Virat Kohli: Post Anushka Sharma break-up, star batsman is busy with...

 

Kohli made a trip to Amritsar with family members, where he spent time visiting the famous Wagah border and the Golden Temple. The 27-year-old on Friday shared photos from the trip and said:

"I really wanted to visit this place from a long time and I'm glad that I've made it. I'm happy to be here and I feel peaceful," he told a section of the media."

he star batsman took a time-off from national duties, ostensibly to spend time with Bollywood damsel Anushka, but their high-profile relationship ended with heartbreaks.

Since the break-up, the cricketer has taken a rather brave posture, posting series of images of himself and family members. And expectedly, his every move continues to make news.

Amritsar visit was one such episode for his followers, but it sure provided the much needed comfort to the player in his times of emotional turmoil.

Kohli will join his team-mates as India seek to win the first-ever Asia Cup T20, which starts on Wednesday in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

 

Injured Mohammed Shami ruled out of Asia Cup, Bhuvneshwar Kumar named replacement

 

The Indian board also released a statement, which read: "The BCCI medical team confirms that Mohammed Shami has been ruled out of Asia Cup, 2016. The decision has been taken to give him more time to recover from the Grade II injury to his left hamstring."

Shami, 25, has failed to fully recover from a hamstring injury that kept him out of the limited-overs series in Australia last month.

But he was nonetheless named in the Indian squad for both the Asia Cup and ICC World Twenty20. And this latest development has put his chances of playing in the marquee ICC event in a doubt.

Earlier, senior selection committee chairman Sandeep Patil had expressed his confidence in the bowler's return to fitness. He even claimed that "Shami had started bowling".

The group stage of Asia Cup starts on February 24 with India taking on hosts Bangladesh in Mirpur.

The World T20 will be held in India, starting March 8.

 

Lasith Malinga - Is Sri Lanka skipper a trump card or spent force?

 

While there were plenty of positives in the series for the islanders, one thing they clearly lacked was big-match experience.

However, that box has now been ticked with the return of veteran stars Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews and Nuwan Kulasekara.

The major focus in the Lankan camp ahead of the Asia Cup 2016 will be on skipper and pacer spearhead Malinga.

Returning from a knee injury, the 32-year-old will be heavily relied upon by his side to produce breakthroughs early in the innings and stem the flow of runs towards the end.

While there are no doubts about his wicket-taking ability, the pacer has of late leaked a lot of runs in the 20-over format.

Malinga was impressive against the Windies in the November series, with spells of 2 for 16 and 2 for 19 in the 1st and 2nd T20I respectively.

However against Pakistan in the July-August series, the right-armer came under severe punishment from the batsmen, resulting in figures of 1 for 46 and 1 for 40.

Malinga is no longer the decisive factor in India-SL matches, but he does have a good record in Bangladesh.

In his last 8 T20Is in the host nation of the Asia Cup 2016, Malinga has got 9 wickets without conceding too many runs.

While the focus of most teams will be on the ICC World Cup, the Asia Cup will be a good platform to judge Malinga's impact.

Whether one of world cricket's greatest death overs' operator can still deliver despite injury troubles and lack of playing time will be fascinating to see.

But from a neutral standpoint, it is imperative that Malinga continues to bowl his toe-crushing yorkers and slower bouncers with great success to give an edge to not just his side but the tournament in general.

Asia Cup: Complete squads of India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan

 

Here are complete squads of all the teams:

India: MS Dhoni (Captain), Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Pawan Negi, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin

Pakistan: Shahid Afridi (Captain), Anwar Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khurram Manzoor, Wahab Riaz, Shoaib Malik, Rumman Raees, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Amir, Imad Wasim, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Nawaz, Sarfraz Ahmed, Umar Akmal

Sri Lanka: Lasith Malinga (Captain), Angelo Mathews (vice-capt), Dinesh Chandimal, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Niroshan Dickwella, Shehan Jayasuriya, Milinda Siriwardana, Dasun Shanaka, Chamara Kapugedera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Dushmantha Chameera, Thisara Perera, Sachithra Senanayake, Rangana Herath, Jeffrey Vandersay

Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza (Captain), Shakib Al Hasan, Imrul Kayes, Mohammad Mithun, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Al-Amin Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Arafat Sunny, Abu Hider, Nurul Hasan

A qualifying round will be played between Afghanistan, UAE, Hong Kong and Oman beginning from February 19. The winner of the qualifying round will join the four Full Member teams in the region for the main draw which starts from February 24.

