“We have been successful in getting 20 wickets and winning Tests. That for me is positive cricket too”

Nagraj Gollapudi30-Jun-20222:07

Dravid: ‘We have to focus on our cricket’

India remain undaunted by the prospect of facing a revitalised England side, one much changed in attitude to the side they played in the first four Tests of the Pataudi Trophy last year. That series finds its culmination in the Edgbaston Test which starts on Friday. England are fresh off a 3-0 sweep of the WTC champions New Zealand, and playing a brand new, ultra-attacking style of cricket.India lead the series 2-1, mostly because – as coach Rahul Dravid pointed out – they have been playing their own style of “aggressive” and “positive” cricket. That brand got them to the WTC final last summer and keeps them in the hunt for another trip to the final in this cycle.Related

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Both Dravid and interim captain Jasprit Bumrah were posed similar queries about England’s new batting approach”Any which way they play gives us opportunities,” Dravid said on Wednesday. “We are leading the series 2-1. Any which way they play the game, we believe it’s up to us, I think we have got to focus on our cricket and not so much worry about what England is doing and what it is they’re playing.”We’ve been a pretty positive side as well. We were second in the World Test Championship cycle last year. This year we find ourselves third in the table, just underneath the top two. So we have been pretty successful, we have been pretty successful in getting 20 wickets and winning Test matches. That for me is positive cricket as well. Of course, they might have a strategy, or they might have some tactics that they might come in and play with on the particular day – that can change as well depending on conditions. It’s our job to respond to whatever they put out and we will be focused on trying to do that.”Jasprit Bumrah – “What has happened in the past, that’s all gone. We try to be in the moment”•Getty ImagesBehind India’s dominance in Test cricket in the past few years – both home and overseas – has been their bowling attack, led by the quicks, which has prised out 20 wickets consistently. Last summer the England batters were put under constant pressure by an attack led by Bumrah, but also including Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur. Barring Joe Root, no other England batter showed consistency. Since the start of 2021, Indian bowlers have the second-best average and are also second in terms of strike rate, well ahead of England who are mid-table.Freshly appointed as captain, Bumrah insisted that India still held the edge. Asked about his opinion on England’s attacking approach against New Zealand, Bumrah said: “I am not focusing on how the England team is playing. We know our strengths and if we do our job well, we believe that our team can win and do well anywhere, in any condition. So, we want to give more attention to our team because we don’t want to give a mental advantage to anyone thinking about what the other team is doing. If we do our job well, things will fall in place.”Bumrah nearly rolled his eyes when asked whether it was frightening to see England batters chase down targets as they did against New Zealand. “I play my cricket very differently in comparison to any other players. I do not want to give any mental advantage to any of the players. I look at myself and I feel that what I have to do to prepare best and to be in the right frame of mind because if I am in a very good head space then we are very difficult to beat. That is the mindset that we want to get into. And then if we are there then everything else would be taken care of.”Bumrah said he did not want to look back at what had already happened in the first four Tests, including wins at Lord’s and Oval, matches in which he was the catalyst with bat and ball.”We don’t look in the past. Every cricket game you want to win. Isn’t it? We never play any game to lose or just to compete or play for a draw. We want to play for a win. What has happened in the past, that’s all gone. We try to be in the moment. We want to try to be immersed in the moment and try to focus on the job at hand and try to job at hand and try to give our best shot.”

A reunion between Neymar and Barcelona seems to have been ruled out, with the club aiming to sign a much younger attacker as a reinforcement.

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Barcelona not keen to sign NeymarBrazilian doesn't fit Hansi Flick's plansCatalans eyeing three other forwardsFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?

According to Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona have no plans to pursue a surprise return for their former player Neymar despite reports to the contrary. Instead, the Catalan giants are said to have shortlisted several top names playing in Europe's top five leagues to strengthen their frontline.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesTHE BIGGER PICTURE

Neymar rejoined boyhood club Santos on a six-month deal in January after terminating his contract with Saudi side Al-Hilal via mutual consent. In seven games back in Brazil, the 33-year-old has scored three times and assisted as many goals, showing glimpses of the player who shone at Barca between 2013 and 2017.

