India vs West Indies

Virat Kohli named India's T20 captain, Dhoni calls it quits

(Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Soon after India lost to the West Indies in the World T20 semi-final in Mumbai at Wankhede Stadium, India's most successful skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni decided to hang his boots from all formats of cricket with immediate effect.

Despite giving a hint during Thursday's press conference that he might stay on until 2019 World Cup, Dhoni on Friday morning shocked his fans by announcing his retirement.

"One of India's greatest captains under whose leadership India became the No. 1 team in the ODI and T20 and won 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 WC, MS Dhoni, has decided to retire from all forms of cricket," the BCCI said in a statement.

“BCCI while respecting the decision of Dhoni to retire, wishes to thank him for his enormous contribution to cricket and the laurels that he has brought to India," it added.

Virat Kohli will now be the captain of the Indian team in all the formats of the game. Kohli, who is already Test captain, is ready for the role and thanked everyone for the new responsibility.

"I am very happy that BCCI trust me and I am ready for the role. I would like to thank Dhoni for the contribution and wish him all the best. My main aim is to win 2019 WC for India," Kohli said.

A leaked BCCI email accessed by Cricketnext confirms one of the most exciting development in Indian cricket. To read the full text of the e-mail go to. 

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India vs West Indies: Dancing down the track, and hotel lobby

 

 A video grab shows West Indies players Dwayne Bravo and Darren Sammy dancing in the lobby of their team hotel after defeating India in the semifinal of the World T20 on Thursday. PTI

It was around the time the West Indian team bus was just about to leave the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday night that the question was thrown at them. “Are you guys planning to do something special once you’re back at the hotel?” The answer was unanimous and instantaneous. “What you talking about? We are already doing something special.”
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They weren’t kidding. Fifteen minutes later, Dwayne Bravo — or DJ Bravo in this context — and Darren Sammy would become the viral sensation of the virtual world after dishing out a lengthy rendition of the ‘Champion’ dance — a sort of cradling the baby backwards and forwards with the inevitable and inimitable Caribbean panache — while entering the Trident Hotel. They would keep it going right through the foyer up to the lift. The clip not only garnered close to 4 million views.

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But the dancing and the revelry had commenced even before Sammy & Co had vacated their dressing-room at Wankhede. Buffet trays and serving spoons were being used as percussion, while the West Indians danced and swayed in their unique fashion to celebrate a sensational semi-final victory over the hosts. That session too not surprisingly, and as has been the norm, ended with a bare-chested Bravo and Chris Gayle doing the ‘Champion’, if we can call it that already.
It was the same routine that Bravo had used to silence 36,000 Indians in the stands a few hours earlier as he snapped up a neat catch at deep mid-wicket to see off Ajinkya Rahane. Rahane and Virat Kohli had stitched up a decent second-wicket stand and the Mumbai crowd had just found its voice back, especially when the ball sailed into the night sky. But in what would be the theme of the evening, it was just another quasi-burst of excitement for the partisan crowd, as the West Indies kept bossing the game, despite their main man who goes by the self-proclaimed title of Universe Boss failing to come to the party with the bat.

It was hundreds of locals though who welcomed the West Indies back in the hotel while Sammy and Bravo were turning into internet sensations. The men from the Caribbean didn’t quite dance through the night, but did enough to enjoy the moment with the party shifting to their team-room for some more music and drinks as has been the standard procedure during the World T20. The magnitude of the victory and how much they cherished it was on display when they leapt over the fences and created a melee near their dug-out following the last of Andre Russell’s four massive sixes. They had not just downed India in one of their fortresses — at least in terms of the cauldron feel that is created in Mumbai — they had also booked themselves a spot in the World T20 final for the second time in three editions.

Masters of the format

Not to forget the way in which they had once again showed why they are the most intimidating outfit in this format. That the West Indies possess some of the dangerous batsmen in this format is well-publicized. But what makes the team even more potent is the familiarity that the core of this squad possesses with the shortest format.

For it’s extremely rare that anyone among Gayle, Sammy, Bravo, Russell, Samuel Badree and Johnson Charles appear in any other form of the game but T20 through the year. For the record, Russell has already appeared in 193 T20s around the world in just six years of making his debut. The Jamaican has played 17 first-class matches in the same time period. And it’s not just during the two months of the IPL that Russell & Co light up television screens with their pyrotechnics. They do it right around the clock, from the Big Bash in Australia to the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in the Middle East to their very own Caribbean Premier League (CPL), which aptly possesses a theme song which goes, “how we play”, among others. With West Indies hardly playing many international T20s, they end up being more focused on building their own portfolios as cricketers than having to worry too often about selection meetings.

And that abundance of experience has made this West Indies T20 outfit a hardened and clinically professional force, which seems to know exactly what is required to produce a blend of eye-catching and match-winning performances. More so when they are in a run-chase, which makes the task of any team batting first a rather tricky one, for no target seems unachievable for them—a fact that Simmons acknowledged.

Rights balls right place

Even as West Indies blazed to victory against India, Bravo, Sammy and Carlos Brathwaite didn’t even get a look-in. It is this same confidence that allowed Simmons to calmly run a single off the first delivery of the final over with eight runs required. So often did the slight Trinidadian right-hander see Mumbai Indians past the line in the previous edition of the IPL that you just knew what he was up to. Just like their bowlers in both games on the flat Wankhede pitch. Both against England and India, the West Indian bowlers did err occasionally — which can happen to anyone in this format — but they put more balls in the right place, and executed their slower ones more efficiently than most other teams to keep England to a target, which hardly seemed a bother even before the Gayle blitz.

On Thursday, they ensured that Rahane faced more deliveries than Kohli during their partnership. Rahane kept trying to push on to the back-foot to pull Badree over mid-wicket, but the wily leg-spinner never quite shortened his length enough for the right-hander to launch a pull over mid-wicket, which was his motive, except once. Their win against India was not just another display of their copious might in T20 cricket, but also a brazen example of how they don’t seem to miss a beat, either on or off the field.