Delhi bowlers found no respite as Karnataka heaped 649 runs, which included a lower-order charge from Shreyas Gopal and Abhimanyu Mithun, on the second day in Alur

Akshay Gopalakrishnan in Alur10-Nov-2017
ScorecardMayank Agarwal cuts•Getty Images

For the second day in a row, Karnataka optimised their use of supreme batting conditions to wear down Delhi in their Group A Ranji Trophy clash at the KSCA Ground in Alur. Mayank Agarwal’s unwavering focus took him to 176, Stuart Binny cracked only his second century for Karnataka in three years, and Shreyas Gopal almost became the third centurion of their innings. When he was out for 92, the last man to be dismissed, Delhi’s misery finally ended, after 172.2 overs, in which Karnataka had piled on 649. In reply, Delhi openers Gautam Gambhir and Unmukt Chand confidently saw off the five overs to stumps.Agarwal strode out with an almost tangible purpose and determination to bat on until he physically couldn’t anymore. It was only by means of a run out that Delhi could finally find an opening past his unshakable confidence. Struck on the pads, and with Delhi fervently pleading with the umpire, Agarwal called for a leg bye only to be sent back by Binny and be felled by a direct throw from backward point. An innings of steely determination and obstinacy ended with Agarwal walking off to a richly-deserved ovation from a crowd that had gathered a lot more rapidly than on the first day.Delhi’s first-session plan was an exact replica of Thursday’s. Fourteen deliveries into the day, they took the second new ball, and their pacers banged it into the surface at pace. It did result in a couple of uncontrolled pulls and a top-edged four through fine leg, but nothing to substantially trouble the batsmen.Binny and CM Gautam then fared comfortably against the short ball. Spin arrived in the form of Vikas Mishra in the 14th over of the morning; nine deliveries later, Karnataka raised their 400, looking good for many more.Binny and Gautam maintained an impressive pace through most parts of their partnership. Both batsmen preferred hitting the boundaries; the fifty of the partnership, which arrived in 80 balls, had eight of them. Binny was the more aggressive of the two and did the bulk of the scoring. He capitalised on Manan’s overcompensations with length to crunch back-to-back fours and bring up his half-century.Desperate for a breakthrough, Rishabh Pant rotated his bowlers, but it soon got to the extent where it became the overriding theme of Delhi’s morning session. No bowler was given a chance to settle into any kind of spell, and Karnataka hardly broke a sweat in collecting their runs.Having settled in nicely, Gautam then paid the price for disregarding a change in field. He had made good use of the sweep, but it worked against his favour when he failed to meet the pitch of a fullish Manan ball and top-edged to short fine leg, who had moved from short midwicket just the previous over. Regardless of the position they were in, the dismissal was to the great dismay of Karnataka, considering under ten minutes were left for lunch.Delhi, though, graciously returned the favour after the break when Binny slashed Navdeep Saini away from his body only for Chand to let the ball burst through his fingers and give the batsman his hundred.Heavily built on boundaries, Binny’s innings ended shortly after Karnataka raised their 500 when he checked a punch to one that stopped on him off Vikas Tokas, who stuck his left hand out on the follow-through. K Gowtham, dropped on 5 by Manan off his own bowling, didn’t make Delhi sweat as he lost his stumps to an expansive drive against Vikas Mishra. And R Vinay Kumar, the captain, charged down the track to Manan and was stumped. By then, Karnataka were nine down and it was evident they were trying to force the issue with a declaration looming.But if Delhi had thought that would mean the end of their long, arduous stay on the field, they were in for a rude shock. Shreyas and Abhimanyu Mithun buckled down for a last-wicket stand of 101 to keep them on the field for over an hour-and-a-half more.What would perhaps have frustrated Delhi more was that unlike the preceding few minutes, Karnataka actually slowed down, showing they were far from tired of batting. Shreyas displayed his usual poise and characteristically good technique, deftly getting to the pitch of the delivery and defending solidly.Mithun, to his credit, did much of the same, only occasionally stepping out to the spinners, when he was extremely sure of the trajectory, and smashing them around. One of those, a straight four off Manan, brought the crowd alive after what had been a dreary few minutes post-lunch.Once the two settled into the company of each other, out came the big shots again. Shreyas flicked Milind Kumar fine to bring up a well-compiled fifty. The ever-staid Shreyas’ unwonted charge to Manan to shovel him over long-on signalled that the end of Karnataka’s innings was near.Watching Karnataka’s relentless march, one couldn’t help but feel for Delhi’s bowlers. The lanky Kulwant Khejroliya especially bowled his heart out but had a solitary wicket and an economy rate of 4.36 to show for his efforts. Moreover, he was warned for running on the pitch by the umpire in his 27th over, which turned out to be his penultimate one.In a highly condensed final session – the umpires had allowed for a half-hour extension before tea with Karnataka nine down – Shreyas slogged Mishra over midwicket to get into the nineties, but fell to a feeble paddle next ball, getting bowled around his legs.