However, the Blaugrana are currently showing no desire to reunite with one of their best ever forwards due to his age and the 'current level of his performances'. They are moving in a different direction and their top priority for the summer remains Newcastle United's Alexander Isak, who is valued at £150 million.

DID YOU KNOW?

The report from also reveals that the option for Neymar's return had been available in previous years but was never pursued. Moreover, Barca head coach Hansi Flick believes that the Brazilian would not be a good fit in his current system.

As such, the club have also shortlisted two left wingers who they think would add a different dimension to their already staggering attack – Liverpool's Luis Diaz and AC Milan's Rafael Leao.

Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT FOR NEYMAR?

Should Neymar's impressive form continue for Santos, a move to one of Europe's top clubs could still be on the cards, even if it's not to Barcelona. However, Santos president Marcelo Teixeira recently asserted that he was confident about their star man renewing with the club to stay at least until the 2026 World Cup.

Says the team management took a unanimous decision to put “younger players under pressure” and see how they respond

Shashank Kishore07-Oct-2022

Why did Harmanpreet Kaur go in to bat as low as No. 7? Why was Pooja Vastrakar, a finisher, sent up the order, in the tenth over, ahead of Richa Ghosh? Are India overdependent on Smriti Mandhana?Cricketing logic would suggest that these questions are perfectly legitimate, especially after losing to a team whose win-loss ratio since the start of 2021 was the joint-lowest of the top 12 teams. When that team happens to be Pakistan, and you are India, every tactical move that doesn’t come off has the potential to be scrutinised even more. But there is more at play here.Coming into the match, India’s team management took a unanimous decision to “try out combinations”; to put “younger players under pressure” and see how they respond. Also, this loss in itself may not affect their chances of qualifying for the Asia Cup final – India are still No. 1 on the points table and can consolidate their position when they face Bangladesh on Saturday afternoon.”We didn’t want our regular chasers to come in but try out someone younger who can take that role up,” head coach Ramesh Powar said at the post-match press conference. “This was our fourth game [of the tournament] and we wanted to expose Pooja Vastrakar, Richa Ghosh and [Dayalan] Hemalatha, see how they go through these pressure situations.”Harmanpreet [Kaur], Jemi [Jemimah Rodrigues] and Smriti [Mandhana] have been doing it for a long time. The purpose was to send the others up so that they can feel that pressure, because we want to see how they react to such situations, especially when they may face it in a World Cup game. So we wanted to take a chance and address the issue.”Powar was then asked if there ever a consideration that this could backfire, to which he said, India being on top of the table – they had three wins in three coming into this match – afforded them the luxury of a… reshuffle (He didn’t want it to be called “experimentation.”)”Six league games allow us to do that,” Powar reasoned. “If this was a format with two groups and four teams in each, maybe we wouldn’t have tried it. We want to build our team for all conditions and all kinds of pressure situations. Obviously we want to win, but when we face issues that need to be addressed, we should address it.”Was there any apprehension at all of trying this in a “big game”? “Not really,” Powar said. “Otherwise, we wouldn’t have tried different things. Most players have played enough to understand the importance of an India-Pakistan game. They also understand where we stand in the league table and why we did it.”This isn’t something only the team management is thinking. We came together as a group, and thought we needed to get through tough situations under pressure with different set of match winners, not just Jemi, Smriti or Harman. We have confidence [in the younger players], that is why we tried it.”Nida Dar was off the blocks quickly and took the attack to India•Asian Cricket Council

