After scoring a swashbuckling century against Assam in the Ranji Trophy, India's U19 superstar has come out and said that he felt extremely sad when he was excluded from India A's tour to Australia earlier this year.
"Yes, I won't deny that I was very hurt after I didn't make it to the India A team's tour of Australia. But then I realised that I have to score plenty of runs. Itna runs banaoon ki koi ignore na kar sake (Score so much runs that no one can ignore me)," Pant told PTI.
Australian cricketer Shaun Marsh was ruled out of the Matador Cup after suffering a hamstring tear in Western Australia's Matador One-day cup match against Tasmania on Saturday.
Marsh had missed out on a berth in the Australian ODI squad that toured South Africa earlier this month due to a broken finger. However, he was hopeful of making a comeback in the Test series against the Proteas which is scheduled to start from 3rd of November.
A statement from Western Australia read that Marsh had suffered a "low grade tear." With the Test series against the South Africans around the corner, Marsh will be hoping for a quick recovery.
Kevin Pietersen has confirmed he will be heard from the commentary box for the upcoming Test series between Australia and South Africa. An England veteran of 104 Tests himself, the 36-year-old is also slated to be playing in the Big Bash in December and January for Melbourne Stars.
While Michael Clarke is also known to be part of the commentary team for the three-match series in November which starts at Perth, some of the others expected to be part of the panel are Waqar Younis, Ian Chappell, Mark Taylor and Shane Warne.
Pietersen last played international cricket in January 2014, and though there have been intermittent rumours of him staging a grand comeback, it seems his return to the field, for now, will be from the confines of the commentary box.
Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusinghe on Saturday warned against expecting "miracles" from his side in the forthcoming Test series against England.
The head coach seemed frustrated at the number of Test matches that Bangladesh have played over the last few years. They last played a Test against South Africa in July 2015. Speaking at a press conference he said, "You can’t have plans if you don’t have ammunition. You can manage what you have, and that's what we are thinking."
He insisted that the fans should be vary of the fact that Bangladesh don't have Test specialists and he will have to manage with whatever the resources he has.
"We will keep developing a strategy in the long-term. Don’t expect us to do miracles straight away," he was quoted as saying in Cricbuzz.
Gary Kirsten was recently in India attending Rajasthan Ranji team's cricket camp. The former Indian coach took his time off to interact with the media and while doing so explained about his coaching ideas.
According to the former South African batsman, relationship is the first priority for him. "Relationships, for me, are everything," he said. "I am on this journey of life to create those relationships and very special connections," he was quoted as saying in Cricbuzz.
“In any team, I want the players to become better. But, for me, to build those solid connections with people is why I wake up in the morning. It’s less about the results," he said. Speaking about India, Kirsten said that the Indians revolved around individual talent. “The Indian way is more flair and instinct. It’s more individualistic, while South Africa’s is more team-oriented. Over here, in India, it’s the individual who stands out,” Kirsten said.
Kirsten was the coach of the Indian team that went on to win the 2011 World Cup.
England will be taking on the Bangladesh in the first Test on 20th October 2016 and there are already discussions regarding who is going to partner Alastair Cook in opening the innings. Fast-bowler Stuart Broad backed Ben Duckett for the spot and said that the opener has been quite impressive.
"He's a hugely impressive player," Broad said of Duckett. "I bowled to him in the nets yesterday. He scores in slightly different areas. He's quite awkward to bowl to and he sticks to his game plan."
"He's had such a brilliant breakthrough year both in red-ball and white-ball cricket domestically and he's been brilliant in Bangladesh so far. So his confidence is very high," he said.
Former Australian opener Chris Rogers feels that Shaun Marsh should be included in the starting eleven of the Aussies first Test encounter against the South Africans.
Marsh has been unable to find a place in the starting eleven over the years. However, he has done reasonably well whenever he has got the opportunity. Marsh scored centuries in his last two Test matches for the Aussies.
"I can't see how you can drop Shaun. As good as Joe Burns was last year, I think you have to show some form of consistency in your selection, and Shaun has got hundreds in his last two Test matches. It would be pretty devastating to have put those performances on and not be selected," Rogers told Fairfax media.
Former England cricketer, David Chapel was appointed as the head coach of Bangladesh's women cricket team on Saturday. Chapel served as an assistant coach of the England women's cricket team for a span of two years. Chapel's first assignment will be the Asia Cup next month in Thailand followed by women's World Cup qualifier in February 2017.
Chapel represented England in 15 Test and 23 ODIs. He is only the third overseas coach appointed by the Bangladesh women's cricket team and has signed a contract of four months.
The BCCI held a Special General Meeting on Saturday ahead of the Supreme Court's hearing on 17th October 2016. The meeting was held in order to discuss the recommendations put forward by the Lodha Panel.
BCCI president Anurag Thakur asked the representatives of Rajasthan Cricket Association not to attend the meeting just minutes before the scheduled time. This came in as a shock to RCA deputy president Mehmood Abdi as he was invited personally by the BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke.
The RCA has been serving a suspension and hence cannot attend any of BCCI's meeting till the suspension period ends.
Ravichandran Ashwin's performances in the recently concluded Test series against New Zealand caught everyone's eyes. The off-spinner took 27 wickets in the series and bagged the man of the series award.
Venkataramana, who is a member of NCA panel of coaches predicted that the 30-year old will reach 500 Test-wickets mark in the next 4-5 years.
"I feel he has got a long way. He has started bowling more of the stock deliveries. He was trying too many things earlier, failed and learnt from his mistakes," he was quoted as saying in Deccan Chronicle.
Sabbir Rahman named in Bangladesh Test squad
24-year old Sabbir Rahman, who has played 29 ODIs and 26 T20Is for Bangladesh, has been included in the Test squad as part of six changes made from their limited overs squad. Apart from him, there are three other uncapped players: Mehedi Hasan, Kamrul Islam Rabbi and Nurul Hasan. Shafiul Islam and Shuvagata Hom have also been included. Rahman was fined 20 percent of his match fees after his verbal duel with Jos Buttler during the second ODI. England won the series 2-1.