HITS, MISSES AND SURPRISES FROM IPL AUCTION 2016

Going into the Indian Premier League auction 2016 on Saturday (February 6), the likes of Shane Watson and Yu Singh were expected to fetch a fat pay cheque. Watson eventually went to Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs 9.5 crore while Yuvraj went to Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs. 7 crore but not before the franchises surprised everyone by not going after him straight away. Mumbai Indians went for him after a lengthy delay before Bangalore and Hyderabad joined in.

It was interesting to see that the franchises were a bit cautious throughout the day and while there was aggressive bidding in some cases, it didn't stretch past the Rs. 10 Crore mark - a mark breached quite a few times last year.

"Having been in this in the last eight years the franchises have become very smart. They know when to enter a bid and when to leave. They know what team they want and they get it," explained TA Sekar, the Delhi Daredevils coach. 

Preity Zinta too had the same version to offer. "Franchises here, who have been here the longest, understand that you play to a plan and not bid for the players."

But the auction was much more than who fetched what. There were winners, some bystanders, a few surprises and a few lucky steals.

The winners

These are good times from Pawan Negi. He has done well for the Delhi state side and was named in the squad for the Asia Cup and the ICC World T20 2016. To make things better, he was bought by Delhi for a whopping Rs. 8.5 crore - the second highest bid for the day.

It was a good day for Jos Buttler and Chris Morris as well. The England wicket-keeper was bought by Mumbai for Rs. 3.8 crore and we are all aware of what he's capable of.However, a few people were a bit surprised when, Morris who had a base price of Rs. 50 lakh, was bought by Delhi for Rs. 7 crore.

"We feel Morris is a very good bowler, who can bat a bit. Everyone thinks, T20 is about batsmen, but if you have a good bowling side you can restrict the opposition under 150 and then chase it down easily. Morris was very much in our plans," said Sekar, explaining why Delhi went after him.

Taylor out, Southee back for first  Australia test

Ross Taylor, Senior New Zealand batsman, has been ruled out of the first Test against Australia, starting next friday, putting rising batting star Henry Nicholls in line for his debut.

 Taylor is struggling with a side strain suffered during a Twenty20 International match against Pakistan last month.

 Henry has been very impressive the way hhe is made the step up to international cricket and we are confident of the job he can do for us in the top order, Mike hesson, New zealand hesd coach said,

 Nichollas international career consists of eight odios with an impressive 61 agaisnst Australia in auckland odio on wednesday which New zealand won by 159 runs.

 On the other hand, Tim southee, Who suffered a foot injury in the third one-day international against sri lanka in december last year, has been declared fit to resume international duties.

 The squad announced by new zealand cricket on friday on the eve of the second Odio against Australia, also includes Matt Henry, all-rounder corey Anderson who missed the November Test series in Australia. Hesson said southee, who forms a potent new-ball attack with Trent boult, was New zealands most experinced bowler and we were excited to have him fit and a part o our pace bowling attack.

 Matt also comes back into the squad after some really strong performances throughout the summer, and with coreys return we now have a number of seam  bowling options to consider.

its well documented how good a test side australia are and we know it will take some exceptional cricket for us to have a chance of taking out the series 

 NewZealand squad for first test: Brendon Mccullum, corey Anderson, Doug bracewell, trent Boult, Martin guptil, Matt Henry, Tom latham, Henry Nicholls, Mitchell santner, Tim Southee, Neil wagner, bj watling and kane willaiam.

Negi, Shami included for world T20 and asia cup

Pawan ni and injured MOhammed shami were included the india squads announced, on friday(february 5) , for the upcoming Asia cup and icc World cup and icc World Twenty20.

The meeting was attended by the national selectors along with MS Dhoni, team captain, and Anurag Thakur, secretary of Board of control for cricket in indai(bcci).

  India have announced the same squad for both the tournaments and sandeep patil, head of the national selection panel, was of the view that this was the best squad picked given the conditions that the tournament will be played in.

  We always give importance to domestic performances. Horses for courses has worked well, looking at the ipl and other domestic T20 tournaments, said patil to the media in Delhi. Patil stressed that the recent performances in syed mushtaq Ali trophy and vijay Hazare Trophy were given importance.

A couple of players who might feel hard done by after being left out include manish pandey and amit mishra but patil insisted that they were amongst the names discussed. manish has done exepionally well for us receently and he is the future. His name was certainly discussed, said patil.

  We have full respect for amit mishra has done but emotions can not dictate selections, he added, we discussed him and many other names. The selectors and the captain felt this was the best combination we could have done with. Patil also backed harbhajan singh and negi to be the right men for the slots available. Shami he said, had recoverd and added that there was a full month to assess the pacers fitness.

 The asia cup begins on february 24 in banladesh while the Word T20 kicks off on march 08 in india.

asia cup and world t20 squad

MS dhoni(c), Rohit sharma, shikhar dhawan, virat kohli, suresh raina, Yuvraj singh, Ajinkya Rhane, Ravindra jadeja, Hardik pandya, R ashwin,Harbhajan singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra, Pawan Negi, Mohammed Shami

CLINICAL BATTING HELPS INDIA CLINCH A THRILLING CHASE

The last time he batted for india, Yuvraj singh struggled to 11 of 21 balls as indai fell shortin the World T20 final in Bngladesh in 2014. That turned out to be Yuvraj last game for india for more than months. For most part of his innings in the third T20 against Australia in sydney, it looked like his knock would go the same way as it did as it did in mirpur.

