Heena Sharma Blog

India's swashbuckling opener Rohit Sharma was on Wednesday named the ICC's ' 2019 ODI Cricketer of the Year ' for his incredible run of form through, while English all-rounder Ben Stokes walked away with the overall honours. Indian skipper Virat Kohli was named captain of both the ICC's Test and ODI teams of the year besides winning the 'Spirit of Cricket' award for his gesture of trying to stop the fans from booing Steve Smith during a World Cup match. Smith was returning to international cricket from a one-year suspension for ball-tampering at that time. England's World Cup-winning all-rounder Stokes got the biggest prize -- the 'Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy' for Player of the Year, while Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins was named the Test Player of the Year. India seamer Deepak Chahar won the T20 International Performance of the Year, Australia's Marnus Labuschagne was named as Emerging Cricketer of the Year, while Scotland...

Indian captain Virat Kohli says he is surprised at winning the ICC's Spirit of Cricket Award after "years of being under the scanner for the wrong things", referring to his past flare-ups. He won the award for his gesture at the 2019 World Cup, when he egged the crowd on to support and not boo Steve Smith soon after his return to international cricket from a one-year suspension for ball-tampering. From once stopping short of calling his Australian rival a cheat to urging the crowd to back him, it has been an incredible turnaround for Kohli, one of the world's best batsmen alongside Smith. "I'm surprised that I have got it, after many years of being under the scanner for the wrong things," Kohli said in a statement issued by the ICC. Explaining his reasons for backing Smith the way he did, Kohli added, "That moment was purely understanding an individua's situation. Read More

Bollywood superstars Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan are among the top paid celebrities of India, Forbes India has announced. The magazine has published its list of Celebrity 100 for the year 2019 which has been topped by Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli with the earning of Rs 252.72 crore. The rankings are based on estimates of earnings through professions and endorsements of celebrities and estimates of their fame for the October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019. Akshay is highest earning star from the country with Rs 293.25 crore, registering a rise of 58.51 percent from the previous year, but is placed at the 2nd spot, followed by Salman with the earning of Rs 229.25 crore. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan and Indian cricketer MS Dhoni are listed at 4th and 5th spots, with earnings of Rs 239.25 crore and Rs 135.93 crore, respectively. Read More

Virat Kohli is a consistent batsman but he doesn't have the same class as the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, believes former Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq . Razzaq feels overall the standard of cricket worldwide has declined. "We are not seeing the same world class players that we played against say between 1992 to 2007. T20 cricket has changed the game. There is no depth in bowling, batting or fielding. It is all basic now," he told Cricket Pakistan. "Look at Virat Kohli when he scores he scores. Yeah, he is a good player for them and is performing consistently, but I don't place him in the same class as Sachin Tendulkar, who was a different class altogether." Razzaq, a veteran of 46 Tests, 265 ODIs and 32 T20Is, also lashed out at the way the Pakistani bowlers were selected for the Australian Test series. Read More

India captain Virat Kohli has managed to hold on to his second position behind Australia's Steve Smith in the ICC Test Rankings for batsmen released on Monday. Kohli, with 903 rating points, is 34 points behind Smith (937). Besides former Australia captain Smith, compatriot Pat Cummins has also retained his one position in the ICC Test bowlers' rankings. Both Smith and Cummins player key roles in helping Australia retain The Ashes. The Ashes culminated with a 135-run victory for England in the fifth and final Test on Sunday. The series ended in a 2-2 draw with Australia retaining the Urn. Smith's scores of 80 and 23 in the two innings in the final Test helped him remain at 937 rating points, an incredible effort since he started the series in fourth position with 857 points before his surge that came courtesy 774 runs in four Tests. Cummins too is well clear of other bowlers as he enjoys a lead of 57 points over second-placed Kagiso Rabada after finishing...

