SPORTS

Most of the players in this India Test XI left home mid-August at the height of the pandemic when we knew very little of the virus. Some of them saw people around them losing their lives to Covid-19, and still left their families behind. Nobody knew what to expect.

The Suresh Raina controversy as soon as they reached the UAE, followed by the lack of communication around it, left them living in fear as they ate from cardboard boxes and couldn't even speak to their team-mates in the corridors. They were in biosecure bubbles so strict they were sent back into quarantine if they as much as went to the reception to collect their key card.

India's day on the second of the five-day game at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) meant Australia were on the backfoot on the second day of the Boxing Day Test. However, their bowlers didn't get that required support from their fielders as Australia dropped as many as five catches on the day.

Fast bowler Mitchell Starc felt that it wasn't their worst day on the field but it wasn't the best as well and the dropped catch by Travis Head on the last ball of the day summed up their day.

Mitchell Starc's bouncer rose awkwardly for stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahaneas he tried to duck but it hit his gloves and ballooned up in the air towards the point fielder. Travis Head ran towards the ball, grabbed it in the first attempt but couldn't hold on to it when he dived on the ground.

When Ajinkya Rahane last captained India in a Test against Australia, in March 2017, he was in that phase of his career when he could do little wrong. Pitched into leadership in the deciding last game of an intensely-fought series after injury to Virat Kohli, the Mumbai player led India to an impressive victory. He batted aggressively and captained astutely, impressing experts with his man-management and tactical awareness.    

Just when everyone expected his position in the team to be an absolute certainty, his career hit a bumpy road. Some of the situations were harsh and would have made him wonder, “why me”?

That shaky phase started in January 2018. Despite an impressive overseas record, Rahane was left out of the first two Tests in South Africa, at Cape Town and Centurion -India lost both. They won the third in Johannesburg, after he was belatedly recalled.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) on Thursday appointed Chetan Sharma, Abey Kuruvilla and Debasis Mohanty as the new selectors for the national team. By virtue of seniority (most Tests played), Chetan Sharma will be the chairman of the committee and will take charge from Sunil Joshi, who was also appointed selector by the same CAC. 

The CAC comprising of former Indian cricketers Madan Lal, RP Singh and Sulakshana Naik on Thursday interviewed Nayan Mongia, Ajit Agarkar and Abey Kuruvilla (West Zone), Maninder Singh, Chetan Sharma and Nikhil Chopra (North Zone) and Ranadeb Bose and Shiv Sunder Das (East Zone) for the three vacant posts in what is supposed to be a five-man panel. 

Madan Lal-led CAC appointed Chetan Sharma, Kuruvilla and Mohanty as the new national selectors and the trio will replace Devang Gandhi (East Zone), Sarandeep Singh (North Zone) and Jatin Paranjape (West Zone), in the senior men’s selection committee.

Former Indian captain and batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has taken a dig at the Indian team management, claiming that there are ‘different rules for different players’ in the dressing room. Citing the example of left-arm pacer T Natarajan, Gavaskar stated that the new comer would also be wondering about these ‘rules’.

In his latest column on Sportstar, Gavaskar pointed out the difference in the treatment given to Natarajan and skipper Virat Kohli in context of getting paternity leaves.

Natarajan became father while playing the IPL for the Sunrisers Hyderabad. He is yet to see his new-born daughter as he travelled directly to Australia and made his international debut thereafter. Meanwhile, Kohli has left Australia after the 1st Test to be with his family for the birth of his child in India.