SPORTS

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday announced the winners of the ICC Player of the Month Awards for March which recognise and celebrates the best performances from both male and female cricketers across all forms of international cricket.

India's Bhuvneshwar Kumar won the ICC Men's Player of the Month for March for his impressive performances in India's recently concluded series against England. He was the standout bowler on either side in the white-ball series and was chosen the winner by fans and the ICC voting academy.

In match number four of the ongoing Indian Premier League season 14, former champions Rajasthan Royals will take on KL Rahul’s Punjab Kings at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. This contest promises to be a battle of big-hitters with two line-ups dotted with expansive stroke-makers and in pursuit of a winning start to their IPL campaigns here on Monday. The Royals finished right at the bottom last season, having won just 6 games out of 14. Meanwhile their opponents for today, Punjab King shared an almost similar phase, they registered their first win of the season in their second match but then went on a winless streak for five matches. KL Rahul’s side too many closes contests in IPL 2020.

Going into the contest, Sanju Samson’s Rajasthan Royals will have history on their side, having won 12 of the 21 games played between them despite Punjab Kings looking like a better unit on paper.

Former Pakistan pacer Aaqib Javed had some words of advice for India skipper Virat Kohli, as the 48-year-old feels that the Indian cricketer should follow Babar Azam's technique. 

Virat Kohli has a better range [of shots] as compared to Babar Azam but he also has one area of weakness. If the ball swings, he tends to get trapped around the off-stump such as against James Anderson in England," Javed was quoted as saying in a report in Pakistan Cricket. 

"When you look at Babar, you don`t see any weak areas. Just like, [Sachin] Tendulkar who also didn`t have any weak areas. Babar is technically more safe and sound but if he follows Kohli`s fitness routine he will become an even better player. Meanwhile, Kohli can improve his technique by looking at Babar so that he doesn`t get trapped," he added.

Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin on Friday reacted to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s comments in which he linked rape and sexual violence to how women dress. The former captain of the Pakistan cricket team has been under fire for his recent comments and has been accused of being a “rape apologist” by Human right groups in Pakistan. Ashwin, who has always been a vocal character, took to social media platform Twitter as he schooled Khan by urging everyone to “do better parenting”. After denouncing crimes against women and children, Khan had said that sexual violence was a result of "increasing obscenity", adding it was a product of India, the West and Hollywood movies.

“Let’s do better parenting please. ‘Today will determine our tomorrow’s’,” tweeted Ashwin on Friday.

Royal Challengers Bangalore made it to the playoffs in IPL 2020 for the first time in four years, and captain Virat Kohli believes they are ready to go a couple of steps further in IPL 2021. Kohli's belief is centred around the lack of home advantage for all teams - much like it was in IPL 2020 - and what he considers to be a stronger Royal Challengers squad than last year.

"There's nothing quite like playing in Chinnaswamy in front of your home crowd," Kohli said. "Obviously the fans are going to miss watching us play. Such are the times that we are in right now. But the good thing is that we are back in India. And one more positive about this edition, like last year, is that there is no home advantage.

"Every team is playing in neutral venues and the strength of your squad really comes to the fore. That's precisely why last IPL was so competitive - until about the last three-four games everyone was in the reckoning to qualify, which I think is great for the tournament. The viewership was through the roof, which I expect to be the case this time around as well.