Cricket

Ponting confirms approach for India head coach role

Published

4 months ago

May 23, 2024

Ray Sportz News Desk: Legendary Australian captain and former World Cup winner Ricky Ponting has revealed that he was approached by the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) to be the new head coach of the Indian Cricket Team, which would be vacant soon after the upcoming T20I World Cup as Rahul Dravid won’t continue as the coach of the side. But Ponting had decided to turn that offer down, by saying that it doesn’t fit into his “lifestyle” right now.

Ponting, who recently completed seven seasons as the head coach of Delhi Capitals IPL franchise, has been Australia’s interim T20 coach in the past. He did not say whether the feelers for India position came from the BCCI.

“…there were a few little one-on-one conversations during the IPL, just to get a level of interest from me as to whether I would do it,” Ponting told the ICC.
“I’d love to be a senior coach of a national team, but with the other things that I have in my life and wanting to have a bit of time at home…everyone knows if you take a job working with the Indian team, you can’t be involved in an IPL team, so it would take that out of it as well.

“Also, a national head coach is a 10 or 11-month of the year job, and as much as I’d like to do it, it just doesn’t fit into my lifestyle right now and the things that I really enjoy doing,” he added.

Ponting said he discussed the offer with his son and he seemed game for a move to India.

“My family and my kids have spent the last five weeks over at the IPL with me and they come over every year and I had a whisper to my son about it,” he recalled.

“I said, ‘Dad’s been offered the Indian coaching job’ and he said, ‘Just take it dad, we would love to move over there for the next couple of years’,” Ponting quipped.

“That’s how much they love being over there and the culture of cricket in India, but right now it probably doesn’t exactly fit into my lifestyle,” he added.

Cricket

Chris Gayle backs Virat ahead of the final

Published

3 months ago

June 29, 2024

Ray Sportz

Ray Sportz Web Desk: India and South Africa will face the T20 World Cup final on Saturday. Former West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle expressed his views on the two opponents in the press conference before the T20 World Cup final. Both teams entered the finals unbeaten. South Africa is looking for their maiden ICC trophy. On the other hand India is aiming to end their long ICC trophy drought.

According to Gayle, both the teams are very strong and equally deserve to win. He feels the World Cup final is going to be a high-scoring match. The batting and bowling of both the teams is very strong. So Chris Gayle thinks that the fight will not be easy for both team.

Virat Kohli is going through a bad-patch in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Chris Gayle, backing India’s star batsman, said, “Virat is a very big cricketer. We have seen Virat has played brilliantly in previous World Cups. He is going through a bad time now. It can happen to anyone.” The former Caribbean feels that a big cricketer like Virat will want to prove himself in the final.

Cricket

India’s squad for T20I series against Zimbabwe:

Published

3 months ago

June 24, 2024

Ray Sportz

Ꮪhubman Gill (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Nitish Reddy, Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar, Tushar Deshpande.

Cricket

Rohit takes a dig at NY pitch

Published

3 months ago

June 9, 2024

Ray Sportz

Ray Sportz News Desk: The pitch controversy of the Nassau County has taken a new turn on Saturday, when India skipper Rohit Sharma said that he has no idea what to except from it in the upcoming T20 World Cup clash against arch rivals Pakistan. He feels that the curator is “confused” about the drop-in wickets being used here.

“New York is not our home ground. We have played two matches here but we don’t have much awareness about its nature. It behaves differently on different days, so even the curator is confused,” Rohit said on the eve of the game against Pakistan.

“So, you can imagine the kind of thinking we need to put in. We don’t know on which pitch we are playing (against Pakistan), so, whoever plays better cricket will win the match,” he added.

The slowness of the outfield, Rohit said, has compounded the worries.

“The outfield is slow. Some shots get lot of bounce on the field, and some others do not roll on the field. So running between the wickets is important. We need to play as per conditions,” he explained.

However, the skipper said such external factors can be neutralised by playing good cricket and his teammates often thrive in tough situations. The Indians will also be the more confident unit as Pakistan are coming off stunning loss to tournament debutants USA in their lung-opener.

“Playing good cricket holds the key, not opposition, not pitch. Yes, it’s tough but that’s why I would like to highlight the experience we have. The blows count for nothing,” said Rohit, referring to the hits he and Rishabh Pant took in their tournament-opener against Ireland due to the uneven bounce.