With Khawaja’s dismissal, the fluency disappeared a little even from Finch’s batting, while David Warner struggled during his brief stay until Ashwin shortened the length when he saw the batsman advancing, and gave the ball enough tweak to set up a simple stumping.

Energised by the twin strikes and lifted by a crowd that was now clearly throbbing, India jacked up the intensity. Dhoni, the master manipulator of resources and fields, pulled out a rabbit in the shape of Yuvraj, who responded with a wicket off his first ball of the tournament, Smith perhaps a little unfortunate to be given out caught behind on the inside-edge when he made no contact with the ball.

India tightened the screws, striking at regular intervals to ensure they kept getting new batsmen out in the middle. Dhoni moved his bowlers like chess pieces, an over here, three overs there, Ashwin ignored with half his quota available, Ravindra Jadeja’s fourth left unutilised as he pinned faith in his faster bowlers. Nehra was impeccable, Bumrah rallied outstandingly well after that nightmare first over, Hardik Pandya held his own until the last two balls when Peter Nevill got stuck into him, and Yuvraj sent down three tidy overs.

All of this meant Australia never found any ballast in the last three-quarters of their essay. Beefy ball-strikes – local hero Maxwell, who took 25 deliveries to smash his first boundary, Watson and finisher Faulkner – all failed to come to terms with the surface, and India had reason to be optimistic at the break.

ICC World T20 2016: Why Chris Gayle didn't open the innings for West Indies against Sri Lanka

Although it didn't hurt West Indies' chances of winning the match, most of the crowd at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru were left disappointed as they didn't get to witness Chris Gayle bat.

The chants of “We want Gayle, we want Gayle" was ringing around the stadium ever since the West Indian openers were getting ready to come out until the very end when Russell hit the winning runs.

Many would have come to the crease expecting fireworks from the West Indian opener but they were robbed of their wish as not only did Sri Lanka post a below-par total but Gayle also didn't come out to open the innings with Johnson Charles having gone out of the field while Sri Lanka were batting with a hamstring injury.

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After winning the toss, the West Indian skipper decided to bowl and it meant the capacity crowd would have to wait for a while before seeing him bat. But a Sri Lankan collapse meant that a Gayle masterclass was unlikely given their low total.

Although Gayle picked up a good diving catch in the ninth over to get rid of Milinda Siriwardana, he didn't stick around in the pitch for too much longer as he picked up a hamstring injury while fielding soon after that.

He was replaced by Jason Holder and he didn't field towards the end of the innings. As he had spent time off the field, he couldn't open along with Charles. And because he was also injured, it was reported from West Indies that he would only come out to bat, if it was absolutely necessary because of his left hamstring.

Time off the field was the reason why Gayle didn’t come out

What made it even worse was that when Denesh Ramdin was out in the 13th over, Gayle was getting ready to come out but umpire Ian Gould held him back because of the time he was off the field. At the time, he needed at least two wickets to fall or 11 minutes to pass, so Andre Russell came in his place instead.

After that, the crowd thought Gayle was coming out to bat when Andre Fletcher looked to have edged behind to the keeper off the first ball of the 16th over, but it turned out that the ball had bounced before Dinesh Chandimal took the catch.

When Russell skied a ball in the 18th over, it looked as though the southpaw might come in and finish things but the fielder at third man dropped it and the crowd wouldn't get their wish in the end.

At one point Ian Gould even managed to push Gayle, who was standing near the edge of the rope inside, in jest and was seen having a laugh as well. Unfortunately for the capacity crowd in Bengaluru, they were robbed of an opportunity to watch their star player do what he does best as they all left the ground without watching him bat.

VIRAT KOHLI SUCCESS STORY

VIRAT KOHLI SUCCESS STORY

In a country where cricket is considered a religion, it isn’t easy to compete with a million other talented young men in the sport and make it to the top. But Virat Kohli, the epitome of aggressive sportsmanship and confidence did not just make it to the Indian team but also went to become the Captain of the Indian National Cricket Team for Test matches, and a Vice-captain for Limited-over matches (ODIs and T20s).

His cheekiness and self assured attitude is also loved by all the millions of fans of the sport in India. From a small kid who played for the local cricket teams to the captain of Indian team, Virat Kohli had a long and inspiring journey. Today, at just 27, this right handed middle order batsman isn’t just another Captain that the team has had already, but he looks to become one of the most efficient captains the team had ever had.