Australia’s captain, Steven Smith, has denied his team veered into inappropriate personal territory during their first Test sledging of England’s players

Daniel Brettig in Adelaide01-Dec-20172:18

We played the game in good spirit – Smith

Australia’s captain, Steven Smith, has denied his team veered into inappropriate personal territory during their first Test sledging of England’s players, and also questioned how James Anderson could refer to his team as “bullies” when the swing bowler is widely known as one of the more verbally hostile players in world cricket.While the batsman Pete Handscomb was happy to describe Australia’s approach to England at the Gabba as “brutal” and foreshadowed more of the same in Adelaide, Smith was quick to dismiss the notion that anything the Australians had said crossed the much-debated “line” between gamesmanship and personal abuse. Jonny Bairstow was a particular target for the hosts in Brisbane, with much publicity around references to his headbutt on Cameron Bancroft early in the tour among numerous other verbal barbs.”I think everything was fine. It was played in good spirit. As I’ve said previously, there’s a line there that we’re not to cross. I thought we played the game in good spirit, I’ve got no issues there,” Smith said when asked if “hand on heart” he was comfortable with all that was said on the field at the Gabba. “I think the umpires and match referees are there to determine that. From my point of view it’s about playing good hard aggressive cricket. I think we did that well at the Gabba and no doubt we’ll continue to do that throughout the series.”

Smith hopes to get in Root’s head

Steven Smith has added to the pressure on his opposite number by suggesting Australia will continue to target a perceived weakness for lbw that has crept into Joe Root’s game. Root fell twice in that manner at the Gabba and Smith suggested it was to Australia’s advantage for the issue to be “going through his head” when the second Test begins.
“It was nice our plans [for Root] worked,” Smith said. “I read something on Twitter the other day about a trend that’s been occurring with him since the start of 2016. He’s got out lbw a lot.
“It’s nice we are able to open up that side of his bat and I saw him working on it in the nets the other day so he’s trying to fix those issues. That’s tough to do in the middle of the series. So we’ll have some things going through his head out in the middle. That’s something we can play on out in the middle as well.”

Equally, Smith was intent on calling out Anderson following his depiction of the Australians as bullies who only sing when they’re winning. “A bully waits until they are in the ascendancy to pounce on people. That is what Australian teams do,” Anderson wrote in the . “They are quiet when they are not on top which was the case for the first three days of the Brisbane Test and then on day four they came alive.” Recalling his first taste of Ashes cricket in 2010-11, Smith spoke of how Anderson rounded on him.”I read the article. I think it’s interesting coming from Jimmy calling us bullies and big sledgers,” Smith said. “I think he’s one of the biggest sledgers in the game to be perfectly honest with you. To me in particular. I remember back in 2010 when I first started and wasn’t any good he was pretty happy to get stuck into me then. Interesting coming from Jimmy.”England’s captain Joe Root had intimated that his team were unhappy about how much mirth Smith took from Bancroft’s dry account of his earlier meeting with Bairstow, but his opposite number stated plainly that he was simply reacting to the young opening batsman’s delivery, which caused plenty of laughter on both sides of the Gabba press conference room.”I certainly wasn’t mocking his team,” Smith said. “I was laughing at Cameron and the way he delivered the events of what had happened. I don’t know Cameron that well yet, I haven’t played a lot with him yet. He was very dry and different in the way things came across. You guys got a good laugh out of it as much as I did. I’m happy to clarify that with him, no problem there at all.”For his part, Root said both teams needed to be careful that on-field exchanges stayed in the realm of banter and did not move into more personal areas. “I think there is a place for a bit of banter out on the field as long as it stays as banter and doesn’t become more than that,” he said. “If it does, the umpires need to make sure it has a line that’s stopped at on both sides at the same time.”Firstly you don’t want it to become a series where the umpires are telling guys to get on with the game and getting involved at every single opportunity. You want there to be a bit of niggle there and a bit of banter flying around. That’s good for the game, it’s good to watch, it’s good to be involved in. It makes for good television.”But there are certain things that people know they should and shouldn’t say on a field and it’s important both sides – not just one side, both sides – get that right and have enough respect for each other’s sides to not overstep any mark.”As for the question of whether the Australians had overstepped the mark in targeting Bairstow, Root equivocated. “I’ve not really had a good enough conversation to find out what was said individually,” Root said. “In his [Bairstow’s] case, I’d like to think they know where … when to stop and when too far is too far. If they have gone too far then it says more about them than it does about anything else.”