India skipper Virat Kohli is just a step away from becoming the nation's most successful leader in the longest format of the game. If India manage to win the second and final Test of the series against West Indies, Kohli, who had equalled former India captain M.S. Dhoni's record of 27 Test wins in the first game of the series, will add another feather to his cap. A win in the second Test, starting at Sabina Park on Friday, will take Kohli's number of Test victories as captain to 28 - the most by any Indian captain. Dhoni had a win percentage of 45 as captain, after winning 27 matches, losing 18 and drawing 15. On the other hand, Kohli's win percentage is 55.31 -- the best among all other Indian captains in the format. In the 47 Tests under Virat Kohli, India have registered 27 wins, lost 10 games and drawn another 10. The run-machine had also surpassed Sourav Ganguly with the most Test wins in overseas matches for India as captain in the first Test of the se...

India inflicted a humiliating 318-run defeat on the West Indies in the first Test as Jasprit Bumrah dismantled the hosts with a five wicket haul after Ajinkya Rahane found his first century in two years, here on Sunday. West Indies were chasing a stiff 419-run target but Indian pacers, led by Bumrah demolished the hosts, who were all out for just 100 in 26.5 overs in the final session of the fourth day. It was a Bumrah show in perfect weather conditions as he sent the wickets cart-wheeling thrice during a sensational eight-over spell in which he conceded just seven runs. Playing his 10th Test, he also became the fastest bowler to take 50 Test wickets. Bumrah swung the ball both ways to torment the home batsmen while Ishant Sharma (3/31) and Mohammed Shami (2/13) too contributed in India's resounding victory which gave them a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. Kemar Roach (38), Miguel Cummins (19 not out) and Roston Chase (12) were the only batsmen who managed double-di...

India skipper Virat Kohli has insisted that young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant -- who is seen as the successor to M.S. Dhoni -- is the future of Indian cricket and he needs to be given the space so that he can use his skills well and perform on a consistent basis for the team. Pant, who had attracted criticism for his shot selection in the first two T20Is, on Tuesday showed some spark in the final match which India won by seven wickets to clean sweep the three-match series. The left-handed batsman played a winning knock of unbeaten 65 off just 42 balls with 4 fours and 4 sixes as India chased down the target of 147 with four balls to spare. "We are looking at him (Pant) as the future. He has got a lot of skill and a lot of talent. It is about giving him some space and not putting too much of pressure," said Kohli -- who shared a 106-run stand with Pant -- after the match. "He's come a long way since he's started. It's about winning and fi...

India's ouster from 2019 World Cup triggered many controversies and murmuring about the mistakes the team committed during the tournament and also a possible way ahead by making right decisions. And one of the many was - Is it the time for split captaincy? Well, in cricket, the characteristic of a team is, more or less, defined by its leader. Be it New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, who showed calm on and off the field despite umpiring blunders, or Virat Kohli, whose 'exaggerated' emotions on the field give camerapersons and viewers a reason to smile. Williamson's measured approach always looks good but Kohli's aggression, sometimes, sends cricket fans into tizzy. However, Kohli's animated aggression, to an extent, has borne fruit for Team India in Test matches. But his defensive tactics in limited over cricket has been widely criticised. India will have to start preparing for mainly three major tournaments - T20 World Cup in Australia next year, ...

Skipper Virat Kohli's availability and veteran Mahendra Singh Dhoni's future will be in focus when the MSK Prasad-led national selection panel meets here on Friday to pick the Indian cricket squads for next month's tour of the West Indies. The 38-year old Dhoni, whose finishing abilities with the bat has been on the wane, would be the centre of discussion amid speculation that the Jharkhand player is contemplating retirement even though he hasn't spoken about it till now. Dhoni's selection or omission would be an indicator of things to come in the future. India are set to play T20s, as many ODIs and two Tests in a full-fledged tour to the Caribbean islands, starting August 3. Considering next year's T20 World Cup to be held in Australia, the selectors might opt for the young Rishabh Pant, who is seen as heir apparent to Dhoni. Dhoni was dropped from the T20 series against West Indies and Australia last October and there is a strong chance that he w...