Reiterating that this was “not a setback”, Powar went on to give credit where due. He was particularly effusive in his praise for Nida Dar and the manner in which she took India’s bowlers apart to make an unbeaten 56 off just 37 balls.”Have to congratulate Pakistan, the way they batted,” he said. “That was some innings from their half-centurion. They played a good brand of cricket, had the upper hand at most stages in the game. They dropped a few catches but took some good ones too.”India will be back on the field in less than 24 hours to take on defending champions Bangladesh in their fifth game. This can be demanding, especially given the oppressive heat in Sylhet. On Friday, Ghosh walked off the field with cramps and Shafali Verma had to keep wicket in her place. Given all that, Powar confirmed India will revert to their usual plans.”They’re a good side, champions from last time around, and we look at them as a compact unit,” he said. “But we’ve also come from a good season, carrying the confidence from Sri Lanka, CWG [where India were silver medalists] and a 3-0 sweep [ODI series] in England. We make sure we’re grounded and focused on all departments. We aren’t thinking of who we play, we do our planning against specific type of batters or bowlers. We will come back to our routine in the next game.”

Plays of the Day from the Qualifier match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians

Arun Venugopal19-May-2015The failed chargeLendl Simmons and Parthiv Patel were shackled by some disciplined bowling from R Ashwin and Ashish Nehra. Simmons, wanting to assert himself, charged Nehra in the fourth over. The bowler spotted it early and sent down a quick, steepling bouncer. Having come down nearly half way, Simmons had to get his head out of the way in a jerky motion.Nehra continued on his follow-through, and, fiddling with his nose, stared long and hard at Simmons. Three balls later, Simmons sprang out of his crease again, and edged a high-full toss. MS Dhoni, putting in a rare dive, couldn’t hold on to the catch. It was anyway called a no-ball for height.Many a slipEveryone loves a good Nehra blooper on the field, and there was duly one on the night. Allowing Dwayne Bravo’s delivery to pass him, Simmons dabbed it to short third man where Nehra was stationed and set off for a single.As Nehra neared the ball, it bounced a tad awkwardly and he tried to clutch it around his waist. The ball, though, popped out, and while he looked around to see where it had gone, he ended up booting it away inadvertently. The single was completed without much sweat and Nehra was seen animatedly explaining to his team-mates what had happened.Dhoni’s rewind modeWhen both these teams met in the final five years ago, Kieron Pollard was threatening to take the game away from Chennai Super Kings with some late hitting. Dhoni, spotting his tendency to hit straight, posted an ultra-straight mid-off, where Pollard eventually hit a catch to.Pollard was blazing away again, and Dhoni pulled the 2010 field out of his memory file. Only that he assigned Michael Hussey to a straightish mid-on instead of mid-off. But Pollard didn’t fall for the ploy this time.Mixed bag for MalingaLasith Malinga got an lbw decision in his favour in the first over of Super Kings’ innings when a swiftly descending full toss struck Dwayne Smith well outside leg stump. It was a real gift and Malinga probably was in no mood for guilty pleasures. Three overs later he found himself in prime position at third man for a regulation catch offered by Faf du Plessis. But the ball went through his hands and thudded on to this thigh. You win some, you lose some.Rhodes’ chest-thumping momentJonty Rhodes, the Mumbai Indians fielding coach, said during a dug-out interview with Matthew Hayden that he had to keep a straight face while watching the game from the sidelines. Even before he could complete his statement, Vinay Kumar sprinted forward from long-on to snaffle du Plessis’ catch. Rhodes couldn’t stop hollering in excitement. “I am the fielding coach. Yeah, it’s me,” he screamed in delight. He jested for good measure: “If they drop them it’s not my fault, if they take them, it’s all me, all me.”

Chelsea are likely to challenge Italian heavyweights Juventus for a “high level” striker in January, as chairman Todd Boehly and BlueCo still ponder the addition of a world-class new marksman despite Nicolas Jackson’s excellent form lately.

Chelsea set for decision over signing striker amid Jackson run

The Senegal international is attempting to prove that he is more-than capable of leading Enzo Maresca’s forward line thus far, scoring four goals and registering a further three assists in all competitions for Chelsea.

Exit talks held as in-demand £200k-per-week Chelsea ace now wants to quit

The west Londoners want him gone as well.

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By
Emilio Galantini

Oct 16, 2024

Jackson’s goals against Wolves, Crystal Palace and a brace at West Ham were complemented by assists at Molineux, the Hammers and Brighton, with the former Villarreal starlet silencing critics and giving Stamford Bridge hierarchy something to really think about.