M Vijay and Virat Kohli added 283 for the third wicket, utterly dispiriting Sri Lanka until Lakshan Sandakan gave them something to cheer with two quick wickets late in the day

The Report by Karthik Krishnaswamy02-Dec-20172:12

Chopra: Vijay showed he’s India’s No. 1 opener

In deference to the Indian team management’s wishes, there was grass on the Feroz Shah Kotla pitch, but Virat Kohli, at the toss, wished there could have been more. It certainly wasn’t enough to turn New Delhi into Newlands, and India, instead of fighting for survival against snarling South African fast bowlers, settled into a typically subcontinental bat-first, bat-big pattern against a limited Sri Lanka attack, facing more spin (59 overs) than seam (31) on day one.For most of the day, Sri Lanka had nothing to cheer as M Vijay and Virat Kohli added 283 for the third wicket, their partnership an exhibition of relentless self-control and a hunger for runs that never tipped over into greed. India rattled along at more than four an over, and as the shadows lengthened, it seemed as if India would end the day only two down.But wristspin can do strange things, and Lakshan Sandakan, whose figures at that point read 20.5-0-109-0, sent down a deliciously-flighted wrong’un, slanting it across Vijay and asking him to reach out to drive. He didn’t pick the direction of turn, groped for the ball, and missed, dragging his back foot out of the crease in the process. Niroshan Dickwella, quick and nimble, did the rest.In his next over, Sandakan repeated the trick against Ajinkya Rahane. The line was a little wider this time, but again the ball landed on that perfect length, broke in the direction the batsman did not anticipate, and again Dickwella removed the bails with the batsman’s toe on the line. India had gone from 361 for 2 to 365 for 4. Sandakan, whose bowling until that point had made Sri Lanka yearn for the control of the absent Rangana Herath, was now doing what he had been picked to do.Still, this was India’s day. At stumps, Kohli was batting on 156, his third hundred in a row and the quickest – he only took 110 balls to reach three figures – of his 20 in Tests. In the process, he also became the fourth-quickest Indian batsman to 5000 Test runs, getting there in his 105th innings.Until the moment of Sandakan’s transformation, Vijay and Kohli had looked utterly secure. Aside from a couple of clearly not-out lbw shouts, their dominance had gone unchallenged, and, in an indictment of the two specialist spinners, the one bowler who had come remotely close to creating chances was the part-time offspinner Dhananjaya de Silva.On 122, Vijay drove early and sent the ball looping towards midwicket rather than the intended direction of cover; it fell just short of the diving Dinesh Chandimal. Then, on 154, he sent an uppish flick in the same direction. This time it eluded the fingertips of the debutant Roshen Silva. In between, de Silva also found Kohli’s leading edge, which fell between the bowler and mid-off.Bowling exclusively from around the wicket, de Silva ended the day with figures of 0 for 45 in 15 overs. Sandakan and Dilruwan Perera finished with a combined 3 for 207 from 44 overs.The foundation of Kohli’s innings was his supreme reading of the spinners’ length, and thereafter his footwork to pounce on marginal lapses. Before lunch, for instance, he took a massive stride out to a good-length ball from Lakshan Sandakan and bisected wide mid-on and deep midwicket with a whip of his wrists. On 68, he went the other way, deep into his crease, to shorten the length of an otherwise decent Dilruwan Perera delivery and bring his wrists into play once more to find the gap between short fine leg and deep square leg.For the quicker bowlers, a “good” length was a fairly small area on this pitch. When they strayed remotely off that area, Kohli and Vijay were quick to put the ball away. Vijay gave a good demonstration of this with a pair of boundaries in the 23rd over, off Lahiru Gamage: a cover drive, followed by a wristy on-drive, both off balls that were far from half-volleys. Kohli, meanwhile, raced from 43 to 55 courtesy three fours off one Gamage over, the pick of them an on-the-up drive through the covers.Vijay went to tea on 101, and resumed with a flurry of attractive boundaries – an inside-out cover drive off Dilruwan, a square-drive off Gamage, a reverse-paddle off Dilruwan. He would only hit one more four after that, though, as he took the singles on offer and made sure he would do everything in his power to keep his quest for that long-yearned-for maiden double-hundred alive. This time, it would really take a good ball to get him out.This hadn’t been true of Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara, who both got off to breezy starts before falling against the run of play.Once it became clear there was little help in this pitch for the quicks, Dhawan and Vijay were quickly on their way, driving freely on the up and hitting eight fours in the first ten overs. Sri Lanka brought on spin as early as the eighth over, and Dilruwan continued to worry his team with his inconsistent lengths, Dhawan picking up two fours behind point in his first two overs. But he grew a little greedy, and picked out deep square leg with a top-edged sweep on 23. Suranga Lakmal briefly lost the ball in the hazy atmosphere, and lost a shoe while hurriedly changing direction, but managed to hold on.It was Dilruwan’s 100th Test wicket. He might not be the most frugal of spinners, but he has the knack of taking wickets – his 100th had come up in his 25th Test, and no Sri Lankan had got there quicker. Muttiah Muralitharan had taken 27 Tests.In walked Pujara, whose last four partnerships with Vijay read 107, 178, 102 and 209. They seemed to be continuing from where they left off in Nagpur, while scoring twice as quickly, and Pujara in particular was putting the bowlers through the shredder, hitting four fours in the space of three overs, including two back-foot whips off marginally short balls from Dilruwan. But this time, the partnership would only get as far as 36.Lahiru Gamage broke it, Sri Lanka profiting from the same plan that had brought them Pujara’s wicket in the second innings in Galle in late July. Then, he had flicked a full ball from Lahiru Kumara to leg gully. Now, he tucked one off his legs in the same direction, just uppishly enough for Sadeera Samarawickrama to take a sharp catch falling to his left.