Family Life

Family background

Virat Kohli was born on 5th November 1988 in Delhi, although his family originates from Punjab.

His father, Prem Kohli, was a Criminal Lawyer and his Mother, Saroj Kohli is a Housewife. He has a older brother called Vikash and an elder sister called Bhavna.

Childhood and Education

He was known to have had an affinity towards cricket from a very early age, as early as 3, according some. He’d take up his bat, and ask his father to bowl to him. He studied in Vishal Bharti Public School, and was  raised in Uttam Nagar, Delhi. When he was a youngster, he played in the alley ways with the boys from the area, and the people around saw his talent even then. Everyone urged his father to not let his talent go to waste in gulley cricket and send him to a proper cricket coaching Academy.

In 1998, a nine year old Virat Kohli joined the newly formed West Delhi Cricket Academy. His father, having recognised the potential in him, took him there. Here, Virat trained under Rajkumar Sharma and played matches in the nearby cricket academies including Sumit Dogra Academy near Noida.

To help better his game, Virat moved schools to Savier Convent in Paschim Vihar. He is remembered at his schools as a bright and alert child, his academics were above the normal grade.

In 2006, Virat’s father passed away having been bed-ridden for a month after suffering a brain stroke.

The family faced hard times after that, and Virat mentions that they had to live in a rented house after their family business started declining. Having seen tough times in his young life and lived through that, he is a person who has his priorities set.

Virat has mentioned his father to have been his biggest support, that his father drove him to practise everyday and that he still misses him sometimes.

Youth and Domestic Career

State and Ranji Career

It wasn’t long before Virat was noticed by the scouts. He played for Delhi Under-15 team for the first time in October 2002 in the 2002-2003 Polly Umriger Trophy. Scoring the highest number of runs that year, he was made the Captain for the next year. In the 2003-2004 Polly Umrigar trophy, he scored two centuries and two fifties, totalling 390 runs in 5 innings.

Under 17 career

By late 2004 he was a member of the Under 17 Delhi Cricket Team for the Vijay Merchant Trophy. he blazed through the tournament scoring over 450 runs and made a high score of 251* in just four matches. The next year in the Vijay Merchant trophy, he made headlines. Virat Kohli was the highest run scorer with 757 runs in 7 matches with two centuries and an batting average of 84.11.

Under 19 Career

In July 2006, Kohli was selected for the India Under-19 Cricket squad for their tour of England. In the three match ODI tour against England Under-19s, he scored at an average of 105 runs. In the three tests that they played in the same tour, Kohli scored at an average of 49 runs. India Under-19 came back a winner of both the series. He even performed remarkably against Pakistan’s U-19 cricket team later that year.

By this time, Virat had become a permanent fixture in the Delhi U-19 team as he showed his quality batsmanship over and over. He made his First Class Debut for Delhi against Tamil Nadu in 2006. He came to spotlight later that year when he continued to play his part in the match against Karnataka even after he’d got the news of his father’s death. He scored 90 runs in that innings and went directly to his father’s funeral from there.

Everyone saw the change in him from then onwards, his sense of responsibility increased and according to his captain, he received a lot of accolades for his attitude and determination.

"The way I approached the game changed that day. I just had one thing in my mind - that I have to play for my country and live that dream for my dad."
— Kohli said on his innings against Karnataka

Limited Over State Level Matches

In April 2007, he made his Twenty20 debut in the Inter-State T20 Championship and was the highest scorer for his team with an average of 35.80. Later that year India U-19 Team toured SriLanka, playing in a triangular series along with the Sri Lanka U-19s and Bangladesh U-19s. He scored 146 runs in the 5 ODI matches, and in the test series, he scored a hundred and a fifty ( a total of 244 runs).

India Under 19 Team Captaincy

In February - March of 2008, he was made the Captain of the India Under 19 Cricket Team for the U-19 World Cup in Malaysia. He returned home victorious and with many achievements under his belt.

Following his spectacular performance in both batting and bowling and also his capacity to keep his cool under pressure, he was bought by the Indian Premier League's Franchise of Royal Challengers Bangalore on a youth contract. He was awarded the Border-Gavaskar scholarship in 2008 along with his U-19 teammates Pradeep Sangwan and Tanmay Srivastava which allowed him to Train for six weeks in Brisbane at Cricket Australia’s Centre of Excellence.