The Blues were heavily linked with the signing of a new striker in the summer window, with Victor Osimhen subject to a deadline day bid from Chelsea, but neither they nor Saudi side Al-Ahli could complete a deal for the Nigerian in a last minute race, who ended up joining Galatasaray on a season-long loan.

According to reliable journalist Simon Phillips, Osimhen remains a target for Chelsea, and they have a few other names on their agenda as they ponder whether to back Maresca with a prolific new centre-forward.

“Chelsea are still looking at signing a new striker in one of the next two transfer windows coming up, with January still a real possibility,” said Phillips (via his Substack).

“As we know, Chelsea are still looking at a number of names to sign as a potential new striker, and have been doing their homework on them all in recent months and years.

“From SPTC sources, the most recent names that have been mentioned the most and are clearly still being seriously considered, is Victor Osimhen, Viktor Gyokeres, Victor Boniface, Evan Ferguson, and Benjamin Sesko.”

It is also believed that Ipswich Town star Liam Delap is being monitored by Chelsea ahead of the winter window, following the ex-Man City starlet’s excellent start to life at Portman Road in the Premier League.

During the final week of the summer window, some reports also linked Chelsea with a move for Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

Chelsea likely to challenge Juventus for Calvert-Lewin

According to GiveMeSport, Chelsea are likely to challenge Juventus for Calvert-Lewin, with the Old Lady attempting to offload out-of-favour striker Arkadiusz Milik and potentially make a January move for the Toffees star.

The 27-year-old has a famously torrid injury record, despite flashes of quality at points, and this will be a cause for concern for Chelsea supporters. On a reported £100,000-per-week at Goodison Park, who is thought to be valued at around £35 million by Sean Dyche’s side, is also a wanted man at Newcastle United.

“Dominic is a high level striker, an England striker, a Premier League regular goalscorer with all his natural attributes that we see in terms of the types of goals that he can score, his strengths, his speed, his aerial ability,” said ex-Chelsea boss Frank Lampard on Calvert-Lewin in 2022.

“You have to try and play to the best strengths of that without a doubt and I think also, Dominic is a forward that can connect the game and hold the ball and drop in between lines at times as well.

“So there’s a lot to his game and that’s what we can’t take lightly in terms of how much we’ve missed him.”

أشارت تقارير صحفية إلى أن مستقبل أحد لاعبي فريق ريال مدريد الإسباني، بات غامضًا بعد تعيين تشابي ألونسو كمدير فني.

وأعلن ريال مدريد تعاقده مع تشابي ألونسو لتولي تدريب الفريق، خلفًا للإيطالي كارلو أنشيلوتي الذي تم تعيينه مدربًا لمنتخب البرازيل.

وخرج ريال مدريد بموسم صفري، بتوديع دوري أبطال أوروبا، وخسارة ألقاب الدوري الإسباني وكأس ملك إسبانيا وكأس السوبر الإسباني.

وتذكر صحيفة “سبورت” الإسبانية، أن هناك غموض حول مستقبل فيرلاند ميندي، ظهير ريال مدريد.

يوضح التقرير أن ألونسو يُفضل اللعب بثلاثة مدافعين، ولاعبين في مركز الظهير، يتميزون بالقوة الدفاعية والقدرة على المساهمة بانتظام في الهجوم وبناء اللعب.

مخطط تشابي ألونسو لا يتماشى مع قدرات ميندي، مع احتياج المدرب للاعبين لديهم قدرة عالية على الحركة والإبداع والتنوع.

اقرأ أيضًا | مبابي يتوج بلاعب الموسم في ريال مدريد ويؤكد: الجميع ينتظرنا أبطالًا في كأس العالم للأندية

وبالنظر لقدرات ميندي الهجومية المحدودة، سينظر إليه كخيار على مقاعد البدلاء أكثر من كونه لاعبًا في التشكيل الأساسي لريال مدريد تحت قيادة ألونسو، وسيكون فران جارسيا أكثر ملائمة لمتطلبات المدرب.