Massive crowds due to the expected success of the Ashes series and the limited-overs matches that follow combines with the continuing growth of the Twenty20 Big Bash League

Daniel Brettig05-Jan-2018Australian cricket is on course to top two million spectators at matches this summer, as the expected success of the Ashes series and the limited-overs matches that follow combines with the continuing growth of the Twenty20 Big Bash League.Including day one of the SCG Test, total Ashes attendance has now reached 729,527, putting the series in line to top the record crowds of 2006-07, when the preceding 2005 clash in England had raised interest in the ensuing battle. That was the only Australian Test series on record to have topped 800,000 spectators, with the previous Ashes series in 2013-14 being attended by more than 753,000 spectators.This summer’s increased attendances have been aided by the greater capacity of Adelaide Oval, and also the fact that each match so far has run into the fifth day. James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive, said the rising tide of crowds was being matched by the growth of the BBL, as the two contests feed off one another in terms of drawing people to cricket.

Ashes crowds in Australia since ’90-91

1990-91 394,255
1994-95 478,126
1998-99 545,820
2002-03 568,774
2006-07 819,627
2010-11 764,463
2013-14 753,868
2017-18 729,527*
*After day one of SCG

“It’s been a great series in terms of putting on an event, an Ashes series in our cycle of future tours programme is always a really important summer,” Sutherland told ABC Radio. “We’re heading towards crowds of over 800,000 for the Ashes Test matches. I think when we get to the one-dayers, T20s, we’ll be over a million.”Add another million for the Big Bash League, then for the first time ever we’re going to see attendances of over two million for cricket matches in Australia. So far so good, it’s been fantastic and I’d have to say the performances of the Australian team have been very pleasing as well.”This year we’re buoyed by the Adelaide Oval being at full capacity. It was only at half capacity last time, it’s one of the great assets of Australian cricket in that we’ve got these magnificent stadiums. We’ve got the Perth Stadium coming online for a game on the 28th of January, already pretty well sold out, and that in itself is just another way in which we can meet the demands of people wanting to come along to the cricket, which is fantastic to see.”Sutherland said that CA had seen evidence of Test match crowds becoming younger and more diverse, a shift he attributed to the use of T20 in general and the BBL in particular to bring new audiences to the game – a key plank of CA’s recently released strategy for the game down under. While there are inevitable grumbles about overlaying the BBL across the international summer, Sutherland has long been a proponent of co-existence rather than distinct windows.”The focus we have around T20 is bringing new fans to the game, particularly with kids, females and families, but at the same time what we’re seeing – and you only have to look around the SCG today – is kids graduating their interest into Test cricket,” Sutherland said. “Some people think that BBL is sort of counter to Test cricket, but it’s actually designed to be complementary. All of our research suggests that people still understand that the pinnacle of the game is Test cricket, the aspiration for young people is to play Test cricket, that’s the ultimate.”They’d love to play BBL, but to take it a step further and play at the highest level, and play for your country. I think this time of year I often say ‘more cricket is never enough’ and that’s been demonstrated by the way the Big Bash League has continued to grow. We also forget that Test matches are played in one place. They’re here for one week, we’re here in Sydney for one week, and