Tag Archives: anil kumble

Ravi Shastri Appointed India Cricket Team Coach

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Following intense melodrama over Anil Kumble’s strict disciplinarian approach, India team has got what it wanted, Ravi Shastri who has been associated with India cricket team either officially or unofficially till now.

Former India allrounder and captain Ravi Shastri served as team director from August 2014 to April 2016. His appointment came close on the heels of Anil Kumble’s resignation owing to captain Virat Kohli’s reported objections. Kohli denied reports of any rift with Kumble.

Shastri will serve as head coach for a two-year period until the end of the 2019 ICC World Cup and BCCI has sought inputs from Virat Kohli before making the appointment. Saurav Ganguly and VVS Laxman were present while Sachin Tendulkar joined via video conference from the UK.

Ravi Shastri on Twitter Page of his account

Virender Sehwag was also one of the applicants. Shastri’s close association with the team when he was team director for an 18-month period paved teh way for his selection this Shastri played 80 Tests and 150 ODIs and led India in one Test.

Shastri was initially reluctant but applied for the post only when the last date was extended by the BCCI until July 9. Other applicants included former India opener Virender Sehwag, former Sri Lanka coach and current coach of IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad Tom Moody, current Afghan team coach Lalchand Rajput and former Pakistan and Bangladesh coach and director of West Indies cricket Richard Pybus.

Despite India Defeat, Virat Kohli Tops Facebook, with 3.54 Crore Followers, Second Only to Modi

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Despite anger and anguish at India’s defeat in the hands of Pakistan Cricket team at ICC Champions Trophy in London last weekend, Team India Captain Virat Kohli is still most followed celebrity on Facebook, second to PM Narendra Modi.

His followers on Facebook page has 35,444,199 followers, next to PM Narendra Modi’s 41,793,333 followers, reveal the latest figures, suggesting that Kohli may have the potential to become one of the most-followed celebrities in India though he may not overtake Modi’s numbers in terms of popularity.

Despite Kohli’s behaviour in ousting India coach Anil Kumble after the ignominous defeat of India at the Oval, severe criticism of his attitude towards coaches and the team’s discipline, Virat Kohli is not going down in his social media popularity.

Even among the Bollywood celebrities, Salman Khan who was ahead of others, is now trailing behind Virat Kohli with 6 lakh less followers compared to Virat Kohli. Salman Khan has 34,858,909 followers in India and Pakistan while Kohli has 35,444,199 followers.

Kohli also has considerable followers in Pakistan and Bangladesh, show the figures. About 83 percent of his followers are from India, 5 percent from Bangladesh and about one lakh followers are there in Pakistan, show the figures.

On Twitter, Virat Kohli has 16,106,040 followers though he joined the social media platform way back in September 2009. He still leaves a track of his team on Twitter and the latest was at a stopover from London to West Indies with his boys in Blue.

Virat Kohli’s Instagram is relatively new but his followers on this social website too are many at 14.3 million, indicating at his growing stardom in India, which was made possible for the first time by Sachin Tendulkar and next by MS Dhoni and now Virat Kohli. Time for Bollywood to pick up?

 

Defeated India Looks for Scapegoat, Anil Kumble to Exit

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Pakistan has thrashed sixers and boundaries to set a huge target of 238 for India in the second half of the play in the final of India vs Pakistan final match of ICC Championship 2017 Trophy being held at the Oval in London.

Not unexpected, India was defeated with all out for 180 despite its record defeat of the new champions in the opening match on June 4 as it could not maintain the same tempo in the final.

Pakistan’s Hafeez was dismantling the Indian bowling towards the end and noticeably one can attribute the upper hand of Pakistan to its determination to avenge the defeat two weeks ago, knowing Indian team was an utter failure with its poor bowling strategy.

Leaving Indian spectators into gloom, Pakistan run rate remained around a comfortable 6.4 throughout the play and increased towards 6.66 in the entire show on average. Descpite Bhubaneshwar Kumar entering at the last to test his bowling spree, little could it help the defenders of ICC Championship.

The next question is whether Indian batsmen blame it on their coach Anil Kumble who is already seen at clash with Captain Virat Kohli for his strict adherence to rules and discipline. It is always the poor scapegoat who exits after such ignomious defeat in Indian sports scene and not the main culprits.

The defeated Indian team will soon reach West Indies to test its mettle but no wonder rumours are abound over the match fixing in the social media.