In the July of 2008, he was picked out for the probable 30 man squad for ICC Championship Trophy to be held later that year.

Virat Kohli with Shikhar Dhawan

International Career

Selection to India Team

When the Championship Trophy was postponed to 2009, he was selected for a tour of Sri Lanka for a ODI series by the selectors of the Indian Cricket Team. In this tour is when he got his chance at playing on the Indian A Team. Due to both Shewag and Tendulkar being injured and unavailable, Kohli was called up as a makeshift opening batsman for the team. He scored his first ODI fifty in that series, and India went on to win the series against Sri Lanka.

After that, he was repeatedly called up for the Indian Team, although he didn’t much get chances to play.

Beginning to Make his Mark

• In July- August 2009, Kohli was selected for Emerging Players Tournament that was being played in Australia amongst four teams. He was the leading scorer in that tournament with 398 runs and a batting average of 66.33. His century in the final match against South Africa Emerging players helped India win that match and clinch the title.  Kohli himself said that this tournament was the ‘Turning point’ in his career.
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• In the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy, he played as a substitute for the injured Yuvraj Singh. He also played on as a substitute as and when required in the ODI series at Home against Australia. He found huge success in the tri nation series in Bangladesh in 2010 against Sri Lanka as well as the hosts. He scored his second ODI century making him the third Indian Batsman to score 2 ODI Centuries before their 22nd birthday. He again finished as the tournament’s highest run scorer with an average of 91.66.

• In the tri series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in May-June 2010, Suresh Raina was made the Captain of the Indian team, and the 21 year old Kohli was made the vice captain as many first team cricketers skipped the tour. Even though India crashed out of the series, Kohli managed to get enough runs to reach 1000 in ODIs, making him the fastest Indian batsman to reach that milestone.
• In the 2010 Asia Cup, Kohli wasn’t quite up to form but he was somehow retained in the ODI team for the next few matches of the Indian Cricket team.
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• In a ODI series in late 2010 at home, Virat was once again made vice-captain of the team led by Suresh Raina. Kohli outperformed everyone, and ended the year on a high note as India’s highest run scorer of the calendar year.
• In January 2011, Virat Kohli reached no. 2 at the ICC cricket Rankings as an ODI batsman, and he was named in the ICC Cricket World Cup’s 15 man squad. He justified his skipper’s faith in him by scoring an unbeaten century in the first match of the tournament. His performance in the final was a very important one and India brought home the World Cup for the first time since 1983.
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• Kohli made his test debut in West Indies later that year, in which he seemed to struggle at first. But as luck would have it, he got to play quite a few test matches because of injuries to the first team players.
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• He scored his maiden test century in Australia later that year where India lost badly to the Australians in both Test and ODI series. He was one of the few cricketers that have had to pay fine for having retaliated against the spectators’ sledging.

• It was in the 2012 Asia Cup that Kohli was intentionally made the vice captain, and not just because someone else was absent from the team. It was in this tournament that he scored 183 whilst chasing and broke Brian Lara’s long standing record of 156.

• In 2013, in a home Test series against Australia, Kohli blazed his way to his fourth test century keeping a batting average of 56.80 in the series and cementing his place in the Test team.
• Known popularly having a blend of Dravid’s intensity, Sehwag’s audacity andSachin’s intelligent style of batting, Kohli is one of the greatest captains the Indian team ever had. And someone with such a gamut of talent definitely deserves the demi-god status that a cricketer often receives in India. 
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Personal Life

Virat Kohli has admitted himself that he’s a superstitious person, he wears black wristbands for luck and a Kara since 2012. Earlier in his career, he used to wear the same gloves that he’d scored well with.

Virat Kohli has been linked to various high- profile women over time. He has dated Sarah Jane Dias, an Indian Model, and VJ, Sanjana, another actress for a short while. For a while he’s dated Tamanna Bhatia, Izabelle Leite, a Brazilian Model and lately he was in a quite a high profile relationship with Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma.

As of early February he has confirmed that he’s single, having broken up with Anushka Sharma.

Awards

2013

                 

                 ARJUNA