EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE THE HINDU DELHI WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2019 SPORT 19 EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Kohli and Dhoni named captains Kiwis look to stop Aussie juggernaut of Test, ODI teams of decade The two sides have been picked by Cricket Australia Press Trust of India ing scored nine hundreds Melbourne (six in Tests, three in ODIs) Virat Kohli has been named Down Under. captain of the Test XI of the Kohli is primed to shatter decade by Cricket Australia’s more records, having ended official news website, while 2019 as the leading Mahendra Singh Dhoni was run­getter. chosen leader of its ODI The others in the Test XI team of the decade. of the decade include Alas­ tair Cook, David Warner, No surprise Kane Williamson, Steve Will he, won’t he? Matt Henry and Tim Southee will be waiting anxiously on news of It is not a surprise that Kohli Smith, A.B. de Villiers, Ben Trent Boult’s availability for the Boxing Day Test. * GETTY IMAGES finds himself in both the Test Stokes, Dale Steyn, Stuart and ODI teams. The 31­year­ Broad, Nathan Lyon and Agence France-Presse cricket calendar. zlewood who was injured in old has arguably been the James Anderson, ‘cricket.co­ Melbourne The last time New Zea­ Perth. James Pattinson is set best batsman over the last m.au’ posted. New Zealand is hopeful of land faced Australia in a Box­ to play alongside Pat Cum­ decade. The website’s ODI team of having pace spearhead ing Day Test was in 1987 with mins and Mitchell Starc. He has already amassed the decade is led by Dhoni, Trent Boult back to help halt the home side holding on for The teams (from): Australia: 70 international hundreds who captained India to two a rampant Australia in the a draw despite blistering Tim Paine (Capt.), David War- and is only behind Ricky World titles, in 2007 and Black Caps’ first Boxing Day bowling from the legendary ner, Joe Burns, Marnus Labus- Ponting (71) and Sachin Ten­ 2011, respectively. Test at the MCG in more than Richard Hadlee. chagne, Steve Smith, Matthew dulkar (100). Rohit Sharma, who had a 30 years. What sort of wicket on Wade, Travis Head, Pat Cum- Kohli, who averages more memorable 2019, which in­ The veteran, suffering a Thursday is the great un­ mins, Mitch Starc, Nathan than 50 in all formats, is also cluded five hundreds in the side strain, was badly missed known. Only a fortnight ago, Lyon, James Pattinson, Michael Neser and Peter Siddle. third in the list of leading World Cup, is one of the during the opening Test in play was abandoned during run­scorers of all time with openers in the team along­ Perth, when the visitors a domestic Sheffield Shield New Zealand: Kane Williamson 21,444 runs, behind Ponting side Hashim Amla. were thrashed by 296 runs game at the ground due to a (Capt.), Todd Astle, Tom Blun- dell, Trent Boult, Colin de (27,483) and Tendulkar Kohli is the number three, in stifling conditions. dangerous pitch, with errat­ Grandhomme, Lockie Fergu- (34,357). followed by de Villiers, Sha­ But he has been toiling in ic bounce seeing balls rise son, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, The India skipper has kib Al Hasan, Jos Buttler, the nets and expects to be sharply and unexpectedly to Henry Nicholls, Jeet Raval, scored runs all around the Dhoni, Rashid Khan, Mitch­ ready for a rare appearance pummel the batsmen. Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Leaders par excellence: Cricket Australia has recognised the leadership qualities of M.S. Dhoni world but Australia has been ell Starc, Trent Boult and La­ by his country on one of the Australia goes into the se­ Ross Taylor, B-J. Watling, and and Virat Kohli * FILE PHOTO: VIVEK BENDRE a special place for him, hav­ sith Malinga. best­known dates on the cond Test without Josh Ha­ Neil Wagner. Ganguly hails Ashwin Kumble happy with KXIP’s new acquisitions Tata Open 2020: no Vijay Lokapally top-20 player in the fray Says his efforts go unnoticed at times NEW DELHI Experts believe that Kings XI Sports Bureau Karlovic (finalist 2019) and PRESS TRUST OF INDIA Punjab appears the strongest PUNE Czech Jiri Vesely. German NEW DELHI and most balanced team, on The long­running streak of Peter Gojowczyk is the last BCCI president and paper, in IPL 2020. at least one top­10 player direct entrant at 117. The former India skipper For Anil Kumble, KXIP di­ turning up for India’s only top­two Indian singles Sourav Ganguly, on rector of cricket operations, ATP 250 event, the Tata players, Prajnesh Gunnes­ Tuesday, hailed R. Ashwin the presence of West Indies Open Maharashtra (Aircel waran and Sumit Nagal, are for finishing the decade as