Kohli eyes ICC trophy after ‘beautiful’ year
MUMBAI: India will keep pursuing success on cricket’s global stage, captain Virat Kohli has said after his team capped “a beautiful year” with a one-day international series win against the West Indies at Cuttack on Sunday.
India retained their position at the top of the International Cricket Council’s rankings for test cricket while they finished second behind World Champions England in the 50over format. But India have not tasted triumph in a global tournament since lifting the 2013 Champions Trophy under Mahendra Singh Dhoni and exited this year’s 50-overs World Cup with a semi-final defeat to New Zealand despite topping the group stage.
“Well, it’s been one of the best years for Indian cricket, to be honest, apart from playing the cricket that we played for half an hour in the World Cup,” Kohli said at the presentation ceremony on Sunday after India’s series win against West Indies.
“I think apart from that it’s been a beautiful year for us. We’ll keep chasing that ICC trophy, it’s something that this team deserves, it’s something that I feel should be an accumulation of all the hard work we’ve done in the last few years, and we’ll keep chasing it.
“We’ll have that vision in place, but I think apart from that, the way we’ve played, the brand of cricket, it’s been wonderful to be a part of it.” After taking over as the chief of the country’s cricket board in October, former captain Sourav Ganguly also underlined the need for India to stamp their authority on global tournaments.
India will get their next opportunity to end the wait at the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia next year. Kohli’s limited-overs deputy, Rohit Sharma, will be a vital cog in the wheel for that campaign after finishing 2019 with 2,442 runs across formats, the most by an opening batsman in a calendar year.
The right-handed batsman, who scored seven ODI centuries in 2019 including five during the World Cup in England, was adjudged the player of the series against West Indies. “I should be grateful of the year I’ve had. A World Cup victory there would’ve been nice,” Rohit said. “But as a team, we played some good cricket throughout the year whether in red-ball cricket or white ball cricket.” —Reuters
MELBOURNE: New Zealand received a boost yesterday with Trent Boult appearing to be back to full fitness from a rib injury as he bowled against his own team mates in a warm-up match ahead of the second Test against Australia.
The left-arm pace spearhead missed the 296-run first Test loss to Tim Paine’s side in Perth after sustaining the injury in New Zealand’s previous series against England. However, the 30-year-old proved in a warm-up game on Sunday that he was ready to take the new ball again on Thursday when his side return to the MCG for their first test since 1987.
Boult turned out for a Victoria XI against his team mates, bowling 11 overs for 23 runs and snaring the wicket of opening batsman Tom Latham. “I was a proud representative of Victoria yesterday. It was good fun and nice to get some overs under my belt, field for a bit, and get some time in my legs,” Boult told reporters yesterday.
“It’s all going well, I feel like I’ve ticked the right boxes in terms of my rehab and preparations, and I’m looking forward to getting out there. “It was more about rhythm and loading from my point of view.”
Latham said his team mate was back to his old self, welcome news for New Zealand as they look to level the three-match series. “Boulty is tracking pretty well and he was running in pretty hard,” he said.
“He was his usual self in the nets the other day, bouncing around, which is a good sign. It’s great to have the quality of Trent come back into the side.” New Zealand’s preparations for the Test were disrupted due to extreme heat in Melbourne with one day of their warm-up match against the Victoria XI abandoned before play began.
The MCG pitch will be scrutinised heavily after a first-class game between Western Australia and Victoria was abandoned earlier this month because it was considered dangerous. Groundsman Matt Page, however, told reporters yesterday the wicket for the Boxing Day Test would be a fair contest between bat and ball and Boult said he was looking forward to seeing how it played.
“We’re probably expecting something definitely different in terms of the wicket here, from how it’s played over the last few years,” he said. “From my point of view, I’m going to be looking to pitch the ball up, swing it around and hopefully get some wickets that way.” — Reuters