India skipper Virat Kohli calls Kane Williamson special and the New Zealand skipper says his Indian counterpart is a superstar. In the modern era of cut throat competition where every inch counts, the mutual admiration that Kohli and Williamson share is indeed a lesson for youngsters looking to play the gentlemans game. Speaking on the eve of the first semi-final of the 2019 World Cup , Kohli was the first one to point out how he always saw talent in Williamson. In fact, even as scribes asked him about playing against Williamson in the U19 World Cup in 2008, the India skipper went back to the 2007 U19 Test match he played against New Zealand to recollect his first memory of the Kiwi skipper. "It's not even 2008, I remember in 2007, we went to New Zealand and we were playing an U19 Test match and he played a shot off one of our fast bowlers, who was quick, off the back foot and I remember standing in slips and telling guys standing with me, "I have never seen an...

Former cricketers came down heavily on Mahendra Singh Dhoni for his "baffling innings" during India's maiden defeat in the ongoing World Cup to England but the veteran wicketkeeper-batsman continued to get the backing of skipper Virat Kohli. Set a target of 338 by England, India could manage 306/5 in their 50 overs with Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav remaining unbeaten on 42 (31 balls) and 12 (13 balls) respectively. Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly, who was doing commentary during the match, questioned the batting approach. "I don't have an explanation for that...I can't explain these singles. It's also the length and the bounce that has deceived the Indian batsmen. You can't be chasing 338 and still have five wickets in the end," Ganguly said "It's about mindset and the way you look at the game. The message had to be clear: no matter where it comes and no matter where the ball lands you have to find the boundary," he adde...

Star cricketer Virat Kohli remains the sole Indian in the Forbes list of world's highest-paid athletes with estimated annual earnings of $25 million. However, the Indian captain has dropped 17 spots to be 100th in the rankings. The list is headed by Barcelona and Argentina football superstar Lionel Messi. According to the Forbes list announced on Tuesday, Kohli's estimated earnings are $21 million from endorsements and USD 4 million from salary and winnings, taking his total tally to $25 million for the last 12 months. Ranked 83rd last year, Kohli has climbed down to the 100th and last spot despite an increase of $1 million in endorsements. Messi has dethroned retired boxer Floyd Mayweather as the sports world's highest earner, raking in $127 million via salary and endorsement deals. Messi is now ahead of long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo, the Juventus and Portugal star who is second with earnings of $109 million. Read More Article Source -> Busin...

More than any other format in cricket, Twenty20 is premised on the superiority of the batsman over the bowler. Even the most-skilled practitioner with the ball gets merely 24 deliveries to have a say on the match. But if a destructive batsman is present for 120 balls, you would bet that his team will go on to win the game. Royal Challengers Bangalore is a team built on this imbalance. It's not that skipper Virat Kohli and the team management are not aware of the various ways in which a successful T20 team could be composed. Rather, it is their insuperable belief that might with the willow will deliver the loudest blow. It is an approach that has worked for RCB in the past, most notably in 2016 when the franchise reached the Indian Premier League final. Since then, however, the Virat Kohli-led side has won only nine of its 34 matches. This season, RCB has already emulated the worst ever start to an IPL campaign by losing its first six matches. Any hopes of making the playo...

Umpire Sundaram Ravi , whose no ball howler cost Royal Challengers Bangalore heavily in an IPL match and led to an angry outburst by RCB skipper Virat Kohli, is unlikely to be sanctioned due to lack of officials with international experience on the BCCI roster. Currently there are only 11 Indian Umpires allotted for on-field and TV duty for 56 IPL games, which means Ravi might get negative marking from the match referee but BCCI can hardly take any corrective measures beyond that. "Currently we have only 17 umpires assigned on-field and for third umpires' duty. Out of them 11 are Indian and six foreigners from the Elite Panel. Apart from them, we have six more Indians as fourth umpires," a member of the now defunct Umpiring sub-committee, who is privy to allocation of assignments, told PTI on Friday. Ravi, the only Indian in the ICC's Elite Panel, failed to spot an obvious no ball from Mumbai Indians' Lasith Malinga as RCB lost by six runs under controv...

