SPORTS

Rahul Dravid, on Wednesday (November 3), was announced as the new Team India head coach, who will take over from Ravi Shastri post the T20 World Cup 2021 edition. Many believed Dravid was the ideal candidate to replace Shastri -- who took over as India's coach since mid-2017 -- and the Sourav Ganguly-led Indian cricket board managed to convince The Wall for the top job, after reports initially claimed that Dravid wasn't willing to stay away from his young family for so long with coaching duties.

Dravid has served Indian cricket brilliantly since his international debut. Apart from his 13,288 runs in Tests and 10,889 ODI runs, he performed various roles for the national side during his playing days; i.e. serving as a part-time wicketkeeper, finisher or middle-order batter in ODIs, opener and captain. Since his retirement, Dravid has groomed India's young talents as U-19 and A team's coach before taking over as the National Cricket Academy (NCA) head, in Bengaluru.

Chasing 190 to win, West Indies reached 169/8 in their 20 overs, leaving Australia and South Africa to fight for the final semi-final spot.

Defending champions West Indies were eliminated from the semi-final race in the T20 World Cup after a 20-run loss to Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi on Thursday as their ageing stars failed to recreate the magic of the past. Going into the game with two losses in three games, the West Indies were always up against it and Sri Lanka out-batted them by amassing 189 for three on a good batting surface. Pathum Nissanka (51 off 41) and Charith Asalanka (68 off 41) struck sublime half-centuries to give Sri Lanka the upper-hand.

The West Indies could only reach 169 for eight despite Shimron Hetmyer’s unbeaten 81 off 54 balls. Leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga once again starred with with the ball taking two wickets for 19 runs in four overs.

Former India selector Sarandeep Singh feels that Rohit Sharma can't be a long-term captaincy option. Rohit is set to take over the T20I captaincy from Virat Kohli after the World Cup.

"Rohit is a good choice (for white-ball captaincy), he is among your best batters. But the call the selection committee has to take is whether to make him captain for a couple of years (till 2023 ODI World Cup) or find a leader who can lead the team for a long time," Sarandeep told a news agency in an interview.

"If they are looking at the bigger picture, K L Rahul and Rishabh Pant are good choices," added Sarandeep.

Sarandeep said the exclusion of Yuzvendra Chahal and Axar Patel was baffling. The former India selector also questions why Hardik Pandya was included in the squad when he has not been fit enough to bowl regularly.

After their second loss at the T20 World Cup, fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah said that India are struggling from 'bubble fatigue' amid the Covid-19 pandemic and the players are feeling the effects of being on the road for six months.

India slumped to fifth in Group II after losing to New Zealand on Sunday and even winning the remaining three matches may not be enough to earn a place in the semi-finals.

"Well, you are playing for India, everything has got to recede into the background. It's as simple as that. Playing for India is an unbelievable privilege," Gavaskar said on India Today.

Two defeats in two games and India find themselves in a precarious situation in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Heading into the tournament, a team that was hailed as favourites by many experts has failed miserably in the opening two matches and is staring at an early exit after losing two straight matches.

Apart from the team's mediocre performance in all three departments, questions are also being asked about the team selection as to why some proven match-winners are warming the bench while those struggling for form are getting repeated chances in the Playing XI.

The player in question here is veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who was picked in the 15-member squad owing to his experience but the skipper and team management don’t consider him good enough to feature in the starting line-up.

What’s baffling is that while other teams are playing with three spinners, the Indian team entered both the matches with three-pacers and two spinners, one of them a bowling all-rounder.