'Scoring 10,000 Test runs would make me happy' - Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli on his aggression, learning from mistakes, being a youth icon.

By Baidurjo Bose | Mail Today

Kohli receiving the Arjuna Award from President Pranab Mukherjee.

The road from rebellion to responsibility is a long one. But Virat Kohli has made the journey as easy as silken drives that

he plays. From being misunderstood at 19 to being touted as the next India captain at 24, Kohli has indeed come a long way.

When one is the most eligible bachelor in Indian cricket and lives life kingsize, the spotlight is bound to be relentless.

But there is something about Kohli that sets him apart. While he wears his heart on his sleeve like Sourav Ganguly, he can

also show a sharp mind like Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Some of the knocks that he has played when chasing stiff targets have

prompted people to consider him one of the best in the business after just five years at the international level.

But it wasn’t all rosy to start with. Handling fame and adulation isn’t everybody’s cup of tea and Kohli too has learnt it

the hard way.

After winning the U-19 World Cup in 2008, he was being branded brash and arrogant. But those who have seen Kohli over the

last five years vouch for the fact that testing times have only made him stronger.

Kohli said that he himself doesn’t know how he manages to be both aggressive as well as calm on a cricket field, according

to the need of the hour.

"I am focused and know exactly what is expected of me." “I have often asked myself how I manage to be someone who is very

aggressive on the field, but at the same time with bat in hand, I am focused and know exactly what is expected of me.

Generally you would associate an aggressive person to play rash shots and get out. But the fact that as a batsman, you need

to earn the respect of the opposition by scoring runs is what keeps me going,” Kohli told Mail Today on the sidelines of the

India Today Mind Rocks 2013.

Sachin Tendulkar has often said that if there is one batsman who can break his record of 100 centuries in international

cricket, it is Kohli. But the Delhi lad feels there are cricketers much more talented than him.

“But what keeps me going is the self-belief and determination. I have learnt from my mistakes. I got carried away during my

first stint in the IPL. When I got dropped from the Indian team, I was really disappointed and realised that certain things

needed to be eliminated so that I can go ahead and live my dream,” he said.

“I don’t have any milestones in mind and the only record that would make me happy is scoring 10,000 Test runs. That would be

really satisfying.” While he is touted as the next India captain, Kohli feels leading the country at the senior level is far

more difficult than at the U-19 level.

“I didn’t have any big names playing under me in 2008 when we won the U-19 World Cup. But when it comes to the senior team,

you have players whom you have grown up watching. So it does get a bit difficult to pass orders and move them around the

field. M.S. Dhoni has had a tougher job to do when he captained India for the first time than I had when I went to Zimbabwe

as captain because I had a comparatively young side,” he revealed.

Being a youth icon, Kohli is always under the scanner, but he doesn’t mind it as it has helped him become a lot more

organised in life. “If me talking to youngsters can motivate them, I am game. I have also become more organised which has

helped my game,” he signed off.

Reproduced from Mail Today. Copyright 2013. MTNPL. All rights reserved.

T&T turn the heat on Brisbane - CLT20

Rampaul-led attack defends low score in their opening game of CLT20.

IANS India Private LimitedBy Indo Asian News Service | IANS India Private Limited

Rampaul took four wickets. (File photo)

Ranchi: Trinidad and Tobago defeated Brisbane Heat by 25 runs in the first Group B match of the Champions League Twenty20 to

bag four points at the JSCA International Stadium here Sunday.

Put in to bat, Trinidad and Tobago put on 135/9 in their quota of 20 overs. In response, Brisbane Heat were bowled out for

110 in 18.4 overs in the second match of CLT20.

The Caribbean side struggled with their batting with skipper and wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin, later named the man of the

match, playing the anchor's innings with a 38-ball 48, which included four boundaries and two sixes. The second highest

scorer was Evin Lewis with 19.

Pacer Alister McDermott, son of former Australia fast bowler Craig McDermott, was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets

from his four overs for Heat while offie Nathan Hauritz scalped two wickets.

Chasing 136, the Australian side were guided by opener Joe Burns with his innings of 45. However, at 91/5 Burns was bowled

by Ravi Rampaul which led to a Heat collapse in a span of 19 runs, eventually being bowled out for 110.

Rampaul clinched four wickets from 3.4 overs giving away only 14 runs. Rayad Emrit and Sunil Narine picked two wickets each.

Dhoni returns as Chennai smash Titans - CLT20

CLT20, RANCHI: Super Kings chase down a stiff total in their captain's hometown.

Yahoo! Cricket

AB De Villiers top-scored with 77, but it wasn't enough.

The Chennai Super Kings began their Champions League campaign with a near-perfect batting performance against the Titans from South Africa, who failed to defend an impressive score of 185-5.