that’s where it is, but at the same time, Big Bash League matches are being played in other parts of the country.”Previously in other summers gone by, we haven’t been able to feed the appetite of the Australian cricket community with other matches that they wanted to go to. We saw last night there was a game down in Hobart, great crowd, fascinating game, and again just another example of cricket being able to spread itself around the country.”As for the recent “poor” rating given the MCG for its lifeless drop-in pitch, Sutherland said the venue had been fortunate to miss out on the new ICC regulations – enforced from January 1 this year – that would have meant it faced a ban from international matches in the event of a second consecutive “poor” rating.”I think now with the new regulations that are in at ICC level, the consequences of that are quite severe,” Sutherland said. “The new regulations that came in on the first of January mean that once you’ve got a first strike, the second strike means you’ve actually got to have matches taken away from you. We’re not at that stage with the MCG, but it’s all about improvement and this is an opportunity to get better.”Ultimately it’s very disappointing to receive that rating. I think it’s probably a moot point as to where it lands and whether it was poor or the next category up, which was below average. But it’s an indicator either way – below average or poor – and it’s a rating we’re not comfortable with, and I know the MCC and the MCG aren’t happy with it either.”I think that will be the catalyst for us to work closely with them to respond and ensure we know and understand exactly what we’re looking for in an MCG pitch. And to define that, and to then make sure that’s rolled out with regularity and confidence.”

New rights deal to run for five years, till March 31, 2023

Nagraj Gollapudi21-Feb-2018Six months after securing the biggest television deal in cricket for the IPL, the BCCI is now preparing to sell the broadcast and digital rights for Indian cricket – both domestic and international. These rights will be sold via e-auction, on March 27, with the rights period running from April 1 this year to March 31, 2023.*The rights have been split across three categories: a global television rights plus rest-of-world digital rights package, an Indian-subcontinent digital rights package, and a global consolidated rights package.In 2012, when the rights were last sold, Star TV won the bid, paying Rs 3851 crore (at the time, USD 750 million approx) for 96 matches. That contract runs out on March 31, 2018.In that contract, the pricing varied over two stages: Star paid the BCCI INR 32.2 crore (USD 6.3m approx) per match from 2012 to 2014, and INR 43.20 crore (USD 8.5m approx) for matches from 2014 to 2018.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

But, in the wake of the record-breaking INR 16,347.5 crore (USD 2.55 billion) deal bagged by Star for the IPL rights, media pundits have wondered whether Indian cricket can attract similarly top-end bids. Under the IPL deal, which includes both broadcast and digital rights, Star pays the BCCI virtually INR 55 crore (USD 8.47m approx) per IPL match.The BCCI remains unconcerned. It has stuck to the strategy of limiting the rights period to five years, as had been the case with the various deals – including the IPL one – carried out in the past year.The invitation-to-tender document will be available to interested bidders till March 5, and is priced at USD 10,000 (INR 6.5 lakh approx). The BCCI will conduct a workshop on the specifics of the online auction for these bidders on March 7. The BCCI has said that bids can be submitted till 10am IST on March 27, five hours before the start of the e-auction.*

The opener celebrated his national call-up with an unbeaten second-innings 81 as Queenland clinched their first Shield title in six years