left­arm fast bowler Sheldon Chennai Open till 2017), is ranked 124 and 130. the highest wicket­taker in Cottrell and hard­hitting Aus­ set to be snapped. Other than the 19 direct international cricket, but tralian Glenn Maxwell could The 19­player direct ac­ acceptances, there will be feels his achievement has be the crucial factor, along ceptance list announced on two special exempts, 3 wild not got the recognition it with Rahul being at the helm. Tuesday for next year’s cards and four qualifiers in deserves. event (February 3 to 9) the 28­player field. There Ganguly’s tweet came Covering the bases doesn’t feature a single may yet be a possibility of a after the International “The auction went well. The top­20 player, let alone big star picking up a wild Cricket Council (ICC) idea was to cover all bases top­10, whereas in the last card for the tournament, listed the top wicket­ and make sure you have few years the competition but the chances appear takers of the decade. enough to take care of any sit­ Glenn Maxwell. * GETTY IMAGES Sheldon Cottrell. * AP Anil Kumble. * RAJEEV BHATT has had at least two top­20 slim. Ashwin is on top with uation, any opposition, any players. “During our discussions 564 scalps and is the only R. Ashwin. surface. So I think, it has a in the past,” Kumble told The have Deepak Hooda to play Mohammed Shami play for In the earlier avatar, the with some of the top players spinner in the list. * V.V. SUBRAHMANYAM blend of raw talent, expe­ Hindu. that role. In a T20 game, play­ the same team (Bengal). tournament occupied the we wanted to bring, there England duo James rience and some wonderful On the foreign players, ing at No. 5 or 6 is never easy “Then we have Arshdeep coveted season­opening slot was an indication that the Anderson and Stuart @bcci .. what an effort .. young players who have per­ Kumble said, “The four fo­ but he has the potential. We Singh. We wanted a young all­ but this year it will be sand­ Europeans will return to Eu­ Broad followed him with just get a Feeling it goes formed at the highest level. reigners we have will comple­ also have Mandeep (Singh) rounder and that’s why we wiched between the Austra­ rope after the Australian 535 and 525 wickets while unnoticed at times .. super “We are happy that we ment the others — Mujeeb Ur and Sarfaraz (Ahmed) along picked (Darshan) Nalkande. lian Open and the hard­ Open,” said Prashant Sutar, New Zealand’s Tim stuff .. (sic.),” Ganguly were able to get Cottrell and Rahman, Nicholas Pooran with Karun Nair.” Ravi Bishnoi is a good wrist­ court swing in the the Tournament Director. Southee (472) and Trent tweeted. ( James) Neesham, who will and, of course, the ‘Universe The bowling, insisted Kum­ spinner. We wanted to give a Americas. “Having said that, the Boult (458) are fourth and Ashwin lost his place in be the all­rounder and has the Boss’ (Chris Gayle).” ble, looked healthy too. “Ish­ chance to (batsman) Simran Frenchman Benoit Paire, players who will come to fifth. white­ball cricket in 2017 experience of not just playing Kumble was pleased with an Porel has shown a lot of Singh, wanted to promote lo­ ranked 24, leads the pack, Pune have produced some “Most international after the rise of Kuldeep international cricket but also the Indian contingent too. promise in domestic cricket, cal talent. Have heard good the next highest being Lith­ outstanding results recently wickets for ashwin this Yadav and Yuzvendra in India. We were also able to “We have picked those with has a mature head. We expect things about him and looking uanian Ricardas Berankis and we are confident that decade @ashwinravi99 Chahal. get (Glenn) Maxwell back be­ experience who can play No. him to do really well. The oth­ forward to working with all of (66). Other notable names the tournament will be of a cause he’s done well for KXIP 5 or 6 and also bowl a bit. We er advantage is that he and them.” include the 40­year­old Ivo high level.” Kohli stays on top, Unwritten books to mull over Rahane slips as the year winds to a close dekar and Bishan Bedi were at logger­ history of the politics and principles (or heads, two players went at each other lack thereof ) since the BCCI was with cricket bats. Sunil Gavaskar wrote, formed in December 1928. “It was a totally disastrous series and Taking What Was Left — The Story of the tour was one of the worst I made.” Vijayakrishna: Bharamaiah Vijayak­ The Philosophy of Cricket: There rishna, who turned 70 this year, was a have been recent books on the subject left­arm spinner and batsman who BETWEEN WICKETS by Mike Brearley (On Form), Gary Cox played a key role in Karnataka’s first ( ), while other philosophers Ranji Trophy triumph.