Indian Cricket Team To Take Part In Champions Trophy, BCCI Not To Send Legal Notice To World Body

[Kool_SRG]

The Indian cricket team will take part in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 with the squad set to be announced on Monday.

 

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Sunday unanimously decided that the Indian cricket team will participate in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2017 set to be held in England and Wales, starting June 1. The selection meeting to pick the squad for the ICC event will be held on Monday, May 8, in New Delhi. Also, softening its previous stand against the International Cricket Council (ICC), the Indian board decided not to send a legal notice to the world body, calling it a conciliatory approach. 

Current joint secretary Amitabh Choudhary has been tasked with negotiating with the ICC on behalf of the BCCI while keeping its legal options open.

"The Board unanimously authorized the acting Hony. Secretary of the BCCI to continue negotiations with the ICC in the best interest of the BCCI while keeping its legal options open," the BCCI said in a press release.
 
"The BCCI SGM unanimously decided that the Indian cricket team will participate in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy. The All-India Senior Selection Meeting will be held tomorrow, May 8, in New Delhi to pick the team," the Indian board added.

"It was a unanimous decision that the Indian team will be participating in the Champions Trophy. We will not take any legal recourse in the matter. Mr Amitabh Choudhary and CEO Rahul Johri will negotiate with ICC," a senior office-bearer told PTI.

Former president N Srinivasan attended the SGM via Skype but refrained from speaking about a pull-out after gauging the general mood. 

The BCCI was earlier mulling to pull its team out of the premier tournament in protest against the revised revenue module.

BCCI lost the vote on 'governance and constitutional changes' on April 26 by a 1-9 margin while the revenue model, which was the bigger bone of contention, saw India getting walloped by a 2-8 margin.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court-appointed CoA had directed the BCCI to convene a selection committee meet and announce the Indian squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 "immediately".

The CoA asked BCCI's Amitabh Choudhary why the team has not yet been selected despite April 25 being the deadline.

The CoA also questioned the manner in which BCCI negotiated the entire revenue model deal with the International Cricket Council (ICC) at a meet held in Dubai recently.

[Kool_SRG]

[Kool_SRG]

Rohit, Ashwin, Shami return for Champions Trophy

Mohammed Shami and Rohit Sharma have made their way to India's Champions Trophy squad after injury-forced breaks from ODI cricket. In the absence of the injured KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan was chosen as Rohit's opening partner, with Ajinkya Rahane expected to fill in in case of loss of form or fitness.

The big debate for the selectors was between a third specialist spinner and an extra batsman, with Shami making it four specialist quicks to go with Hardik Pandya as the seaming allrounder. They eventually went for the extra batsman, which meant left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep Yadav missed out narrowly.

Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin were the two specialist spinners even though Ashwin has not provided his match fitness - he missed the IPL because of a sports hernia and other wear and tear from a long home season. Chairman of selectors MSK Prasad said Ashwin's case was different to some others, who had to prove match fitness after dropping out of the national team with injuries.

"As far as Ashwin is concerned, it was not exactly a serious injury," Prasad said. "In fact, his franchise was magnanimous enough in accepting our request to rest him. Rest is all that was required for Ashwin. In the last international match, he represented India [in the Dharamsala Test]. That shows he was not totally unfit. He was not like the others who underwent surgery and were going through rehabilitation."

Fitness has not been the only concern around Ashwin, though. He conceded 188 runs in 27 overs in the three-ODI series against England, his last limited-overs assignment. In the previous ODI series that he played, in Australia in early 2016, Ashwin was dropped after two matches. Prasad was asked if concerns around Ashwin's form had made them deliberate over the need for an extra spinner.

"It is not that Ashwin is out of form," Prasad said. "It is not because of Ashwin's form that we considered Kuldeep. We considered Kuldeep because of his quality. He narrowly missed out." Prasad said Ashwin had been used sparingly in limited-overs cricket to save him for the Champions Trophy.

 

With Yuvraj Singh and Kedar Jadhav capable of bowling part-time spin, the selectors were satisfied with just the two spinners. Instead they went for the extra quick to go with Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Shami last played ODI cricket in an attempt to win an ICC Trophy, and now he is back with the same goal ahead of him. The 26-year old was India's best bowler in the 2015 World Cup but since thenm chronic leg injuries have put a halt to his 50-over career. He proved his match fitness through two Vijay Hazare Trophy matches for Bengal and five IPL games for Delhi Daredevils.

"Two years is a long time," Shami said. "After the injury, I have worked on my strength and my fitness. I have lost weight. I hope to continue from where I left off. It is good that I will get seven-eight IPL matches before I make my return to international cricket."

Rohit, too, has proved his match fitness through the IPL, captaining Mumbai Indians in all their matches so far. He had spent five months nursing a thigh injury, which had "scared him" until he had met with doctors and received clarification.

MS Dhoni was the only specialist wicketkeeper in the squad, with the selectors resisting the temptation of going for the youngster Rishabh Pant, who has followed up a superb first-class season with IPL performances that have demanded the attention of the world. Prasad said he still considered Dhoni the best glovesman in the world, but also asked Pant to not feel disheartened because he was 'one for the future'.

Should there be an injury to Dhoni or anyone else, India have named five players as standby, which includes two wicketkeepers, Pant and Dinesh Karthik. Like Pant, Kuldeep made it to the list of standby players as another one 'for the future'. Fast bowler Shardul Thakur, and Suresh Raina were the others asked to report to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore. The BCCI will proceed with their visa applications to the UK in case quick replacements are needed later.

India begin their tournament against Pakistan on June 4 at Edgbaston, then play Sri Lanka on June 8 and South Africa on June 11.

[Kool_SRG]

Players on standby

Suresh Raina

Rishabh Pant

Dinesh Karthik

Kuldeep Yadav

Shardul Thakur

[megadheera]

Nitish Rana baga aduthunnadu. They should have included him

[lazybugger]

Rahane haters ki strong reply by bcci