The Report by Peter English27-Mar-2018
ScorecardQueensland joyfully accepted a desperate declaration and charged to their first Sheffield Shield title in six years during a rain-interrupted conclusion at Allan Border Field in Brisbane on Tuesday.Tasmania gambled after a lengthy delay in the hope of a last-minute heist, but Queensland moved swiftly through the South Africa-bound Matt Renshaw to secure the nine-wicket win.Renshaw learned of his national call-up during the day, and he celebrated it with an unbeaten second-innings 81. While he waits to learn whether he replaces Cameron Bancroft or David Warner in the fourth Test, he warmed up with a muscular display of 12 fours and two sixes, including crashing a cut to the boundary for the winning runs.Queensland are full of potential and this was the right result perhaps, but neither side was able to show their full wares in a truncated game. Tasmania returned on the final morning at 0 for 10, with Alex Doolan and Jordan Silk trying to transform the game into a T20 contest and an unlikely victory push.As the batsmen opened their shoulders, Queensland spread the field. At one point during the 160-run stand, everyone but the bowler and wicketkeeper was on the boundary. Silk cleared the ropes twice in his 74 and Doolan was even more destructive in his unbeaten 82 off 74 deliveries, striking four sixes before bad light and heavy rain arrived at the stroke of lunch.That meant the outfield was unsuitable for play during the four-hour delay. This forced Tasmania into declaring at 1 for 166, setting Queensland 128 in at least 32 overs, but the locals would not be stopped. Joe Burns kept Renshaw company with 41 on the way to the state’s eighth Shield trophy.Queensland’s golden age began under Stuart Law’s captaincy in the 1990s and included players of the stature of Allan Border, Matthew Hayden, Carl Rackemann, Andy Bichel, Michael Kasprowicz and Andrew Symonds. The current squad is filled with young faces and even the committed cricket fan might struggle to recognise anyone other than Burns or Renshaw when they are wearing whites.Captained by Jimmy Peirson, the side has the 33-year-old paceman Luke Feldman as its elder statesman, but is mostly a band of up-and-comers alongside the journeyman from England, Charlie Hemphrey. Until Tuesday, Burns was the only player in the side to have lifted the Shield, when Queensland beat Tasmania at the Gabba in 2011-12.Queensland finished the group rounds comfortably on top, winning a game more than any other opponent, and its players were able to stare down Tasmania’s regularly-interrupted challenge throughout this contest.After the first-day abandonment, Tasmania posted a healthy 477, but Queensland went further in their response, with everyone contributing at least double figures. The coach Wade Seccombe, who was the wicketkeeper in the state’s first Shield victory in 1994-95, now has the opportunity to build the outfit into a unit craving long-term success.

The company has strengthened its hold on television and digital rights to cricket in India by retaining worldwide rights to Indian cricket for USD 944 million for the period 2018-23

Nagraj Gollapudi05-Apr-20181:32

Indian cricket’s rags to riches broadcast rights story

Star India has strengthened its hold on television and digital rights in cricket by retaining worldwide rights to Indian cricket for INR 6138 crore (USD 944 million) for the period 2018-23. They now hold the two most valuable broadcast rights in cricket, having bought the IPL rights for INR 16,347.5 crore (US$ 2.55 billion) in September 2017 for the period 2018-22.In addition to its Indian presence, Star also has a strong grip internationally, having paid USD 1.9 billion for the broadcast rights for ICC tournaments between 2015-23.Star’s bid was declared the winning bid once its close rival, Sony Pictures Network India, listed INR 6118.59 cr as its final bid in the first ever e-auction in sport, which spanned three days. Star’s bid was an increase of 59% from the previous cycle of Indian cricket rights, which were sold for INR 3851 crore (USD 750 million at the time) for the period 2012-18, also to Star. The average cost per match for the Indian cricket rights sold on Thursday was about INR 60 cr (USD 9.2 million approx), which is higher than the average cost per IPL game for the 2018-22 period – INR 54.5 cr (USD 8.4 million approx).ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Star India gets to telecast 102 men’s international matches over the next five-year period, compared to 96 in the previous six-year cycle from 2012 to 2018. The 102 matches will be split across the home seasons as follows: 18 in 2018-19, 26 in 2019-20, 14 in 2020-21, 23 in 2021-22 and 21 in 2022-23. As per the BCCI, Star listed the following figures as the per match value for each of the five seasons: INR 46 cr, 47 cr, 46.5 cr, 77.4 cr and 78.9 cr respectively. The rights will also include men’s domestic matches as well as the India women’s international matches.There were three categories of rights up for bidding: the Indian television rights and rest of the world digital rights (GTVRD), digital rights for the Indian subcontinent alone (ID), and the global consolidated rights (GCR) for which the winning bid was eventually made.The e-auction, an unprecedented exercise in sport, became a three-horse race after the BCCI pruned the original list of six bidders on Tuesday morning, having conducted feasibility checks on eligibility of the bidders. Star, Sony, and Reliance were the final competitors when the e-auction began at 2pm on Tuesday.On Thursday, bidders had 30 minutes to contest a bid, unlike on Tuesday and Wednesday when they had an hour. There was a 35.81 % difference between the final bids on the first two days: from INR 4442 crores (USD 680 million approx.) on Tuesday evening to INR 6032.50 crore (USD 925 million approx)  by Wednesday evening.On Thursday, the bids rose in smaller increments: INR 6061.05 cr, INR 6085.30 cr, INR 6111.70 cr, INR 6111.70 cr, and finally INR 6138 cr.

Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are missing from India’s Test squad to play Afghanistan

Shashank Kishore in Bengaluru08-May-20184:30

Virat is missing out for a good cause – selector MSK Prasad

Rohit Sharma has been left out of India’s squad for Afghanistan’s inaugural Test while Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have been rested. Virat Kohli will miss the Test as he gears up for the England tour with a county stint with Surrey, which gave Ajinkya Rahane a second Test as India’s captain.All four players absent from the squad were part of the newly created A+ category in the BCCI’s contracts list. However, the selectors found Rohit’s performance in South Africa “less than satisfactory”, a BCCI official told ESPNcricinfo. Rohit was chosen ahead of vice-captain Rahane in the first two Tests in which he scored 78 runs. It was arguably Rohit’s selection in the Tests in South Africa that got him an A+ contract in the first place. The bowling loads of Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar are being managed carefully, which left Shikhar Dhawan as the only A+ player in this Test squad.

India squad for Test against Afghanistan

Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, M Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Karun Nair, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma, Shardul Thakur
In: Karun Nair, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur
Out: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Parthiv Patel, Dinesh Karthik

Nonetheless, most of India’s other Test regulars found a place in the squad, allaying fears that Afghanistan would come up against a severely depleted squad in their historic debut Test, which will be played in Bengaluru from June 14 to 18. It will be the first Test match played in India in the month of June, in peak summer, but Bengaluru is cooler than most other Test venues in the country.Cheteshwar Pujara and Ishant Sharma, who are currently playing county cricket for Yorkshire and Sussex, were both part of the India squad, with neither of their teams in action in the week of the Test match. All three regular openers – M Vijay, KL Rahul and Dhawan – featured in the squad, as well as spinners R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav.There had been reports Ashwin and Jadeja might both be rested but it emerged a day before the selection that Ashwin had not pursued his talks with Worcestershire because he had committed to playing this Test. Had Ashwin been rested, he would have gone to England with little red-ball cricket behind him: Worcestershire have already signed up Travis Head instead.In the absence of Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah, Ishant, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami returned to the familiar role of India’s first-choice quicks in home conditions. They were backed up by allrounder Hardik Pandya and Mumbai seamer Shardul Thakur, who is yet to make his Test debut but has played three ODIs and seven T20Is.Karun Nair took the sixth specialist batsman’s slot in Rohit’s absence, while Wriddhiman Saha was set to resume wicketkeeping duties after missing the second and third Tests in South Africa with a hamstring injury. Neither Parthiv Patel, the back-up keeper on that tour, nor Dinesh Karthik, who flew in as Saha’s replacement, have found a place in the squad.The chairman of selectors, MSK Prasad, said this was an ideal opportunity to give Nair a chance, incidentally whose last Test was in Kohli’s absence, in Dharamsala against Australia. “This was the best opportunity for us to give Karun a chance, because he’s been doing well,” Prasad said. “It would have been too much of a risk to try him straight in England.”Afghanistan were granted Test status in June 2017, when they and Ireland were made Full Members by the ICC. They will be the fourth team to play their maiden Test against India, after Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.