Virat Kohli a combination of Sachin, Sehwag and Dravid: Crowe

Crowe feels that Kohli is the "beacon in this rebuilding team" who will need to rapidly learn to become a true leader and a role model for millions.

    

"In some ways, this young giant (Kohli) is a combination of all those three (Sehwag, Tendulkar and Dravid), learning a bit from them all to shape his own unique creation. He is the next chosen one. He exudes the intensity of Rahul, the audacity of Virender, and the extraordinary range of Sachin. That doesn't make him better, simply sui generis, his own unique kind," Crowe wrote in his column.

    

"At present, he is a beacon in this rebuilding team, while some of those around him who have come in to fill the void left by the big three struggle to cope. Already he is the leader of the batting line-up, with just 22 Tests to his name, and so a huge responsibility beckons," Crowe pointed out.

    

Crowe reckoned that Kohli has quickly grown from being a "pupil to teacher" from the time he saw a precocious but immensely talented teenager as the coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore during the first edition of IPL.

    

"In many ways, he follows the essence of life: loving what he does and doing what he loves, and learning all he can, often at a rapid pace. Kohli has gone from pupil to teacher quickly, and his next level is to become a master. That he will achieve. It's in his eyes,” he said.

    

"I watched this young 19-year-old when he joined Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2008, for the inaugural IPL. Often he fell victim to his own seduction, his growing, glowing image, mixed in with his confusion about who to bat and be like, as he had so many choices. I often encouraged him to simply play straighter, be wiser in shot selection, put the odds more in his favour," Crowe said.

 (Agencies)

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Srinivasan has agreed for Indo-Pak bilateral series, claims PCB chairman

"Mr Srinivasan has reassured me they are serious about playing a bilateral series with us even at neutral venues of our choice, but eventually we will need some written assurances and firm guarantees that this series will happen," Ashraf told the media in Lahore.

    

Ashraf termed the offer by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as a positive gesture.

    

"We want to be sure that this proposed series against India will actually take place, because you have to keep in mind that India had avoided playing regular bilateral series with us in recent years," he said.

    

Ashraf pointed out that, in contrast, Pakistan had gone out of its way to play against India and had toured India in 2007 and 2013 but in this period India only came to Pakistan for the Asia Cup in 2008.

    

The offer from the BCCI for a bilateral series at a neutral venue has come after Indian cricket board along with its Australian and England counterparts moved a draft proposal paper at the ICC, which proposes to restructure the governance model of the world body and also revise the distribution of finances and revenues among member nations.

    

Ashraf said that as far as relations with India were concerned, PCB would seek guarantees and written assurances from the BCCI for any future series.

    

He admitted that the BCCI had told Pakistan before the ICC meeting late last month that they needed to sign the draft proposal by the three boards but since then India's stance had changed for the positive.

    

Ashraf also said that the PCB was in talks with the South Africa and Sri Lankan cricket boards to have regular series with them.

    

"With South Africa we are looking to have a regular series named the Jinnah-Mandela trophy," he said.

    

Asked about the Umar Akmal road rage incident and his subsequent arrest by the police, and his time in lock up, Ashraf said the board would be inquiring into the matter to find out what actually happened and why the incident took place.

 (Agencies)

India need to draw Test series to retain second position in ICC rankings

A 2-0 series win will fetch India one rating point to take them to 118 points with no change in the table.

    

While a 1-0 result would see India losing five points to end on 112 ratings points, just one ahead of third-ranked Australia, though they would still remain on second position.

    

A 0-0 or 1-1 draw will allow both the teams to maintain their pre-series rankings.

    

In case New Zealand, who are currently on eighth position with 82 points, win the series 2-0 then they will jump to 88 ratings points, while India will fall to 110.

    

New Zealand will leapfrog the West Indies into seventh position if they win the series 1-0.

    

In fact, the Black Caps can move ahead of Sri Lanka in sixth place, provided they beat India 2-0 and Bangladesh win the second Test against Sri Lanka to draw the series 1-1.

    

A 1-0 series win for New Zealand will mean it will join West Indies on 87 points but will be ranked in seventh position when the ratings are calculated beyond the decimal point.

    

India's Cheteshwar Pujara (5th) and vice-captain Virat Kohli (11th) have excellent opportunities to climb up the ladder in the ICC Test batsmen's table.

    

It will be golden chance for in-form Kohli to enter the top-10 for the first time in his career.

    

Ravichandran Ashwin, at seventh spot, starts off the series as the highest-ranked Indian Test bowler.

 (Agencies)

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Indian squad for Test series against New Zealand

Pacer Ishwar Pandey is the only new face in the Test side. The two Tests will be held at Auckland (February 6-10) and

Wellington (February 14-18).

The Indian top-order failed to convert good starts but Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane struck morale-boosting fifties ahead of the Test series as the visiting team's two-day practice match against New Zealand XI ended in a tame draw on Monday.

The lanky Ishwar Pandey finally got a chance to play a match on this tour of New Zealand in a two-day tour game and his three-wicket haul in 14 overs would surely make him happy after waiting in the wings for three weeks since India landed in this country.

However, Dhoni said that after the last fifth ODI that there is still some work that needs to be done with Pandey's bowling.

    

"Regarding Ishwar Pandey, we thought that there is some more work needed on his bowling before he can be tried," Dhoni had said.

India Test Squad:  

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Zaheer Khan, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha, Ishwar Pandey.

 (JPN/Agencies)

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We aim to dominate Indian cricket for next decade: Vinay Kumar

"We have a great bunch of guys who are very young and hungry to perform. I feel we have it in us to keep winning and our goal is to dominate Indian cricket for the next ten years," Vinay told reporters at felicitation ceremony of his team members for bringing home the coveted trophy after a 15-year gap.

    

Vinay said his team-mates were pumped up for the finals as they wanted to put behind the sour memories of narrowly losing to Mumbai in the finals four years ago.

    

"The narrow loss to Mumbai four years back in Mysore hurt us, so when we got to the final, all of us were so keyed up and said to each other that we should play as if the cup belongs to us, and we did," he said.

    

KSCA Secretary Brijesh Patel announced Rs one crore reward to the team. Yesterday, Karnataka government had also announced Rs one crore prize money.

    

Earlier, the players were welcomed with garlands and greeted by firecrackers at KSCA after they beaten Maharashtra in the final by seven wickets.

 (Agencies)

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