The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the ODI and Test team and a few other awards for the year 2018 and to no one's surprise, Indian captain Virat Kohli swept all of them. Virat Kohli was named ICC ODI captain of the year, ICC Test Captain of the year, ICC Test player of the year, ICC ODI player of the year. He also won the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year. Three player of the year awards, captain of teams in both formats. He has become the first player in the history to bag all three awards. The flurry of awards reflects the kind of year Virat Kohli had in 2018. It won't be surprising if he now goes on to win the Wisden Player of the Year award as well. Virat Kohli amassed 1,322 runs in 13 tests and 1,202 runs in 14 ODIs in 2018. India won the T20 series in England, however, lost both ODI and Test series. As a batsman, England was probably the last frontier for Kohli to conquer; something he did. While India failed to win t...

Indian captain Virat Kohli Tuesday became the first cricketer to make a clean-sweep of individual honours in the ICC annual awards, claiming the Test, ODI and overall Player of the Year trophies besides being named captain of the world body's all-star teams. Kohli has become the first player in history to win the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year , his second consecutive, the ICC Test and the ODI Player of the Year awards following an extraordinary 2018. "Not only is Kohli the first player to win these three major ICC awards together but he has also been named the captain of the ICC Test and ODI teams of the year for a fabulous run in international cricket," the ICC said in a statement. Kohli scored 1,322 runs at an average of 55.08 in 13 Tests with five hundreds during the calendar year while in 14 ODIs he amassed 1202 runs at an astonishing average of 133.55 with six centuries. He also scored 211 runs in 10 T20Is. Read More Busine...

India skipper Virat Kohli maintained his top spot, while young wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant and pacer Jasprit Bumrah attained their career-best positions in the latest ICC Test rankings . Kohli gained 14 points to reach 934 points after a valiant first-innings knock of 123 in the second Test at Perth which Australia won by 146 runs to level the four-match series. The India captain has thus increased his lead over New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson from seven to 19 points. Pant gained 11 places to secure the 48th spot while India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane moved up two places to progress into the top-15. In the bowlers list, Bumrah achieved a career-high ranking of 28 while fellow teammate Mohammad Shami moved two places to 24th. Read More Business Standard

Bajrang Punia had 80 points to his name, far more than Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli's 'zero' and current weightlifting world champion Mirabai Chanu's 44, who have been named for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award 2018 by the 11-member selection team, The Times of India (ToI) reported. Controversy broke out over the award on Thursday when Asian Games 2018 and Commonwealth Games 2018 gold medallist, Bajrang Punia questioned the selection criteria for the country's highest sporting honour. "I'm hurt for not being recognised for my talent and performances, I don't know what was the criteria of selection for this award," Punia told reporters. Read Complete Article  

Kuldeep Yadav is the second India bowler to feature in the top-10 after number-one ranked Jasprit Bumrah and the fifth spinner to find a place in the 10 highest-ranked bowlers Sports News : India captain Virat Kohli strengthened his position at the top of ICC ODI rankings for batsmen by touching a career-high 911 point, while Kuldeep Yadav broke into the top-10 of the bowlers' chart at sixth on Wednesday. Their rise comes despite India losing the ODI series against England 1-2 last night. Kohli ended the series with scores 75, 45 and 71. He earned just two points but those were enough to take him to 911 points, highest since Australia's Dean Jones tally of 918 points in March 1991. Yadav has broken into the top-10 for the first time in his career. The left-arm wrist-spinner took nine wickets in the series, including six for 25 at Trent Bridge, which have been rewarded with a rise of eight places to a career-high sixth position, the ICC said in a stateme...