Root wants Stokes to spy on Smith’s flaws
England’s Test cricket team skipper Joe Root on Thursday asked all-rounder Ben Stokes, who will play under the captaincy of Steve Smith in the Indian Premier League franchise Rising Pune Supergiants, to find the weakness of his new skipper so that they can beat Australia in the Ashes series later in the year.
Stokes, who was bought by Rising Pune Supergiants for a whopping ~14.50 crore during last month’s auction, will be making his IPL debut this year.
“Smith has become one of the best players in the world. In fact, he is ranked as the best player in the world and is just racking up the runs for fun,” Joe Root was quoted as saying by Dailystar.co.uk.
“So the one thing Stokesy can do for us is make sure he finds a little weakness in Steve Smith’s armoury for us when we go down to Australia, if he can,” he added.
MUNAF BANKING ON INDIAN EXPERIENCE
Gujarat Lions medium pacer Munaf Patel on Friday said experience of bowling on Indian wickets would play a key role during IPL’S 10th season, as most of the wickets in the country were batting-friendly.
“Experience to play on Indian wickets, which are battingfriendly, is very important. Luckily, Gujarat Lions has medium pacers, who have enough experience to play on Indian wickets,” Patel said. “I, Praveen Kumar, Manpreet Gony and Dhawal Kulkarni, all the four medium pacers have enough experience to play on Indian wickets. We all have played for the country and have enough experience of playing in IPL,” Patel said.
TAX ROW OVER, HOLKAR SET FOR IPL ACTION NOW
Two gates of the Holkar Stadium, an IPL venue in the city, which were sealed for nonpayment of taxes, were today unlocked after the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) paid the dues to the civic body. Besides the gates, the office of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association CEO was also sealed yesterday over pending tax dues.
MPCA on Friday paid over ~29 lakh towards property and other taxes to Indore Municipal Corporation after which civic officials opened the sealed locks of the CEO’S office and also the gates of the stadium. The stadium will now be available for the IPL.