After a lengthy break, MS Dhoni returned to action at his home town Ranchi’s JSCA International Stadium, much to the delight of his fans. He won the toss and bowled. AB de Villiers’s brilliant 77 should have been enough to ensure Titans a win today, but Chennai’s brute response led by Michael Hussey and Suresh Raina ended the contest very quickly.

Chennai lost Murali Vijay in the first over, thanks to a sharp arm-ball from Roelof van der Merwe. But Raina and Hussey added 89 runs in under eight overs to give the chase a powerful start.

When Raina came in, the floodlights at the venue failed for the second time in the day. According to Ravichandran Ashwin, Raina’s been in bad form in the nets, but you wouldn’t have been able to tell that from the hitting that was to follow once the game resumed.

He waited on the backfoot for Morne Morkel to bounce him and the first ball he faced was pulled almost without any lack of control over midwicket for six. The over, the fourth of the innings, went for 24 runs with Hussey then carving Morkel a couple of times through the off-side.

The highlight of Raina’s innings, however, was the effortless waft off his pads for six off Marchant de Lange. When Raina fell to a loose drive to mid-off, Hussey kept up with the brutal hitting till he too got out on the same score of 47 to a mistimed loft down the ground.



Rowan Richards produced a three-wicket burst late in the game to make things a teensy bit interesting, but so far ahead were Chennai of the required rate, they coasted to the target with seven balls to spare.

Earlier in the day, the moment de Villiers came in to bat at the fall of Jacques Rudolph, the game became a one-man show. De Villiers is possibly the most versatile batsman of his time – he can play spin or pace, he can score on slow wickets or fast, and there’s no corner of the field he can’t hit a ball to.    

He marked his arrival to the crease with a powerful straight drive off his South Africa colleague Albie Morkel. That shot didn’t go all the way for four, but signalled AB’s intentions. He proceeded to dismantle two of Chennai’s best. Ravindra Jadeja was put away for four sixes and Dwayne Bravo a couple.

At the other end was Henry Davids, who did a fine job making 52 in 43 but was put in the shade by de Villiers’ merciless assault on Chennai’s bowlers. Davids was stumped off a wide from Ashwin but the second-wicket partnership had produced 76 runs in six overs, setting up a large score for the Titans. But not large enough to keep the home team at bay.

Md Amir will now play domestic cricket

Pakistani fast bowler Mohammad Amir is now allowed to play domestic cricket. This is great news for Pakistan cricket fans. He was banned for short time for his spot fixing act. But now he is free to play domestic cricket and after one year he might play for his National team. Wish him all the very best.

Delhi court stays SGM called to fix Modi

The single point agenda of the SGM was to take up a special disciplinary panel’s 134-page report and take a decision — possibly a life ban for Modi.

By Qaiser Mohammad Ali

New Delhi: Dealing a major blow to the BCCI — particularly president N. Srinivasan — in its bid to punish suspended IPL chairman Lalit Modi for his “individual misdemeanours”, a Delhi court on Saturday stayed a special general meeting (SGM) from taking place in Chennai on Sept. 25.

Additional judge Ruby Alka Gupta, in her three-page ruling, upheld Modi’s contention that since the top BCCI officials have not been legitimately elected, they are not authorised to call the SGM. “The defendants are thus hereby restrained from holding the SGM scheduled for September 25, 2013,” she said after hearing the suit, filed on September 19.

There are seven defendants in the suit. They are: the BCCI, vice-presidents Arun Jaitley and Chirayu Amin, Jyotiraditya Scindia, interim chief Jagmohan Dalmiya, interim secretary Sanjay Patel and Srinivasan.

Jaitley, Amin, and Scindia were also members of the special disciplinary committee that probed Modi’s “individual misdemeanours” during his tenure as IPL chairman and commissioner from 2008 to 2010. BCCI has alleged that Modi indulged in misappropriation of funds and took some undesirable decisions.

The single point agenda of the SGM was to take up a special disciplinary panel’s 134-page report and take a decision — possibly a life ban for Modi. As per the leaked report, Modi has been charged on eight counts, which would have given the BCCI general body a reason to fix him.

In the suit, Modi’s attorney Mehmood Abdi claimed that Srinivasan, Dalmiya and Patel were not authorised as per the BCCI’s rules and regulations to call the SGM. Abdi particularly pointed out that Rule 13 (ii), 17 (i) and 32 (iv), which deal with vacancies occurring in the top posts, were not adhered to while making appointments following secretary Sanjay Jagdale and treasurer Ajay Shirke’s resignations after the IPL fixing scandal broke out with the arrest of cricketers Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan and others on May 16.

Abdi had pleaded that Modi would suffer “irreparable loss”.

“The balance of convenience, thus, lies in favour of the plaintiff. The defendants are thus hereby restrained from holding the SGM scheduled for September 25, 2013,” the judge said.


Reproduced from Mail Today. Copyright 2013. MTNPL. All rights reserved.