  Yuvraj had struggled to five off nine as australia had fought back and put themselves on top in their defence 197. The hosts had put up a strong score thanks to a superb hundred by thier stand-in captain, shane watson. Yuvraj struggle had left india needing 17 oof six balls, and he was on strike against Andrew tye.

  He moved across to the off-side and picked up a four off the first ball. That was his first boundary of his first boundary of the innings. Next ball, he  stayed put and slammed a full ball into the stand. India were suddenly favourites and yuvraj was resposible for the stunning tournariund. India needed seven four, which turned to six off four when they stole a single. 

 Suresh raina picked up two couples of the next two balls as india went within youching distance of a win. They needed two from the last ball, which suresh raina backed away and carved over point. India had won by seven wickets, and had swept the series 3-0

 Chasing a big total, india got off to a blitzy start with rohith sharma and shikhar dhawan taking the attack to the bowlers. Rohit was the initial aggressor, but dhawan hit fifth gear immediatly soon after. He slammed shaun tait for 24 in an over before cutting shanewatson. who was named captain for the game after injury had ruled out regular again.  His 26 off nine balls had given india the momentum.

CLARKE SET TO MAKE COMEBACK TO COMPETITIVE CRICKET

Former Australian captian Michael clarke has announced his come back plans to competitive cricket.He will turn out for his new south wales grade cricket club western suburbs against randwick-petersham on february20.

 Incidentally, the second Test between New zealand and Australia will be starting on the same day. When asked about a potential comeback to international cricket, Clarke said he would never say never to anything

He also revealed that he intends to play in the indain Premier League, Big bash league and the sheffield shield. To step away from cricket for four months has been great, i have found my body has enjoyed it and my mind i too clark told news limited

 At the same time i have realised the game of cricket is in my blood. i have looking for an outlet to replace what i have chosen to walk away from. So i will start with playing his grade game for western suburbs and see if i miss it as much as i feel like am going to. if a do the option is there to tran the entire winter and then we will see what happens. There is bbl next summer i would love to the part of that IPL cricket. there is possibly even sheffield shield cricket for NSW, he added. 

 Even though he is targeting oonly the shorter formats for his comeback, he has not ruled out anything for the future. it does not matter what level you are playing or who you are playing for, i frecognised that i missed the game. All i know is i will never say never to anything. I will start with western suburbs and we will see where it takes me. For now, my fov=cus is defintly the shorter format of the game..

351 players up for IPL auction on february six

 As many as 351 cricketers are set to go under the hammer When the 2016 indian Premier league players auction takes place in bengalure on on february 6. However, only a  maximum of 116 players can be bought at the auction.

 The full list of players ahort listed for the auctions has been released. It includes 130 capped players, 219 uncapped players and two from associate nations.Out of these ,230 are indians and 121 foriegners. The list was trimmed down from the original list of 714 cricketers who had given their names for the IPL auctions. 29 australian capped cricketres have been short-listed for the auction. They are followed by players from india (26), west indies(16) new zealand(9), england (7) and bangladesh(5).

 Yuvraj singh, kevin petrson ashish nehra, shane watson/ ishant sharma, sanju samson, dinesh karthik,stuart binny and dhawal kulkarni are among the cricketers who have been listed with a base of Rs 2 crore.

 Yuvraj, who was left out of delhi daredevils had fetched the highest price in the last two IPL auctions. Having returened to the national fold ahead of the ICC World T20, he is likely to attract a high bid in the upcoming auction.

  Delhi daredevils who have released someof their biggest buys from the previous season - yuvraj singh and angelo mathews have the haviest purse going into the auction Rs37.15 crore................

NARINE , GAYLE BACK IN WEST INDIES SQUAD ICC WORLD TWENTY20 2016

West indies have named the squad for the ICC World Twenty20 to be held in india in march with sunil narine also named in darren sammy-led side on friday.

 narine was reported for suspect action in november last year during the third one-day international against srilanka in pallekele. The off spinner is expected to undergotesting at the loughborough university facility in england.

 Narine has had problems with his action and has been reported in the indian premier league and the champions League T20. He was named in squad for the ICC world cup in Australia and newzeland but later withdrew his name. As many as 11 members are there in the squad that won the tournament in 2012 in srilanka.Chris gayle, Who last played for west indies in March last year, also has been named in the squad that also features the likes of dwayne bravo, Kieron pollard and Andre Russel, who has done really well in the games shortest format for various franchises across the globe. Jason Holder too has been named in the squad While Marlon Samuels will play as a pure batsman after he was banned from bowling in international cricket for 12 months in December last year.

  Samuel badree, the leg spinner who has played just T20 is for West indies, returns to the mix of things after july 2014. He is the no.1 ranked bowler ranking and has played 22  T20is, bagging 35 wickets at an average of 14.96 and an economy of 5.39.

 West indies have done well in the last two editions-Winning the tournament in 2012 and then reached the semi-finals in 2014. They will participate in training camp in the united arab emirates from February 22.

  Squad: Drren sammy(capt), samuel bedree, sulieman benn, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Jason Holder, Sunil narine, Kieron pollard, denesh Ramdin, Andre Russel, Marlon samuels, Lenl simmons, Jerome Taylor.