Afghanistan: Asghar Stanikzai (Captain), Noor Ali Zadran, Mohammad Shahzad (Wicket-Keeper), Usman Ghani, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Sadiq, Shafiqullah, Rashid Khan, Amir Hamza, Dawlat Zadran, Shapoor Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Samiullah Shenwari, Najibullah Zadran, Yamin Ahmadzai

Hong Kong: Tanwir Afzal (Captain), Aizaz Khan, Anshy Rath, Babar Hayat, Christopher Carter (Wicket-Keeper), Mark Chapman, Haseeb Amjad, Adil Mehmood, Nadeem Ahmed, Nizakat Khan, Kinchit Shah, Ninad Shah, Tanveer Ahmed, Waqas Barkat, Waqas Khan

Oman: Sultan Ahmed (Captain and Wicket-Keeper), Aamir Kaleem (Vice-Captain), Aaqib Sulehri, Adnan Ilyas, Amir Ali, Munis Ansari, Bilal Khan, Jatinder Singh, Ajay Lalcheta, Mehran Khan, Rajeshkumar Ranpura, Sufyan Mehmood, Vaibhav Wategaonkar, Zeeshan Maqsood, Zeeshan Siddiqui

United Arab Emirates: Amjad Javed (Captain), Mohammad Kaleem, Rohan Mustafa, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammad Shahzad, Swapnil Patil (Vice-Captain and Wicket-Keeper), Usman Mushtaq, Ahmed Raza, Zaheer Maqsood, Mohammad Naveed, Farhan Ahmed, Qadeer Ahmed, Mohammad Usman, Fahad Tariq, Saqlain Haider

Mahendra Singh Dhoni: Change in fortunes with change in formats for Indian skipper

 

The win against the Dinesh Chandimal-led side, is Dhoni's second consecutive series win after hammering Australia 3-0 in a historic whitewash.

Not long ago, there were questions being raised about Dhoni's personal form, and also whether he was the right man to lead India after the team suffered a 1-4 defeat in the ODIs against the Aussies.

But ever since the T20Is began, Dhoni has rediscovered his mojo.

While the comebacks of Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh has strengthened the middle-order, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah have given more bowling options to Dhoni.

Also the fact the the Asia Cup and the ICC World Twenty20 will be played on sub-continental tracks, Dhoni has some world-class spinners at his disposal and if the tracks assists spinners, there aren't many leaders who can capitalise on them better than Dhoni.

While he is yet to score a big knock for the team, with everything going his way, a swashbuckling innings shouldn't be too far away.

 

Consistency will give us confidence, says MS Dhoni

 

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin weaved his magic with a career-best four-wicket haul as India today trounced Sri Lanka by nine wickets in the deciding third and final Twenty20 International to clinch the three-match series 2-1.

And Dhoni feels his boys need to be expressive going into upcoming important assignments.

"I feel it was a very good game, important we restricted them to a decent total. Ashwin was the pick but he was well supported by the others. In between you will lose one or two games. We want to keep playing the way we re playing. Consistency will give us the confidence," Dhoni said at the post match press conference.

"We need to be expressive, the fans will put the pressure on us but we need to take it one game at a time," the skipper said when asked about their chances in the ICC World Twenty20 to be hosted at home turf.

Dhoni also said the experience of playing in the Indian Premier League has held them in good stead in the shortest format of the game.

"Eight seasons of IPL has given us the experience. Always good to have the conditions suiting you to an extent. Spinners can come into play here, which gives us the liberty to try out a few things," he said.

Man-of-the-match Ashwin said he is presently reaping the benefits of his hardwork.

"I hope this lasts forever. The ball is coming out pretty well. I've been working pretty hard, I want to contribute and attribute to the team rather than being a deficiency," he said.

"I thought I would get a five-for today. The wicket had a bit of dampness in it. I have a couple of variation when using the new ball. I want to keep the batsmen guessing, and wickets makes me a different bowler. I always have the courage to flight the ball."

Sri Lanka skipper Dinesh Chandimal said batsmen let the islanders down in the entire series.

"We didn't perform well throughout the series as batsmen. If we got 140-plus, we would have had a chance, but we didn't do that. Losing wickets happens with an inexperienced team," he said.

"I'm impressed with our bowlers, Shanaka and Chameera. We need to regroup as a team."