توضح الصحيفة أيضًا أن ريال مدريد يبحث إمكانية التعاقد مع ألفارو كاريراس، لاعب بنفيكا البالغ من العمر 22 عامًا.

كاريراس يناسب تطلعات ألونسو، ويرغب ريال مدريد في إبرام التعاقد قبل منافسات كأس العالم للأندية التي تنطلق يوم 14 يونيو الجاري.

وستكون الأسابيع القادمة حاسمة لميندي ليتخذ قرارًا بشأن مستقبله مع ريال مدريد، ودراسة الخيارات المتاحة أمامه.

Will Pucovski made a half-century after Daniel Hughes scored a fine hundred for NSW

AAP and ESPNcricinfo staff23-Sep-2022Victoria 3 for 158 (Pucovski 64) beat New South Wales 7 for 277 (Hughes 117) by three runs (DLS method)The Marsh Cup was handed a bizarre start when what became the final ball of the match at Junction Oval was hit for six by Matthew Short before the players left the field for bad light and Victoria were the winners.Three runs behind the required run-rate on the final ball of the 29th over, Short struck Jason Sangha over long-on for six with the umpires immediately taking the players from the field. Four overs before that the umpires had deemed it too dark for the quicks but the game continued with spinners Sangha and Nathan Lyon in tandem.After 28 overs Victoria were level with the par score and Kurtis Patterson, the NSW captain, signaled to use quick bowler Liam Hatcher but the umpires deemed it was still too dark and Sangha sent down what became the final over of the game.It later emerged that there may have been confusion over whether NSW were ahead of the DLS or that, as was the case, the scores were tied at 28 overs. At that point, it appeared Victoria captain Peter Handscomb was agitated about the prospect of coming off the field.”Not quite sure what to make of that, to be honest,” NSW batter Daniel Hughes said. “It was fairly dark for the last hour. Obviously the agreement was we were going to bowl spin and we didn’t have any overs left, Gaz [Lyon] had bowled out and Sangha was basically our only spinner. That last over, [it was a] bit disappointing they hit the last one for six, think after that it would have been the end because we couldn’t bowl anyone else. That’s the way it is, bit of a shambles at the end.”However, Hughes did agree it was hard to see the ball. “The umpires tried to get as much cricket out of it as they could,” he said. “I was sitting down at fine leg and third man and I could tell that it was it was quite dark…hard to see the ball square the wicket.”When that comes into play and you’ve got quicks bowling 130-140kph it is quite dangerous…so it’s just disappointing we can’t play at a ground with lights because we’d still be out there.”The unlikely finish overshadowed Hughes’ earlier heroics with the NSW opener striking an impressive 117 and extending his record of most one-day centuries for the Blues to eight.In pursuit of NSW’s challenging 7 for 277, Victoria reached 0 for 47 from 9.2 overs when a 13-over delay saw the home side set a revised target of 226 from 37 overs at just over a run-a-ball.Will Pucovski played a chanceless innings of 64 before he fell to a sharp catch behind the stumps from new wicketkeeper Matthew Gilkes off the bowling of Hatcher.Test opener Marcus Harris, batting at No.3, fell in the next over for 41 to leave Victoria – missing the services of quick-scoring Nic Maddinson due to English county commitments – significantly behind the required run rate.But Short and captain Peter Handscomb edged Victoria to 3 for 158 and over the line without any room to spare.NSW seemed on top throughout the day as Hughes took early control after the visitors were given first use of the deck. Hughes enjoyed strong support from fellow opener Patterson (30), Moises Henriques (35) and Gilkes (40).In his 88th appearance, Henriques broke the record for most one-day appearances for NSW.Hughes looked capable of a massive score but a remarkable grab behind the stumps from wicketkeeper Handscomb ended his knock in the 43rd over.A slew of late wickets marginally slowed the Blues scoring with debutant allrounder Will Salzmann contributing a whirlwind 21 not out from 14 balls in the final overs.Inexperienced left-arm spinner Todd Murphy continued where he left off last season with a tidy 10-over return of 2 for 29.